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MAUNEY TAL manny
100 S PIEDM
KINGS MOUNTAIN NC 28086-3450
osiMountain
ERALD
Page 3A
Volume 126 ¢ Issue 46 ¢ Wednesday, November 12, 2014
75¢
City to contract with NTE
City Council is investigat-
ing alternative power supply
options and the mayor and
board expect to sign a 20-year
contract agreement on Nov. 13
with NTE Energy as the city's
supplier of electricity.
The new contract would
start in 2019 when the City
of Kings Mountain’ contract
with the current supplier Duke
Power Company ends.
This is a rendering of the new Kings Mountain Energy Cen-
ter proposed on Dixon School Road, 1-85. The city plans to
contract with the facility for electricity in 2019.
City Council, at a work
session Tuesday night, was
presented the proposal by
Mayor Rick Murphrey and
Energy Services Director Nick
Hendricks.
The NTE plant ( Kings
Mountain Energy) will start
construction of its new 480
MW natural gas fired power
generating facility in the sum-
mer of 2015. The plant's com-
mercial operation will begin
the first quarter of 2018.
“We continue to move pro-
gressively forward," said the
mayor. He said the city's cur-
rent wholesale electrical con-
tract with Duke Power ends
Dec. 31, 2018. But since 2010
the city has been evaluating,
along with five other munic-
ipalities, several power com-
panies to provide wholesale
electricity.
Hendricks said that numer-
ous options have included de-
sign or one option city leaders
looked at was the city building
its own generation plant to
serve Kings Mountain's needs.
NTE Energy, St. Augus-
tine, Fla. announced recently
the completion of financing
$1.1 billion dollars to built
the Kings Mountain plant, and
also a plant in Texas and a
plant in Ohio.
The $450 million dollar
Kings Mountain Energy Plant
will be built by NTE across
the road along I-85 and Dixon
School Road and employ 350
people during construction and
about 30 once the production
is underway.
“This will be one of the
cleanest and most efficient
source of capacity and energy
in the Carolinas," said the
mayor when NTE made the
announcement that it would
build initially on 20 acres of
the 290 acre site.
During the workshop meet-
ing of council Tuesday Hen-
dricks pointed out:
.Gas generation is the
cleanest, most efficient source
of energy and would reduce
our carbon footprint going
green - with 60% less emis-
sions than that of an older,
more conventional source of
base load power.
. New rates would provide
29% cost savings amounting
to a projected $4 to $5 million
a year.
Voluntary annexation into
the city would expand the tax
base $1.4 million per year.
. The city wo uld provide
the power plant all domestic
electrical load to operate the
facility
NTE would be the city’s
largest water user, 2-3 million
gallons per day.
. The city would see a pub-
lic/ investment in the future
Kings Mountain Energy Ser-
vices Operation Center Center
and in a future industrial park.
Rate stabilization was a
huge factor in city leaders
looking for more options to
serve the needs of electric cus-
tomers.
“We are very excited," said
the mayor, to form a public/
private partnership with NTE
Energy for the progressive fu-
ture of Kings Mountain.”
Once complete, the Kings
Mountain Energy ' Center
would be capable of powering
400,000 ‘homes and provide
numerous benefits to the sur-
rounding communities.
KMLT Children’s play
Friday, Saturday
The curtain goes up
Friday night for one week-
end of performances of the
children's play, “Junie B.
Jones in Jingle Bells, Bat-
man Smells” by the Kings
Mountain Little Theatre.
Performances are Fri-
day and Saturday nights at
7:30 p.m. and Sunday after-
noon at 3 p.m. at Joy Per-
formance Center, Railroad
Avenue.
Page Thompson and
. Connie Fox are directing
the play which includes a
cast of young people ages
12-20. Admission is $5.
For reservations and infor-
mation call the KMLT box
office at 704-730-9408 or
visit wwwkmlt.org.
First grader Junie B.
Jones is super excited about
the ipcoming holiday sing-
along and Secret Santa gift
exchange at her school. Too
bad tattletale May keeps ru-
ining all of Junie B's fun.
