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VOLUME 94, NUMBER 51
THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1991
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA
PRICE 20 CENTS
♦
Board Okays
New Gas Line
By GARY STEWART
Editor
City Commissioners Tuesday
night approved a $218,248.32
bid from P&M Construction
Company of Shelby to build a
new gas transmission line from
Transco to the city’s regulator
station.
P&M was the low bidder
among five construction com
panies that bidded on the work.
Charles Heath of Heath and
Associates, the city’s engineers.
DR. mWIN BUCHWJUJ)
Buchwald
To Speak
On Tuesday
Dr. Irwin A. Buchwald, M.D.,
wiU.bc f«turQi))g,iQ Kings Mram.
tain Hospital as a guest lecturer
Tuesday. He lectured here last
July.
Dr. Buchwald’s subject will be
“New Concepts in the Treat
ment of Asthma.”
Dr. Buchwald is currently
chief of Pulmonary Medicine at
St. John’s Hospital in Lowell,
Mass.
The 12:30 lecture is being
sponsored by the Respiratory
Therapy Department.
said construction should begin
within 30 days.
Mayor John Henry Moss said
the new line will carry more
volume and pressure and
equalize pressure throughout the
city on the natural gas system.
The new line will provide 4,215
lineal feet of service as compared
to 9,600 provided by the line
that is to be replaced.
The board also approved an
increase in natural gas rates.
Heath said he looks for a
decrease in September and
another increase in March.
The increase. Heath said, will
be “five or sbt percent for
residential, about five percent
for small commercial and a little
less than five percent for large
commercial.”
The city sells natural gas by
MCFs. One MCF is equal to
1,000 cubic feet. Mayor Moss
said the increase will be about
$1.50 per month for the
minimum usage and about $2.90
per month for the average
household.
“We’re hoping the decrease in
September will be greater than
the increase now,” Moss said.
In other action Tuesday, the
board:
•Approved a bid of $4,010
from Dr. James Mason on parcel
number 30 of the Community
Development project, which is
located on the northeast comer
of Watterson and King Street.
Dr. Mason, an optometrist,
plans to construct a 2 J)00 square
• feet-office buiMtng w-the pro
perty, which contains 33,972
square feet. Mason said the
building will be a brick veneer
structure and construction will
begin within 90 days after con
veyance of the deed. He said he
will have the ability to expand in
the future.
•Appointed Charles Mauney
to the Mauney Memorial
Library Board. Mauney replaces
Joseph R. Smith, who has mov
ed from the community.
It"
DR. JEFF MAUNEY
Dr. Jeff Mauney and Jim Lee
Yarbro were elected as two new
members of the Kings Mountain
Hospital Board of Trustees at
the annual meeting on June 30.
They replace John L. McGill
and Carl F. Mauney.
L.E. (Josh) Hinnant, Kings
Mountain banker and Cleveland
County Commissioner, was re
elected as President of the
Board. Tom Tate, Home Savings
and Loan Executive, was elected
vice-president, and J.C. Bridges,
local hardware dealer, was
elected secretary-treasurer.
Other members of the Board
of Trustees are N.F. McGill Jr.,
Mrs. Margaret Meeks, Joe Lee
111, Fain Hambright, Mrs.
Euline Hord, Mrs. Marilyn
Neisler and William Orr.
•■I
n
‘Then Conquer We Must’
Continues At KMN Park
The cast of the outdoor drama “Then Conquer We Must” will be
hoping for better weather as they prepare to present their second
weekend of performances Thursday through Saturday night at the am
phitheatre at Kings Mountain National Military Park.
Rain cancelled last Thursday’s opening performance and the threat
of rain held the size of the audience down on Friday and Saturday
night.
Only 30 people showed up opening night, and the performance was
cancelled IS minutes into the play. Friday’s crowd was estimated at 30
, and 60 people were in attendance Saturday.
“It was rough because of the weather, but because the people show
ed up, we went ahead with it,” commented Reb Wiesener of Kings
Mountain, who plays Col. John Sevier. “We were fortunate to have as
many people as we did.
“We should have a lot bigger audience this week,” he continued.
“Last week’s audience, although small, was very lively and was very
[happy with the performance.”
Curtain time Thursday, Friday and Saturday is 8:30 p.m. The
[drama will continue each Thurs^y, Friday and Saturday through
LUgUSt 8.
Tickets are $3.50 for bleacher seats and $4.50 for orchestra seats.
"Wa ahould hay* waitad a yaor and lat the Dapartmant of Transportation cut out
its fat Tha Dapartmant of Transportation spant ovar $40 million in consultant faas
oyar tha past four yaors, and that kind of spanding is complataly out of lina." -Ollia
Harris.
