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~ June 5, 2003 Grover proposed budget $542,872 BY ABIGAIL WOLFORD Staff Writer Grover Town Council presented its proposed 2003-2004 budget at its Wednesday meeting last week. The total proposed budget is $542,872. A public hearing will be held at the June 30 meeting before the Council votes on the budget. The proposed budget is on display at Town Hall for citizens who want to look at it. “The tax rate is the same as it’s been for many years. There's no change in taxes,” said Mayor Bill Favell. “The only changes we had- -and we had to do that--was in water and sewer.” Water and sewer rates did go up slightly . The rates for 0-2,000 gal- lons of water will be $9.14, with each additional thousand being $3.32 this year. Last year, 0-2,000 cost $8.64, with each additional thousand being $3.07. Sewer rates will be raised from $10.26 to $10.76 for 0-2,000 gallons. An additional 1,000 gallons will cost $4.13, as compared to $3.88 last year. Trash service fees will also be raised from $4 last year to $5 this year. The budget will be much the same as it has been in previous years. The Council did hear a request for additional funding from the Grover Volunteer Fire Department at its last meeting. The department needs to buy a new truck and does not currently have the funds to do so. However, the Council chose to deny the request because of lack of funds. The Council also continued to discuss the use of the town’s park for the third month in a row. Councilman Bill Willis presented a list of suggestions to the Council: for their consideration. His list included leaving the ballfield open on a first come--first served basis, except when it is reserved for events like Little League games. Under his suggestions, the picnic shelter could be reserved at least two days before its intended usage day for a $10 fee. The ballfield could be reserved for a maximum of four hours at a time for a $10 fee and at least two days’ notice. The $10 fee could be waived in either case with the permission of the Town Council. Also, the $10 fee could be refunded if the reserva- The Kings Mountain Herald tion was cancelled at least one day ahead of time. The suggestions also would give the Town Clerk permission to devi- ate from the rules as needed. Willis said he did not include the use of the restrooms in his sugges- tions because he said he felt it was a non-issue. Citizens should be allowed to use the restrooms, and they should not be charged $10 just to get the key to them. “I don’t feel that we should charge people to use the restrooms. The restrooms ought to fall under how we operate the park,” he said. Mayor Pro Tem Max Rollins took issue with most of Willis’ sugges- tions. He said that adults should not be allowed to use the ballfield at all, so the first come, first served idea would not work at all. He said the ballfield should be restrict- ed to kids ages 12 and under. Since the ballfield is already pretty much restricted to kids, the $10 fee has not been applied to them, although the Council added the fee to its park rules in 1993. Rollins also noted that restricting the ball- field to children would keep out the industrial leagues. Mickey Corry, the town’s lawyer, said that some towns offer refunds to those who clean up the park after they use it. Currently, Grover does not offer refunds. Barbara Barrett, town clerk, said that the fences are not high enough around the ballfield to keep the balls from hitting the people who are using the walking track, which goes around the perimeter of the ballfield. “I think citizens are intelligent enough to be able to use both the ballfield and the walking track,” said Willis. Willis also suggested that the town try to come up with a way to hire someone to spend a couple hours a day to clean the park. The other Council members refused to second his motion to try to find the money in the budget to do so. Willis said a part-time person would cost the town about $5,200 at most. “I don’t know where the money could come from,” he said. He suggested that the Council look into applying for grants to help maintain the park. Vandalism also briefly came up as a reason for keeping the ball- ABIGAIL From 4A Where did this come from? I'm really not sure. With the new No Child Left Behind laws, the arts have taken another blow. Teachers are required to spend so much time testing and preparing for testing that they do not have time to teach the children about the beauty of the arts. You see, art education is not necessary for kids. They only need to learn how to read, write, and calculate, at least in the eyes of many of our leg- islators. However, without the arts, many of the children will never find the free- dom offered by such creative expres- sion. They will be forced into a text book mode where they never find room to breathe. In other words, many of them will be left behind, simply hy lack of exposure to life. My passion is poetry, another art which is too often considered expend- able. How often are kids encouraged to write poetry in school? They are never taught to appreciate the beauty of poetry. How can we teach history without teaching students the impact that poetry has made on it. Poets and writers often used their art to bring about social change. Many poets in England used their art to humanize the slave trade and thus get it abolished. Writers like Chaucer pre- served one of our most important pic- tures of medieval life in his book, Canterbury Tales. Art is a vital part of our community and of our world. Through art, people everywhere can express their joys and their sorrows. Art is definitely not expendable. I have spoken to many of Ms. Snow's . friends this week and have no doubt that she will be sorely missed in Kings Mountain. However, the city can keep her memory alive by supporting the arts that she loved. JIM From 4A He did open a dental office in Dallas, Texas and was doing a thriving busi- ness until his aim was off one night in a bar. That's when he killed the first man he wasn’t aiming at. By the next . day, his office was/closed and Holliday had left for parts unknown. He suffered from Tuberculosis, and it is possible he had a coughing spasm which spoiled his aim, although: it did happen twice. Holliday died in a hospital outside Denver from Tuberculosis. He was 36 years old at the time. Most