Larry Hamrick, Jr.
named Rotary’s
‘Citizen of Year’
Toys come alive
at KM Museum
Take an inside logk at p
first part of a series.
Destination: Downtown
to revitalize downtown in tig}
This week: Mountaineer
Partnership applies far
' Main Street program. |
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Volume 121 Issue 26 * Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Explosive found in traffic
By KYRA ALEXANDER
Staff writer
Monday, June 29th, 11:26 a.m.- a pass-
ing motorist traveling down U.S. Hwy. 74
near Long Branch Road noticed something
mysterious in the roadway. What looked
like a pipe turned out to be a homemade ex-
plosive device precariously placed in traf-
fic.
First responders with Cleveland County
Emergency Management found the device
in the east bound left-hand turn lane. They
radioed for backup.
Members of the Bethlehem Volunteer
Fire Department, Cleveland County Sher-
iff’s Department, Shelby Police Depart-
ment, Highway Patrol, and Gaston County
Bomb Squad blocked both directions of
travel halting traffic as far west as Marion
Street and as far east as Kings Mountain
exits.
Gaston County Police Sgt. C. W. Mc-
!Cants, who is also with the bomb squad,
said that the device was about 7” long and
%” in diameter and appeared to be home-
made. Upon further investigation of the de-
vice's contents, he identified the item as "an
improvised pyrotechnic device made read-
ily available to pyrotechnics".
Although the term "pyrotechnics" com-
monly relates to fireworks, the device had
These buds are for you
been "improvised."
McCants continued in stating that the in-
strument resembled "the shape" of a stick
of dynamite, wrapped in duct tape.
“After our option one didn’t work we
went to option two, which was to counter
charge it with another explosive,” McCants
said.
Had the device been detonated in public
it might not have caused total destruction
but McCants stated that it was still "dan-
gerous".
According to Perry Davis, Assistant
Cleveland County Fire Marshal, the device
was detonated sometiine after lunch and the
highway was reopentd at 1:34 p.m.
How does your
garden grow?
Grover community
to reap seeds
church has sown
Left to right, Billy Davis and Dewey Davis drive stakes into the garden for the tomato plants.
“church for a community plagued by the economy. Its
EMILY WEAVER/HERALD
By EMILY WEAVER
Editor
Something grows in Grover. It was planted by a
roots dig deep. Its stems pierce the soil. Its leaves
feather toward the sky. Its fruit could be yours, :
~~ Bethany Baptist Church has started a community
garden. The congregation decided to start the garden in
the spring: A few church members and other helpers
have tilled the soil, sowed the seeds and are getting
dozens of fresh produce ready for harvest. Now many of | -
the “fruits of their labor” are ripe for the picking.
: See GARDEN, Page 4A
MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
KM, Grover get
over half-million
in state grants
By ELIZABETH STEWART
Staff writer :
The City of Kings Mountain and Town of Grover have
received grants through the Rural Economic Development
Center Inc. under the Clean Water Partner's Infrastructure
Fund totaling $532,560.
Kings Mountain received the half million dollar grant
for rehabilitation of its sewer collection system.
Grover received the $32,500 grant for a Wastewater
Treatment Plant options and infiltration and inflow study.
Senator Debbie Clary and Rep.Tim Moore announced
the award grants June 30 and also announced grants of
$40,000 to the City of Shelby for water and sewer asset
management plan and $244,000 to the Town of Spindale
for replacement of a force main and gravity sewer line.
See GRANTS, Page 4A
Fire department
receives $22K
for new equipment
By ELIZABETH STEWART
Staff writer
Kings Mountain Fire Department’s recent state grant
of $22,872.79 has paid for an all-terrain four-wheel Kub-
ota Diesel 4x4 which can be used for trail rescues and is the
newest piece of rescue equipment on hand.
“We would be able to get to a biker or hiker on the trail
in trouble and are very pleased to receive the money to pay
for the vehicle and for the rescue and extrication equip-
ment necessary in an accident,’ said Chief Frank Burns.
Th grant comes from the 2008 Volunteer Rescue/EMS
"Fund from the State of North Carolina.
Kings Mountain Fire Department has on hand for
motor vehicle accidents the Jaws of Life and Hearst extri-
cation tools for emergency situations.
See PHOTO on Page 8A
CITY CELEBRATION
Fabulous 4th
Saturday
Hailed as. “the largest fireworks show between Charlotte
and Asheville”, the City of Kings Mountain’s “Fabulous
4th” is slated to be even greater this year.
As a special feature this July 4th, the sounds of explod-
ing fireworks will be preluded by the booms of cannon fire
in a tribute to history.
This year’s event will feature a special reenactment of a
battle forged on a hill, where the city drew its name, that
changed the course of time and led to the eventual revolu-
tion and independence this country celebrates each July.
The show will begin at the Walking Track, next to the
YMCA on Cleveland Avenue, at 6 p.m. with a concert per-
formance by country singer Gary Lee Michael and Friends.
The group will take the Neisler Stage at the track first, fol-
lowed by performances of the Blackwelder Brothers, with
their fresh style of Southern gospel music, and Lee Sinclair,
with his blend of traditional country music.
A patriotic themed opening at 8:45 p.m. will feature a
parade around the walking track park with the traditional
Scottish bagpipe sounds of the Loch Norman Pipe Band.
Marti Mongiello, owner of the Inn of the Patriots Bed
and Breakfast in Grover, will lead the introduction of the
parade.
The KIMPD Explorer Scouts will post the colors. Malora
See FOURTH, Page 4A
City approves
funds for MSD
. By ELIZABETH STEWART
Staff writer
Kings Mountain City Council obviously agrees. that
downtown revitalization is alive as they approved Tuesday
for another three years the funds for the Municipal Service
District first created in 2003.
Mountaineer Pharmacy Inc. administers the funds from
levying by the city of a special municipal service district
tax in the amount of .2362 per $100 appraised value of
property in the special. district which raises $23,689.80 each
year plus matching dollar for dollar by the city on a budget
of approximately $50,000..
The district includes 123 properties, 93 of which are
commercial. Twenty of these properties are governmental
.and 10 are church properties exempt from taxes.
"It's. a supplemental tax in the Central business district
that these people have volunteered for five years to tax
themselves for downtown improvements and downtown is
seeing revitalization," said the city's planning director Steve
Killian.
Killian said that the city reevaluates the process every
three years during public hearing and begins levying the
tax with fiscal year beginning July 1.
The ordinance spelled out that funds can be used for a
number of projects ' ‘including street lighting, specialized
streets and sidewalk paving, sidewalk canopies, parking
facilities, and promotion and development activities de-
signed to improve the economic well being of the down-
town."
North Carolina General Statutes authorizes any city in
the state to define one or more municipal service districts
and use funds for economic development. «
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