% . Harris Funeral Home
®; : Locally Owned
: & Operated Since 1947
“ A Family Tradition of Dignity,
vl Service & Undesstinding
ne
%. 1088. Piedmont Ave:
e. Kings Mountain, NC
739-2591
Ton
Porch
Music
’
By Ron Isbell, Publisher Emeritus
Business of the Year
Erin. Broadbent and I
were sitting away from the
celebration in Kings Moun-
tain City Hall Tuesday
evening trading stories of
life in a wheelchair.
I was learning a lot from
her 35 years of experience
and attitude. I've gotten more
than a few words of encour-
agement from family,
friends, neighbors and read-
ers, but nothing comes close
to those from Erin, who lives
and works with it every day.
By the way, if you don't
know, working with it daily
means running our local na-
tional park. A huge job with
huge responsibilities.
By comparison my job
isn't nearly as big or impor-
tant. We do, however, share
arole of custodian of history.
Hers of a battle more than
235 years ago. Mine more
like yesterday or last week.
Any conversation I have
with Erin can turn engaging.
This one probably was a lit-
tle more so. Certainly more
personal than our usual con-
versations about whht's
going on at the park.
So, I really wasn't paying
a lot of attention when Gregg
Johnson began to introduce
this year's Kings Mountain
Chamber of Commerce's
business person of the year.
I caught a word or two
here and there...Rotary,
Mountaineer Partnership,
Chamber Advisory
Board...but was still more in-
terested in Erin's advice on
wheel chair cushions. I
planned to catch up on the
Chamber announcements
and news later.
At least until ‘Wendy
tapped me on the shoulder
when Gregg announced my
name and started pushing me
down the aisle.
Erin smiled at me mid-
sentence. She smiles a lot.
She either had been paying
attention more than I had or
was in on the surprise.
And a surprise it certainly
was. At a time in my life
when surprises don't tend to-
be all that pleasant this one
was over the top.
I've been honored to re-
ceive awards for developing
compelling and successful
advertising programs, com-
_peting against newspapers as
large as The Miami Herald.
Others for news that shaped
and improved our communi-
ties.
But this was the first
recognition for a business
accomplishment. While I'd
still rate my ultimate goal of
making our town a better
place to live as the most im-
portant, it's also important to
note that if we are not suc-
cessful as a business, we
won't be around to accom-
plish ANY qther goal, even
if it's just to make sure the
garbage gets taken to the
curb.
And that applies to every
business in town. If they are
not successful your son's
baseball team may not get
See AWARD, 2A
EMILY WEAVER/HERALD
Molora Kellstrom sings as a scene in her first music video is filmed inside of the Family Worship Center. Backing her up,
left to right, Jonathan Williams, Lakeishea Childress, Jeff Childress, Yvonne Lowery, Joseph Lowery and Gabriel Ramirez.
Kellstroms star
in first music video
MILY WEAVER
Editor
A music video featuring
the title track of Molora Kell-
strom’s fifth CD, “The
River”, starring Molora, her
daughter Sophia and a tal-
ented cast from Kings Moun-
tain, was filmed tinoughout
the city last week.
The two-day shoot with
Director and = Producer
Patrick Hill, a youth worship
leader for the church of pop-
ular minister, Joel Osteen,
started Friday. Weaving a sto-
ryline with scenes from
Davidson Lake and a field on
Oak Grove Road to a
makeshift concert hall and
party scene inside of the
Family Worship Center, "The
River" flowed to life.
The music video was a
first for Moiora, whose video
will premier worldwide on-
line at www.molora.com and
YouTube. The album and
headlining song can be
See KELLSTROMS, 5A
EMILY WEAVER
i | Editor
Gov. Bev Perdue took the
honor of unveiling "Project
Cardinal" - a two-year en-
deavor to land an AT&T data
center in Kings Mountain -
Wednesday morning at the
Cleveland Country Club.
AT&T will bring 106 new
high-paying jobs and invest
. $851 million (over 14 years)
in a new 900,000-square-
foot data center on 130 acres
of TS's Kings Mountain
server farm.
