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Nae
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KMHS band performs
tonight, KMMS band June 2
ay
[INSIDE
Rings
Grover Elementary flies new
flag with Memorial ties
Bob and Kevin Bridges
Volume 121 Issue 21 « Wednesday, May 27, 2009
City Auto marks
50 years in KM
Page 3A
Kickers host
Marvin Ridge in
regionals tonight
Page 18
Relay for Life
the track.
Contributed photo
Three children stop frolicking in the pool to pay
respect to the survivors as they come around
Relayers raise $10,000 Friday night
to combat cancer
EMILY WEAVER/HERALD
On right, Tammy Hogue leads cancer survivors
on their first lap Friday night with her father
Johnny Hutchins.
By EMILY WEAVER
Editor
Twelve years ago, Tammy. Hogue walked in Kings
Mountain's first Relay for Life. She walked that night for
her mother, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer
at the age of 45.
Her mother lost the battle in 2000. Hogue has contin-
ued to walk in memory of her mother i in every Kings
Mountain Relay since.
500 to compete Saturday
in annual KM triathlon
By EMILY WEAVER
Editor
Five hundred. athletes will travel to the shores of Moss
Lake Saturday morning to compete in the 10th annual Over
the Mountain Triathlon, a Mid-Atlantic Regional Champi-
-onship event.
In different groups, distinguished by various colored
swim caps, they will dive into the water for a 1,500-meter
swim from the boat launch area near the lake offices to the
park area off of New Camp Road.
Then, the tri-athletes will race up the hill to their bicy-
cles. Pedaling away with all due haste, they will embark on
the 45K bike course, which winds from the lake through
South Carolina state and national parks to Patriot’s Park in
downtown Kings Mountain.
Here, they will trade their wheels for running shoes in a
foot race to the finish line. The 10K race will lead runners
from Gold Street to a turn-around on Phifer Road and back.
The challenge is to finish the entire course in four hours
and 15 minutes.
'Leave no man behind’
Community rallies
to wed war hero
By EMILY WEAVER
Editor
"Leave no man behind."
That's the Marine motto. .
Marine Pfc. J.R. Nichol-
son did just that when his
squad came under attack in
Iraq.
He pulled five of his fel-
low soldiers out of the am-
bush and was wounded in
"the process. While he was
getting his men to safety, he
was shot in the head.
Laurie Mancuso, owner
of Bellus Tu Spa and wife
of a Marine Vietnam vet-
eran, remembered that
creed when she heard that
this soldier would be left
without a proper wedding.
J.R. and Nikki Nichol-
son were set to exchange
vows on a cruise ship May
23. But with the outbreak of
swine flu the trip was can-
celed. No minister. No aisle.
#
It appeared as if the "I dos"
would have to wait.
Nikki, who works as a
nurse at the Ervin Clinic,
asked Mancuso (a client at
the clinic) if she knew of a
place where they could get
married. She helped Nikki
get in touch with her friend
Wanda Jones, who has
rented out her property on
Paradise Lane for wed-
dings.
As a wedding gift, Bel- :
lus Tu Spa gave Nikki a fa-
cial and a massage about a
week before the nuptials.
During the facial, Man-
cuso learned about JR.'s
bravery in Iraq.
"It touched my heart,"
she said. "Here there is a
war hero at our back door
and we don't even know
it...I felt like I had to do
something."
Motorists are reminded to make way for the cyclists and
runners, who will be on Kings Mountain roads Saturday to
tackle that challenge.
City Events Director Ellis Noell said that the city has
repaved and widened portions of two of the roads used in
the bike course.
Crews have widened and repaved about a 3.5 mile por-
© tion of Stony Point Road, which will be used by bikers Sat-
urday. Another 1.75 miles on Kings Mountain Boulevard,
near I-85, has also been smoothed with fresh pavement, ac-
cording to Noell.
The Over the Mountain bike course is contidered a fea-’
ture element of the race.
"They (North Carolina Triathlon Series officials) did a
poll of all triathletes (who participate in the state series)
and our bike race was number one,” Noell said, adding
proudly that the swim course was voted number three. "It's
great to be a part of it."
He is seeking additional volunteers to help out at the
Visit us today at
Kings Mountain
209 S. Battleground Avenue
704.739.5411 www.alliancebankandtrust.com
MEMBER FDIC
Council okays
higher lake fees
By ELIZABETH STEWART
staff writer
Bowing to concerns from Moss Lake Property Owners
Association, Kings Mountain City Council Tuesday night
turned down the original budget recommendation of City
Manager Marilyn Sellers to up annual pump permit fees
from $50 to $400, cutting that amount in half.
Council Chambers at City Hall was packed.
"I have looked at all the concerns regarding the lake fees
and I am recommending that we proceed with the fees pre-
sented by staff except for the pump permit fee," said Sell-
ers.
The pump fee will increase from $50 to $200 for fiscal
year 2009-2010 but Sellers said the staff will take a look at
another increase next fiscal year and possibly put a meter
at each pump. With 182 pump permits on file, the projected
revenue would have totaled $72,800, however the reduc-
- tion to $200 will make a revenue shortfall of $36,400. Sell-
ers said, adding that the Moss Lake budget will have to be
reduced or’ fund balance appropriated to balance the
budget. Sellers said the only place to cut the Moss Lake
budget would be the roof repairs and/or Environmental
Impact Study/withdrawal permit/Ogee Spillway.
Said Sellers, "I haven't had a lot of calls from Lake res-
idents but I have spoken with Stephen Perry, a director of
the Moss Lake Property Owners Association and a member
of the Moss Lake Commission, and Association President
Keith Wherry, both of whom attended the recent budget
workshop." Wherry said after that meeting he was not op-
posed to an increase in user fees but not 700 percent. For 12
years lake property owners have irrigated their lawns from
. raw water without an increase. Perry and other members of
Moss Lake Commission had recommended slight increases
for recreational uses but the city staff's recommendations
for some of the fees were higher.
After. Tuesday's action by Council, leases will go out :
to property owners and permits will be issued to lake users
for the new fiscal year beginning July 1.
Several council members told the Herald before Tues-
day's meeting that "$400 is a big jump and particularly in
this economy."
"I think we will find a happy medium," said Mayor pro
tem Rodney Gordon prior to the Council meeting.
Wherry said Lake homeowners were upset because of "a
whopping jump" and some had indicated they wouldn't use
the city's raw water for irrigation next year. They may have
to go to wells, he said, adding that he had contacted hun-
dreds of lake offices in the Carolinas and found that no
charges are made for raw water.
In his presentation at Tuesday's council meeting he
talked of the many improvements that lake property own-
ers had made to the recreational assets of the city of Kings
Mountain-owned lake, noting that Moss Lake residents
have invested money: in shoreline stabilization, docks, boat
lifts, and landscaping. ;
Wherry and his wife moved to Kings Mountain from
Buffalo, New York and Wherry ran a business for 10 years
in the area. He enhanced his property, he said, building a
wall around it so that not only did his property values in-
crease but no dirt can get in the water, he said. "We all get
benefits from Moss Lake." He said he and his family loved
the area . "When the five kids come home for a visit they
love the recreational aspects of the lake."
; See new lake fees, Page 3A
BANK ROBBERY
mr Pacer op Homelmun Banking
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