12262009 ej

SATURDAY

MostlysunnyHigh: 55Low: 29Complete report: Page 9A

DeathsHattie Jordan

William A. SchallerRobin Knotts Stewart

WHO’S NEWS

Four teens face slaying charges

HIGH POINT Four North Carolina

teens have been charged in a shooting death in a High Point neighborhood police have been targeting for extra attention because of drugs.

Multiple media outlets say 19-year-old Kinitez Gilbert was found wounded on a street Monday evening and died shortly after at the hospital.

Police haven’t given a mo-tive for the shooting, which happened in a neighborhood police have given extra at-tention to because of drugs deals and violence the past three years.

Investigators charged 17-year-old Johnathan Mack and 17-year-old Trevorri McFadden with first-degree murder, while 16-year-old Marqualis Parson and 18-year-old Antwain Owens are charged as accessories after murder.

It wasn’t immediately clear if any of the suspects had attorneys.

BIRTHDAYSBest wishes are extended

to everyone who is celebrat-ing a birthday today, especial-ly:

Cora Lee Carnes, Annette Perry, Dean Whitley, Eric Stevens, Flip Bivens and Emma Lee Covington.

Call (704) 261-2278 or e-mail [email protected] to add your names to t he list.

INSIDEClassified 5BChurch 6-8AComics 4BMark Nickens 7AObituaries 2AOpinion 4ASports 1BState 3A

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Enquirer -Journal December 26, 2009 • 50 cents Monroe, N.C.Your county• Your news•Your paper

PREPS TOURNAMENT OPENS TODAYOpening rounds of the the county to the Holiday Classic High School tournament get underway for boys and girls.

1B

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Post ^ News and Events • Share ^ Photos and VideosEnquirerJournal.com

“Union County’s Largest Community Newspaper Network”The Enquirer-Journal • Indian Trail Trader • The Waxhaw Exchange

Murder suspect detainedBY ELISABETH ARRIEROStaff Writer

MONROEA minor-league hockey player

was arrested early Friday in Colo-rado Springs for a murder that hap-pened Sunday in Stallings.

Bogdan Nikoloevich Rudenko, 32, of 918 Summit Walk Drive in Char-lotte, was arrested after a standoff between Colorado Springs Police at a motel.

Rudenko is a Russian-born hock-ey player who has bounced around minor-league hockey teams from Florida to Colorado in the last de-cade, according to HockeyDB.com. Locally, he played for the Charlotte Checkers in 2004-05 and – most re-cently – the Twin-City Cyclones in Winston-Salem from 2008-09.

Police charged him with one count of murder and he is being held without bond at the El Paso

County Colorado Jail as a Fugitive from Justice.

The body of an unidentified white man was found behind Alex-is Automotive in Stallings Sunday morning. Police Chief Larke Ply-ler Sr. said police are fairly certain they know who the victim is but would not release a name until they are positive.

See ARREST / Page 2ARudenko Rudenko

Hometown Heroes organizers, volunteers and supporters joined forces with the Monroe Wal-Mart staff to greeted 29 youngsters from with debilitating or terminal diseases and sent them off on an exclusive shopping frenzy through the superstore after it closed it’s doors to the general public at 8 p.m. Thursday.

Hometown Heroes founder Donnie

Dixon, lower right, greets the crowd of

more than 100 as he checks his roll-call

list of the recipients of the Christmas eve

shopping extrava-ganza at Wal-Mart.Top photo, Melissa Smith,10, of Char-

lotte, says goodbye to Mecklenburg County Sheriffs Deputy Mike

Smith and friends, Devin Islam, 5, center,

of Weddington, and Adam Tanksley, 5, right, of Waxhaw.

HOMETOWN

HEROESState taxoverhaulmay wait until 2011BY JAMES ROMOSERMedia General News Service

RALEIGHMajor legislation to

modernize the state’s tax system may be postponed until 2011, Democratic leaders in the General As-sembly say.

The delay would not be surprising, given that the legislature has been dis-cussing major tax reform for years but has never come close to passing a tax overhaul. Also, the 2010 elections, in which all legislative seats are up for re-election, will make it politically difficult to pass a significant - and likely controversial - tax pack-age.

“I wouldn’t rule it out, but I wouldn’t rule it in either,” said Rep. Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson, the House majority leader. “This is a monumental look at a change to our tax structure, and I don’t think we want to rush it.”

Legislators adjourned their 2009 session in Au-gust, after plugging a mas-sive state budget hole with a combination of budget cuts and tax increases. The budget crisis was caused by the recession, but it was exacerbated by the state’s old-fashioned tax system and heavy reliance on the sales tax, which creates large fluctuations in state revenue.

When legislators ad-journed in August, they promised to spend the fall and winter extensively studying tax reform with the goal of holding pub-lic hearings and passing a bill in 2010. Since then, the House and Senate fi-nance committees have met jointly three times, each time hearing presen-tations from tax experts.

The full legislature will

See TAX / 0A

At just two years old, Sarah Porter, of Monroe, has had 12 surgeries for cancer and is scheduled for another.

Photosby

RickCrider

Carla McNeill, a diabetic, donned her elf outfit to help out with the shopping.

BY JASON deBRUYNStaff Writer

MONROEThe Union County Department

of Social Services had a difficult year and saw firsthand how peo-ple coped in their hardships.

“People are struggling,” direc-tor D. Dontae Latson said. “We are the front line, and sometimes the last line.”

The DSS reached further this year than in previous years and Latson said every person in the

county is affected by the depart-ment in some way or another. With a budget of more than $153 million, the department spent about $768 for every person in the county. Latson said that money spreads though the community to doctors who accept Medicaid, landlords with tenants on rent as-sistance and child-care providers who watch the children of work-ers with child-care subsidies.

The DSS developed a new slo-gan this year to really drive its message home. The symbol is made up of three arrows going in a circle much like the recycling symbol. On the top arrow the word “Investment” is written, on the second, “Community,” and on the third, “Prosperity.” Latson said the logo shows that if people will invest in their community, it will lead to prosperity in others who can then reinvest in the com-munity to complete the cycle.

According to a DSS annual re-port, $1.05 is reinvested into the community for every dollar com-mitted to public aid programs.

“We want to get the message across that it’s not a waste of money.”

Moreover, Latson said he want-ed to clear up misconceptions that the DSS simply hands out money. Most of the money goes to supplement the paychecks of

See DSS / Page 10A

‘People are struggling,’ DSS chief saysPart 1 of 2

2A / Saturday, December 26, 2009 The Enquirer-Journal

Saturday, Dec. 26• TOPS (Take Off

Pounds Sensibly), 9 a.m. weigh-in, 9:20 meeting, Love Baptist Church, 707 Deese Road, Monroe. De-tails, 704-226-1520.

• ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, Low Bot-tom group, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., old Belk building, 200 Stew-art St., Monroe. Details, 704-332-4387; 704-377-0244.

• OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS, 10 a.m., Central United Methodist Church, room 106.

• TEENAGERS DANCE, 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., American Legion Post 212, 1010 Lasalle St. Chaperoned; $2 donation requested. Details, 704-289-6190 or 704-221-0531.

• NARCOTICS ANON-YMOUS, 5:30 p.m. to 6: 30 p.m., Friendship Mis-sionary Baptist Church administrative building, 501 Burke St. Details, 704-821-4256, 704-763-0784.

• BINGO, 7:30 p.m., Vietnam Veterans Asso-ciation Post No. 14, 620 Roosevelt Blvd., $2,500 program. Doors open at 5 p.m. For details, call 704-283-6165.

• ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, Sunset group, 8 p.m., 1010 Mc-Manus St., Monroe. De-tails, 704-219-6245.

Sunday, Dec. 27

Monday, Dec. 28• EXERCISE CLASS,

9 a.m. to 10 a.m., Ellen Fitzgerald Senior Center. Open to ages 55 and up. For details, call 704-282-4657.

• SENIOR FITNESS CLASS, 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., Bazemore Center, Winchester Avenue, Mon-roe. Free to all senior citi-zens. Details, 704-282-4654.

• INTERNET BASICS CLASS, 10 a.m., Monroe Library. Free. Registra-tion required; call 704-283-8184.

• BABY TIME, 10:30 a.m., Union West Library. Details, 704-821-7475.

• TODDLER TIME, 11:15 a.m., Union West Regional Library, for chil-dren ages 12 months to 36 months.

• BABY TIME, 11:30 a.m., Waxhaw Library. Details, 704-843-3131.

• MICROSOFT EX-CEL I CLASS, Monroe Library. Free. Registra-tion required; call 704-283-8184.

• TURNING POINT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE GROUP, 4 p.m. at the shel-ter. Details, 704-283-7233.

• ALCOHOLICS

ANONYMOUS, Low Bottom group, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., old Belk building, 200 Stewart St., Monroe. Details, 704-332-4387; 704-377-0244.

• UNION COUNTY NAACP, 6 p.m., Bazemore Center, 1001 Winchester Ave., Monroe. Details, call 704-843-6971.

• INDIAN TRAIL TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), private weigh-in, 6 p.m. to 6:45 p.m; meet-ing 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., Indian Trail United Methodist Church, 113 Indian Trail Road. First visit free. De-tails, 704-843-9365.


• WINGATE LIONS CLUB, 6:30 p.m., Wing-ate University, LaVerne Banquet Hall. Visitors welcome.

• TOPS (TAKE OFF POUNDS SENSIBLY), 6:30 p.m. weigh-in, 7 p.m. meet-ing, First Baptist Church, 109 Morrow Ave. Details, 704-233-1610.

• TOPS (TAKE OFF POUNDS SENSIBLY), 6:30 p.m. weigh-in, 7 p.m. meeting, Bonds Grove United Methodist Church, Waxhaw. Details, 704-843-2735.

• MONROE CIVITAN CLUB, 7 p.m., Wingate University LaVerne Ban-quet Hall. Details, Pat Laney, 704-283-5711.

• UNION CHORALE, 7 p.m., Stallings United Methodist Church, 1115 Stallings Road. Details, Sandy McReynolds, 704-238-1555.

• UNIONVILLE LIONS CLUB, 7 p.m., Unionville Community Building. Details, Betty Hinson 704-283-6364.

• INDIAN TRAIL LI-ONS CLUB, 7:30 p.m., In-dian Trail Civic Building.

• NARCOTICS ANON-YMOUS, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., Friendship Missionary Baptist Church admin-istrative building, 501 Burke St. Details, 704-821-4256, 704-763-0784.

• WINGATE LIONS CLUB, 6:30 p.m., LaVerne Banquet Hall at Wingate University; call 704-233-5593.

Tuesday, Dec. 29• STORY TIME, 10 a.m.,

Monroe Library, 316 E. Windsor St., for children ages 3 to 5. For details, call 704-283-8184.

• MOMMY-BABY PLAY GROUP, 10 a.m. at members’ homes. Call 704-764-8116 for this week’s site or information.

• THE MOMS CLUB,

Moms Offering Moms Support, Indian Trail and Monroe, 10 a.m., Hank’s Frozen Custard, 5250 Old Charlotte Highway. De-tails, Kim, 704-340-3281; or e-mail [email protected].

• TODDLER TIME, 10 a.m., Union West Regional Library, for children ages 12 months to 36 months.

• TODDLER TIME, 10 a.m., Monroe Library, 316 E. Windsor St., for chil-dren ages 12 months to 36 months. For details, call 704-283-8184.

• TODDLER TIME, 10 a.m., 11 a.m., Waxhaw Li-brary, for children ages 12 months to 36 months.

• BASIC SPANISH, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., must be member of Ellen Fitzger-ald Senior Center and age 55 or over. Ellen Fitzger-ald Senior Center, 327 S. Hayne St. Details, 704-282-4657.

• STORY TIME, 10:30 a.m., Monroe Library, 316 E. Windsor St., for chil-dren ages 3 to 5. For de-tails, call 704-283-8184.

• MARSHVILLE RO-TARY CLUB, noon, Pier Restaurant, Marshville. For details, call Johnny Pigg, 704-624-2602.

• MONROE ROTARY CLUB, noon to 1 p.m., Roll-ing Hills Country Club. Details, 704-283-4645.

• HOMEWORK HELP NIGHT, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Monroe Library. For grades one through eight. Details, Kim, 704-283-8184, ext. 238.

• TOPS NO. 373 (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), 6 p.m. weigh-in, 6:30 p.m. meeting, 805 South Bragg Street, Monroe. For de-tails, call 704-282-0073.

• ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, Low Bottom group, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., old Belk building, 200 Stewart St., Monroe. Details, 704-332-4387; 704-377-0244.


• OVERCOMERS OUT-REACH, 7 p.m., Waxhaw Bible Church. For details, call 704-764-3960.

• BOY SCOUT TROOP 1, 7 p.m., First Presbyteri-an, 302 E. Windsor St. For details, call Gale Brown at 704-764-7589.

• BINGO, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., American Legion Post 208, Highway 75 East, Waxhaw. Jackpot, $500. Smoke free.

Wednesday, Dec. 30

• EXERCISE CLASS, 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., Ellen Fitzgerald Senior Center. Open to ages 55 and up. For details, call 704-282-4657.

• TODDLER TIME, 9:30 a.m., Marshville Li-brary, for children ages 12 months to 36 months.

• STORY TIME, 10 a.m., 11 a.m., Waxhaw Library, for ages 3 to 5. For details, call 704-843-3131.

• TURNING POINT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE GROUP, 4 p.m. at the shel-ter. Details, 704-283-7233.

• STORY TIME, 10 a.m., Marshville Library, for ages 3 to 5. For details, call 704-624-2828.

• SENIOR FITNESS CLASS, 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., Bazemore Center, Winchester Avenue, Mon-roe. Free to all senior citi-zens. Details, 704-282-4654.

• TODDLER TIME, 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., Union West Regional Library. For ages 18 to 36 months.

• BABY TIME, 11 a.m., Monroe Library. Details, 704-283-8184.

• STORY TIME, 11:30 a.m., Union West Region-al Library, for children ages 3 to 5.

• UNION WEST AN-IME CLUB, 4:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m., Union West Library. Details, 704-821-7475.

• ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, Low Bottom group, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., old Belk building, 200 Stewart St., Monroe. Details, 704-332-4387; 704-377-0244.


• CLASSIC CRUIS-ERS, 7 p.m., Poplin Place shopping center, West Roosevelt Boulevard, Monroe. For details, con-tact Jim Collura at 704-289-6208 or [email protected].

• BINGO, 7:30 p.m., Vietnam Veterans Asso-ciation Post No. 14, 620 Roosevelt Blvd., $2,500 program. Doors open at 5 p.m. For details, call 704-283-6165.

• NARCOTICS ANON-YMOUS, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., Friendship Missionary Baptist Church admin-istrative building, 501 Burke St. Details, 704-821-4256, 704-763-0784.

(at Sun Valley Commons) (704)- 821-4484

“Service, Staff and Prices as Comforting As Our Name”

SENIORSDo You Have Our BEST Rates On

Plan F Medicare Supplement and Part D Prescription Drug Plan?

704-283-5950ALLAN PRESSON INS.

DEATHSWilliam Arthur Schaller

WINGATEMr. Schaller, 89, of

Wingate, passed on to his Heavenly Home on September 3, 2009, at Hospice of Union County in Monroe.

Those left to carry on his legacy and memory are two daughters, Don-na and Kevin Neuberth of Wingate, and Diane and Roger Zureck of Manorville, NY; one brother, George A. Schaller of Monroe, NY; eleven grandchil-dren; eight great grand-children and a host of family and friends.

Memorial services and celebration of his 90th birthday will take place at 7:00 PM, Tuesday, December 29, 2009, at Wingate United Methodist Church, Hin-son Street, in Wingate.

Memorial contribu-tions may be made to Hospice of Union Coun-ty, 700 W. Roosevelt Blvd. Monroe, NC 28110, or Wingate United Meth-odist Church.

The Schaller family is in the care of Gaskin Services, Matthews, www.gaskinservices.com.

PAID OBITUARYCOMING EVENTS

The Enquirer-Journalcopyright 2008

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The Enquirer-Journal is published Tuesdaythrough Sunday mornings. Periodical postagepaid at Monroe, NC. Postmaster: send addresschanges to The Enquirer-Journal, P.O. Box 5040,Monroe, NC 28111.

Robin StewartMONROE

Robin Knotts Stewart died Tuesday (Dec. 22, 2009) at Carolinas Medical Center-Union.

Funeral will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Essence of the Cross Church.

Born June 30, 1960, in Anson County, she was the daughter of the late Willie Knotts, Sr. and Mrs. Wil-lie Mae Knotts. Her last employer was Rehab and Nursing of Monroe.

Survivors, in addition to her mother, include two sons, William Mar-cus Stewart of Marsh-ville and Steve Alexander Stewart of Marshville; one daughter, Natasha Stewart of Monroe; one brother, Benjamin Knotts of Washington, D.C.; three sisters, Stephanie Knotts of Wingate, Laverne Steel of Wingate and Barbara Knotts of Wadesboro; and one grandchild.

The family will be at the home of 5400 Monroe-Ansonville Road in Wing-ate. Public viewing will be from 1 p.m. To 7 p.m. Sun-day at L.D. Grier Memori-al Chapel. Visitation will be Saturday from 1 p.m. To 2 p.m. At the church.

Grier Funeral Services is in charge.

Hattie JordanNEW YORK

Hattie Jordan died Mon-day (Dec. 21, 2009) in New York.

Funeral will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Friendship Bap-tist Church, with burial in Lakeland Memorial Park Cemetery.

Born Feb. 17, 1947, in Union County, she was the daughter of the late Her-bert McCain and the late Martha Mills McCain.

Survivors, include one son, Clinton Jordan of New York; and two sisters, Esterlean Jordan of Mon-roe and Lottie Massey of Waxhaw.

Pioneer blackjournalist dies

NEW YORK (AP) — A noted black journalist who was the first reporter to integrate the newsroom at the old New York World-Telegram and Sun news-paper has died.

Dale R. Wright was 86.Daughter Kimberly

Wright-King says her father died at a Bronx nursing home of chronic kidney disease and cardio-pulmonary arrest on Dec. 13.

Wright’s 10-article series in the early 1960s on the plight of migrant work-ers won numerous awards and sparked legislative ac-tion to improve working conditions.

It also was considered among four Pulitzer Prize entries.

Wright also worked as a press secretary to former New York Mayor Edward Koch and the late Sen. Ja-cob K. Javits and Gov. Nel-son Rockefeller.

He owned and operated public relations firm Dale Wright Associates, serv-ing New York-area black businesses.

Wright is survived by his daughter and a son.

ArrestContinued from Page 1A

“If the victim is the person we believe it to be he has no relatives in this country, making that task more difficult,” he said in a statement.

The medical examiner said the victim died from a gunshot wound, but Ply-ler would not say if the victim was shot once or multiple times.

Police have not identi-fied a motive but Plyler said the department is

fairly confident the two men knew each other.

The December murder was the first murder in Stallings in nearly two years. The town had no murders in 2008 and three in 2007 between the months of October and December.

“This has been a tough case to work, what with the language barrier and they aren’t citizens. It’s been difficult to identify them,” Plyler said.

Rudenko’s next court date is Dec. 28 in Colo-rado.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republi-can senators attacking the cost of a Democratic health care bill showed far different concerns six years ago, when they approved a major Medi-care expansion that has added tens of billions of dollars to federal defi-cits.

The inconsistency — or hypocrisy, as some call it — has irked Demo-crats, who claim that their plan will pay for itself with higher taxes and spending cuts and cite the nonparti-san Congressional Budget Office for support.

By contrast, when Republicans controlled the House, Senate and White House in 2003, they overcame Democratic opposition to add a defi-cit-financed prescription drug benefit to Medicare. The program will cost a half-trillion dollars over 10 years, or more by some estimates.

With no new taxes or spending offsets accompanying the Medicare drug program, the cost has been add-ed to the federal debt.

All current GOP senators, includ-ing the 24 who voted for the 2003 Medicare expansion, oppose the health care bill that’s backed by President Barack Obama and most congressional Democrats. Some Re-publicans say they don’t believe the CBO’s projections that the health care overhaul will pay for itself. As for their newfound worries about big government health expansions, they

essentially say: That was then, this is now.

Six years ago, “it was standard practice not to pay for things,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. “We were concerned about it, because it certainly added to the deficit, no question.” His 2003 vote has been vindicated, Hatch said, because the prescription drug benefit “has done a lot of good.”

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said those who see hypocrisy “can legitimately raise that issue.” But he defended his positions in 2003 and now, saying the economy is in worse shape and Americans are more anx-ious.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said simply: “Dredging up history is not the way to move forward.” She noted that she fought unsuccessfully to offset some of President George W. Bush’s deep tax cuts at the time.

But for now, she said, “it’s a ques-tion of what’s in this package,” which the Senate passed Thursday in a party-line vote. The Senate bill still must be reconciled with a House version.

The political situation is different now, Snowe said, because “we’re in a tough climate and people are angry and frustrated.”

Some conservatives have no pa-tience for such explanations.

“As far as I am concerned, any Re-publican who voted for the Medicare

drug benefit has no right to criticize anything the Democrats have done in terms of adding to the national debt,” said Bruce Bartlett, an official in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He made his comments in a Forbes article titled “Republican Deficit Hypocrisy.”

Bartlett said the 2003 Medicare ex-pansion was “a pure giveaway” that cost more than this year’s Senate or House health bills will cost. More important, he said, “the drug ben-efit had no dedicated financing, no offsets and no revenue-raisers. One hundred percent of the cost simply added to the federal budget deficit.”

The pending health care bills in Congress, he noted, are projected to add nothing to the deficit over 10 years.

Other lawmakers who voted for the 2003 Medicare expansion include the Senate’s top three Republican lead-ers, all sharp critics of the Obama-backed health care plans: Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Jon Kyl of Arizona and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. Eleven Democratic sena-tors voted with them back then.

The 2003 vote in the House was even more divisive. It resulted in a nearly three-hour roll call in which GOP leaders put extraordinary pres-sure on colleagues to back the pre-scription drug addition to Medicare. In the end, 204 Republicans and 16 Democrats voted for the bill.

GOP: inconsistent or hypocritical

The Enquirer-Journal Saturday, December 26, 2009 / 3A

Ohio’s Bearcat bandit arrested

MOCKSVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Authorities say they have caught an Ohio man who they think may have robbed close to a dozen banks in North Carolina and South Car-olina in the past three months.

Multiple media out-lets reported the robber was dubbed the “Bearcat Bandit” because he wore a jacket with the logo of the University of Cincin-nati athletic teams.

Police say 47-year-old Michael J. Dolphin of Loveland, Ohio, was ar-rested at a gas station in Mocksville after some-one in a BB&T bank branch recognized him and called 911.

Investigators think Dolphin robbed banks in Greensboro, Mocksville, High Point, Winston-Sa-lem, Burlington, Hickory, Statesville, Durham and Spartanburg, S.C., since October.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Dolphin had an attorney.

Some places gotan icy Christmas

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A few counties in the North Carolina mountains woke up to an icy glaze Christmas morning, but officials say much of the region missed any major prob-lems from freezing rain.

Several counties, es-pecially in the northern mountains, reported a quarter-inch of ice Fri-day morning from heavy rains and freezing tem-peratures. There were a few isolated reports of three-quarters of an inch of ice.

Gusty winds combined with the rain and ice to knock down some trees and branches. About 40,000 people in the mountains lost without power, with Blue Ridge Electric reporting the most concentrated out-ages around Boone and Blowing Rock.

Crews spent the day getting the power back on.

Heavy rains of up to 2 inches an hour also caused flooding as they moved across the state.

Some inmates miss out on gifts

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — They may have been naughty, but that doesn’t mean some North Caro-lina prison inmates should have missed out on Christmas this year.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reports prob-lems with a company that makes gift boxes for inmates means some prisoners are late getting their presents.

Friends and families of inmates can order up to $100 worth of Moon Pies, beef jerky and oth-er snacks from Security-Plus for the holidays.

But prison officials say the Shelby company had problems with its sup-pliers, meaning some inmates didn’t get their gifts, while others on their cellblocks did.

The company’s execu-tive director didn’t re-spond to messages from the newspaper.

Prison officials start-ed the program so they wouldn’t have to search thousands of homemade packages every Decem-ber.

Town fights to save speedway

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (AP) — An old North Car-olina stock car dirt track is being threatened by a proposed highway.

The News & Observ-er of Raleigh reports that the North Carolina Department of Trans-portation wants to take through traffic on state Highway 86 out of down-town Hillsborough.

One proposal is a bypass that would cut through the Occoneechee-Orange Speedway. Built in 1948, it was one of NASCAR’s first dirt tracks and is one of three auto race tracks on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Hillsborough Town Board and the Or-ange County Board of Commissioners oppose the proposal and two oth-er options by the DOT.

Instead, Hillsborough Mayor Tom Stevens wants to improve public transit and create multi-ple routes around down-town by realigning exist-ing roads.

Third man charged in shooting

SANFORD, N.C. (AP) — A third man has been arrested and charged in connection with the shooting of a North Car-olina police officer.

Multiple media outlets reported that 23-year-old Andrel Shauntez Doug-las was charged Wednes-day with two counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Thirty-three-year-old Sanford officer Scott Norton was shot early Sunday while patrolling a mobile home park. Nor-ton was hit five times but was wearing a bul-letproof vest and did not suffer any life-threaten-ing injuries.

Sanford police have also arrested 21-year-old Breon Montrell Black and 16-year-old Thomas Harold Mitchell II.

All three men were be-ing held in the Lee Coun-ty jail, and it was not im-mediately clear if they had attorneys.

More are giving, but charities poor

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina officials say less than half of the nearly $300 million in charitable donations in the past year went to the charities — the rest went to marketing and fund-raising companies.

Multiple media outlets reported Thursday that the secretary of state’s office has released a re-port showing that only about 40 percent of $282 million donated to chari-ties in the year ending in July went to the charities. That means for every dol-lar donated to charities between July of 2008 and 2009, less than 50 cents on average went to the charities.

Last year, 60 percent of the money donated went to the charities.

The office tracks only those charities that are required to file reports, including charities in support of police and firefighters. Church and educational charities are exempt from filing re-ports.

“We were shocked,” Secretary of State Elaine Marshall told the Char-lotte Observer.

The rest of the money goes to professional fund-raising companies that charities hire to raise money for them.

