fy
por =
snowfall
Thursday
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
The city was covered in
more snow than it has seen
in several years last week.
Many people wrecked their
cars by sliding on the ice,
and city officials worked
tirelessly to improve the sit-
uation and make sure that
no one got hurt.
According to Police Chief
Melvin Proctor, the biggest
problems experienced by
the city during the snow
storm were those involving
tractor trailers. When the
tractor trailers tried to get
off the interstate and onto
Kings Mountain roads, they
would wreck and block the
roads.
The snow did not really
cause many problems for
the public works depart-
ment, said Director Jackie
Barnette. However, the ice
that froze on the roads that
night caused many prob-
lems, he said.
“The snow wasn’t a big
deal. It was the ice that
came afterwards,” he said.
Although a few slick
spots remain in shaded :
areas, Barnette said the
major problems were
cleared up as quickly as
‘-possible. By Friday «i+
evening, all of the roads in
Kings Mountain were pass-
able, he said.
Fire Chief Frank Burns
said all major problems
were avoided during the
storm. The fire department
did not receive very many
calls, he said, and of those
received, none involved a
fire. Of course, several
wrecks occurred, and the
interstate was backed up,
he said. Several people fell
in the ice and snow, but
most were transported by
ambulance or got to the
hospital on their own, he
said. However, these prob-
lems were not severe.
“Fortunately, we did not
have any emergencies,” he
said.
The fire department was
prepared for any emergen-
cies that may have
occurred, he said. As the
snow got deeper and deep-
er on Wednesday night,
firefighters put chains on
the tires of the firetrucks
just in case they had to
drive through the snow.
The water department
did not experience any
major problems during the
See Snow, 3A
Jordan a minister, music’s his tool
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
“I do not call myself a musician. I feel,
first of all, l am a minister who happens to
use music as a ministry tool,” said Morris
Jordan, Music Minister and Minister to
Senior Adults at First Baptist Church in
KINGS MOUNTAIN
The Heral
Thursday, January 30, 2003
Vol. 115 No.5
Since 1889
SNOW
DAY
Thursday’s big snowfall and low tem-
peratures since left enough snow on
the ground to keep kids active for
days. Many of them found the steep
hill on Hillside Drive at Landing St. the
perfect place for sledding. Taking part
in th fun were Dawson Adams (right)
and Brent Hunt, Brandon Gantt, Caleb
Henderson, Samuel Dye, Hannah Dye,
Ryan Doty and Jordan Doty.
GARY STEWART / HERALD
Frozen pipes keep
area plumbers busy
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
With temperatures below freezing, many
unexpected problems can arise. Most peo-
ple focus on trying to keep warm when the
weather is cool and do not think about the
pipes at their house getting cold. In Kings
Mountain last weekend, local plumbers
spent many hours helping people whose
pipes both froze and burst.
Zach Stroup, the owner of Goforth
Plumbing, said that his business was very
busy over the weekend with calls about
frozen and busted pipes.
“We had probably 30 calls over the week-
end,” he said. “Our men worked all day
Saturday and all day Sunday, until Sunday
night. We don’t mind, but it would be nice
if the calls were more spaced out.”
Stroup offered some advice to keep pipes
from freezing. He recommended letting the
water drip a little bit during the night. He
said he let the faucet in his bathtub run a lit-
tle during the night to keep his pipes from
freezing. He also said to keep crawl space
doors under the house closed. When air
gets to the pipes in the crawl spaces, the
pipes freeze quicker. Most of the pipes his
business worked on over the weekend were
at the foundation level, he said. He also
said to keep pipes and wells covered as
much as possible. He had a couple calls
about frozen wells over the weekend, he
said.
Phillip Bollinger, of Bollinger Plumbing,
said he also had 35-40 calls about busted
pipes over the weekend.
“About the only rest we've gotten is going
home and sleeping,” he said. He said he
worked from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. all weekend.
Bollinger also recommended that people
leave their water dripping at night if it is
below freezing. The constant drip of the
water will keep the pipes functioning,
which will in turn keep them from freezing.
“It’s a lot cheaper to leave it dripping than
to have it fixed,” he said.
See Pipes, 3A
KINGS MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
Jordan graduated from Carson-Newman
College with a BA in church music and a
minor in English in1961. He also earned his
MA in music education from Appalachian
State in 1966. He specialized in voice at
both schools, although he played the trum-
pet in high school and the French horn in
his college band: In fact, he still plays the
Kings Mountain. “My calling to be a minis-
ter comes above any accolades I may receive
as a musician.”
