NCPA Award
Winning Newspaper
KJtKaS^MOUilTAIN
MIRROR'HEUaD
15
/OL. 86 NO. 4
‘‘Cleveland County’s Modern Newsweekly’
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA 28086 THURSDAY, JANUARY 23,1975
[Third ‘Drys’ Meet
ISet Next Tuesday
A third meeting of Kings
fountain “Drys” is slated for
jesday at 7:30 p. m. at Cen-
ral United Methodist church.
All committees and other in-
lerested citizens are invited,
ays Publicity Chairman Don
E’arker.
Meantime, the committees
^gainst the sale of alcoholic
aeverages met Thursday
light for a second organiza-
Bonal meeting and divided the
]ity into voting districts, for-
fiulating plans to provide
jransportation for voters to
[le polls for registration pur-
oses prior to the Feb. 17
eadline and for rides to the
oils on voting day Mar. 18.
Outlining of duties of each
pmmittee was the feature of
lursday's session with mem-
ersof the steering committee
charge. The committees
fere enlarged to include a
member from each church in
the Kings Mountain area.
The “enlarged” committee
of over 100 citizens will meet
again next Tuesday, said Dr.
Charles Edwards, overall
chairman.
Mrs. Margaret Rayfield,
West Kings Mountain precinct
r^istrar, invites new voters
to register at her home on
Waco Rd. and Mrs. Ruth
Hord, East Kings Mountain
precinct registrar, has the
pollbocdcs open at her home at
529 Katherine St. Registration
is also conducted at the Coun
ty Elections Office in Shelby
five days a week.
To vote in the Mar. 18 refer
endum on question of legializ-
ing sale of beer and wine for
off-premises consumption and.
establishing ABC stores, a
citizen must be 18 years of age
and have resided in the city 30
days.
KM Area Catching Up
1,400 Unemployed
Line Up, Sign Up
By ELIZABETH STEWART
Staff Writer
LINE HALLS - Unemployed Wfrkers from Kings Mountain
line the halls of the community center Wednesday morning
waiting to sign up for unemployment benefits. Over 1,400 are
out of work here.
elephone Service Cost deduced
LThe
oing Up 20 Percent
Surcharge
cost of telephone ser-
^ce in Kings Mountain is
[going up approximately 20
'percent on Feb. 19, it was
bnounced this week by Lin
all, Gastonia manager for
Southern Bell Telephone Co.
Hall said that Southern Bell
is raising rates in all of its
North Carolina territories
because current earnings are
too low.
o Finance Museum
lentennial Produces
12,723.63 In Profit
,'ith $12,723.63 on hand,
thoughts now turn toward the
development of an historical
mliseum for Kings Mountain,
^e above total, as reported
by Charles F. Mauney, presi-
Itent of the Kings Mountain
Centennial Commission, is
the net profit from the 1974
celebration.
—Jfrhe museum was the
m^gestion of the centoinial
gift committee and under the
centennial commission char
ter this committee has until
Feb. 1976 to form a new non-
^ {X'ofit corporation for the pur-
■^iSse of establishing the mu-
'sflim.
“We realize less than $13,000
is ia small amount of money to
actually form sudi a project,”
Mauney said, “but we feel that
the first steps taken with this
mpney and in the next few
years, with the backing of our
coinmunity, the project can be
started and maintained.”
he $12,723.63 net profit was
ned through the sale of
stock certificates and centen
nial souvenirs. Mauney said
$1,200 worth of certificates
were redeemed.
Until the new non-profit or
ganization is formed, the com
mission has purchased a cer
tificate of deposit for $12,000 at
Home Savings and Loan Asso
ciation and left the remaining
$723.63 in a checking account
at First Union National Bank.
Mauney said the $12,000 will
draw interest and also he ex
pects more revenue will be
added to the account through
the sale of remaining caiten-
nial items on hand.
The non-profit organization
to establish the local historical
museum is to be formed from
the centennial gift committee,
according to Mauney. Ihe
committee includes Donald
Jones - chairman, Mary S.
Neisler, Jinny Arnette, Vic
toria Bess, Charles Carpenter,
J. Ollie Harris and James E.
Herndon Jr.
In Kings Mountain, the cost
of one-party residential
phones will be $7.67 per
month, up from $6.40. The
same cost applies in Bessemer
City, Stanley and Lowell.
In Gastonia, the cost of a
private residence line wil’
increase to $7.68 per month.
The current rate is $6.40.
The cost of one-party
business phones wUl rise to
$19.38 per month, up from
$16.15.
Belmont and Mount Holly
families with one-party
residential lines will pay $8.52
,per month after the increase.
The cost of private
residential service in
Cherryville will rise to $7.38
per month and in Lincolnton to
$7.08 per month.
