INSIDE...
SPORTS - 7
Obituaries .................................2 Police Log.................................2 Tales From Farmers Market .......4 Recipes ....................................6
■ KM Tennis team honored at banquet
See Kings Mountain 4th Of July Celebration Photos Page 10
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Thousands pack KM for July 4 Sky Show An estimated 5,000 people packed the Kings Mountain Walking Track and surrounding areas Monday night as they celebrated with a sky show of fireworks that Mayor Scott Neisler called the “best” he has presented in a number of years. “Liberty Mountain performers did a fantastic job and playwright Bob Inman introduced them in a mock battle scripted to a voice track,'' said the mayor. “I was just so pleased with the participation and with the people on the program
who contributed so much to our celebration of Independence Day,'' he said. The opening of the city's 4th of July at 9 p.m. included three city councilmen, mayor pro tem Mike Butler, Tommy Hawkins and Curtis Pressley presenting the welcome, the flag pledge and introducing Vietnam veteran Jim Medlin who presented the impressive, “Toast to the Flag.” Jaiden Huffman sang “The National Anthem,'' and the Loch Norman pipe band presented a patriotic medley. Members
of Kings Mountain Boy Scout Troop 93 advanced and retired the colors. Festivities got underway at the walking track at 6 p.m. with a concert of country music and Southern rock by the Chris Marks Band. Food vendors were on site and families started arriving early with their folding chairs and blankets to enjoy the event until after the fireworks extravaganza. Kings Mountain police reported no incidents during the holiday event.
Pieces of Kings Mountain History
Fireworks light up the sky in a patriotic sky show at Monday night's Fourth of July celebration in Kings Mountain. Photo by GARY SMART
KM Tourism Committee
Marker to African Americans Council Reappoints Gordon, Moore By Loretta Husky Cozart L i f e has a funny way of teaching us lessons as we pass through. In 2010, COZART when I thought of placing a marker to African American patriots at the Battle of Kings Mountain, I had no idea the monumental task I was undertaking. The paperwork alone was daunting. Next came the job of moving and preparing the stone for the plaque. One would think that’s a pretty easy task, right? What I learned is that moving a stone requires a ballet of heavy equipment, creative thinking, and hard-working folks to get the job done. Finding a good rock took time. We searched several local “rock dealers,” but none seemed to have what we were looking for to properly honor these men. I shared my concern with Mayor Neisler and he took on the mission of finding our rock. Scott was a life saver. The mayor reached out
to Martin Marietta and Brandon Weimer invited us to the Kings Mountain Quarry to take a look. Boy, they sure have a lot of rocks in there! So many so, that at times it felt as if we were looking for a piece of gravel in a rock pile. The hunt took several visits by Mayor Scott Neisler, Chief Park Ranger Chris Revels, and me. A few weeks
ago, we found our “perfect rock”. An even bigger challenge was moving the rock. You see, rocks seem small, but they are very, very heavy. Ours weighs exactly a ton. And, Mayor Neisler came through again, offering the City’s services to get the rock to our stonemason. So, on Thursday, June 23rd, See MARKER, Page 8
Josh Bowen, Reece Lovelace and Mayor Scott Neisler, left to right, are pictured at Martin-Marietta where stone was acquired for a marker that Colonel Frederick Hambright Chapter DAR plans to place at the Kings Mountain National Military Park in honor of African Americans who fought at the Revolutionary War Battle of Kings Mountain. Photos by LORETTA HUSKEY
Winds brought gas smell to KM The telephones started ringing at city hall Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. “We're smelling gas,'' the callers said and wanted
to know why. At 9:30 a.m .Mayor Scott Neisler was touring the NTE site off Dixon School Road. “It was overcast and a low wind and NTE workers were working on the bridge which runs over the Transco pipe line and we started smelling gas,'' said the mayor. Turned out that the wind
was bringing the smell of gasoline from Gastonia construction where workers were purging a new gas line, the mayor reported. The mayor also reported that Duke Power 's transmission line was down Friday morning and power was out in Kings Mountain about an hour.
By 5-2, Kings Mountain City Council Tuesday night reappointed Ward 4 Councilman Rodney Gordon and former Ward 5 councilman Rick Moore GORDON to a third term on the Kings Mountain Tourism Development Authority. The acMOORE tion took a resolution amending the consecutive term limits from two consecutive terms to three consecutive terms. Both Gordon and Moore have served four years on the Authority of which the city's former Events Director Ellis Noell is executive director. Their third term will expire
in June 2018. Voting against the amendment were AtLarge Councilman Curtis Pressley, who asked that the item be removed from the consent agenda and be discussed by the full board, and At-Large councilman Keith Miller. Councilman Howard Shipp made the motion to amend the term limits to six years and approve the reappointments. Councilman Tommy Hawkins seconded the motion saying that “I second because our mayor recommends it and I value his opinion” and also voting in favor were mayor pro tem Mike Butler and councilmen Rodney Gordon and Jay Rhodes. “It takes time to develop relationships on the state level,'' said Gordon. Director Noell said that he worked with the Authority in his former position with the City of
Kings Mountain. He said the Authority, which is a five member board, also includes a representative from both the Holiday Inn Express and Quality Inn. He said the Authority's goal is to position itself both regionally and nationally to push tourism for the Kings Mountain area and to pursue and make grants in reaching those goals. A second item pulled from the consent agenda was the consideration of reestablishment/reactivating the 1967 Urban Development Commission. Council members questioned city attorney Mickey Corry, Planning Director Steve Killian and city planner Jessica Trotman aboout powers of the commission. “We thought the old commission had been dissolved but it is still registered in the Secreary of State's office,'' said Mayor Scott Neisler. The old See COUNCIL, Page 8
Drama performers at Farmers Market This Thursday features a musical performance at the Kings Mountain Farmers Market at Patriots Park by the cast of "Liberty Mountain " at 4 p.m. and will be followed by music from Parkwood Baptist Church. “The City of Kings Mountain and RPM Music would like to thank Daniel Sparks and Don Oliver of “Soul Radio” for their incredible performance on June 30th. RPM's Music's Produce Music series provides live music every Thursday night in downtown Kings Mountain,'' said Haley Wilson, Events Coordinator.
DRAMA PERFORMERS – Chris Stone, Isaac Dalton and Katie Stone, left to right, are new actors to the “Liberty Mountain” stage this season at Joy Theatre. Chris and Katie Stone are brother/sister, among families portraying their stories of the Revolutionary War Battle of Kings Mountain weekends at the Joy. Photo by LIB STEWART
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