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VOLUME 94. NUMBER 62
Tuesday’s City Commissioner Choices
For District 5
r
For District 6
HUMES HOUSTON
CURT GAFFNEY
WILLIAM ORR
lOHNNIE CALDWELL
IAN DEATON
JIM DICKEY
JOHN ROSS
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KM City Commissioner Election Set For Tuesday
Kings Mountain voters will go to the polls Tues
day to elect three members to the City Board of
Commissioners.
Polling places will be at the National Guard Ar
mory and the Kings Mountain Community Center.
Voters will elect commissioners in districts two,
five and six.
Humes Houston, a six-year veteran on the board,
is unopposed in District Two. He is completing his
first four-year term after previously holding office
for a two-year term.
Curt Gaffney, a Piedmont Avenue barber for
many years, faces William Orr, an Anvil Knit
employee, for the District Five seat, which is being
vacated by Bill Grissom. Both men ran unsuc
cessfully in previous elections.
The most interesting race is in District Six, where
incumbent Jim Dickey faces three challengers. He is
opposed by Jan Deaton, Johnnie Caldwell and John
Ross.
Dickey, former manager of Neisco Industries and
now self-employed, has held a commissioner’s seat a
number of times in the past. Mrs. Deaton is
employed by Burlington Industries Phenix Plant,
Caldwell is employed by the U.S. Postal Service and
Ross is a grocery man.
If a runoff is necessary in District Six, it will be
held on November 3.
Meanwhile, two other area races are shaping up
as the filing deadline draws nearer.
Incumbents Marian Thomasson and June Lee
have entered the Kings Mountain School Board
race against Jerry Ledford, who filed several weeks
ago. Mrs. Thomasson is chairman of the board and
Mrs. Lee is vice-chairman. Both are completing
their first six-year term of office.
Their two inside-city seats are the only two
available this year.
James Grindstaff filed Monday for a seat on the
Grover Town Council. Grady Ross earlier filed for
the race.
All five commissioners seats, as well as the
Mayor’s seat, is up for grabs. Incumbent Bill Mc
Carter is the only fterson to file for Mayor thus far.
None of the current commissioners-Quay Moss,
Juanita Pruett, Edward Philbeck, Ronald Queen,
and Martha Byers-have filed.
Filing for both the KM School Board and Grover
Town Council races end Friday at noon.
Both elections are set for November 3.
Hydro-Electric Plant
Gets Board Approval
/
The long, talked-about hydro
electric possibility for Moss Lake
came closer to becoming reality
Monday night when the City
Board of Commissioners official
ly adopted the project and
authorized Mayor John Moss to
develop a financing plan.
The city’s hydro-electric com
mittee comprised of Moss and
commissioners Jim Childers and
Jim Dickey has studied the
possibility for years and Harza
Engineering of Chicago did a
feasibility study in March of
1978.
At that time, Harza estimated
the site would have generating
capability of 820 kilowatts and
on the average would generate
3,410,000 kilowatt-hours an
nually. At that time, the con
struction cost of a plant would
have been approximately
HONORED-Th« late Lou Sabetti. Sr. was
honored posthumously by the Cleveland
County Concer Society Tuesday night with
special awards. Making the presentation, left,
are Dr. Donald Miller and Mrs. John Henry
Moss, right. Accepting ore Mr. and Mrs. Lou
Sabetti, Ir.
Alignment Of Gold
Will Cost $300,000
Late Lou Sabetti Sr.
• Is Volunteer Of Year
The late Louis Sabetti, Sr. was
honored Posthumously as
Volunteer of the Year by the
Cleveland County Unit of the
American Cancer Society at the
annual awards banquet Tuesday
Most School Funding
• Comes From The State
By William Davis. Superintendent
In the United States the funding pattern for public schools varies
greatly from state to state. In some of the northeastern states a large
portion of the funds for public education comes from local govern
ment. It is not uncommon in some states for 60% or more of all public
education funds to come from local government. In North Carolina
the reverse is true. Most of the money comes from the state. During
the depression of the early 1930’s the State of North Carolina took
^ over the financing of public schools because most North Carolina
® counties and cities were unable to keep schools open. This pattern has
been retained over the years, and today most North Carolina school
systems receive more than 60% of their current expense (opierating)
funds from the state.
in Kings Mountain 63% of the funds for the operation of schools
comes from the state, 10% from Washington and 27% trom the coun
ty and the Kings Mountain supplemental school tax.
The Kings Mountain school tax is 14' per one hundred dollar pro
perty value. The local tax can legally be raised to 20' without an elec
tion. The local tax was reduced from 18' to 14' after property revalua-
_ tion a year or so ago. The local tax generated $421,000 for the Kings
Mountain District Schools in 1980. The fact that there is a local tax
supplement for schools in Kings Mountain is indicative of the com
munity’s interest in good schools for it’s children. These additional
funds beyond which the state and the county appropriate for schools
in Kings Mountain provide a definite advantage in maintaining good
schools in Kings Mountain.
From these local funds some twenty additional teachers are
employed. The extra teachers make it more possible to avoid over
crowded classrooms and to offer courses and programs that could not
be offered if there were no local tax. The local teacher salary supple-
I ment which averages around $520 per year per teacher is possible
because of the Kings Mountain school tax.
