kmherald.net Volume 125 © Issue - tiie 17, 2018 » 75¢ PAIRS SURANCE = 704.739.3611 106 East Mountain Street Kings Mountain, NC www. KMinsure.com Wecansaveyoumoneyi, | | City Council Beach Blast incumbents challenged ELIZABETH STEWART lib.kmherald @gmail.com A contest developed this week for the Ward 3 and At- Large seats open in Novem- ber on the Kings Mountain City Council. Filing with the Board of Elections this week were Jerry Mullinax, who lost his seat to the incumbent Tommy Hawkins in 2009 and Curtis Pressley, who ran second in a tight, six-man race two years ago for the first At-large seat open on the board. Pressley is challenging the incumbent Dean Spears. Mullinax, 73, who served a total of 10 years on the board — all two-year terms, is running for a four year term from Ward 3, and pledged to represent all the citizens. “We need to cut spending and in bad economy times See CHALLENGE, 5A Four-year-old Lucy McDaniel tries a bite of Cheerwine ice cream, made by Linda Carpenter competing in the 2012 Ice Cream Crank-off. KMH file photo 2nd annual Ice Cream Crank-off Saturday Remember the fun of cre- ating homemade ice cream recipes? Here’s your chance to share that favorite concoction during BeachBlast 2013 this Saturday at Patriots Park, and compete for prizes from local businesses. Enter any or all of the cat- egories: vanilla, chocolate, fruit, nuts, gourmet, or You Made What! and bring 2 gal- lons of ice cream in ice to the tent by the gazebo from 11— noon Saturday morning. There will be room for a card- size table and 2 chairs for each entrant. Tasting cups and spoons will be provided. Entry fee is $5 per flavor. Please complete and bring the entry form in today’s paper. Public tasting and judging will begin at noon. A $5 do- nation entitles you to a scoop of each flavor and the right to vote for your favorite! Win- ners will be announced at 2 p.m. Prizes this year are do- nated by Oak Grove Auto Sales, 238 Cherokee Street, Hometown Hardware, Steve Baker-New York Life, Kings Mountain YMCA, Subway, and Swooger’s. The contest is sponsored by the Green Banana Project, to benefit the Rotary Back- Pack Project and Relay for Life. Playground to close for maintenance The city’s playground at the Family YMCA on Cleve- land Avenue will be closed for annual maintenance be- ginning July 22 at 6:30 a.m. 8 TH ll City crews will be pressure washing, re-sealing the wood surfaces, and repairing and/or replacing the fall pro- tection surface. City officials ask that the public be patient while crews from the Public Works De- partment work to keep the playground safe and usable for the future. The playground will be closed from July 22-Aug. 2. ws ELIZABETH STEWART lib.kmherald @gmail.com Kings Mountain’s Beach Blast celebration will heat up Patriots Park downtown on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. Beach Blast, the commu- nity’s 2013 summer festival, is water, sand, music and fun for the whole family and City of Kings Mountain Events Director Ellis Noell promises that the 14 the an- nual 12 hours on the “Grand Strand’ will be the best ever. There will be keen com- petition with the ever-fa- vorite Teenie Weenie Bikini contest for boys and girls in two age categories for chil- dren, 6 years and under. Prizes will be awarded by the judges for the most beach-like outfit. Free regis- tration will begin at 10 a.m. at Patriots Park at the corner of Railroad Avenue and Gold Street and continue until 11:45 a.m. The competition begins at noon with the awards to be presented after the contest. Erica Carpen- ter, Miss Teen Cleveland County, will help present the See BEACH BLAST, 7A Saturday Watermelon eating contests and much more will be featured at Saturday’s 14th annual Beach Blast at Patriots Park in downtown Kings Mountain. KMH file photo Athlete’s new home taking shape = DAVE BLANTON . dave.kmherald@gmail.com Something that was no more “than-a dream three years ago is now close to be- coming a reality, thanks to an ambitious fundraising drive that has pulled in nearly a million dollars to build a new athletic field house at Kings Mountain High School. The finished product, which is set to be completed by October and November, will be a 12,600 square foot state of the art training facil- ity, complete with kitchen, locker rooms, male and fe- male training rooms, trophy room, film room, laundry rooms, private showers, and Despite the wet weather subcontractors can be found hard at work on the new KMHS field house. The fieldhouse is set to be completed in the fall of 2013. offices for the school’s ath- Real to Reel starts rolling July 24 _ Lights, cameras, ac- tion! ' The Cleveland County Arts Council will present the 14th annual Real to Reel International Film Festival, a unique festival celebrating the art of film, next Wednesday, July 24, at 7 p.m. at Joy The- atre. This year’s festival is co- sponsored by Kings Moun- tain Little Theatre, and The Historic Kings Mountain Tourism Development Au- thority. Arts Council Director Shearra Miller said the Real to Reel Film & Video Festi- val’s mission is to offer a forum for independent film, video, and multimedia artists to showcase their talents and garner award winning name recognition. Films of all genres from all over the U.S. as well as Germany, New Zealand, Iceland, Canada, Belgium, Australia, Luxem- bourg, Brazil, Spain, have International Film Festival poured into Cleveland County and now is the time to see them! The screenings will take place in the newly renovated Joy Performance Center, 202 S. Railroad Ave. in Kings Mountain, July 24-27. Ad- vance tickets, $8 per session or a Festival pass for $30 may be purchased at the Arts Center, 111 S. Washington St., Shelby or online at www.realtoreelfest.com. Tickets prices at the door are $10 per session or a Festival pass for $35, children ages 12 and under are admitted free. The screenings will begin ‘at © 7:00 “pm See REAL TO REEL, 5A letic director, coaches and photo by DAVE BLANTON See FIELD HOUSE, 7A Persistent rain grinds some Golfers can’t golf. Builders can’t build. And no one can manage to stay dry for very long as the Kings Mountain area and much of the lower Piedmont is seeing one of rainiest sum- mers in memory. “You're not able to do as much work when it rains like this,” said Chris Greene, owner of Greene’s Land- scape Supply in Gastonia. “A lot of my guys are short time — they’re not getting much hours.” From the grassy links to the slippery streets, daily life has been altered by record | rainfall that pelts the region daily, sometimes up to three soaking showers a day. “You have to walk around in people’s yard in the mud,” said Kurston Lat- activities to halt timore, who delivers pizza for Papa John’s. “It’s danger- ous. It can get so rainy you can’t see the road.” “One time when it was raining I fell — I saved the pizza though — but I fell pretty hard,” said Lattimore, who says she puts about 70 miles a shift on her 1998, Camry. “From my feet to my knees I was covered in mud. Only got a $1 tip.” Still, the wet weather is’ good news for some folks. For organic grass-fed cattle farmer Shelley Proffitt Eagan, the surplus rainfall means that her stock is get- ting more grass. “As long as we’re not flooding, we’re good as far as the cattlemen are con- cerned,” said Eagan, who along with her father runs Profitt Family Farms in ‘See RAIN, 5A Creating Dazzling Smiles that Brighten Your Lifel Preventative, Restorative & Cosmetic Dentistry To schedule an appointment contact Baker Dental Care today! Call 704-739-4461 703 E. Kings St., Suite 9, Kings Mountain * www.BakerDentalCare.com Now Open on Fridays! 5 A en)