RE
GUEST
OPINION
Know all there
is to know
about interest
By ROY COOPER
With interest rates at his-
toric.lows, may Non
Carolina : =
consumers
are eager to
take advan-
tage by refi-
nancing a
their mort-
gage, buy-
ing a new
home or car,
or taking out a home equity
loan. But the interest rate
doesn’t tell you everything
you need to know about
your loan. My office gets
more complaints about
loans and credit than about
any other topic. Consumers’
complaints often involve
problems with loan pay-
ments, adjustable rates,
penalties and fees. to make
sure your loan gives you
more help than headaches,
shop around. Here's how:
- Avoid loan scams. Be
wary of “no credit check” or
“no collateral” loans offered
through classified ads or
telemarketing calls. Lenders
who promise that they will
arrange a loan if you first
pay an up front fee are
probably out to scam you.
- Shop around for the best
loan. Loans are available
from several types of
lenders - commercial banks,
mortgage companies, sav-
ings and loans and credit
unions, among others.
Different lenders may quote
you different prices, so
checking with several
lenders is the best way to
find the right loan at a fair
price.
- Compare your costs. Ask
different lenders for infor-
mation about the same loan
amount, loan term and type
of loan. Also, be sure to
review the list of closing’
costs and fees. Keep in mind
that a loan with a low inter-
est rate but high fees and
points may cost you more
than a loan with a higher
interest rate and lower fees.
For any kind of home loan
you have a right to an
advance “good faith esti-
mate” of loan costs.
- Look at the annual per-
centage rate (APR). The
APR is the most important
thing to compare when
shopping for a loan.
Generally, the lower the .
APR, the lower the cost of
your loan. It is also impor-
tant to ask if the APR is
fixed or adjustable - that is,
will the APR change over
time and if so, how much
can it change?
- Know the terms of the
loan. How many years will
you have to make payments
on the loan? If you're get-
ting a home equity loan that
consolidates credit card debt
and other shorter-term
loans, remember that they
new loan may obligate you
for a longer period.
- Look at the monthly
See Guest, 5A
. LOOKING BACK
for the first time
OPINION ......
SS
Field
Doing something
can be exciting
I visited two kindergarten classrooms
on Monday to make pictures of the first Andie Brymer
day of school. The kids had no idea that staff Writer
I, a five foot five, 34-year-old grown up,
had something in common with them.
On Monday I used a new digital camera for the first
time. The cameras arrived last week. Reporters, editors
and production staff from the Herald and our other
papers spent Friday morning learning how to use the
new technology.
As any kindergartner can tell you, its one thing to talk
about something but quite another to do it. I'm sure pat-
ents spent weeks talking with their little ones about what
school would be like. Riding the bus, going to the cafete-
ria and getting along with classmates were discussed in
homes all around Kings Mountain.
Monday was the real thing. Mom and dad weren't there
any more, instead a teacher was issuing instructions. Kind
of like my camera. No one telling me how to operate it. I
had to rely on the symbols printed next to all the confus-
ing buttons.
I flipped switches trying to see if I was really getting
any photos. In the process, I managed to take the setting
off manual. At the time I had no idea what I had done.
As the kids were eating their first school lunch, I was
finishing my assignment.
Soon after lunch I'm sure many of those kids came bust-
ing through front doors across town, eager to talk about
the big day.
The first place I went after was my editor’s office. I
wanted to see what the photos looked like on the comput-
er screen. I was almost as excited about those bright, clear
images as those kids were about making their educational
debut.
I hope I can always stay that excited. That's a part of
childhood I'm trying to hang on to. Kids are rarely afraid
to learn new tasks. Hand them crayons and a blank Sheet
of paper and they make you a picture.
They are too immersed in the activity at hand to worry
that their technique is wrong. Insecurity over whether or
not they are artistic never stops them. The finished prod-
uct is proudly given to the nearest adult. No apologies
about mistakes in coloring and shading, just pure delight
in having made a picture.
Kids will sing at the top of their lungs never worrying
about being on or off key. Few even know there are keys.
All they care about is how much fun it is to open their
See Andie, 5A
GARY STEWART / HERALD
Kings Mountain's 16-year-old Babe Ruth all-stars celebrate their State championship in August, 1977 at Lancaster
may be the answer |
to world peace
My friend Dwight Frady, a singer and
composer of songs, mentioned an old
tune the other day that sent me back in Jim Heffner
i i Guest Column
time a little.
Dwight was talking about hearing
“Hernando’s Hideaway,” on an FM station recently. That's
a “golden oldie” if there ever was one, from back in the
mid-fifties.
