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CURL UP WITH A BOOK.Stock up; it looks like a rainyweek. The Concord Library, at45 Green St., is open from 8:30a.m. to 8:30 p.m. today. ThePenacook branch, at 3 Merri-mack St., is open from 2:30 to5:30 p.m.

PLAY INSIDE. Vertical Dreamsin Manchester features 5,000square feet of climbing terrainand a bouldering area. Hourstoday are 3 to 10 p.m. A passcosts $12. Call 625-6919 or visitverticaldreams.com.

THE WINNER of our downtownphoto contest is Page Cannon.She correctly identified the pic-ture shown here as the lightsabove Edible Arrangements onMain Street. Cannon wins $15 in“Downtown Dollars.” Look foranother photo contest soon.

HOOKSETT RESIDENT CINDYPROVENCHER has been to aCabela’s sporting goods storelike one in the planning stagesfor her town. Provencher saidshe’s looking forward to havingone in her area. She recentlyattended an informational meet-ing held by Cabela’s officials inHooksett.

You’ve been to Cabela’s? I wentto the Nebraska one when I wasvisiting friends six years ago. Iwas very impressed with it.

Why impressed? My friend hadgone there for hunting gear. Theexhibits and the customer ser-vice were excellent. They hadeverything under the sun forhunting and fishing.

Do you hunt or fish yourself? Ilove to go walking in the woodswith my camera.

Why is this a good thing forHooksett? It will be a lot easierto have a Cabela’s here in Hook-sett than having to go to the Kit-tery Trading Post in Maine.That’s an hour away.

What about the traffic? It can’tbe any crazier than South Wil-low Street, and we all managethat.

AFTERNOON NUMBERS:2-1-3 and 2-4-2-8EVENING NUMBERS:6-6-9 and 0-9-1-8HOT LOTTO: (from Saturday)2-6-9-11-35+12

LUCKY NUMBERS

5 QUESTIONS

TO DO LIST

FOUND IT

LOCAL & STATE BMONDAY, MAY 15, 2006

CONCORD MONITORconcordmonitor.com

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Bishop Brady High School seniors Joshua Kehr, 18, andKatie Bourque, 18, accept their prom king and queen trophiesduring the school’s annual event at the Grappone ConferenceCenter in Concord. The couple have been dating for three anda half years.

Joshua: We met (at Bishop Brady) our freshman year.Katie: We just kind of met in study hall and started talking.Joshua: My friend actually talked about her over the summer. He

knew I was going here, and he had met her from old friends fromhis town. I’m from Henniker, and she’s from Penacook. He told meabout her, and I got here and I found out her name was Katie. Hesaid that she was really cool. He mentioned (that she was hot) acouple times, played sports and sounded like she would be reallycool.

Katie: I liked him. He was nice and a good athlete and everything.Joshua: We started talking more and started going out. We actually

broke up and got back together a couple months later.Katie: It worked out in the end.Joshua: At first, we didn’t really have much to talk about, because

we didn’t really know each other. Then, we broke up and became clos-er and got back together.

Katie: Now, we talk about anything: sports, school sometimes, cur-rent things that are going on. There’s a lot of other couples that havebeen together for a while, but we’re probably one of the longest.

Joshua: We’re usually pretty quiet.Katie: I’m kind of a shy person.Joshua: (On Friday nights) we hang out and watch movies usually.

Katie: In the summer, we go out for ice cream, see a movie.Joshua: There’s not a lot to do in New Hampshire. It’s pretty much

limited to movies and mini-golfing. Bowling.Katie: We went to the beach one time for my birthday in the spring-

time, and it was a really good time.Joshua: Everything is good. My parents think (our relationship) is

cool. They have been together since they were sophomores.Katie: My parents like him a lot. He’s just a good kid.Joshua: I don’t know about (getting married).Katie: I’m going to Wellesley College.Joshua: I’m going to Roger Williams in Rhode Island.Katie: We’ll see how it works out.Joshua: It’s not that far away. It’s like 45 minutes, and there are

buses from Providence to Boston all the time.Katie: I figure we’ll see where it goes. We’ll try to stay together.Joshua: (We say I love you) more than once a day.Katie: We usually see each other at school and talk at night.Joshua: (At the end of a phone conversation) I tell her I love her

and good night and I’ll see her tomorrow.Katie: I think these will be good memories.Joshua: I’d probably do another year of high school. Sometimes, I

want to leave but I don’t know. I know after (I graduate), I’m going towant to come back. Another year might be fun. You don’t have as manyresponsibilities in high school.