Nonprofit organization leaders say the recession has prompted marketers and fundraisers to take bigger cuts of the dona-tions this year.

“At one time, when the economy was better, you got 20 percent” of the money raised, the North Carolina Troopers As-sociation told the News & Observer of Raleigh. “Now, we’re guaranteed 14 percent,” the group’s president, Ron Craw-ford, said. That means for every dollar donated, the Troopers take home 14 cents while the fund-raising company gets 86 cents.

But some charities say the numbers are mislead-ing. The struggling North Carolina Symphony was rescued from demise in part because of chari-table donations procured by a Nevada-based fund-raising firm.

Symphony Presi-dent David Chambless Worters said that in 18 months, 1,000 new donors pledged about $800,000 to the Charlotte-based sym-phony thanks to the com-pany’s efforts. He said the $300,000 paid in fees was worth it because the symphony couldn’t have raised the money other-wise.

By Wesley youngMedia General News Servce

North Carolina will be 37,000 to 75,000 people short of gaining a 14th seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, accord-ing to experts tracking U.S. Census Bureau esti-mates of state population.

The state’s rate of growth dropped signifi-cantly in 2009, census bu-reau estimates released on Wednesday show. Al-though North Carolina added the third-highest number of people among the 50 states in 2009, the state’s rate of growth fell to ninth place from fourth place in 2008.

The state’s population was estimated at 9,380,884 as of July 1, 2009, up 1.4 percent from 2008.

The chances of an ad-ditional North Carolina seat in the House of Rep-resentatives are “not very good but it is still pos-sible,” said Clark Benson, whose company, Polidata, provides political consult-ing and analysis based on demographic trends. Benson projected the 2009 estimates forward to 2010, and said the numbers will leave the state about 75,000 people short.

“That is not a huge number to make up,” Ben-son said. “The only way is if the growth rate exceeds what it was for the last 12 months. I would say North Carolina was the surprise last time.”

Every 10 years, the cen-sus determines the size of each state’s delegation in the House of Representa-tives, which is set at 535 overall. So if North Caro-lina were to gain a seat, it would come at the expense of another state.

North Carolina picked up a 13th seat in the 2000 count, but only by a whis-ker over the state of Utah, and only after the military count was in and pushed North Carolina over the top.

The 2010 census should finally give Utah its fourth congressional seat, the ex-perts say. Other states sol-idly on track to gain one seats are Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina and Washington, with Texas gaining three or four seats, depending on the projection used.

States set to lose seats according to the projec-tions are Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachu-setts, Michigan, Minne-sota, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania (one each) and Ohio (los-ing two).

The number of seats a state has not only gives it clout in congress, but can influence the outcome

of elections. Kim Brace, the president of Election Data Services, another political consulting firm that sifts numbers, said that John McCain could have picked up another 12 electoral votes had his company’s 2010 projec-tions been in effect for the 2008 election. Obama still would have won, though.

Brace’s most favorable projection for North Caro-lina shows it only 37,000 people short of a seat in 2010, and that’s not count-ing any military people who are now overseas. Brace’s projection using the growth rate from 2000 to 2009 shows North Caro-lina 60,000 people short of a seat.

“We were kind of sur-prised, because in previ-ous years it looked like there was a potential that North Carolina was right there on the border” of getting a 14th seat, Brace said.

The 2009 census bureau estimates show a major slowdown in the number of people abandoning the states of the Northeast, as they’ve been doing by the hundreds of thousands throughout the decade. After 400,000 more people left the region than moved into it during 2005, in 2009 the domestic migration loss there had been re-duced to only 145,000.

Thanks to international migration, the Northeast saw its first gain in over-all migration since 2002. Domestic migration to the South slowed, from almost 600,000 in 2005 to 320,000 in 2009.

“It looks like the major part of the decline hap-pened in the Midwest,” Brace said, pointing to Ohio’s projected loss of two seats.

In Forsyth County, local officials are emphasizing the importance of getting a complete census count in 2010. That’s a smart move, Brace and Benson agreed.

“It is very important be-cause it raises awareness of a lot of people who do not understand what is going on,” Benson said.

Reach Wesley Young at [email protected] or 336-727-7369.

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By TIFFAny lAneStaff Writer

MONROESeven nonprofits and two schools

have received nearly $73,000 in grant money from the Union Coun-ty Community Foundation.

Melinda Plue, executive director of the Arc of Union County, said the $3,000 awarded to her agency will allow adults with developmen-tal disabilities to continue volun-teering in the community. For most service projects, she said, the Arc provides staff members, transpor-tation and event set-up.

Last year, the foundation gave the Arc $16,200 for a different program, she said, but that money is “dried up.” With other agencies that have the same client demographic, Plue said she is just happy they are get-ting help.

“We’re happy about every little bit,” she said, and if not for the foundation, the Arc would be forced to “drastically cut some things.”

The foundation received 29 ap-plications last year and gave out $91,560 in grants. This year, it had 19 applications and nearly $19,000 less to work with.

“Our investment pool didn’t yield as much,” foundation Board of Trustees Chairman Charles Norwood said. Most funds are left to the foundation in wills. Other funds come from people who send in a check.

Norwood said there’s a lot of de-cision-making to be done in deter-mining who gets the grant money.

“You go over it with a fine-tooth comb,” he said. “You don’t just ask for it and get it.”

South Piedmont Community Col-lege will also use funds for those with developmental disabilities or traumatic brain injuries. The school plans to use its $5,000 to pur-chase reading, math and writing software to tie in with its life skills classes.

The Council on Aging will put

money toward the caregiver sup-port group it provides for people coping with chronically ill loved ones. It can also jump start a new curriculum called Second Time Around for grandparents raising their grandchildren.

“There are a lot of grandparents out there who, at their age, weren’t expecting to be changing diapers and disciplining teenagers,” care-giver specialist Rebecca Broadway said. Some parents have financial or health problems, she said, oth-ers fall into drug addictions or run away from their responsibilities.

The curriculum will show grand-parents how to communicate with their grandchildren’s teachers and provide day care services, among other things.

For more information about the Union County Community Founda-tion, visit www.unioncounty-cf.org.

grants to non-profitsHenry S. & Carolyn C. Adams Endowment Fund: $54,000 for charitable purposes and to Union County public school teachers for professional development. • Hospice of Union County• Loaves & Fishes• Union County Crisis Assistance Ministry• Wingate University• HealthQuest of Union County Clyde L. Richardson and Martha S. Richardson Memo-rial Fund: $16,000 to assist the mentally disadvantaged or those physically handicapped as a result of visual and hear-ing impairments. • ARC of Union County Inc.• South Piedmont Community College• Union Diversified Industries Inc. Union County Community Foundation’s Community Endow-ment Fund: $2,773 for caregiver support.• Council on Aging

County nonprofits get nearly $73,000 in grants

State may fall shortof seat in Congress

STATE BRIEFS

RALEIGHThere are so many compelling

reasons to detest and oppose ObamaCare at this point that it has become a challenge to say-ing anything new about it.

The latest edition, emanating just before Christmas from the United States Senate, ostenta-tiously shed the so-called public option but maintained the core elements of the intended feder-al takeover of health care – the dictate that individuals and em-ployers purchase federally ap-proved health benefits on pain of fines and incarceration.

If Washington obtains such power, all health care deci-sions will inevitably become politicized and federalized. That’s what the proponents of ObamaCare want. They think that would be best. Obviously, I disagree – as do the majority of the American people.

The Democrats running Con-gress are willing to risk public disapproval, a political back-lash, and even the loss of their majorities for the sake of na-tionalizing health care as a step towards their ultimate goal of remaking America as a Euro-pean-style welfare state. But are North Carolina Democrats really intent on following these extremists over the cliff ?

Consider Kay Hagan’s situ-ation. As a freshman senator, she clearly doesn’t have nearly the clout of a Ben Nelson, a two- term senator and former governor of Nebraska. But her vote counts just as much as his does. Nelson famously withheld his vote, dithering publicly in his best Hamlet impersonation until Senate leader Harry Reid promised extra federal dollars to help Nebraska afford its share of the Medicaid expan-sion ordered in the Senate bill.

Complying with the federal

Medicaid diktat would report-edly cost North Carolina $800 million after the temporary fed-eral aid ends. Even in govern-ment terms, that’s real money. Not surprisingly, other Demo-cratic senators are starting to complain that they weren’t of-fered a similar deal.

Strictly as a political mat-ter, Hagan ought to cut to the front of the line and demand an $800 million federal bail-out for North Carolina. One of two things would happen. Reid and the Obama administration might start ladling out “free” federal money to everyone, to keep their momentum going through the coming weeks of negotiation between House and Senate. That will make it im-possible to maintain the fiction that ObamaCare will reduce the budget deficit.

Or, Reid and Obama might tell Hagan no – in which case, she’d have an excellent excuse to oppose the final bill, should a conference committee send one back to the Senate floor.

As for Beverly Perdue, she is badly in need of some major issue to change her fortunes. Right now, she’s the most un-popular governor in the mod-ern history of North Carolina. Facing the very real prospect of another state budget hole in 2010, Perdue should consider grabbing hold of the Medicaid

issue with both hands and not letting go until she gets either another massive federal check (bad policy, good politics) or someone to blame for the re-sulting fiscal mess, Democratic leaders in Washington, who are even less popular among North Carolinians than she is.

If you think it’s impossible to imagine North Carolina Demo-crats separating themselves from their national leadership, you have only to look at the choice that Reps. Heath Shuler and Larry Kissell made when ObamaCare passed the House. Representing districts with lots of conservative independents willing to swing their votes, Shuler and Kissell weren’t will-ing to sacrifice their political careers on the altar of govern-ment-run health care.

Now, all I said was that it’s not impossible to imagine Hagan and Perdue changing positions. It is, however, most unlikely. Shuler and Kissell probably got permission to vote no, knowing that the House version of ObamaCare would pass without them. If Hagan promised to withhold her sup-port for any final bill until she got another bailout, and Perdue backed up her position, both would be hammered by their political friends and supporters for imperiling the passage of ObamaCare.

They’d attract new friends and supporters, however. I think Hagan and Perdue ought to consider it. But, admittedly, I’ve been accused of excessive optimism and an inordinate be-lief that reason can govern the passions.

I’ll hope for the best and plan for the worst.

• John Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation.

The biggest single issue in today’s economy is jobs – or specifically – the lack of jobs. And it’s

easy to understand why. Nation-ally, 7 million jobs have been lost since the recession began, and here in North Carolina the count is 250,000. Unemployment rates are in double digits for both the nation and our state.

Yet there is some good news. Although job losses are still oc-curring, the number has been getting smaller. Most economists now think the job market will turn around early in 2010, and job gains will become the norm.

But once new jobs begin to ap-pear, other important questions arise. What industries and occu-pations will create the new jobs, and what kind of training will be required?

Fortunately we have some fresh answers to these ques-tions. Every couple of years, the U.S. Department of Labor does a detailed analysis of job trends and gives projections for the next decade. Their latest report is hot off the press.

The forecasts show the na-

tional economy adding 15 mil-lion jobs over the next decade, roughly an 11 percent increase. North Carolina’s share would be 400,000, although if North Carolina grows faster than the nation – as I expect it will – the number of new jobs in the state would be somewhat higher.

Labor Department economists think the leading industries in job growth will be construc-tion, professional and business services, education and health care. Also adding jobs but at a slower than average rate will be wholesale and retail trade, transportation, information, fi-nancial services, entertainment and leisure activities and gov-

ernment. Manufacturing and utilities will cut jobs.

Of course, manufacturing is still an important industry in North Carolina. So what does the report say about leading North Carolina manufactur-ers? For three of our traditional manufacturing industries – to-bacco, textiles and apparel – the outlook isn’t good. Jobs will de-cline by 25 percent in tobacco, 40 percent in textiles and 50 per-cent in apparel. However, for the other North Carolina mainstay – furniture – employment is ex-pected to increase modestly by 6 percent. This is in part because furniture production is forecast to jump by 50 percent over the course of the next decade.

The job outlook is mixed for North Carolina’s newer manu-facturing industries. Jobs are projected to increase in phar-maceuticals and technology, hold steady in food processing but drop in motor vehicle parts. This despite the fact that pro-duction is expected to rise in all four industries. The way a firm can increase production while reducing or keeping steady the

number of jobs is to increase the /productivity/ (output per hour) of the workforce. Companies are able to do this by matching workers with modern machin-ery and technology – something that has been a long-term trend in manufacturing.

Now, what about the outlook for jobs in terms of occupa-tions; that is, what will workers actually be doing? The Labor Department expects a continu-ing shift away from occupations requiring brawn and muscles to occupations utilizing brains and reasoning. The fastest job growth will be in managerial, professional, service and con-struction occupations. Slower growth is expected for sales, administrative support, instal-lation, maintenance, repair and transportation occupations. Job losses are forecast in farming and production occupations.

This means more jobs will require some kind of formal schooling beyond high school. Indeed, the future job market will roughly be divided into thirds. One-third of the new jobs will require a community

college or university degree. An-other third won’t need a formal college diploma but will neces-sitate the worker undertaking extensive on-the-job training. The final third will use inexpe-rienced workers and provide them only short-term on-the-job training. Of course, these jobs will pay the least.

Let me end with some spe-cifics. The top 10 job positions generating the most openings in the next 10 years are expected to be registered nurses, home health aides, customer service reps, restaurant workers, retail salespersons, office clerks, ac-countants, nursing aides, col-lege professors and construc-tion workers. The full list can be found at http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2009/11/art5full.pdf.

Good news or bad news – I’ll let you decide! But knowing what to expect in the job market will give job seekers an advan-tage in securing employment.

• Mike Walden is a William Neal Reynolds Professor and North Carolina Cooperative Ex-tension economist.

Where will the jobs be in the recovery?

A CAROLINA VIEW

Viewpoint 4A Saturday, December 26, 2009 www.enquirerjournal.com Editor: Stan Hojnacki / [email protected]

“ Do not believe that it is very much of an advance to do the unnecessary three times as fast.”

Peter Drucker

The Enquirer-JournalSince 1873, a heritage of commitment and involvement

Publisher: Marvin Enderle Managing Editor: Stan Hojnacki News Editor: Jim Muldrow

City Editor: Betsy O’Donovan

MikeWalden

You Decide

While Duke Energy pursues the construction of its controversial Cliffside coal plant 50 miles west of Char-lotte, Progress Energy is planning to close its 11 re-maining coal-fired units by 2017.

Progress appears more in tune with the future of electricity production than does Duke.

Lloyd Yates, CEO of Progress Energy Carolinas, re-cently told Triangle Business Journal that, “as envi-ronmental regulations continue to change, and as even more significant rule changes appear likely in the near future, the costs of retrofitting and operating these (11 coal-fired) plants will increase dramatically. We believe this is the right decision for our customers, our state and our company.”

Progress has obviously decided that coal-energy pro-duction is not the right direction. The company is heav-ily invested in nuclear energy, and natural-gas produc-tion of electricity is in the future.

Coal is proving to have a great many environmen-tal costs. Emissions pollute the air and coal ash poses problems to soil and groundwater.

But coal also has lingering financial costs. Duke, for example, recently announced that it will be spending a total of $365 million to install protective caps and liners at its coal-ash landfills. Coal ash is laden with arsenic, mercury and other metals that contaminate groundwa-ter.

And the coal-ash problem gets worse for Duke. The Charlotte Observer has reported that Duke used 2.7 million tons of its ash to fill gullies, level roadbeds and prepare building foundations between 1992 and 2003. Experts told the paper that these ash deposits bear monitoring because they could leak dangerous poisons into groundwater.

The good news is that the state has yet to find any se-rious metal contamination resulting from its testing of wells in the area of these deposits. But state officials also said that they could miss water contamination, too.

The bottom line here is that coal-produced electricity is marketed to North Carolinians as inexpensive. And, for years, the state did enjoy the economic benefits of electricity rates well below those of other industrial ar-eas in the country.

But that advantage is a myth when the fuller costs of coal are brought in, whether they be the damage to our air and water, or to the public health or to our pocket-books when clean-ups are needed.

Much is said about the higher costs of electricity produced by alternative methods. But that cost differ-ence is not as great when the full picture of coal’s cost is computed.

Coal’s days in North Carolina are numbered. We’ll pay more for electricity because of it. But we’ll pay less in the form of dirty air, water and public-health dan-gers.

Winston-Salem Journal

The cost of burning coal

Kay Hagan should play Hamlet

JohnHood

Columnist


Body of missingMaryland girl found

SALISBURY, Md. (AP) — Authorities on Mary-land’s Eastern Shore say they have found the body of a missing girl near the Delaware state line after a search by thousands of volunteers.

Wicomico County Sher-iff Mike Lewis said at a Friday evening news con-ference that the body of 11-year-old Sarah H. Fox-well was found at about 4 p.m. He offered few other details, but a registered sex offender is being held in Sarah’s abduction.

Thirty-year-old Thom-as J. Leggs Jr. has been charged with kidnapping and burglary. Leggs is a former boyfriend of the girl’s aunt, who is her le-gal guardian.

Thousands of volun-teers gathered in Salis-bury on Friday to help in the search.

Arizona girl is believed abducted

PHOENIX (AP) — Au-thorities in Arizona are investigating the possible abduction of a 5-year-old girl.

Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Hill says Natalie Rose Flores was taken from an apartment com-plex Friday afternoon.

He says the suspect is a blond-haired man, 30 to 40 years old, who was car-rying a camera. Hills says police believe the man was taking pictures of children at the apartment complex.

Witnesses say the man left in a brown pickup with an Arizona license plate.

Hill says investigators are preparing to issue an Amber Alert.

Natalie is 4 feet tall and weighs about 60 pounds. She has red, shoulder-length hair and freckles. Anyone with information is asked to call 911.

Truck crashes atnativity scene

ASHTABULA, Ohio (AP) — A traffic accident

has sent a truck crashing into people observing a northeast Ohio church’s live outdoor nativity scene, killing a man.

The crash happened Wednesday night as groups were watching the nativity display at Trin-ity Presbyterian Church in Ashtabula (ash-tah-BYOO’-lah), a city of about 21,000 residents on Lake Erie’s coastline.

Witness Norman Jep-son was participating in the nativity scene. He says a car struck a pickup truck and the truck then crashed into people at the scene, pinning a 57-year-old man against a utility pole.

That man died later at a hospital.

Jepson is the city’s re-tired fire chief and was playing one of the three wise men in the nativity scene. He said Friday the accident has been very unsettling for members of his church.

Police are investigating the accident.

Salvation Army major shot to death

ASHTABULA, Ohio (AP) — A traffic accident has sent a truck crashing into people observing a northeast Ohio church’s live outdoor nativity scene, killing a man.

The crash happened Wednesday night as groups were watching the nativity display at Trin-ity Presbyterian Church in Ashtabula, a city of about 21,000 residents on Lake Erie’s coastline.

Witness Norman Jepson was participating in the nativity scene. He says a car struck a pickup truck and the truck then crashed into people at the scene, pinning a 57-year-old man against a utility pole.

That man died later at a hospital.

Jepson is the city’s re-tired fire chief and was playing one of the three wise men in the nativity scene. He said Friday the accident has been very unsettling for members of his church.

Police are investigating the accident.

Two children diein Christmas fire

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Fire officials say two children have died in a Christmas morning fire that destroyed a house in Kentucky.

Maj. Henry Ott of the Louisville Metro Arson Squad says the children were ages 10 and 12. Their grandparents were in-jured too.

Chief Chris Aponte of the Harrods Creek Fire Department says three firefighters were also hurt battling the blaze, which was reported through an alarm system just after 4:30 a.m.

Aponte tells The Couri-er-Journal the children’s parents and grandparents

had escaped and were try-ing to rescue the children when firefighters arrived.

Aponte says the grand-father was reported in intensive care and the grandmother was being evaluated for cuts and smoke inhalation.

Passenger tried to blow up airlinerAssociated Press

A senior U.S. counter-terror official says a pas-senger aboard a Delta Air Lines flight in Detroit was planning to blow up the plane but the explosive device failed.

The official said the pas-senger was being ques-tioned Friday evening. It was not immediately clear why the passenger

wanted to attack the flight that was arriving from Amsterdam.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

Authorities initially be-lieved the passenger had set off firecrackers that caused some minor inju-ries.

A Delta spokeswoman said the passenger was immediately subdued.

She had no details on the injuries.

Lockheed Martinsavs re-enactment

WASHINGTON CROSS-ING, N.J. (AP) — George Washington brought along a tourist for his Christmas Day ride

across the Delaware River this year, and technology manufacturer Lockheed Martin brought its check-book.

After months of finan-cial uncertainty, the 57th annual re-enactment of Washington’s daring Christmas 1776 crossing of the river — the trek that turned the tide of the Revolutionary War — took place without prob-lems Friday.

Thousands of specta-tors came out to hear Washington’s stand-in de-liver stirring words to the troops and watch three boats make the crossing from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. The role of Washington was played by John Godzieba, a Penn-sylvanian who has been a re-enactor for 17 years.

“God is love.”- I John 4: 7, 8

By DINESH RAMDEAssociated Press Writer

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Resi-dents across the Midwest and the Plains who made it home for Christmas were digging out on Friday after a fierce snowstorm while those who spent the night in airports and shelters tried to resume their journeys. Me-teorologists warned that roads across the region remained dangerous.

The National Weather Ser-vice said blizzards would hit parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Minnesota, Iowa and Wiscon-sin through Saturday. The storm had already dumped sig-nificant snow across the region, including a record 14 inches in Oklahoma City and 11 inches in Duluth, Minn., on Thursday.

Slippery roads have been blamed for at least 20 deaths this week as the storm lum-bered across the country from the Southwest. Ice storm warn-ings and winter weather advi-sories had been issued for parts of the East Coast on Friday, but the region was largely spared.

Paul Mews, who drove from Faribault, Minn., to a relative’s home in Plum City, Wis., on Friday morning, said the first 15 minutes of the 80-mile trip were clear, but a sudden surge of heavy snowfall produced a stretch of near-whiteout condi-tions.

“It was snow-pocalypse. It was wicked,” said Mews, 25. “We thought about turning around and going back.”

He and his wife decided to continue when the surge passed minutes later, noting that plows were doing a good job of keep-ing roads clear.

“Spending Christmas day with family was more impor-tant than the weather,” Mews said.

Others weren’t as lucky.Army Sgt. Mark Matthey was

spending Friday night at the Flying J Travel Plaza in Sioux Falls, S.D., after Interstate 90 closed. Matthey, 26, had left Fort Bragg, N.C., on Wednesday for his hometown of Spokane, Wash., in hopes of making it by late Friday or early Saturday.

Instead, he spent the after-

noon drinking coffee, watching TV and making friends at the truck stop. He planned to find a spot to sleep on the floor or in the cab of his truck.

Matthey said he and his fel-low stranded travelers were in decent spirits.

“Everybody has the attitude that you have to play the cards you were dealt,” he said. “No use in getting upset about some-thing you can’t control.”

Interstates also were closed in North Dakota and Nebras-ka. Meteorologists warned that massive snow drifts and blustery winds could cause whiteouts across the northern Plains. They urged travelers to stay home and pack emergency kits if they had to set out.

Since Tuesday, icy roads have been blamed for accidents that killed at least seven people in Nebraska, five people in Okla-homa, four in Kansas, two in Minnesota and one each in North Dakota and near Albu-querque, N.M.

Winds were gusting from 45 mph to 60 mph across the Da-kotas and Nebraska on Friday.

Crews were working to restore power to thousands of custom-ers in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois and Iowa.

About 200 people were stuck overnight at Oklahoma’s largest airport, which closed Thursday afternoon after several inches of snow clogged runways, said Mark Kranenburg, director of the Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City. The airport reopened Friday morning, but only one of three runways was operational.

Most of the stranded passen-gers were gone by Friday after-noon. While some were able to catch flights, many simply went home. Kranenburg predicted it would be two or three days be-fore all runways were open and flights resumed as scheduled.

The 14 inches of snow in Oklahoma City broke a record of 2.5 inches set back in 1914.

The previous record for Christmas Eve in Duluth, which has gotten more than 22 inches in two days, was a “pal-try” 3 inches in 1893, said Kevin Kraujalis, a National Weather Service meteorologist. By the

time the storm is over, it could be one of the 10 worst in Du-luth’s recorded history.

With heavy winds producing snow drifts as deep as 5 feet, “it’s awful, it’s just awful,” Kraujalis said. “It’s a big workout just walking outside to check my weather equipment.”

Still, he acknowledged that not everyone was turned off by the fresh powder.

“I’m sure kids with new sleds, skis, any outdoor sports equip-ment that Santa brought them, I’m sure it’s exciting for them,” Kraujalis said. “The snow is wet and heavy, so it’s good for packing, for making snowmen or whatever.”

In central Iowa, a sheriff ’s deputy in Guthrie County, where about a foot of snow had fallen by Friday evening over two days, said he saw only snowplows on his way to work.

“It’s going to be one of them days,” Deputy Jesse Swenson said. “Everybody wanted a white Christmas — and they got it.”

Since Tuesday, icy roads have been blamed for accidents.

Storm that some call ‘snow-pocalypse’ hits

NATIONAL BRIEFS


Altan Presbyterian108 W. Sandy Ridge Road, Monroe; www.altanpc.orgPastor: William WileyRegular Sunday: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship

Amazing Grace Evangelical Lutheran416 W. North Main St., WaxhawPastor: Richard CarterRegular Sunday: 9 a.m., Sunday school; 10 a.m., worship; 7 p.m. Antioch Baptist6223 Love Mill Road, Monroe; 704-753-4977; www.antiochbaptistchurch.usPastor: Mike RileyDec. 13: 3 p.m., Christmas caroling.Dec. 20: 6 p.m., “Christmas — Times to Remember” program; refreshments. Regular schedule: Sunday school, 10 a.m.; worship, 11 a.m. Wednesday: 7 p.m., Bible study, Kingdom Kids.

Antioch Missionary Baptist5909 Wolf Pond Road, Monroe; 704-841-7046Pastor: Robert M. ParkerRegular Sundays: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship

Antioch United Methodist3205 Antioch Church Road, Pastor: Betty Jeanne DayRegular Sunday: 9:30 a.m., worship, 9:30 a.m.; 10:30 a.m., Sunday school.

