March 5, 1998
Business Briefs
Time Warner Cable
prosecutes thieves
Over the last several weeks,
Time Warner Cable successfully
prosecuted cable thieves living in
the Charlotte area, following
through on a promise made to its
paying customers during the sum-
mer amnesty campaign. The fines
ranged from $600 to $1200 for
each case.
"We're releasing this information
because it's important for our cus-
tomers to know that we:mean busi-
ness when it comes to seeking le-
gal remedies for cable theft,"
reports Sue Breckenridge, vice
president for Public Affairs for
Time Warner Cable's Charlotte
Division. "Our loyal customers are
sharing the expense of maintaining
and repairing a cable system that is
jeopardized by individuals and
businesses who believe they aren't
hurting anyone when they steal ca-
ble service." :
Theft of service is defined as the
illegal interception of cable pro-
gramming service without the ex-
press authorization of, or payment
to, a cable television system. Cable
theft occurs when someone know-
ingly and willingly makes an ille-
gal physical connection to the ca-
ble system or attaches or tampers
with equipment to allow receipt of
unauthorized services. Methods of
theft include pole tampering, con-
verter box tampering, use of a
black box (illegal converter box),
moving into a residence that is al-
ready connected to cable and not
paying for it, or paying for an ille-
gal connection to be made to a
home or business.
Time Warner Cable owns and
manages the world's most ad-
vanced, best-clustered cable televi-
sion operations, with 80 percent of
its 12.3 million customers in sys-
tems of 100,000 subscribers or
more. It is a division of Time
Warner entertainment. The
Charlotte Division serves over
350,000 customers in eight systems
between Shelby and Rockingham.
Post Office accepts
credit, debit cards
The Kings Mountain Post Office
is among 32,000 postal locations
nationwide accepting retail pay-
maepts hy; credit card and debit;
(ATM) card. The Postal Service is
the largest retailer to accept such
forms of payment.
"Although we have been offer-
ing credit car payment for some
time, many of our customers are
still not aware of this service," said
Postmaster Bob Howard. "Those
who use the service tell us that they
appreciate the convenience of not
having to carry cash with them. For
accounting purposes, credit card
‘payment also provides customers
.an accurate record of purchases
and payment verification is fast."
Credit cards are accepted for all
retail window transactions except
money orders, collect on delivery
(c.0.d.), meter settings, bulk mail
payments and passport applica-
tipns. Debit and most ATM cards
can be used for all purchases ex-
cept passport applications.
The seven million customers
Rn
visiting post offices nationwide
daily spend an average of $55 in
debit purchases and $42 in credit
purchases using Visa, American
Express, MasterCard,
Discover/Novus and a wide variety
of debit cards. For fiscal year 1997,
the: Postal Service accepted 27.2
million credit card transactions to-
taling $1.1 billion and 2.6 million
debit card transactions totaling
more than $143 million. *
CCB announces share
purchase authorization
CCB Financial Corporation an-
nounced today that its Board of
Directors authorized the purchase
of up to 500,000 of its shares, plus
additional purchases needed to re-
tire any shares issued for the exer-
cise of options, Dividend
Reinvestment Plan, or other corpo-
rate purposes.
Purchases can begin. immediate-
ly and will be made. throug) ops n
market or privately negotiated
transactions, subject to market con-
ditions and trading restrictions. The
authorization will expire . in
October. fo
BB&T to acquire
Maryland Federal
BB&T Corporation announced
today it will acquire Maryland
Federal Bancorp, Inc. of,
Hyattsville, Md., in a $265.3 mil-
lion stock transaction based on
BB&T's closing price of $62 on
Tuesday, Feb. 24.
The acquisition will more than
double BB&T's presence in
metropolitan Washington, DC. The
transaction is valued at $37.05 per
share of Maryland Federal com-
mon stock. It will be accounted for
as a purchase.
Based on BB&T's closing price
Tuesday, the exchange ratio will be
.5975 shares of BB&T common
stock for each share of Maryland
Federal common stock.
BB&T sets share
buy back program
Bb&T Corporation has an-
nounced a new plan to repurchase
up to five million shares of its
common stock. It is anticipated
thab share repurshasesi will be Mader
periodically as needed for issuance
in specific business combinations
to be accounted for as purchases.
BB&T intends to repurchase up
to approximately 4.3 million shares
for reissue in connection with the
proposed acquisition of Maryland
Federal Bancorp, Inc. of
Hyattsville, Md., which will be ac-
counted for as a purchase.
BB&T currently has a plan to re-
purchase up to five million shares
of its common stock for issuance in
specific business combinations to
be accounted for as purchases. At
year-end 1997, approximately 3.4
million shares had been repur-
chased pursuant to the plan. The
1.6 million shares remaining under
the plan combined with the five
million newly authorized shares
provide BB&T with the potential
of repurchasing up to approximate-
ly 6.6 million shares for issuance in
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specific business combinations to
be accounted for as purchases.
On December 31, 1997, BB&T
had consolidated assets of $29.2
billion. Through its subsidiaries in
North Carolina, South Carolina and
Virginia, BB&T operates 506
banking offices.
BB&T Corporation
declares dividend
The Board of Directors of
BB&T Corporation declared a sec-
ond quarter dividend of 31 cents
per share. The dividend will be
paid May 1 to shareholders of
record on April 17.
The dividend represents a 14.8%
increase over the 27 cents paid in
the second quarter of 1997.
1
NEW TRAVEL PLAZA GOING UP - Construction is underway in Grover for Wilco Travel Plaza
which is going up on Highway 29 just across from Fast Fare in South Carolina. Grover town offi-
cials said the plaza is expected to contain a Wendy's and also a Dairy Queen in addition to a truck
stop. "We're looking forward to seeing it completed," said Town Clerk Barbara Barrett.
CARDIAC REHAB
2 call
WE LIKE
IT AS CLUB MED.
Because cardiac patients need medical care long after they leave the hospital, Gaston Memorial created the Cardiac
Rehab Center. It's a separate facility with a comprehensive program focusing on improving the duality of life for all
heart patients. Our goal is to offer them a level of personal supervision that can’t be found anywhere else in the area.
And with a staff of over twenty physicians, nurses and an exercise physiologist, we're able to do Just that. But the
Cardiac Rehab Center also has a lot to do with it. Because it's equipped with educational facilities where seminars on
stress management and reducing cardiac risk factors are held. In addition, there are areas for testing a patient's progress
as well as an 8,000 square foot, state-of-the-art exercise center complete with computerized cardiac telemetry
treadmills, rowing machines and stairsteppers. Of course, this may not sound like fun to everybody, but for many
==) Gaston
= HealthCare
WE'RE HERE FOR LIF®",
cardiac patients it's the life.