Katie: You feel like you’re ready to leave, but when you think aboutall the people and friends that you are going to be leaving, it’s sad.

Joshua: School’s almost over.Katie: It’s sad, but I’ll have good memories of it.

‘We’ll try to stay together’

By KAREN SPILLERNashua Telegraph

About once a month, LeahGabriel makes a trip to the AdvanceAmerica branch on Main Street inNashua to take out a “payday loan.”

“If I have a car problem, it helpsme out, or if I need extra cash,”said the Nashua woman, who visit-ed the local branch of the nation’slargest cash-advance chain Thurs-day afternoon with her son anddaughter in tow.

Payday loans are short-term,usually two-week, loans with highinterest rates. New Hampshire isthe only state in New England thatdoesn’t cap interest rates, whichcan reach upwards of 500 percent.

More than 5 million borrowersacross the country get on the pay-day loan treadmill each year,according to the Annie E. CaseyFoundation, a private charitableorganization based in Baltimore.

It’s an industry that’s growingrapidly in New Hampshire. Lastyear alone, more than 100,000 pay-day loans were written in the statefor an average loan of $360, accord-ing to the New Hampshire Banking

Department.Today, six companies operate 30

payday loan storefronts throughoutthe state, according to the BankingDepartment. The number of pay-day lending centers has increasedfrom 24 in 2004 and zero in 2000.

Nationally, about 22,000 outletsmade loans totaling $40 billion andgenerated more than $6 billion ininterest and fees from consumersin 2004, according to the ConsumerFederation of America.

“It’s a debt trap,” said JonathanBaird, managing attorney of theClaremont office of New Hamp-shire Legal Assistance. “Peoplewho need short-term money gethooked into where they end upowing more and more money, andthey never escape.”

Baird said part of the problem isthat consumers aren’t well-educat-ed on payday lending. “There’s alack of public awareness about theissues,” he said.

Quick and easyAdvance America – famous for

its eye-catching yellow signs tout-ing “quick, easy, hassle free” loans– has 17 storefronts in the state and2,640 centers nationwide.

Payday lenders such as Advance

30 storefronts haveopened since 2000

‘Payday loans’balloon in state

See PAYDAY –– B2

CONCORD

Medical homes offer alternative

By HOLLY RAMER The Associated Press

The frustration used to start onthe phone.

Every time Donna Dunlopcalled her daughter’s pediatrician,she started from scratch, describ-ing the girl’s complex history ofseizures and other neurologicalproblems to someone in a remoteoffice who had never heard of her.

Specialists arrived at appoint-ments clutching Elena Spahr’smedical history – a stack ofbulging folders well over a foothigh – yet failing to grasp the big-ger picture. An oblivious X-raytechnician once asked her mother,“Can you just have her stand overhere?”

“The kid’s in a wheelchair andcompletely unable to do that,”Dunlop said. “It seems small, andyet I can’t tell you how hard it iswhen no one has been clued intothe reality that child faces.”

Several years later, Elena, 9,still has no diagnosis, can’t talk orwalk, and relies on her parents forall her basic needs. But her par-ents now can rely on her pediatri-cian’s office to help them connectthe complicated dots that are spe-cialists, schools and various sup-

port networks. “It was a pretty typical medical

practice then,” she said. “Now, itreally is a medical home.”

The term medical homedescribes not just a physical place,but the people who provide careand how they do it. In an idealmedical home, patients and par-ents feel respected. