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Thursday, March 13, 2003
d
Vol. 115 No. 11
Since 1889
wilountaineers
_ eliminated
wil in Western
Regionals
6A
50 Cents
—g~
1st grader
with knife
suspended
for a day
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
A Grover Elementary
School first grader was sus-
pended for one day last
week for taking a small
pocketknife on a school bus.
Principal Jackie Lavender
said the knife looked like a
toy, but actually had a “one
to one-half inch” blade in it.
She said, legally, the knife
would not be considered a
weapon but it is considered
a weapon in the Kings
Mountain District School's
“zero tolerance” weapons
policy. Because of that, a
report had to be filed with
the Cleveland County
Sheriff's Department and it
will go on the school’s State
Violence Report.
Lavender said the inci-
dent was the first weapons
incident of the year at the
school. She said the school
normally has about one
case a year of a child bring-
ing a pocketknife to school.
The child apparently
showed the knife to some
other kids on the bus, she
said.
“He said his daddy knew
he had it, but I'm not so
sure about that,” she said.
“His mother said they did
not know he had it. It
looked like a toy; butte
actually had a little short
blade that flipped out just
like a toy.”
Left turn to
be eliminated
at Highway 74
bypass bridge
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
The North Carolina
Department of
Transportation will soon
eliminate the westbound
left turn at the Business
74 /Bypass 74 bridge near
Bethware School.
Cardinal Construction,
Inc. of Indian Trail has been
awarded the $30,000 project
that should begin around
April 1 and be completed
by May 1.
According to Ron
Humphries, DDC Engineer
with the Division of
Highways, elimination of
the turn is due to the heavy
volume of traffic and acci-
dents at the bridge.
Humphries said a recent
3-year study revealed that
there were five crashes at
the site. Since the study, .
- there have been more crash-
es, including one fatality.
When the project is com-
pete, all westbound traffic
on Business 74 will have to
go around the right-turn
loop to gain entrance to
Bypass 74 West. East-bound
traffic from State Road 1001"
will continue to turn right
to gain access to Bypass 74
West.
Concrete traffic islands
will be constructed to pre-
vent motorists from making
an illegal turn.
During the construction
period, the NC Highway
Patrol will be monitoring
the area to ensure safety of
workers and the motoring
public.
See Left Turn, 10A
9
Qe
hl
HOMETOWN
BANK
{SWINGING INTO SPRING]
GARY STEWART / HERALD
Destiny, left, and Allie Washington took advantage of Tuesday's warm, sunny weather
to get in some play time at the Kids Playground at Jake Early Sports Complex.
KM Council
begins work
on budget
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
The Kings Mountain City
Council held a special meet-
ing on Tuesday evening to
discuss the budget for 2003-
2004. At the work session,
the Council members lis-
‘tened and asked questions
as Interim City Manager
Jimmy Maney and Finance
Director Lori Hall presented
on the proposed budget.
Maney commended the
Council for under-spending
the 2002-2003 budget in
every area except for natural
gas so far. The cost of natu-
ral gas jumped dramatically
at the end of February. The
Council has not been dip-
ping into the fund balances
at all, said Maney.
“Your company, so to
speak, is looking good,” he
told the Council members.
“In the bad economic situa-
tions nationwide, we're in
good shape.”
The new budget includes
no tax or utility increases for
citizens, something that
Maney, Mayor Rick
Murphrey, and all the
Council members praised
during the meeting.
“If there's a city around
«that can make this state-
ment, let me know, and I'll
come out of retirement,”
See Budget, 10A
Staff Writer
community.
Old depot where solders once said bye
to become home of Southern Arts Society
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
The old depot has seen a lot
during its time in Kings
Mountain. It has seen soldiers off
to war and then home again. It
has seen Presidents and other
politicians on their way through
Kings Mountain. It held the sen-
ior citizens of the area for approx-
imately 25 years. Now, it is going
to hold art.
The City Council voted in
December to lease the depot to
the Southern Arts Society. At the
February meeting, they voted to
| FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celetrating 129 Years
. spend $30,000 to fix the roof of
the building. The new roof is
needed to keep the building safe,
said Pat Childers, fundraising
chair of the Southern Arts Society.
The original depot roof collapsed.
Once the city finishes the new
roof and ceiling, Childers said the
society will need to redo the
floors of the building and paint.
They also plan to furnish it even-
tually. They will redo the yard
around the building as well.
Once it is finished the depot will
house a children’s gallery and an
adult gallery, as well as a library
of art books, said Johnsie Reavis,
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
704-739-4782
ABIGAIL WOLFORD / HERALD
The old depot is being converted into a n arts center by the Southern Arts Society, with the help of the
treasurer of the Southern Arts
Society.
the award.
White has served on
the reserves part-time :
since 1976. Whenever the police depart
ment is short on help, they call him, he said.
City to begin
interviewing
for manager
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
City Council members
held another closed session
on Tuesday evening to dis-
cuss the city manager appli-
cations. Although no deci-
sion has been made yet,
they have managed to nar-
row down the number of
candidates, said Mayor Rick
Murphrey.
Less than ten candidates
for the position are left, he
said. Now the Council will
start calling the remaining
candidates for interviews,
he said. Hopefully, the
Council will choose a new
city manager by June or
sooner, he said. :
“This is just part of an
ongoing, continuing
process,” he said.
The current city manager,
Jimmy Maney, retired effec-
tive December 31, but he
agreed to stay on as interim
city manager until his
replacement is chosen.
~The city advertised the
position in many state and
See Manager, 3A
KM PEOPLE
White just
loves to help
K. Mountain
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
For 27 years, Raeford White, Jr. has been
serving Kings Mountain as a reserve officer
in the police department. For 25years, he
served as a volunteer reserve officer.
Recently, Region C
honored him with an
award for his service.
White was named
Reserve Officer of the
Year for Region C for §
2002 at an awards cer-
emony at the end of
January. Region C is
made up of Cleveland
Rutherford, Polk, and
McDowell Counties.
White said he was
very honored to get
WHITE ,
Mostly he does patrol, although for a little
over a year, he was part of a team that dealt
with license checks, surveillance, and search
“We need all the help we can
get,” said Childers. “We know
we're going to have to do a lot of
the work ourselves.” She said in
addition to monetary donations,
the group also needs people who
are willing to donate their time to
help with the project. The whole
building needs to be completely
cleaned before any of the other
renovation can be done, she said.
The goal of the group is to keep
the building as historical as possi-
ble, said Childers. Most of the
See Depot, 3A
Gastonia
704-865-1233
Shelby .
529 New Hope Road 106 S Lafayette St.
704-484-6200
warrants to find drug dealers and users.
He works approximately 24 hours each
week for the police department. Until two
years ago, White was strictly a volunteer.
Now the reserve members get paid a little
bit, he said.
Although he enjoys law enforcement,
White worked full-time for Carolina Freight
in Cherryville until he retired in September,
2001. He said the pay and benefits were
better with Carolina Freight, so he never
pursued a full-time law enforcement posi-
tion.
See White, 3A
Bessemer City
225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906