The
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Vol. 117 No. 17
Since 1889 50 Cents
ts...
_ Aicks going
into KM Sports
Hall of Fame
1B
KM Relay
for Life
Friday
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Kings Mountain residents will lace up their
walking shoes Friday night to do battle
against cancer.
The American Cancer Society holds its sig-
nature fund raiser, Relay for Life, Friday
night and early Saturday morning at the
municipal walking track adjacent to the
YMCA.
Opening ceremonies begin at 6 p.m. The
survivors lap starts at 6:30 p.m. and the
parade of teams at 6:45 p.m.
Katie’s Small Wonders will sponsor a bal-
loon launch at 7 p.m. Scott Moss and Five
Point Remedy will perform from 7:15 to 8
p.m. Echo 1313 takes the stage from 8 to 8:45
am.
Cathy Powell and Rev. Jody Griffin will
speak from 8:45 to 9 p.m.
Luminaries will be lit at 9 p.m. A $10 dona-
tion sponsors one luminary in honor or mem-
ory of someone with cancer. Sponsorship can
be purchased the night of Relay.
Miss Kings Mountain Relay will be select-
ed at 11:30 p.m. during a womanless beauty
pageant.
Walkers are encouraged to wear red, white
and blue from 1 to 2 a.m., pajamas from 2 to
3 a.m. and crazy hats from 3 to 4 a.m.
Breakfast will be served at 5 a.m. YMCA
Wellness Director Rosemary Seuss will lead
aerobics at 6 a.m. Closing ceremonies are at 7
a.m.
Purple ribbons, the official color of Relay,
are decorating downtown street lights. This
has been proclaimed Relay Week.
. «¢'% See Relay, 5A
cual
City Manager
gets pay raise
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Kings Mountain City Manager Greg
"McGinnis got a $12,500 raise during Tuesday
night's city council meeting.
The council gave McGinnis a favorable
evaluation and approved the raise during a
closed session. His salary is now $77,500.
McGinnis has been on the job six months.
In a five to two vote council approved a
rezoning request which would allow com-
mercial development of a tract at the intersec-
tion of Shelby and El Bethel roads. An adja-
cent tract also owned by developer Ronnie
Whetstine was already zoned neighborhood
business.
Council members Brenda Ross and Kay
Hambright voted against the request.
Whetstine said he would probably build a
strip mall. No one spoke out against the plan
during the public hearing.
Twenty Kings Mountain High School stu-
dents participated in an essay contest spon
See Raise, 9A
KM
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
increase in water and sewer
rates for residential customers
inside the city limits. That
breaks down to $1.82 more a
month or six cents a day for the
average customer, according to
McGinnis.
Mayor Rick Murphrey said
the loss of textile plants in the
early 2000s has cost the city,
over $1 million in revenue,
making the proposed rate
increase inevitable. Anvil Knit
made up 17 percent of the total
water and sewer revenue and
Dye Masters another eight per-
cent, according to Murphrey.
The proposed hike would
mean a 10 percent increase for
residential customers living out-
side the city. Inside- city-busi-
nesses would pay four percent
more and those outside the city,
eight percent more. This would
generate an estimated revenue
increase of $181,883.
Water and sewer cut-on fees
are proposed to-go from $10 to
$15 for all classifications which
-is estimated to bring in $4,215
Kings Mountain residents
won't face a hike in property
taxes during the next fiscal year
but water, sewer, gas and
garbage rate increases are pro- ~
posed as part of a $27.9 million
budget.
During a Monday afternoon
budget work session at
Crowder’s Mountain State Park,
City Manager Greg McGinnis
proposed a five percent
ANDIE BRYMER / HERALD
Creek runs parallel to U.S. 74 near the N.C. 161 exit.
DOT can’t block access
because people cut fence
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
four-foot woven wire fence running between
private property and the right-of-way is in bad
shape. A section of fencing large enough to
allow access has been cut near the swimming
hole.
“When we fix the fence it’s not going to keep
the kids from swimming,” Spangler said.
Department of Transportation officials say
there is nothing beyond repairing a fence that
they can do to limit access to a swimming hole
on a state right-of-way.
roposed 2005-06
budget is $27.9 million
——— SWIMMING HOLE RAISES CONCERN————
A creek running parallel to U.S. 74 near the
N.C. 161 exit has widened into a natural pool.
