Thursday, April 15, 2004
FIRE
‘EM
UP
Firehouse Cook-off
slated this weekend
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Competitors from near
and far will converge on
Kings Mountain this week-
end for the Firehouse BBQ
Cook-off.
Joe Bumgardner and Ray
Robinson of the Backyard
BBQ team won't have far to
go. The Kings Mountain
men have competed for
over a decade.
Bumgardner learned his
way around the kitchen
while spending 21 years in
the National Guard work-
ing in food services.
“I've always loved to
cook,” he said.
According to
Bumgardner, the team com-
petes mostly for bragging
rights.
“It’s good clean fun, just
like going camping except
everybody is cooking some-
thing good.”
Don Harwell of
Mooresville served as a
table captain during last
year’s cook-off. This year he
and wife Debby Harwell
return as competitors.
The Harwells’ entrance
into the world of competi-
tive cooking started the
Christmas before when
Debby Harwell gave her
husband barbecue cooking
school tuition. She thought
he would return home with
a better grilling technique.
Instead, he had found a
new hobby for both of
them.
Soon after, the couple
were driving to Houston,
Texas to pick up a custom-
made cooker. Debby
Harwell compares the pur-
chase to a bass boat.
“He was so excited to get
his cooker,” she said.
By June the Harwells had
entered their first cornpeti-
tion. They originally agreed
to help a friend cook in the
Tryon contest. When he
cancelled at the last minute,
the couple took over.
“The next thing we knew,
we were competing,”
Debby Harwell said.
Later that summer they
competed in Gastonia and
Shelby.
“We weren't last. That
* was always our goal, not to
be last. Each time we got a
See Cook-off, 3A
Drunk driving demonstration
has impact on KM students
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Despite their laughter, Kings Mountain
High School students learned a serious les-
“l thought | was
going that way
but | was going
this way.”
son Thursday. Farm Bureau
staff and members visited
campus for a drunk driving
simulation demonstration.
Students took to the wheel
of a golf cart. They wore
goggles which duplicate
alcohol impairment. Driving
the golf cart through an
obstacle course, students
swerved, attempting to miss
orange cones. Only one stu-
dent was able to navigate the
course without hitting any.
“I thought [ was going that way but I was
going this way,” said Senior Princess Wade,
gesturing wildly after her drive through the
course.
bt
Brg A A I a A gs pi
KINGS MOUNTAIN
Vol. 116 No. 16 Since 1889
—— HOPPIN’ DOWN THE BUNNY TRAIL ——
JOSEPH BRYMER / HERALD
Two-year-old Parker McGuire hunts for Easter eggs during Saturday’s hunt spon-
sored by the City of Kings Mountain at Patriots Park. Below, five-year-old Yavior:
Davis participates in the Bunny Hop. ae CEA ; x
Kids celebrate
Easter with
games at park
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Amidst the encouraging cheers of par-
ents and older siblings, they stuffed
almost 3,000 toy-filled plastic eggs into
pastel baskets, buckets and bags
Saturday morning. The children ranging
from toddlers to nine years old partici-
pated in the City of Kings Mountain’s
Easter celebration.
“Hurry up, go, get all you can,” par-
ents yelled as their offspring picked up
the pink, yellow, purple, red and blue
eggs.
The fiercest competition was among
seven to nine-year-olds. Dillon Frederick
was among those older kids scrambling
for the eggs. The seven-year-old says
finding eggs is his favorite part of the
holiday. His mom, Tanya Abdi, said
Saturday morning that the bunny will
leave Dillon a new outfit that he'll wear
to sunrise service.
Linda Carpenter has made the egg
hunt an annual tradition for daughter,
See Easter, 3A
Wade, who admits she initially thought
the course would be easy, hit five cones.
Romma Haskins did one better, hitting
four cones.
“Oh my gosh, I didn’t know what to
think. You see it but it’s not
there,” she said. “I don’t
want to drink and drive. I
don’t want to find out what
it's really like.”
A brave volunteer,
Bethlehem Fire Department
member Avery Turbyfill,
rode along on the golf cart.
“They can’t see. They don’t
know which cones to go
Princess Wade
KMHS senior
through. They think it’s
moving,” he said.
School Resource Officer PM. King helped
out, giving road sobriety tests to stu
dents wearing the goggles.
“It’s real good for the kids. They've
See Driving, 3A
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!
oN a Be
50 Cents
KM
may borrow
$1.48 million
for water and
sewer projects
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
The City of Kings
Mountain plans to borrow
$1.48 million for water and
sewer projects.
An eastside flow transfer
tops the list. In a memo
interim City Manager Gary
Hicks distributed to Kings
Mountain City Council,
plans call for picking up 80
to 90 percent of the flow
currently going to the City
of Gastonia.
Kings Mountain is paying
its neighbor between
$45,000 and $55,000 per
month for waste water treat-
ment, according to the
memo. Officials estimate an
80 percent cost savings
resulting in an average of
$40,000 monthly. This figure
does not include electricity
or maintenance for the sta-
tion.
New pumps are needed at
both the Wilson and Second
streets lift stations. Wilson
Street also needs a new wet
well, force main and sewer
work. Second Street will
need electrical work and
relocation above ground.
Moss Lake needs dredg-
ing. According to state esti-
mates, lakes lose one-half to
one percent of capacity each
year. Officials say a conser-
vative estimate puts Moss
Lake at 15 percent lost
capacity since it was built 37
years ago.
' Anew connection
between the First and
Second streets lift stations
and new lines should elimi-
nate problems including
basement flooding, accord-
ing to the memo.
The project also includes
repair of concrete at City
Lake Dam. The repairs were
approved in 1994 and now
state officials are pressuring
the city to do the work, the
memo read.
Two additional pump sta-
tions and a force main
where Canterbury Road
crosses a creek to the Floyd
Street station will add
$350,000 to the project.
During its March meeting,
city council gave Hicks per-
mission to collect informa-
tion on interest rates for a
project loan. In an interview
Friday, he said he hopes to
have those figures available
within two months. Council
approval will be required
before any money is bor-
rowed.
Water Director
Walt Ollis dies
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
As word spread through
Kings Mountain Monday of
the sudden
death of
city Water
Resources
Director
Walt Ollis,
friends and §
co-workers
praised the
man.
Ollis, 68,
died
Monday WALT OLLIS
morning at his home.
“I always considered Walt
a friend. He meant so much
to all of us at the city,”
Mayor Rick Murphrey said.
Murphrey described Ollis
as a team player and an
expert on water and sewer.
He was willing to work long
hours and help other
departments.
Murphrey, who works in
textiles, said Ollis had a
good working relationship
with local industry engi-
neers whose companies
were water customers.
Water and Sewer
Maintenance Director
Dennis Wells said Monday
afternoon that he lost a
mentor.
“You can’t replace that
kind of knowledge,” Wells
said. “He'll be missed great-
ly.”
Wells said Ollis some-
times spoke of retiring. The
younger man would tease
him, saying he had to wait
14 more years until he could
‘retire as well.
Their relationship extend-
ed beyond work. It was in
Ollis’ Sunday school class
that Wells began to discern a
calling to the ministry. He
now pastors Victory Baptist.
Wells, along with Rev.
See Ollis, 3A
ANDIE BRYMER / HERALD
Junior Russ Putnam hit four cones while driving during a drunk driving simulation at
Kings Mountain High School Thursday.
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