Thursday, July 4, 2002 Since 1889
50 Cents
DONE
DEAL?
Hospital merger
may be decided
at July 15 meeting
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
A merger between
Cleveland Regional Medical
Center in Shelby and Kings
Mountain Hospital may be
close to happening July 15.
That's when an
announcement will be
made on whether the two -
medical facilities, managed
by Carolinas Health Care
System, will consolidate.
The CHS flagship hospi-
tal is Carolinas Medical
Center in Charlotte.
According to Kings
Mountain Hospital CEO
Hank Neal, if the two hos-
pital boards approve condi-
tions in a letter of agree-
ment, a 1 p.m. press confer-
ence will be held to
announce the preliminary
approval of the merger.
A merger would have to
finally be approved by the
" Cleveland County Board of
Commissioners. The two
hospitals are owned by
county citizens.
While talk between
Cleveland Regional and
Kings Mountain may be
getting closer to merger,
Neal said it could still take
time.
See Hospital, 2A
GARY STEWART / HERALD
Kings Mountain firemen Bobby Cash, left, and Joey Davis use the city’s ladder truck
to place flags on the front of the fire department for independence Day.
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Cleveland County
Commissioners and officials
representing municipalities
met last Thursday in Shelby
to discuss a local half-cent
sales tax, which would
require county approval.
According to a memo
from County Manager Lane
Alexander, commissioners
would have to adopt the tax
by July 15 and it would be
in effect on August 1.
If commissioners decide
not to go with the sales tax,
according to Alexander, they
could cut the budget,
increase property taxes or
both. ;
Alexander said a sales tax
increase may be viewed as a
better alternative to a prop-
erty tax increase.
The tax would be split
between point of sale and
population.
The issue is expected to
be on the agenda for a July 9
commissioners meeting.
While reimbursements
won't be coming to cities
and counties statewide, state
representatives said during
the meeting that they were
not entirely sure utility fran-
chise tax. money would be
given either.
That could hurt cities
KM has 5th highest alcohol
related crash rate in State
Officers will be out in full force during holiday
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald KMPD hopes 3-way stop
Kings Mountain is ranked #5 in alcohol- will cut speed on Sherwood
related accidents among cities in North
Carolina with populations of less than
10,000.
The city’s police chief, Melvin Proctor,
feels the ranking, created through statistics
reported to the NCDOT Traffic Safety
Systems Management Unit, is directly relat-
ed to the June 1, 2000 annexation which
brought parts of I-85 and the US 74 Bypass
into the city limits.
The rankings are based on accidents from
1999-2001.
“We've been working on this,” Proctor
noted, “but the biggest kick we've had is
because of I-85. Since we took it in that has
contributed to our death rate.”
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
It was a hot, muggy day but city street
department personnel were busy on the
first day of the new fiscal year Monday
installing stop signs which city officials
hope will curtail speeding in a busy
Kings Mountain neighborhood.
Street department employee Jeff
Randolph, with a towel draped around
his neck to wipe the perspiration in 90-
degree heat, installed two new stop signs
at the intersection of Sherwood and
Sharon Drive in the Kings Mountain
See Crash Rate, 5A See Stop, 5A
GARY STEWART / HERALD
Jeff Randolph, left, of the City Street Department,
Captain Maurice Jamerson, center, and Chief of Police
Melvin Proctor at newly-erected stop sign at the intersec-
tion of Sherwood Lane and Sharon Drive.
Red Cross office back in Kings Mountain
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
It’s back to the way it used to be.
There used to be two Cleveland County offices
of the American Red Cross, and the new office in
the city is almost complete.
And last Wednesday, the board used their new
office at the former Herald building downtown
for a board meeting and emergency blood drive.
Although a lot of remodeling was done in the
building, some things were left in place.
The original front counter from when the
Herald occupied the building is still there. A sign
from the last time the Red Cross was here was
also displayed. x
During the meeting, Director Rick Dancy said
a few days earlier that work was still being done
on the building. :
While final cost of the building has yet to be
determined, Dancy said it’s expected to run
between $130,000 to $140,000. Except for spend-
ing $30,000 to remove asbestos, Dancy said the
BEN LEDBETTER / THE HERALD
Robert Curry gives blood during the blood drive
- last Wednesday at the Cleveland County Red
Cross’s Kings Mountain office.
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
704-739-4782
2) FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Awd Celebrating 128 Years
hl LI
HOMETOWN
BANK
cost should be close to budget.
The emergency blood drive was held because
the Red Cross is in a national appeal.
“Blood supplies always get critically low this
time of year, right around the fourth of July,” he
said. “Part of the problem is that school is out,
people are on vacation, they just forget or it’s not
convenient for them to donate. And yet people
are traveling, and there are more accidents. A lot
of folks put off elective surgeries until after the
kids are out of school. So blood usage goes up
and blood donations go down. It creates a gap.”
Dancy said the Red Cross finds itself in appeal
situations several times a year, and they're pre-
dictable.
Even with the chapter not intending to open
the building on Wednesday, Dancy said he was
pleased with everything.
Some of the workers were Red Cross personnel
and community members performed some of the
last minute work.
See Red Cross, 2A
Gastonia ~ Shelby
529 New Hope Road 106 S Lafayette St.
704-865-1233
704-484-6200
Commissioners
consider another
1/2-cent sales tax
CORRECTION
The Kings Mountain City
Council story in last week's
Herald incorrectly stated
that Mayor Rick Murphrey
was attending a seminar in
Montana. The Mayor was
addressing a meeting of the
Ebenezer Baptist
Association.
such as Kings Mountain,
which provides four utili-
ties.
Kings Mountain is expect-
ing to get about $485,000
from the state and it has
already been figured into
the budget, Murphrey said.
If the franchise tax money
does not come back to Kings
Mountain it would affect the
city, Murphrey said.
“It will be a tremendous
impact,” he said. “It’s
$485,000. We'll have to
address that loss. With our
fund balance we've made
up some of these other short
falls and we'll just have to
take a serious look at it at
this time and see.”
Counting other funds,
Kings Mountain could lose a
See Tax, 2A
Local people
disagree with
pledge ruling
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Last week's ruling by the
U.S. Court of Appeals
Ninth Circuit that the
pledge of
allegiance
is uncon-
stitutional
would
affect
nine
western
states, but
would
not be
binding
here. Grover School
; At student
Issuein Zachary Saldo
therul- pledges alle-
Ing were giance to the
the two flag during
words, recent patriotic
“under program
God,”
which
the court said established a
religion.
According to two
Associated Press articles
that ran in a local daily
newspaper, the decision,
which was approved 2-1,
was written by Judge
Alfred T. Goodwin.
Goodwin said the clause °
“one nation under God”
can not be a neutral profes-
sion with respect to reli-
gion.
The two words “under
God” were inserted by
Congress in 1954.
If the ruling stands, it
would ban children from
saying the pledge in public
schools in those states cov-
ered by the court.
Kings Mountain School
Board Chairman Shearra
Miller said she was sur
See Ruling, 2A
Bessemer City
225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906
a