kmherald.net
Plans to hire more employees
said that more jobs are coming.
The plant, which started produc-
tion in November with 15 employ-
ees in the former Indian Motorcycle
building, started running one shift
in November and plans to add five
more employees and run a second
shift by the end of this month.
“Our goal in the future is run-
ning 24-7, by next year 35-40 em-
ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald @gmail.com
Kings Mountain is a good fit for
Badger Color Concentrates, Inc.,
said city and county officials at last
Wednesday’s grand opening cele-
bration at the plant on S. Battle-
ground Avenue.
Badger President Mike Fatta
Bessemer City
awarded $1.5M
Bessemer City has been awarded
$1,565,000 for a much needed wastewater sys-
tem
Project. Funding came from the N. C. De-
partment of Environment and Natural Re-
sources, Division of Water Quality,
Infrastructure Finance Section.
These monies are part of the Clean Water
State Revolving Fund and includes $782,500
which will be in the form of principal forgive-
ness (grant), with the remaining being a 0% in-
terest loan.
See BESSEMER CITY, 5A
CCS underfunded
charter schools
A North Carolina superior court judge ruled
this week that Cleveland County Schools un-
derfunded three charter schools during the
2009-10 budget year.
Cleveland County Schools was ordered to
pay $57,836 to those schools, about half what
they sought in the suit.
Individual amounts allotted in the ruling
were: Piedmont Community Charter School,
Gastonia, $4,250; Lincoln Charter School in
Lincolnton, $3,265; and Thomas Jefferson
Classical Academy in Rutherford County,
$50,321, all of whom filed a complaint against
Cleveland County Schools in 2012.
See CC SCHOOLS, 5A
VFD buys land
Bethlehem Volunteer Fire Department has
purchased 13.68 acres of land (three lots)
across from the fire department for future use
by firemen.
“The parcel of land became available and
firemen decided to purchase it as a good in-
vestment for our department,” said Bob Hul-
lender.
Hullender said a committee has been ap-
* pointed to discuss long-range goals and also to
make plans for the upcoming 50th anniversary
of the volunteer department. “We are planning
an all-day event on our anniversary to show-
case our fire department, the firemen who have
served for many years, and the accomplish-
ments in our community,” he added.
Jeff Dixon is chairman of the board of di-
rectors and John McDaniel is Fire Chief.
Firemen will be firing up their grills Satur-
day for a big BBQ chicken supper to start at 5
p.m. All proceeds are earmarked for equip-
ment.
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ployees and in time 100 employees
and we think we’ll make it,”
Fatta conducted a tour of the
500,000 square foot facility, which
included the laboratory and produc-
tion areas. Lab manager Kevin
West and site manager Mike Werns-
ing assisted, showing how color
swatches for an order for a cus-
tomer are processed. Pigments de-
rived from a formula are made into
little color chips and run in plastic
a8
resin. The result
is color for such ®
things as plastic
lawn chairs, sham-
poo, conditioner,
cosmetic bottles,
the development
of color in the plas-
tics they
+ See BADGER, 5A
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ELLIS NOELL
This brilliant blue color concentrate is an example of what goes into pro-
duction for almost every type of manufacturer in the plastics es,
BBQ grills to fire up Friday
Fifty-four BBQ teams have signed up to
compete in this weekend’s 17th annual Fire-
house Barbecue Cook-off, a state champi-
onship event offering $10,000 in cash prizes
and trophies, at Kings Mountain Walking
Track.
Kings Mountain firemen have spent
weeks preparing for the event and are set to
welcome teams from across the Southeast
and as far distant as Maryland, Tennessee,
and Virginia, plus many from this immediate
area and from all over North Carolina and
South Carolina.
The money raised during the event sup-
ports the Kings Mountain Fire Museum, one
of few remaining in the state.
Grills will be fired up Friday at the track
— next to the KM Family YMCA on Cleve-
land Avenue — and chefs will continue to
smoke, grill and prepare their meats
throughout the night for judging that starts
at 12 noon on Saturday, with presentation of
awards at 3 p.m. Some of the teams may be
arriving on Thursday to set up around the
track.
