Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / Aug. 28, 2013, edition 1 / Page 3
Part of The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Wednesday, August 28, 2013 = DAVE BLANTON dave.kmherald @gmail.com Bill Parker’s first gas delivery- man told the young entrepreneur “you won’t make it six months.” That was in 1973, when thirty- eight cents bought a gallon of gas and if you got it at Parker’s new service station you got it with full service, the only option at the time. Through many years of four- teen-hour days and six-day weeks, he and his father Charles made Parker’s American a success and a kind of landmark in town, and next month the service station — now Parker’s BP — will celebrate forty years in business. During that time Parker has seen the town, its people, the cars they drive and the very relationship people have with their vehicles change a lot. “People have less and less un- derstanding of their cars,” he said in his garage last week. “It’s a hurry-up-and-go economy. People don’t really think about the car until a dashboard light comes on.” If oil is low. Or if the windshield wiper fluid needs topping off. Or if a tire needs a blast of air. As modern cars have become outfitted with sensors and comput- ers that monitor and alert owners to all manner of calibrations and di- agnostics, there’s a growing dis- Vote for the BC Drive-In! The Kings Mountain Herald | www.kmherald.net Parker’s entering fourth decade of service connection between driver and what’s being driven. All of that is fine with Parker, 61, who says he’s always been able to change with the times and learn. “Really, hardly a day goes by where I don’t learn something new about this business, and about cars. It keeps me going.” Parker and his father were both working at Carolina Throwing, a part of Mauney Mills, when he said that business was slowing down and both wanted to try their hand at running a gas and service shop. Bill established the business and his dad followed him over a few months later. “It was tough going for many years in the beginning there,” Parker said. “It was just the two. of us. In those four decades, he’s seen more competition in town and a widening variety of cars — and fuel — hit the market. He’s also seen some odd things happen at the service station, which for years has employed about 3-5 full time em- ployees. “Customer got out of her car and left it in reverse,” he said. “It circled the gas pumps before we could get it stopped.” And there was the time a man was pumping gas and his young son knocked the car into drive, pro- pelling the car straight toward the Page 3A Bill Parker attends to longtime customers Wilson and Sara Griffin on a recent afternoon. Parker and his father left their jobs at a textile plant in the 1970s to start a business of their own. office. Luckily, it met an unforgiv- ing steel post at low speed before it could crash into the office panes. Some scrapes were more dan- gerous ... and painful. Parker was peering under the hood of a sick automobile once, trying to trou- bleshoot, when a radiator hose blew and splattered his face with two hundred degree coolant. He was taken to the Emergency Room, with scalding injuries around his eyes and face. “Never had a pain like that be- fore,” he said. In the last 15 or 20 years he said he’s seen the amount of gas he sells fall off by about half, due to more gas stations in the area. “In the 70s and 80s, we were selling three tankers a week. Now it’s about 1 % week,” he said. A Photo by DAVE BLANTON tanker contains 8,000 gallons. About twenty years ago, Parker got into the rental business. Now, he owns about 30 rental properties across town. As he looks to the future, he says he has contemplated selling Parkers, but he’s not sure when he’ll make that move. As for the rental properties, Parker intends to stick with that for the long run. Bessemer City-Kings Mountain Drive-In needs to go digital (no more film strips) by the end of the year to conform to new movie stu- dio requirements. Making that move is costly. To try and help preserve this bit of Americana, Honda and its industry association is sponsoring a contest and of- fering five digital projectors to the drive-in theatres that get the most votes in Project. Drive-In, an on-line compe- tition among 90 theatres across the country. The Bessemer City Drive In is asking their friends to go on line and cast a vote to give them a chance at win- ning a digital projector. “My grandparents, Gaye and Mozelle Stinnett, made their dreams come true in 1949 when they built a drive- In movie theatre behind their home on Bessemer City Road. It is the only drive in theatre still owned and oper- ated by the same family and handed down two genera- tions. My father and current owner, Rick Stinnett, was born and raised here. The theatre is currently operated by my dad, Rick Stinnett, and his two daughters, me and my sister, Danielle Stinnett, and Jessica Yow. Our drive- in is the only operation still charging by the car load in- stead of per person. There is nowhere else you can get two movies for $10 a carload. We are open every Friday, Satur- day and Sunday nights throughout the summer and enjoy providing affordable quality family entertainment for the community. This the- atre is part of our family her- itage and community history. It would be heartbreaking to have to close our theatre due to electronic upgrades that we cannot afford. Please help us stay open by voting for our drive-in theatre in this contest to win a digital pro- jector.” The drive-in has room for more than 400 vehicles at each show, which features two movies. How do you vote? Go to ProjectDriveln. com and locate the drive-in on the map. Click on “save this drive-in,” then click “vote” when a new screen pops up. You can also use your smart phone to vote by texting “Vote 17” to 444999. You can vote online and via text once each day. “We really need the com- munity’s support to win one of these projectors,” said Yow. Thread Trail survey set for Sept. 7 Carolina Thread Trail will conduct user surveys of trail visitors at Kings Mountain Gateway Trail on Saturday, Sept. 7, from 11 am.