December 5, 2012
The Kings Mountain Herald | www.kmherald.net
Page 7A
Last weekend for ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!
Pictured are members of the large cast of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" which plays
Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Joy Theatre. Sell-
out crowds have been attending the Kings Mountain Little Theatre performances of the Christ-
. mas season classic.
The Angel Choir and Baby Angels on stage at Joy Theatre with Mary and Joseph as they sing,
"Angels We Have Heard on High.
Photos by SHELLEY WOOD
Kiser — Citizen of the Year
Donna Lumsden, Michelle Inman, Bessemer City Manager James Inman and Melaney Brake-
field, new city clerk, are pictured at the BC Area Chamber banquet in Bessemer City.
BESSEMER CITY -
Melba Kiser is Bessemer
City’s Citizen of the Year and
Bridget Martin won the Busi-
ness of the Year award.
They were honored by the
Bessemer City Area Cham-
* ber of Commerce at a dinner
Nov. 29 at First Baptist
Church Family Life Center.
Jeff Kirchner, Chamber
treasurer, introduced the Cit-
izen of the Year.
Kiser is chairman of the
Bessemer City Image Com-
mittee, president of the
* Bessemer City Garden Club,
+ delivers meals on wheels, is
an Elder in First Presbyterian
Church, and serves on the
Main Street committee, in
addition to other volunteer
service and projects to im-
prove the appearance of
Bessemer City.
Otis Whitehurst, a mem-
ber of the: BC Merchants As-
sociation, introduced Martin.
Martin opened her new
business, The Computer
Chick, in Angel’s Upscale in
downtown Bessemer City
this ‘year.’ She started the
Bessemer City Community
Newsletter, “The Heart of the
Story” in 2012. She is also a
member of the Bessemer City
Merchants Association and
the Bessemer City Main
Street committee, accom-
plishing these community
services while growing her
business.
New City Manager James
Inman was principal speaker.
With the direction of city
council he said he wants to
grow Bessemer City, both
economically and with qual-
ity of life improvements. In-
creased code enforcement,
community-wide clean up
projects, and ways to attract
small businesses as goals. *’I
am excited about Bessemer
City,” he said. :
The Bessemer City Boys
and Girls Club Choir sang
Christmas songs. The Cham-
ber event, Run Around
Downtown 3K, was
fundraiser for this organiza-
tion and raised $875.
Dr. Bob Crouch, Chamber
President, was MC for the
occasion. He recognized
Chamber officials and said a
goal is to double the Cham-
ber’s membership in 2013.
to the table
From page 1A
« materials in council’s pack-
ets did not jibe with what his
client had and that the plan-
' ning board had not approved
100-foot setbacks at last
month’s lengthy meeting.
Also voting to table were
councilmen Howard Shipp,
Mike Butler, Dean Spears
and mayor pro tem Rodney
Gordon. Voting against
tabling the issue were coun-
cilmen Rick Moore and
Tommy Hawkins.
« “I commend Mr. Brown,
his attorney, the P&Z board
and staff for all working to-
gether. I was told that staff
cannot find another develop-
ment like this anywhere else
in the country so Kings
Mountain has to pioneer all
the ordinance and zoning
language from scratch and
that takes more work,”
Miller said after the meeting,
He added, “All are to be
commended.”
Moore called P&Z Chair-
man Doug Lawing to the mi-
* crophone twice to ask if
what * council had in its
packet was what the board
voted on. Lawing acknowl-
edged affirmatively both
. times.
Gastonia Attorney Doug
Arthurs said that what
prompted his client to seek a
‘text amendment is because
there is no provision for mul-
tiple recreation in city ordi-
nances. “This gold-colored
page I have in my hands is a
deception,” he countered,
adding, “What was voted on
was in the original package,
this is disturbing.”
“It’s in my
packet,” said Miller.
agenda
“It’s in my packet,” said
Mayor Rick Murphrey, who
said the planning board had
worked for months on the
recommendation being pre-
sented to city council.
“I don’t think we should
put this off, put it to a vote,”
said Hawkins.
Arthur argued there are
two specific setbacks in con-
tention. “My client was re-
quired to double what the
planning board suggests in
this paper,” showing a gold
colored paper detailing the
text amendment definitions,
adding, “I can’t pitch a tent
unless its 100 feet from the
property line.”
“I did not see this docu-
ment before tonight,” said
Arthurs.
The mayor said after the
vote to table that he was dis-
appointed.
Killian, the city’s Plan-
ning and Economic Devel-
opment director and
secretary to the planning
board appointed by city
council, said that he thought
the planning board had made
its recommendation clear. “I
only put their recommenda-
tions on paper and present to
city council, which has final
say. There were no dissent-
ing votes at last month’s
planning board, all 11 people
voted “yes” on this recom-
mendation.
Killian said after the
meeting that anytime a prin-
cipal use is established, a
house or manufacturing op-
eration, for instance, a set
back from the property line
is required. In this case, there
is a campground, ATV
course, trail, go cart track,
and movie cinema and the
ANNEXATION: approved
From page 1A
police, sanitation and fire
protection, and will be able
to stock beer and wine prod-
ucts on its grocery shelves.
