kmherald.net
Property revaluation is coming
and county commissioners will
discuss the expected 2014 revalu-
ation at a work session in April.
Commission Vice-Chairman
Jason Falls of Kings Mountain said
there has been some change in the
real estate landscape since 2007
CCS eyeing
job cuts
“We need to be prepared” says Boyles
Kings I
but there haven’t been “a lot of
arms-length sales, ““ he said.
Falls said the market has really
slowed down in the last 4-5 years
and there have been home foreclo-
sures in Cleveland County.
He noted that as the economy
worsened and the foreclosure-re-
3
Easter Fun
“Live Bunnies,
Egg Hunt,
lated sales climbed that commis-
sioners in 2012 put off calling for
a revaluation of county property
for two years.
The state requires that such as-
sessments be done at least once
every eight years. The last revalu-
ation was in 2007, effective in
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2008.
Preliminary work on the reval-
uation is already underway at the
Cleveland County Tax Office.
Chris Green and his staff are com-
piling data from prior years and de-
veloping a formula for tax values.
Additionally, property spot checks
Property revaluation expected to begin in 2014
may be conducted by county staff.
The process of attaching new
values to properties all over Cleve-
land County is a challenge, Falls
acknowledged.
Falls said the commission will
also talk about goal-setting at its
next work session.
Jimmy Wayne headlines
upcoming Music Festival
Gospel groups to kick off event
= ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald@gmail.com
Cleveland County Schools officials
awaiting state and federal funding decisions
could see job cuts in ps
the 2013-2014 budget -
year.
But Supt. Dr. Bruce
Boyles, in a budget ad-
dress during the recent
work session. of the
school board, said the
system is not going to
create a budget on
what legislators may or may not do. “We
are focusing our attention on the needs of
our school system and the achievement of
our system's goals,” said Boyles.
“It’s just something we need to be pre-
pared for,” he said.
Boyles said the current proposed budget
Dr. Bruce Boyles
at the state level does not cut any teacher |
salaries but funding still goes through the
N. C. General Assembly. He said the Gov-
ernor’s state budget includes cuts for
teacher assistants but no local positions
have been identified. Teachers could lose
tenure because of the Excellence in Teach-
ing Act, charter schools could also come
into play in the new year budget and Title |
schools could face an 8 percent cut from
federal money.
This year instead of worrying about the
“fiscal cliff” school leaders are focusing at-
tention on sequestration — mandated auto-
matic across-the-board federal budget cuts.
Boyles said all federal education funding
will be subject to the automatic reductions
but they will be most apparent in programs
like Title | and Title V1-B. These programs
together are more than $8 million dollars
. for Cleveland County schools and an across
the board reduction would exceed
$600,000 per year.
Boyles said that the system made staffing
adjustments early in the budget crisis last
year and employees were spared the pain
of either actual job losses or threats of job
loss. The system implemented the classified
salary equalization at the school level; in- -
creased certified supplements 10% for the
. second consecutive year; added curriculum
technical coordinators; increased months of
employment for Assistant Principals in the
secondary schools; and added technology
specialists with an ever increasing invest-
ment in instructional technology.
See SCHOOLS, 6A
8 98525"00200"%1
The Southern Arts Society
(SASI) has been selected to host
The National Watercolor Society
(NWS) Traveling Exhibit, one of
five stops in the United States.
The exhibit will open on Sat-
urday, April 6 at the Art Depot,
301 N. Piedmont Avenue, and
continue until Friday, May 17.
Gallery hours are Tuesday-Satur-
day from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
© “We are excited and honored
to be chosen as the only South-
east location to showcase these
Gary Freeman, a volunteer at SASI and head of the Gaston College Art
Department, helps to hang paintings Monday morning for the National
Watercolor Socity Traveling Exhibit which opens April 6 at the Depot.