Jordan has served full time as a music
minister for 41 years and another three
years as a part time music minister, while he
was in school. February 1 will mark the end
of his 16th year at First Baptist Church.
Ea
QE
hAdT]
PP 7
BANK
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celebrating 129 Years
French horn in the church’s wind ensemble.
Jordan's job in Kings Mountain involves
coordinating the activities and ministries of
the senior adults, as well as overseeing the
music in the church. He doesn’t direct all of
the music groups at the church because
there are so many of them. He does direct
See Jordan, 3A
704-739-4782
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
MORRIS JORDAN
Gastonia
704-865-1233
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
On Tuesday night, the
City Council voted unani-
mously to shelve plans for
an emergency shelter in
Kings Mountain, at least
until next month. Council
members decided it was too
early to discuss a budget
amendment, allowing the
purchase of a $40,000 gener-
ator for the emergency shel-
ter at the senior center.
Although a committee
appoin .d by the council,
which included the fire and
police chief, directors of the
senior center and the Red
Cross, and members of
Cleveland County
Emergency Management,
looked at many shelter pos-
sibilities, they decided that
the best location for the
city’s primary emergency
shelter would be the senior
center. Not only would the
senior center accommodate
people with special needs, it
also has a kitchen, is handi-
capped accessible, and
would do well as an alterna-
.diveroperating Jocation for
the city in an emergency.
Also, the center is on the
opposite end of the commu-
nity as the armory, which
will probably serve as a sec-
ondary shelter.
In order for it to be an
effective shelter, the senior
center needs an emergency
generator to supply power
in case the electricity in the
city goes out, like it did dur-
ing the ice storm. The gen-
erator the committee chose
for the shelter is a 150 KW
generator, which is large
enough to run the entire
senior center by itself.
“We looked at several dif-
ferent possibilities, but this
will run the whole complete
senior center,” said Mayor
Rick Murphrey, who was
also involved in the process.
Once the order is placed
for the generator, it will
arrive in ten to twelve
weeks. City staff members
will be able to install it
themselves, so costs will be
reduced in the area of instal-
lation.
The purchase of the gener-
ator for the center was sup-
posed to be the main object
of discussion at the meeting.
However, Councilmen Gene
White and Dean Spears
announced at the meeting
that they had met with the
senior center advisory (
board, which voiced the ee
opinion of not wanting the IR
public to use the center as a
shelter emergencies. 7, waddid
“They just don’t want the y
building messed up,” said |
Spears. He and White also |
said that the senior center
and Red Cross staff had
been left out of the process
of choosing a shelter, even
though the directors of both |
See Shelter, 3A
City seeks grant
to improve park
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
Patriot's Park, located in
downtown Kings Mountain,
hosts many events through-
out the year. With the
downtown area of the city
being revitalized and
improved through the
downtown incentive plan
and the new murals, the
park is also going to be
made into a nicer place for
citizens to gather.
Right now, city officials
are looking at a plan to
make the park more people
friendly, said Mayor Rick
Murphrey. The park will be
made more accessible to the
public with more benches,
picnic tables, and trees.
“With more and more
activity there, we want to
make sure it’s a safe area,”
said Murphrey:.
The park improvement
plan is part of the plan to
make Kings Mountain more
accessible to the public, he
said. The plan, known as
“active living by design,”
also includes making more
bike paths, greenways, and
sidewalks to better connect
See Park, 3A
Smallpox vaccinations
will begin in February
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
Cleveland County Health
Department workers may
see the first stage of small-
pox vaccinations soon.
Although the first stage of
vaccinations is expected to
begin this week throughout
the United States, Cleveland
County will probably have
to wait until mid-February.
The vaccinations are a part
of the plan set forth by the
Bush administration as part
of Homeland Security.
The smallpox vaccinations
Shelby
529 New Hope Road 106 S Lafayette St.
704-484-6200
will be given in three stages.
The first stage will probably
take place in mid-February
in Cleveland County and
will include certain workers
in the health department,
said Gay Melton, RN and
Adult Health Nursing
Supervisor in the health
department. Melton is also
over the immunization
department in Cleveland
County.
In the second stage of the
process, vaccinations will be
offered to other people in
See Smallpox, 2A
A ESS EE
Bessemer City
225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906
iv an® FP