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kmherald.net
Volume 126
Issue 20 Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Kings Mountain Herald
15¢
INSIDE...
Relay Rescheduled!........ccneees 3A
School Board Meets ...c.euusenees 4A
Obituaries ...cssssssssessssssssnsansas OA
SPOTES wav rinicncnnsisininnssvnssacsnios. 18
KidSCOOP ...cenneerunessenssnnsssenenses 3B
Lady Kickers in Playoffs ......... 4B
East Knights ...cessseseesesansnsaness 6B
Byers charged
with murder,
denied bond
Hannah Carol Bickley,
17, loved to talk on the tele-
phone and text her friends. A
graduat-
ing sen-
ior at
Cher-
ryville
High
School,
she also
TN. "SW worked
Hannah Bickley at a
restau-
rant. and wanted to be a
nurse.
Aaron Rashun Byers, 19,
charged with the teen’s mur-
der, made his first court ap-
pearance Monday and was
denied bond.
Byers had allegedly told
Shelby police that he and
Bickley had been robbed,
and she had been shot. Po-
my lice
“later
sus -
pected
th .e
shoot-
ing was
acci-
4 dental
and that
Aaron Byers
Byers pulled the trigger in an
attempted robbery in Shelby.
Byers was charged with
murder, attempted armed
robbery and possession of a
firearm by a felon.
Pauline Bickley of Kings
Mountain said her grand-
daughter had texted her fa-
ther, Guy Bickley of Kings
Mountain, several times on
Saturday, the last time when
she was leaving her job. She
said Hannah had loaned her
car to her boyfriend and he
was picking her up from
work.
At 2:38 a.m. Saturday, of-
ficers with the Shelby Police
Department responded to a
call about a possible armed
robbery and shooting on
Holder Drive in Shelby. En
route, officers were flagged
down on Broad Street by a
man (later identified by po-
lice as Byers) who said a
woman inside his vehicle
had been shot on Holder
Drive.
Officers found Bickley
inside the vehicle with a sin-
gle and fatal gunshot wound.
“Hannah loved her fam-
ily and we all loved her,"
said her grandmother
Pauline Bickley. The inves-
tigation is ongoing. Anyone
with information about the
case is asked to call Crime
Stoppers at 704-481-8477.
Budget workshop
set for Thursday
Kings Mountain city
council will take a first look
at the proposed city budget
for 2014-15 Thursday at a
budget workshop meeting at
6 p.m. at the H. Lawrence
Patrick Senior Life & Con-
ference Center.
City Manager Marilyn
Sellers will conduct the
meeting and present her
budget proposal to the seven
members of city council.
The preliminary manager's
budget contains no in-
creased fees in budget year
2014-15. However, last year
8 7798525700200
city council okayed a 7 Y-
percent increase in
water/sewer fees for three
years ending in 2016 to pay
for the $34 million water
improvements projects for
which the city borrowed
money to pay for major im-
provements.
Workers are getting close
to the finish line of a $5.2
million waterline rehabilita-
tion project that affects pipes
from Battleground Avenue
to Phifer Road, some of the
pipes 80 plus years old. The
water improvements plan
will also bring a new 36 inch
water transmission line from
Moss Lake to Kings Moun-
tain with some $9 million in
bids approved recently.
The budget is expected to
be conservative.
NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson
expected to be among competitors
This year’s 15th annual Over the
Mountain Triathlon on Saturday, May
17 will begin at Moss Lake with a one
mile swim, a 30 mile bike ride through
four counties and two states and finish
with a 10k run through the streets of
Kings Mountain. With close to 300
triathletes competing in this “point-to-
point” race, is there a good place to
watch the action?
Ellis Noell, Special Events Director
for the City of Kings Mountain, has a
few places in mind for a great vantage
point of all the race segments. “Our
triathlon race is Olympic length, which
means that over this long race course,
there are a number of places to watch
and cheer these amazing triathletes.”
His recommendations: -- The swim
starts at the beach area behind the Moss
Lake Office on Oak Grove Road where
the swimmers take off in the waves. A
great viewing point is on one of four
piers at the boat landing. -- The swim
finish on the New Camp Creek Church
Road at the large, new handicap acces-
sible fishing pier, providing a great
panoramic view of the lake as the
swimmers pass by and where the triath-
letes will begin a hearty jog up the hill
to their first transition area where they
will mount their bicycles at that staging
area and begin the challenging 30 mile
bike portion.
-- The halfway point of the bike
portion, at the water station at the Su-
perintendent's Office at Kings Moun-
tain National Military Park. This is the
only water that’s provided on the bike
course. The water bottles will be
handed-off by a group of Boy Scouts.
-- The third transition area, from the
bike portion to the run course. Railroad
Avenue in downtown Kings Mountain
will be blocked off with racks for the
triathletes to drop off their bicycles, put
on their running shoes and head out for
the final leg of the triathlon, the 10k
run portion.
-- The finish line at Patriots Park.
Lots of excitement here, beginning
See OTM, 7A
Work underway for Wal-Mart
Construction workers are on the scene at Kings Mountain Plaza with heavy equipment readying to demolish the old
Winn-Dixie Store and area to make way for a new Wal-Mart Marketplace which will include a grocery store and phar-
macy. The entire area is off limits to traffic and enclosed, with signs directing traffic to nearby businesses. City of-
ficials have not been notified of the date that the buildings will be razed but with the good weather it could be soon.
Photo by DAVE BLANTON
Teacher pay, coal ash top the
agenda for area lawmakers
ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald@gmail.com
Area lawmakers return to Raleigh
Wednesday (today) for the start of the
2014 short legislative session.
The local delegation agrees that
teacher pay, coal ash, and budget ad-
justments top the agenda.
The House and Senate will begin
the 2014 session at noon.
Representing this area from Cleve-
land and Rutherfordton and portions of
Gaston County are Rep. Tim Moore of
Kings Mountain, chairman of the com-
‘mittee on rules, calendar and opera-
tions of the NC House, Rep. Kelly E.
Hastings of Cher-
ryville, Rep. Mike
Hager of Rutherford-
ton, and Senator War-
ren Daniel of
Morganton. =
Wednesday morning
representatives of the
North Carolina Associ-
ation of Educators and
supporters of public
schools will come to- |!
gether for a day of ac-
tion at the legislature.
Organizers want to
send a loud and clear
message to the General Hastings
Assembly: “We love
public schools and are
ready to fight for
them.” The AFL-CIO
will sound off for
equality for public edu-
cation and for a clean
environment at 10 a.m.
on Bicentennial Mall
across from the legisla-
tive building in
Raleigh. They will lead
the second Pots &
Spoons protest.
“I am very hopeful |
See LAWMAKERS, 7A
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