So when Junie B. draws
May's name for Secret
Santa, she comes up with
the perfect plan to teach
her nemesis a lesson. But
will the Christmas spirit of
peace and goodwill inter-
fere before she can give
See KMLT, Page 4A
Pictured are seven actors and actresses in the children’s play to be presented this weekend
by Kings Mountain Little Theatre. From left, Carver Thompson as Herb; Sarah Fox as Junie
B. Jones; Nick Howell as Sheldon; Ashlee Hamrick as May; Chris Stone as Mr. Scary; John
Randall as Jose and Ely Thompson as Lucille.
Parade Entries
Entries are being invited for the annual Kings Mountain
Christmas parade to be held Saturday, Dec. 6, at 3 p.m. in
HIN
85257002
downtown Kings Mountain.
Photo JUNIE B. JONES at KMLT
The applications are available at the City of Kings
Mountain reception desk from Karen Tucker.
For more information contact Ellis Noell, the city's
Public Relations/Events Director at www.cityofkm.org
Transfers, state school grades
occupy school board meeting
Hl DAVE BLANTON
ou dave.kmherald @ gmail.com
Transfers, state school
grades occupy education
board Dave Blanton dave.
kmherald@gmail.com The
Cleveland County Board of
Education fired off two mis-
sives to state education offi-
cials, issuing one resolution
that supported local control
of school calendars while
issuing another that sought
to curb state-level education
directors from a plan that
would have them assigning
A-F letter grades to every
individual school in North
Carolina.
Board members also dis-
cussed at some length the
possibility of implementing
a new — and likely tougher
— student transfer policy. A
number of board members
have argued that too many
students are transferring
solely to allow them to par-
ticipate in another school’s
athletic programs — most
specifically football.
No measure to change
the current transfer policy
was up for a vote at Mon-
day’s meeting. Instead,
board members, along with
district Superintendent Dr.
Stephen Fisher, used the op-
portunity to discuss some of
the nuances of a proposed
new policy, which would
among other things imple-
ment a 365-day athletic sit-
out policy for students who
transferred.
At issue is whether the
school system will adopt a
formal policy set out by the
N.C. High School Athletic
Association regarding trans-
fers, which would effec-
tively tighten the policy that
is in place locally. Board
members were somewhat
sharply divided on the issue,
with about half arguing that
the policy regulating trans-
fers should dissuade all but
the most unique cases and
the other half making that
case that in the absence of
proven abuse, the policy
should not be changed.
“It seems that from my
perspective, (the new pol-
icy) is akin to saying that the
(these) students are guilty
until proven innocent,” said
board member Dr. Richard
Hooker.
Hooker found agreement
in fellow board members
Phillip Glover and Donnie
Thurman, Jr., who saw a
hard-line policy as possibly
punitive to students whose
families had undergone a
change in residence and,
secondarily, were interested
in participating in junior
varsity and varsity sports.
“I think we have to find a
balance between tough and
grace,” Thurman said. “You
have to look at every case
individually.”
Board members Kathy
Falls and Danny Blanton
both called for taking a
“tough stance” on the issue
and adopting a policy that
would effectively scrutinize
every instance of a transfer
student taking part in high
school sports.
Board members said they
aim to hammer out the lan-
guage for a revised policy
by early spring.
In other board business,
there was little disagreement
about the N.C. General As-
sembly directive to the N.C.
State Board of Education to
issue “School Performance
Grades” for each public
school in the state, a grad-
ing system that is set to be
put in place in early 2015.
“Extensive empirical anal-
yses exist demonstrating a
preponderance of evidence
that strongly correlates eco-
nomic and and demographic
conditions of a school’s
neighborhood with student
performance on North Car-
olina’s standardized tests,
such that schools drawing
from wealthier populations
See TRANSFERS, Page 4A
Longtime medical doctor
died Tuesday morning
Dr. John Charles McGill, 92, retired
Kings Mountain medical doctor for over 50
years who practiced medicine for 42 years
at McGill Clinic, died Tuesday, Nov. 11,
Home.
2014 at his home at 703 Hillside Drive.
Funeral arrangements, which are incom-
plete, will be announced by Harris Funeral
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