The event kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday with
the popular band “Southern Exposure,” the
Anything Butt contest, which like the con-
test name, allows grillers and firemen fami-
lies to enter mouth-watering goodies besides
barbecue. Cash awards will go to the best
dessert and best non-dessert. There will also
be a Mayor’s Choice trophy offered by °
Mayor Rick Murphrey. Saturday morning
will feature inflatables for the kids and rides
in a hot air balloon from 9 a.m.-12 noon.
The grand prize-winner in the Kings
Mountain Cook-off advances to Lexington
and Kannapolis Ole North State Series.
Should the Kings Mountain winner take the
top prize at those two upcoming events the
top prize is $10,000.
Twenty-six teams from North Carolina
See BBQ, 5A
For Nolen, Relay for Life is personal
« ELIZABETH STEWART
lib:.kmherald @gmail.com
Working on a car engine is a piece of
cake for Gary Nolen, 61, who never even
tinkered with mechanics until he joined his
brother at Greg’s Auto Machines.
“Greg had tinkered with cars as a
teenager and I started helping him out on
some engine work 30 years ago and stayed,”
said Nolen.
Last September Gary battled more than
a complicated engine. He was diagnosed
with kidney cancer. By his own testimony,
“God was in control and He orchestrated
everything that happened to me.”
Cancer changes a person’s perspective.
Every day is a new day. Nolen’s faith was
strong. “I had peace that God was in control
and He was,” Nolen testifies to his Sunday
School class and
others.
Nolen was
being treated by a |
pulmonary special- f
ist for a chronic |
cough, had under- |
gone a biopsy and |
CT scan when the |
kidney cancer was
found on a lung |
scan. “I had no
symptoms of kidney Gary Nolen
cancer,.had been bothered with a chronic
cough for years, underwent the surgery to
remove the non-malignant mass in my
throat and two days later a biopsy confirmed
the diagnosis of kidney cancer.
Nolen said the kidney specialist told him
See NOLEN, 5A
Rodney Gordon feeds Rick Moore a bar-
beque bacon burger at the 2012 Firehouse
Barbecue Cook-off. Both men are KM city
councilmen.
KMH File Photo
Music Festival played to a full house
w= ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald@gmail.com
“When I make it I’m never going to for-
get where I came from,” said Jimmy Wayne
* on the stage of the Joy Theatre Saturday
night and not far from where he was born
in Kings Mountain 40 years ago.
The local boy who made good personi-
fies a man of many talents: songwriter, vo-
calist, writer, advocate, -sought-after
speaker.
He returned home — with family and
friends in the audience — to headline the
Darin and Brooke Aldridge Music Festival
sponsored by The Kings Mountain Herald
and the Green Banana Project — a fundraiser
Kings Mountain native Jimmy Wayne head-
lined Saturday Music Fest performances.
Photo by WAYNE CONNER
that was the late Herald Publisher/Owner
Ron Isbell’s dream before his untimely
death to cancer last year. :
Several people in the crowd said that
Ron Isbell “must be smiling tonight.”
Isbell and his wife, Wendy, founded the
‘Green Banana Project in May 2012 to instill
hope in and provide support for disadvan-
taged and disabled persons in the immedi-
ate area. The concert fundraiser benefits the
Rotary Club’s Back Pack Program and
Relay for Life to help fight cancer in Cleve-
land and Gaston counties.
Summit Place, Ceejay’s Landscape,
Mountain Street Pharmacy, all of Kings
Mountain, and Hounshell Family Dentistry,
Shelby Drug Store, Cleveland Compound-
ing all of Shelby, and Dallas Express Phar-
macy of Dallas were also sponsors of the
See MUSIC FEST, 3A
To schedule an appointment contact Baker Dental Care today! Call 704-739-4461
Creating Dazzling Smiles that Brighten Your Life
Preventative, Restorative & Cosmetic Dentistry
703 E. Kings St., Suite 9, Kings Mountain * www.BakerDentalCare.com
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Fridays!