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VOLUME 91, NUMBER 65 THURSDAY, AUGUST 28,1980 KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA
1 on
ision
d for
ivear
hing
sup
port
I.
this
call
New Electric Rates
Adopted By City Board
1780*1
By ELIZABETH STEWART
Co-Editor
As expected, the city board of
commissioners adopted the
recommendation of
V Southeastern Consulting
Engineers Monday night and up
ped the electric rates an average
of lOi percent.
The new rates will be effective
Sept. 1 and will be reflected in
the Oct. 1 billings to city
customers.
The electric rate increase, ac
cording to Engineer W.H. Little
^ Jr., is expKted to absorb an
estimated nine percent increase
the city will pay Duke Power
. Co. for whole^e power.
Oct. 1 billings from the city
will see higher rates for city users
of both natural gas and electrici
ty. The board, at the same time it
received a preliminary report on
the electrical hike propo^, ap
proved increase in gas rates to
0 absorb increases in wholesale
cost of gas purchased from
Transcontinent^ Gas Pipeline
Co. The projected natural gas
hike is a whopping 59.12 cents
per MCE to all classes of
customers, while the electric
hike will mean some customers
will pay 6 to 12 percent more,
depending on which rate block
they use. little said the 10.5 per-
9 cent is the average over the
whole classification of
I customers.
“The rates are too dem high,”
Clayvon Kelly strongly objected,
as he expressed concern for “all
our people on fixed incomes.”
Replying to Kelly’s question
about how much profit the city
will make on electricity. Little
said the city’s net revenue after
9 all bills are paid will total
$21,541. Kelly disagreed with
the estimated profit, pointing out
that the electrical engineer will
be paid $8,000 for survey work
alone. Little said the average
residential electric bill for a
customer who uses 825 kilowatts
of electricity will increase from
$39.40 a month to $44.13 a
month, plus an adjustment for
the wholesale fuel charge. The
city took Little’s recommenda
tion to add on the fuel charge,
about 10 percent, because the ci
ty did not take in as much as it
paid out last year, Little said. Lit
tle estimates that residential all
electric customers using an
average of 1,425 kilowatts of
electricity would pay $64.04 plus
the fuel adjustment as compared
to $58.45 per month previously.
“That’s too much for our peo
ple on fixed incomes to pay,”
declared Kelly, who noted that
Duke is making a 9.1 percent in
crease to its customers yet Kings
Mountain is charging between
10.5 and 12 percent while other
cities in the area are nuuntaining
the same hike as Duke. Duke
gets the kicking and we do the
paying,” said Kelly, who charged
that “every time Duke raises the
city shafts us. Some of our peo
ple can’t pay $60 more a year
for power,” he added.
Comm. Jim Childers, respon
ding to Mr. Kelly’s remarks, said
that ‘^vhen rates go up the city
does not say now is our time to
go up. We all pay utility bills.
My bill last month was
$138.09.”
Comm. Bill Grissom respond
ed, “I don’t like it either.
Everything’s going up. We’re
citizerM just like you and are af
fected just like you by these in
creases in power and natural gas.
The city didn’t bring about these
increases, they were made by the
suM>liers.”
“At no time since 1978 has the
city’s rates been higher than
Duke Power’s and before that
they were considerably lower,”
PRESENTATION — lohn HUl, budget and ilnanc* chairman for
tho 200th oimiYoraary of tho Battlo of Kings Mountoin, loft,
proaonts Mayor lohn Honry Moss with a $5,000 chock from tho
Stato of South Carolina to holp flnanco tho orront. Prosontation
was modo ot tho oponing of tho bicontoimlal hoadquortors
Wodnosdoy morning.
Herald’s Football Contest
Will Begin Next Tuesday
It’s that time again. Football’s here.
The Herald, as in past seasons, will again sponsor its “Pick The Win
ners” football contest.
The first contest page will appear in Tuesday’s edition and will carry
games of September 5, the first night of high school competition in the
area.
Each week, 20 games, including high school and college, will appear
on the page of advertisements. The person who comes closest to
predicting all the winners will receive the $75 prize.
The Herald’s cash prize is the biggest payoff of any newspaper in the
state.
In case of a two-way tie, the prize money will be divided. If more
than two persons tie, a drawing will be held to determine the winner.
Contestants are urged to read the rules carefully. The main thing to
remember is that you are allowed only one entry, and it must be in our
hands by noon Fridays. All entries coming in past noon Friday,
regardless of the date of their postmark, will be disqualified.
So, get out your crystal ball, and get ready. You may be our first
winner.
said Little.
Little’s recommendations to
the city included provisions that
Duke Power’s winter rates - the
cheapest - be adopted in all six
proposed rates to produce lOi
percent more revenue than the
existing rates.
Other recommendations,
which the city adopted, were to
establish a minimum charge of
90 cents per KW of contract de
mand for the two-load factor
type rate schedules; retain the
present policy of passing on
Duke’s wholesale fuel surcharge
that has been adjusted 10 per
cent for losses; retain the
revenue, KWH and KW records
for residential and commercial
rate classifications. A separate
record will be initiated in order
to closely monitor Duke’s fuel
cost adjustment and insure cost
is recovered. Outdoor lighting
schedules of $3.75 and $5.85 are
below Duke’s lighting schedules '
and the city will increase those
to $4.80 and $7.75.
A meter testing company will
be contacted to check one-third
of all the three phase and de
mand meters annually in order
that all meters of that type will
be checked every three years.
