ISCPA Award
Winning Newspaper
Kl NflS^OMIITAIN
MIRROR-HEIALD
15
VOL.
NO. 6
Cleveland County's Modern yiewsweekly''
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA 28086 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6,1975
]lectric^ Streets Crews Respond
Fallen Limbs Cause
ower Blackouts Tuesday
Ice and fallen tree limbs on
(ver lines plunged major
jdons of Kings Mountain
rito a blackout early Tuesday
light.
trews from the electrical
ind street departments
yorked around the clock
iaring obstructions on
Iwer lines and transformers
■ restore power. The work
fntinued through most of
£ inesday afternoon to
plete electrical service to
stricken areas,
the work Wednesday was
fctained mostly to clearing
lividual power lines from
les to private residences.
During the early hours
Wednesday 20 residences
were restored with power.
Nine more were cleared by 3
p. m. Wednesday.
Mayor John H. Moss, who
spent most of the night moving
from trouble spot to trouble
spot with the crews, said the
areas blacked out Tuesday
included Southwoods, Nor-
thwoods, S. Cansler and
Crescait Hill, W. Gold St.,
Charles St. to the Galliee
Section, From N. Piedmont to
Ridge St. to Wells St. All but
the Galliee Section were
restored with power during
the evening Tuesday and earjy
morning hours Wednesday.
According to Harry Wilson,
electrical department supt.,
two feeder lines were down
Tuesday night because of
heavy ice on the lines blacking
out the York Rd. area. Pine
Manor Apartments and Royal
Villa. Service was restored to
this area about 1 a. m. Wed
nesday.
Mark Sisk, Princeton Dr.
told The Mirror-Herald that
power in the Southwoods
Subdivision was knocked out
about 7 p. m.
About 8 p. m. police
reported a tree down on a line
had knocked power off in the
'.ould Drop To 82
[flation Cuts Low Rent
ousing Units To 90
ings Mountain’s proposed
’aOO new units of low r«it
t sing, which federal
: '■ million has r-m
ro .1 ’ iias been cut to Su ^ i
issibly 82 units. Director
Harper said this week,
larper ga\ •; the “bad
's” at Mcxiday’s regular
jeeting when directors
discussed how the pinch of the
eddnomy affects new
production as well as ad-
m ’^i n i s t r a t i 0 n and
rfnagement.
'he “good news” was that
istruction on the new
jsing will begin in April or
lay following Redevelopment
■^‘imission
_'he construction work
Duld give local builders nine
,jlO months of r^ular em-
_qyment.
fSites for the proposed
ising are: 36 apartments
the elderly on W. King
OSS from the overhead
Ige on the former M. L.
iser property; 10 units of
nily dwelling on N. Cansler
City Sts.; 14 all-family
_^ its on City and Cansler
i^ich is Site 13; 18 all-family
ttipts at the North end of Tracy
four units for the elderly
E. Ridge St. adjacent to the
5PHA office; and eight
Its for elderly on Ark St. in
[ Margrace area. This last
e 16 will be struck from the
iv construction if only 82
IPts, instead of 90, are ap-
Poved
^'Phn L. McGill, retired
fgs Mountain druggist and
■sident of the Authority
be its inception in 1966, was
pelected president. Brooks
ite was re-elected vice-
irman and all board
mbers re-elected are
lliam Orr, Martin Harmon
^ Carl Wilson.
^hange of attitude and
■ction by his tenants to the
inting problem of inflation-
:ession is distressing to the
Rector, who has managed
' 200 units since its begin-
|g, and who asked for and
approval of the officers to
a family who has been
hind by more than $400 in
payments but whose
imbers are working. This
^rticular family is billed $63
?^onthly for rent and utilities.
./i:^®6gem€nt is faced with
"aily problem of keeping the
^get balanced in the face of
luced rents and increased
its of necessary materials’’,
“This is indeed a
■blem”, he added, “but not
lard to solve as the change
'ttitude and-or reaction of
ic tenants. A larger per-
JOHNL.McGILL
HUD Tells KMRC
To Take Action
The Area office of Housing
and Urban Development
(HUD) has directed the Kings
Mountain Redevelopment
Commission to “move” and
take “firm” action on
acquisition of 14 final parcels
of property required for
completion of the Central
Business Project
Specifically, James K.
Rhodes, writing the letter Jan.
31 for R. B. Barnwell, area
director of the Greensboro
HUD office, charges that the
KMRC is dragging its feet on
the project.