Austin Grove Baptist5919 Austin Grove Church Road, MarshvillePastor: Leon WhitleyRegular Sunday: 9:45 a.m., Sunday school; 10:45 a.m., 6 p.m., worship.Wednesdays: 6 p.m., Awanas; 6:45 p.m., worship.

Benton’s Cross Roads Baptist109 Lawyers Road East, Monroe; 704-753-1291Regular Sundays: Sunday school, 9:30 a.m.; worship 10:45 a.m.Wednesdays: 6:45 p.m., AWANA, Broth-ers & Sisters in Christ; 7 p.m., Kids Music & Creative Movement for ages 3 through eighth grade; adult prayer meeting.

Benton Heights Baptist1411 Helms St., Monroe; 704-283-2606Pastor: M.A. “Sandy” RogersRegular Sunday schedule: 10 a.m., Sun-day school; 11 a.m., worship; 6 p.m., worshipWednesday: 6:30 p.m., Bible study.

Benton Heights Presbyterian2701 Concord Highway, Monroe; 704-283-4912; www.bhpres.org; www.bhpcy-outh.blogspot.comPastor: Paul SaleebySundays: 8:45 a.m., contemporary ser-vice; 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., traditional worship.Wednesdays: Youth activities, men and women’s fellowship and Needler’s Group.Tuesdays and Thursdays: 9 a.m. to noon, mother’s morning out; ages 6 months to 4 years.Thursdays: 7 p.m., RESET service; live mu-sic, coffee bar; nursery provided

Bethany Presbyterian6713 Plyler Mill Road, Monroe; 704-764-3357Pastor: Janet R. TysonRegular Sundays: 10 a.m. Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship.

Bethel Baptist2317 Landsford Road, MarshvillePastor: Randy DavisRegular Sunday: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship

Bethel United Methodist3207 Wesley-Stouts Road, MonroePastor: Betty Jeanne DaySundays: Sunday school, 10 a.m.; tradi-tional worship, 11 a.m.

Bethlehem United Methodist5300 Nesbit Road, WaxhawPastor: Howard FlemingDec 20: 11 a.m. Christmas CantataRegular Sundays: 8:30 a.m., contempo-rary service; 11 a.m., traditional service.

Bethlehem Presbyterian7608 Concord Hwy., Monroe; 704-753-4223; www.bethlehemchurch.netInterim pastor: Mike WardSunday: Sunday school, 9:30 a.m.; “It’s not the Hilton, you know” worship, 10:30, led by youthPreschool: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, ages 3 to 5.

Bonds Grove Methodist8215 Bonds Grove Church Road, Wax-haw; 704-843-5231; www.gbgm-umc.org/bondsgrove/Pastor: Randy BlantonSundays: 9:15 a.m., Sunday school; 10:30 a.m., worship.Mondays: 6:30 p.m., TOPSTuesdays: 6:30 p.m., disciple class.

Calvary Baptist2518 Lancaster Highway, MonroePastor: Eddie PriceRegular Sunday: 9:30 a.m., Sunday school; 10:30 a.m., worship and chil-dren’s worship for 3-5-year-olds.Wednesdays: 7 p.m., adult Bible study, infant/toddler nursery, children’s ministry and HisSpace for youth grades 6-8, and for grades 9-12.

Central Baptist4821 Waxhaw-Indian Trail Road; 704-821-6509Pastor: Tim HelmsRegular Sundays: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worhship; 6 p.m., evening wor-ship.Wednesdays: 7:30 p.m., Bible study, youth group.

Central United Methodist801 S. Hayne St., Monroe; www.Cen-tralUMCMonroe.orgPastor: J. Matthew Burton Jr.Sunday: 5 p.m., “Ceremony of Carols,” “Christmas Oratorio” Christmas concert, free, offerings acceptedSunday schedule: 8:45 a.m., chapel ser-vice; 8:50 a.m., contemporary; 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship

Christ Bible Discipleship Center1019 Unarco Road, MarshvillePastor: David Allen; 704-624-3453Regular Sundays: Sunday school, 9 a.m., leadership class; 10 a.m., discipleship training; 11 a.m., prophetic deliverance service.

Community Baptist212 Garmon Road, Indian TrailPastor: Henry FunderburkSundays: 9:30 a.m., Sunday school; 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m., worship.Wednesday worship and children’s pro-grams, 7 p.m.

Corinth Baptist3805 Corinth Church Road, MonroeChurch phone: 704-289-2102Pastor: Roy HelmsRegular schedule: Sunday school 10 a.m., worship at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Cornerstone Community Church of the Nazarene2707 Secrest Short Cut Road, Monroe; 704-289-6790Pastor: Bob Humphrey Regular Sunday: 9:30 a.m., Sunday school; worship, 10:45 a.m.

Cornerstone Worship Center206 W. Main St., MarshvillePastor: Michael J. OneyRegular Sunday: Sunday school, 10 a.m.; worship, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Covenant Baptist 2706 Secrest Short Cut Road, MonroePastor: Rile BaucomRegular Sunday schedule: Sunday school, 9:45 a.m.; worship, 10:45 a.m. and 6 p.m.Wednesday: 7 p.m., worship.

Covenant Community13003 E. Independence Blvd., Stallings; 704-257-4519; www.changeatc3.orgPastor: John LoftonSundays: 10 a.m., worship; Wednesdays, 7 p.m., Bible study

East Campus,First Baptist of Indian Trail6140 W. Marshville Blvd., Marshville; 704-624-1998

Ebenezer Baptist1417 Unionville-Indian Trail Road, Indian TrailPastor: Timothy RogersRegular Sundays: 9:30 a.m., Sunday school; 10:30 a.m., worship; 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., AWANA, discipleship classes.Wednesdays: 7 p.m., midweek prayer ser-vice; youth, children’s study.

Emmanuel Baptist3816 Morgan Mill Road, Monroe; 704-289-5654; www.emmanuel-baptistchurch.orgPastor: Jack HildrethDec. 20: 6 p.m., “A Miracle on Main Street” Christmas program.Jan. 2: 6 p.m. Upward Mommy GameJan. 8: Upward basketball beginsSecond and fourth Tuesdays: 7 p.m., GriefShare Ministry.Tuesday: 7 p.m., GriefShare meetsWednesdays: 6:45 p.m., Awana Club, ages 3 to eighth grade.Youth: Sunday at 6 p.m. and Wednesday at 7 p.m. www.n2jesusebc.org.

Emmanuel Baptist15601 Idlewild Road, Indian TrailPastor: Leland StephensSundays: 9:45 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., worship. Wednesdays: 6:30 p.m., worship.

Essence of the Cross Ministries2310 Appian Lane, Monroe; 704-291-9898, 704-698-0110Pastor: W. Kaye McDonaldSundays: 11 a.m., worship

Euto Baptist6019 N.C. 205, New Salem; 704-385-8117Pastor: Dale BrooksSundays: 8:30 a.m., coffee fellowship; 8:45 a.m., small groups; 10 a.m., wor-ship.Wednesdays: 7 p.m. Children’s and youth ministries; 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., Adult Bible study.

Evangelistic Temple of Deliverance6016 Waxhaw Hwy., Mineral Springs; 704-598-8203Pastor: William McLainToday: 2 p.m., special service to honor pastor.Sundays: Sunday School 10 a.m.; worship 11 a.m.

Fairfield BaptistN.C. 205, Olive Branch Road, Marshville; 704-624-5503Pastor: Tommy ThreattRegular Sunday: Sunday school, 10 a.m.; worship, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.Wednesdays: 7 p.m. Bible time.Second and fourth Wednesday: 7 p.m. Children and youth.

Faith Community Independence701 Howie Mine Road, Waxhaw; 704-843-2085Pastor: Rickey TruesdaleRegular Sunday: Sunday school, 9:45 a.m.; worship, 11 a.m.

Faith United Methodist3708 Faith Church Road, Indian TrailPastor: David LawrencePhone: 704-882-6623Regular Sundays: 8:30 a.m., praise and worship; 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., praise and worship.Mondays: 6:30 p.m., Cub ScoutsTuesdays: 6 p.m., Girl Scouts; 6:30 p.m., Boy Scouts.

Faulks Baptist2234 Faulks Church Road, MarshvillePastor: David RichardsonDec. 13: 6 p.m., Christmas cantata “Em-manuel,” refreshments followingRegular Sunday: Sunday school, 9:45 a.m.; worship, 11 a.m.; Bible study, 6 p.m.Wednesday: 9:30 a.m., morning Bible study; children’s mission groups, 5:45 p.m.

First Baptist Church of Indian Trail732 Indian Trail-Fairview Road, Indian Trail; website, www.fbcit.org; 704-882-1005Pastor: Mike WhitsonSunday: 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m., worship and Life groups. 6 p.m., evening worship.Tuesdays: 7 p.m. Singles meeting.Wednesdays: 7 p.m., Power Hour.Thursdays: 10 a.m., adult prayer meet-ing.

First Baptist Church of Marshville404 N. Elm St., Marshville; 704-624-2710Pastor: Alex MartinRegular Sundays: 10 a.m., Bible study; 11 a.m., worship.Wednesdays: 6:30 p.m., youth ministry activities.

First Baptist Church of Monroe109 Morrow Ave., Monroe; 704-283-8534Pastor: John HewettSundays: 9:30 a.m., Bible fellowship; 10:45 a.m., worship; college group Bible fellowship follows worship; 5 p.m., youth group; 6:30 p.m., supper.Wednesdays: 5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., fel-lowship meal followed by prayer meet-ing, age-group activities.

First Church of God301 Morgan Mill Road, MonroePastor: Floyd BowenRegular Sundays: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship.

First Presbyterian Church of Waxhaw7700 Waxhaw Highway, Waxhaw; 704-843-4774Pastor: James C. SheltonSunday: 10 a.m. worship, 11:15 a.m. Sun-day School

First Presbyterian Church of Monroe302 E. Windsor St., Monroe; 704-289-2574; www.fpcmonroenc.orgPastor: John WilkersonSundays: 9 a.m., Sunday school, 10 a.m., worship; 4:30 p.m., youth club (grades 6 through 12).Mondays: 6 p.m., Cub Scouts.Tuesdays: 7 p.m., Boy Scouts.Wednesdays: 4:30 p.m., youth club (grades one through five).

Flint Ridge East Baptist Church5720 Flint Ridge Church Road, Marsh-ville; 704-624-5008Pastor: Richard A. GrahamDec. 12: 6 p.m., “A Heralded Christmas Concert”

Forest Hills BaptistWillis Long Road, MonroePastor: Neal WorkmanSunday: Sunday school, 9 a.m.; worship, 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.Wednesdays: 7 p.m. Youth meeting.

Freedom Biker Church of MonroeUnion Baptist Association building1744 Williams Road, Monroe; 704-999-4244Pastor: Steve Starling

Friendly Baptist5418 Friendly Baptist Church Road, In-dian Trail; 704-753-1652Interim pastor: Dustin KnightRegular schedule: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship; 6:30 p.m., youthWednesday: 7 p.m., Bible study.

Friendship Missionary Baptist501 Bazemore St., Monroe; 704-283-1917Pastor: L.W. Leake

Gilboa Methodist5515 Gilboa Road, MarshvillePastor: Tracy CarrollRegular schedule: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship

God’s Temple of Zion Internation Fellowship5017 Waxhaw-Marvin Road, WaxhawPastor: Victor D. Thompson

Gospel Freewill Baptist2901 Belk Mill Road, Wingate; 704-218-8051Pastor: Henry BraswellRegular Sundays: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship; 6 p.m., worship.

Grace Baptist3411 Weddington Road, Monroe; 704-289-4917Pastor: Joe HaskettRegular schedule: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship, children’s church. Wednesday: 7:15 p.m., worship, youth groups.

Grace United Methodist3522 Secrest Short Cut Road, MonroePastor: Bill EnglebrethSundays: 9:45 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worshipWednesday: 7 p.m., Bible study.

Greater Blessed Hope Baptist3607 Andrew Jackson Drive, Waxhaw, 704-843-2553Pastor: Waymon Jordan Sr.Jan. 17: 4 p.m., church anniversary cel-ebration

Greater Grace Community Baptist880 Hasty Road, Marshville; 704-233-9484.Pastor: Rodney J. Evans Sr. Sunday: Sunday school, 9 a.m.; worship, 10 a.m. Wednesdays: 6 p.m., prayer service and Bible study.

Greater Grace World Outreach 5017 Waxhaw-Marvin Road, Waxhaw; 704-843-5418Pastors: Charles Carter, Jacqueline Carter

Hamilton Cross Roads Baptist6133 Old Goldmine Road, MarshvillePastor: Jeff SmithRegular Sunday schedule: Sunday school, 10 a.m.; worship at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday: 7 p.m. Prayer, Children’s and youth groups, Divorce Care.

Hartis Grove Baptist4224 Blanchard Circle, Indian TrailPastor: Joe KirkpatrickSunday: 9:30 a.m., Sunday school; wor-ship, 10:45 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Harvest Chapel5809 Highway 74, Indian Trail704-882-4662, www.harvestchapelclt.orgPastor: Paul Durham

Heath MemorialUnited Methodist9908 Richardson-King Road, WaxhawPastor: Marilyn Wooten

Hebron United Methodist2820 New Town Road, MonroePastor: Sherry Frerichs; 704-906-1443Regular Sundays: 9:30 a.m., worship; 10 a.m., Sunday school. Hemby Bridge Presbyterian6010 Mill Grove Road, Indian TrailPastor: Walt DeHartSunday: 9:30 a.m., Sunday school, 10:30 a.m., fellowship brunch; 11 a.m., wor-ship.Wednesday: 7 p.m., prayer service.

Hermon Baptist9713 Lancaster Highway, Waxhaw; 704-843-4924; [email protected]; www.hermonbaptist.orgPastor: Donnie GambleRegular Sunday: 8:30 a.m., worship; 9:45 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship; 6:30 p.m., worship, youth and children’s activities.Mondays: 6 p.m. Celebrate Weight Loss; 7 p.m., Celebrate Recovery.Wednesdays: 5:30 p.m., Family Night supper (advance reservations required); 7 p.m., Bible study and prayer; 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Awana.

Higher Praise Deliverance1047-A Van Buren Ave., Indian Trail; 704-904-4073Pastor: Reginald O. CoffeySundays: 4 p.m., worship.

Hillcrest Baptist4316 Hillcrest Church Road, Monroewww.thehillcrestbaptistchurch.orgPastor: Gene MullisRegular Sundays: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., 6 p.m., worship.Wednesdays: 7 p.m., adult prayer service, All Stars for Jesus

Hope230 E. Union St., Marshville; 704-624-2447Pastor: Michael StoneSundays: 10:30 a.m., contemporary wor-ship

Hopewell Baptist420 Hopewell Church Road, Monroe 704-753-1084; www.whatasavior.com

Pastors: Lee PiggSundays: 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m., worship; Sunday school for 50 and older during second worshipWednesdays: 7 p.m., Discipleship groups for those younger than 50; Bible study

Howie BaptistHowie Mine Church Road, WaxhawPastor: Donnie B. CrumpRegular schedule: 10 a.m. Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship.Wednesday: 7:30 p.m. Bible study.

Iglesia Ministerio Internacional Je-sucristo para las naciones103-H Wilkes Drive, Monroe; 704-777-1207Pastor: Ever Hernandez

Indian Trail United Methodist113 Indian Trail Road, Indian TrailPastor: Jim ChrisawnSundays: 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m., worship; 10:10 a.m., Sunday school

Indian Trail Presbyterian200 Indian Trail Road South, Indian Trail; 704-821-8751Pastor: James E. JohnsRegular Sunday schedule: Sunday school, 9:45 a.m.; worship, 11 a.m.

Lakeview Baptist4602 Concord Highway, Monroe; www.lakeviewfamily.org; 704-283-0019Pastor: Steve JirgalRegular Sunday: Sunday school, 9 a.m.; worship, 10 a.m.Wednesdays: 6:30 p.m., Bible study

Lanes Creek Baptist Church118 Marshville Water Plant Road, Marsh-villePastor: Ronnie CollinsDec. 13: 11 a.m., Adoration in concert.

Langford Chapel CME113 S. Johnson St., MonroePastor: Sandra H. Gripper

Liberty Hill Missionary Baptist520 Billy Howey Road, WaxhawPastor: Michael Flowers Living Word Worship Center2691 W. Roosevelt Blvd., MonroePastor: R.D. VaughtSunday: 10:30 a.m., worshipWednesday: 7 p.m., worship

Love Baptist707 Deese Road, MonroePastor: Don ThompsonRegular Sunday: 9 a.m., worshipRegular Wednesday: 7 p.m., Bible study

Macedonia Baptist610 Macedonia Baptist Church Road, Monroe Pastor: Billy BelkRegular Sunday: 9:45 a.m., Sunday school assembly; 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m. worship.Wednesdays: 7 p.m. Adult prayer and Bible study, children’s programs

Maple Grove BaptistMaple Grove Church Road, WeddingtonPastors: Terry SimpsonSundays: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., worship.Wednesdays: 7:30 p.m., worship

Marshville Presbyterian501 N. Elm St., MarshvillePastor: Ed HenegarRegular schedule: Sunday school, 10 a.m.; worship, 11 a.m.

Marshville MethodistEast Union Street, MarshvillePastor: Sherri BarnesRegular Sunday: Sunday school, 9:30 a.m.; worship, 10:30 a.m.

Mary Elizabeth Baptist3703 Mary Elizabeth Church Road, Wax-hawPastor: Curtis LaneySundays: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship; 6 p.m., discipleship trainingWednesdays: 7 p.m., prayer meeting, youth meeting, GAs & RAs

Marvin AME Zion1525 Crane Road, WaxhawPastor: Haven O. Anderson

Master’s Family Church International402 N. Sutherland Ave., MonroePastors: Charles and Emma Moore.Phone: 704-622-8881, 704-254-2868.Sundays: Noon, worship.Wednesdays: 7:30 p.m., prayer, worship

Memorial United Methodist1200 Miller St., Monroe; 704-283-6026Pastor: Bill EnglebrethRegular Sundays: 10 a.m., service; 11 a.m., Sunday school.

Midway Baptist4615 Olive Branch Road, Wingate; 704-233-5632; www.midbc.org.Sunday: Sunday school, 9:30 a.m.; wor-ship, 11 a.m.

Midway United Methodist3625 Stack Road, MonroePastor: Don MeadowsSundays: 11 a.m. Worship; Sunday school, 9:45 a.m.

Mill Creek Baptist5417 Morgan Mill Road, Monroe; 704-283-8889; www.millcreekbaptistchurch.orgPastor: George GougeWednesday: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday night groups meet.Regular Sunday: 9:45 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship.

Mill Grove United Methodist7311 Mill Grove Road, Indian TrailPastor: Earl BradshawRegular Sunday: 8:30 a.m., worship; 9:45 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship.Wednesday: 7:30 p.m., youth group.Currently registering for preschool.

Mineral SpringsChurch of Christ6403 Waxhaw Highway, Mineral Springs; 704-243-3388; www.mineralspringschur-chofchirst.org

Mineral Springs United Methodist5915 Old Waxhaw-Monroe Road, Min-eral Springs; 704-843-5905Pastor: Bruce Gwyn

Monroe Christian Worship Center1721 N. Charlotte Ave., MonroePastor: Billy Gowan

Morningstar A.M.E. Zion4604 Secrest Shortcut Road, MonroePastor: Jacqueline Roper.Regular Sundays: 9:45 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship

Mount Calvary A.M.E. Zion800 LaSalle St., Monroe; 704-289-6186Pastor: David L. McLendon

Mount Carmel United Methodist1712 Carmel Road, Monroe; phone, 704-289-6908Pastor: Nicholas RochesterDec. 31: 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., New Year’s Eve service1st and 3rd Sundays: 6 p.m., contempo-rary serviceRegular Sundays: 9:45 a.m., Mrs. Eula’s Prayer Group, 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worshipTuesdays: 7 p.m. Choir practiceWednesdays: 6 p.m., United Methodist Women’s dinner, 7 p.m., youth, junior youth

Mount Nebo Missionary Baptist700 Miller Dr., Waxhaw; 704-243-0182Pastor: J.D. Mills Sr.Jan. 10: 3 p.m., pastor appreciation ser-viceRegular Sunday: 9:05 a.m., Sunday school; 9:50 a.m., Baptist training union; 11 a.m., worshipWednesdays: 6 p.m., Bible study and prayer meeting

Mount Olive A.M.E. Zion119 East Ave., MonroePastor: Michael McCray Sr.Regular Sunday: 9:45 a.m. Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship.Tuesdays: 6:30 p.m., Bible study

Mount Pleasant Baptist2524 Stack Road, MonroePastor: Shad HicksRegular Sundays: 9:45 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship Wednesdays: 7 p.m., worship, Mission Friends, GAs, RAs, youth.

Mount Zion Baptist6907 Gus Eubanks Road, MonroePastor: John LindsayRegular Sunday: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. worship.Wednesdays: 7:30 p.m. Prayer service and youth groups.

New Beginnings Baptist1122 Marshville-Olive Branch Road, MarshvillePastor: Johnathan AshSundays: Sunday school, 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.; worship, 11 a.m.; evening worship, 5 p.m.Wednesdays: 7:30 p.m. New Beginnings Christian MinistryRock Rest Community Center, White Store RoadPastor: Eddie S. Parsons Sr.Sundays: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worshipWednesdays: 7:30 p.m., Bible study, A 52-lesson introduction to the 66 books of the Bible.

New Grace Baptist6201 Indian Trail-Fairview Road, Hemby Bridge; 704-400-3258.Pastor: Roger Johnson

New Hope Baptist5928 New Salem Road, MarshvillePastor: Tommy ButlerDec. 20: 11 a.m., “The Christmas Offer-ing” cantata; 6 p.m., children’s Christmas program; refreshments following.Regular Sundays: Sunday school, 9:45 a.m.; worship, 11 a.m. Wednesdays: 6:30 p.m., night services, Kid’s Club and youth; 7 p.m., adult Bible study

New Hope United Methodist3221 Plyler Mill Road, Monroe; 704-320-7607Pastor: Ron SetzerRegular Sunday: Sunday school, 10 a.m.; 11 a.m., worship; 5 p.m., children’s choir.

New Life Baptist826 Willoughby Road, MonroePastor: Ricky GodwinSundays: Sunday school, 10 a.m.; wor-ship, 11 a.m., 6 p.m.Wednesday: Bible study and prayer meet-ing, 7 p.m.

New Life Community Temple of Faith3216 Griffith Road, Monroe; 704-219-6166Pastor: Sharon O’Leary

New Living Word Discipleship and Worship Center7720 South Rocky River Road, Monroe; 704-764-9348Pastor: Merv T. MasseySundays: 9 a.m., Sunday school; 10 a.m., worship

New Salem Baptist2915 Goldmine Road, MonroePastor: Douglas RumleyRegular Sunday: 9:30 a.m., Sunday school; 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Worship; 6 p.m. Team Kid Club for age 3-grade 5; youth fellowship.Wednesday: 7 p.m. Children’s, youth mis-sions classes.

New Town Road Community Church7513 Broome’s Old Mill Road, Waxhaw; 704-843-3610Pastor: William ChandlerRegular Sundays: 9:30 a.m., Sunday school; 10:30 a.m., worship

Nicey GroveMissionary Baptist318 Camden Road, MarshvillePastor: M.L. KaufmanRegular Sunday: 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. wor-ship; 9 a.m., Christian education.Wednesdays: 10:45 a.m. and 7 p.m. Bible study.

Nu Life End Time Word Ministries1307 Highway 74 West, Wingate; 704-320-1581Pastors: Guillermo and Bridgette YardRegular Sunday: 10:15 a.m., Sunday school; worship, 11:15 a.m.

Oak Grove Baptist4013 Newtown Road, WaxhawPastor: Richard MyersSunday: Sunday school, 9:45 a.m.; wor-ship, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.Wednesday: 7 p.m., prayer service.

Oakland Baptist Church600 E. Sunset Drive, Monroe

Oasis Christian Teaching CenterHampton Inn, MonroePastor: Chris and Ilene StoverRegular Sundays: 11 a.m., worship.

Olive Branch Missionary Baptist9510 Monroe-Olive Branch Road, Marsh-ville; www.obmbc.comPastor: Tobias M. Wall

Open Hands Christian Fellowship3515 Hwy. 74 West Unit F, MonroePastor: James M. KinyanjuiSundays: 10:30 a.m., non-denomination-al fellowship.

Open Book Baptist Church2850 Old Charlotte Highway, Monroe; 704-221-4938Pastor: Mitchell Griffin

Philadelphia Missionary Baptist4109 Canal Road, Marshville

Piney Grove East1708 Ansonville Road, MarshvillePastor: C.C. Craig Jr.

Piney Grove Missionary Baptist - West6712 Sims Road, Waxhaw; 704-843-3572Pastor: Robert L. Sanders

Pleasant Hill Baptist7002 Pleasant Hill Church Road, Marsh-villeInterim pastor: Ollis RevelsRegular Sundays: Sunday school, 10 a.m.; worship, 11 a.m. Wednesdays, 7 p.m.

Pleasant Plains Baptist Church3316 Pleasant Plains Road, MatthewsPastor: Ron RiddleySundays: Sunday School 9:15 a.m.; wor-ship 10:30 a.m.; Awana Clubs 5:30 p.m.; evening worship 6 p.m.

Prospect United Methodist6020 Prospect Road, Monroe

Pastor: Steve PhillippiSundays: 8:45 a.m., contemporary ser-vice; 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., tra-ditional service; 5 p.m., UMYF/UM Kids

Red Level Baptist1920 Rocky River Road, MonroePastor: Daniel M. GatewoodSundays: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11:15 a.m., worship.

Resurrection Christian103-C Wilkes DrivePastor: Zack F. Little Sr.Sunday: Church school, 9 a.m.; worship, 10 a.m.

Roanoke Baptist618 Roanoke Church RoadPastor: Kenny PittmanSaturday: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., youth church night at Concord Mills. More information, call Rocky Rushing at 704-506-0671.Sunday: 11 a.m., children’s hand bell per-formance Dec. 16: 6:15 p.m. to 8 p.m., youth Christ-mas party at church, bring a $5 gag giftDec. 20: 11 a.m., Cantata “The Love of God at Christmas”; 6 p.m. Children’s Christmas play, refreshments afterwardsRegular Sunday: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship.Wednesday: 6:15 to 8 p.m. Youth Christ-mas party, bring a $5 gag gift

Sandy Ridge Baptist1106 Sandy Ridge Road, West, MonroePastor: Eddie PowersRegular Sunday: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship; children’s church ex-cept last Sunday in month; 6:30 p.m., evening worship, youth discipleship.Mondays: 7:30 p.m., Outreach,Wednesday: 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., Awanas, 4 years to youth; 7 p.m., adult prayer and Bible study.