people don’t remember that two of the Earps were tried for murder after the OK Corral shootout, which incidentally didn’t happen at the OK Corral, but in a vacant lot beside the OK Corral. Sheriff Behan signed warrants against the Earps and brought them and Doc Holliday to trial, but they were acquitted. Earp was not the shining hero por : trayed on countless movie and TV screens. He was nothing more than a politician. He was also a gambler, and there is the possibility he may have sold a few cows that didn’t belong to him. Wyatt favored a shotgun as his weapon of choice. He never wore a strapped-down, holstered six-shooter. He wore a long duster or a topcoat, and carried his pistols in the pockets. He kept his pockets greased to help him get the firearms out faster. Earp died in 1929 in Los Angeles, where he had made a good living talk- ing about the old days in Dodge City and Tombstone, and by serving as a technical expert on western movies. LETTERS From 4A not let the basketball coach off for half his season so he can focus on AAU bas- ketball? I think the point that was being made in Mr. Smith's editorial was if the AD doesn’t show up for sporting events, then coaches in his program will do the same. This is short-chang- ing a very fine group of student ath- letes we have in KM, cheerleaders included. I imagine it would be hard to evalu- ate cheerleaders as a coach if you are not present. It is not parents responsi- bility to be in charge of the cheerlead- ers. If so, let's pay all of the parents as coaches. In my opinion, if Ms. Mabry wants to speak out and defend someone it needs to be our children, some who are obviously being treated unfairly at KMHS. White, black, blue and green, they are all our children. At least Mr. Smith and his group are speaking up, which is more than I can say for a lot of our coaches and parents. In my opinion the lack of leadership from our athletic director and principal is dividing the community. It’s time to start a healing process because it will only get worse. With a petition with over 500 names already, the first important step in the healing process would be to ask for the AD’s resigna- tion before everyone is pulled down by this mess we have in our school sports program. Chris Brown Grover Letters policy We appreaciate your letters and encourage you to write. Because we receive so many letters, however, we must impose guidelines to ensure that as many readers as possible are able to share their views. We therefore limit the number of letters that any one per- son may have published to one a month. Also, we ask that you keep . your letters short, no more than two pages double-spaced or one page sin- gle-spaced. Handwritten letters are accepted, but must be legible. We will not publish third party let- ters, unsolicited poems, thank-you let- ters or letters from anonymous writers; names, addresses, and phone numbers must be included and letters must be signed in ink. We reserve the right to edit letters for grammar, punctuation, clarity, brevity and content. Letters must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Monday of the week they are to be published. Mail letters to Publisher Mike Blanton, P.O. Box 769, Kings Mountain, NC 28086 or fax them to (704) 739-0611. News Deadlines The following deadlines apply for news items. Deadline for B Section news is 12 noon Monday. This includes lifestyles news, people stories, weddings, engagements, anniversaries, reunions, club news, church news, business news, school news and community news. Deadline for A Section news is 5 p.m. Tuesday. This includes city and county news, sports, and miscellaneous items. In cases of Tuesday night meetings and ball games, items will be taken up to 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. )REMIE’ A Federal Credit Union AN. We do business in accordance with the Federal Fair Housing Law and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. VIN RANI IER BD NCUA eas Lon MRAGGMRE, es emsowa avatar £QUAL ADUSING LENDER Attention Anvil Knitwear Employees In these difficult economic times, be careful who you ask for help. All financial institutions are not created equal. Your credit union operates as a non-profit organization dedicated to the ideal of “People Helping People’. We want to do everything we can to help you meet your short-term financial needs while you find new work. Even though your current income may be reduced or stopped, we may be able to help you bridge the gap. Call a financial services specialist today and see how we can help you. Because you are a MEMBER of your credit union, not just a customer, we consider more than just numbers when we talk to you.—we consider your character. We know you as a person and we have your best interest at heart. Page 5A field and restrooms closed. “I will not throw up my hands for a few kids destroying stuff and refuse to use the town’s facilities,” said Willis. “The park is the one thing we have that citizens and people from out of town come to and seem to enjoy. We can’t stop the vandalism. It’s going to hap- pen.” Willis also cited the interest the citizens have shown in the park. They signed a petition a few months ago stating that they would like to see the ballfield and restrooms opened up while the park is open. Rollins discounted the petition, saying that those people who signed it probably would never use the park anyway. “It doesn’t make any difference what they think,” he said. Jackie Bennett, the citizen who began the discussion of the park by presenting the petition to the Town Council in March, spoke briefly during the citizen recogni- tion time at the end of the meeting. “I don’t think it [park] should be just for the youth. The taxpayers built the park, and they should be able to use it,” she said. Pregnancy Resource Center sets parenting/Bible course The Pregnancy Resource Center of Cleveland County will sponsor a six-week par- enting/Bible study group Lafayette St., Shelby. For more information call Nancy or Melissa at 487- 4357. beginning Tuesday, June 3. The group will meet each Tuesday from 6:30-8 p.m. at the center, located at 232 S. 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The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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June 5, 2003, edition 1
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