-2 p.m. Walk for your health & win On August 5 sponsors began registration for the 8th Annual Step One Challenge Cleveland County Health Department walking contest. This contest is a community- wide approach to increasing physical activity and sup- porting obesity prevention strategies for all residents of the county. The Step One Challenge is a countywide event in which all Cleveland County residents, ages 12 and up, are eligible to participate at NO COST. Participants must form teams of between 3-6 individuals, with each team having a name and captain. All participants will receive a free pedometer and walk- ing log to monitor daily steps taken. Entry forms are avail- able from the Cleveland County Health Department, the YMCA sites in the county and the public li- braries. Entry forms are also posted on the Step One RISE & SHINE- breakfast sponsored hy Hometown Hardware was hosted by the Main Street Organization Committee Aug. 20 in Main Street Director Jan Harris’s office. It was well at- tended by business owners, building owners, and business and civic representatives from Kings Mountain and Cleveland County. The breakfast is held quarterly to discuss ideas for pro- motion and growth of the downtown business district. photo by Jan Harris MOORES IN RALEIGH - McRae Moore, oldest son of Tim Moore and Julie Moore, attended UNC Challenge web site at www.steponechallenge.org. All team registrations for this year’s walking event are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30, at the Cleveland County Health Department. Team captains will pick up the team packets consist- ing of walking logs, report- ing sheets and pedometers on Friday, Sept. 6, at the County Health Department or Kings Mountain Hospital. The contest kicks off on Sat- urday, September 7, from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. at either location and runs through Friday, Oct. 18. In addition to this year’s competition is the “2nd An- nual Step One 5K-and Fun Run” event, presented by Shelby Savings Bank, will happen on Saturday, Sept. 7 a.m. at Aldersgate UMC in Shelby. Participants, ages 8 and up, can run, jog or walk the 3.1 mile route and at 10:00 a.m. the Y4-mile fun run will occur. Registration is now open * at www.steponechallenge.org for the SK and Fun Run. The cost is $15 for the SK and the Fun Run is free. All participants of the SK that register prior to the 5 a t- shirt, and all fun run partici- pants will be given a race medal. For more information about the Step One Chal- lenge please visit www. steponechallenge.org. The surveys are part of a larger effort to measure the eco- basketball camp this Anny nomic impact of greenways and trails in the Greater 15- summer and visited Your Choice! county Carolina Thread Trail region. The surveys will be Rep. Moore in Raleigh completed at Kings Mountain and two other trails in York who introduced him to 4-Pk and Mecklenburg counties several times throughout the com- Governor Pat McCrory. ii ing year. They are pictured in the Ultra-Mini Visitors willing to help with the survey will provide the N. C. Governor's office. Carolina Thread Trail with vital information and feedback on CFL Bu I bs perceptions of the trail and the economic impact it has gen- erated. > wl Kings Mountain Weekend Weather of Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday S H E LBY DENTAL CARE C E NTER August 29 August 30 August 31 September 1 Serving the community for over 36 years! Chosse fom daylight Za } ) fr 3A = » or soft-white ofl, gC | OneDaySmileDenturescwn Fast & Affordable $285 Ns Nr 3 FR g None — > Ty p> Full Upper or Lower 99 < A. a oo pnt) . hs ly Dentures - come in at 7:00 SR a ea isdeied TSoms=37, Paty Cloudy~6 Sones Somes’ ond Toon Yong & Assodates Family Dentist am & have dentures by 4pm! | | Bridges ZazVatue Hardware 30% Chance of 20% Chance of 30% Chance of 30% Chance of a01 W. King Streets Kings Mountai precipitation : precipitation precipitation precipitation 1429 North Lafayette Street, Shelby ! TE — a Night time Low 67° Night time Low 66° Night time Low 67° Night time Low 66° www.OneDaySmileDentures.com ® 704.487 0346 Manday-Friday 8-8; Saturday 8-6 Wendy Isbell - Publisher Mail Subscription Rates Payable in Advance. wendy.kmherald @gmail.com All Prices include 6.75% NC State Sales Tax. - 2 Lib Stewart - Managing Editor 1 Year 6 Months ! lib.kmherald @gmail.com Gaston & Cleveland County $30.00 $19.50 Gary Stewart - Sports Editor Other NC Counties $35.00 $22.50 Outside NC $50.00 $39.00 Beth Brock - Staff Writer Dave Blanton - Staff Writer Rick Hord - Sales Manager Lisa Zyble - General Operations Manager Graphics & Composing Wayne Conner - Business Manager Kathy Reynolds - Circulation/Classified Published every Wednesday Periodicals postage at Kings Mountain, NC 28086 USPS 931-040 by Gemini Newspapers, Inc. Postmaster, send address changes to: P. O. Box 769, Kings Mountain, NC 28086 Phone (704) 739-7496 © Fax (704) 739-0611 Office: 700 East Gold Street ® Kings Mountain, NC 28086 E-mail: kathy.kmherald @ gmail.com © 2013 Gemini Newspapers, Inc.. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement or news that we deem inappropriate or offensive to our readership.
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 28, 2013, edition 1
3
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75