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VOLUME 94, NUMBER 53
(Briefly)
BLOODMOBILE
The Cleveland County Red
Cross bloodmobile will be in
Kings Mountain Mon., Aug. 3
for a visit sponsored by city
employees. The bloodmobile will
be at First Baptist Church from
12 noon until 5:30 p.m. Goal for
the visit is 150 pints.
GRID PHYSICALS
Physical examinations for per
sons planning to play football at
Kings Mountain High this fall
will be given at the Gamble
Stadium fieldhouse on July 31 at
5 p.m. Coach Dan Brooks said
all players should bing tennis
shoes, shorts and t-shirts. The
Mounties will begin practice on
Saturday morning, August 1.
TENNIS TOURNEY
The Kings Mountain team in
the Western Carolina Tennis
League will sponsor a tennis
tournament for local residents
July 31-August 2 at the KMHS
courts. Anyone interested may
obtain entry forms from Rick
Henderson any night between 7
and 10 p.m. at the courts, or may
call Ed Guy at 739-4414 or Tom
Cox at 739-9252.
DRAMA
The outdoor drama ‘Then
Conquer We Must” continues
each Thursday, Friday and
Saturday evening thorugh
August 8 at the Kings Mountain
National Military Park am
phitheatre. Performances are at
8:30 p.m. each night. Tickets are
$3.50 for bleacher seats and
$4.50 for orchestra seats.
GRID TICKETS
Season tickets for the Kings
Mountain High School home
football games are on sale at the
Principal’s Office for $12.50.
The price represents a $2 JO sav
ings off the regular gate admis
sion of $3.00 per game.
SEASON PASS
All-sports passes, good for ad
mission into all regular season
athletic events on the Kings
Mountain High campus, are on
sale for $35 through the
Booster’s Club. The pass repr-
sents a savings of about $ 15 off
the regular gate admission and
also entitles the bearer to
membership in the Mountaineer
Club. Regular Mountaineer
Club memberships are available
for $5. Anyone interested in
joining on either plan may con
tact any member of the club or
attend one of its meetings on the
first and third Monday night at
7:30 p.m. at B.N. Barnes
Auditorium.
FINISH SECOND
E.A. Bingham of Kings
Mountain and Dufay Pearson of
Gastonia finished second in the
Class B doubles divison of the
1981 Class A North Carolina
Horseshoe Pitchers of America
National Tournament in
Statesville last Saturday.
YOUTH FOOTBALL
Any area youngsters ages nine
through 13 interested in playing
football this year for the Op
timist Club-Recreation Depart
ment teams are asked to meet at
5 p.m. on August 3 at Hty
Stadium.
KIWANIS CLUB
Frank Spencer, Cleveland
County Farm Extension Agent,
will give the program at Thurs-
I day’s meeting of the Kings
Mountain Kiwanis Club at the
Woman’s Club building.
Suzanne Amos-Grabus of
Lifeline Systems, Inc., will be the
guest speaker at next week’s
meeting.
Chui'ch Feature
Begins July 30
^ The H«rald will begin a new
advertising-news feature on
church news beginning Thurs.,
July 30.
The church page will feature a
series of articles entitled “Facts
About the Bible” and other
church-related news events.
^ The page will be sponsored by
area merchants.
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA
THURSDAY, RILY 23, 1981
PRICE 20 CENTS
Utilites Commission ‘Pressures’
KM Into Updating Gas System
By GARY STEWART
Editor
Two weeks ago, the City
Board of Commissioners approv
ed spending $222,000 for a gas
transmission line which will
equalize gas pressure in the city.
But there’s another kind of
pressure the city knows about,
and that’s the kind put on by the
State Utilties Commission.
The Utilities Commission has
been trying to get the city to up
date its gas system since 1971,
according to Tom Dixon, its gas
safety engineer. And in the past
two years, the Utilities Commis
sion has hinted that if the system
was not updated, it might con
sider fining the town or taking
over the gas system itself.
City commissioners say they
were not aware of the problem
until the past year to year and a
half and that they were more
than willing to tackle the pro
blem.
But Dixon said Mayor John
Moss and gas superintendents
who have worked here over the
years surely knew about the pro
blems, but did little about them.
The problems included bad
leakage, deplorable conditions at
regulator stations, and little
pressure, among other things.
“Originally, when inspectors
and I went down there from
1971 to 1978, there was a bad
leakage problem, environmental
protection standards had not
been met, there were no records
of annual maintenance to speak
of, and the regulator stations
were in deplorable condition,”
Dbton said.