In addition, any commercial
or industrial customer with an
energy consumption over 3^00
KWH will have a demand meter
and billed accordingly. All
schools and churches will be bill
ed under commercial rate
schedules. The city’s energy c -n-
sumplion will be metered and
billed in keeping with the city’s
(tesire for each department to
reflect actual cost. Each dif
ferent type of street light, yard
light and traffic signal will be
metered and an actual cost be
maintained in order to reflect
total KWH usage imposed on
the electrical system. The recom
mended rates are expected to
adequately recover the base in
terest in the cost of purchased
power and provide for additional
increases in operating margins,
said Little.
Citizens
Protest
Assessment
City commissioners Monday
night voted 5-0, with Comm.
Humes Houston absent, to
assess controversial fees for curb
ing and guttering on Princeton
Dr. from Fulton to dead end
over objections of 36 citizens
who petitioned the board to
“strike the unfair and unjust
assessments from the record.”
City Attorney George
Thomasson said that under the
general statutes, the law requires
petitions filed by over 50 percent
of property owners, which was
done, he said, and the work took
longer than expected to com
plete. The streets have been im
proved, he said, and the current
property owners will reap the
benefits although it’s unfor
tunate some of them did not
know of the assessments until
after they bought their proper
ties from former owners who
had approved the petition nine
years ago. The city is obligated
to confirm the assessment, the
attorney responded to questions
from Mayor John Henry Moss.
A group of Princeton Drive
residents repeated their protests
aired at the board’s last meeting
and reiterated their claims they
knew nothing of the assessments
until billed by the city. Some
reported charges ranging from
$290 to $410 for concrete and
asphalt for improvements to pro
perties which began in 1978 and
completed this year.
Reiterating that they didn’t
live in the area when the petition
was first signed nine years ago
Turn To 3A
„ Ceiebr;:; ;
Battle of Kings v juritain
:k:
HEADQUARTERS OPEN - Opaning
ceramoniM ware held at the haadquartara for
the 200th annivarscoy celebration of the Bot
tle of Kings Mountain Wednesday morning.
The headquarters are located in the old First
Union Notional Bcmk building at the intersec-
Photo by Gary Stewart
tion of Battleground Ayenue and West Moun
tain Street. Pictured above, front row, left to
right, are Ted Huffman, Mayor John Moss,
John Hill and Jerri Werner. Back row. Gene
Tignor. Jimmy Dickey and Jerry King.
Anniversary Headquarters
Open In Old Bank Building
Celebration headquarters in
the former First Union National
Bank building at 137 West
Mountain St. opened Wednes
day morning at 10:30 a.m.
The headquarters, which will
serve as an information center
and will be manned by Jim
Rhyne, former newspaperman,
will be open on weekends only
until Sept. 27 when it will be
stafied full time through Oct. 7,
the 200ih anniversary date of
the Revolutionary War Battle of
Kings Mountain.
Mayor John Henry Moss,
general chairman of the celebra
tion committee, said that the
headquarters will be used for
planning and implementing the
celebration which will begin
Sept. 23 in Abington, Va. with
the initiation of a reenactment of
the march of the Overmountain
Men to the battle site at Kings
Mountain National Military
Park.
The Mayor said a number of
events have been planned along
the route of the Overmountain
Men and in the City of Kings
Mountain during the final five
days of the celebration.
The telephone number of the
information office is 739-3466
and after the weekend of Sept.
27th the office will be open daily
from 830 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Present at the opening
ceremonies were Mayor Moss,
John Hill, assistant director of
Parks, Recreation and Tourism
for the State of South Carolina
and finance chairman of the
celebration; Gene Tignor,
parade chairman; Ted Huffman,
property maintenance chairman;
Jim Dickey, assistant activities
chairman; Jerri Werner, ad
ministrator; Jerry King, manager
of the outdoor drama “Then
Conquer We Must,” Mrs. Hill
and Kings Mountain fireman
Larry Smith.
Hill presented Mayor Moss a
$5,000 check from the State of
North Carolina to help finance
the celebration.
Mayor Moss noted that many
historians are calling the Kings
Mountain celebration “the most
significant historical celebration
in the history of Western North
Carolina. 1 think that speaks
very highly of the event.”
Governors of five states
-North and South Carolina,
Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia
- will take an active part in the
celebration. Moss said Governor
Jim Hunt of North Carolina
plans to participate in the Over
mountain Victory Trail march
which will begin in Abingdon,
Va., and continue to the Kings
Mountain National Military
Park.
The event has been in the
planning stages for 18 months
and all division chairmen
reported their events are on
target. President Carter has been
invited and Mayor Moss said
“we feel real confident that he’ll
attend.”
If Carter does attend, it’ll
mark the first time since 1930
that a President has come to
Kings Mountain. President
Hoover spoke at the 150th Bat
tle Celebration then.
MUSIC PROGRAM
The Senior Citizens band will
present a program of music Sun
day at 7:30 p.m. at Midview
Baptist Church. Rev. Fred
Wells, pastor, invites the public
to attend.
EMT CLASS SET
EMT (Emergency Medical
Technician) classes will be held
at Grover Rescue Squad starting
Sept. 9. The meetings will be
held on Tuesday and Thursday
nights from 7 until 10 pjn.
-'■'liN
Photo by Gory Stowart
GIFT TO PUTNAM FUND - Mombm of tho
Amoricon Loglon Auxiliary, through a rocont
danco bonoflt and a Woodbridgo-oponoorod
goli toumomont, raiaod $3,630.00 for bonoflt of
coneor patlont Billy Putnam and hio family.
From loft. Mrs. Clcva Rhoa. Unit 155 prosidont,
Mrs. I.D. Barrqtt. Unit 155 trooauror, ond Carl
Champion, far right, roprosonting golfors. pro-
aont tho chock to Mr. Putnam. A GRxstonia
man. Sonny Senrago. not picturod, won tho
$700 sot of goli clubs prosontod by tho Aux
iliary and donatod by a Callfcxmia golf com
pany for tho bonoflt