Secrest Grove Baptist4505 Weddington Road, Monroe; 704-289-5725, 704-486-7032Pastor: Jeff WhitecottonRegular Sunday: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m, worship; 6 p.m., youth.Wednesdays: 7 p.m., worship.

Shiloh Advent Christian Church3601 Sikes Mill Road, Unionville

Shining Light Baptist2541 Old Charlotte HighwayPastor: Tim CruseRegular Sundays: 9:30 a.m., Bible study; worship, 10:45 a.m., 6 p.m.; prayer, 7:15 p.m. Wednesdays.

Siler Presbyterian6301 Weddington-Monroe Road, Wesley Chapel; 704-821-7445Pastor: Bruce Powell

Smyrna Methodist5019 Medlin Road, Monroe; 704-764-7341Pastor: Mike CappsRegular Sundays: 9:30 a.m., worship; 10:45 a.m., Sunday school.

Southbrook Church Monroe campus1410 Skyway Drive, MonroePastor: Geoffrey Janes

Stallings United Methodist1115 Stallings Road; 704-821-8820; www.sumc.comPastor: Bart MillesonFirst and third Saturdays: 5:30 p.m., con-temporary worship.Regular Sundays: 8:30 a.m., intimate service; 9:45 a.m., Sunday school for all ages; 10:55 a.m., formal worship; 4:30 p.m., Bible Zone, youth programs.

Stephenson Presbyterian4224 Rocky River Road North; www.ste-phensonpres.org; 704-882-2018Pastor: Keith MorrisonRegular Sundays: Sunday school, 9:45 a.m.; worship, 11 a.m.

St. Luke’s Lutheran Church909 Circle Drive, Monroe; 704-283-5244Pastor: Kenneth W. Fink Regular Sundays: 8:15 a.m. and 10 a.m. worship

Sutton Park BaptistMcIntyre Street, MonroeSundays: Sunday school, 9:45 a.m.; wor-ship, 11 a.m.Wednesday: 6:30 p.m. Bible Study and prayer time.

Tabernacle House of Prayer Apostolic MinistriesOld Highway 74, Wingate; 704-207-6681Pastor: Addie Robinson

TheRiverMeets at New Salem Volunteer Fire De-partmentPastor: Jimmy Brown 704-753-1929E-mail: [email protected]: Interdenominational church meets at 10 a.m. Very casual dress, ca-sual atmosphere.

Tirzah Presbyterian7507 Tirzah Church Road, Waxhaw; 704-843-2893; www.tirzahchurch.org.Pastor: Jill DuffieldSunday school, 10 a.m.; worship at 11 a.m.

Trinity Baptist2613 Concord Hwy., Monroe; 704-292-2613; www.trinitymonroe.orgPastor: Ted Wright

Turner Presbyterian4802 Lancaster Hwy., MonroePastor: Roy ScarbroughSundays: 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., prayer time; 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship.

Union Baptist4312 Old Pageland-Monroe Road, Mon-roe; 704-764-7289Pastor: Joseph HicksonSunday: 6 p.m., Reggie Saddler and Fam-ilyDec. 13: 7 p.m., “One Holy Night” Christ-mas cantataRegular Sunday: 9:45 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worshipRegular Wednesday: 7 p.m., adult Bible study.

Union Chapel Missionary Baptist621 E. Lawyers Road, Monroe; 704-753-1481Pastor: J.W. Threatt

Union Grove Primitive Baptist3619 Morgan Mill Road, MonroePastor: Newell Helms

Union Grove United Methodist8708 Indian Trail-Fairview Road, Indian Trail; 704-753-4966Pastor: Robert Sturge

Union United Methodist6315 New Town Road, Waxhaw; 704-843-1603Pastor: Kim HigginsSundays: 8:45 a.m., contemporary worship; 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., blended service; 5 p.m., youth Tuesdays: 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., senior chair yoga.

Union Springs A.M.E. Zion4003 Morgan Mill Road, UnionvillePastor: Michael BakerSundays: 8 a.m., Sunday school; 9:15 a.m., praise and worship; 9:30 a.m., morning worship.

Continued on Page 8A

GRIER FUNERAL SERVICECourteous, Sympathetic Service

Rendered Within the Reach of All

704 Walkup Ave. Phone 704-283-5423

CHURCH BRIEFS


Have you heard some-thing like this? “The culture is changing and many are leav-

ing or not coming to churches because they are finding an-swers elsewhere.” If so, you might be living in 2005, or in 1675. In the mid-1600s, Chris-tianity was in dire straits in Germany. But one man in-troduced a Christian move-ment which partly reversed this trend and lives on today in various roles: Philip Jacob Spener and Pietism.

Martin Luther ignited the Protestant Reformation (in the early 1500s), yet a century-and-a-half later much of the enthusiasm had left German churches. Into this situation Spener (1635-1705) was born. He was a Lutheran minis-ter and pastored churches in Strasburg, Frankfort, and Berlin.

While at Frankfurt he be-

gan to hold weekly Bible stud-ies in his home and to concen-trate his efforts on renewing Christians in Germany. In 1675, he published his most popular book: Pia Desideria (Pius Desires). In it he laid out the basic ideas of Pietism, a movement designed to fo-cus Christians on their inner lives and, subsequently, to both stimulate Christian ac-tion and to revitalize church-es. It might best be described as “practical Christianity.”

The main thrust of his book

is a chapter entitled “Propos-als to Correct Conditions in the Church.” In this chapter he gives six remedies.

First: Christians need to delve deeper into the Bible in such a way that it becomes part of their lives. “The more at home the Word of God is among us, the more we shall bring about faith and its fruits.”

Second: Christians should encourage, comfort, minister to, and pray for each other more often. “Every Chris-tian is bound not only to of-fer himself and what he has . . . (but) to chastise, exhort, convert, and edify (others), to observe their life, pray for all, and insofar as possible be concerned about their salva-tion.”

Third: Being a Christian not only involves knowledge of Christ and the Bible, but action as well. “It is by no

means enough to have knowl-edge of the Christian faith, for Christianity consists rath-er of practice.”

Fourth: Spener said it best: “We must beware how we conduct ourselves in re-ligious controversies.” 150 years before Spener, Catho-lics killed Protestants, Prot-estants killed Catholics, and Protestants killed each other. As the Civil War is to us, that time of religious violence was to Spener; he knew the reality of unchecked religious anger.

Fifth: Clergy need to re-ceive both religious education and training in holiness. “(A) holy life is not of less conse-quence than diligence and study, indeed that study with-out piety is worthless.”

Sixth: The focus of ser-mons should not only be theology and doctrine but practical advice and encour-agement. “Our whole Chris-

tian religion consists of the inner man or the new man, whose soul is faith and whose expressions are the fruits of life, and all sermons should be aimed at this. On the one hand, (sermons) should be presented in such a way that faith, and hence the inner man, may ever be strength-ened more and more. On the other hand, works should be so set in motion that we may by no means be content mere-ly to have the people refrain from outward vices and prac-tice outward virtues . . . (but) accustom the people first to work on what is inward and only then to act accordingly.” Or as Jesus said, “First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean.” (Matthew 23:26)

Questions/comments con-tact Mark at [email protected]; other summaries avail-able at www.drnickens.com.

C ATH O LICO ur Lady O f Lourdes

C atho lic C hurch

S aturday 5 :30 P M E ng lish 7 :00 P M S pan ishS unday 10 :00 A M E ng lish

12 :00 P M S pan ish 2 :00 P M S pan ish

Rev. Thomas J. Kessler, M.Div.Pastor

Franklin & D eese S ts. M onroe704-289-2773

FIR S T B A P TIS TC H U R C H

Ind ian Tra il, N .C .(O n Ind ian Tra il-Fa irv iew R d.)

R ev. M ichae l T. W hitson 704- -1005S unday8:00 A M ......W orsh ip & B ib le S tudy9 :30 A M ......W orsh ip & B ib le S tudy11:00 A M ....W orsh ip & B ib le S tudy6 :00 P M ...............E ven ing W orsh ip

W ednesday6:30 P M ............L ife Track C lasses7 :00 P M ......................P ow er H our

S O U TH E R NB A P TIS T

B A P TIS TE M M A N U E L

B A P TIS T C H U R C H3816 M organ M ill R d .

P astor: R ev. Jack H ild rethO ffice 704-289-5654

P arsonage 704-283-9231S unday

S unday S choo l..............................9 :45 amW orsh ip .......................................10 :45 amE ven ing S erv ice ............................6 :00 pm

W ednesdayP rayer M eeting .............................7 :00 pmAw ana C lub ...................................6 :45 pmYouth .............................................7 :00 pm

B rotherhood - 2nd S un. each m onthLad ies A uxilia ry - 2nd M on. each m onth

Siler PresbyterianChurch

6301 Weddington-Monroe Rd.(Hwy. 84)

Wesley Chapel, NC

S unday W orsh ip 8 :30 A M & 11 A MS unday S choo l 9 :45 A M

C hild ren /Youth P rogram s S unday 5 P M

P R E S B Y TE R IA N

N E W S A LE MB A P TIS T C H U R C H2915 G o ldm ine R d., M onroe

P hone 704-289-1676S undayS unday S choo l........9 :30 A MW orsh ip S erv ice ....10 :30 A ME ven ing S erv ice ...........6 P MW ednesday W orsh ip S erv ice ...........7 P M

R ev. D oug las R um ley


S ervice Tim esS un. 10 :30 A MW ed. 7 :00 P M

FU LL G O S P E L

704-291-7877

S unday S erv ices10:30 A M

W ednesday7:00 P M

S O U TH E R N B A P TIS T

1301 Icemorlee St.www.westmonroe.org

“A Church With A Heart For Our City...”Dr. David HayesS unday

8:30 A M W orsh ip9 :45 A M S unday S choo l

11 :00 A M W orsh ip6 :00 P M W orsh ip

P R E S B Y TE R IA NB E N TO N H E IG H TS

P R E S B Y TE R IA N C H U R C H

2701 C oncord H ighw ayM onroe , N C

704-283-4912

U N ITE DM E TH O D IS T

801 S . H ayne S t., M onroe , N .C .(C orner o f H ayne & S unset)

C hurch P hone - 704-289-3186

S U N D AY S8:50 a .m .........C ontem porary W orsh ip8:50 a .m ......................C hapel W orsh ip10:00 a .m .....................S unday S choo l11:00 a .m ...............S anctuary W orsh ip U pw ard B asketball/C heerlead ing M in istry

C entra l U n itedM ethod ist C hurch


P astor: D en ise E arls704-814-4739

W esley C hapelU n ited M ethod ist

C hurch

S unday S choo l..................9 :30 A M

W orsh ip ...........................10 :30 A MW e are sm all in num ber, bu t la rge

in sp irit and serv ice to G od.C om e and be a part o f our church fam ily.

P otte rs & W edd ing ton R d. In te rsection(N ext to W esley C hape l S choo l p layground)

M onroe, N C


2234 Faulks Church Rd. • MarshvillePastor: DR. DAVID RICHARDSON

704-233-4488

FA U LK S B A P TIS TC H U R C H

S unday M orn ing:C ontem porary S erv ice .......9 :00 A M S unday S choo l..................9 :45 A MW orsh ip S erv ice ..............11 :00 A M B ib le S tudy........................6 :00 P M

W ednesday:M orn ing B ib le S tudy..........9 :30 A .M C h ild ren /Youth M iss ions....5 :45 P M C h ild ren ’s C ho irs ...............6 :50 P M A du lt C ho ir........................7 :30 P M


2706 S ecrest S hortcu t R d.R ev. R ile B aucom - P astor

C hurch P hone - 704-289-9373

C O V E N A N T B A P TIS TC H U R C H

S unday S erv ices:B ib le S tudy..........................9 :45 A MW orsh ip .............................10 :45 A ME ven ing W orsh ip .................6 :00 P M

W ednesday S erv ices:Youth ...................................7 :00 P M W orsh ip ................................7 :00 P M C ho ir.....................................8 :00 P M C h ild ren ’s C ho ir....................7 :00 P M

2028 W esley C hape l S tou ts R d.Ind ian Tra il

www.bhpres.org

Vis it U s A t:w w w.centra lum cm onroe.org

P astor Jerry P op linw w w.ligh thousefam ilychurch .ne t

C H U R C H O FC H R IS T

W ingate C hurchof C hris t

Preacher: Wellington H. Smith [email protected]

SERVICE TIMESSunday Bible Class - 10 AM

Sunday Morning Worship - 11 AMSunday Evening Worship - 6 PM

Wednesday Night Bible Class - 7 PM

704-233-23633812 Hwy 74 East, P.O. Box 1104

Wingate, NC 28174www.wingatechurchofchrist.com

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

704-821-7445

U N ITE DM E TH O D IS TM IN E R A L S P R IN G S

U N ITE D M E TH O D IS T

S unday M orn ing S chedu leTrad itiona l W orsh ip 8 :45 A MS unday S choo l 10 :00 A M Trad itiona l W orsh ip 11 :00 A M

Just 0 ff H w y. 75 in M inera l S pringsR ev. B ruce G w yn, S en ior P astor

R ev. M arilyn W ooten , A ssoc. P astor(704) 843-5905

Live for Jesus, Grow Disciples, Change Lives

www.mymsumc.com


Stallings UnitedMethodist Church1115 Stallings Rd.

Stallings, NC 28104704-821-8820

www.stallingsumc.org

Pastor: Rev. Dr. Bart Milleson

Sunday Worship Times8:30-9:15 Intimate Service9:15-9:45 Fellowship Time

9:45-10:40 Sunday School for all ages10:55 Formal Worship

4:30-7:00 Children & Youth Sunday evenings.Contemporary Worship COC

every Saturday evening at 5:30 PM

A FR IC A N M E TH O D IS TE P IS C O PA L Z IO N

Rock Hill African Methodist Episcopal

Zion Church2723 Lawyers Rd, WestIndian Trail, NC 28104

[email protected]

Rev. Dr. Christopher Zacharias, Senior Pastor

SERVICES OF WORSHIP9 am S unday S choo l

10 am S unday M orn ing W orsh ip12 pm W ednesday B ib le C lass7 pm W ednesday B ib le S tudy

P R IM IT IV EB A P TIS T

UNION GROVE PRIMITIVE

BAPTIST CHURCH3619 Morgan Mill Road

Monroe, NCSERVICES

E ach S unday 10 :30 A .M .C om e w orsh ip w ith usPastor: Elder Newell Helms

704-283-6570Asst. Pastor: Elder Jared Smith

704-888-4889

N O N -D E N O M IN ATIO N A L

New Life CommunityTemple of Faith

Pastor: Sharon C. O’Leary3216 Griffith Rd, Monroe

Sunday: Power Prayer - 9:30 amSunday School - 10 am

Corporate Worship & Praise: 11 amTuesday: 6:30 am Timewarner

Cable Channel 9Thursday Bible Study: 7:30 pm

704-291-9681Radio Broadcast - WDEX 1430 AM

Prayer Line 704-635-7822www.newlifectof.org

S unday W orsh ip 8 :45 & 11 :00 a .m .C h ild ren ’s C hurch & N ursery

prov ided a t bo th serv icesS unday S choo l 10 :00 a .m .

S ee our C hurch B rie fs ad and orw ebsite fo r add itiona l de ta ils

“Reset” WorshipThursday 7:00 p.m.

Advertise Your ChurchInformation Here

Only $8.35 Per Week.Call Elaine Bolick

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Advertise Your Church Information HereOnly $8.35 Per Week.

For Info Call Elaine Bolick704-261-2206

MarkNickens

Columnist

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican will review its secu-rity procedures after a woman jumped a barrier and rushed at Pope Benedict XVI for the sec-ond time in two years, managing to knock him down before being pulled away by security, the Vat-ican spokesman said Friday.

Benedict, 82, wasn’t hurt and delivered his traditional Christ-mas Day greetings in 65 lan-guages from the loggia overlook-ing St. Peter’s Square. While a bit unsteady at first, he also de-livered a short speech about the world’s trouble spots without problem.

The incident in St. Peter’s Basilica raised fresh questions about security for the pontiff, however, after officials said the woman involved had jumped the barrier at the 2008 Midnight Mass in a failed bid to get to the pope. She even wore the same red-hooded sweat shirt.

Italian officials also remarked on the odd similarity of the breach to an assault two weeks ago on Premier Silvio Berlusco-ni by a man with a history of psychological problems. The attack in Milan broke the pre-mier’s nose and two teeth.

The Vatican identified the woman involved in Thursday

night’s incident as Susanna Maiolo, 25, a Swiss-Italian na-tional with psychiatric prob-lems who was immediately taken to a clinic for treatment. Efforts to obtain further details on Maiolo’s background were unsuccessful, with Vatican and hospital officials citing privacy laws.

In the 2008 case, the woman never managed to reach the pope and was quietly tackled by security. During Thursday night’s service, the pope’s at-tacker launched herself over the barricade as Benedict walked down the aisle at the start of Christmas Eve service. As secu-rity guards wrestled her to the ground, she grabbed onto Bene-dict’s vestments, bringing him down with her.

Virtually anyone can get into a papal Mass: tickets are required but are easy to get if requested in advance. Identification cards are not necessary to gain en-trance, although visitors must pass through a metal detector.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi said it’s not realistic to think the Vatican can ensure 100 percent security for the pope consider-ing he is regularly surrounded by tens of thousands of people for his weekly audiences, Mass-

es, papal greetings and other events.

“It seems that they intervened at the earliest possible moment in a situation in which ‘zero risk’ cannot be achieved,” he said.

The Vatican’s security offi-cials will nonetheless review the episode and “try to learn from experience,” Lombardi told The Associated Press.

It was the first time a potential attacker has come into direct contact with Benedict during his nearly five-year papacy. Se-curity analysts have frequently warned the pope is too exposed in his public appearances, but Lombardi noted that they are a necessary part of the job.

“People want to see him up close, and he’s pleased to see them closely too,” Lombardi said. “A zero risk doesn’t seem realistic in a situation in which there’s a direct rapport with the people.”

While Benedict was unhurt in the fall, a retired Vatican dip-lomat, French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, 87, fractured his hip in the commotion. He will be operated on in the coming days at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, said Nicola Cerbino, a hospital spokesman.

Etchegaray, emeritus arch-bishop of Marseille who headed the Vatican’s justice and peace and charity offices before retir-ing, was seen leaving the basilica in a wheelchair after the fall. De-spite the fracture, his condition was “good,” Lombardi said.

Rome Mayor Gianni Aleman-no remarked on the “strange” coincidence in the recent secu-rity breaches, saying “We need in some way to be more vigilant over all, because in an open and globalized world, the number of unbalanced people and their ag-gressiveness can increase.”

There have been other secu-rity breaches at the Vatican.

In 2007, during an open-air audience in St. Peter’s Square, a mentally unstable German man jumped a security barrier and grabbed the back of the pope’s open car before being swarmed by security guards.

Then there was the assassina-tion attempt against Pope John Paul II by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca in 1981. John Paul suffered a severe abdomi-nal wound as he rode in an open jeep at the start of his weekly audience in the Vatican piazza.

The pope is protected by a combination of Swiss Guards, Vatican police and Italian po-

lice. When he moves around St. Peter’s Square during his week-ly Wednesday audience, he does so in an uncovered white jeep; when he travels overseas or out-side the Vatican, he usually uses one outfitted with bulletproof glass.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., the Vatican has tight-ened security at events where the pope is present. All visitors must pass by police to get into the square, with those entering the basilica going through metal detectors or being scanned by metal-detecting wands.

However, Sister Samira, an Indian aide to Vatican officials who attended the service and saw the incident, said she is nev-er searched by security when she attends papal Masses, and said the same holds true for oth-er people in religious garb.

Benedict has been remarkably healthy during his pontificate, keeping to a busy schedule and traveling around the world.

But in July, he broke his wrist during a late-night fall while vacationing in an Alpine chalet and had to have minor surgery and wear a cast for a month — an episode that highlights the risk he ran in Thursday’s tum-ble.

Philip Jacob Spener: How to live a Christian life

Vatican to review security after attack on pope


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CHURCH BRIEFSContinued from Page 6A

Unionville Baptist510 Baucom Road, MonroePastor: Hank Parker Jr.Sundays: 9:30 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship.

Walker Grove Missionary Biptist1006 Walkers Grove Road, Wingate; 704-233-4676Pastor: The Rev. Jasper Powe Jr.

Walkersville Presbyterian Church6204 Brady Road, Waxhaw; 704-843-3612Pastor: Warren NanceSundays: 9:45 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship.

Watts Grove Missionary Baptist3105 Rocky River Road North, MonroeSunday: Sunday school, 9:30 a.m.; wor-ship, 11 a.m.

Waxhaw Baptist8213 Old Waxhaw-Monroe Road, Wax-hawPastor: Donny RoysterSundays: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., worship; 6 p.m., Bible study, Kids for Christ, Y Factor Class.Wednesday: 7 p.m., prayer and youth class, Kids for Christ

Waxhaw Bible Church6810 Pleasant Grove Church Road, Wax-haw

Waxhaw Presbyterian8100 Old Waxhaw-Monroe Road, Wax-hawSundays: Sunday school, 9 a.m.; worship, 10:15 a.m. Tuesdays: 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Bible study, call 704-843-4685 for details.

Waxhaw United Methodist 200 McDonald St., Waxhaw; 704-843-3931; www.waxhawumc.org.Pastor: Harrison HinsonSundays: 9 a.m., worship; Sunday school, 10 a.m.; traditional worship, 11 a.m.

Weddington United Methodist13901 Providence Road, Weddington; 704-846-1032; www.weddingtonchurch.org

Wesley Chapel MethodistPotter and Weddington roads,

Wesley ChapelPastor: Denise Earls; phone, 704-814-4739; www.wesleychapelumc.netSundays: Sunday school, 9:30 a.m.; wor-ship, 10:30 a.m., with children’s church provided. For transportation, call 704-283-6106.

West Monroe Baptist Church1212 Icemorlee St., 704-283-2532Pastor: David Hayes

Westend Baptist1611 Sanlee Church Drive, Monroe; 704-764-7366Pastor: Rodney FairclothSundays: 10 a.m., Sunday school; 11 a.m., 6 p.m., worship.Wednesdays: 6 p.m., worship.

Wingate Baptist108 E. Elm St., Wingate

www.wingatebaptistchurch.com; 704-233-4256Pastor: J. Derrill SmithDec. 13: 6 p.m., “Emmanuel — God With Us,” snacks afterward in fellowship hall.Jan. 8-10: Weekend of Celebration and Renewal, marking church’s 200th an-niverary. Jan. 8, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., prayer vigil; worship services at 6 p.m. Jan. 9, 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Jan. 10; guest speaker, the Rev. Jim Somerville.Regular Sunday schedule: Sunday school, 9:30 a.m.; worship, 10:30 a.m.; 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Kids Club for age 4 through sixth grade.Wednesday: 6 p.m, Mid-week Gathering, fellowship hall.

Wingate United Methodist111 Hinson St., Wingate; 704-233-4995; www.wingateumc.comPastor: Rhonda Hartweg

Sundays: Sunday school, 10 a.m.; wor-ship, 11 a.m.; evening prayer and praise, 5 p.m.Wednesday: 6 p.m., meal; 7 p.m., Bible study, youth meeting

Word of Christ Baptist3629 Highway 74, WingatePastor: Gary W. McLainRegular Sunday: Sunday school, 10 a.m.; worship, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.Regular Wednesday: 7 p.m., Bible study

Zion Hill Christian FellowshipPlyler Mill and Grifin Road, MonroePastor: Bill Sullivan

Zion United Methodist1521 Old Fish Road, MonroePastor: Mark CurtisRegular Sundays: 9 a.m., Sunday school; 10 a.m., worship.


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The Enquirer-Journal Weather

Moon Phases

Almanac

In-Depth Forecast North Carolina State Forecast

Today’s National Map

Full12/31

Last1/7

New1/15

First1/23

Today

Mostly Sunny

55º

Tonight

Clear

29º

Sunday

Sunny

51º 27º

Monday

Sunny

46º 24º

Tuesday

Sunny

48º 28º

Wednesday

Partly Cloudy

47º 25º

Sun and Moon

Local UV Index

Sunrise today . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7:28 a.m.Sunset tonight . . . . . . . . . . . . .5:18 p.m.Moonrise today . . . . . . . . . . .12:54 p.m.Moonset today . . . . . . . . . . . . .1:57 a.m.