The company plans to in-
vest more than $200 million
to construct the data center
off of Countryside Road and
fill more than 1,000 con-
struction-related jobs
through 2013. It took more
than $1 million in state
grants, generous city and
county incentives and a gag
order to seal the deal on this
industry
Molora Kellstrom sings with Trudy Thomas on violin.
EVERYONE WINS :
More jobs, more tax dollars
coming with AT&T data center
industry for Cleveland
County.
Following on the heels of
expansion an-
nouncements for Baldor
adding 166 jobs and
Kendrion FAS Controls
adding 57 jobs, AT&T's an-
nouncement came as wel-
come news to leaders in a
county where at least 5,200
workers struggle with unem-
ployment.
Both the City of Kings
Mountain and Cleveland
.County offered generous in-
centives to lure AT&T: re-
funds of 67%-to-all property
taxes paid over a span of up
to 30 years; water and sewer
line extensions to the prop-
erty; and, a waiver of all de-
velopment-related fees.
At no cost to the com-
pany, the county also agreed
to build an access road/main
entry to the property and
widen Countryside Road. In
an incentive agreement with
AT&T, county officials
noted that preliminary esti-
mates to build an access road
to the property will not ex-
ceed $200,000. If it does, the
county has agreed to cover
the bill, up to $500,000.
Photo by ELLIS NOELL
Cynthia Marshall, president of AT&T North Carolina and Kings
Mountain Mayor Rick Murphrey at the AT&T announcement
Wednesday of the new data center in Kings Mountain.
The agreement estimated
it would only cost the county
$260,000 to widen Country-
side Road. But the county
agreed to cover all overages
to "ensure no cost to the
company."
See AT&T, 4A
Fire probe heats up, leads to arrest
A three-party investigation of a Feb.
15 fire that gutted a home at 131 Lake
Montonia Road, led to the arrest Mon- day.
day of 56-year-old Letitia Adams Wal-
lace, ‘who was reported last week to
have been living in the house.
Wallace has been charged with sec-
ond degree arson and was being held
under a $30, 000 secured bond on Mon-
Kings Mountain Police, the SBI
Arson Team and Kings Mountain Fire
Department teamed up to investigate
the fire that had spread through the
home at 7:15 a.m. Feb. 15. KM Fire
Chief Frank Burns said that the fire was
"pretty involved" when they arrived.
He said no one was home at the time
and estimated damages of $25,000-
$45,000. No injuries were reported. The
residence belongs to Samuel Adams.
LEAP BABY
A Happy 4th...um,
16th Birthday
Today is a special day. It only comes around once
every four years. Most of the time the day is leaped
over - skipped altogether - but not this year. Today is
Leap Day and for Kings Mountain's’ Megan Ha-
raszkiewicz it's quadruply special.
Today Megan turns sweet...
or is that 4? She's
only had four true birthdays, though she's lived 16
years.
Megan was born on February 29, 1996, on a leap
year, two weeks late and 14 minutes before March 1
in Gastonia. She was born to proud parents, Kimberly
and Walter Haraszkiewicz of Kings Mountain. Ten
toes. Ten fingers. A healthy beautiful baby, who ar-
rived a little early or a little late, just in time for Leap
Year.
See LEAP, 5A
Contest develops for
county commissioners
A contest has developed
for the three seats up for
grabs on the Cleveland
County. Board of Commis-
sioners. Susan K. Allen, a
56-year-old retired UPS ex-
ecutive of Shelby, threw her
hat into the ring before filing
ended Monday announcing
her bid for a seat.
She will face off against
incumbents Mary Accor,
Johnny Hutchins and Ronnie
Hawkins, all of Kings
Mountain, in the November
elections. Hutchins serves as
chairman ‘and Hawkins as
vice-chairman of the five-
member board. Accor and
Hawkins are also former
board chairmen.
Mother to two sons, Allen
has lived in Cleveland
County 28 years. She retired
after 29 years with UPS as
the director of strategic ac-
counts and worked with sev-
eral Fortune 500 companies
as a consultant.
[| 25 i)
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