Senator Harris Had Triumphs,
Defeats During 1981 GA Session
^ Mauney, Yarbro Elected
To Board Of Trustees
By GARY STEWART
Editor
Kings Mountain’s Ollie Harris
returns home this week from his
fifth session in the North
Carolina General Assembly, and
the break before another special
session in October will be
welcomed.
Harris feels the current session
is the most frustrating he’s been
through, but many good things
have been accomplished.
Personally, he had some
triumphs and defeats. He spon
sored some budget projects-such
as air conditioning for
Broughton Hospital-which were
successful and he sponsored
some bills-such as Parental Per
mission on Abortionsr-jyJiieh
were defeated.
He calls this session the most
frustrating because of the uncer
tainty of how federal grants will
be given to the individual states.
The federal government operates
Mayor
Threatens
To Sue
By GARY STEWART
Editor
Grover Mayor Bill McCarter
threatened town council
members with a “friendly suit”
Monday night at the board’s
regular monthly meeting at
Town Hall after the council
voted unanimously not to reim
burse McCarter for some seeding
work he had done on Carolina
Avenue.
McCarter had earlier
presented finance officer Ronald
Queen with a bill requesting
$289.29 for reimbursement of
expenses. Of that amount, the
board approved reimbursing Mc
Carter $63.41 for expenses for a
trip to Raleigh and $41.80 for
the cost of envelopes. But the re
maining $184.08, which includ
ed the hauling of dirt, seed and
fertilizer for a re-seeding project
on Carolina Avenue, was
denied.
The board members claimed
the work was not authorized,
and McCarter took it upon
himself to do the work. Mc
Carter claimed the work was
authorized by a previous town
board, and told the council “if
you were not on the council
(when the action was passed),
you inherited what they were
obligated for.”
The project traces back
several years to when the council
approved curb and guttering for
the street, but the re-seeding of
yards along the street, in most
cases, was done by the property
owners.
The question of whether the
property owners were to re-seed
the lawns, or if it was to be done
by the town, has been up in air
ever since.
According to McCarter, it was
the town’s responsibility, but ac
cording to Commissioner
Juanita Pruette, who was not on
(Turn To Pag* 3-A)
on an October 1-September 30
year and the state government
on a July I-June 30 year, thus.
North Carolina will not know
for sure how much federal
money it will receive until Oc
tober.
‘That could cause a hardship
on the state in seeing that each
county and city receives its due
part,” says Harris, “and it creates
an undue burden on the General
Assembly as being an in-between
between the bureaucracy and
the people needing services.”
The General Assembly ap
propriated almost $12 billion
over the next two years, in
cluding Harris’s personal victory
of $3,200,000 for air condition
ing Broughton Hospital in
Morganton,
Harris has been working on
that project for six years.
The veteran Senator noted
that he had visited Broughton on
several occasions when the
temperature was over 100
TAgyHjjNgr
degrees. “Here we are air-
conditioning prisons and these
poor people are sitting up there
with no air conditioning. I was
particularly proud that we got
that because I worked on it and
as chairman of Human
Resources, it came under my
jurisdiction.”
This General Assembly will be
long-remembered as the one
which imposed a three-cent per
gallon tax increase on gasoline,
and that action, along with in
creased license fees, will generate
over $90 million a year for road
improvements. Governor Jim
Hunt is seeking over $200
million more from other sources.
But Harris, along with eight of
the other nine Senate and House
representatives from this area,
was against the gasoline tax from
the beginning. The Senate later
killed tax on alcohol, so Harris
said he was “proud of our delega
tion” for sticking to its guns on
gas tax.
The only representative from
this area voting for the tax was
David Bumgardner of Belmont,
who is a member of the
Transportation Board.
Harris said he opposed the gas
tax because it is a necessity and
will “hurt the little man. Gas is a
deduction for the businessman,”
he said. “Look at me. I drive a
Harris Funeral Home car. My
men don’t get that. They come
to work in their own cars.”
Harris added that he “realizes
the need” for maintaining good
roads “but we should have
waited a year and let the Depart
ment of Transportation cut out
its fat. The Department of
Transportation spent over $40
million in consultwt fees over
the past four years, and that kind
of spending is comi^etely out of
line.
(Turn To Pag* 3-A)
It- iTt?
UMMM. UMMM • Th* young*t*r« w*r*n't th*
only on** haring fun during th* city's Fourth
of luly coUbrotion Saturday at D*al Str**t
Pork. Mrs. Robort P*t*rson, 92. was on* of th*
Photo by Gary St*wart
contostants in th* wal*rm*lon *ating cont*st
"rm having o ball," *h* nof*d. For mor* plc-
tiu*s on the *v*nt, turn to pag* 1-B.