‘
Heath says he plans to
employ six or seven full time
employees and in the future
possibly open a restaurant
which would up the number
of employees.
ZONING: text amendment sent back
setback should be 100 feet
from the adjoining property
line. Mr. Brown disagrees
and wants it to be substan-
tially less than 100 feet.
Essentially, said Killian,
Mr. Brown wants a certain
. type of setback for 14 uses in
the request and two other
uses, also lower than the
100-foot setback require-
ment from the property line.
If you have several dif-
ferent uses (pool, zip line,
parking, campground, ATV
course, go cart track) each
with different setback rules,
how do you figure out which
ones to use when all the uses
are on the same property?”
said Miller after the meeting.
“For example,” he added,
“you need more space be-
tween a home and ATV
course than you would need
between a home and a pool.
That is what they are still
working on.”
HACKERS: on the move
From page 1A
card and sends it to places like New York,
New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania and sells
it to other people and it’s almost impossible
to tell where it originated. There can be a
common ground, however, of multiple peo-
ple using their cards at the same place and
the search can narrow; but many people use
their cards at numerous places,” he added.
* Hackers have hit food stores, restaurants,
ATMs and gas stations in the county because,
says the chief, they know where the shoppers
are and that most places don’t require the
customer to give a PIN number.
A recent news report said that 9.6 million
people in the US had their cards compro-
| mised this year, many of them during the
weeks before the biggest shopping day of the
year—Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiv-
ing.
Local merchants say they tell their cus-
tomers to check with their banks and credit
card contacts and take every precaution. This
is a new form of high tech theft, and because
more and more people pay by credit/debit
cards the thieves don’t have to empty their
accounts. They take a little here, a little there,
from many accounts, which ‘people often
don’t even notice.
Chief Proctor adds this advice:
*Know where your card is swiped, watch
the person swiping it and don’t let it get out
of your sight.
*Watch where you use the card. Most
places don’t require a PIN number. These
technology whizzes depend on that.
Call security. Each card has a security
number on the back. Let the company know
your normal purchases and if your purchases
will be out of normal range tell them when
you are using the card. Ask the banks to call
you immediately if your card is being com-
promised. And if it is used other times, ask
them to make a call to you immediately.
*You open up a risk when you use your
card everywhere.
*Hackers choose places where they know
a PIN code is not required.
Several local people said they asked their
banks to freeze their accounts for 10 days.
Two cases of financial transaction fraud
were reported to KMPD this week.
A local bank reported that someone used
a victim’s identification to cash a check for
$672.
One Kings Mountain resident said that his
debit card numbers were used by someone to
gain access to $60 from his bank account and
the card was used at a toy store in Dublin,
California.
Another resident said that his credit card
was used by someone in New York to buy
$293.28 in merchandise.
Chief Proctor says the police are investi-
gating all reports. “Hackers usually move on
to new locations,” he says.
But in the meantime, the Chief is paying
with cash.
HAWKINS: named board chair
Hawkins
From page 1A
wants the land County to provide lodg-
Hawkins presided at his first
meeting Tuesday night. He
will preside at a commission
workshop next Tuesday at 4
p.m. in the conference room
of the Harry Administrative
Offices in Shelby.
“We will continue what
chairman Johnny Hutchins
and the board have put in
place,” said Hawkins. The
number one goal will be the
creation of much-needed
jobs, he continued, praising
the successes of economic
development leaders during
the past year in recruiting in-
dustry and jobs.
county to be first in offering
an incentive plan to retail
businesses. He explained
how that would work with-
out “red tape.” A business
would apply for a building
permit for an expansion for
x number of dollars and the
county would rebate that
merchant for x number of
dollars in property tax abate-
‘ment. The retailer would
provide a copy of the build-
ing permit and the number of
employees and could get ad-
ditional percentage with ad-
ditional employees.
Hawkins said that com-
missioners will also look at
recruiting hotels for Cleve-
ing for visitors and also
pointing to large companies
that use the new LeGrand
Center and need a place to
stay. Commissioners have
pledged previously no tax in-
creases, and on the drawing
board also are raises for
county employees who
haven’t had wage increases
in four years.
“Our challenge will con-
tinue to be quality of life for
our citizens,” said Hawkins.
Presenters at the Dec. 11
work session will be Charter
School, Destination Cleve-
land County, and Kings
Mountain’s Patrick Senior
Center, among others.
BID: awarded to BB&T
From page 1A
on the progress of public education programs
and surveys underway by the Codes depart-
ment with assistance from an advisory com-
mittee. She said the federal Clean Water Act
mandates a storm water management plan
for every household and her committee is
busy educating the public with storm water
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presentations before civic and church groups.
“Invite us, we’ll go anywhere, there’s lots for
~ the community to know about storm water,”
she said.
“We haven’t had the response we would
like but the second year of the program be-
gins in January,” she told the board. In future
months city council will be asked to approve
an ordinance and determine a utility fee.
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