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yu ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald@gmail.com
Retired County Manager David
Dear is expected to step into his for-
mer job with the county — this time
as interim manager — until a man-
ager is hired to replace Eddie Bailes
who unexpectedly left the position
last week.
The formal hiring of Dear and
the beginning of advertisement for
the permanent position was on the
agenda of last night’s commissioner
meeting in Shelby.
awsitive v the Post Care in Grooming |
786 Bell Rd., Kings Mountain ala
e 704.473.4048
I
April 30 for
personal rea-
sons, accord- |
ing to Ronnie |
Hawkins, |
chairman of |
the county
board of com-
missioners.
Bailes contract
had an annual salary of $159,000
and was to roll over in July follow-
ing annual evaluation, according to
Hawkins.
Hawkins said Bailes gave no in-
David Dear
oun nt!
Volume 125 Issue 19 0 Wednesday, May 8, 2013 « 75¢
"Parson . going to Hall of Fame .. 1B
TR aks ft a
dication for his
resignation,
citing only per-
sonal reasons.
“He is a nice
guy and we
wish him
well,” said A
Ro Eddie Bailes
IC €
Chairman Jason Falls and I talked
with Eddie last Tuesday morning
and his resignation came as a
shock,” said Hawkins, who said
board members and department
heads were notified and he an-
nounced the resignation at the close
of the April 30 work session. A mo-
tion was made at last week’s work
session for Hawkins to serve as
chief operations officer until the po-
sition was filled.
“It’s been a busy week,” he said.
Bailes and’ Financial Officer
Chris Crepps were already working
and just needed to plug in the num-
bers on the 2013-2014 budget, ac-
cording to Hawkins. He said that
Dear, who retired two years ago as
manager, had agreed to assist during
pipes ssautainine PR gar)
county budget planning.
Bailes served two years .as
county manager and, before becom-
ing assistant manager, was HR Di-
rector for a number of years.
David Dear had been multi-task-
ing for the county before Kristin
Fletcher came on board in economic
development and, since his retire-
ment two years ago, has been em-
ployed by the county under the
economic development umbrella.
“David will be stepping out of that
role for a while to serve as interim
manager,” confirmed Hawkins.
Bailes unexpectedly resigned
Hall of Fame
induction
Saturday
Three state champions and a Kings Moun-
tain man who reached the pinnacle of the
sports writing profession will be inducted into
the Kings Mountain Sports Hall of Fame at its
* 26th annual induction ceremony Saturday,
May 11 at 6 p.m. at Central United Methodist
Church.
This year’s inductees, all of whom were
elected on the first ballot, include: °
-Kings Mountain High’s.. first - state
wrestling champion and current Kings Moun-
tain Middle School coach Alfred Ash;
-A state champion in both the shot and
See HALL OF FAME, 8A
Rules set for
Senior Center
Rules and regulations for rent or lease of
city-owned H. Lawrence Patrick Senior Life
& Conference Center, for a special event at
which beer and wine would be served, were
set by city Council Tuesday.
The rules stipulate that the holidays of New
Year’s Eve, July 4th, and Halloween will not
be days at which the Center will be rented, if
beer and/or wine might be served.
The rules specify that the applicant must
obtain an ABC permit and liability insurance,
pay a $300 deposit in event of damage to the
building with a refund if no damage is done;
and pay the salary or salaries of a sworn police
officer on duty at the event. Handouts in the
form of applicable materials will be given to
all who apply at the Senior Center.
Questions or assistance in locating the
proper applications and/or signing off on the
law enforcement requirements should be di-
rected to Sgt. Lisa Proctor or Cpl. Todd Mc-
Dougal at the Kings Mountain Police
Department, 704-734-0444.
Spruce Street
now one-way
It’s now one-way traffic on Spruce Street
(in front of the fire department) from Chero-,
kee Street east to Regal Drive.
New signs are going up and a drop box will
soon be located on the street for residents pay-
ing utility bills. This change is an effort to re-
solve the heavy traffic on the 15th and 25th of
each month when utility customers are lined
up at city hall to pay bills.
The one-way traffic would not interfere
with fire department vehicles. Chief Frank
* Burns said the change would eliminate cut
througl traffic.