I don’t recall who recorded the song, but I remember
that Homer and Jethroe cut their own version. To the
uninitiated, Homer and Jethroe was a country music duo
who rang up big sales by recording different versions, or
covers as they call them nowadays, of hit songs.
Their rendition of “Hernando’s Hideaway” went some-
thing like this: “I know a dark secluded spot; it’s upstairs
over a vacant lot; it’s 19 miles from ‘Possum Trot; it’s
called.....Hernando’s Hideaway, Ole””.
Then the short guy, Homer, I think, would chime in
with “Soppin’ in the gravy bowl is sure the living end;
here’s a spot that Drunken Hines would never recom-
mend.”
Soppin’ in the gravy bowl set me to thinking about sop-
ping gravy in general.
Now, you folks from north of the Mason-Dixon line
probably are not familiar with the fine and gentle art of
gravy sopping, or soppin’ as it is known in the South.
I can remember my grandmother pouring coffee in a
large iron skillet filled with grease, sausage and I don’t
know what else, and the smoke billowing up from the top
of the wood stove. She was making a country delicacy
known as redeye gravy.
She would bake up a huge pan of buttermilk biscuits
that we used for the soppin’.
Gravy soppin’ is a versatile activity. That's one of the
best things about it. You can sop gravy for breakfast,
lunch or dinner, and, in a pinch, a midnight snack as well.
A golden, fluffy, steaming hot biscuit raked through a
plate of good gravy is like nectar of the gods.
Soppin” techniques are many and varied. I had an aunt
who liked to pretend she was much more important than
she really was, so she would always raise her pinky when
she sopped. My Uncle Vance could sop with both hands.
He would split the biscuit and drag both halves through
the gravy. My dad couldn’t wait sometimes. If nobody
was looking, he would dip a biscuit into the gravy while
the pan was still on the burner.
Soppin’, of course, can be done with liquids other than
| See Jim, 5A
Thursday, August 14, 2003
Editor: Gary Stewart 739-7496
LOOK BACK
Bs
KM all-stars |
won State
in August ‘77
From the Tuesday,
August 9, 1977 and
Thursday, August 11 edi-
tions of the Kings
Mountain Mirror-Herald:
One city employee resig-
nation holds firm and
another has been with-
drawn. Ptl. Don Ivey of the
Kings Mountain Police
Force since May 1972, will
resign effective August 16
to take the job of investiga-
tor for the Public
Defender’s Office. Roy
Pearson, long time city
recreation director, has
withdrawn his resignation
and will remain on the job.
Christopher Howard
Cole earned his master’s
degree and Ricky R. Cox
graduated with a
Bachelor’s degree in gener-
al management from
Western Carolina
University.
Kings Mountain's 16-
year-old Babe Ruth all-
stars wrapped up the first
North Carolina State
Championship for that age
division Thursday night at
Lancaster Field with an 8-5
victory over Charlotte
Clark Griffith.
Acting Chief Jackie D.
Barrett began duties
Tuesday for the third time
in 21 years as Interim
Kings Mountain Chief of
Police.
Sgt. Ellis Harmon King,
who retired Monday, has
been a familiar figure at
City Hall for 20 years.
The city Board Nstened to
citizens aggravatdd by«d
i street problems Monday
night and promised atten-
tion to the matter. Donald
L. Parker, representing resi-
dents who are “eating dust
of city trucks” on a service
road leading to the McGill
treatment plant, cited dam-
age by the dust to freshly
painted homes and asked
that the city cover the dust
with asphalt and extend
the present pavement 400
feet.
Kings Mountain will
host the 1978 17-18 year-
old Southeastern Regional
Babe Ruth baseball tourna-
ment.
Seventy-nine year old
I.C. Apple will be one of
the umpires tonight when
the annual State Church
League softball tourna-
ment opens at three Kings
Mountain parks.
Kings Mountain’s Chris
Johnson, who was All-SAC
18 Conference last year as
a freshman, is one of the
returning starters for
Gardner-Webb's football
team.
Burlington Industries is
beginning metric conver-
sion.
SERRE
SIDEWALK
SURVEY
BY ANDIE L. BRYMER
THE HERALD
Hl
Should the
“No. I don’t think they
should get married.”
government
allow same
sex couples
to marry?
Robert Smith
Kings Mountain’
“Absolutely not. My opin-
ion is based on biblical
principles. There is no
grounds for same sex mar-
riage.”
Mike Fulbright
Cherryville
“No, because of my reli-
gion. In the Bible it’s not
right.”
Christen Hollifield
Kings Mountain
“Absolutely not. I don’t
think it’s a government
issue.”
Betty Sue Morris
Kings Mountain
“No. I'm a Christian. I
don’t think it’s right.”
Donna Grant
Gastonia