Meeting Richard Petty

I got to meet seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup champ Richard Petty Thursday night.
He was named North Carolinian of the Year by the N.C. Press Association. Past winners include Earl Scruggs, Billy Graham and Dean Smith.

According to the Associated Press, Petty, 70, won a record 200 NASCAR Winston Cup races and seven Daytona 500 races. Only the late Dale Earnhardt matched Petty's seven NASCAR championships.

Petty picked up his award at a dinner during the group's annual meeting. The dinner was appropriately held at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord. I had never been there before.

What struck me about Petty was what a genuinely nice guy he was.

Patton Oaks block party

I got to meet a lot of my new Shelby neighbors at the Patton Oaks block party Tuesday night. They served hot dogs, hamburgers, deviled eggs, fresh fruit, homemade desserts and everything in between.
It was a great opportunity to meet some fine folks.

A warm welcome

I've been working at The Star now for four months. But I just moved to Shelby about a month ago. Before coming here I had heard that Shelby's hospitality was legendary. I got a first-hand example of it the day I moved in. The movers and I had spent the day getting everything loaded up in Gastonia and unloaded in Shelby. I was exhausted and hadn't eaten anything all day. Out of the blue, a woman pulls her car over and gives me two cheeseburgers and a cold drink. She told me she lived down the street and could see I was tired and she just wanted to do something to help. To me that was an extraordinary act of kindness and one I'll never forget. I've never had something like that happen to me when moving somewhere. I can only say the good people of Shelby make it the friendly place that people talk about.