Longer We Wait^ More We Lose
ByJAY ASHLEY
Mirror Staff Writer
V , “lliere will be no more
' y increases in the Housing
^ Authority budget. We’re going
to have to live with what was
initially planned for,” was the
statement made by executive
director Tom Harper on the
recent cutback of public
housing units to be built
According to information
from the Department of
Housing and Urban
Development, nine units of
public housing have been cut
from the originally planned
100 units.
The cutback came because
there will be no more money
1 available and the cost of
^ construction is spiralling
every day. In fact. Harper
noted, “the projected coat of
construction from HUD wUl be
increasing at a rate of three-
quarters of a percent per
month.” The executive
director of the Housing
Authority said those estimates
were made from a survey of
the area.
"The housing authority
budget”. Harper said, “was
drawn up 20 months ago and
since then construction costs
have increased sharply.”
Harper stated the Authority
^ will have to “look at the low
bids when we let them and
negotiate.” He continued,
“things mi^t change before
we let bids but the way Hie
trendsare going, the units will
be cut.”
The initial budget set forth
by the Kings Mountain
Housing Authority was $!.•
million and the increased
costs will have to be absortal.
Harper also confirmed the
fact that according to figures
given him by HUD, each
year's dday will cause nine
mere units to be dropped from
the plan.
\Tim 0iii^e8
ir
Wins NCNB
Art Award
An dl painting by Timothy
Scott Oates of Kings Mountain
recently war /t $150 purchase
award by North Carolina
National Bank in a student art
show at the Aheville Art
Museum.
A senior at Western
Carolina University majoring
in art, Oates is the son d Mr.
and Mrs. R.S. Oates, 700 E.
King St.
A deans list student and a
graduate of Kings Mountain
High School, he also won a
first place award in a WCU
student show in 1973 and
exhibited in the Davidson
National Print and Drawing
Show that year. His paintings
were exhibited in a show at the
Jackson County Public
library in Sylva in February,
and Oates will have a one-man
show on the WCU campus in
May.
The painting which won the
N.C.N.B. purchase was en
titled “Egoisms and Locked
Doors.
Central
Talent
Show Set
The Central Junior High
School Talent Show will be
heldFri., April 19 at the school
beginning 7 p.m.
The admission is $1 per
person and Debbie Bums, a
native of Kings Mountain and
currently reigning Miss
Shelby will serve as the
Mistress of Ceremony.
A local rock group. The
Third Shift, will provide
special music for the event
Judges for the talent show
are Mrs. 6scar Stuart of
Shelby, Mas Linda ChBders
and Jay Ashley of Kings
Mountain.
The talent show h being
sponsored >j>y the Central
School students and faculty
and the directors are Mrs.
Sarah Jones, Miss C.
illhTTglnr and Ronald Nanny.
In their meeting recently,
the Housing Authority voted to
eliminate the M.L. Plonk
property from their schedule
ftir housing. Originally the
plat, 46,000 square feet at W.
King St. and Railroad Ave.,
was to accomodate several
units of public housing.
Harper said the reasoning
behind the property
dimination was "it would
excessively delay the process
of property acquisition.” He
said Ae move would “not
affect the budget” and added,
“we have several ether areas
in mind to make it up.”
The master plan of con
structing public housing
consisted of 100 units, 89 of
which were to be placed in the
Cansler St. Urban Renewal
area. The housing would
occupy four “sections” in the
Cansler area.
The Kings Mountain
Redevelopment was to
acquire the properties in the
sections for building the public
housing. So far all the
properties have not been
acquired. <
Harper told the Mirror it
was “necessary for all the
parcels to be acquired before
construction can begin” in the
Cansler St. project. The
Redevelopment Commission
recently expressed wishes
that the Housing Authority Housing Authority Chair-
attempt to build “piecemeal” man John McGill and
in the area to accomodate Redevelopment Chairman
residents who “do not want to Carl Mauney were to get
move from their neigh- together in sorting out the
borhoods.” probiem and reaching
solutions for building and
acquiring lands. Harper said
Tuesday he “understood the
two have met” but said any
information divulged would
“probably be premature.”
