Thursday, April 17, 2003
Vol. 115 No.16
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Phil Ponder named
KM'’s City Manager
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
On Wednesday evening,
Kings Mountain officials
announced that they had cho-
sen a new city manager: Phillip
Ponder, Jr.
“Phil will do an excellent job
for us. I'm very confident of
that,” said Mayor Rick
Murphrey. “He comes highly
recommended.”
Ponder will probably begin
working in Kings Mountain in a
tion,” said Ponder. “I would
like to keep it functioning as it
is. I've known Jimmy Maney
for several years. He's done a
good job. Hopefully, I would
be able to continue it.”
Ponder will work with
Maney to create a smooth tran-
sition until Maney leaves at the
end of May. Since Ponder lives
so close to Kings Mountain
already, he will be able to help
create a smooth transition that
is unusual for a city manager
transit administrator in
Gastonia since October, 2001.
Previously, he served as city
manager of Mount Holly for
seven years and as assistant city
manager of Albemarle for five
years. He is a graduate of High
. Point College and University of
North Carolina at Charlotte,
where he earned his MPA
degree.
He said he applied for the
Kings Mountain position
because he thought Kings
a tour of the city by Maney.
Ponder said he plans to move
to Kings Mountain, even
though he only lives about thir-
ty minutes away right now. He
said he has already started
looking for a home.
He was born in Cleveland,
Ohio, although he spent most
of his early life in Virginia,
about forty miles from
Washington, D.C. He said he
liked North Carolina and decid-
ed to stay here after he graduat-
month. He said his main goal
for the job is to continue doing
the good job that the former
city manager, Jimmy Maney,
has done.
“From looking at the audit,
the city’s in very good condi-
position, said Murphrey.
Ponder has fifteen years of
municipal experience already.
He was the assistant county
manager for Gaston County for
three years and has served as
the equipment services and
Mountain would be an interest-
ing place to live and work. He
had previously visited the bat-
tleground and driven through
the city. He had also attended a
regional managers’ meeting in
Kings Mountain and been given
the airport.
GARY STEWART / HERALD
A tractor-trailer making a stop at the Oglebay-Norton warehouse on Grover Road Friday clipped a utility Role, doing heavy
damage to the trailer and knocking out the power to nearby Duke Power customers.
Rain causes sewage spills
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
If Kings Mountain gets any more
rain this month, it could reach a record
amount of rainfall for April. So far this
month, the city has received 8.16 inch-
es of rain, said Kenneth Kitzmiller, a
local man who has kept records of
Kings Mountain's weather for over
twenty years.
Because of all the rain, Kings
Mountain did have three sanitary
sewer overflows on April 10. The
overflows were caused by all of the
rain the area got last week. The first
overflow was at Rhodes Avenue and
Henry Street and involved 1,500 gal-
lons. The overflow did not reach the
state’s water.
The second overflow involved 15,000
gallons of sewage at Wilson Street, and
the sewage did reach Kings Creek. The
third involved 18,000 gallons at Beason
Creek Pump Station and reached
Beason Creek.
Dennis Wells, director of water dis-
tribution and collection systems, said
the situation was maintained quickly.
One overflow lasted a couple of hours,
while another lasted about four hours.
The situation is fixed, and the city has
had no more problems since then, said
Wells.
“It’s just one of these things that hap-
pens. I'm real surprised it hasn't hap
pened earlier,” said Wells.
Kings Mountain received 1.38 inches
of rain on Wednesday and 2.19 inches
See Rain, 3A
KINGS MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
Rev. Wright retiring
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
For the last eight years, Rev. Clarence
Wright has been pastoring two churches in
Kings Mountain. He is one of a few pastors
in Kings Mountain to face the challenge of
leading more than one flock at a time.
Wright is the pastor of St. Paul United
Methodist Church and Galilee United
Methodist Church. Each Sunday he con-
ducts a service at each church. One of the
services starts at 9:30 and the other at 11.
