Sal
Dean Spears
* Progress; the recent petition effort by citizens wanting a
Destination:
Downtown
approach
Kings
Page 5A
Volume 121 e Issue 28 * Wednesday, July 15, 2009
, KM All-Stars
head to state
28 2GOESLDBREES SSD
Potter retires as
KMHS head
soccer coach
Page 1B
AT-LARGE CITY SEAT
Gina Collias
to challenge
by ELIZABETH STEWART
staff writer
Ne contest developed Friday for the At-Large seat on
Kings Mountain City Council when Gina Collias, 42, of
315 Garrison Drive, filed with the Board of Elections to
challenge incumbent city councilman Dean Spears in the
Now. 3 city election.
Political newcomer Collias has lived in Kings Moun-
tain nine years and has chaired the community play-
ground activities at the Jake Early Sports Complex on
Cleveland Avenue and was a chairperson for Citizens for
vote on mixed beverages. She is married to Dr. Dean Col-
lias and they have twin daughters who are 7th graders and
a young son who will be in the first grade this Fall. They
are active in St. Michael’s Catholic Church.
“I believe in constructive and positive growth for
Kings Mountain and I have made a contribution to Kings
Mountain over the past nine years and want to continue
to do that as a member of city council,’* said Mrs. Collias.
Mrs. Collias holds an undergraduate degree from the
University of North Carolina and a law degree from Mer-
cer University. She has practiced law for 17 years and is
an attorney-at-law in Charlotte.
See ELECTION, Page 4A
$000 FCL0R0 03582205020 LRNVEIVRAD
UNEMPLOYMENT
Jobless rate
jumps to 15.6%
By EMILY WEAVER
’ Editor
Cleveland County’s unemployment rate soared to a
new, devastating height last month tying the county with
two others as having the fourth highest jobless rate in
North Carolina, according to recent figures released by the
state Employment Security Commission.
After April’s figures showed a slight decrease in the
rate from 15.7 (in March) to 15.1 percent, May’s numbers
showed that the county was bumped back up to 15.6 per-
cent as more filers joined the unemployment lines.
~ Timeline
10 a.m. - Event opens
12 p.m. - “Teenie Weenie
BEACH BABY ——
FILE PHOTO
A contestant Tompsies in the Teenie Weenie Bikini Contest.
BeachBlast
Saturday at Park
The water, the sand, the sun, the music
and the fun - that’s life along the Grand
Strand. And, this Saturday, it will also be
the life in downtown Kings Mountain.
For the 10th year, Kings Mountain will
Of the county’s labor force, estimated at 51,606, over Lie
8,300 workers were receiving unemployment benefits dur- Dw a 2 Vater feel more like Ocean Drive as the city cel-
ing the month of May. 1p.m.- Co ncert by “Mark ebrates BeachBlast and brings the beach ex-
“North Carolina’s statewide unemployment rate was Roberts and Breeze” perience downtown to Patriots Park on
11.1 percent in May, a 0.6 percentage point increase from 1: 45 m. - “Watermelon Saturday, July 18.
April’s rate of 10.5 percent, as well as a 5.4 percentage lm BeachBlast will begin at 10 a.m. and
point gain over the year,” according to information re-
leased by the NCESC. “Over the month, the unemploy-
ment rate increased in 82 counties, decreased in 16 and
was unchanged in two.”
Scotland County experienced the state’s highest unem-
ployment rate in May at 17.2 percent, followed by Mc-
Dowell at 16.5 percent, Edgecombe at 15.7 and Cleveland
at 15.6, which tied with Caldwell and Alexander counties.
7 p.m. -
4 p.m. - Concert oy “The
Ocean Boulevard Band”
Concert by “The
Craig Woolard Band”
10 p.m. - Event ends
Carolina shag fans can dance until 10 p.m.
with free live concerts at the Gazebo by
Mark ' Roberts ahd Breeze, the Ocean
Boulevard Band and the Craig Woolard
Band.
Mark Roberts leads the Breeze with
nearly 20 years experience performing live
See BEACHBLAST, Page 4A
, . wh Warlické:
4 Warlick & Hamrick Insuran 3
704.739.3611
ountain St., Kin
a Ta ag
SIATE BUDGET
Is tax hike
on horizon?
By KYRA ALEXANDER,
EMILY WEAVER
. As Republicans and Democrats con-
vene in Raleigh this week, they will have
to sheath their swords to agree on a plan
of how to slay the billion-dollar “dragon”
that stands in their way of a balanced
budget.
A decision is expected by the end of
the month. But a difference of opinions
separates the general assembly.
Many media outlets and representd=
tives have claimed the budget gap to be
$4.7 billion. Republicans Rep. Tim
Moore (R-Cicveland) and Rep. Paul Stam
~ (R-Wake), disagree, claiming a short fall
of only about a billion dollars.
Stam sent out an e-mail blast earlier-
this month, stating “Gov. (Beverly) Per-
due and Legislative Democrats continue
to exaggerate the budget deficit, despite
undeniable evidence to the contrary. Cal-
culating with illusory budget numbers
that have neve? in history been spent.”
In his “apples to apples” and “oranges
to oranges” comparison, he explains that
"the gap is tnt as bad as what others have
said. Moore agrees.
“The real budget picture is that State
expenditures 2008-2009 are
$20,307,161,353. Availability for spend:
ing without faising taxes and fees fot
2009-2010 is$17.800,163,145. However
NC is receivil g Federal Stimulus-ARRA
Funds for 209 -2010 in the amount of
$1,381,869, 534. Therefore the real budget
gap is $1,125 os 674,” Moore said. “We
can fix the budget shortfall without rais«
ing taxes if we will cut waste in govern=
ment.”
Gov. Perdue his proposed a tax in-
crease plan to cover the gap, including
raising the sales tax by one percent (from
See BUDGET, Page 4A
POC EPP IEE ENE EINBLEEIBOOEI DRAB BS
MAGAZINE FEATURE
Local mill
bucks trend
By.ELIZABETH STEWART
staff writer
’
Patrick Yarn Mills, a Kings Mountain
counts bucking a trend.
While the struggling economy has
taken its toll of industry with huge layoffs
and plants moving to Mexico and other
areas the Patrick plant boasts not a single
lay-off due to the economy in its long his-
COUNTY FIRST
CCEHD to otfer records online
EMILY WEAVER/HERALD
Environmental Health Dir. Marty Allen digs for a file.
By EMILY WEAVER
Editor
Do you want to know the water testing quality of Moss
Lake? Do you want to know what is in your soil or buried
in your back yard? Or would you like to know the most
| recent inspection rate of a restaurant you are going to
tonight? These questions and more can now be answered
online.
Cleveland County’s Environmental Health Department
is going digital. The department joins the world-wide-web
as the first in the state to offer its public Environmental
Health records online.
People or businesses residing in the county will be able
to access the records at any time and at no cost through the
Health Department’s website. For those outside of the
county a fee must be paid to view the documents. But for
See RECORDS, Page 5A
tory, roots that stretch back more than 100
years.
Time Magazine featured Patrick Yarn
Mills in a feature on "Global Industry” in
its April 2009 edition, "Spinning a New
Strategy," in which Melba Newsome
wrote: "The President of Patrick Yarns is
a bit of an add duc! » days. While
most dome name
sumed by
Patrick
add t
News:
"We h
offas
in 45
working 1:
In the early 1900s Patricks’ Soniiede
started Kings Mountain Cotton Oil Co.
Local folks will recall that the business in-
cluded a cotton gin, oil mill, a coal yard
and an ice plant - a business for every sea-
* son. As the economy picked up and more
See MILL, Page 5A
ADB He.
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