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Volume 121 . Issue 18 « Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Beat the heat with
one of our great
Home Conor: Systems!
oD
Premier Dealer ™ om mews fig so gro!”
Dilling He ating Co.
1250 Linwood Rd., Kings] Mountain
By EMILY WEAVER,
LIB STEWART
A total of 1,953 voters cast ballots in Tuesday's mixed
beverage referendum. Unofficial results at The Herald's
press time gave the wet forces a slim margin win: 1,129 =
for; 1,058- against.
Results from early votes and mail-in absentee ballots
showed a tie: 117 - for and 117 - against.
Total figures do not include provisional ballots, which
Board of Elections Director Debra Blanton said have been
known to swing an election in the past. Provisional ballots
are those cast by voters who may not have been included in
the system on election day, but are registered to vote.
The Cleveland County Board of Elections will spend the
next week investigating the ballots to determine whether
or not a provisional vote should count.
The official canvass for the referendum will be con-
ducted by the county Board of Elections on Tuesday, May
12 at 11 a.m. Provisional ballots will be counted by the
elections board on Tuesday, May 12 at 9 a.m.
Signs sprouted on lawns urging citizens to vote no. Post
cards arrived in mailboxes urging folks to vote yes. But lit-
tle else seemed to be heard from proponents and opponents °
in the days leading up to the election.
On Tuesday, though, both forces were out at the polls.
Rev. James Lochridge, pastor of Second Baptist Church,
manned the. corner entrance at the YMCA polling site,
wearing a homemade cardboard Sandwich sign, covered
with scripture.
He said that he was the first to cast his ballot against
Wwe
the second ballot, his wife - the third and his father - the
fourth, he said. !
Rev. Lochridge arrived at the KM YMCA polling site
at 6:15 a.m. Through wind and rain he stayed at his post
until the site closed at 7:30 p.m., reading scripture, wav-
ing and smiling at the motorists who passed.
After the unofficial results. came in, he seemed dis-
appointed. "It's sad but we have to live by the vote of the
people, " said Rev. Lochridge, one of the leaders of Cit-
izens for Safe Progress, an opposing group. He added,
"Some of the ones who put this through don't have to
knock on doors and tell families that their loved ones
have died in accidents that involved drunk drivers."
Lochridge said that he feared that nice restaurants
would not locate here, only those wanting to operate
bars. "We will continue to serve the Lord because we
know He is in control."
‘Another opponent of mixed beverage sales, Chip
Sloan was at the YMCA polling site.
Just beyond the campaigning border at the Y, stood
Gina Collias, Melanie Ballard and Carl Elliott, members
of Citizens for Progress, proponents of mixed beverage
sales.
Bobby Home, another member of Citizens for
Progress, spent his Tuesday campaigning for ayes" vote
at the library polling site.
"This is not an issue about food or beverage. This is
about changing Kings Mountain," Ballard said on Tues-
day morning.
She added that Kings Mountain has changed over the
years and Tuesday's referendum offered a chance to "re
EMILY WEAVER/HERALD
Citizens for Progress volunteers Melanie Ballard and
Carl Elliott stand in front of the YMCA polling site.
mixed beverage sales when the Board of Elections opened
its doors for early voting on April 16. His pote casted
define" the city.
Council amends
city zoning map
by ELIZABETH STEWART
staff writer
Kings Mountain City Council last Tues-
day unanimously (6-0) took the recommen-
dation of the planning board and amended
the zoning map of the city by changing
only a portion of the area requested.
The two lots changed in the two-mile
perimeter (off of Phifer Road/Phifer Circle)
were those of Gary Randall Kiser and a
1.75 acre portion of the lot owned by
Johnny Hutchins. Both want to add on to
existing mobile homes because of upcom-
ing weddings in the families.
Neighbors in the city's extra territorial
jurisdiction (ETJ) presented a protest peti-
tion against the effort of Kiser and neigh-
bors to rezone several properties located off
Phifer Road, Camelot Drive and Phifer Cir-
cle from Residential 10 t o Residential 20.
After a public hearing, the board also re-
zoned the property of Shane Adams, 218
Scism Road, from residential to conditional
use residential.
In other actions, Council:
+ Set Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 5:30
p.m. for a budget wdrk session at the
Patrick Senior Center, 909 E. King St.
