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VOLUME 91 - NUMBER 53 - THURSDA Y, JUL Y 17,1980- KINGS MOUNTAIN, NOR TH CAROLINA
10.88 Acres On Waco Road
• €
Property Rezoned
For New Industry
oil
By ELIZABETH STEWART
Co-Editor
The city board of commis
sioners rezoned two pieces of
property on Waco Road Mon
day night apparently clearing the
way for construction of a new
large industrial plant.
The two adjacent properties,
owned by Joseph F. Gantt of
Asheville and WA. Childers of
Kings Mountain, total 32.88
acres and were rezoned from
R-20 to light industrial. The
Gantt property is located on
Waco Road and approximates
10.88 acres. The Childers pro
perty is adjacent to the first tract
and approximats 22 acres and
has about 2,000 feet fronting
south of the U.S. 74 By-Pass of
Kings Mountain.
John Barker of Shelby was the
applicant in both cases for the
rezoning request, which had
previously been approved by the
Zoning and Planning Board.
Elarker said his reason for the re
quests was to “accommodate
land used for a proposed light
manufacturing facility,” Mayor
John Henry Moss said prior to a
public hearing on the requests.
After the public hearing,
Mayro Pro Tern Jim Childers
abstained from voting on the
matter because of an “indirect
interest in it.” Comm. Childers’
father owns the property.
The name of the industrial
prospect has not been announc
ed.
• • Memorial Services Today
For Buford DeFore, 66
Buford DeFore, 66, excutive
vice-president of manufacturing
of Spectrum Fibers, Inc. of
' Kings Mountain, died Wednes
day morning at 3 a.m. in
m ib Cleveland Memorial Hospital in
^ Shelby after several weeks il
lness.
Memorial services will be held
Thursday (this morning) at 11
f ajn. from the Chapel of Harris
Funeral Home with Rev. Robert
Boggan officiating. Services and
interment will be held in Rocky
Mount Friday.
A native of Macon, Ga., Mr.
9 ^ DeFore was son of the late
Walter and Clemmie King
DeFore. Since assuming his
duties at the local industrial
plant seven years ago he has
been active in civic and com
munity life, heading a highly suc
cessful fund drive for the Kings
Mountain United Fund as In
dustrial Chairman in 1976. He
_ ^ has been active on the Mayor’s
w W industrial committee, on the
city’s human relations commit
tee and on the Kings Mountain
Celebration committee, among
others.
Mr. DeFore served as presi-
dent of the Kings Mountain
Development Corporation and
organized the Kings Mountain
■ Industrial Managers Associa-
^ tion. A graduate of Georgia
^ Tech, he had an extensive
background in industry, serving
previously with Blanchard
BUFORD DEFORE
Yams, a division of American
Enka Company, Burlington In
dustries, Milliken Company and
Douglas Aircraft.
“This community has lost a
fine citizen and a willing helper
in all community endeavors for
progress. Although he was a
citizen of Rocky Mount, Mr.
DeFore possessed a love for his
adopted community and his
fellow man,” said Mayor John
Henry Moss. “Personally and on
behalf of our citizens we extend
our sympathy to his wife and
family.”
Mr. DeFore is survived by his
(Turn To Pago 10-A)
In other action during a brief
session, the board:
•Approved resolution cover
ing street assessments for
Princeton Drive from Fulton
Drive to dead end at total pro
ject cost of $18,588.00.
The board authorized City
Clerk Joe H. McDaniel Jr. to
prepare a preliminary assessment
roll of property owners and set a
public hearing for Aug. 11 at
7:30 p.m. at City Hall.
•Authorized advertising for
bids for materials and supplies
for street lighting from U.S. 74
to Falls St., replacing existing
lighting with sodium chloride
and additional lighting where
necessary. Mayor Moss told the
board that this is a Community
Block Grant Program and Sec
tion Supervisor Ted Huffman
said that present lighting in the
area is a mixture of sodium and
mercury. All lighting will be
uniform with that in the
downtown area and all wooden
poles will be removed and replac
ed with metal, lending to an im
proved appearance, said Huff
man.
•Awarded contract to the low
bidder, Dixie Industrial Supply
Co. of Shelby, for 6,000 feet of
eight inch class 2(X) water pipe
with gaskets at S3.46 per foot.
There were six bidders on the
project.
•Advertised for public sale to
dispose of surplus material ac
quired from state electric system
on the By-Pass. Mayor Moss ex
plained that the city had ac
cumulated a number of surplus
items while reworking the Kings
Mountain electric system on the
by-pass.
Rev. J.C. Goare, pastor of
Kings Mountain Baptist Church,
opened and closed the meeting
with prayer.
UF Meeting Set
Kings Mountain United Fund
officers and directors will hold a
budget meeting Tuesday night at
8 o’clock at First Union Na
tional Bank Conference Room,
according to announcement by
Dr. Terry Sellers, UF President.
Agencies wishing to submit
new requests for funding in the
1980-81 year are asked to call
Dr. Sellers at 739-7489 and give
the requests from new agencies
wishing to be included in
preparations for the budget.
AUDITIONS BEGIN NEXT WEEK - Dr. CharlM
Hannunx. dlractor. Mrs. Robort Osborns,
widow of tbs author, and Dr. Bill Briggs, right,
produesr. rsvlsw tbs historical drama script.
"Thsn Conqusr Ws Must" for which auditions
bsgln In the orso nsxt wssk. Mrs. los Ann
McDonlsl will conduct locol try-outs Tuesday
night at 7:30 p.m. at B.N. Bamss Auditorium.
