SALISBURY POST
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2010 • 5A
A WALK ACROSS ROWAN
SUMMER FROM 4A noticed her with the mother and three siblings. One day, this particular charcoal-gray kitten accidently hitched a ride from the store to their house, where the guys have two other cats. They were able to capture the kitten and return it to the mother, but one day it showed up again at the store. This time, the mother and siblings were nowhere to be found. Wolpert and Lancione decided she was a keeper, and she has become the star of the store. “She loves people,” Lancione said, describing the kitten as a jumper and climber who stands up to any visiting dogs. “She plays with everyone.” Most cats have nine lives. Wolpert and Lancione figured she has used up at least one. So they have named her “Eight.”
at Distinctive Naturescapes. Near Rowan Bolt & Supply, Jeff Matthews pulled up in his vehicle and handed us two icecold bottles of water. He then offered to let us use the office at Distinctive Naturescapes, the landscaping business he and Dave Collins own across the street. Jon and I had some trip updates we needed to file for the Post’s website. Lucky for me, the Distinctive Naturescapes secretary has Tuesdays off. In a few minutes, I was sitting at the front desk near the door typing away. When a man came in, I dutifully pointed him back toward Collins’ office. When the telephone rang, however, I resisted answering it. I have my limits.
We talked a good while with Johnny Keen at Johnny’s Muffler and Auto Glass, Cindy Nooner at On Track Auto Sales and Mitch Eidson at Exhaust Systems Inc. As you might have noticed, David Steagall, a chemical en- there’s a stretch of U.S. 29 devotgineer by training, didn’t start his ed to the sale, upkeep and repair Christian missionary work until of vehicles. he was 54. Keen has a busy operation A retiree now, he has travthat employs four people. His eled 26 times to India, besides shop can pretty much handle reother places such as the Ukraine pairs on cars “bumper to and Romania, “to tell people bumper, really,” he said. about Jesus.” He used to be on East Innes But he also frets about the Street in downtown Salisbury, state of affairs in his adopted and has had this spot for about Rowan County. five years. “Our county really needs Business is “not anything like prayer,” Steagall told me Tuesit used to be, but business is still day morning, when we turned the good,” Keen reported. corner toward the Hess station Nooner, who has been selling on U.S. 29. used cars for 14 years, agreed “God can change things. God that “it’s been tough.” is the answer to all our difficul“But with that in mind, deties here.” pending on what you do,” she Steagall and his friend, John said, “you have to be able to Thomas, a native of India, were change. Things go through cytraveling home after the weekly cles. It never stays the same.” men’s prayer breakfast at First She and her husband, Tim, Baptist Church when they saw us own the place, which advertises walking down the road. zero percent interest and offers The men became friends state inspections. The Nooners through each other’s mission like the fun of selling pre-owned work in India. Thomas, who mar- cars, Cindy said. ried an American woman and “There’s more variety,” she lives in Iowa, is spending a few added, “and we’ve met some days at Steagall’s home. wonderful people.” When we first made the corner Eidson, a Catawba College of the Hess service station, graduate, used to set up Midas Thomas was waiting there, hand- shops in 13 different states. ing us a booklet that said, “The “They ran me from one place Way to God.” to the other,” he recalled. Steagall soon emerged from But he tired of the traveling his SUV and joined him in our and, with the help of his parents, conversation. Ruth and Robert, built the ExSteagall said half the people in haust Systems shop at U.S. 29 Rowan County don’t go to and Cedar Springs Road. church. At the same time, 40 perRuth recalled that the family cent of the people in Rowan had needed a loan from Security come in some kind of contact Bank in Landis to get the busiwith social services in a month’s ness built and started in 1983. time, he claimed. The loan was paid off in a year, Poor student achievement in and the business has operated Rowan County also is alarming, debt-free since. he said. “Our suppliers tell us we’re Referring to our trek, Steagall the last emissions exhaust shop said he had done his own prayer in the state,” Mitch said. The walks in local neighborhoods in shop specializes in mufflers, catthe past and saw “a lot of poor alytic converters and pipes — people.” nothing else. “It was very upsetting,” he Mitch holds the patent on a said. stud and manifold nut pliers, by Both Steagall and Thomas the way. have future mission trips to “People have been good to us,” northern India in the planning Mitch said. “We’ve been here a stages. long time.” We thanked them for their At Home Lighting & Supply, corner evangelism. we caught Marsha Evans with a I played secretary of the day bottle of Windex, cleaning her
Jon c. Lakey/SALISBURY POST
Marsha Evans cleans the front doors at Home Lighting and Supply. front glass door. Mickey and Marsha Evans started their business in China Grove in 1984, and they have been at their Salisbury store on U.S. 29 for 22 years. “It has been an excellent spot,” Marsha reported. After some more visiting with us, she returned to her Windex.