Both Burns and Police Chief Melvin Proc-
tor: said one-way traffic on Spruce from
Cherokee East to Regal Drive would be the
safest option.
by DAVID BLANTON
Hundreds of people — cancer
survivors, their relatives and
those honoring the memories of
lives taken by the dangerous
disease — braved cool and
windy weather and poured in to
the Kings Mountain Walking
Track Friday for the 15th an-
nual Relay For Life.
Revelers and organizers
capped the night with a series of
singing and dance productions
put on by the Kings Mountain
Celebrating survivors! .
The survivors lap of the 15th annual Relay for Life Friday was led by the CC Marine Honor Guard and
cancer survivors Charles Burns and Glenda Terry, brother and sister of KM Fire Chief Frank Burns.
Relay for Life a success!
Over 10K raised at Friday night’s event
High School Chorus’ Kings
Revue, local Zumba instructors
and Step-N-Out Dance Produc-
tions, a youth dance troupe, and
a hilltop fireworks extrava-
ganza that signaled the end of
the fundraising event, which in
one night alone. raised more
than $10,000, according to or-
ganizers.
The spirit of the evening,
which ran from 5 p.m. to mid-
night, was one of hope and de-
termination in a race against an
- illness that has shattered so
Photo by GARY STEWART
many families, not just in this
community but across the
globe.
“They really worked hard.
They said ‘I'm not good at
this.” Then they’d go out and
sell 20 [raffle tickets] in a day”
said Sharon Eaker, a staff mem-
ber and captain of Kings Moun-
tain’s Patrick Senior Center
team. “That is very inspiring.”
Although it was the center’s
first year getting involved in
Relay for Life, its members and
See RELAY, 7A
Green to bring the ‘Promise’ bo Cleveland County
Willie Green, a former NFL player, plans to
bring the Cleveland County Promise to the
area. The Promise is a free scholaship to
every student that goes on to college after
graduating from a CC high school.
ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald@gmail.com
Willie Aaron Green, 47,
former NFL football pro from
Kings Mountain, says every-
thing happens for a reason
and Cleveland County Prom-
ise is this area’s “second
chance for many families.”
Excited about the potential
success, Green says “Cleve-
land will be the envy of every
other county in the state.”
Green has founded and is
CEO of a non-profit organi-
zation called the Cleveland
County Promise with an eye
to providing free scholarships
to every Cleveland County
student who graduates from
high school.
It’s an ambitious project
but Green says in each school
in towns where the program
is available the response in fi-
nancial backing has been
tremendous and a financial
aid and career advisor helps
students fill out all the forms
and sets up trips to visit col-
leges. Gragg & Gragg has
donated office space for the
program at 1137 Marion
Street, No. 102, Shelby, and
Cleveland County Schools is
offering a classroom at each
high school for career and fi-
nancial advisors to work with
students.
Donations from private
donors and businesses makes
the program possible.
Green has seen huge suc-
cess particularly in El Do-
rado, Arkansas where the
school dropout rate was high.’
As aresult of the program test
scores went out the roof.
See GREEN, 6A
Faunce
gets
rezoning
= ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald@gmail.com
By 6-1 the Kings Moun-
tain City Council last Tues-
day rezoned—over opposition
of West End Neighborhood—
the property owned by
Faunce Properties bounded
by West Mountain Street,
Phifer Road and West King
Street. Ward V commissioner
Keith’ Miller cast the “no”
vote.
A protest petition filed by
property owners required six
“for” votes to rezone the
piece of property that the de-
veloper sees as a business
corner.
After the meeting several
residents said that the prop-
erty dispute had been going
on “long enough” and city
council was tired “of it.”
The rezoning case first
appeared before city council
five years ago when Wal-
greens = approached Kings
Mountain businessman
David Faunce about purchas-
ing the property for a drug
store. Over the years Faunce
has changed the zoning re-
quest several times and the
most recent change — ap-
proved during public hearing
last Tuesday — was from res-
idential to conditional use of-
fice permit, allowing only for
medical or non-medical uses.
During the lengthy
process the city planning de-
partment asked representa-
tives of West End
Neighborhood to work with
the city and the developer
and address the concerns in
an effort to resolve them for
both home owners and the
property owner.
“The interest of home-
owners should take prece-
dence over commercial
development,” members of
the West End Neighborhood
wrote city council members
in a memorandum prior to
the meeting, and reiterated
concerns during public hear-
ing.
The proposed new build-
ing’s height and width and
__ See FAUNCE, 6A
98525" 0:0200"" 1
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