- Turn To Pag* 3-A
night.
Lou Sabetti, Jr. accepted the
coveted plaque for the family at
a dinner meeting at Hank’s Steak
House.
A “Proclamation of Commen
dation” from the City of Kings
Mountain was also presented to
the Sabetti family in honor of
the well-known, retired Kings
Mountain insuranceman, active
volunteer and leader of Kings
Mountain’s “best ever” cancer
campaign.
Kings Mountain citizens went
over the top in its best effort in
many years and gave $4,016.62
to the cancer appeal in
Cleveland County which topped
its goal by an all-time giving of
$40,346.
Kay Holshouser, executive
secretary of the Cleveland Coun
ty Chapter, in presenting the
Volunteer of the Year plaque,
noted that the awards committee
had decided that Lou Sabetti
was the winner several weeks
before Mr. Sabetti died in a hun
ting accident Sept. 9th. “Our
long range objective”, she said,
“is to eliminate cancer and
diminish suffering but friends
like Lou can do this with a
laugh, a smile, a touch when
somebody’s down. Lou was a
cancer patient himself but he
listened and felt and shared from
his heart and he did it all with a
big smile. Lou Sabetti’s life
Turn To Pag* S-A
The Kings Mountain Board of
Commissioners Monday night
learned that the alignment of
East and West Gold Streets at
the Southern Railway tracks will
cost approximately $331,250.
The commissioners gave the
city’s consulting engineers, the
W.K. Dickson Co., authority to
proceed with final plans and
specifications and report back to
the board at the October 14
meeting.
Mayor John Moss told com
missioners the project may be
eligible for Community Develop
ment Block Grant funds. Moss
said the city has enough funds in
its CDBG account to finance the
entire project.
Ralph Johnson of the Dickson
firm is suggesting that the board
make West Gold a four-lane
road to Cansler Street. “Cansler
is one of the best streets you
have and is capable of carrying
as much or more traffic than any
street you have,” he said, “but
studies show it carries only a lit
tle traffic because it has little ac
cess.”
Turn To Page 4-A
Funeral Services Held
For Rev. C.C. Crow, 81
Funeral services for Rev. C.C.
Crow, 81, of 206 North Roxford
Road, Kings Mountain, were
conducted Friday at 4 p.m. at
First Baptist Church, where he
was a member, by the Rev.
Clyde Bearden and the Rev.
Ernest Smith. Burial was in
Sunset Cemetery, Shelby.
Rev. Crow died Wednesday at
Cleveland Memorial Hospital.
He was a native of Rutherford
County and served as a Baptist
minister at several churches in
Cleveland and Rutherford coun
ties from 1931 until 1962. He
was an instructor at Fruitland
Bible Institute in Hendersonville
from 1962 until 1968.
He was a World War 11
veteran and the son of the late
Mr. and Mrs. Elijah Pinkney
Crow.
Surviving are his wife, Edith
Lynch Crow; a son. Dr. John
Buren Crow of Earl; a daughter,
Mrs. Jennings (Mary) Brooks of
Shelby; a stepson. Jay Queen of
Greensboro; a sister. Miss Dor-
REV. CROW
cas Elmira Crow of Bostic; seven
grandchildren, eight great grand
children and one great-great
grandchild.
Memorials may be made to
the church of the donor’s choice
or to Fruitland Bible Institute.
$730,000.
The committee, in a report to
the full board Monday night,
estimated that costs at today’s
prices would probably be 30 to
40 percent more, but would still
be a good buy due to the ever-
increasing cost of purchasing
electricity.
The committee feels the plant
would generate enough electrici
ty to operate the water and
waste treatment plants, which
presently cost the city about
$219,000 in electricity alone.
During high levels of generation,
the city could sell its excess
power to Duke Power and dur
ing low levels, the city could pur-
chtise power from Duke.
The city expects Duke’s rates
to rise again soon. Duke present
ly has a request for a 19 percent
increase before the Utilities
Commission. If only 10 percent
is approved. Moss said the cost
of electricity for the water and
waste treatment plants would
rise over $20,000 next year.
The plant construction costs
would be paid over a 10 year
period and the plant would
“begin making a profit in its first
year of activity,” Moss said.
Childers said “1 feel like it
would be a big asset. 1 don't
believe electricity costs will get
any cheaper. Anytime you can
buy something and pay it off in
10 years, it’s a good deal. There’s
water running down that creek
that can be utilized.”
‘The amount of energy we’re
buying from Duke is enormous,”
added Dickey. “If at all possible,
we should go ahead with it.”
Ralph Johnson, an employee
of the W.K. Dickson Co., the ci
ty’s consulting engineers, said
Turn To Page 4-A
Bloodmobile
Here Friday
The Cleveland County Blood-
mobile will visit First Baptist
Church Friday from 12 noon un
til 5 JO p.m.
The visit is being sponsored by
the Kings Mountain Communi
ty and area industries.
Goal is 150 pints.
“We’d like to encourage all the
Kings Mountain area industries
and members of the community
to participate,” said Martha
Scruggs, director.