Incumbent Cleveland County Board of Commissioners member
Jason Falls speaks to the audience at Monday evening's candidate
forum.
Candidates appeal
to voters at forum
gm DAVE BLANTON
{| dave kmherald@gmail.com
A dozen candidates run-
ning for offices small and
large in the November elec-
tion came together for a can-
didate forum held at the
Kings Mountain Woman’s
Club in downtown Kings
Mountain Monday night.
If there was one common
thread running though most
of the three-minute presen-
tations before an audience of
about 35 it was economic
development.
From those running for a
spot on the board of county
commissioners to incumbent
state senators, the message
was how to resurrect a strug-
gling local economy that has
been beset by job loss and
the loss of manufacturing
prowess.
Willie B. McIntosh told
the forum audience that he is
ready to return to work for
the county as a member of
the Cleveland County Board
of Commissioners after
serving two terms in years
past.
Like other members of
the forum, he said the most
important thing to voters in
the November election is
jobs and the economy.
“Without jobs there will
be crime,” said McIntosh, a
former Shelby police officer.
“What I bring to you is
transparency and caring.”
Jason Falls, who is cur-
rently serving as the chair-
man of the Cleveland
County Board of Commis-
sioners, is seeking his third
term. He also said that,
should he win, it would be
his last.
He touted the board of
commissioners’ work on
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525700200
economic development.
“I don’t have an agenda —
just passion,” he said. “I
want to do what’s right for
Cleveland County.”
Running alongside Falls
is Eddie Holbrook, also an
incumbent candidate on the
county board.
He emphasized his work
toward economic develop-
ment and said that the
county has imposed no new
taxes in recent years.
The forum, an" annual
event put on by the
Woman’s Club, was
presided over by the club’s
president Betty Gamble.
Anne Gamble served as
moderator.
The actual forum, which
didn’t allow for questions
from the audience, got in
full gear after brief business
of the longstanding Kings
Mountain club was con-
ducted. After all candidates
were finished speaking, the
candidates mingled with au-
dience members over re-
freshments.
Warren Daniel, the in-
cumbent N.C. Senator repre-
senting the state’s 46th
district, said that these are
not easy times for the re-
gion, the state or the country.
“It’s been a tough few
years for North Carolina and
Cleveland County but the
(N.C. General Assembly)
has tackled a tough budget
that makes sense for North
Carolinians,” Daniel said.
“We’ve also helped move
the unemployment numbers
— from 11 percent a few
years ago to 6.8 percent
now.”
Daniel used the podium
to trumpet free enterprise
and less government.
“We’ve seen that the pri-
vate sector, not the govern-
ment, is the answer,” he
said.
Daniel’s Democratic op-
ponent in the race is a Burke
County teacher who happily
labeled herself “not a politi-
cian.”
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| kmherald.com
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Volume 126 eo Issue 39 ¢ Wednesday, September 24, 2014
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MAUNEY MEMORIAL LIBRARY
100 S PIEDMONT AVE
KINGS MOUNTAIN NC 28086-3450
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15¢
ow Hiring!
Job seekers file applications with Walmart
DAVE BLANTON
dave.kmherald@gmail.com
While men in hard hats
did fine grading work at the
site of the future Walmart
Neighborhood Market this
week, hiring managers and
other human resources pro-
fessionals in a temporary of-
fice nearby on King Street
were busy vetting hundreds
of candidates to work at the
large retail store in time for
its December opening.
“We’ll be hiring up until
the time the doors (to the
new store) open if we need
to,” said Sue Jones, the store
manager for Walmart store
no. 7146. Jones, a 10-year
veteran of the world’s largest
retailer, said she and other
employees have been giving
aptitude tests, conducting in-
terviews and finding the
right person for the dozens
of positions it requires to op-
erate the new store.
They’re hiring for posi-
tions in the deli department
and frozen-food sections
while also looking for
cashiers and workers to per-
form stocking duties, among
others. In all, the store is ex-
pected to hire between 95-
100 people for the Kings
Mountain location.
