The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 44

THE OKLAHOMAN NEWSOK.COM MONDAY, MAY 2, 2011 3C LIFE Don't go back into debt for luxury items Dave KtT Ramsev DEAR DAVE: We paid off our cars a few months ago, and that freed up almost $800 per month. We have two small children, and we'd like to take a camping trip in a few months, but we would need a roomier vehicle. We found a used van, and we think we could have it paid off in months. We'd still have more money left than before, so would this be OK? MELISSA cover the hole that you dug. Go to your local bank or credit union and try to get a very small loan from them about $3,000.

If the car will sell for $19,000 then get it sold and use $1,000 to cover the difference. Then, take the remaining $2,000, and buy yourself a little beater. We're not talking about anything cool, just basic, ugly transportation. After that, pick up a part-time job on the side and work like crazy for a few months to get that loan paid back as quickly as possible! Email questions for Dave Ramsey to For more financial advice, go online to www.daveramsey.com or call (888) 227-3223. pick up another one? I think you've missed the point of my plan.

The point is to get out of debt, because living debt -free is less stressful. Live like no one else, so that later you can live like no one else! What you're saying is you're thinking about putting your family's financial future in jeopardy because you want to go on a little camping trip in a roomier car. This is a really bad plan. You're talking about a luxury item. I went without a vacation for four years trying to get my life back together after I went broke.

Now, I'm not suggesting that you live with this attitude for the rest of your life, but I'm pretty sure there are other ways to make this trip happen. You don't need a different vehicle to go camping. Buy a couple of tents, throw them in the back of the car and head for the woods. If your cars are really just too small to handle everything, then rent a bigger car for the weekend. I'd rather you spend a couple of hundred bucks on that instead of picking up another car payment.

I think you need to do some soul searching on this one, Melissa. Your mindset worries me, because it's just not logical. If you want to get out of a week. My boyfriend, who was supposed to help me pay for it, has moved out and left me. I owe $20,000 on the car, but I know it's still worth about $19,000.

What can I do? RACHEL DEAR RACHEL: Sell the car! You went car crazy and bought a vehicle that was way out of your league. Right now, your entire financial world is wrapped up in paying for this thing and depending on a boyfriend to help make the payments was a mistake, too. When he left, so did the financial support. At this point all you need is enough credit to debt so you can have a better life, then why in the world would you go out and saddle yourself with more debt all over again? DEAR DAVE: I think I made a big mistake when I bought my car. I'm having a hard time affording the $500 a month payments, because I only make minimum wage at my job and work 35 hours DEAR MELISSA: I'm confused.

Are you telling me that you just got out from under $800 worth of car payments each month, and now you want to go right back and Salute: Show sets will be featured When: Opens Monday. Where: Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive. Information: 522-5248 or www.okhistory center.org. HI T1 lft From left, Minnie Pearl, E.L. Gaylord and Roy Clark appear onstage during the "Hee Haw" 20th anniversary show recording at Guthrie's Lazy Arena.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE OKLAHOMA HISTORY CENTER FROM PAGE 1C Larry O'Dell, director of collections at the Oklahoma History Center. "There's a shared memory of 'Hee Three generations of people really it was on from 1969 to '93 we all remember 'Hee The Oklahoma History Center is giving a "salute! to the long -running country variety show with the new exhibition "Pickin' and Roy Clark, 'Hee Haw' Country Humor," which opens to the public Tuesday and will be on view for a year. The 3,000 -square -foot exhibit features recreations of the "Hee Haw" cornfield, barbershop and porch sets, spotlights the more than 40 Oklahoma stars who performed on the series, and traces the roots of the show's rural humor back to 1920s tent shows and the early days of radio and television. "Hee Haw" co-host Roy Clark and Friends will perform and tour the exhibit Monday night at an invitation -only opening event that will also feature longtime "Hee Haw" producer Sam Lovullo. The exhibit is part of the Oklahoma Historical Society's ongoing development of an Oklahoma Museum of Music and Popular Culture in Tulsa.

gospel and bluegrass musicians who performed on it. Among Oklahomans who played the show are Roger Miller, Sheb Wooley, Wanda Jackson, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire and Garth Brooks. Along with audio and video clips from the series, the exhibit will feature a documentary about "Hee Haw" that includes interviews with the cast, crew and guests. 'Hee Haw' was as much a part of our family I hate to say it as going to church," Brooks says in the documentary. Easton Corbin attributes his unabashedly old-school country sound in part to watching "Hee Haw" and "Opry Live." "That's the type of music that I grew up listening to and love and I just want to keep on doing if they'll let me," he said.

rector of the Oklahoma Historical Society. "When E.L. and Thelma bought that Mr. Gaylord's first instructions to Sam Lovullo were 'don't change a Lasting legacy "Hee Haw," which still airs in reruns on the cable channel RFD -TV, has been honored by the Country Music Hall of Fame, Museum of Broadcast Communications and Museum of Television and Radio. Many of the show's skits "The Cornfield," "Pickin' and Grinninf "Pfft You Was Gone," "Hee Haw Salutes" and "Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me," to name a few have become etched in the cultural consciousness and are highlighted in the exhibit.

