A harsh dose of reality: Some things are better left alone

Editors note: One part of Kings Mountain government that seems to be operating efficiently and trying their best to serve the community is the King Mountain Police Department. Keep up the good work.

OPINION — Throughout history, many well-known figures in history, along with entire empires and nations, have found out “Some things are better left alone” And that usually is discovered the hard way.

History is filled with a plethora of examples of what happens, leaving a lesson (a warning) of what transpires when you step into the madness of certain circumstances.

The Hittites messed around and found out when dealing with Egypt.

The Canaanites realized you didn’t mess with the Israelites.

And the Romans absorbing the Goths into their realm of influence by inviting them into their borders only ruined everything for the Romans.

That’s how I feel about Kings Mountain.

I don’t know why, I don’t understand why — but Kings Mountain has always marched to a beat of a different drummer.

Kings Mountain city government is the only place in Cleveland County where they refuse to at least pretend to cooperate with their residents and each other, but then get offended when you criticize them.

They might not tell you they see it that way, but it’s just better for The Shelby Independent to wish them the best and move on, covering the rest of the county and leave them to their own devices.

I won’t be covering any City of Kings Mountain government news from now on.

There are exceptions, however, and I’ll continue to write about the people, events and businesses of KM.

Media is supposed to hold government accountable for their actions, but as we have seen time and time again, the media only wants to do that depending on who is in office, and then they’re asleep and ignore things when it’s their person, friend or party in office. But Kings Mountain is an entirely different animal.

You can’t hold people accountable that couldn’t care less what residents think, and yet keep getting reelected, while everyone is left baffled wondering why their city is such a disaster.

When the suggestion was made during the KM city council meeting to hang more plants to bring in more tourism I almost dropped my laptop.

Yeah. A dozen or so hanging plants ought to do it…

That’ll fix the deserted downtown area.

And then, they’re spending 500,000 to renovate a walking track that nobody in Kings Mountain even knows it exists.  One person at the meeting asked what the name of it was, for clarification.

They voted on to move forward with the project anyways while people used the public forum to demand safer water, a more vibrant downtown and to work towards uplifting businesses in the city to build a better economic environment.

They don’t have any money to fix the water problem.

The city has been penalized twice (this year) for water violations.

They want to put out some plants on the sidewalks to bring in tourism — not help businesses, not hold more events or fix the bathrooms at the park - but they want to spend half a million on a walking path nobody knows exists, and one city council member tells the mayor “It’s not that I don’t like you, it’s that I don’t like some of the things you say in public” and then … sidewalk plants. 🪴

It’s the blind leading the deaf in this blazing saddles of a sitcom.

There’s nobody to hold accountable when the inmates are running the asylum and the doctors all went home a long time ago.

I’m not showing favoritism— if anything I’m voicing my disdain for the whole lot.

I personally do not know a single soul on the Kings Mountain City Council.

So, yeah, it’s pretty bad when the reporter doesn’t even want to deal with it.  Juicy moronic council meetings usually make for a good read — but writing about this funky bunch will just make all of Cleveland County look bad.

Nobody — especially the people of KM need to be looked at like the laughing stock of the county.

Kings Mountain is the only place that baffles the crap out of me.

As a print journalist, I’ve reported on some wild crap, like a B-1b crash, Syrian air strikes, homicides, car accident fatalities that I’d rather wish I had arrived later than I did, criminals, politicians, athletes, entertainers, mothers that have lost a child, victims, musicians and Sturgis, but I have never dealt with anything like the employees and elected officials in Kings Mountain.

Sitting in that city council meeting made me think of not only a circus, but also the B-1b that crashed back in January 2024, as it roared and choked and crashed in the cold, clear South Dakota sky that night — the burning orange glow in the distance, as sirens blared and half of Rapid City wondered if “this is it, here comes WW3.”

A burning convoluted mangled mess of a disaster.

Like a fiery train wreck falling off a high bridge down into a ravine; it was a horrible city council meeting, but I couldn’t look away.

The city manager wasn’t present. He wasn’t at the monthly meeting and he’s never available, gone to lunch or out of town, or indisposed at the moment — I can never get him to communicate with The Shelby Independent. I don’t know what he’s hiding from, but I’m guessing it’s 10,000 citizens that want to know why their water sucks, more than the assistant city manager telling them because “it’s hot outside.”

Yes, that happened… the assistant city manager said the water is worse because it’s hot outside.

CASE CLOSED.

Pretty sure the water problem started in the late Fall, as the air cooled, but I don’t live there, I’m not an expert, I barely know anyone there.

Kings Mountain city council is like a fitness gym with a room full of dumbbells and no weightlifters.

They do things their own way in that corner of Cleveland County — and as a one-man-band, every moment I spend working on some news story involving the City (government) of Kings Mountain, I waste time and resources that could be spent anywhere else in the county.

You’ve got plenty of biased news in the county, you don’t need one more — and no matter how hard I try I can’t write an article about the council meeting without sounding like I’m taking sides.

The Shelby Independent was created to be the balance — unbiased news reporting, just telling it like it is — and leaving the opinions to the opinion section (like what you’re reading right now.) I can’t do that with this governing body.

I “abstain” from reporting on KM city council.

Have you ever seen ‘Funny Farm’ starring Chevy Chase?  That would make more sense than the word salads and remedial educated ideas from officials I heard Tuesday night.

Anyways, I wish the people of Kings Mountain all the best. I hope they get the government they deserve, the one they NEED; not what they currently have.

They really do deserve much better, but they voted this to happen.

So, I ask the citizens of Kings Mountain to not be offended by me simply stating a hard truth — you voted for this.  Only you can fix this.

Changing the city council starts with changing your mindset, for voting for qualified candidates, not your neighbors or cousins, or just because she’s a democrat or he’s a republican.

Are you voting for a popularity contest in a high school election, or for people to govern a city….? 

Don’t get mad when observers call it like they see it. This was your idea. You voted for them.

Fix it.

Closing thought:

As a teenager in the 90’s I would hear rumors that Kings Mountain wanted to break away from Cleveland County and join Gaston. I don’t know if that was true but I do remember they fought tooth and nail to fight the county school merger.

And now, the current leadership —

The city manager just always seems to be MIA, the town council acts like it’s their first day on the job and the city employees come across like they lied on their job resumes.

I heard a lot of word salads at the city council meeting Tuesday night. I’m still trying to understand some of it.

But, I’m leaving Kings Mountain government to the good people of Kings Mountain.

It was a bad idea to think I could walk in and add them to the sphere of The Shelby Independent.

I can only imagine British Major Patrick Ferguson had a similar thought of regret about Kings Mountain as he fell off his horse from a musket ball wound and died while being dragged behind his horse.

We ain’t on the same side, P. Fergy, but I feel like I can relate to your final thought.

From behind the horse,

Chuck