SASI to host
watercolor exhibit
Photo by ELLIS NOELL
amazing collections of watercol-
ors. The exhibit consists of 30
paintings from artists across the
U.S. who were selected to be part
of the traveling show,” said Ber-
nice Chappell, chair of the ex-
hibit. :
Located at the old Southern
Railway Station in Kings Moun-
tain, the 1920’s historic depot
now serves as a gallery, exhibit
hall and provides classrooms for
art workshops. The Depot is also
See EXHIBIT, 5A
#: ELIZABETH STEWART
a lib.kmherald @gmail.com
Mark and Audrey Toney are
grateful for the work of Shriners
Hospitals for Children after adopt-
ing two special-needs orphans from
China.
“We wanted to adopt to help pro-
vide a forever home to children who
might find placement a little more
challenging,” said Audrey.
Nearly three years ago the Kings
Mountain couple and their biologi-
cal daughter, Allison, now 19, fell
in love with the angelic face of
Anna Grace, now 4, and were
thrilled to learn that Shriners Hos-
pital in Greenville, SC could help
her receive the medical treatment
she needed to correct a birth defect
that kept her fingers from develop-
ing properly.
A year ago — March 31,2012 —
the Toneys returned to China and
Maria Jane, now 3, became their
Shriners provide help,
hope for Toney family
Anna Grace, left, and Maria Jane
Toney
third daughter.
Anna Grace and Maria Jane, al-
though not blood kin, look alike.
They have beautiful black hair and
dark eyes, have become western-
ized very quickly, love their church,
See SHRINERS, 5A
In a twist of fate that
sounds straight out of Holly-
wood, country music sensa-
tion and strong advocate for
children Jimmy Wayne
comes home to Kings Moun-
tain for a two-day music fes-
tival Friday and Saturday-
April 12-13 - hosted by the
popular Bluegrass duo Darin
and Brooke Aldridge at Joy
Theatre.
Wayne will headline the
April 13 show at 8 p.m. Ad-
vance tickets are $25. Sat-
urday afternoon, April 13,
the music will be free and
non-profit organizations are
encouraged to participate in
a street festival style atmos-
phere near the theatre on S.
Railroad Avenue.
The Friday night April 12
concert at 7 p.m. will feature
three styles of music. “Men
Standing for Christ” will
bring the energy and tight
harmonies of a cappella
African American gospel;
Hall of Fame quartet “’The
Kingsmen” had the top song
iH et
Jimmy Wayne will headline
Saturdays performaces at
~ Music Fest, April 12-13
on the 2012 gospel chart and
Darin and Brooke Aldridge,
who have moved to the top
of the charts in Bluegrass
music nominated for their
bluegrass and gospel songs,
will be on the concert stage
on next Friday and also on
next Saturday. The popular
Aldridges have gone from
newlyweds to national
prominence in just four
years. They have released
See MUSIC FEST, 5A
Shriners BBQ Saturday
‘White Plains Shrine Club
members and Auxiliary are
ready for the big barbecue
sale Saturday from 10 a.m.-
1 p.m. on the Mauney lot at
the corner of Gold Street and
York Road for benefit of
Shriners Hospitals. Club
President Ricky Carroll ex-
pressed appreciation to the
Mauneys whose property
has been the scene of the tra-
ditional barbecue fundraiser
for 30 years.
US 74 bypass finally
set to begin in 2014
Workmen are expected to
start moving dirt next year,
working from West Shelby
toward Kings Mountain, on
the US 74 Bypass of Shelby
which is tentatively sched-
uled for completion in 2030.
Meantime, commission-
ers from the counties of Polk
and Rutherford adopted a
resolution last week asking
the Department of Trans-
portation to study the possi-
bilities of an ihterstate-style
freeway network that would
connect the mountains with
the coast.
Cleveland County com-
missioners, after meeting
with the two boards in Forest
City, chose to put off adop-
tion of the proposal for fur-
ther study: They may talk
about the resolutions at the
April work session.
“We sure don’t want to
throw a kink in the plan to
get the road under construc-
tion,” said Commissioners
Johnny Hutchins and Jason
Falls.
A US 74 project has been
in the works for more than
30 years as an alternate route
around Shelby and for which
construction is finally sched-
uled to begin in 2014.
Falls said that DOT offi-
cials said the portion of the
new Bypass around Shelby
is scheduled to be built to In-
terstate standards and the
portion of highway West of
Shelby to freeway standards.
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