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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, February, 23 2005
Credit card laws outlined for users
(From left) Daniel Gomez, Cody Chiverton, Dustin Gomez, and Sierra Chiverton.
(Photo provided)
Dedicated Illinois Valley quartet boosts
Jr. Summits hockey team with talents
Unlike most kids his
age, Cody Chiverton, a
sixth-grader at Lorna Byrne
Middle School, doesn’t
sleep in Saturday mornings.
Instead, you’ll find him
up with the Sun, banging
slap shots off the garage
door of his rural Selma
home.
Cody likes to loosen his
muscles early because by
noon he and his sister, Si-
erra, are on the ice at the
RRRink in Medford as part
of their Jr. Summits hockey
team; a team which, surpris-
ingly, also includes Daniel
and Dustin Gomez, of Cave
Junction.
The foursome make up
a potent Illinois Valley com-
ponent to a team comprised
primarily of Grants Pass
youth ages 6-14 and
coached by Ray Dinkins, a
Grants Pass resident and
science teacher at Illinois
Valley High School.
“I have found few play-
ers in this league as dedi-
cated and hardworking as
these four,” Dinkin said,
“and the commitment the
parents have made to their
kids and our hockey pro-
gram is unreal.”
Dinkins is speaking
specifically of the three trips
a week to Medford for prac-
tice and games.
“Many parents know
the commitment necessary
for sports participation, but
these parents are driving
more than an hour one way
every time the team gets
together and they rarely
miss a practice,” he said.
Cody, in his sixth year
of ice hockey, is “one of the
region’s more promising
young hockey players at his
age,” according to Dinkins.
As with all the other
I.V. skaters, Cody got his
start on inline skates.
“One day we went to
the RRRink in Medford,
where Cody saw other kids
playing hockey,” said Chris
Chiverton, Cody’s dad. “He
took immediate interest, and
we’ve been at it ever since.”
Sierra took a slightly
different route. An eighth-
grader at Lorna Byrne, she
figure-skated for two years
before turning to hockey
three years ago. Sierra is
looking forward to playing
high school hockey for a
team forming out of Grants
Pass, where Dinkins says
she will be a real asset to her
team.
“The boys in the league
give Sierra a lot of respect
because they know she has
When Sierra is on
the ice, the boys
work harder because
they don’t want to
get beaten by a girl.
the ability to embarrass
them on the ice,” he said.
When prodded, Sierra
admits that she likes playing
against the guys. “It makes
them work harder because
they don’t want to get beat
by a girl,” she said. “It
brings up the intensity of the
game, and I like that.”
Daniel and Dustin Go-
mez were drawn to hockey
early due to the action, the
teamwork and the excite-
ment the game has to offer.
“It’s tough, but I like
skating hard,” said Dustin, a
third-grader at Evergreen
Elementary School.
Daniel and Dustin
learned the game playing
driveway contests against
each other on inline skates
by day and against each
other on PlayStation by
night.
When Daniel is asked
what his fifth-grade friends
at Evergreen think of
hockey, the older brother
replies, “My friends think
it’s a violent sport, but I
think it’s great fun!”
While other kids took
advantage of the recent
snow to build snowmen or
throw snowballs, the Gomez
brothers took the opportu-
nity to build an ice patch in
their yard on which they
could skate.
“They’re so commit-
ted,” said Dinkins. “I wish
our league had a hundred
kids just like them.”
10-year sentence for McCarthy
Douglas Alan McCarthy,
20, of Cave Junction, has
been sentenced to 10 years
imprisonment under a man-
slaughter plea bargain in con-
nection with the death of a
handicapped woman a year
ago.
The sentence was handed
down by Circuit Court Judge
Mike Newman at the county
jail Monday, Feb. 14.
The body of Christine M.
Martin, 23, who was home-
less and who had nearly lost
the use of one arm, was dis-
covered on the athletic field
off Old Stage Road above
Lorna Byrne Middle School
on Feb. 26, 2004.
She had been strangled
and beaten. No clear motive
was determined for the crime.