20 Pages Today
BBf-l
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KINfiS MOUNTAIN MIRROR
VOL. 3 NO. 32
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROUNA 28086 THURSDAY, APRIL 18,1»74
IDf
'“ll
! -■ a'.-t -<■. ■ •
CLEARING PROPERTY - Dave Cash sits atop his balMoxer
as he nonchalantly demolishes s concrete block house on N.
Watterson St. Hie house, one of eight cleared away this week,
is sub-standard and under urban renewaL was cleared for the
Photo by Tom McIntyre
future constructhn of a standard dwelling for a single family
unit. There is no date set when construction will begin,
however.
‘On The
Square’
Set Tuesday
One of the most widel;
known and accepted per
sonalities in the two Carolina’t
is Doug Mayes.
Doug is easily recognizable
as the co-anchorman for
WBTV’s 6 o’clock Scene
Tonight. He is also Channel 3’s
“Man On The Street”
reporter. Over the years,
Doug has covered every
major news story in North and
South Carolina, and now
WBTV has added a new
dimension to Doug’s
newsbeat.
It’s called “On The Square”
and it gives Carolinians the
opportunity to voice their
opinion on anything they wish
to a wide ranging television
audience.
On Tues., Apr. 23 at 1 p.m. a
special IVBTV camera crew
will be in Kings Mountain with
Doug Mayes to film “On The
Square” at the Kings
Mouatain town square.
Kings Maintain residents
are invited to attend
and participate by giving their
opinions to the WBTV camera.
“On The Square” is a
relatively new feature of “The
Scene Tonight” but it has
already received as much
good comment as some of the
longer established Charmel 3
newsfeatures.
'£ f' ' '
Photo by Jay Ashley
SOMETHING FISHY HERE
..Jerry Hodge, NCWC, stocks JHM lake
JHM Lake Slocking
Program Underway
The Easter Bunny is cer
tainly famous but the John H.
Moss Reservoir was visited by
the “Easter Herring” Mon
day.
werry Hodge, of the hat
chery at Marion, wheeled into
the lake area Monday af
ternoon with 2000 blue-black
herring.
The herring represent the
first load of fish to be stocked
by the N.C Wildlife Com
mission.
The herring were taken
from the Cape Fear River and
are to be used as a “prey
species” according to Robert
Brown of the Wildlife Com
mission. “The fSh,” he said,
“Mill be allowed to reproduce
in the lake and later large
mouth bass and crappied will
be able to feed on the terrings’
spawn.”
The fish range in size from
seven to 12 inches and have
the distinction of being the
first fish to be stocked in the
lake in a plan to stock over the
next three to four years.
Urban Renewal
Kings Mountain Program Moving
Struck Company Hiring
By TOM MeINTYRE
Editor, IbeMirror
Hazel Brown proped forearms on his ample stomach
Monday and watched Dave Cash gun the engine of his
bulldozer, then plow through three concrete block houses at
Watterson and Childers.
The trio of houses fell to progress and, hopefully, a better
nxxle of living for families in Kings Mountain under urban
renewal.
Later that afternoon the Cash Brothers demolished five
other sub-standard houses a block away on N. Watterson St.
“Out of those eight houses demolished Monday,” Brown
said, “only two had been abandoned. Six families were
rdocated under the redevelopment program.”
While a group of young men followed the bulldozer tracks to
begin clearing away the rubble. Brown, who works for the
Kings Mountain Redevelopment Commission, said, “The city
has been picking up the concrete blocks and the wood, well,
we’ll givethattoany citizenwhocan finds use for it. Anything
that is left after the demolition crew moves out they are
welcome to.”
