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VOLUME 94, NUMBER 22
THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 1981
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA
Groundbreaking Set
Friday At KM Hospital
Photo by RoanU Hawkins
TOP PRIZE — Kim Millsr, winnsr oi last ysor's
Si. Judo's Biko-A-Thon, is picturod boro with
Assistant Kings Mountain Firo Chioi Bud
Wars and the 10 spood Wostom Flyor biko
which will go to tho porson who raisos tho
most monoy ior this ysor's OTont sot ior March
28. Tho biko is boing donatsd by Wostom
Auto ond Kings Mountain Knit. A numbor oi
othor awards will bo prosontod by othor arma
morchants and St. Judo's to ridors who miss at
loost $25. Robort Dodgo is chairmon of tho
ovont.
Funeral Services Held
For Oscar W. Myers, 96
Oscar Winfred Myers was
almost everyone’s favorite sales
person in Kings Mountain.
He was just as adept at help
ing a lady pick out a tie for her
-thsilwtna og he-warw the man
who came to the former Myers
Department Store (now
Fulton’s) and to Plonk Brothers
to shop for a new pair of shoes or
pants.
O.W. Myers liked people and
his trademark to the Kings
Mountain buying public was
friendliness and courtesy. He
never met a stranger.
Mr. Myers, whose good spirit
and humor belied his age, died
Sunday morning at the age of
96. A Kings Mountain salesman
for many years, he never retired
but came back to work at Plonk
Brothers at the age of 90. Even
when he quit driving his car, he
rode by bus daily from his home
in Charlotte, walking the several
blocks from the KM Bus Ter
minal to Plonk Brothers on
Railroad Ave. and returning to
his home in the afternoon.
The ageless Mr. Myers work
ed in his yard last week and ap
parently suffered a cerebral
OSCAR MYERS
hemorrhage while going to the
basement area of his home for
wood for fire Thursday evening
at 6 p.m. He never regained con
sciousness and died in
Charlotte’s Presbyterian
Hospital Sundy at 4 a.m.
A native of Oconee County,
S.C., he was son of the late
Henry Jones and Evelyn Prit
chard Myers. He owned and
operated Myers Department
Store in downtown Kings Moun
tain for 20-plus years, before sell
ing the firm to Ruth and Bill
Fulton in 1964 when he and his
wife, Marie Myers, moved to
Charlotte lo -be Bfcat- theii
children. He returned to work,
with Plonk Brothers Department
Store for a number of years
before his death. He was a
member of Charlotte’s Covenant
Presbyterian Church.
Funeral services were held
Monday afternoon at 3 p.m.
from Harry and Bryant Chapel
In The Oaks by his pastor. Dr.
Douglas W. Oldenburg, inter
ment following in Sharon
Memorial Park.
Surviving, in addition to his
wife, Mrs. Marie Myers, are
their daughters, Mrs. Avery R.
Rhyne (Eleanor) of Charlotte
and their son, W. Earle Myers of
Long Valley, N.J., six grand
children and two great
grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers the family
has designated memorials to
Boys Town of North Carolina,
Route 1, Pineville, N.C. 28134
or a favorite charity of your
choice.
Public Hearings Monday
Citizens will have two oppor
tunities to express their opinions
during the City Board of Com
missioners meeting Monday at
7:30 at the Governmental Ser
vices Facilities Center.
The board has called for
public hearings to discuss the
possible use of surplus Urban
Renewal funds, and a proposal
by Southern Railway and the
Department of Transportation
for closing the Hawthorne Street
railroad crossing and improving
the Oak Street crossing.
The board held the first of two
public hearings on the $422,000
surplus in the UR program at its
March 9 meeting. No citizens ex
pressed opinions that night.
Surplus UR funds can be used
in Community Development
programs, and the board is ex
pected to amend the Community
Development budget to include
those surplus funds.
Mayor John Moss offered a
number of suggestions at the
March 9 meeting, including us
ing some of the funds for the
Write-Ins Defeated Again,
Judge Upholds Ballot Recount
Superior Court Judge Preston
Cornelius of Mooresville Mon
day in a 45 minute hearing in
Shelby upheld the battot recount
in January by the state elections
board in the race for county
commissioners in which one of
three write-in candidates had ap
pealed the state board’s decision.
Crawford had asked the court
to reverse the decision by the
state board and order a new elec
tion, charging that ballots in the
Nov. 4 election had unsufficient
space for write-ins and were im
proper.