“During the winter, the
pressure would drop so dr2istical-
ly that you would have zero
pressure at the end of the line,
and that’s a dangerous condi
tion,” he went on.
Dixon said he and the other
inspectors would cite the condi
tions to the gas superintendent,
“but when we would go back
down there six months later that
guy had quit and they would
have a new man in charge who
didn’t know about the gas
system and previous violations.
So we had to inform the new
man and we went through that
with seven or eight
superintendents.”
'I was made aware oi it in a
conversation with an in
dividual in a restaurant in a
city outside of Kings Moun
tain/
—Commissioner lim Childers
The Utilities Commission
began to really put the pressure
on two years ago. A commission
panel held two hearings on the
matter, one in 1979, and one in
October of 1980. The Utilities
Commission hinted that it had
the authority to fine the city
and/br take control of the gas
system.
No one remembers if a fine
figure was stated, but Dixon said
the statutes read that “any
operator of a gas system in viola
tion of minimum standards are
subject to a $1,000 a day fine for
each violation, up to $200,000
Clara Merck Killed,
Funeral Service Today
A Kings Mountain woman
was shot to death Monday in
what police suspect os an at
tempted murder-suicide.
Clara Martin Merck, 51, was
dead at the scene of the
shooting, according to Bennett
Masters, Cleveland County Cor
oner. Her husband, Charles Mer
ck, 54, of 204 Cranford Drive,
Kings Mountain, is listed in
critical condition at Charlotte
Memorial Hospital.
The shootings occurred at
12:35 p.m. Monday in the front
of the home of the couple’s
daughter, Gail Peterson, at 306
Stowe Acres.
Masters said Mrs. Merck was
shot twice with a .38<alibre han
dgun. One bullet entered the left
side of her head and exited out
Rural Routes
Are Changed
New box numbers for rural
mail route customers will go into
effect Saturday, Postmaster Fred
Weaver of the Kings Mountain
Post Office said today.
Postal employees have been
busy for over a week re
numbering the boxes and should
be completed with those duties
no later than Thursday.
The re-numbering is
necessary. Weaver said, because
the Post Office is adding two
new rural routes, giving Kings
Mountain sbt routes.
“We have had a growth factor
in the community and the routes
have become overburdened,”
Weaver said. “Because of the
growth it has become necessary
that we completely re-number
the rural routes in order to give
the customers better service.”
Weaver encourages rural
customers to notify their cor
respondents of their change of
address. They are also asked to
promptly display their name and
new box number on their boxes.
Weaver said almost all boxes
in the rural areas have changed.
Some routes changed as boxes
were taken off current routes to
be placed on the two new routes.
‘The change,” Weaver said,
“will assist us in making prompt
and efficient delivery of mail.”
The Kings Mountain Post Of
fice serves almost 3,000 rural
households and 4,447 in the city.
Weaver said any persons
needing verification of their new
route andbr box number should
contact their mail carrier.
the right ear and the other bullet
entered her stomach.
Police described her husband’s
wound as “self-inflicted.” Accor
ding to Masters, the bullet
entered the right side of his head
near the ear and exited the top of
his head. Merck underwent
surgery Tuesday at Charlotte
Memorial Hospital.
The couple was separated.
Funeral services for Mrs. Mer
ck will be conducted at 4 p.m.
Thursday at Second Baptist
Church by the Rev. Eugene
Land, the Rev. Charles Ingles
and the Rev. James Sanders.
Burial will be in Canaan
Methodist Church Cemetery.
Survivors include her hus
band, Charles Vernon Merck;
three sons, Ronnie Merck of
Grover and Chuck and Doug
Merck, both of Kings Mountain;
four daughters, Mrs. Shelia
Smith, Mrs. Gail Peterson, Mrs.
Sissy Gibson and Miss Tammy
Merck, all of Kings Mountain; a
brother, Johnny Martin of
Grover; two sisters, Mrs.
Jeanette Martin and Mrs. Sallie
Mullinax of Blacksburg, and
seven grandchildren.
Mrs. Merck was the daughter
of the late Thom:;^ and Norcissa
Hudson Martin and was
for each violation.”
Jim Childers was the only city
commissioner present at the
hearing last year. Others present
were the mayor, city attorney.
Bill Turbish, the city’s gas con
sultant, and employees of the gas
system.
t Childers, though, did not
know about the first meeting,
and was “upset tremendously”
about the way he heard of the
problems in the first place. “1
was made aware of it in a con
versation with an individual in a
restaurant in a city outside of
Kings Mountain,” he said.