Hall said Southern Bell filed
a request last year with the
State Utilities Commission for
$62.5 million of rate increases.
Hearings have been held, but
a final decision has not been
made by the commission.
Under state law, a utility
may raise rates as much as 20
percent above current rates if
the commission has not acted
on its request within six
months.
“We are going ahead with
the increases Feb. 19”, said
Hall, “but the money collected
will be kept under bond and
will be refunded to customers
with 6 percent interest if the
commission rejects our
petition.”
Discussed
By TOM McIntyre
Editor, Mirror-Herald
What has happened in other
areas of the state - massive lay
offs of the work force - is happen
ing in the Kings Mountain area.
“The Number Four Township
is catching up with the rest of the
state,” said Franklin Ware,
manager of the Shelby Employ
ment Security Office. “The
squeeze was late in hitting this
area, but once it began it didn’t
take long to catch up.”
Long lines, up to 1,400 area
residents, now form at the KM
Community Center. The in
creased volume means the local
ES office has expanded opera
tions to five days each week to
handle the mounting claims.
“The unemployment rate be
gan to gather steam about
Thanksgiving,” Ware said. “And
if people really want to know how
bad it is, just let them compare
10 or 12 unemployed persons in
this area last June to the 1,400
unemployed today.”
And, the unemployment
checks have been slow in coming
for many people, particularly if
they are making first claims for
unemployment.
“The long delays in sending
checks are understandable”, ex
plained Ware.
“The volume state-wide is the
cause. The Raleigh headquar
ters is handling 15,000 to 20,000
claims a day,” he adds.
Ware said unemployment
checks usually go out within two
to three weeks and not more than
four for first-time claims. Now
there’s a delay in the work load
but more workers are being
trained to handle the back-log of
transcripts, working on three
shifts, he said, at the Raleigh
ESC offices.
He doesn’t paint a brighter
picture, however, for the many
textile workers who have been
placed on part-time layoff. At
least four textile plants in Kings
Mountain have employees on
part-time claim and Mauney
Mills placed 130 workers on total
layoff status this week. Some
plants are operating three days a
week, others are running a week
and shutting down a week.
Overdue Wlls - car payments,
rent, utility charges - are the
most mentioned problem with
the delay of unemployment
checks.
Ware said 6,060 persons of the
county’s 27,700 insured work
force claimed benefits totaling
7,670 weeks during the week end
ing Jan. 10. A total of 3,366 ini
tial claims were filed during the
seven-day period, he said. The
week of Jan. 10 the ESC staff
from the Shelby office went to 16
plants in the county, four in
Kings Mountain, to take claims.
“It (unemployment)
doesn’t look any better”.
just
said
Warp.
The Mayor’s utility rate
study committee took what
appears to be a giant leap for
ward in its deliberations ove;^
water fees for the city’s heavy
water users Tuesday night.
Dr. Frank Sincox, com
mittee chairman, suggested
the group cut through all of the
philosophical discussion and
pick a number as a starting
point.
The number (s), although
only approximates, suggest
the city could do with less
operating profit from water-
sewer (the two are insepara
ble at this point) in order to
give heavy industrial cus
tomers a fair shake in their
rate schedule.
Committeemen agreed the
water surcharge of 50 percent
to outside industrial users,
coupled with a .5225 cents per
thousand gallon minimum
break, is too high a price to
pay without benefit of city
services.
Before adjourning for two
weeks the committee had
agreed to begin hashing out
the situation by considering an
approximate 50 percent sur
charge for all residential cus
tomers and a 50 percent sur
charge for light industrial
customers. And to consider
2-5
p.m.
Junior High Open House Set Sunday
(Please Turn To Page 5A)
Brief dedication ceremonies
and open house will be held
Sunday afternoon at the nee
Kings Mountain Junior High
School and East and West
elementaries, it was an
nounced at the monthly
meeting of the board of educa
tion Monday night.
Open house will be observed
at each school between the
hours of 2 and 5 p. m., with
members of the school board,
administrators and special
guests taking part.
Dedication will be held at 2
p. m. at KMJH, 2:30 at West
and 3 p. m. at East. At East,
board member Jim Herndon
will present a plaque to princi
pal C. A. Allison in honor of
former East teacher Irma
Williford Thompson.
The new B. N. Barnes
Auditorium will not be includ
ed in Sunday’s open house pro
grams, Supt. Don Jones re
ported, as its construction has
not yet been completed. Its
dedication will be held on Fri
day, Mar. 14.
the
In other action Monday,
board:
- Changed the name of
Kings Mountain High School
to Kings Mountain Senior High
School.
- Discussed naming a
committee to study the 1975-76
school calendar. The commit
tee will be comprised Of Bill
Bates, chairman; one princi
pal, one black teacher, one
white teacher and two lay per
sons.