The temporary office that
was set up in July to hire
workers for the new Kings
Mountain store is located at
the corner of Watterson and
King streets in the two-story
professional building. Job
seekers can also use the
King St. location to apply for
jobs at other area Walmart
locations.
Those familiar with the
months-long construction
project say the site finish
goal is Dec. 3. Meanwhile,
Walmart has announced a
grand opening of December
10, during the height of
Christmas shopping. Jones
said Kings Mountain Mayor
Rick Murphrey has been in-
fun SHENAE, RC TAT LA i a
rtise jobs available at the
Walmart that is set to open in December. =
The retail giant has establisheda ~~ ¥
temporary office on King Street ~~ |
to help find worke
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vited to speak at the 7:30
a.m. grand opening, and an
invitation has been extended
to members of the city coun-
cil and other elected
See WALMART, 7A
Addition to Children’s Park
to be disability-friendly
su ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald@gmail.com
A partnership with the
City of Kings Mountain and
the Cleveland County Board
of Commissioners will bring
a $81K disability-friendly
playground to Kings Moun-
tain, adjacent to the Mayor
Rick Murphrey Children's
Playground on Cleveland
Avenue.
“We are anticipating that
the new playground will
open by the end of Novem-
ber," said Mayor Rick Mur-
phrey, adding, “We want all
our children to build fun
memories in a safe and fun
fs
playground, it's the heart
beat of a community.”
The mayor presided at
ground-breaking ceremonies
Friday morning attended by
city and county officials and
students from North Shelby
School.
Jason Falls, chairman of
the county commission who
headed up the project, said
there is not another disabil-
ity-friendly playground in
the county open to the pub-
lic. “This is a playground
where any child can come
and play. This is an exciting
day, this site is a good fit."
He said the partnership
with the city satisfies one of
Miranda Easter was pleased to be a part of the groundbreaking
for the first disability-friendly public playground in the county to
open here in November.
the county's strategic goals
for 2014 and is a win/win for
both the city and county.
“My late uncle Dale Led-
better, a paraplegic, dreamed
of a place like this and told
me “imagine what you can
do in life if you build part-
nerships," said Falls. He de-
scribed the facility as a
completely boundless play-
ground. Any child who uses
a wheelchair will be able to
access every feature on the
elevated decks and all the
ground-level components.
The swing set will also have
two accessible seats.
He said the beauty of this
playground will be that a lot
of kids with special needs
will have siblings that want
to play too.
Ginger Poteat, whose
grandson Jacob was in the
group of North Shelby stu-
dents bused to the cere-
monies, said the new
playground is “a dream
come true." She said North
Shelby students and Bound-
less Miracles, both of
Shelby, as well as other chal-
lenged kids, will enjoy a
place where they can play
safely, a “haven” for all to
enjoy.
The city provides the
property (the northern area
of the YMCA beside the
parking space and in front of
the entrance to the Murphrey
playground) and site prepa-
ration, a pad, fencing, and
continued maintenance.
The county will buy and
install the equipment, a Play
Craft Play Structure, and it
will be installed by a local
contractor Greg Taylor.
Council approves $175k
to fix leak at Moss Lake
A leaking pipe under the
dam at Moss Lake sent city
workers and technical engi-
neers scurrying last week-
end.
City officials and techni-
cal engineers breathed a sigh
of relief after they found that
the main source of a leak
under the dam at Moss Lake
was from a valve in the end
plate in the front toe of the
dam and under 80 feet of
water.
Workers, technical engi-
neers, a diver and a camera
crew were fearing the worst
but Chris Wood, technical
engineer with Progressive
Engineering, told city coun-
cil at a special meeting last
Wednesday night that the
only way to stop the leak
was to grout the pipe full
and eliminate the potential
for water flow.
The city's Water Re-
sources Director Dennis
Wells said no sedimentation
was “coming through the
pipe and no deterioration in
See LEAK, 7A
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