+ Set Tuesday, May 28, 2009 at 6 p.m.
for a joint City Council and Historic Land-
mark Commission public hearing for the
designation of J. A. Falls House (Withrow
Funeral Home) as a historic landmark.
+ Approved permission for Eaton Cor-
poration Bassmasters to hold a non-profit
tournament at Moss Lake on Saturday, June
14, 2009 from 4 a.m.-12 p.m. .
+ Mayor Rick Murphrey recognized ad-
ministrative assistant Joy Fox with a five
year service award.
+ Updates were given by Mountaineer
Partnership Executive Director Adam Hines
and Events Coordinator Ellis Noell. Up-
coming events in May include: Mayor's
Prayer Breakfast at 8 a.m. at Family Wor-
ship Center and high noon prayer service at
City Hall; May 15 Tourism Day at Wel-
come Centers; May 25 Memorial Day at
Mountain Rest Cemetery; May 28 - 7:30
a.m. State of the City breakfast at the
Patrick Center; and May 30 at 8 a.m. - Over
the Mountain Triathlon from Moss Lake to
the Gazebo at Patriots Park.
P&Z to review request again
by ELIZABETH STEWART
staff writer
Gordon. Councilman Dean
Spears was absent.
The city's
erty owner Thurman Hicks
of Gastonia questioned how
Planning the process would affect al-
After the unofficial results came in, Collias and Bobby
. Hobe, both leaders among the Citizens ripe, PO-1 Liha see
By 4-2 vote of the Kings
Mountain City Council last
Tuesday, the Kings Moun-
tain Planning & Zoning
Board will take another
look at McCleary-Baer
Biofuels' Refinery rezoning
request.
Councilmen Rick Moore
and Jerry Mullinax cast the
'no' votes. Voting 'yes' were-
Councilmen Howard Shipp,
Mike Butler, Houston Corn,
and mayor pro tem Rodney
Board, after a public hear-
ing recently, voted 6-1
(John Houze approving) to
recommend denial of the
zoning change to condi-
tional use heavy industrial,
citing that the residential
area in the city's two mile
ETJ (extra territorial juris-
diction) lacks public water
and public sewer needed to
support development of an
alternative fuel industry. At
that hearing adjacent prop-
Banke Trust
Building Communitidi
Alliance
lergy sufferers and water
runoff. He said he was not
opposed in principle to the
idea of seeking alternative
fuel.
Christy “ McCleary, of
Mirada Lane, said that she
is currently getting esti-
mates on water and sewer
costs, working on safety
guides, with environmental
experts and seeking grants
in planning a unique fer-
See ZONING, Page 5A
¢
ponents of mixed beverage sales, were in good spirits.
Surviving the Information Age
EMILY WEAVER/HERALD
William Davies and Hazel Davies take a computer class at the library.
Free library classes
offer invaluable info
‘By EMILY WEAVER =
Editor
Many science fiction authors have prophesied that computers will one day take
over the world. Whether or not this prediction comes true, it is evident that comput-
ers are taking over more and more of our lives.
Living in the midst of this "Information Age," many adults are in the dark. But
Mauney Memorial Library continues to shed new light on technology, offering free
and invaluable computer classes to the public.
. Mira Scheffield, who describes herself as a "casual computer user," came to a few
classes to strengthen her skills.
"I thought it might help me get a job because that's the first question they ask - if
you know how to use a computer," she said.
Although personal reasons have kept her out of the job hunt recently, she is confi-
dent that what she has learned in the classes will help.
The free courses offered at the library have covered topics such as computer basics,
Internet basics, email, resumes, Microsoft Word, and research.
Sonny Jackson, of Kings Mountain, said that the classes really came in handy for
him.
"I umpire baseball and our booking agent from Gastonia, he sends everything by
email," he said. The agent advised him to get a computer. "I thought, well if I'm going
to get a computer I need to take computer classes."
Jackson has taken the beginner computer and email classes and "really enjoyed it."
Phillip and Vivian Putnam have patronized Mauney Memorial Library for years.
Vivian is often there with their grandchildren for story time. Both have come for the
See COMPUTERS, Page 5A
See VOTES, Page! 5A
209 S. Battleground Avenue
Kings Mountain
704.739.5411 » www.alliancebankandtrust.com
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