McCarthy was 19 at the time
of his arrest on March 19 last
year at the sheriff’s office in
Grants Pass.
McCarthy agreed to a
manslaughter charge, rather
than the original charge of
murder, which has a manda-
tory 25-year sentence. The
prosecution indicated that a
10-year sentence was better
than risking acquittal in the
event the case went to trial.
For these four skaters,
hockey is not for winter
only. The Chivertons attend
summer camp in Vancou-
ver, BC; and the Gomez
brothers go to San Jose,
Calif. for the Sharks Jr.
camp.
“These four go the extra
mile to improve their skills,
and I believe that is one fac-
tor making our team so good
this year,” said Dinkins,
whose team is 9-3 in the
league.
“I hope they play for me
for years to come,” he said.
All four skaters share
the same hope of playing
hockey for the long term.
When asked what life would
be like without hockey, Si-
erra said, “I would be bored
all the time.” Dustin Gomez
gets a little more emotional:
“I would cry.”
For more information
on these four skaters, the Jr.
Summits Hockey Program
or the Southern Oregon
Youth Hockey association,
contact Dinkins at 218-5194
or gphockey@charter.net
For decades, consumer
credit laws such as the Truth
in Lending Act, Fair Credit
Reporting Act and the Equal
Credit Opportunity Act have
been enacted to prevent
abuses within the credit card
industry nationwide.
But, do consumers
really know what these laws
mean to them?
Mike Sullivan, director
of education for Take
Charge America, said that
the growing number of
credit card applicants and
users need to gain a better
understanding of current
credit card laws and prac-
tices to protect themselves
from possible abuses.
Credit card usage and
credit card debt has in-
creased steadily during the
past couple of years.
During 2002, three out
of four college undergradu-
ates had credit cards, and 60
percent of them had “maxed
out” the cards during their
freshman year, according to
Robert Manning, author of
“Credit Card Nation: The
Consequences of America’s
Addiction to Credit.”
Credit card debt has
also become a concern for
senior citizens. According to
Demos, a research and ad-
vocacy company, average
self-reported credit card debt
among indebted seniors in-
creased 89 percent between
1992 and 2001, to $4,041.
“Consumers need to be
educated about credit laws
and regulations that directly
affect them as soon as they
open a credit card account,”
said Sullivan.
“By becoming ac-
quainted with these laws,
consumers will know how
to better protect themselves.
“While many of the
problems can be avoided by
only charging what you can
afford to pay each month,
thus preventing credit card
debt, it is important for all
consumers to understand the
guidelines they agree to
when using credit cards.”
One of the most recent
decisions in regard to the
credit card industry was
handed down by the U.S.
Supreme Court in
“Household Credit Services
vs. Pfenning.”
A credit card user,
Sharon Pfenning, went past
her $2,000 credit limit.
Household Credit Services
Inc. then charged Pfenning
an additional $29 fee for
each month that her balance
exceeded $2,000, which was
listed under the “Purchases”
category rather than as a
“finance charge.”
According to the Truth
in Lending Act (TILA),
“any charges ‘incident to the
extension of credit’ must be
listed separately as ‘finance
charges’.” But, the Federal
Reserve Board’s definition
of “finance charge” ex-
cludes “charges … for ex-
ceeding a credit limit.”
The court then in 2003
unanimously ruled in favor
of Household Credit Ser-
vices, stating that the
board’s definition of
“finance charge” was consti-
tutional under TILA.
Sullivan said that there
is an urgent need for con-
sumers to be aware of such
rulings.
WESTSIDE ROAD ROLLOVER - Illinois Valley emergency personnel responded at
approximately 9:15 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 19 to the 3800 block of Westside Road. No
one was around the vehicle, whose driver apparently went off the road into a ditch,
sheared off a utility pole, and rolled onto its top. Personnel had to deal with downed
power lines and traffic control. The name of the driver was unavailable for this issue.
(Photo by Dale & Elaine Sandberg/I.V. Fire District photographers)
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