Members of KMRC in
regular Tuesday morning
session were informed of the
directive which also asked
that a “deadline” be set for
proceeding of plans and
schedule be given for
finalizing them.
KMRC Director Gene White
and Assistant Director Dean
McGinnis were given ap
proval of the full board to
reply that firm schedules
would be established following
conferences with a Winston
Salem consultant yesterday.
The Central Business
District Project is now in its
fourth year, and a project of
its magnitude takes from four
to six years to complete.
“Weare to set up a schedule
for acquisition of remaining
properties in the downtown
area, proceed to make offers
and either acquire them or
Northwoods Subdivision.
Sisk called The Mirror-
Herald office (which was
temporarily blacked out for a
couple of minutes around 7 p.
m. due to a tree down on a
nearby line) to ask for
assistance.
“I’ve called everywhere
trying to get someone to
report this power failure,”
Sisk said, stating that he and
his neighbors were getting
“madder by the minute.” He
said efforts to contact the
mayor and electrical
department head had been
fruitless “and calls to the
police department gave us no
answers to our questions
either.”
KMPD Chief William Roper
said, “I had two men handling
the phone calls (which were
estimated to number over 1(X))
and called in off-duty and
auxiliary officers to assist
with traffic. I was not aware
until Wednesday that there
were any complaints about
information given out to
citizens by our mai Tuesday
night.”
Roper said city hall was not
spared during the blackout
because the ice and limbs
falling on lines knocked out
power there for about 45
minutes early Tuesday
evening.
‘We had to work with
flashlights and kept contact
with our patrolmai on the
road with walkie-talkies,”
Chief Roper said.
Shoppers in the Kings
Mountain Plaza found
themselves in the dark about
7:30 p. m. Tuesday, but store
managers aided them by
supplying candles so they
could find their way about
without injuries.
Grady Howard, Kings
Mountain Hospital ad
ministrator, said the power
failure “apparently extended
out W. King St. on the left side
because power at the hospital
was unaffected.”
(Please Turn To Page 2A)
Photo By Gary Stewart
OOPS! - Lovely Pam Allmond of Kings Mountain had her
feet slip from under her and hit the deck of her ice driveway
during Tuesday’s freezing rainfall. Pam, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Floyd Allmond, is a juniw at Kings Mountain High
School.
centage are not paying all of
their reduced rents, causing
more property damage and
are dishonest in reporting
theii s rue incomes. These are
all violations of their lease,
although our board of
directors is a most con-
passionate group”. Harper
continued.
“Only action we can take is
eviction”, declared the board.
The recession has upped the
administrative work. Harper
continued, due to more ap
plications and constant
change in rent fees due to the
fact that rental payments is
based on percentage of the
family income. In some
families in the 200 units of low-
rent housing the change of
income is almost weekly and
“mostly downward”, he
noted.
initiate condemnation
proceedings,” explained
White.
“A CBD project is much
tougher to finish on a
timetable, continued White,
who said he was quite proud of
downtown redevelopment.
“They (HUD) really want
us to adopt a timetable and
stick to it” he said.
In other actions, the board:
1) adopted uniform lease
and rental policy which is
basically the same as adopted
in Dec. 1972 except that a
former owner of a building (if
he becomes a tenant) would
pay rent on a scale of one-half
of one percent per month, his
rental fee based on the pur
chase price of the property.
Director White pointed out
that it is essential that KMRC
develop a standard way to
determine rent and apply the
rule in every case. Renters
would not pay any more rent
to new owners (KMRC) than
they are now paying their
present landlords.
CLUBBUFFET
Kings Mountain Country
club will serve Sunday buffet
starting in February on every
other Sunday, said a club
spokesman. The menu will
include a meat, vegetables
and dessert with adult and
children’s plates available.
Photo By Gary Stewart
WINTER IN KM - This week’s snow and ice made driving School. This photo was snapped Monday shortly after the white
and walking a little slippery but a coupie of cars managed to stuff began falling,
make it up and down this hill on Parker Street near Central
Additional Exemption
Rep. Hunt’s Tax Relief
Bill Now In Conunittee
Rep. Jack Hunt of Cleveland
County introduced his bill to
give tax relief to lower and
middle income persons on the
floor of the General Assembly
Wednesday.
In a phone interview
Wednesday Rep. Hunt told
The Mirror-Herald he ex
pected the bill, which would
give Tar Heels earning under
$8,000 annually an additional
$1,000 tax exemption, to go
immediately to committee
and look for some action
within two months.