‘That’s when 1 got to looking
into it and questioning what was
going on and where were we as
far as a safety program was con
cerned,” Childers said. “Up until
then, I was under the impression
•hat it was safe.”
Childers said that conversa
tion took place in late 1979 or
early 1980, after the Utilities
Commission had already held
one hearing on the matter.
“Once 1 found out about it, I
went to looking into it to satisfy
my own curiosity,” Childers
said. ‘The matter should have_
been handled several years back.
I’m not saying the outcome
would have been different, but it
would have been taken care of.”
Commissioner Bill Grissom
said he first heard of the pressure
from the Utilities Commission
about “ a year to a year and a
half ago” from the city board.
“I didn’t know the problem
had been going on for 10 years,”
he said, “but 1 do know the
Utilities Commission has been
on our case to get it done.”
Turn To Page 7-A
Dr. McGill Is Elected
To Erskine Trustee Board
employed by Guardian Care
Nursing Center in Gastonia.
Weaver
Services
Conducted
A former accountant with
Eaton Corporation Wcis found
dead in a motel room in
Cleveland, Ohio, recently from
accidental carbon monoxide
poisoning.
Kent Weaver, 29, was staying
in the motel room until his fami
ly could join him in Cleveland,
where he had been transferred
by Eaton.
Weaver’s body was found on
June 18. Funeral services were
held on June 22 in Iowa.
Survivors include his wife,
Debbie Weaver, of 510 Ellen-
wood Drive, Kings Mountain;
one son. Brock Weaver, and two
daughters, Brenda and Barbie
Weaver, all of the home; his
mother, Delores Kirk of Omaha,
Neb., his grandmother, Mrs.
H.M. Kirk of Griswold, Iowa,
and two brothers and one sister,
all of Griswold, Iowa.
Dr. John C. McGill of Kings
Mountain is one of five persons
elected to six-year terms on the
Board of Trustees of Erskine
College in Due West, S.C.
The new members were
welcomed to the board at an
orientation dinner last night.
Orientation will continue all day
today, closing with meetings of
standing committees of the
Board of Trustees tonight.
Other new members of the
board are former South Carolina
House Speaker Rex L. Carter of
Greenville, James T. Cashion of
Statesville, the Rev. J.D.
McLurkin of Little Rock, Ark.,
and Rev. Dr. R.M. Wallace Jr.
EDNUZUM
of Charlotte.
Dr. W. Charles Blair of Kings
Mountain, president of the Er
skine Alumni Association, will
join the board for a two-year
term.
The full session of the Board
of Trustees is scheduled for July
24 at 10 a.m. in Watkins Student
Center. At that meeting the
Board of Trustees is scheduled to
hear a report from the Search
Committee for President, seek
ing a successor to the late Presi
dent M. Stanyarne Bell, who
died February 9.
William H. Stuart Jr. of Bar
tow, Fla., is chairman of the
Board of Trustees.
Nuzum Joins
Wade Ford
Ed Nuzum has been named
sales manager at Wade Ford, it
was announced today by Wade
Tyner, owner.
Nuzum comes to Kings
Mountain from Newton, where
he operated his own new car
dealership for 12 years. He is ex-
p>erienced in all deptartments, in
cluding leasing, financing, and
sales and service of new and used
cars and trucks.
He is married and the father
of four children, and the grand
father of two.
/■
A
RECEIVES CHARTER - Lynn Wniborn*, l*it,
prMidvnt oi tho nowly-organisod King* Moun
tain Sortoma Club, rocolTM tho organiia-
tional chortor from Monball Wilson oi
Durham, tho Stato Dlroctor oi Sortoma. at tho
club's chortor night banquot Saturday at tho
Holiday Inn.
Club Gets
Charter
Members of the newly-
organized Kings Mountain Ser-
toma Club and their wives at
tended the club’s charter ban
quet at the Holiday Inn in Kings
Mountain Saturday night.
The official charter from Ser-
toma International was
presented by Marshall Wilson,
State Director, from Durham.
Among the sptecial guests were
Henry Carter, District Governor
from Winston-Salem, Bill
Parker, Past International Direc
tor from Charlotte, Claude
Carnes, Past District Governor
from Gastonia, Charlie Funder
burk, BA.M.E. chairman from
Gastonia, Larry Hamrick Jr.,
President of the Kings Mountain
Chamber of Commerce, Barry
Jenkins, President of the Kings
lylountain Rrtary Club, and
Jerry Ledford, President of the
Kings Mountain Kiwanis Club.