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Volume 129 • Issue 20
kmherald.com • 704-739-7496
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
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Manager says ‘beginning of new day’
No increases in proposed city budget ELIZABETH STEWART lib.kmherald@gmail.com
RELAY FOR LIFE PROJECT – Young people of Dixon Presbyterian Church, above, painted rocks as a fundraiser for Relay for Life and will display them for donations to fight cancer at Friday’s Relay for Life at Cleveland County Fairgrounds. Front row, from left, Brandon Dover, Gavin Stevenson, Alyssa Newton, and Alex Stewart. Back row, from left, Savannah Poston, Mary Bearfield, Nicholas Stewart, Nicole Poston, Kylie Bearfield and Isabelle Walton. Photo by TONNIE BEARFIELD
At County Fairgrounds
Relay for Life Friday Everyone’s reason to Relay for Life is unique as their own personal story of cancer. Cleveland County Relay for Life will get underway Friday at 4 p.m. and continue until 12 midnight with hundreds of people participating at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds. For the first time in recent years, Kings Mountain Relay will merge with the county event and numerous teams are ready to have fun on the theme, “Super Heroes,’’ and rally for a good cause. The Relay starts at 4 p.m. with a Survivor reception at Goforth Hall, entertainment, light refreshments and distribution of survivor shirts. At 6 p.m. cancer sur-
vivors will circle a track together, either walking or riding a tram, to help celebrate the victories they have achieved. After dark, the luminary ceremony honors people who have been touched by cancer and remembers those lost to the disease. Teams of youth and adults representing churches and organizations from all over the county will have a wide variety of crafts, handmade items, baked goods and food available for sale for benefit of the cancer campaign. Funds raised help the American Cancer Society provide free information and support for people facing the disease today, and fund cancer research that will help protect future
Liberty Mountain: It’s All About the audience When I first started writing stage plays s o m e years ago, a wise theatre person ROBERT INMAN told me, “Remember, it’s all about the audience.” Everybody associated with a play – playwright, director, actors, crew members, volunteers – works for the folks in the seats. If everybody onstage and backstage does their jobs right, the audience has a satisfying experience. “Liberty Mountain,” the Revolutionary War Drama, which opens at the Joy Performance Center in Kings
Mountain on June 23, is my eighth play. And it’s still all about the audience. The job of my colleagues and me is to transport our audiences into the Carolina backcountry of 1780, to portray a cast of characters who are authentic and compelling, and to tell an important story using all the stagecraft at our disposal. We ask the audience to take a leap of faith with us into that time and place, and we help them do that through sight and sound, lights and music, words and actions. If we are successful, the audience “gets it.” “Liberty Mountain” has all the elements of a powerful tale – immigrants who come to America seeking a new life, the tragic conflict among neighbors who are divided by loyalty to the king on the one hand and the hunger for independence on the other, and an See LIBERTY, Page 4A
generations. During Relay for Life events, members of each team take turns walking or running around the track. Teams participate in fundraising in the months leading to the event, as well as in the event. Julie Pearson, Community Manager for a number of years, began her activity with Relay after the death of a family member. Many people participating in the event have suffered themselves from the insidious disease or some member of their family have suffered cancer and died and all come for the same reason. To save lives. More information on Relay for Life is included on page 3 in this week’s edition of The Herald.
KMHS Improv Troupe show Saturday The Kings Mountain High School WIT? Improv Troupe presents the last Improv Show of the season on Saturday, May 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Barnes Auditorium on the campus of Kings Mountain High School. May’s show will feature and celebrate the seniors of the Improv Troupe. Tickets for the show are $5 and can be purchased at the door or by visiting www.kmhsarts.org. Cleveland County Schools Renaissance Gold Card holders and children 5 years old and under get in for free. The WIT? Improv Show is similar to the TV show “Whose Line See KMHS, Page 4A
Nothing is passed – and won’t be – until after a public hearing in June SELLERS on the 2017-18 recommended city budget of $42,540,931.00 by City Manager Marilyn Sellers. The proposed budget is on the table with no increases in any city services and no increase in the ad valorem tax rate of 43 cents per $100 property valuation. The seven-member city
council took their first look at the proposed budget Monday night and apparently liked what they saw. In her opening statement Sellers said, “I hope that you all are as excited about this budget as I am. It’s the beginning of a new day,’’ said Sellers. The manager’s budget proposes: • No sanitation increase. • No electric increase. • No water increase. • No wastewater increase. • No storm water fee increase. • no natural gas increase. • no cemetery increase. • no new positions • no increase in insurance benefits to employees
but health insurance that the city pays its 200 full time employees will go up 20% as well as a 10% increase in liability insurance. The increase to the city results from higher claims. Retirement and insurance benefits will continue for full time city employees. Sellers and Human Resources Director Randy Patterson encourage city employees to enroll in wellness/ preventive health classes to help reduce insurance costs. “I’m beginning to see the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ thanks to a proactive staff, department heads, the mayor and city council. “You made some hard decisions to get us where we See BUDGET, Page 4A
Stewart Realty Investments
Historic bank building to get facelift and grant Stewart Realty Investments, LLC plans major renovations to the former First Union National Bank Building, corner of S. Battleground and West Mountain Street downtown. Monday night city council awarded a facade grant of $6,000 and a general inducement grant of $1,000 to the project. Jan Harris, Main Street Director, said that Frank Stewart of Belmont, owner of the historic bank building, plans to replace the exterior doors, the stucco entrance, and repair damages to the marble in the entrance area and repair the existing historic lintel and pilasters and bank sign, refurbish the pro-
tective bars on the windows and paint the exterior brick to cover three competing brick colors on the original building at cost of $250,000. Harris said a light to dark gray paint will probably be used. The original main floor downstairs will be a show room for law enforcement products, bullet proof vests, helmets, shields, etc. and the shop will be known as Premier Body Armor. One apartment on the second floor will be subdivided into two one bedroom units in the future. Rehabilitation projects of historic buildings must meet numerous standards by the U. S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation to qualify as “certified
rehabilitations” eligible for 20% rehabilitation tax credit. These standards apply to historic buildings of all periods, styles, types, materials and sizes. The historic character is being retained and preserved and any deteriorated historic features are being repaired rather than replaced. In other actions, city council at a special meeting Monday night: • Approved budget amendment in the amount of $10,000 for legal expenditures incurred by the Planning Department • Approved budget amendment of $45,000 for the addition of a tractor needed for street maintenance/ grass mowing.
Bishop Dr. Kenneth W. Curry, left, presents the Barack Obama Presidential Award to his mother, Mary Jane Curry, at Mother’s Day service Sunday at Shady Grove Baptist Church. Looking on are Rev. Daris Curry and Mrs. Jacqueline Brown, right, who presented roses to Mrs. Curry.
Curry wins award for service The Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award presented to Mary Jane Curry on Mother’s Day at Shady Grove Baptist Church was a surprise but her family gave another surprise when they all attended services with her on Sunday.
Mrs. Curry and her husband, Eugene E. Curry, are celebrating 60 years of marriage and a close-knit family. Retired after 58 years as a beautician at Mary Jane’s Hair Place, the Kings Mountain woman also served for
30 years as a funeral director and 40 years as a fundraiser for the homeless and St. Jude Hospital. The Presidential Award is an award given by former President Barack Obama and recognizes an individual’s lifetime achievement.
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