Mrs. McDaniel To Direct Drama
Auditions Set Tuesday Night
For ^Then Conquer WeMusC
Auditions for roles in t|^ up
coming production of the out
door historical drama, “Then
Conquer We Must” will be con
ducted next Tuesday night, July
22, at 7:30 p.m. in B.N. Barnes
Auditorium.
Mrs. Joe Ann McDaniel,
veteran Kings Mountain Little
Theatre director and actress, will
conduct the try-outs which are
open to all interested citizens of
all ages. Mrs. McDaniel said that
approximately SO speaking and
non-speaking roles will be cast
for the drama which will be
presented during the October
celebration of the 200th anniver
sary of the Revolutionary War
Battle of Kings Mountain.
Auditions are slated in other
neighboring cities next week: in
Gaffney, S.C. Monday at 7:30
pjn. at Fullerton Auditorium; in
Gastonia Wednesday at 7:30
p.m. at Public Service Gas Co.
on Cox Road; in Shelby next
Thursday, July 24th at 7:30 p.m.
at Cleveland County Historical
Museum on the Courtsquare
and in Rock Hill, S.C. on Fri.,
July 25th at 7:30 pjn.
Members of the cast, in order
of their appearance, are a baker,
a fruit merchant, a vegetable
merchant, soldier one, soldier
two, soldier three, soldier four.
Sir Henry, Lord Cornwallis,
Virginia Salter, Clay bom An
drews, soldier, first elder, second
elder, third elder, Alexander An
drews, British officer, first
Dragoon, second Dragoon,
Ferguson, DePeyster, Sentry,
Kerr, Tarlton, Mrs. Storey, Mr.
Storey, Colonel John Sevier,
Mrs. Sevier, Tom Willis, Colonal
Isaac Shelby, Colonel William
Campbell, Major Charles
McDowell, Rev. Samuel Doak,
Hiram Saundets,.. Colonel
William Chronicle, Colonel
James Williams, Colonel Ben
jamin Cleveland, Colonel
Frederick Hambright, George
Washington, Sen. Whipple and a
cast of thousands.
An important meeting of the
Steering Committee for the
drama is slated Thursday
(tonight) at 7:30 p.m. in the
Fellowship Hall of Central
United Methodist Church and
all members are encouraged to
attend.
Heat W ave T o Continue
For At Least 30 More Days
Kings Mountain area citizens
sweltered, along with the rest of
the Piedmont Carolinas this
week, and the heat wave is ex
pected to continue for at least
the next 30 days, according to a
National Weather Service
spokesman.
The red-hot weather is ex
pected to remain extended from
Texas to the Western Carolinas
until mid-August.
And that prediction matches
what weathermen see in store
for us the remainder of this
week: hot and humid with tittle
precipitation expected this week
or throughout the next 30 days.
Bonita Always Wanted To Paint Her Home
Bonita Lowe.. .paints homeplace.
Bonita Lowe had always
wanted to paint the imposing
two-story Victorian house which
was the “Doc” Oates homeplace
in Grover but didn’t decide to
undertake the project until she
joined a local painting class
recently.
Miss Lowe’s paintings are
among those of students of
Shirley Gossett’s on display this
week and next at Cattletown
Steak House on King St.
Bonita’s parents bought the
Oates homeplace in 1964 and
the family lived there for 16
years until the home was
destroyed in an early morning
fire in 1976. Leonard D. and
EUie Lowe purchased the home
from Fred W. Plonk in 1964.
Mr. Lowe died in 1976 and
Bonita and her mother and
brother, Mike, moved into
another house in Grover.
“It would have cost a fortune
to rebuild the house after the
fire, although we would have lik
ed to do so,” said Miss Lowe. An
electrical shortage was believed
to have caused the fire which
originated in the top story of the
home which was not in use by
the family, said Bonita.
Bonita said her family had
learned that the house and lots
were sold to George Oates by
C.S. Elam in 1897 and the gin
lot, across the road from the
homeplace, was sold to Oates by
A.C. Hambright in 1904. Both
lot and house were sold to J.L.
and Julia May by George Oates
in 1946 and then sold to Fred
Plonk by Elbert and Blanche
Allen in 1959.
Traveling from Kings Moun
tain to Grover on Highway 29,
the house was visible just across
the railroad tracks as you ap
proached the Grover city limits
and almost directly in front of
the new housing development in
Grover, Spring Acres.
The talented painter has cap
tured the house in her painting,
which she completed by looking
at a snapshot picture of the
house and from memory. A big
porch surrounds the white Vic
torian structure which had
fireplaces in every room, a total
of 12, ten foot high ceilings and
beautiful mantels with exquisite
carvings. There was a winding
staircase, the traditional gables
in a Victorian style dwelling, and
octagon-shaped rooms. At the
time the Lowes occupied the
house the family included the
parents and three children. Mike
and Bonita Lowe also have a
brother and sister who have mar
ried and moved away from
Grover.
When Dr. George Oates prac
ticed medicine in this communi
ty and Grover, he traveled by
horse and buggy and delivered
many babies during his long
practice.
“We really loved the house,”
said Bonita who estimates it took
her about two weeks to finish
her painting, which she calls a
“labor of love.” A second year
painting student, she admits that
landscapes are her favorites.
Miss Lowe and 11 other
students of Ms. Gossett recently
completed a painting course.
Also exhibiting their works, in
cluding still lifes and watercolor,
are Jim Downey, Jan Welbom,
R.H. Webb, Doug Sparrow, Bar
bara Chaffee, Sue Gainey and
Anne Griffin.