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kmherald.net
Issue 23
eo Wednesday, June 4, 2014
KMHS Graduates 282
Kings Moun
Volume 126 eo
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307 04-17-15 0024A00 5P ?
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100 S PIEDMONT AVE
Ih KINGS MOUNTAIN NC 28086-3450
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Casino talk
continues
Pritchard speaks out
as businesswoman
ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald @gmail.com
Connie Pritchard, whose
residence at 506 Dixon
School Road is a neighbor to
the much talked about
prospective casino project,
spoke up for the project at last
Tuesday's city council meet-
ing and admitted she was “the
odd ball out” after four men
spoke against.
“I am first a Christian, sec-
ond the mother of four daugh-
ters, and third a
businesswoman," Pritchard
said. Her perspective was
different from other speakers
during the public comment
portion of the meeting.
“Sin is a choice and
adding a casino won't increase
prostitution, it's already here,"
said Pritchard. She said she
supports a casino because the
community would benefit and
one of the benefits would be
more law enforcement. “I
don't understand why people
think that when you put sin in
front of people they'll go to-
ward it. Sin is a choice.”
Pritchard, who has operated a
business in Matthews for 22
years, said the town is similar
to Kings Mountain. She said a
railroad runs through the town
with shops and a successful
downtown. “That could hap-
pen here and I think it will
with jobs.”
For several months mem-
bers of the Kings Mountain
See CASINO/PRITCHARD,
7A
Miller issues public
apology for comments
ELIZABETH STEWART
] lib.kmherald @gmail.com
At-Large city commis-
sioner Keith Miller publicly
apologized last Tuesday
night to officials in the city
and county for statements he
made in a 75-page “white
paper” opposing . the
Catawba Indian Nation re-
sort and casino eying Kings
Mountain.
Miller said some of the
statements were “mislead-
ing” and “poorly worded”
and he is sorry for the ten-
sion and strife that resulted.
Miller was the only city
councilman who refused to
sign a letter to the US Bu-
reau of Indian Affairs sup-
porting a proposed economic
development project that
would be expected to bring
jobs to the area. The “white
paper” was circulated over
the Internet and portions of
its content were published in
two daily newspapers as
well as on the newspaper
web sites.
Miller made the apology
at the beginning of the May
27 council meeting, saying
part of his statement was
“poorly worded and the
paper only speaks for him
and not for the city council.
He also apologized to county
officials for statements he
made that “seemed to imply
some offensive things.”
In a letter to the editor in
The Herald May 21, Miller
said that he had prayed for
wisdom concerning a casino
and had posted an impact
[1
98525700200
statement on
https://sites.google.com/site/
kmwhite papers/. He
wrote,“l fear the casino
could gain coftirol of the city
council
in ways |
that
may
lead to a
'darken-
ing of
ti<h ie H
SRY Liller
week Miller wrote a letter of
apology in the Herald saying
that some of his statements
in his white paper were mis-
leading and that he had re-
moved or revised many of
those statements. In the letter
to the editor he also clarified
that when he was stating
spiritual interpretations and
applications that he was not
attacking anyone's faith, say-
ing what he himself be-
lieved, and “failing to do that
adequately well.”
“I think it is a testimony
to the unity of our county
governments that we can
weather a storm of strife like
the last few days and emerge
as united as we were before
to work together for the
good of all our citizens," he
said in the written statement
he read to city council last
Tuesday.
The full text of his apol-
ogy comments May 27:
“I need to clear some-
thing up and make some
public apologies. "Over the
last few months I organized
my thoughts about the
casino project into a paper.
Some people have asked,
does the paper speak for the
city or council or just Keith?
It only speaks for me. The
council can only speak as a
body with an agenda item, a
See CASINO/MILLER, 7A
Beautiful beds of willowsis are blooming along the medians of Hwy. 74 thanks to spring
plantings by the NCDOT.