Savannah Williams, a Kings Mountain grand-
mother, says the swimming pool is attracting
children. Williams has forbidden her grandson
from swimming in it but fears someone else’s
‘child may drown.
Gary Spangler, a DOT engineer, says the
He said access fences are in place to distin-
guish where state rights-of-way begin and to
keep dogs away from highways. People often
cut the fences, according to Spangler.
Because it is so late in the state fiscal year,
requests for unbudgeted repairs require special
approval. Spangler said he will make the
See Swin, 5A
Schools
KINGS MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
more a year. A proposed
increase in tap fees will bring in
an estimated $29,540 more.
This city last raised water and
sewer rates in 1992, Murphrey
said. Electric rates are locked in !
until 2008. !
McGinnis proposed a five
percent increase in the base rate -
on gas. That translates to $3.16 a.
month or 11 cents a day. This is
estimated to garner $90,000. Gas
bills are figured using a two-
step formula - a stable base
See Budget, 5A
George
Mauney §
dies at
age 84
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Retired Kings Mountain tex- y
tile executive George Hoffman | £
Mauney died Saturday at age en
84. : : oo
Mauney owned Mauney ©
Mills, served in the U.S. Navy : Cr
during World War II and was i 3
active in civic life in Kings : {
Mountain. 8
Three days after graduating |
from North Carolina State 2
University with a textiles
degree, Mauney was on his
way to Notre Dame for the
Navy's basic training. After six
weeks of learning to salute and
march, he was sent to the
Caribbean.
While Mauney had joined
the Navy thinking he would
work as a textile inspector, he -.
was assigned to a mine sweep-
ing ship. Captain Mauney and
his crew swept channels in the
Caribbean for one year.
Later Mauney was sent to San
Francisco where he boarded
the USS General John Pope for
the South Pacific. Mauney and
his crew patrolled the waters
and escorted other ships.
Eleven ships were under his
command.
Mauney and his men were
slated to be part of the inva-
sion of Iwo Jima but missed it
when a generator failed on
board ship.
See Mauney, 5A.
expect
big drop
in funds
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Drastic reductions in edu-
cation funding are expected
from the state but that
could change over the next
few weeks, Cleveland
County Schools’ board
members learned Monday
night.
The state currently is
planning a 2.5 percent or
$165 million decrease,
according to CCS Finance
Director David Lee. The bill
is now in the appropria-
tions committee.
If the cuts become reality,
the Department of Public
See Schools, 5A
Positive attitude, faith helped
Rhonda Whitson defeat cancer
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
Staff Writer
Rhonda Whitson credits a positive atti-
tude and faith in God to her surviving can-
cer.
Whitson was diagnosed with breast can-
cer five years ago. Her treatment started
with surgery at Gaston Memorial followed
three months later with chemotherapy.
‘Whitson discovered a lump in her breast
while applying lotion. Earlier that day she
had received a letter from a friend in
Florida telling her she had ovarian cancer.
Whitson believes the news made her more
sensitive to changes in her own body.
“It was God telling me something was
wrong,” she said.
Whitson had discovered the lump before
it could spread. She opted for a mastecto-
my at the end of October.
“For my own peace of mind and my hus-
band’s I went ahead,” she said. The first
phase of reconstructive surgery began dur-
ing the mastectomy, grafting skin from her
stomach.
Whitson spent five days in a 95 degree
room following surgery. This helped the
tissue begin to grow. After a day on the
regular floor, Whitson was sent home. Her
husband Boyd, a long distance truck driver,
was able to stay with her a week. Her
mother came in from Texas for three weeks.
Nurses from home health visited early in
the morning and again in the evening.
From November till January Whitson used
a blue recliner in her living room as a bed.
Chemotherapy lasted from January to
May. Whitson spent June on the road with
her husband. The family vacationed at the
beach in July. More reconstructive surgery
followed in August. Then Whitson was
back to work.
“1 knew I was going to lick it. God was
taking care of me,” she said.
Friends from Christian Freedom Baptist
Church, including three women who had
had breast cancer, were a source of encour-
agement. Today Whitson lends her support
See Rhonda, 5A :
Cancer survivor Rhonda Whitson will participate in
Relay for Life which begins Friday at 6 p.m.
ANDIE L. BRYMER/HERALD
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