The walk along U.S. 29 was a tough one at times, as we tried to stay off the road as much as possible. It sent us into the high roadside grass that hid plenty of ruts and ditches. A roadside memorial caught our eye. It included a light-blue, Kansas Speedway ballcap and some faded red, artificial flowers. Jon also examined a box turtle, which had expired at the edge of the road. Close to the end of our day, we spied the mostly forgotten St. Mary’s Episcopal Cemetery, which a fairly new marker says was established in 1889. The families buried here, not far from the old Cannon Mills Swink Plant, include names such as Hammer, Haynes, Sumner, Harris, McKenzie and Setzer. Given over to time, it’s a cemetery in need of a loving touch. Stones have been pushed over, or they have collapsed. Substantial trees are pushing against others. Depressions in the ground show where graves have sunken. Back in this corner of the world, Jon and I could still hear a nearby freight train and the steady roar of traffic from U.S. 29. Even so, it seemed a quiet place.
A small garden spot near the Piedmont Correctional Minimal Unit along U.S. 29.
Wineka and Lakey will continue their walk across Rowan County today, following U.S. 29 before branching onto Main Street in China Grove.
Go to www.salisburypost.com for blog updates, additional photos and videos from Walk Across Rowan.
Jimmie Higgins: The guru of Subarus BY MARK WINEKA mwineka@salisburypost.com
Jon c. Lakey/SALISBURY POST
Jimmy Higgins, of Higgins Automotive, is a Subaru and Toyota specialist. His shop is located on South U.S. 29.
Meet the Subaru man. Jimmie Higgins loves Subarus. His livelihood depends on them. Everyone in his family drives one. As a mechanic, he knows them inside and out — and it’s been like that for close to 35 years. The marketing people for the Japanese-made Subaru should hire him as a spokesman, or at least make a television commercial with him. “I’m thinking it’s one of the best cars on the road for the money,” Higgins said Tuesday when we visited him at his shop off U.S. 29 South. The front expanse of Higgins Automotive is filled with Subarus. Some are for sale. Some are used for parts. But something about each one caught Higgins’ eye. They’re just good cars, said Higgins, whose repair shop also specializes in Toyotas. As far as he can tell, Higgins Automotive is the only independent Subaru repair shop in central North Carolina. So he sees a lot of Subaru owners from Rowan County and beyond — those folks who don’t have a Subaru dealer-
ship close by, or just prefer taking their cars to a smaller operation. Higgins’ shop only has two other employees. “The customers are a dedicated group,” he said of Subaru owners. When they walk into the garage, they always seem to say two things: • They love their Subarus. • And they’re glad they found Higgins. Higgins, 65, says his typical day runs from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The telephone seems to ring every two minutes, he protested, and that tends to make him more of an administrator than a mechanic too often. He is the former service manager for Bruce Lanier Subaru in Salisbury, and his experience with Subarus dates back to at least 1976. He also drove truck for about 20 years, including 10 years with Food Lion. He liked the truck-driving job, because he could drive from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., then work the rest of the day on cars. Higgins went full time into business for himself in 1994, and he has been at this particular spot on U.S. 29 between
The Higgins Automotive shop. Peach Orchard and Peeler roads for 14 years. “I saw a need for a Subaru shop in the county,” Higgins said. Old-timers might remember Higgins’ present location as the former site of Leo Stiller’s salvage yard. Higgins figures he has been fooling with cars since he was 13, and he remembers coming to Stiller’s junkyard for parts when he was 16. Higgins told me he’s a longtime fan of the Salisbury Post and reading it was the first thing he used to do getting off the bus home from elementary school. Now, “a lot of the paper carriers have Subarus, and we
do a lot of work for them,” Higgins said. For the record, Higgins drives a Subaru Justy; his wife, an Outback; a son, a WRX sports model; and another son, a Baha truck. His sons didn’t become mechanics like their father. One is a banker, and the other works for a steel company. Higgins said he has a grandson who might be the next Subaru guru in the family. But don’t bring out the retirement cake for Higgins anytime soon. “I hope I’m still working on Subarus when I’m 90,” he said. Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263.