Photo by Sheree Spivey
Smart meters coming
for electric, gas and water
Public invited to citizen fair on new technology
s DAVE BLANTON
dave.kmherald@gmail.com
The City of Kings Moun-
tain is set to install smart
meters for all of its electric-
ity, water and gas customers,
making it the first munici-
pality in the country to in-
stall the new technology for
all of the utilities services it
offers.
A pilot program was
tested over the fall, winter
and spring on about 400
households, and workers
will begin upgrading all cus-
tomers’ utility readers begin-
ning June 9. The installation
phase is expected to be com-
pleted in September. The
Mayor Rick Murphtey, right, Jiseysses information on the
city's new Smart Meters with Kings Mountain resident Larry
Hamrick Jr. Photo by ELLIS NOELL
of three utilities’ usage
See SMART METERS, 2A
smart meters will come in as
equipment upgrades to each
New CC HealthCare
offices open in KM
|
The front desk staff are joined by clinical assistants on their first day of business at the new
Cleveland County Healthcare location Monday. From left to right are Crissy Thomas, Saman-
tha Williams, Jennifer Monroe, Laura Bridges, Patti Miller, Amanda Daly, Sharon Collins,
Tammy Truett, Nikki Mayhew and Linda Pendleton.
Cleveland County HealthCare System
has opened a new care location at 2202 Car-
olinas Place, next door to Ingles Market on
Shelby Road, and doctors from Kings
Mountain Medical Center and Cleveland
Endocrinology, started seeing patients Mon-
day.
A grand opening and ribbon cutting was
held at the site Tuesday at 6 p.m. with open
house continuing until 8 p.m. Participating
on the program were Brian Gwyn, president
and CEO, Cleveland County HealthCare
System, Dr. Neeraj Ashri of Cleveland En-
docrinology and Kings Mountain Mayor
Rick Murphrey.
Kings Mountain Internal Medicine relo-
cated from its King Street offices to the
newly constructed building and provides
adult primary care including routine exams
and physicals, preventive care, women's
health and same day sick.
The medical professionals at Cleveland
Endocrinology, the only endocrinology
practice in Cleveland County, provide spe-
cialty care for adults with diabetes, thyroid
and other disorders. The office offers serv-
ices that include laboratory testing, diabetes
education and thyroid biopsies.
Grover
Board
to meet on
proposed
budget
GROVER - The town
board of five members and
Mayor J. D. Ledford will not
take monthly pay in fiscal
year 2014-15 and the Pump-
kin Festival, one of the
biggest community events in
recent years, will not be held
this October.
“We want to hold the line
on expenses and not in-
crease fees to citizens," said
Mayor pro tem Bill Willis.
The other council mem-
bers Jackie Bennett, Angelia
Early, Rodney Ross and
Bobby Wooten were all in
agreement last Tuesday on a
proposed budget for the new
fiscal year of $681,820. The
board's contribution is
$8,100 and last year the
town spent over $20,000
sponsoring the community
Estridge
takes top
teacher
honor
DAVE BLANTON
dave.kmherald@gmail.com
Cindy
Estridge, a 8
chemistry [§#
teacher at
KMHS, was
recently
named the
Teacher of
the Year at the school. She’s
also a National Honor Soci-
ety advisor and a member of
the high school’s School Im-
provement Team. We
wanted to find out her
thoughts about her profes-
sion, her school and her
story.
KM HERALD: You were
named Kings Mountain
High School's Teacher of the
Year in April. What did you
think when you heard the
news?
ESTRIDGE: Surprised. We
have a faculty full of ex-
traordinary teachers, so it’s
an honor to be selected from
a distinguished group like
ours. I don’t feel like I am
the only teacher of the year
at our school. Everyone
works hard and goes way
above and beyond to help
students be successful.
KMH: You teach chemistry
and have also taught physi-
cal science. Were you a
strong science and math stu-
dent when you were in
school? Did you have other
subjects that you liked so
See ESTRIDGE, 7A
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4 ; A