“I’ve been working on this
bill for the past couple of
years,” Hunt said, “but now
the bill is even more relevant
than before. I would hope the
committee works quickly on
the proposal.”
Hunt’s bill, an act to provide
tax relief for $8,000 to $12,000
annual wage earners in North
Carolina, if passed would
mean a revenue loss of $60
million to the state, but the act
REP. JACK HUNT
also provides for means to
recoup at least $49.24 million.
The rest. Hunt feels, “should
be taken from the general
fund.”
To recoup the major portion
of revenue loss through the
additional tax exemption.
Hunt proposes increased tax
rates on liquor, beer and wine.
“There is no sales tax on
liquor as the consumer knows
it,” Huntsaid. “Notlike taxon
milk and groceries. My
proposal is to add three
pjercent sales tax to total price
of liquor and that would bring
in an estimated $5,045 million.
“The beer tax in North
Carolina has not been ad
justed since 1969 and since
then beer sales have
doubled,” Hunt continued.
“Each penny on the
equivalent of a 12 ounce can of
beer would bring in over $8
million in revenue. This
proposal would add five cents
to the price of a 12 ounce beer
and would bring in $42.57
million.”
Hunt said there has been no
adjustment on wine taxes
since 1946. The represen
tative’s proposal would add 30
cents per gallon to the 60 cents
(unfortified) and 70 cents
(fortified) taxes and that
would bring in an estimated
$1.62 million.
The total estimated
revenue, which would offset
the losses on Hunt’s tax relief
bill, is $49.24 million, leaving
$10.76 million which could be
taken from the general fund.
“We should take that from
the general fund,” Hunt said.
“We must give die taxpay^s
in North Carolina some in
dication that the state is
willing to do a little belt
tightening also.
(Please Turn To Page 2A)
Ideas
Talked
By Group
The Mayor’s utility rate
study committee Tuesday
night agreed to suggest to the
board of city commissioners:
(1) to retain the surcharge
rate of 50 percent for all
relatively small water users
(residential and industrial
users of 40,000 gallons or less
pjer month)
, (2) that the surcharge be
decreased to 20 percent for all
users of greater than 40,000
gallons of water per month,
thus decreasing revenue to the
city by three percent or less,
noting that this decrease could
be acceptable without any
other revenue to offset this
decrease.
(3) that the board of com
missions did not give any
advance notice to customers
that the water rate would be
escalated;
(4) could not duplicate the
figures presented to the board
by Supt. Roscoe Wooten May
27,1974. Mr. Wooten stated the
cost of producing 1,000 gallais
of fresh, potable water and of
treating all necessary waste
water at $1.09, the Sincox
committee a figure of 2.38.
(5) that the increase in
water rates was placed
primarily and unduly on users
outside the city limits;
(6) that the city makes a
higher operating profit on
water than by any other utility
(94 percent as compared to 57
percent for gas and 28 percent
power)
(7) Minimum water charge
should be .2320, based on 1973-
74 charges and on a total
water sale of 1,182,650 gallons
by 1,000.
These opinions came near
the close of another fact
finding session chaired by Dr.
Frank Sincox and attended by
Buford DeFore, Bill Bates,
Dennis Fox, Jim Roark and
George Ross, Black Leonard
and Lloyd E. Davis were
absent.
The study committee was
called by Mayor John Moss
after Spectrum Industries,
large outside-city water user,
complained to the city com
mission.
Members will meet again
Tuesday night at 7:30 formore
deliberations before
presenting final recom
mendations to the com
mission.
More Jobs
Available
Here Soon?
The figures don’t show it,
but Employment Security
Commission Franklin L. Ware
is optimistic that more jobs
will be available soon for the
1,600 in this area who are
signing up for unemployment.
The bright spots are that
Eaton Corporation is going up
on Grover Rd. and will supply
jobs for 600 by summertime,
Foote Mineral Co., expanding
Kings Mountain, is
in
reviewing its labor supply,
another industry in town
which has been filing many
claims for unemployment
may call employees back to
work in about 10 days, and
business in the garment in
dustry is still booming.
A total of 1,600 claims, up
200 from January, were filed
in this area last week and
Monday continues to be the
lightest day at the ESC
quarters at the Community
(Ilenter, said Ware.
The Cleveland County ESC
took 9,486 new and reopiened
claims during the month of
January.
COURSE VARIETY
During the 1973-74 school
year, $35 of the 151 secondary
school systems offered a
variety of courses in 5 or more
of the 8 occupational
education program areas.