- Heard that the schools had
been allocated $8,636.51 from
the county to employ four per
sons in the maintenance de
partment.
- Received letters from the
faculty of Kings Mountain
Junior High commending
Ronald Nanney and Richard
Hamrick for the work they did
as interim principals at the
community center and Com
pact prior to the opening of the
new junior hi^.
- Approved several student
assignments and transfers.
739-5441 Won’t
- Repealed the retirement
of Myers Hambright, granted
leaves of absence to Mrs. San
dra Harris and Mrs. Margaret
Hunter Smith, and elected
Mrs. Brenda Blanton, Mrs.
Phyllis Misenheimer, Miss
Mary Ann Bennett and Mrs.
San^a Conner to teacher
posts.
Get Us Anymore
No wonder you can’t reach The Mirror-Herald if
you’re still dialing 739-5441. It is no longer operational.
This is the old KM Herald number, which was con
tinued in use until last wede by the combined Mirror-
Herald
If you have the 739-5441 number penciled in your
notebooks, erase it and write in 739-7496 or 739-7497.
Either of these numbers will put you in touch with our
editorial and advertising departments. ,
- Was informed of the dis
trict school board meeting to
be held here on March 6 and
was told by Supt. Jones that it
will be the first meeting in the
new auditorium.
PERMIT ISSUED
Kenneth Bush, 1007 N‘ Pied
mont Ave., obtained city per
mit Monday to park a mobile
home, the city building
specter’s office reports.
m-
'UNBank Has Fund
or Kidney Patient
'irst Union National Bank
set up a fund for David L.
I^ebarger, the 21-year old
Mountian who has suf
fered the loss of both kidneys.
A fund to help the young
mSrried man defray his
mounting hospital and medi
cal bills was started several
wfeks ago in Lincoln County,
David’s mother’s home-coun
ty The Kings Mountain fund
was started this week, ac-
coijding to Mrs. Ruth Wine-
butger.
r ,^avid currently makes
>,-^ce trips each week to a
Clrarlotte hospital for treat
ment on the dialysis madiine.
lUI the purification treatment
that keeps him alive.
©ut of a job, which held no
insurance benefits, and in and
out of hospitals here and in
Charlotte since last Novem
ber, David is faced with the
nervewracking wait for a
kidney donor to be approved
and at the same time is left to
wonder how aU of his medical
expenses can be met.
Mrs. Winebarger, said,
hopefully, the two fund ac
counts will help the financial
situation to a degree. “And
hopefully the doctors will
approve either my husband,
daughter or myself as being
able to donate a kidney to
David,” she continued. “We
are still waiting on some
word.”
Anyone wishing to aid David
Winebarger may contact
Brenda Layton or Mary Ann
Kerns at First Union National
Bank about depositing funds
in the special account
Mirror-Herald Wins
Two NC Press Awards
WIN PRESS AWARDS - Gov. James Hol-
shouser poses with Mirror-Herald Editor Tom
McIntyre and SpiM'ts Editor Gary Stewart after
presenting them with awards for First Place
Editorial Page and Second Place Sports
Coverage for 1974 dm-ing the 50th Annual
NCPA Winter Institute at Chapel Hill last
week.
The Mirror-Herald has two new plaques on
the office wall following last week’s 50th An
nual North Carolina Press Association Winter
Institute at Chapel HUl.
In the 1974 competition judges declared The
Mirror-Herald a first place in editorial page
and second place in sports coverage competi
tions.
Gov. James Holshouser, who delivered re
marks at the institute banquet at UNGCH’s
Carolina Inn, jx-esented the awards to winners
of daily and non-daily comprtitions. Tom
McIntyre, editor, and Gary Stewart, spcrts
editor of The Mirror-Herald accepted the
awards on behalf of the paper.
James Featherston of the School of Journa
lism, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge,
judged the editorial page contest and com
mented on the Mirror-Herald’s entries: “Two
highly readable staff-written editorial columns
enhance the appeal of this editorial page.
Another plus factor is the locally (frawn
editorial cartoon, a rarity in the weekly press.
The editorials are well written and deal with
local issues. The editorial page photographic
feature is also appealing.”
Ronald Gibson, University of Texas, Depart
ment of Journalism, judged the sports cover
age competitions and commented of M-H’s
entries: “Writing quality matches that found
in the (first place) winner. The sports editor of
this entry produces a readable and interesting
column. There is some variety present, a bal
ance between local high school and area
college teams, as weU as excellent golf
coverage on the appearance of a top pro in the
area. Generally good display invites reader-
ship of well written stories which often need
much better picture support.”
In daily competition, columns and criticisms
category, Joe DePriest won a third place
award. DePriest, one of the most outstanding
reporter-columnists in N. C., is employed by
The Shelby Daily Star.