Yesterday’s TemperaturesHigh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54Low . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40Yesterday’s PrecipitationPrecipitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0.54"

City Hi/Lo Wx Hi/Lo Wx

Albemarle . . . . . .56/29 s . .49/25 sBrevard . . . . . . . .49/24 s . .42/23 sBurlington . . . . . .54/30 s . .49/24 sCape Fear . . . . . .59/32 s . .51/26 sEmerald Isle . . . .62/38 pc .55/34 sFort Bragg . . . . . . . .59/32 s . .59/32 sGastonia . . . . . . .55/28 s . .48/26 sGrandfather Mtn. .39/21 s . .33/17 mcGreenville . . . . . .63/35 pc .56/32 sHendersonville . .48/25 s . .42/24 sHickory . . . . . . . .51/28 s . .45/25 sJacksonville . . . .62/36 pc .57/32 sKinston . . . . . . . .62/33 pc .55/31 sKitty Hawk . . . . . .61/39 mc .54/39 sMount Mitchell . .55/28 s . .49/26 sRoanoke Rapids .60/32 mc .50/26 sSouthern Pines . .58/32 s . .50/26 sSwanquarter . . . .62/39 pc .55/36 sWilkesboro . . . . .51/27 s . .41/23 sWilliamston . . . . .62/34 pc .56/32 sYanceyville . . . . .53/29 s . .48/27 sZebulon . . . . . . . .58/32 pc .51/25 s

Around Our State Across The Nation Around The World

Weather (Wx): cl/cloudy; pc/partly cloudy;ra/rain; rs/rain & snow; s/sunny; sh/showers;

sn/snow; t/thunderstorms; w/windy

Today Sunday


Atlanta . . . . . . . . .52/32 s . .47/28 sBaltimore . . . . . . .47/32 ra .38/26 mcChicago . . . . . . . .26/19 sn .24/15 snDenver . . . . . . . . . .26/6 s . .34/14 sDetroit . . . . . . . . .29/24 mc .30/23 snHouston . . . . . . . . . .55/35 s . .55/37 sIndianapolis . . . .29/21 sn .27/18 snLos Angeles . . . .61/48 s . .61/49 pcMiami . . . . . . . . . .77/62 t . .74/58 shMinneapolis . . . . .23/16 sn . .24/9 snNew York . . . . . . .48/37 t . .47/32 mcOrlando . . . . . . . .68/45 mc .66/46 sPhiladelphia . . . .51/34 t . .42/30 mcReno . . . . . . . . . .35/21 mc .36/18 rsSacramento . . . . .50/44 mc .48/43 raSalem, OR . . . . . .43/32 mc .47/34 mcSalt Lake City . . .21/10 pc .26/15 pcSan Francisco . . .56/47 mc .54/47 tSeattle . . . . . . . . .46/31 pc .45/33 mcSyracuse . . . . . . .36/30 ra .37/25 snTampa . . . . . . . . .65/50 mc .66/50 sWashington, DC .48/31 ra .38/25 s

Today Sunday


Acapulco . . . . . . .87/72 pc .87/71 pcAthens . . . . . . . . .69/52 pc .64/49 raBaghdad . . . . . . .70/50 pc .71/49 pcBeijing . . . . . . . . .28/12 pc .28/13 pcBerlin . . . . . . . . . .38/35 sh .37/34 rsCairo . . . . . . . . . . . .76/56 pc .79/56 sHong Kong . . . . .67/51 mc .61/43 shLondon . . . . . . . .47/41 sh .45/35 shMadrid . . . . . . . . .51/30 ra .46/30 mcMexico City . . . . .75/44 pc .74/44 pcMoscow . . . . . . . .36/32 rs .33/23 snNassau . . . . . . . .81/71 sh .78/70 shParis . . . . . . . . . .41/34 cl . .43/34 shRio de Janeiro . . .89/75 pc .87/75 tRome . . . . . . . . . .53/44 ra .51/40 shSan Juan . . . . . . .84/74 sh .84/74 shStockholm . . . . . .26/18 sn .20/18 snTokyo . . . . . . . . . .55/43 sh .50/43 clToronto . . . . . . . .36/28 rs .33/26 sn

Today Sunday

Tarboro61/33

Washington62/35

Cape Hatteras61/43

Wilmington63/33

Greensboro53/29

Raleigh58/31Charlotte

55/29

Monroe55/29

Fayetteville61/33

New Bern64/35

Durham57/30

Asheville48/25

Winston-Salem52/28

40s30s20s10s

90s80s70s60s50s

100s110s

0s

Cold Front Stationary Front Warm Front Low Pressure High Pressure

L H

This map shows high temperatures,type of precipitation expected andlocation of frontal systems at noon.

L

LH

H

3 50 - 2 4 6 8 107 9 11+

UV Index0-2: Low, 3-5: Moderate, 6-7: High,

8-10: Very High, 11+: Extreme Exposure

Today we will see mostly sunny skieswith a high temperature of 55º, humidityof 46% and an overnight low of 29º. Therecord high temperature for today is 74ºset in 1971. The record low is 7º set in1983. Sunday, skies will be sunny with ahigh temperature of 51º.

High: 83° in Brooks County, Texas Low: -21° in Glasgow, Mont.

National Extremes

Shown is today’s weather.Temperatures are today’shighs and tonight’s lows.

Jet overshootsJamaica runway,lights blamed

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Offshore lights that guide pilots into Jamaica’s main airport had been knocked out for more than a month when an American Airlines jet landed in driving rain and overshot the runway, injuring most of the 154 people on board, officials said Friday.

An underwater electrical fault in No-vember disrupted the 1,300-foot (400-me-ter) stretch of white lights on a sandbar stretching into the Caribbean Sea, accord-ing to Norman Manley International Air-port operations director Stanley Smith. Pi-lots have been regularly advised about the outage, and the runway itself was fully lit, he said.

“The airport has been fully operational since (the outage) ... so we wouldn’t pre-sume that would be a cause. But clearly the investigation is still preliminary,” airport vice president Mark Williams told The As-sociated Press.

American Airlines Flight 331 skidded off the runway as it landed in heavy rain Tuesday night, arriving from Washington’s Reagan National Airport by way of Miami. The Boeing 737-800’s fuselage cracked open, the left main landing gear collapsed and the nose was crushed as the plane lurched to a halt at the ocean’s edge.

All 154 people aboard survived. Ninety-two were taken to hospitals, with no inju-ries considered life-threatening. The U.S. State Department said 76 of the passengers were Americans.

Jamaican and U.S. authorities are con-tinuing their investigation, including whether the pilot could have avoided the accident by aborting the landing and cir-cling for another attempt.

The Kingston airport has one runway with two designations, depending on the di-rection of a plane’s approach. Lights lead-ing to the other end of the runway were functioning, but wind conditions made that approach less desirable, Smith said.

The approach lights are not expected to be operating again until next month. Large planes began arriving at Norman Manley again on Thursday after being diverted to Montego Bay for two days.

Smith said there have been no other in-cidents of landing problems since the ap-proach lights went out in November.

American Airlines spokeswoman Mar-tha Pantin declined to comment on runway conditions because the investigation is still being conducted.

Jamaican officials expect the probe to be concluded by Sunday, though Civil Aviation Authority director general Oscar Derby told Radio Jamaica he did not know when its conclusions would be released.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A fitful eco-nomic recovery is drawing strength from a stabilizing job market and signs that manufacturing will contribute to the rebound. The evidence signals a better-than-expected end to the year, though doubts remain about growth in 2010.

The latest signs of improvement came in two reports Thursday. The Labor Department said the number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment aid fell more than expected last week. The four-week av-erage for claims, which smooths out fluctuations, fell for the 16th straight week, to its lowest point since Septem-ber 2008, when the financial crisis hit with full force.

Further evidence of a gradually heal-ing economy was a Commerce Depart-ment report that orders to U.S. facto-ries for big-ticket durable goods rose in November. The overall increase was less than expected. But excluding the volatile transportation category, the gains were twice what economists had forecast.

Stocks rose after the positive reports, ending a holiday-shortened session at new highs for the year. The Dow Jones industrial average gained about 53 points, or 0.5 percent.

Economists saw the new data as fur-ther signs that the economy is strength-ening as 2009 nears a close. Adding to the optimism was a wave of shoppers — some snowed in by last weekend’s East Coast snowstorm — heading to the malls for last-minute purchases Thursday.

“We are seeing progress in a number of areas, from increases in consumer spending and business spending to growth in exports,” said Brian Bethune, an economist at IHS Global Economics. “It all adds up to a recovery that is gain-ing some momentum.”

Bethune said he’s forecasting that the economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, will expand at an

annual rate of around 4 percent in the current quarter. Helping fuel the gains, businesses are boosting orders to facto-ries to restock their depleted shelves.

Bethune said growth would likely slow in 2010 to a rate of around 2.5 per-cent. But he said there will be enough momentum to remove the threat that the recovery from the nation’s deepest recession in seven decades might falter. Other economists agreed that the re-bound in factory orders reflected rising confidence by businesses.

Orders for durable goods edged up 0.2 percent last month, weaker than the 0.5 percent gain economists had expected. But excluding transportation, orders rose 2 percent over the October level, double what economists had forecast.

Demand for commercial aircraft plunged 32.6 percent. Total orders for transportation products sank 5.5 per-cent as demand for motor vehicles and parts edged down 0.2 percent, the weak-est showing in five months.

Strength in November came in areas such as orders for machinery, which rose 3.5 percent. Orders for primary metals such as steel grew 1.4 percent. And orders for computers and electron-ic products jumped 3.7 percent, the big-gest gain since February.

Analysts noted that demand for non-defense capital goods excluding air-craft, considered a proxy for business equipment spending plans, posted a solid rise of 2.9 percent.

“Firms are starting to believe they can come out of their shells and start thinking about the future,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Eco-nomic Advisors. “It looks like the busi-ness community has concluded this re-covery is for real.”

The number of new jobless claims fell to 452,000 last week on a seasonally adjusted basis. That was better than the decline to 470,000 that economists had expected. And the four-week average for claims, which smooths out fluctua-

tions, fell to 465,250.The decline in claims continued a

trend that began last summer. The im-provement is seen as a sign that jobs cuts are slowing and hiring could pick up early next year.

The government cautioned that sea-sonal employment from holidays and other variables in the calendar made last week a difficult one to seasonally ad-just. The actual number of new claims exceeded the previous week’s total. But the process of adjusting for seasonal variation reduced the number.

Economists monitor jobless claims as a gauge of the pace of layoffs. Analysts say initial claims need to fall to about 425,000 for several weeks to signal the economy is actually starting to add jobs.

The government said the number of people continuing to receive regular jobless benefits fell by 127,000 to 5.08 million for the week ending Dec. 12. That figure doesn’t include millions of people who have used up the 26 weeks of benefits typically provided by states and are now receiving extended ben-efits for up to 73 more weeks.

The number of people receiving ex-tended benefits jumped to 4.37 million for the week ending Dec. 5, an increase of 141,807 from the previous week. That surge illustrated that high unemploy-ment persists despite fewer layoffs. It also reflects the fact that 38 states are now processing claims for the exten-sion of benefits that Congress approved last month.

The jobless rate dipped in November to 10 percent, down from a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October. Some ana-lysts fear unemployment will resume rising in coming months and won’t peak until hitting 10.5 percent next summer.

Still, the November jobless report showed that businesses slashed their payrolls by just 11,000 jobs on net in No-vember, the smallest decrease since the recession began two years ago.

By AMIR SHAHAssociated Press Writer

KABUL (AP) — The Taliban released a video Friday purporting to show cap-tured U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who disappeared more than five months ago in eastern Afghanistan.

Bergdahl, a U.S. airborne infantry-man, was captured by the Afghan Tali-ban in Paktika province on June 30.

It could not be confirmed immedi-ately that it was Bergdahl in the new video, which was e-mailed to The As-sociated Press and other news organi-

zations. A man is shown seated, facing the camera, wearing sunglasses and what appears to be a U.S. military hel-met and uniform.

A caption below the man speaking says “War prisoner: Bowe Robert Berg-dahl.”

On one side of the image it says: “An American soldier imprisoned by the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”

The man identifies himself as Berg-dahl, born in Sun Valley, Idaho, and gives his rank, birth date, blood type

and mother’s maiden name.In an earlier portion of the video he

says, “This is just going to be the next Vietnam unless the American people stand up and stop all this nonsense.”

The insurgents also released a video of Bergdahl a few weeks after he was captured.

Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, said in a telephone interview that he had not seen the video, but that it “shows the same soldier captured this year.”

Despite signs, economic doubt remains

Taliban claims to hold an American soldier


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TaxContinued from Page 1A

go back into session in May for a so-called short session, which normal-ly lasts only about two months.

The Senate major-ity leader, Martin Nes-bitt, said he believes it’s unlikely that tax reform could be passed in the 2010 session.

“The short session is de-signed really to go down there and make budget ad-justments,” said Nesbitt, D-Buncombe. “It’s not re-ally designed for any kind of major overhaul or ma-jor legislation. So it would be difficult to do it this summer.”

Many previous com-mittees have studied tax reform without reaching broad agreement on the sorts of changes needed. For instance, most experts and legislators agree that the sales tax rate should be lowered but that it should be expanded to cover many more ser-vices. And many of the loopholes and exemptions currently in the state’s tax code should be closed, they say.

Still, legislative lead-ers say that more study is needed.

“The pace is deliberate so that we don’t sprint ahead and make changes without full understand-ing what the changes would mean,” said Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham and one of the House’s chief tax writers.

Over the summer, dur-ing budget negotiations, some Senate Democrats proposed a major pack-age of tax changes, argu-ing that the state’s budget crisis provided the best opportunity to enact tax reform. But House lead-ers did not agree to the package, and legislators, as they have in previous recessions, ultimately re-lied on an increase to the sales-tax rate to close a budget shortfall.

Democrats said that for tax reform to have a shot at passing in 2010, it would have to have bipar-tisan support. Democrats

do not want to be solely responsible in an elec-tion year for a complex tax overhaul that is al-most certain to anger cer-tain interest groups. For example, overhaul might result in groups losing their tax exemptions or businesses forced to start collecting sales tax for the first time.

Republicans have ex-pressed general agree-ment with the need to modernize the state’s tax system, which hasn’t been significantly changed since the Great Depres-sion.

But they said they would support a bill only under several conditions, including that the chang-es be revenue-neutral, and that there be some legal mechanism to limit the growth of government spending.

DSSContinued from Page 1A

people with low-paying jobs. If a worker qualifies for the Work First program, for example, that worker will receive an extra 23 cents per hour worked.

“As you can see, no one is getting rich of this,” Latson said. “But in many cases, it can be the differ-ence for someone.”

The Work First program helped 11,084 people gain employment and 70 percent of Work First clients held their jobs after leaving the program. The number of Work First cash recipients has been declining since January 1995 when it had 1,249 to June 2009 with 334 clients. The low was Janu-ary 2007 with 308 clients.

Reflecting on the year, Latson said it was hard emotionally, especially when the DSS had to turn people away.

“You know they are hurt-ing,” he said. “And that’s hard.”

Still Latson said his staff did a good job of “holding the ship steady,” and thought the county was poised for something great.

-See next edition for what Latson view o f future.

E-J staff photo by Ed Cottingham

Toys for TotsFrom left, Jim Pueschel, Martin Pueschel, Union County Christmas Bureau Director Gloria Haney, Ryan Stafford and Richard Stone with sign showing number of toys collected by Marine Toys for Tots . Stafford organized the Marine toys for tots and said this year people were very generous with the biggest year ever and about 3,000 more toys than last year.

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Sheryl Crow and other wild-horse advocates on Thursday called on Presi-dent Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to block a ma-jor roundup of mustangs set to begin Monday.

The request came a day after a federal judge de-nied a request to block the government gather in the Calico Mountains Com-plex, saying opponents failed to demonstrate that removal of the horses would violate federal law.

In urging Obama and Reid to intervene, Crow and other horse defenders said U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman did side with them in one aspect

of his ruling.The judge said fed-

eral officials likely were violating federal law by stockpiling tens of thou-sands of horses in long-term holding facilities in the Midwest. Friedman invited both sides to offer more legal arguments on the issue but said Con-gress may have to get in-volved.

“I’m asking President Obama and Senator Reid to stop the Calico round-up of the American wild mustangs in Nevada now until Congress decides how to manage our liv-ing legends of the West,” Crow said in a statement released by the Colorado-based horse advocacy

group Cloud Foundation. The Grammy-winning singer has campaigned for both Obama and Reid.

Reid spokesman Jon Summers said the Nevada senator believes it’s the U.S. Bureau of Land Man-agement’s responsibility to ensure the viability of wild horse herds and to protect rangelands and wildlife.

“Sen. Reid has long been critical of the BLM’s wild horse and burro pro-gram, as they regularly fall short on their obliga-tions,” Summers said. “In this situation, the BLM has failed to properly manage these herds for many years, requiring the large (Calico) gather.”

Kendra Barkoff, a spokeswoman for Interi-or Secretary Ken Salazar, said the roundup will en-sure high quality habitat for the wild horses and burros.

“Secretary Salazar be-lieves that this is once again another clarion call to develop and imple-ment a long-term solution to the challenges we face concerning wild horses and burros on our public lands,” Barkoff said.

BLM officials have said they are moving forward with the plan to round up about 2,500 wild horses in northern Nevada, and place them for adoption or send them to long-term holding facilities.

Obama urged to protect wild mustangs

BY JUSTIN MURDOCKE-J Sports Writer

MONROEAs cousins, Michelle and

Morgan Brown have been playing basketball together since an early age.

Both players are in their third year playing varsity basketball at Parkwood High, and the duo has the Rebels off to their best start in recent years.

Parkwood has a 7-0 record and is the top seed for the Car-olinas Medical Center-Union Holiday Classic, which gets

underway today at Wingate University. The Rebels open up play against No. 8 seed An-son County on Monday start-ing at 7 p.m.

Michelle is a senior guard while Morgan is a junior point guard.

“They’ve played recreation ball, AAU and with us to-gether,” said Parkwood coach Jamel McGee. “They prob-ably have the best chemistry of any girls on the team, and they know each others games so well. With being cousins, they also have a pretty good

off-the-court relationship.”Michelle currently ranks

second in Union County with an average of 16.8 points per game.

McGee considers Michelle his top defender, and he’s seen improvement in all areas of her game in the last few sea-sons.

“There’s no doubt Michelle is our best defender on the ball, but she’s starting to be-come more of a vocal leader,” said McGee. “Her skills as far as what she can do on the court have really evolved. She

has the quickness and speed to really excel at our level, and she’s just one of those players that always gives 110 percent.”

Morgan’s numbers have also improved this season. She ranks fourth in the coun-ty in scoring at 15.6 points per game.

Morgan also leads UC with an average of 5.3 assists per contest and ranks fourth at 3.6 steals per game.

“Morgan just has a knack for the game,” said McGee.

See COUSINS / Page 3B

+

SportsEditor: Jerry Snow (261-2225) [email protected] Saturday, December 26, 2009 Section B

Wade drops 30All-Star guard leads Heat past Knicks, 93-87 3B

WHO’S NEWSWilliams doubtful for Sunday’s game

CHARLOTTE (AP) — Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams is doubtful for Sunday’s

game against the New York Giants after missing his third straight practice with a sprained left ankle.

Reserve run-ning back Tyrell Sutton is also doubtful after

sitting out Friday with a calf injury.Williams was injured in the

first quarter of last Sunday’s win over Minnesota and didn’t return. Jonathan Stewart replaced him and rushed for 109 yards and a touchdown.

Stewart is questionable with a sore left Achilles’ tendon, but practiced Friday.

Quarterback Matt Moore (shoul-der) and cornerback Richard Mar-shall (ankle) are also questionable. Both practiced Friday in a workout that took place on the Bank of America Stadium concourse because of heavy rain.

Coach doesn’t like playing on holidays

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Stan Van Gundy has a request for the NBA: no more Christmas games. “I actu-

ally feel sorry for people who have nothing to do on Christmas Day other than watch an NBA game,” the Orlando Magic coach said.

The Magic were playing Boston on Friday, one of five NBA games

on Christmas. Van Gundy said he understands the high-priced TV contracts generate money for the league and it would be difficult to stop such games. He said at the very least he wishes the league had fewer games on the holidays.

The Magic play games on Thanks-giving, Christmas and New Year’s Day this season.

“I think we get a little carried away with ourselves with sports thinking we’re more important than everything else,” Van Gundy said before the game. “But that’s the way it is. There’s nothing more important than the NBA on Christmas Day.”

Van Gundy feels the day is best spent with family. He woke up early but managed to spend only about 15 minutes with his wife and four children. They went to church services the day before.

Pacquiao planning to sue Mayweather

SARANGANI, Philippines (AP) — Manny Pacquiao says he is planning to file a defamation lawsuit against Floyd Mayweather Jr., the fighter’s father, and Golden Boy Promotions

In a statement posted Friday on his Web site, Pacquiao claims that his char-acter has been damaged and tarnished by accusations he says are untrue.

“Enough is enough,” Pacquiao said in the statement. “These people, Mayweather Sr., Jr., and Golden Boy Promotions, think it is a joke and a right to accuse someone wrongly of using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs. I have tried to just brush it off as a mere pre-fight ploy but I think they have gone overboard.”

The proposed megafight between Pacquiao and Mayweather is in danger because the sides have failed to find a compromise to a dispute over blood testing. Promoter Bob Arum declared the bout dead Thursday.

Arum had set a Thursday deadline for an agreement on testing, the only issue not resolved for the planned March 13 fight.

WORTH A LOOKCollege footballMeineke Car Care BowlPittsburgh vs. North Carolina

4:30 p.m., ESPN

Emerald Bowl B. College vs. Southern Cal

8 p.m., ESPN

WILLIAMS

Photo by Jamie Belk

Parkwood junior guard Morgan Brown is averaging 15.3 points, 5.3 assists and 3.6 steals per game for the unbeaten Rebels.

Photo by Jamie Belk

Parkwood senior guard Michelle Brown (14) ranks second in Union County with an average of 16.8 points per game this season.


Junior guard Brandon Glenn (20) and the Forest Hills High boys basketball team are the No. 2 seed for the CMC-Union Holiday Classic.

Annual tournament opens at WU today

CHARLOTTE (AP) — Moments after fin-ishing their last full college practice, Pitts-burgh quarterback Bill Stull and defensive tackle Mick Williams emphasized the im-portance of their senior class’ legacy.

Because of a blown 21-point lead and a botched extra point three weeks earlier, the 17th-ranked Panthers went from a seemingly certain Sugar Bowl berth into a much less prestigious trip here for the Meineke Bowl, where they’ll face North Carolina on Sat-urday in a virtual road game.

It has all the traps that lead to a flat per-formance: a team that wants to be elsewhere dealing with a hostile crowd.

Stull and Williams vow that won’t happen.

“We want to end this season with a win to possibly maybe finish in the Top 10, get this program back on the map, so to speak,” Stull said.

Added Williams: “I want to leave my mark when I leave. I want for my

younger teammates to build on this so next year they can make bigger strides. That’s why 10 wins is important to me.”

Pitt, on a two-game losing streak, hasn’t won 10 games since

1981, when Dan Marino was firing tight spirals and the Panthers were

regular national championship contenders. And if Pitt (9-3) can overcome the disap-pointment of being so close to a BCS bowl, its matchup with the Tar Heels (8-4) could be

one of the top mid-tier bowl games.Consider these subplots:— Pitt freshman running back Dion Lew-

is, the Big East’s offensive player of the year, facing the Tar Heels’ stout defense, which ranks sixth in the nation overall and ninth against the run.

— Pitt star receiver Jonathan Baldwin go-ing one-on-one with North Carolina corner-back Kendric Burney, who has returned two of his five interceptions for touchdowns.

— Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt facing old buddy Butch Davis. They worked together on Jimmy Johnson’s staffs at Oklahoma State, Miami and the Dallas Cowboys, win-ning a national championship and Super Bowl together along the way.

See TAR HEELS / Page 3B

Tar Heels set to face 17th-ranked Pittsburgh

from StAff rEPortS

WINGATEThe Carolinas Medical

Center-Union Holiday Clas-sic, hosted by Wingate Uni-versity, will be held today and Dec. 28-30 in Cuddy Arena on the Wingate campus. The 12th annual CMC-Union Holi-day Classic basketball tour-nament features 11 Union County public schools (both boys and girls’ teams) and the Anson High School boys and girls’ teams.

Monroe (8-0 overall) is the top seed on the boys’ side. Parkwood (7-0 overall) is the top seed in the girls’ bracket. Seedings were determined based on overall records in games played through Dec. 18, 2009. The teams with the top eight records were selected to play in the championship bracket, while the bottom four teams will compete in a consolation tournament.

Tickets for this year’s Caro-linas Medical Center-Union Holiday Classic are $8 per day and can be purchased at the door. All seating (for this event only) is general admis-sion. Tournament officials will recognize the NCHSAA Coaches’ Pass at the gate. The NCHSAA Coaches’ pass shall admit the bearer only. Confer-ence passes will not be hon-ored for this event.

Parking for the CMC-Union Holiday Classic is available in the Cannon Athletic Com-plex parking lot, located off East Wilson Street. Overflow parking is available in the Batte Center parking lot, lo-cated at the corner of Cedar Street and Camden Road. Ad-ditional overflow parking can be found in the LaVerne Ban-quet Hall parking lot, located on East Wilson Street.

For more information, call the Wingate University ath-letic department at 233-8186.

Cousins leading Rebels

Morgan, Michelle Brown have helped PHS to 7-0 record, top seed for tourney

2B / Saturday, December 26, 2009 The Enquirer-Journal

x-clinched divisiony-clinched playoff spot

Friday’s GamesSan Diego at Tennessee, lateSunday’s GamesBuffalo at Atlanta, 1 p.m.Houston at Miami, 1 p.m.Seattle at Green Bay, 1 p.m.Carolina at N.Y. Giants, 1 p.m.Baltimore at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m.Tampa Bay at New Orleans, 1 p.m.Oakland at Cleveland, 1 p.m.Kansas City at Cincinnati, 1 p.m.Jacksonville at New England, 1 p.m.Detroit at San Francisco, 4:05 p.m.St. Louis at Arizona, 4:05 p.m.N.Y. Jets at Indianapolis, 4:15 p.m.Denver at Philadelphia, 4:15 p.m.Dallas at Washington, 8:20 p.m.Monday’s GameMinnesota at Chicago, 8:30 p.m.Sunday, Jan. 3Chicago at Detroit, 1 p.m.Cincinnati at N.Y. Jets, 1 p.m.Philadelphia at Dallas, 1 p.m.Pittsburgh at Miami, 1 p.m.New England at Houston, 1 p.m.Indianapolis at Buffalo, 1 p.m.San Francisco at St. Louis, 1 p.m.Atlanta at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m.New Orleans at Carolina, 1 p.m.Jacksonville at Cleveland, 1 p.m.N.Y. Giants at Minnesota, 1 p.m.Tennessee at Seattle, 4:15 p.m.Washington at San Diego, 4:15 p.m.Kansas City at Denver, 4:15 p.m.Baltimore at Oakland, 4:15 p.m.Green Bay at Arizona, 4:15 p.m.

College football

Bowl GlanceSaturday, Dec. 19New Mexico BowlAt AlbuquerqueWyoming 35, Fresno State 28, 2OTSt. Petersburg (Fla.) BowlRutgers 45, UCF 24

Sunday, Dec. 20New Orleans BowlMiddle Tennessee 42, Southern Miss.

32

Tuesday, Dec. 22Las Vegas BowlBYU 44, Oregon State 20

Wednesday, Dec. 23Poinsettia BowlAt San DiegoUtah 37, California 27

Thursday, Dec. 24Hawaii BowlAt HonoluluSMU 45, Nevada 10

TodayLittle Caesars Pizza BowlAt DetroitOhio (9-4) vs. Marshall (6-6), 1 p.m.