During the recount, write-in
candidates John Caveny, Jr.,
Bobby Crawford and Duran
Johnson had failed by 400 votes
each to overtake Democratic
primary winners and incumbent
commissioners Jack Palmer, Jr.,
Coleman Goforth and Hugh
Dover.
Judge Cornelius did not rule
on the adequacy of space on the
ballots.
Officials of the Cleveland
County Association of Tax
payers said a decision on
whether or not to appeal would
be made later in the week.
Neighborhood Improvement
project off Linwood Road, wall
restoration and underground
wiring projects in the downtown
area, and the addition of 20
parking spaces on Battleground
Avenue north of Mountain
Street.
The railroad proposal is a part
of the Department of Transpor
tation’s statewide program to im
prove dangerous railroad cross
ings. Both the Hawthorne and
Oak Street crossings are con
sidered dangerous tty Southern
Railway.
The Hawthorne Street cross
ing is located on Highway 216 at
the old Kings Mountain Ice
Plant. The Oak Street crossing,
better known as the Mauney
Mill crossing, is located on 216
across from First Citizens Bank
and Trust Co.
The proposal is for
Hawthorne to be closed and
signal lights and gates installed at
Oak Street. Also, Railroad
Avenue, which runs parallel to
the tracks on the west side,
would be straightened and
widened.
The project would be basically
a state project, but requires city
approval. Moss said the amount
of city money used in the project
would be small.
Groundbreaking for Kings
Mountain Hospital’s proposed
$5.5 million expansion project
will be held at 3 p.m. Friday on
the site, the East Parking lot
area, on West King St.
Construction is expected to
begin immediately and a
timetable calls for completion of
the entire project, which will be
completed in phases, in 28 mon
ths. The new construction is ex
pected to be ready for occupancy
by netfi fall, according to KMH
Administrator Grady Howard.
Brief remarks at the ground
breaking exercises will be made
by Kings Mountain Senator J.
Ollie Harris and L.E. Hinnant,
■ president of the Kings Mountain
Hospital Board of Trustees, who
will preside.
The Board of Trustees has
issued invitations to all city and
county officials, the interested
public, and architects and all per
sons who have particiapted in
the mammoth expansion plans
to attend the ceremonies.
The proposed expansion will
include a 39,000 square foot
two-story patient wing adjacent
to the present building, a first
floor housing the business of
fices, radiology department and
expanded emergency depart
ments. The second floor will in
clude 35 all private rooms and a
sb( bed coronary and surgical in
tensive care unit. After the ex
pansion, 97 of the hospital’s 102
beds will be private.
According to Howard, all new
construction will be completed
f.irst. “We >KiJl lose a good part of
♦
SENATOR J. OUIE HARRIS
the East parking area and con
struction calls for first building a
parking lot off Sims Street which
will be the main entrance to the
hospital when the new construc
tion is completed,” he said. After
the new construction is com
pleted, the renovation work will
begin.
The renovated area will in
clude all first floor areas which
will be converted to private
LE. HINNANT
rooms with toilet and shower
facilities, a modernized obstetrics
department with two private
labor rooms, an expanded
recovery room and renovation
of many departments in the ex
isting building. The renovation
of the existing facility will be ex
tensive.
When the expansion is com
pleted the hospital will be vir
tually an all private facility.
Leaders Breakfast Set
Phenix Plant of Burlington In
dustries will sponsor the annual
Community Leaders Breakfast
Wed., March 25th, at 7:30 a.m.
at Holiday Inn.
Personnel Manager Don
Grady said that invitations will
be extended to 50 business
leaders of the community to at
tend to see a video film presenta
tion on the proposed new
workmen’s compensation laws.
Burlington Plant Manager
Charles Kelly will open the
meeting with his views on
“Business Conditions and
Outlook ^or 1981-82.”
M
.V
KITE WEATHER — March winds usually msan
iun ior ths youngstors. U you can catch tho
wind Just right, you can got a kito high into
tho sky. Julio Sponcor, slx-yoor-old daughter
oi Mr. and Mrs. Ed Sponcor oi Durham, N.C.,
Photo by Cknry Stowort
got hor's so high it oppoorod to bo tamporing
with tho roln clouds which woro moving into
tho Kings Mountain oroa white sho was
visiting rolotivoo ovor tho wookond.