The property where the homes were demolished this week
will have to be imporved by thecity, which is Kings Mountain’s
inkind<ontribution in the urban renewal program. Brown said
he looked for the improvements to be made, speculatively, “in
1975. Watterson will be widened down to Morris Street, then the
widening program goes up Morris to Cansler.”
When construction is done at the Watterson-Childers sites
the homes will be single family dwelling units, according to
Brown.
While 35 dock workers and
drivers continue to strike for
the third week at Fredrickson
Motor Express here, terminal
manager Frank Vanstory has
begun hiring replacements.
Vanstory said Wednesday
morning he has been running
advertisements in a county
newspaper bik when asked
how many new employes he
had hired, he said “that’s not
available.”
Thirty-eight Fredrickson
employes began the strike
three weeks ago over what
they termed “unfair labor
practices” and around 35 of
the original strikers are still
out of work and declaring
they’ll hold their ground.
Both Vanstory and the
strikers report that the picket
lines have been “peaceful”
and there hasn't been any hint
of trouble. Picketers are,
however, stopping job ap
plicants and advising them
that they are on strike and are
asking those potential em
ployes to join them.
Police chief William Roper
went to the scene after
receiving word that the
picketers were stopping cars,
but reported that he saw no
trouble.
One striker said “the inside
is trying to get us to start
trouble so that they can get an
ipjunction against us.”
Thirteen Fredrickson
terminals in Western North
Carolina and eastern Ten
nessee are striking for better
wages, insurance benefits, job
classification, etc.
Rpv. Hanipiini
Is Evangelist
Hie Rev. M.P. Hampton of
Blacksburg, S.C. will handle
revival services April 22-27 at
Allen Memorial Baptist
Church in Grover.
The church pastor. Rev.
George Thornburg, invites the
public to attend. Services
begin at 7 p.m. each evenii^.
m
if
MOVIE PREMIERE • Eari Oweasby (In
while Jacket, back to camera) tells the over-
whetanfaig mob of people who showed up for the
premiere of his first motion picture,
“Challenge,” bow much he appreciates them
coming. At Owensby’s left (back to camera) is
Photo by Jay Ashley
Attorney General Robert Mor^n. The locally
produced film premiered in Shelby last week
and is booked for a run soon at the Joy Theater.
More photos and comments on the evening on
page 4A.
Mirror Sponsoring File Photo
Sessions By Robinson In May
The MirrOT has contracteo C.W. Robinson again to
make photos of Kings Mountians for our newspaper
files. Robinson was here one year ago, hut there were
many local personalities who were unable to attend
either photo session. For those people we have
Robinson who will set up his camera in the conference
room at First Union National Bank, Battleground Ave.
Photo sessions will be from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Thursday and Friday, May 2,3,9 and 10.
We are concerned about the lack of file photos of
women from the community and that is primarily our
reason for arranging this new session with Robinson.
We want photos of members of the Woman’s Club, the
Newcomo-s, the KMPD Auxilary, all of the garden and
book clubs and any other women’s organizations in
Kings Mountain.
To further clarify, you ladies do not have to be
affiliated with any of the social or civic organizations
to have your photos made for the Mirror files. There
are a number of women in the city who are active in
church, charities, business, politics, etc., who should
take advantage of the Robinson photo session. We
sincerely hope you will.
At the same time thm'e are a number of men who are
active in clubs, business, etc. who have not had a
chance to attend a Mirror file photo session, such as the
newly organized Civitan Club. We urge you to also
attend the photo sessions.
Robinson has been a professional photographer,
^cializing in portrait work, for 56 years. In this
Mirror promotion, however, you are under no
obligation to purchase photos for your personal use. All
photos used in the Mirror files will be the one selected
by the subject from proofs, which Robinson will send
out within a week after the photo session. All proofs are
to be returned to Robinson with the selection clearly
marked. All photos will be retouched just as
professional portraits you might have made for
yourself.
Thank you for your cooperation.
DARRELL AUSTIN
Mirror Gen. Mgr.