(ESPN)Meineke Bowl

At Charlotte, N.C.North Carolina (8-4) vs. Pittsburgh

(9-3), 4 p.m. (ESPN)Emerald BowlAt San FranciscoSouthern Cal (8-4) vs. Boston College

(8-4), 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Sunday, Dec. 27Music City BowlAt Nashville, Tenn.Clemson (8-5) vs. Kentucky (7-5), 8 p.m.

(ESPN)

Monday, Dec. 28Independence BowlAt Shreveport, La.Texas A&M (6-6) vs. Georgia (7-5), 5

p.m. (ESPN)

Tuesday, Dec. 29EagleBank BowlAt WashingtonTemple (9-3) vs. UCLA (6-6), 4:30 p.m.

(ESPN)Champs Sports BowlAt Orlando, Fla.Miami (9-3) vs. Wisconsin (9-3), 8 p.m.

(ESPN)

Wednesday, Dec. 30Humanitarian BowlAt Boise, IdahoBowling Green (7-5) vs. Idaho (7-5),

4:30 p.m. (ESPN)Holiday BowlAt San DiegoNebraska (9-4) vs. Arizona (8-4), 8 p.m.

(ESPN)

Thursday, Dec. 31Sun BowlAt El Paso, TexasStanford (8-4) vs. Oklahoma (7-5),

Noon (CBS)Armed Forces BowlAt Fort Worth, TexasAir Force (7-5) vs. Houston (10-3),

Noon (ESPN)Texas BowlAt HoustonMissouri (8-4) vs. Navy (8-4), 3:30 p.m.

(ESPN)Insight BowlAt Tempe, Ariz.Minnesota (6-6) vs. Iowa State (6-6), 6

p.m. (NFL)Chick-fil-A BowlAt AtlantaVirginia Tech (9-3) vs. Tennessee (7-5),

7:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Friday, Jan. 1Outback BowlAt Tampa, Fla.Northwestern (8-4) vs. Auburn (7-5), 11

a.m. (ESPN)Capital One BowlAt Orlando, Fla.Penn State (10-2) vs. LSU (9-3), 1 p.m.

(ABC)Gator BowlAt Jacksonville, Fla.Florida State (6-6) vs. West Virginia

(9-3), 1 p.m. (CBS)Rose BowlAt Pasadena, Calif.Ohio State (10-2) vs. Oregon (10-2), 5

p.m. (ABC)Sugar BowlAt New OrleansFlorida (12-1) vs. Cincinnati (12-0), 8:30

p.m. (FOX)

Saturday, Jan. 2International BowlAt TorontoSouth Florida (7-5) vs. Northern

Illinois (7-5), Noon (ESPN2)Cotton BowlAt DallasOklahoma State (9-3) vs. Mississippi

(8-4), 2 p.m. (FOX)PapaJohns.com BowlAt Birmingham, Ala.Connecticut (7-5) vs. South Carolina

(7-5), 2 p.m. (ESPN)Liberty BowlAt Memphis, Tenn.East Carolina (9-4) vs. Arkansas (7-5),

5:30 p.m. (ESPN)Alamo BowlAt San AntonioMichigan State (6-6) vs. Texas Tech

(8-4), 9 p.m. (ESPN)

Monday, Jan. 4Fiesta BowlAt Glendale, Ariz.Boise State (13-0) vs. TCU (12-0), 8 p.m.

(FOX)

Tuesday, Jan. 5Orange BowlAt MiamiIowa (10-2) vs. Georgia Tech (11-2), 8

p.m. (FOX)

Wednesday, Jan. 6GMAC BowlMobile, Ala.Central Michigan (11-2) vs. Troy (9-3),

7 p.m. (ESPN)

Thursday, Jan. 7BCS National ChampionshipAt Pasadena, Calif.Alabama (13-0) vs. Texas (13-0), 8 p.m.

(ABC)

Saturday, Jan. 23East-West Shrine ClassicAt Orlando, Fla.East vs. West, 3 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 30Senior BowlAt Mobile, Ala.North vs. South, 4 p.m. (NFL)

Pro basketball

NBA StandingsAll Times EST

EASTERN CONFERENCEAtlantic Division

W L Pct GBBoston 23 5 .821 —Toronto 14 17 .452 10 1/2New York 11 18 .379 12 1/2Philadelphia 7 21 .250 16New Jersey 2 27 .069 21 1/2

Southeast Division W L Pct GBOrlando 22 8 .733 —Atlanta 20 8 .714 1Miami 15 12 .556 5 1/2Charlotte 11 16 .407 9 1/2Washington 10 17 .370 10 1/2

Central Division W L Pct GBCleveland 23 8 .742 —Milwaukee 12 15 .444 9Detroit 11 18 .379 11Chicago 10 17 .370 11Indiana 9 18 .333 12

WESTERN CONFERENCESouthwest Division

W L Pct GBDallas 20 9 .690 —Houston 17 12 .586 3San Antonio 15 11 .577 3 1/2New Orleans 13 14 .481 6Memphis 13 15 .464 6 1/2

Northwest Division W L Pct GBDenver 20 9 .690 —Portland 19 12 .613 2Utah 16 13 .552 4Oklahoma City 14 14 .500 5 1/2Minnesota 6 24 .200 14 1/2

Pacific Division W L Pct GBL.A. Lakers 23 5 .821 —Phoenix 18 11 .621 5 1/2Sacramento 13 15 .464 10L.A. Clippers 12 16 .429 11Golden State 7 21 .250 16

Friday’s GamesMiami 93, New York 87Boston 86, Orlando 77Cleveland 102, L.A. Lakers 87L.A. Clippers at Phoenix, lateDenver at Portland, lateToday’s GamesMemphis at Dallas, 3 p.m.Atlanta at Indiana, 7 p.m.Houston at New Jersey, 7:30 p.m.New Orleans at Chicago, 8 p.m.Washington at Minnesota, 8 p.m.Charlotte at Oklahoma City, 8 p.m.San Antonio at Milwaukee, 8:30 p.m.Philadelphia at Utah, 9 p.m.L.A. Lakers at Sacramento, 10 p.m.Phoenix at Golden State, 10:30 p.m.Sunday’s GamesDetroit at Toronto, 1 p.m.San Antonio at New York, 6 p.m.Houston at Cleveland, 6 p.m.Indiana at Miami, 6 p.m.Dallas at Denver, 8 p.m.Boston at L.A. Clippers, 9:30 p.m.

Friday’s boxscores

Cavs 102, Lakers 87CLEVELAND (102)James 9-19 6-11 26, Hickson 1-4 0-0 2,

O’Neal 5-8 1-4 11, M.Williams 8-13 9-10 28, Parker 1-5 2-3 4, Ilgauskas 1-6 0-0

2, Varejao 4-5 1-2 9, West 3-3 0-0 7, Moon 6-7 0-0 13, Gibson 0-0 0-0 0, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, J.Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 38-70 19-30 102.

L.A. LAKERS (87)Artest 5-11 2-5 13, Gasol 4-11 3-4 11,

Bynum 2-5 0-2 4, Fisher 3-8 0-0 7, Bryant 11-32 12-12 35, Odom 2-4 2-2 6, Farmar 0-3 0-0 0, Vujacic 2-5 0-0 5, Brown 1-4 0-0 3, Powell 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 31-85 20-27 87.

Cleveland 23 28 25 26— 102L.A. Lakers 19 23 17 28— 87

3-Point Goals—Cleveland 7-18 (M.Williams 3-3, James 2-7, Moon 1-1, West 1-1, Ilgauskas 0-2, Parker 0-4), L.A. Lakers 5-18 (Bryant 1-3, Artest 1-3, Vujacic 1-3, Brown 1-3, Fisher 1-4, Farmar 0-1, Odom 0-1). Fouled Out—Artest. Rebounds—Cleveland 50 (Ilgauskas, Varejao 9), L.A. Lakers 54 (Bryant 9). Assists—Cleveland 24 (James 9), L.A. Lakers 16 (Bryant 8). Total Fouls—Cleveland 24, L.A. Lakers 21. Technicals—M.Williams, Bryant, Fisher, Odom 2, L.A. Lakers delay of game. Ejected— Odom. A—18,997 (18,997).

Celtics 86, Magic 77BOSTON (86)T.Allen 6-11 4-7 16, Garnett 3-9 4-4 10,

Perkins 3-4 0-0 6, Rondo 7-18 3-7 17, R.Allen 5-12 6-7 18, Wallace 5-7 0-0 11, Scalabrine 1-4 0-0 3, S.Williams 0-1 0-0 0, House 1-6 3-3 5, Davis 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-73 20-28 86.

ORLANDO (77)Pietrus 3-7 2-2 9, Lewis 5-14 6-7 19,

Howard 1-7 3-4 5, Nelson 3-11 2-2 8, Carter 10-20 6-7 27, Anderson 2-3 0-0 4, J.Williams 0-3 0-0 0, Barnes 2-8 1-2 5, Redick 0-4 0-0 0, Gortat 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-78 20-24 77.

Boston 18 20 23 25— 86Orlando 19 8 26 24— 77

3-Point Goals—Boston 4-15 (R.Allen 2-5, Wallace 1-2, Scalabrine 1-4, House 0-4), Orlando 5-26 (Lewis 3-8, Carter 1-4, Pietrus 1-4, J.Williams 0-1, Anderson 0-1, Barnes 0-1, Redick 0-3, Nelson 0-4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Boston 56 (Rondo 13), Orlando 50 (Howard 20). Assists—Boston 19 (Rondo 8), Orlando 7 (Nelson 3). Total Fouls—Boston 25, Orlando 22. Technicals—Garnett, Howard, Orlando Coach Van Gundy, Orlando defensive three second 2. A—17,461 (17,461).

Heat 93, Knicks 87MIAMI (93)Richardson 3-10 1-1 8, Beasley 7-16 5-6

19, O’Neal 5-7 1-1 11, Arroyo 1-4 0-0 2, Wade 11-21 7-8 30, Haslem 4-9 4-4 12, Anthony 0-1 0-0 0, Chalmers 1-4 9-12 11, Wright 0-1 0-0 0, Cook 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 32-75 27-32 93.

NEW YORK (87)Gallinari 8-18 7-7 26, Chandler 6-11 2-2

15, Lee 9-14 1-2 19, Duhon 2-6 2-2 7, Jeffries 1-2 1-3 3, Harrington 5-20 2-3 12, Hughes 0-3 3-4 3, Bender 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 32-78 18-23 87.

Miami 21 20 23 29— 93New York 23 14 17 33— 87

3-Point Goals—Miami 2-12 (Wade 1-2, Richardson 1-7, Cook 0-1, Beasley 0-1, Chalmers 0-1), New York 5-28 (Gallinari 3-11, Duhon 1-2, Chandler 1-4, Bender 0-1, Jeffries 0-1, Hughes 0-2, Harrington 0-7). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Miami 46 (Wade 9), New York 53 (Lee 16). Assists—Miami 13 (Wade 5), New York 11 (Gallinari, Duhon 3). Total Fouls—Miami 22, New York 24. Technicals—Harrington, New York defensive three second. A—19,763 (19,763).

College basketball

Upcoming College Basketball ScheduleAll Times EST

TodayEAST

West Virginia at Seton Hall, 3:30 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 27EAST

Iona vs. Connecticut at the XL Center,

Hartford, Conn., 2 p.m.SOUTH

Radford at Louisville, 1 p.m.Florida Atlantic at Maryland, 2 p.m.Cornell, Iowa at Coastal Carolina, 3 p.m.

MIDWESTValparaiso at Akron, 2 p.m.Presbyterian at Marquette, 2 p.m.Austin Peay at Missouri, 3 p.m.Ill.-Chicago at Wisconsin, 3:30 p.m.

FAR WESTSan Francisco at Washington, 3 p.m.Delaware St. at UCLA, 4 p.m.Loyola Marymount at Sacramento St.,

4:05 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 28EAST

MIT at Harvard, 4 p.m.Keene St. at Brown, 7 p.m.Loyola, Md. at Bucknell, 7 p.m.George Washington at Holy Cross, 7 p.m.DePaul at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.St. Peter’s at Stony Brook, 7 p.m.Bowling Green at Temple, 7 p.m.N.J. Tech at Wagner, 7 p.m.Vermont at Marist, 7:30 p.m.

SOUTHIUPUI at Memphis, 1 p.m.Penn at Davidson, 7 p.m.American U. at Florida, 7 p.m.Lehigh at Longwood, 7 p.m.UNC Wilmington at Richmond, 7 p.m.Wake Forest at UNC Greensboro, 7 p.m.West Alabama at Alabama St., 8 p.m.MVSU at Mississippi St., 8 p.m.Chicago St. at Samford, 8 p.m.Talladega at Southern U., 8 p.m.Marshall at Troy, 8 p.m.Centenary at Louisiana-Lafayette, 8:05

p.m.Southwest at Louisiana-Monroe, 8:30

p.m.Rutgers at North Carolina, 8:30 p.m.

MIDWESTMd.-Eastern Shore at Ball St., 7 p.m.Purdue-N. Central at IPFW, 7 p.m.Alma at Oakland, Mich., 7 p.m.Sam Houston St. at Wright St., 7 p.m.Shawnee St. at Detroit, 7:05 p.m.St. Francis, Ill. at Loyola of Chicago, 8

p.m.UMKC at SIU-Edwardsville, 8 p.m.Morehead St. at South Dakota, 8 p.m.Bryant at Indiana, 9 p.m.

SOUTHWESTN. Arizona at Texas-Pan American, 3

p.m.Okla. Panhandle St. at Texas A&M-

Corpus Christi, 5:30 p.m.Texas Southern at North Texas, 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 29EAST

Cornell at La Salle, 4 p.m.Lafayette at Delaware, 7 p.m.Rhode Island at Drexel, 7 p.m.St. Francis, NY at Fairfield, 7 p.m.Saint Joseph’s at Siena, 7 p.m.Marquette at West Virginia, 7 p.m.Syracuse at Seton Hall, 9 p.m.

SOUTHWinston-Salem at Georgia Tech, 1 p.m.Long Beach St. at Duke, 7 p.m.Hofstra at Florida Atlantic, 7 p.m.N.C. Central at High Point, 7 p.m.Hartford at Kentucky, 7 p.m.Winthrop at N.C. State, 7 p.m.Mercer at Charlotte, 7:30 p.m.S. Carolina St. at Clemson, 7:30 p.m.Georgia Southern at Coastal Carolina,

7:30 p.m.Fordham at Kennesaw St., 7:30 p.m.East Carolina at Va. Commonwealth,

7:30 p.m.Charleston Southern at Auburn, 8 p.m.Jacksonville St. at Mississippi, 8 p.m.Florida Gulf Coast at Stetson, 8 p.m.

FAR WESTHoward vs. Stephen F.Austin at McKeon

Pavilion, Moraga, Calif., 8 p.m.Willamette at Portland St., 8:05 p.m.Yale at Colorado, 9 p.m.Texas Tech at New Mexico, 9 p.m.UTSA at Utah, 9 p.m.NW Nazarene at Boise St., 9:05 p.m.W. Oregon at Utah St., 9:05 p.m.Savannah St. at San Diego, 10 p.m.UC Riverside at San Diego St., 10 p.m.James Madison at Stanford, 10 p.m.Binghamton at Saint Mary’s, Calif., 10:35

p.m.

Transactions

Friday’s Sports TransactionsBASKETBALL

National Basketball AssociationBOSTON CELTICS—Activated F Glen

Davis from the injured list.FOOTBALL

National Football LeagueKANSAS CITY CHIEFS—Signed S

Reshard Langford from Philadelphia’s practice squad.

Scoreboard

AMERICAN CONFERENCEEast

W L T Pct PF PA AFC NFC DivNew England 9 5 0 .643 365 244 6-4-0 3-1-0 4-2-0Miami 7 7 0 .500 316 333 5-5-0 2-2-0 4-2-0N.Y. Jets 7 7 0 .500 282 221 5-5-0 2-2-0 2-4-0Buffalo 5 9 0 .357 225 288 3-8-0 2-1-0 2-4-0

South W L T Pct PF PA AFC NFC Divx-Indianapolis 14 0 0 1.000 394 248 10-0-0 4-0-0 6-0-0Jacksonville 7 7 0 .500 266 322 6-4-0 1-3-0 3-3-0Tennessee 7 7 0 .500 320 347 4-7-0 3-0-0 2-4-0Houston 7 7 0 .500 327 286 4-6-0 3-1-0 1-5-0

North W L T Pct PF PA AFC NFC DivCincinnati 9 5 0 .643 288 244 6-4-0 3-1-0 6-0-0Baltimore 8 6 0 .571 350 225 6-4-0 2-2-0 3-2-0Pittsburgh 7 7 0 .500 315 280 4-6-0 3-1-0 1-4-0Cleveland 3 11 0 .214 199 349 3-7-0 0-4-0 1-5-0

West W L T Pct PF PA AFC NFC Divx-San Diego 11 3 0 .786 389 283 8-3-0 3-0-0 5-1-0Denver 8 6 0 .571 275 250 6-5-0 2-1-0 3-2-0Oakland 5 9 0 .357 175 335 4-6-0 1-3-0 2-4-0Kansas City 3 11 0 .214 240 383 2-8-0 1-3-0 1-4-0

NATIONAL CONFERENCEEast

W L T Pct PF PA NFC AFC Divy-Philadelphia 10 4 0 .714 399 286 9-2-0 1-2-0 4-1-0Dallas 9 5 0 .643 320 250 7-3-0 2-2-0 2-2-0N.Y. Giants 7 6 0 .538 341 330 5-4-0 2-2-0 3-2-0Washington 4 9 0 .308 234 251 2-8-0 2-1-0 0-4-0

South W L T Pct PF PA NFC AFC Divx-New Orleans 13 1 0 .929 483 298 9-1-0 4-0-0 4-0-0Atlanta 7 7 0 .500 312 312 5-6-0 2-1-0 2-3-0Carolina 6 8 0 .429 251 289 6-4-0 0-4-0 3-2-0Tampa Bay 2 12 0 .143 214 363 2-8-0 0-4-0 0-4-0

North W L T Pct PF PA NFC AFC Divx-Minnesota 11 3 0 .786 396 269 8-2-0 3-1-0 5-0-0Green Bay 9 5 0 .643 380 280 7-3-0 2-2-0 4-2-0Chicago 5 9 0 .357 254 322 3-7-0 2-2-0 1-3-0Detroit 2 12 0 .143 233 437 1-9-0 1-3-0 0-5-0

West W L T Pct PF PA NFC AFC Divx-Arizona 9 5 0 .643 337 282 7-3-0 2-2-0 3-2-0San Francisco 6 8 0 .429 282 269 5-5-0 1-3-0 4-1-0Seattle 5 9 0 .357 257 325 4-7-0 1-2-0 3-3-0St. Louis 1 13 0 .071 159 377 1-9-0 0-4-0 0-4-0

Call scores in at (704) 261-2253

National Football League

COLLEGE FOOTBALL1 p.m.ESpN — LittLE CaESarS pizza BowL, marShaLL vS. ohio, at DEtroit

4:30 p.m.ESpN — mEiNEkE Car CarE BowL, pittSBurgh vS. North CaroLiNa, at CharLottE

8 p.m.ESpN — EmEraLD BowL, BoStoN CoLLEgE vS. SouthErN CaL, at SaN FraNCiSCo

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL3:30 p.m.CBS — NatioNaL CovEragE, wESt virgiNia at SEtoN haLL

NBA BASKETBALL8 p.m.wgN — NEw orLEaNS at ChiCago

What’s on tV?

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CMC-UNiON HOLidAy CLASSiC (AT WiNGATE UNivErSiTy)#4 wEDDiNgtoN girLS vS. #5 ForESt hiLLS, 4 p.m.#4 parkwooD BoyS vS. #5 aNSoN, 5:30 p.m.#2 portEr riDgE girLS vS. #7 piEDmoNt, 7 p.m.#2 ForESt hiLLS BoyS vS. #7 CENtraL aCaDEmy, 8:30 p.m.

LocaL EVEnts

TOdAy

TOdAy

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — This was the year Southern California actually wanted to stay home for a bowl game.

Instead the Trojans spent the holidays a few hundred miles north, where they will take on Boston College in the Emerald Bowl on Saturday night while the BCS championship will be held in their backyard at the Rose Bowl.

For a school that has known nothing but Bowl Champion-ship Series games the past sev-en seasons and always has its sights on playing for a national championship, this could be seen as a letdown.

“People have been asking me the past couple of years if we were disappointed to play in the Rose Bowl, and I never understood that,” coach Pete Carroll said. “Our players like to work out; they love to play games. I can guarantee you that they’re going to play this game like it’s the national championship game.”

USC (8-4) has played in four straight Rose Bowls, including the last three years when the national championship was decided at the other BCS sites and the trip to Pasadena was seen by some as a consolation prize.

With the championship be-ing held at the Rose Bowl this season for the first time since the Trojans lost to Texas four years ago, they were hoping to stay home again come bowl season.

That looked to be a real pos-sibility early in the season after USC won at Ohio State behind freshman quarterback Matt Barkley. But then came a loss at Washington, blowouts to Oregon and Stanford and a season-ending loss at home to Arizona that dropped the Tro-jans into a tie for fifth place in the conference and into the Emerald Bowl against Boston

College (8-4).“When we started losing

some games we knew we were going to be in a different set-ting than we’d been in. When it came up that we’d get to go to the Emerald Bowl and San Francisco, that was really ex-citing,” said Carroll, who was born here and spent much of his life in the Bay Area.

The Trojans could be without star running back Joe McK-night, who didn’t arrive in San Francisco until Wednesday night because of an investiga-tion into whether he violated rules by using an SUV that doesn’t belong to him.

This bowl experience is very different for the Trojans, who were able to sleep in their own beds, practice on their own field and go through their usu-al routines when their bowl trip consisted of a bus ride to Pasadena.

“Normally, this whole process is in L.A. and it’s real famil-iar to us,” senior safety Taylor Mays said. “It’s the first time we’ve really been away — hav-ing to go to an away hotel, prac-ticing away, being in a different city than we’re accustomed to. I don’t know where I’m go-ing here, so I’m going to follow whatever coach P.C. does.”

Boston College meets USC in Emerald Bowl

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — Even the biggest and stron-gest of players can be rendered ineffective when the brain and the body are not in sync.

They don’t come much big-ger and stronger than Minne-sota Vikings left tackle Bryant McKinnie, who was reminded of that last week. After mak-ing a push for his first Pro Bowl bid over the first 13 games of the season, McKin-nie played so poorly against Julius Peppers and the Caro-lina Panthers that he was benched in the fourth quarter, the first time that happened in his eight-year career.

The 6-foot-8, 335-pounder charged with protecting Brett Favre’s blind side is trying to get back on track this week. The Vikings (11-3) need him to, coming off two ugly losses over their last three games that have shaken their once-firm hold on the NFC’s No. 2 seed — and first-round bye

— for the playoffs. Minnesota plays at Chicago (5-9) on Mon-day night.

McKinnie, a former first-round draft pick, insisted this week his performance against the Panthers wasn’t as poor as it was made out to be.

“He played a good game. He made a good play on me,” McKinnie said, referring to the one sack Peppers was credited with. “But when you go back and really watch the film, he didn’t have that many plays on me.”

Two penalties, for a false start in the first quarter and for holding in the third quarter, threw McKinnie’s mind out of whack. He also said he was focusing too much on his footwork, worried his stance might be tipping off the de-fense to what type of play was coming — as one report sug-

gested earlier this month.“It was entirely too much

thinking going on,” said McK-innie, who joined the starting lineup midway through his rookie season in 2002. He has missed only four games since then — at the beginning of last year because of a league

suspension for off-the-field behavior.

This week, McKin-nie has been work-ing on fine-tuning his technique. He also said there’s a plan in place to adjust the snap count in order to make it easier for him and rookie right tack-le Phil Loadholt.

“That will put me in a better position to get off the ball,” McKinnie said. “I just have to make it where I don’t have to look at the ball. When I’m in a position to hear it, I don’t want to have to look at the ball if I can hear the cadence.”

Coach Brad Childress took some of the blame for not giv-ing McKinnie more help, ei-ther by putting a tight end to McKinnie’s side for a double team or using a running back to help chip Peppers more of-ten.

“We didn’t do a good enough job with getting him help, whether it was chip help or tight end help or fading a guard in that direction,” Chil-dress said.

Still, that’s no excuse for a player who sees himself as one of the best at his position.

“Usually on the road, no matter who the tackle is and if you have a premier pass rusher, they usually get help,” McKinnie said. “I didn’t get any, but that’s not to blame. Still, at the end of the day I’ve got to do what I have to do, you’ve got to be comfortable and I don’t think I was com-fortable with a lot of stuff that I was doing.”

McKinnie vows to bounce back

McKINNIE

The Enquirer-Journal Saturday, December 26, 2009 / 3B

NEW YORK (AP) — Dwy-ane Wade had 30 points and nine rebounds, and the Mi-ami Heat spoiled New York’s return to Christmas compe-tition, snapping the Knicks’

three-game w i n n i n g streak with a 93-87 victory Friday.

M i c h a e l Beasley add-ed 13 of his 19 points af-ter halftime for the Heat, who opened

a comfortable lead by limit-ing New York to 31 points across the middle two quar-ters. Then Miami held on af-ter the Knicks finally got on track in the final minutes. Jermaine O’Neal finished with 11 points and eight boards, making a jumper with 51 seconds left after Mi-ami’s lead had been sliced to three points.

Danilo Gallinari scored 26 points and David Lee had 19 points and 16 re-bounds for the Knicks, who had a six-game home win-ning streak snapped and lost for just the third time in 10 games overall. They were playing in their NBA-leading 45th Christmas game, but first since beat-ing Toronto in 2001.

Fans react after Cavaliers top LakersLOS ANGELES (AP) — After

the Cleveland Cavaliers made the defending NBA champions look ordinary, the Los Angeles Lakers’ fans threw up their foam hands in frustration.

Mo Williams scored 28 points, LeBron James added 26 and the Cavaliers beat Los Angeles 102-87 Friday in a game that ended with angry Lakers fans throwing doz-ens of giveaway foam hands onto the court.

Shaquille O’Neal had 11 points in his latest Los Angeles return with the Cavaliers, who dominat-ed the Lakers with sharp shooting and physical defense, prompting several technical fouls and retali-ation hits in a one-sided matchup of title contenders.