“It’s wonderful, but it’s different,” said
Wright, of pastoring two churches. “It’s
something you really have to get used to.
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Each church is different.”
Each church has its own personality, he
said. He said he does not have time
between services to hang around with the
congregation members. He has to leave
immediately to make it to his second serv-
ice.
He said he uses the same manuscript for
each sermon, but the sermon never ends up
being the same.
“It’s never the same. My wife tells me
that,” he said.
The basics for each sermon are the same.
For example, he preaches from the same
See Wright, 3A
Kings Mountain Gastonia
300 W. Mountain St.
704-739-4782 704-865-1233
ed from High Point. He said he
especially likes this area
because it is close to everything:
the mountains, the beach, and
“I like the North Carolina
See Ponder, 3A
REV. CLARENCE WRIGHT
GARY STEWART / HERALD
Former Mount Holly City Manager Phil
Ponder has been named new City Manager for
Kings Mountain, succeeding Jimmy Maney,
who recently retired.
CrossWalk begins
Thursday night
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
Clear weather this week-
end means that CrossWalk,
Kings Mountain's outdoor
Easter drama, will take place
in downtown Kings
Mountain. The event was
supposed to take place last
weekend, but rain during the
week delayed it.
CrossWalk will take place
on Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday this week. The
Thursday performance times
will be 7:30 and 8:30 p.m.,
and the Friday and Saturday
performance times will be
7:30, 8:30, and 9:30 p.m.
The drama tells the story
of the last days of Jesus’ life
on earth. The scenery is life
size, and visitors are led
through the drama on foot.
Since set construction has
to start early in the week,
organizers were unable to
get the set put up last week
because of the rain, even
though the weather eventu-
ally cleared up for the week-
end. This week, they did not
have any problems.
Delaying the event did
bring much more work for
the organizers since they had
to contact everyone
involved, plus the ticket-
holders, venues, volunteers,
rental agencies, and insur-
ance companies involved in
the performance.
“It hasn’t been easy, but
we'll certainly have a better
See CrossWalk, 3A
Sunrise service
set at cemetery
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD
Staff Writer
The community Easter
sunrise service will take
place at 6:30 a.m. Sunday, at
the Mountain Rest
Cemetery.
“I don’t know how many
years it’s taken place, but I
know it is quite a tradition
in the community,” said
Rev. Eddie Gray, of East
Gold Street Wesleyan
Church. He said he was
looking forward to remem-
bering the resurrection early
in the morning on Easter.
Rev. Robert Haynes, of
Temple Baptist Church, will
bring the message. Rev. Jeff
Hensley, of Kings Mountain
Baptist, will pray at the
service.
Congregational singing
and special music will also
be a part of the service.
Tanisha Kannedy, from
Peoples Baptist Church, will
-sing a solo. Linda Dixon,
from Central United
Methodist, will lead the
congregation in “He Lives.”
The service will last approx-
imately 30 minutes.
People will gather at the
cement slab platform in the
middle of the cemetery. A
few chairs will be available
for those who need them.
Some people usually stand
See Sunrise, 3A
Firehouse Cook-off
set at Walking Track
BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD comprised of approximately
Staff Writer 40 teams from as far away
The city has a full week- as Illinois competing in vari-
end planned in addition to
the CrossWalk performance
which was delayed until
this weekend.
On Friday evening, the
seventh annual Firehouse
Cook-off will begin at 6 p.m.
at the walking track. On
Saturday morning, at 10
a.m., an Easter egg hunt will
be held for the children at
the walking track, as well.
The Firehouse Cook-off is
Shelby
529 New Hope Road 106 S Lafayette St.
704-484-6200
ous barbecue cooking cate-
gories. Since this is a state
event, the winner will be
invited to the prestigious
Jack Daniels World
Champion Cook-Off in
Lynchburg, Tennessee.
The O’Kaysions, a group
known for their number one
hit, “I'm a Girl Watcher,”
will perform from 8-11 p.m.
at the walking track on
See Cook-off, 3A
Bessemer City
225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906
cs