"Hee Haw" is perhaps best remembered for the list of top-notch country, Legislature. "But we were in production for over 25 years." The producers put together a syndication deal for "Hee Haw" and continued the show in much the same format for another 20 years. From 1981 to 1993, the show was kept on the air by broadcasting companies associated with The Oklahoma Publishing which publishes The Okla-homan. "I'm convinced that without the Gaylord family involvement, 'Hee Haw' would have ended its run much earlier," said Bob Blackburn, executive di- 'Hee Haw history When CBS set out to create a country version of "Laugh-In" show creators Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth and producer Sam Lovullo found the ideal co-hosts in Buck Owens, whose nationally syndicated program was shot at Oklahoma City's WKY-TV, and Roy Clark, who has lived in Tulsa since 1971. A virtuoso guitar and banjo player, Clark previously had showcased his musical and comedic skills on "The Tonight Show," "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Jonathan Winters Show." "He was the heart of the show.

He was there from the beginning to the very end," O'Dell said. "He was perfect for 'Hee He was a triple threat because he could play, sing and do comedy." "Hee Haw" debuted on CBS on June 15, 1969, as a summer replacement for the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," and it was such a success it earned a midseason debut. Despite solid ratings, the network canceled the show in 1971 because executives felt it was "too rural." "They said 'Hee-Haw' wouldn't last," Clark quipped recently while be -ing honored by the state Healing: Mother found means to save her son to be. It's such a welcoming way to hear her say "I love you." Babette turned out to be quite the hunter and dramatist. Apparently she likes to re-enact movies.

One day I looked in the den and saw a live squirrel looking back at me. Soon we were all re-enacting scenes from the movie "Christmas Vacation." Not long after that lively action, Babette turned to the dark and macabre, surprising my husband with a dead squirrel on the pillow when he went to bed one night. We didn't remember her watching "The Godfather," but there was the scene from that movie replayed. Besides squirrels, she brings in other varieties of critters for our pleasure such as birds, moles and mice. Thankfully, she has yet to gift us with snakes.

She leaves them outside. My husband and I have had cats all our lives, and I guess we always will. We both love cats. Babette's special story taught me to be brave and trust God to take care of all my needs. She also taught me that it's good to forget the past and look to the future with expectation, to love unconditionally and to act out favorite scenes from movies for fun.

NORMA NEWTON, EDMOND THE YOUNG AND THE BRAVE MOMMA CAT' Babette is my hero or heroine as is the case. She and her three 4-week-old, black kittens appeared at my church parking lot in an old, dirty laundry basket about ten years ago. They all smelled of smoke and Babette's whiskers were singed. We will never know what happened or how they got here. Before they were brought there, I believe Babette saved her kittens, one by one, from a fire.

I do not know if there were more kittens that were lost to her but she didn't dwell on the past, she just dealt with what she had and the future of her little family. The momma cat, Babette, as I named her, wore a rather plain gray coat of fur but had the most beautiful, large, almond-shaped green eyes. When she rests in the new grass of spring, her bright green eyes shine like the morning sun. I already had two cats and absolutely could not take on more cats so I decided to keep them long enough for the kittens to be weaned and then put ads in the local paper. The first two male kittens went to good homes quickly.

I thought Babette might be easier to place if she had one kitten to go with her so I kept the remaining kitten. Babette loved to be outside and climb trees so I wanted to find a place for her where there were lots of trees and a large yard in which Oklahoma. The breakfast event is described by organizers as a "friendraiser." "It's a way to bring the recovery community together," said Karen Mather, event co-chair. "We can strengthen connections while having a nice breakfast, hearing dynamic speakers and giving out awards." Mike Jestes, formerly of the Oklahoma Family Policy Council, will receive the Youth Leadership Spirituality Award for his years of working with young people and developing an abstinence education program for Oklahoma public schools, said Janet Oden, the foundation's executive director. Briana Byrkit, 20, a graduate of the Mission A-cademy, will receive the Marianne Trigg Alumni Award.

Byrkit, who has been sober for almost four years, gives talks, helps out at the school and is supportive of others going through recovery, organizers said. Patti Mellow said her son's recovery is going great, although she can never forget how he looked in that hospital bed. "Every time he calls," she said, "I listen for that sound in his voice that tells me he's been drinking." FROM PAGE 1C been sober for three years. On Saturday the Mellows will be the featured speakers at the Oklahoma Outreach Foundation's "Serenity, Hope and Healing Breakfast" at All Souls' Episcopal Church. They will tell their story a son who began drinking at age 13, a mother who had to learn how to help him.

Without help, "I would' ve been floundering," said Patti Mellow, 59. "I wouldn't have known what to do, and I certainly wouldn't have had the courage to tell my child, 'You can't come About the foundation The foundation was created in 2000 as a "nonprofit organization supporting treatment and recovery for Oklahoma teens experiencing chemical dependency on alcohol and other drugs," according to its website. Six years later, the group opened the Oklahoma Outreach Sober School, now known as Mission Academy. The school, which draws students who have battled addiction issues, combines traditional academic studies with spirituality and recovery. It is the only such school in she could play and just be a cat a yard like mine.

And she was so brave and such a good mother that I wanted her to go to someone who would love and appreciate her someone like me. I could find no one who wanted an adult cat, even one that was just a year old, like Babette. Through it all, Babette never seemed to worry about anything: where she would live, if her kittens would be taken care of, or even where her next meal would be. Soon the days turned into weeks and we all got into a routine. I introduced Babette and her remaining kitten, which my daughter named Cleopatra, to my other cats Oreo and Frisk-ie.

Oreo didn't care much, but Friskie sulked in silence, never really accepting either of the newbies. Oreo pretty much belonged to my husband, and Friskie was my daughter's cat so I guess I needed my own cat or cats. Now both Oreo and Friskie have moved on to the big sandbox in the sky so it is nice to still have some feline companions in the house. The thing I like most about Babette is her purr. No matter if she is asleep on a shelf in the closet or sunning in the window, she begins purring loudly as soon as I enter the room where she happens.