The Lakers’ crowd lost its holi-

day spirit with 4:04 left when La-mar Odom’s ejection and another T on the Lakers’ infuriated bench prompted many fans to throw their pregame presents onto the court. After another foul with 3:45 left, several more foam hands were thrown along with a full water bottle, which skittered between players without hitting anyone.

Kobe Bry-ant scored 35 points for the Lak-ers, who had won 16 of 17 before Cleveland’s decisive victory be-hind Williams, James and the

Cavs’ impressive interior play, which negated the Lakers’ usual advantages down low.

After Odom got his second technical foul in an altercation with Williams, the Lakers’ bench drew a T — apparently on pur-pose — for delay of game by fail-ing to produce a substitute in a timely manner. When referee Dan Crawford whistled that T, the Staples Center crowd let its hands fly.

The foam hands weren’t the usual No. 1 finger normally found at sports events, but a represen-tation of two puppet hands mak-ing the “LA” sign in a connection to Nike’s advertising campaign featuring puppets of James and Bryant.

But with Williams leading the

way in his third straight impres-sive road game, the Cavs forced Bryant and the Lakers into their least impressive performance in six weeks. The loss dropped the Lakers (23-5) back into a tie with Boston atop the overall NBA standings.

If this was an NBA finals preview of the matchup that many expected to materialize last summer before Orlando crashed the party, the Lakers should be wary. Cleveland’s big men — O’Neal, Zydrunas Il-gauskas and Anderson Varejao — allowed them to neutralize 7-foot starters Andrew Bynum, who managed just four points, and Pau Gasol, who had 11.

Meanwhile, the Cavs are tough to guard when James’ team-

mates hit their outside shots with Williams’ accuracy. James wasn’t omnipresent, but played well enough to force Ron Artest to foul out with 5:01 to play.

The Cavaliers also made cer-tain nobody will forget about them in the Eastern Conference race, where Boston and Orlando have dominated the discussion leading up to the Celtics’ win over the Magic earlier Friday.

Cleveland never trailed and streaked to a 20-point lead in the second quarter during a run that included little help from James, sitting out while Wil-liams sparked the Cavs. James had just two points and four assists in the quarter, which he ended with a half-court shot just after the buzzer.

JAMES

WADE

Wade’s 30 lifts Miami over Knicks

Defense helps Boston get past Orlando, 86-77ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The Boston

Celtics left the floor with the smallest of grins, hands raised in triumph, leaving the Orlando Magic’s fans listening to a somber song by Elvis.

Blue Christmas.Not for the guys in green.Rajon Rondo had 17 points, 13 rebounds

and eight assists, and Boston bullied the Magic with strong defense in an 86-77 vic-tory Friday.

“We are a physical team,” Rondo said. “We try to get stops the right way.”

Ray Allen added 18 points and Tony Al-len scored 16 in place of the injured Paul Pierce for the Celtics, who rolled to their 14th win in the last 15 games. Pierce is out with a right knee infection and could miss two weeks.

They looked fine without him.The only big blow for the Celtics came

in the final minutes, when Kevin Garnett jumped to block a shot by Vince Carter,

landing awkwardly and tumbling to the ground. He hobbled back to the bench holding his back and didn’t return.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said Garnett mostly had a bruise on his head. Garnett said he was fine.

“If he grew some hair, it wouldn’t hurt so much,” Rivers joked.

Carter finished with 27 points, and Rashard Lewis had 19 points for the Magic. Orlando had no an-swer to Boston’s relentless pres-sure, which held Dwight Howard to five points and Orlando to a sea-son low in points.

Even with all that, the Magic had a chance.

Lewis’ 3-pointer with 1:02 re-maining — the same play Garnett went down — cut Boston’s lead to 78-75. Carter made the pass to avoid Garnett on the play, a familiar theme throughout.

“I know he was the guy I saw flying at

me,” Carter said. “It was a lot of green in there, put it that way.”

Ray Allen then connected with a jump-er and made a pair of free throws to seal the win, perhaps cementing the Celtics (23-5) as the top contenders to dethrone

the defending Eastern Conference champions.

The teams have each won a game on the other’s court this season and have two games left against each other.

“This was definitely a bench-mark game for us because we have been talking about this game for a long time,” Ray Allen said. “We did what we had to do and took care of the game.”This was exactly the game the

Celtics wanted.They beat and bruised the Magic’s front

line, smothering Howard so much he only had one shot attempt in the opening quar-

ter — a missed tip in the last minute — and struggled to get free until the final buzzer. The Celtics didn’t double-team the Magic’s center like so many teams do, mostly because they didn’t have to.

They had plenty of big bodies.“You’ve got to play him physical. You

watch other teams around the league, they pretty much let him set up shop,” Boston center Kendrick Perkins said. “You’ve just got to go in and be prepared to go to war. You’ve got to fight him first, hit him first.

“He likes to be physical, but he doesn’t like anyone to be physical with him.”

The Celtics’ formula worked to perfec-tion.

Garnett, Rasheed Wallace and Co. lim-ited Howard’s touches and were able to close out fast on Orlando’s potent shoot-ers. The physical play turned things into the kind of foul-filled defensive game where Boston flourishes.

CousinsContinued from Page 1B

“She’s got savvy and she can han-dle, pass and score the ball. Morgan is probably one of the best players to come through Parkwood in a long time, boys or girls. She’s an unbe-lievable talent with the ball in her hands, which is a big plus for us.”

McGee said Morgan is receiving interest from a few colleges, includ-ing Division I Western Carolina.

“Western (Carolina) calls me once or twice a week, so they’re highly in-terested,” said McGee. “They called a week or two before the season and mentioned her, and said they like what they see.”

The last time Parkwood was the top seed for the Holiday Classic was in 2003, when the Rebels brought home the title. McGee just hopes he can keep his team focused for the long week ahead.

“We like having a No. 1 seed and it’s something we look forward to, but with the timing of the tourna-ment with Christmas and every-thing else, it’s so easy to lose focus,” said McGee. “We are trying to go in and see the tournament as a new season. This is the time of year where team’s peak or drop off, and we don’t want to drop off.”

Photo by Jamie Belk

Parkwood High girls coach Jamel McGee (middle) has guided his team to a 7-0 start to the 2009-10 season.

Panthers on the road Tar HeelsContinued from Page 1B

“There’s an awful lot of just great memories of our families together, trips that we took with the staff and all of the things that coach-ing staffs go through,” Davis said. “It’s rare and unique, I guess, where someone that you spent that much time around and have so much respect for that you end up playing each other.”

Davis’ Tar Heels didn’t en-vision a second straight trip to Charlotte until an upset loss to North Carolina State in the regular-season finale saw them tumble in the At-lantic Coast Conference’s bowl pecking order.

But knocking off Pitt would be a satisfying finish to his third season as he tries to make North Carolina a prominent program. The Tar Heels lost a thriller to West Virginia here last year when Hakeem Nicks’ behind-the-back catch wasn’t enough to overcome Pat White’s late touchdown drive.

“I love it here in Charlotte. It’s a nice place and if I wasn’t going to a BCS bowl game, I would love to come back here,” said safety Deunta Williams, who has six interceptions. “So it’s working out for me and my family gets to come.”

North Carolina’s defense will be tested by Lewis, the small, soft-spoken tailback who has rushed for 1,640 yards and 16 touchdowns and is only 46 yards shy of Tony Dorsett’s freshman season total.


Fullback Brad Hoover and the Carolina Panthers travel to face the New York Giants on Sunday starting at 1 p.m. Hoover scored his first touchdown of the season in last week’s upset win over Minnesota.


Blondie by Dean Young & Mike Gersher B.C. by Johnny Hart

Dilbert by Scott Adams Peanuts by Charles M. Schultz

Garfield by Jim Davis The Born Loser by Art Sansom

Frank and Ernest by Bob Thaves Andy Capp by Reggie Smythe

Hagar the Horrible by Chris Browne The Wizard of Id by Bryant Parker & Johnny Hart

Dennis the Menace Family Circus

Encourage your children to read the newspaper.

DEAR ABBY: I have only re-cently realized how unhappy my parents’ marriage is. On the way home from a concert one night, my mom started crying and said how much she wanted to be with a man who could stay awake throughout a performance. Then she told me I should never get mar-ried. She said people “always grow apart.” She has been saying it repeatedly over the last few weeks and has even had some of her friends tell me the same thing.

I began asking other people about it, and they all act like they’re not happy in their marriages, either. I am now genuinely afraid to get mar-ried.

I am 18 and have just started dating a man you would con-sider marriage material. But I’m holding back my feelings because I’m afraid one day he might propose. Is “happily

ever after” achievable any-more in a marriage? -- UPSET IN GRAND RAPIDS

DEAR UPSET: Your parents’ marriage appears to have hit a rough patch. When your mother started crying after the concert, I guarantee she wasn’t crying because your father couldn’t stay awake until the end. She was crying because she was disappointed in him for something else.

While the intensity of feel-ings can fluctuate over time in a marriage, couples do not “always” grow apart. The fact

that your mother’s friends are echoing those sentiments makes me wonder what kind of a crowd she’s surround-ing herself with, because un-happy people usually attract other negative people.

While I know from experi-ence that a lasting, loving relationship/marriage is pos-sible, allow me to point out that the qualities that attract someone at 18 may not be nec-essarily the same ones you’ll find important when you’re older. That is why it’s im-portant that before you start thinking about marriage, you first establish yourself as an independent, self-supporting young woman and take your time before committing your-self to anyone.

***DEAR ABBY: A former

professor of mine was a good friend and very supportive last year when I was experi-

encing some personal diffi-culties. Recently I have heard that he has not been acting like himself. I was told he has developed a bad attitude, curs-es in class, and uses his de-gree to demean his students’ opinions on topics. One of his current students told me he’s surprised the professor hasn’t been thrown out of class for his behavior.

This is not the same profes-sor who helped me last year. It seems like his evil twin. I suspect he may be having some personal problems. Be-cause of our previous profes-sor/student relationship, I don’t think I can get involved. However, because of the help he gave me when I needed it, I care and would like to offer support. Is there anything I can do? I want my friend back. -- STUDENT WHO CARES

DEAR STUDENT: While it might not be appropriate for

you to reach out to your former professor directly, it still may be possible to get him some help. Tell the student who spoke to you that he and some of the other members of the class should talk to the head of the department or the dean about what has been going on and the fact that the professor may be in need of help. If the man is, indeed, having person-al problems, his supervisor would be in a better position to see he gets it than you are.

*** Write Dear Abby at www.

DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

***To receive a collection of

poems and essays, send a business-sized, self-addressed envelope, plus check or mon-ey order for $6 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby -- Keepers Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447.

Dear AbbyColumnist

Couples are not destined to grow apart with time

Dec. 26, 2009

ASTRO-GRAPHBy Bernice Bede Osol

Material prospects look to be quite encouraging for you in the year ahead. However, you may not receive the largest returns from the usual sources but from something or someone you con-sider to be less significant.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- If you have time, engage in a form of friendly competition, because activities that require both alertness and boldness could be the ones where you’ll outshine everyone else.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) -- To your credit, you’ll keep some information to yourself that could tarnish another’s im-age or reputation. The wisdom of your decision will prove to be quite fortunate.

PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) -- Social encounters with good friends could prove to be pleas-ant and beneficial. You may learn something from one of your pals that will prove quite

valuable.ARIES (March 21-April 19)

-- Play your hunches and follow your instincts when it comes to handling things of a material nature. Use these assets, along with your common sense, to better your lifestyle.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- Contacting a friend to extend a holiday greeting could turn out to be a lucky circumstance. In talking to your pal, he or she could explain how to acquire something you need.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- Something important needs to be changed, and it requires the help of another that you weren’t expecting to get until after the holiday season. How-ever, you’ll have this person’s full support.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- Fortunately, two friends are blessed with long memories and haven’t forgotten the nice things you’ve done for them. If you’re in need, ask and you shall receive.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- You’ll have no trouble handling

all those extra responsibilities that could befall you because of the holidays. In fact, the busier you are at this time, the happier it makes you.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Discovering something new could prove to be an enjoyable and useful experience. You’ll put this knowledge to work in several areas.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) -- When it comes to your af-fairs, you might expend only nominal effort toward taking care of them. But when loved ones need your help, you’ll hap-pily work vigorously on getting them what they need.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) -- Select companions who share many common interests to cel-ebrate some holiday cheer. You won’t want to spend this happy time with dullards or downers.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) -- Your customary channels of earnings could yield larger-than-usual rewards at this time. Be alert for ways to reap extra dividends, such as a raise or a Christmas bonus.

Horoscopes


CELEBRITY CIPHER

SUDOKU PUZZLE

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

ANNOUNCEMENTS

004 Legals09 SP 1687NOTICE OF

FORECLOSURE SALENORTH CAROLINA,

UNION COUNTYUnder and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Jessica L. Howlett and Terence L. Howlett, a married couple to Jake C. Helder, Trustee(s), which was dat-ed July 8, 2005 and record-ed on July 8, 2005 in Book 3836 at Page 837, Union County Registry, North Carolina. Default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Lisa S. Campbell, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidenc-ing said indebtedness hav-ing directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthousewhere the property is locat-ed, or the usual and cus-tomary location at the county courthouse for con-ducting the sale on Janu-ary 5, 2010 at 12:30PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the follow-ing described property situ-ated in Union County, North Carolina, to wit: BEING ALL OF LOT(S) 42, BLOCK M, HEMBYACRES, SECTION II AC-CORDING TO A PLAT DU-LY RECORDED IN MAPBOOK 6, PAGE 152, UN-ION COUNTY REGISTRY. Save and except any re-leases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of re-cord. Said property is commonly known as 5803 Woody Grove Road, Indian Trail, NC 28079. Third party purchasers must pay the excise tax, and the court costs of For-ty-Five Cents (45¢) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) pursuant to NCGS 7A-308(a)(1). Acash deposit (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichev-er is greater, will be re-quired at the time of the sale. Following the expira-tion of the statutory upset bid period, all the remain-ing amounts are immedi-ately due and owing. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and convey-ance “AS IS WHERE IS.”There are no representa-tions of warranty relating to the title or any physical, en-vironmental, health or safe-ty conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, un-paid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special as-sessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of re-lease, and any other en-cumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the cur-rent owner(s) of the proper-ty is/are Terence L. Howlett and wife, Jessica L. Howl-ett. An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any per-son who occupies the prop-erty pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after Octo-ber 1, 2007, may, after re-ceiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agree-ment upon 10 days’ written notice to the landlord. The notice shall also state that upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is li-able for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit.Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validi-ty of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further reme-dy.

004 LegalsLisa S. Campbell Substitute Trustee PO Box 4006 Wilmington, NC 28406 PHONE: 910-392-4971 FAX: 910-392-8051 File No.: 09-10085-FC01 December 26, 2009January 2, 2010

09 SP 1314NOTICE OF


UNION COUNTYUnder and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by JOSHUAALEXANDER to PRLAP, INC., Trustee(s), which was dated May 31, 2006 and recorded on June 2, 2006 in Book 04182 at Page 0385, Union County Registry, North Carolina. Default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Brock & Scott, PLLC, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Union County, North Carolina, and the holder of the note evidenc-ing said indebtedness hav-ing directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthousewhere the property is locat-ed, or the usual and cus-tomary location at the county courthouse for con-ducting the sale on Janu-ary 5, 2010 at 12:30PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the follow-ing described property situ-ated in Union County, North Carolina, to wit: BEING all of Lot 8 of WENSLEY PARK, as same is shown on a map thereof in Plat Cabinet H at File Number 577, 588 and 589 in the Union County Public Registry. Save and except any re-leases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of re-cord. Said property is commonly known as 411 Dexter Place, Monroe, NC 28110. Third party purchasers must pay the excise tax, and the court costs of For-ty-Five Cents (45¢) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) pursuant to NCGS 7A-308(a)(1). Acash deposit (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichev-er is greater, will be re-quired at the time of the sale. Following the expira-tion of the statutory upset bid period, all the remain-ing amounts are immedi-ately due and owing. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and convey-ance “AS IS WHERE IS.”There are no representa-tions of warranty relating to the title or any physical, en-vironmental, health or safe-ty conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, un-paid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special as-sessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of re-lease, and any other en-cumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the cur-rent owner(s) of the proper-ty is/are Joshua Alexander. An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any per-son who occupies the prop-erty pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after Octo-ber 1, 2007, may, after re-ceiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agree-ment upon 10 days’ written notice to the landlord. The notice shall also state that upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is li-able for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit.Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validi-ty of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they

004 Legalsbelieve the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further reme-dy. THIS IS A COMMUNICA-TION FROM A DEBT COL-LECTOR. THE PURPOSE OF THIS COMMUNICA-TION IS TO COLLECT ADEBT AND ANY INFOR-MATION OBTAINED WILLBE USED FOR THATPURPOSE, EXCEPT IN THE INSTANCE OF BANKRUPTCY PROTEC-TION. IF YOU ARE UN-DER THE PROTECTION OF THE BANKRUPTCYCOURT OR HAVE BEEN DISCHARGED AS A RE-SULT OF A BANKRUPT-CY PROCEEDING, THIS NOTICE IS GIVEN TO YOU PURSUANT TO STATUTORY REQUIRE-MENT AND FOR INFOR-MATIONAL PURPOSES AND IS NOT INTENDED AS AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT OR AS AN ACT TO COLLECT, ASSESS, OR RECOVER ALL OR ANY PORTION OF THE DEBT FROM YOU PERSONALLY. Substitute Trustee Brock & Scott, PLLC Jeremy B. Wilkins, NCSB No. 32346 5431 Oleander Drive Suite 200 Wilmington, NC 28403 PHONE: (910) 392-4988 FAX: (910) 392-8587 File No.: 09-16215-FC01 December 26, 2009January 2, 2010

09 SP 1410NOTICE OF


UNION COUNTYUnder and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by Jeremie W Winters, married to AN-DREW VALENTINE, Trust-ee(s), which was dated Ju-ly 19, 2006 and recorded on July 24, 2006 in Book 04238 at Page 0101, Union County Registry, North Carolina. Default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Brock & Scott, PLLC, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Union County, North Carolina, and the holder of the note evidenc-ing said indebtedness hav-ing directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthousewhere the property is locat-ed, or the usual and cus-tomary location at the county courthouse for con-ducting the sale on Janu-ary 5, 2010 at 12:30PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the follow-ing described property situ-ated in Union County, North Carolina, to wit: BEING all of Lot 182 of WESLEY CHAPEL, MAP6, as same is shown on a map thereof recorded in Plat Cabinet J, File No. 16, in the Union County Public Registry. Save and except any re-leases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of re-cord. Said property is commonly known as 716 Perth Drive, Monroe, NC 28110. Third party purchasers must pay the excise tax, and the court costs of For-ty-Five Cents (45¢) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) pursuant to NCGS 7A-308(a)(1). Acash deposit (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichev-er is greater, will be re-quired at the time of the sale. Following the expira-tion of the statutory upset bid period, all the remain-ing amounts are immedi-ately due and owing. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and convey-ance “AS IS WHERE IS.”There are no representa-tions of warranty relating to the title or any physical, en-vironmental, health or safe-ty conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, un-paid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special as-sessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of re-lease, and any other en-cumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the cur-rent owner(s) of the proper-

004 Legalsty is/are Jeremie W. Win-ters. An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any per-son who occupies the prop-erty pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after Octo-ber 1, 2007, may, after re-ceiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agree-ment upon 10 days’ written notice to the landlord. The notice shall also state that upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is li-able for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit.Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validi-ty of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further reme-dy. THIS IS A COMMUNICA-TION FROM A DEBT COL-LECTOR. THE PURPOSE OF THIS COMMUNICA-TION IS TO COLLECT ADEBT AND ANY INFOR-MATION OBTAINED WILLBE USED FOR THATPURPOSE, EXCEPT IN THE INSTANCE OF BANKRUPTCY PROTEC-TION. IF YOU ARE UN-DER THE PROTECTION OF THE BANKRUPTCYCOURT OR HAVE BEEN DISCHARGED AS A RE-SULT OF A BANKRUPT-CY PROCEEDING, THIS NOTICE IS GIVEN TO YOU PURSUANT TO STATUTORY REQUIRE-MENT AND FOR INFOR-MATIONAL PURPOSES AND IS NOT INTENDED AS AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT OR AS AN ACT TO COLLECT, ASSESS, OR RECOVER ALL OR ANY PORTION OF THE DEBT FROM YOU PERSONALLY. Substitute Trustee Brock & Scott, PLLC Jeremy B. Wilkins, NCSB No. 32346 5431 Oleander Drive Suite 200 Wilmington, NC 28403 PHONE: (910) 392-4988 FAX: (910) 392-8587 File No.: 09-17144-FC01 December 26, 2009January 2, 2010

09 SP 1449NOTICE OF


UNION COUNTYUnder and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by DAVID M MCKINNON, Single to M.D. Parker, Trustee(s), which was dated August 26, 1999 and recorded on August 26, 1999 in Book 1292 at Page 341, Union County Registry, North Carolina. Default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Brock & Scott, PLLC, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidenc-ing said indebtedness hav-ing directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthousewhere the property is locat-ed, or the usual and cus-tomary location at the county courthouse for con-ducting the sale on Janu-ary 5, 2010 at 12:30PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the follow-ing described property situ-ated in Union County, North Carolina, to wit: BEING known and desig-nated as all of Lot 168 of the subdivision known as BROOKSTONE VILLAGE, PHASE 1 as shown on plat duly recorded in Plat Cabi-net D, File 249 of the Union County Public Registry. To-gether with improvements located thereon; said prop-erty being located at 3310 BrookTree Lane, Indian Trail, North Carolina. Save and except any re-leases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of re-cord.

004 LegalsSaid property is commonly known as 3310 Brooktree Lane, Indian Trail, NC 28079. Third party purchasers must pay the excise tax, and the court costs of For-ty-Five Cents (45¢) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) pursuant to NCGS 7A-308(a)(1). Acash deposit (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichev-er is greater, will be re-quired at the time of the sale. Following the expira-tion of the statutory upset bid period, all the remain-ing amounts are immedi-ately due and owing. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and convey-ance “AS IS WHERE IS.”There are no representa-tions of warranty relating to the title or any physical, en-vironmental, health or safe-ty conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, un-paid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special as-sessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of re-lease, and any other en-cumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the cur-rent owner(s) of the proper-ty is/are Blue Moon City Trust. An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any per-son who occupies the prop-erty pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after Octo-ber 1, 2007, may, after re-ceiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agree-ment upon 10 days’ written notice to the landlord. The notice shall also state that upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is li-able for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit.Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validi-ty of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further reme-dy. Substitute Trustee Brock & Scott, PLLC Jeremy B. Wilkins, NCSB No. 32346 5431 Oleander Drive Suite 200 Wilmington, NC 28403 PHONE: (910) 392-4988 FAX: (910) 392-8587 File No.: 09-17196-FC02 December 26, 2009January 2, 2010

09 SP 1450NOTICE OF


UNION COUNTYUnder and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by NINA YAKI-MENKO to *UNION* TRUSTEE SERVICES OF CAROLINA, LLC, Trustee(s), which was dat-ed March 10, 2006 and re-corded on March 16, 2006 in Book 04096 at Page 0803, Union County Regis-try, North Carolina. Default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Brock & Scott, PLLC, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidenc-ing said indebtedness hav-ing directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthousewhere the property is locat-ed, or the usual and cus-tomary location at the county courthouse for con-ducting the sale on Janu-ary 5, 2010 at 12:30PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the follow-ing described property situ-ated in Union County, North Carolina, to wit: BEING ALL OF LOT 1,


2003 Cadillac Seville STS Loaded, like new,

new M iche lin tires. 41 ,000 M iles. $14,500 704-608-4748 9A-9P

004 Legals1.85 ACRE OF THE MAUDE C. GRIFFIN HEIRS PROPERTY AS SHOWN ON PLAT RE-CORDED IN PLAT CABI-NET I, FILE 786, A REVI-SION OF PLAT CABINETI, FILE 565. Save and except any re-leases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of re-cord. Said property is commonly known as 504 Clover Leaf Road, Marshville, NC 28103. Third party purchasers must pay the excise tax, and the court costs of For-ty-Five Cents (45¢) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) pursuant to NCGS 7A-308(a)(1). Acash deposit (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichev-er is greater, will be re-quired at the time of the sale. Following the expira-tion of the statutory upset bid period, all the remain-ing amounts are immedi-ately due and owing. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and convey-ance “AS IS WHERE IS.”There are no representa-tions of warranty relating to the title or any physical, en-vironmental, health or safe-ty conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, un-paid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special as-sessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of re-lease, and any other en-cumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the cur-rent owner(s) of the proper-ty is/are Nina Yakimenko. An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any per-son who occupies the prop-erty pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after Octo-ber 1, 2007, may, after re-ceiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agree-ment upon 10 days’ written notice to the landlord. The notice shall also state that upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is li-able for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit.Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validi-ty of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further reme-dy. Substitute Trustee Brock & Scott, PLLC Jeremy B. Wilkins, NCSB No. 32346 5431 Oleander Drive Suite 200 Wilmington, NC 28403 PHONE: (910) 392-4988 FAX: (910) 392-8587 File No.: 09-17529-FC01December 26, 2009January 2, 2010

09 SP 1451NOTICE OF


UNION COUNTYUnder and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by WILLIAM E DONAGHUE to TRSTE, INC., Trustee(s), which was dated March 31, 2005 and recorded on March 31, 2005 in Book 3734 at Page 736, Union County Regis-try, North Carolina. Default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Brock & Scott, PLLC, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidenc-ing said indebtedness hav-ing directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthousewhere the property is locat-ed, or the usual and cus-tomary location at the county courthouse for con-ducting the sale on Janu-ary 5, 2010 at 12:30PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the follow-ing described property situ-ated in Union County, North Carolina, to wit: ATTACHED TO, AND IN-CORPORATED BY REF-ERENCE IN, THAT CER-TAIN DEED OF TRUSTFROM WILLIAM E. DONA-GHUE TO TRSTE, INC., TRUSTEE FOR WACHO-VIA MORTGAGE CORPO-RATION, RECORDED IN BOOK 3734, PAGE 736, UNION COUNTY REGIS-TRY. Tax Code: 09-234-073 BEGINNING at a point as evidenced by an iron on the eastern margin of Sum-mit Street, said point being a common corner with Bar-lena Perry (now Snyder) (said point also being the point at which the center line of Dillon Street, now closed, would have inter-sected with Summit Street); runs thence from said BEGINNING point along the eastern margin of Summit Street North 0 de-grees 15 minutes East 220.00 feet to a point as evidenced by an iron; runs thence common line with Lot #2, South 89 degrees 45 minutes East 163.00 feet to a point as evi-

004 Legalsdenced by an iron; runs thence with a fence line South 4 degrees 53 mi-nutes 30 seconds East a total distance of 220.80 feet; runs thence common line with said Barlena Perry (now Snyder) property, North 89 degrees 45 mi-nutes West 181.00 feet to the point and place of BE-GINNING and being all of Lots 3, 4, 5 and 6 in Block 4 of Armfield Heights Sub-division in Plat Book 1, page 157, and the northern half of Dillon Street, now closed, as shown upon map of survey dated 09-17-76 by Walter L. Gordon, R.L.S. See Deed recorded in Book 3684, page 0858, Un-ion County Registry. Save and except any re-leases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of re-cord. Said property is commonly known as 715 Summit Street, Monroe, NC 28112. Third party purchasers must pay the excise tax, and the court costs of For-ty-Five Cents (45¢) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) pursuant to NCGS 7A-308(a)(1). Acash deposit (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichev-er is greater, will be re-quired at the time of the sale. Following the expira-tion of the statutory upset bid period, all the remain-ing amounts are immedi-ately due and owing. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and convey-ance “AS IS WHERE IS.”There are no representa-tions of warranty relating to the title or any physical, en-vironmental, health or safe-ty conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, un-paid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special as-sessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of re-lease, and any other en-cumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the cur-rent owner(s) of the proper-ty is/are All Lawful Heirs of William Edward Donaghue. An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any per-son who occupies the prop-erty pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after Octo-ber 1, 2007, may, after re-ceiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agree-ment upon 10 days’ written notice to the landlord. The notice shall also state that upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is li-able for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit.Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validi-ty of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further reme-dy. Substitute Trustee Brock & Scott, PLLC Jeremy B. Wilkins, NCSB No. 32346 5431 Oleander Drive Suite 200 Wilmington, NC 28403 PHONE: (910) 392-4988 FAX: (910) 392-8587 File No.: 09-17629-FC01 December 26, 2009January 2, 2010

09 SP 1686NOTICE OF


UNION COUNTYUnder and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by TANGELA C PRATT AND HUSBAND TRAVIUS L. PRATT AKATRAVIUS PRATT to PRLAP, INC., Trustee(s), which was dated January 31, 2007 and recorded on February 2, 2007 in Book 04448 at Page 0641, Union County Registry, North Carolina. Default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Brock & Scott, PLLC, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidenc-ing said indebtedness hav-ing directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthousewhere the property is locat-ed, or the usual and cus-tomary location at the county courthouse for con-ducting the sale on Janu-ary 5, 2010 at 12:30PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the follow-ing described property situ-ated in Union County, North Carolina, to wit: LYING AND BEING SIT-UATE IN UNION COUN-TY, NORTH CAROLINA, AND BEING MORE PAR-TICULARLY DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS: BEING ALL OF LOT 312, SOUTH-WINDS, PHASE 2, MAP 2, ACCORDING TO THE PLAT THEREOF, RE-CORDED IN PLAT CABI-NET J, FILE 158, IN THE OFFICE OF THE REGIS-TER OF DEEDS OF UN-ION COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA.

004 LegalsSave and except any re-leases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of re-cord. Said property is commonly known as 755 Skywatch Lane, Monroe, NC 28112. Third party purchasers must pay the excise tax, and the court costs of For-ty-Five Cents (45¢) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) pursuant to NCGS 7A-308(a)(1). Acash deposit (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichev-er is greater, will be re-quired at the time of the sale. Following the expira-tion of the statutory upset bid period, all the remain-ing amounts are immedi-ately due and owing. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and convey-ance “AS IS WHERE IS.”There are no representa-tions of warranty relating to the title or any physical, en-vironmental, health or safe-ty conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, un-paid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special as-sessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of re-lease, and any other en-cumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the cur-rent owner(s) of the proper-ty is/are Tangela C. Pratt and husband, Travius L. Pratt. An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any per-son who occupies the prop-erty pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after Octo-ber 1, 2007, may, after re-ceiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agree-ment upon 10 days’ written notice to the landlord. The notice shall also state that upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is li-able for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit.Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validi-ty of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further reme-dy. Substitute Trustee Brock & Scott, PLLC Jeremy B. Wilkins, NCSB No. 32346 5431 Oleander Drive Suite 200 Wilmington, NC 28403 PHONE: (910) 392-4988 FAX: (910) 392-8587 File No.: 09-19571-FC01 December 26, 2009January 2, 2010

09 SP 1856NOTICE OF


UNION COUNTYUnder and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by HENRYOKEKE AND IBUKUN OKEKE, HUSBAND AND WIFE to FIDELITY NA-TIONAL TITLE, Trustee(s), which was dated June 13, 2008 and recorded on June 16, 2008 in Book 04916 at Page 0473, Union County Registry, North Carolina. Default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Lisa S. Campbell, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidenc-ing said indebtedness hav-ing directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthousewhere the property is locat-ed, or the usual and cus-tomary location at the county courthouse for con-ducting the sale on Janu-ary 5, 2010 at 12:30PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the follow-ing described property situ-ated in Union County, North Carolina, to wit: Being all of Lot 694 of Cris-mark, Section I, Phase 11, Map 1, as same is shown on map thereof recorded in Plat Cabinet H at File 697 in the Union Public Regis-try. Parcel # 07057823 Save and except any re-leases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of re-cord. Said property is commonly known as 1001 Breakmak-er Lane, Indian Trail, NC 28079. Third party purchasers must pay the excise tax, and the court costs of For-ty-Five Cents (45¢) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) pursuant to NCGS 7A-308(a)(1). Acash deposit (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichev-er is greater, will be re-quired at the time of the sale. Following the expira-tion of the statutory upset bid period, all the remain-ing amounts are immedi-ately due and owing. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and convey-

004 Legalsance “AS IS WHERE IS.”There are no representa-tions of warranty relating to the title or any physical, en-vironmental, health or safe-ty conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, un-paid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special as-sessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of re-lease, and any other en-cumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the cur-rent owner(s) of the proper-ty is/are Henry okeke and wife Ibukun okeke. An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any per-son who occupies the prop-erty pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after Octo-ber 1, 2007, may, after re-ceiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agree-ment upon 10 days’ written notice to the landlord. The notice shall also state that upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is li-able for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit.Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validi-ty of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further reme-dy. Lisa S. Campbell Substitute Trustee PO Box 4006 Wilmington, NC 28406 PHONE: 910-392-4971 FAX: 910-392-8051 File No.: 09-00363-FC01 December 26, 2009January 2, 2010

09 SP 549NOTICE OF


UNION COUNTYUnder and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by SEAMUS EYERLY AND JANINE N EYERLY aka Janine Eyer-ly, HUSBAND AND WIFE to WILLIAM R. ECHOLS, Trustee(s), which was dat-ed January 28, 2003 and recorded on February 4, 2003 in Book 2054 at Page 339, Union County Regis-try, North Carolina. Default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Lisa S. Campbell, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust by an instrument duly recorded in the Office of the Register of Deeds of Union County, North Carolina, and the holder of the note evidenc-ing said indebtedness hav-ing directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthousewhere the property is locat-ed, or the usual and cus-tomary location at the county courthouse for con-ducting the sale on Janu-ary 7, 2010 at 12:30PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the follow-ing described property situ-ated in Union County, North Carolina, to wit: BEING all of Lot 34 of Braefield, Phase 2, Map 1, as shown on plat thereof recorded in Plat Cabinet F, File No. 182, Union County Public Registry. Save and except any re-leases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of re-cord. Said property is commonly known as 3613 Braefield Drive, Indian Trail, NC 28079. Third party purchasers must pay the excise tax, and the court costs of For-ty-Five Cents (45¢) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) pursuant to NCGS 7A-308(a)(1). Acash deposit (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichev-er is greater, will be re-quired at the time of the sale. Following the expira-tion of the statutory upset bid period, all the remain-ing amounts are immedi-ately due and owing. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and convey-ance “AS IS WHERE IS.”There are no representa-tions of warranty relating to the title or any physical, en-vironmental, health or safe-ty conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, un-paid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special as-sessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of re-lease, and any other en-cumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the cur-rent owner(s) of the proper-ty is/are Janine N. Eyerly and husband, Seamus Eyerly. An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any per-

004 Legalsson who occupies the prop-erty pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after Octo-ber 1, 2007, may, after re-ceiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agree-ment upon 10 days’ written notice to the landlord. The notice shall also state that upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is li-able for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit.Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validi-ty of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further reme-dy. THIS IS A COMMUNICA-TION FROM A DEBT COL-LECTOR. THE PURPOSE OF THIS COMMUNICA-TION IS TO COLLECT ADEBT AND ANY INFOR-MATION OBTAINED WILLBE USED FOR THATPURPOSE, EXCEPT IN THE INSTANCE OF BANKRUPTCY PROTEC-TION. IF YOU ARE UN-DER THE PROTECTION OF THE BANKRUPTCYCOURT OR HAVE BEEN DISCHARGED AS A RE-SULT OF A BANKRUPT-CY PROCEEDING, THIS NOTICE IS GIVEN TO YOU PURSUANT TO STATUTORY REQUIRE-MENT AND FOR INFOR-MATIONAL PURPOSES AND IS NOT INTENDED AS AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT OR AS AN ACT TO COLLECT, ASSESS, OR RECOVER ALL OR ANY PORTION OF THE DEBT FROM YOU PERSONALLY. Lisa S. Campbell Substitute Trustee PO Box 4006 Wilmington, NC 28406 PHONE: 910-392-4971 FAX: 910-392-8051 File No.: 09-02474-FC01 December 26, 2009January 2, 2010

09 SP 621NOTICE OF


UNION COUNTYUnder and by virtue of a Power of Sale contained in that certain Deed of Trust executed by NDIDI UTTI-PINE to PRLAP, INC., Trustee(s), which was dat-ed May 22, 2007 and re-corded on May 24, 2007 in Book 04563 at Page 0433, Union County Registry, North Carolina. Default having been made in the payment of the note thereby secured by the said Deed of Trust and the undersigned, Brock & Scott, PLLC, having been substituted as Trustee in said Deed of Trust, and the holder of the note evidenc-ing said indebtedness hav-ing directed that the Deed of Trust be foreclosed, the undersigned Substitute Trustee will offer for sale at the courthouse door of the county courthousewhere the property is locat-ed, or the usual and cus-tomary location at the county courthouse for con-ducting the sale on Janu-ary 5, 2010 at 12:30PM, and will sell to the highest bidder for cash the follow-ing described property situ-ated in Union County, North Carolina, to wit: Being all of Lot 2 of PROV-IDENCE GROVE SUBDI-VISION, PHASE 2, MAP 3, as same is shown on map thereof recorded in Plat Cabinet J File 388-389, Un-ion County, North Carolina. Deed Reference: Book 3298 Page 547 and Book 3298 Page 709 The improvements thereon being known as 8228 PEN-MAN SPRINGS DRIVE, Waxhaw, NC 28173 Save and except any re-leases, deeds of release or prior conveyances of re-cord. Said property is commonly known as 8228 Penman Springs Drive, Waxhaw, NC 28173. Third party purchasers must pay the excise tax, and the court costs of For-ty-Five Cents (45¢) per One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) pursuant to NCGS 7A-308(a)(1). Acash deposit (no personal checks) of five percent (5%) of the purchase price, or Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00), whichev-er is greater, will be re-quired at the time of the sale. Following the expira-tion of the statutory upset bid period, all the remain-ing amounts are immedi-ately due and owing. Said property to be offered pursuant to this Notice of Sale is being offered for sale, transfer and convey-ance “AS IS WHERE IS.”

004 LegalsThere are no representa-tions of warranty relating to the title or any physical, en-vironmental, health or safe-ty conditions existing in, on, at, or relating to the property being offered for sale. This sale is made subject to all prior liens, un-paid taxes, any unpaid land transfer taxes, special as-sessments, easements, rights of way, deeds of re-lease, and any other en-cumbrances or exceptions of record. To the best of the knowledge and belief of the undersigned, the cur-rent owner(s) of the proper-ty is/are Ndidi Uttipine. An Order for possession of the property may be issued pursuant to G.S. 45-21.29 in favor of the purchaser and against the party or parties in possession by the clerk of superior court of the county in which the property is sold. Any per-son who occupies the prop-erty pursuant to a rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after Octo-ber 1, 2007, may, after re-ceiving the notice of sale, terminate the rental agree-ment upon 10 days’ written notice to the landlord. The notice shall also state that upon termination of a rental agreement, the tenant is li-able for rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date of the termination. If the trustee is unable to convey title to this property for any reason, the sole remedy of the purchaser is the return of the deposit.Reasons of such inability to convey include, but are not limited to, the filing of a bankruptcy petition prior to the confirmation of the sale and reinstatement of the loan without the knowledge of the trustee. If the validi-ty of the sale is challenged by any party, the trustee, in their sole discretion, if they believe the challenge to have merit, may request the court to declare the sale to be void and return the deposit. The purchaser will have no further reme-dy. Substitute Trustee Brock & Scott, PLLC Jeremy B. Wilkins, NCSB No. 32346 5431 Oleander Drive Suite 200 Wilmington, NC 28403 PHONE: (910) 392-4988 FAX: (910) 392-8587 File No.: 09-07447-FC01 December 26, 2009January 2, 2010

005 Special Notices★★★★★★★★★★★★

GENERALINFORMATION

HOURS 8:00am-4:30pm

DEADLINES

In ColumnCall before 1:30pm the day prior to publication. For Sat-urday call before 3:30pm on Thursday and for Sunday call before 1:30 pm on Fri-day.

Display

Sunday 12 Noon ThursTuesday 4PM FridayWed. 4PM MondayThursday 4PM TuesdayFriday 4PM Wed.Saturday 10AM Thurs

POLICIES

The Enquirer-Journal re-serves the right to edit or re-ject and correctly classify an ad at any time. The Enquir-er-Journal will assume no li-ability for omission of adver-tising material in whole or in part.

ERRORS

Please check your ad the first day it runs. If you find an error, call the first day so your ad can be corrected. The Enquirer-Journal will give credit for only the first incorrect publication.

PAYMENT

Pre-payment is required for all individual ads and all business ads. Business ac-counts may apply for pre-ap-proved credit. For your con-venience, we accept Visa, Master Card, cash, or checks

FAX: 704-289-2929★★★★★★★★★★★★

014 Lost & FoundFound female bk & wht dog

with lg ears & feet, 6-7yrs, New Salem Polk Mt. area (704)962-6177

Found female blue merle Aust. cattle dog, Austin Rd. & Landsford call to identify (704)320-6317

FREE FOUND

ADSIf you find an item, call us and place your FREE ad.3 LINES, 5 DAYS,

014 Lost & Found

FREEThere is a charge for

Lost AdsThe

Enquirer-JournalCLASSIFIED

DEPARTMENT704-261-2214

BUSINESS SERVICES

EMPLOYMENT

040 Help WantedAvon- Do you need an extra $200-500? Act now!Ft/Pt. Free gift. Medical Ins. avail. 704/821-7398

Experienced Housekeep-ers Needed Apply in per-son @300 Clanton Rd., Charlotte, NC E-verifia-ble, Background tested, bring references Hourly plus bonus 704-676-0990

INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR

Needed Newspaper Delivery

Routes Available

MarshvilleEarly Morning Hours

Paid Weekly 18-24 Hours Weekly

Plus New Subscriber Commission

BRINGDRIVER’S

LICENSE &INSURANCE

CARDWITH YOU.YOU MUST HAVE

• Clean Driving Record • Current Auto Insurance • Economical Dependable • Vehicle Backup Vehicle

•Cell phone •Substitute

Apply in person 9:00AM-4:00PM

The Enquirer-Journal500 W. Jefferson St. Monroe, NC 28110

Quality Control Earn up to $100 a day, evaluate re-tail stores, training provid-ed, No exp req’d. call 877-395-0050

READERNOTICE!While many work-at-home opportunities listed provide real in-come, many seek only to sell booklets or cata-logs on how to get such work.

Please usecaution when responding to all such ads.

PETS & LIVESTOCK

060 Pets & SuppliesADBA Reg. Pitt pups 12

wks, chocolate, old family red nose $250ea. 704-634-7075

Full blooded Chihuahuas, wormed/shots, 6 wks-ready for Christmas. $200 Each. (704)283-8680

Jack Russell pups $125ea.

(704)753-2165

MERCHANDISE

069 AppliancesRefrigerator & Stoves

$99.99 Washers & Dryers $79.99

704-649-3821

090 Miscellaneous

Metal Roofing 3ft wide $1.40 LF 1-803-789-5500

New 8000 watt generator15hp Briggs engine, $1000 (704)242-1843

092 Firewood

Seasoned Firewood$65 a load delivered

(704)821-8395

FINANCIAL

104 Bus. Opportunities

108 Money To Loan

Advance Fee Loans or Credit OffersCompanies that do business by phone can’t ask you to pay for credit before you get it.For more information, call toll-free 1-877-FTC-HELP.A public service message from The Enquirer-Journal and The Federal Trade Commission.

109 REAL ESTATE

REAL ESTATE - RENT

112 Apartments

1 bed 1 bath Apartment$450 Cotton St. Monroe

Unionville Realty 704-753-1000

Beautiful 2br 1.5ba Cedar Bend Townhome in Monroe $650mo. (704)296-2428

★ Monroe Apt. ★Special 2br 2ba

Move in by DEC. 1st. Get Jan & Feb FREE

Beautiful & quiet paid water

704-289-5949

★★★★★★★★★★★1/2 off 1st mo. rent !!

Ask about other specialsCompletely Remodeled 2br, 1.5ba Townhouse

Small pets allowed Shown by appt only

704-283-1912 ★★★★★★★★★★★

Newly RemodeledTownhouse 2bd/1.5 ba

$600mo.704-283-3097

113 Duplexes

1br 1ba duplex gas heat cent air private deck, year lease +dep. req’d no pets, 704-201-9534 leave msg

1br 1ba duplex spacious, cent H/A, $437mo. 903 AGuild, ref’s & dep req’d (704)225-1543

114 Houses For Rent

$200/mo! 3 bed 2 ba! 5% dn, 15 yrs @ 8%!

For Listings 800-749-8106 x H611

2450sf up to 5br, 2.5ba 2 car gar, corner lot Wing-ate, kit/dining comb, $1250mo (704)291-7296

Near Cane Creek Parksmall brick ranch hdwd flrs, storage bldg $700mo +dep 704-843-1676

Nearly new 3 & 4BR in Monroe, $800-$950mo. (704)289-5410

Owner financing 3br 2.5batown home. $149,900.00 owner financing available. 4005 F Christine LaneWaxhaw NC (Alma Vil-lage) Call 704-609-5463

REAL ESTATE - SALE

MOBILE HOMES

138 Mobile Homes - Rent

Very nice 5 mls out New Town Rd. 2br 1ba$525mo.+dep new paint 980-721-6214

Wingate: 2BR 2BA $525;3BR 2BA $600. Cent H/A. No pets. 704-451-8408

140 Mobile Homes - Sale

$500.00 DN moves you in. Call and ask me how. 704-225-8850

Land Owners Wanted Zero Down

call for details (704)225-8850

TRANSPORTATION

158 Trucks For Sale1977 GMC w/12 ft dump

$6500. 1985 Chev-30 Series w/12 ft dump. T190 Bobcat skid steer, cab & air. JD 332 skid steer, cab & air.

704-400-1510Thank You For ChoosingThe Enquirer-Journal


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To advertise your business & services for as little as $2.72 per day in this section call 704-261-2213

B USINESS AND S ERVICE D IRECTORY

Chimney Cleaning Construction Firewood Masonry Mini Storage

To Subscribe Call704-261-2219

Check the classifiedsdaily! There’s always

something new!www.enquirerjournal.com

ReadThe E-J

FOR SALE BY OWNER, NORTH MYRTLE BEACH HOUSE

$725,000 5 BD, 4 BTH, ON CHANNEL,

TWO BLOCKS FROM BEACH WWW.NORTHMYRTLEBEACHTRAVEL.COM,

RENTAL HOUSE NAME, AQUAVIEW, 704-975-5996,[email protected]

REDUCED! REDUCED!

2224 heated sq. ft. Built in 2004. Like new inside and out 3-4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, stone

and vinyl exterior, new appliances.

2322 Lexington Ave. (Near New Walter Bickett Elem.)

$169,900 to buy or lease to purchase. Call 704-488-7722

LEASE TO OWN!!

Michael Calabrese 704-231-7750

881 Clonmel Drive • Desired Shannamara Golf Community Breathtaking brick home w/open floor plan. Master on main. Gourmet kitchen w/extras. Oversize bedrooms & Loft. Beautiful landscape w/deck, & in-ground pool. Fenced yard w/ mature trees behind for privacy. For more information and virtual tour visit http: //www.MyRealtorMichael.com/ Offered at $399,900

$169,000

4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2 car garage. Over 2000 square feet. Near Waxhaw.

704-621-7799

For Sale REDUCED New 2007, 3BR, 2BA, 2 car garage, rec room, s/s appliances, ceramic tile,

1 ac lot, lots of extras. Must see! $167,400

CALL 704-243-4656

3BR 2B home on 1.23 acres Pageland SC. home has sheetrock walls, new laminate floors, berber carpet, front

and rear decks, septic tank, Pela storm doors, counter tops, whirlpool tub with jets. heat pump is 2 yrs old.

Refri, stove and dishwasher and gas logs to remain. This home is top of the line. Home can be seen on my web site : terripurser.remax-carolina.com list price $79,500.

Call 704-488-5869 Terri Purser Re/Max Steeplechase Monroe

Enjoy entertaining in this wonderful Marshville home: over 3500 sq. ft. on

2 acres. Holiday dinners a breeze to prepare in the spacious kitchen. Grand living

and dining rooms. 5 bedrooms; 5 fireplaces; den; screeened porch.

Call Elsie: 704-363-8815 PRUDENTIAL CAROLINAS REALTY

Attention Golfers FOR SALE BY OWNER 2731 Rolling Hills Drive

704-283-6519 or 704-242-1303 Brick home w/approx. 3200 sq. ft. w/4 large BDs, 3 Full BAs, 2 half BAs, GR room w/rock fireplace w/gas logs. Formal dining room, Bkfst room & kitchen w/pantry. Rear deck overlooking large yard w/garden spot. Oversized garage. Porter Ridge School District.

.87 ac cul-de-sac lot. Gated Community with full amenities; Swim,Tennis,

Club House. $189,000. MLS#850338.

SKYECROFT

Call Remax Executive: 704.602.8295, Lara Taylor

Lot $30,000 5930 Timbertop Lane Charlotte, NC 28215

Jeff Hall - Realtor/Broker 980-722-6702-cell [email protected]

3 Bedroom, 2 Bath, Ranch home with all new tile flooring/all new neutral

carpet thru out/Master bath has dual sinks/garden tubshower.

Kitchen has new installed oven. Jeff Hall - Realtor/Broker

980-722-6702-cell [email protected]

3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath. Gourmet kitchen with granite countertops/

hardwoods and ceramic tile/jacuzzi jet master bath.

Jeff Hall - Realtor/Broker 980-722-6702-cell [email protected]

Hamilton Place • 2808 Arrowhead Ct. $172,500 3 Bed/2 1/2 Bath/+Bonus Room,

1760 sq. ft. / .39 acre premium lot, 2 Car Garage, Gas FP, New Paint, Carpet, ceramic tile, counter tops

& gutters. Master suite w/trey ceiling. Contact Perkins Properties, 704-579-1364 MLS 717444

For Sale by Owner, 50 acres Piedmont schools, well installed perk permitted.

Mostly wooded, some grass.

Call day 704-291-1061 or night 704-289-1734

$500,000

R EAL E STATE L ISTINGS Let us help your dreams come true ...... Check out these fantastic homes and land deals in our area!

Keffer Hyundai2009 Hyundai Tuscon GLS

Not too Big Not Too Small, It’s Just Right! Great Gas Mileage, ESC, 6 Airbags, 140HP Auto-matic, A/C Power Windows and Locks!

#95005

2010 Hyundai Accent Blue

110 Horse Power, The Right Car, Right NowWarranty, Price and MPG!

#04007

2009 Hyundai Santa Fe GLS

Great for the Last Panther Game!GLS, Auto, Power WindowsOur BEST Selling SUV

#93147

2010 Hyundai Veracruz GLS

Luxury SUV for LESS! 260 Horse Power, Top Safety Pick, Very Roomy

#01006

2009 Hyundai Sante Fe Limited

All the Luxury, All the $avings

#93051

2010 Hyundai Elantra

Advertise Your IQ, Not Your Income! Luxurious with many features that will Sur-prise and Delight!

#02033

2009 Hyundai Azera Limited

Ultimate Navigation Package with Anti-Theft System

Take $8000 OFF!!!!

Up to 36 Miles

Per Gallon!

Priced over

$5000 OFF

Save

$7000 WOW!

2009 Hyundai Genesis 4.6

Tech pack, V8 Black Beauty! Cooled Seat, Backup Camera and Navigation!Zero to 60 in 5.3 Seconds, Wow!

#99072

Best Price

All Year!

2010 Hyundai Elantra Touring

Unbelievable Value! Auto, Power Win-dows and Locks, Side Airbags, Remote Keyless Entry

#02002

Only $199 a month

with $1500 Down

Up to 35 MPG,

FUN TO DRIVE!

#94004

Sales Mngr.General Mngr.

2010 Hyundai Sonata GLS

Automatic, Power DriverSeat a Must See!

Save $7500

All advertised prices include ALL applicable rebates, but EXCLUDE taxes, any finance charges, any dealer adminis-tration preparation charge, and any emission testing charge. Prices shown do not include installation costs, freight and handling, dealer admin fee of $588.88, taxes or license. MSRP excludes tax, license, registration and options. Stock picture displayed. Colors, options and trim levels may vary. NOT VALID ON PRIOR DEALS.

CMYK


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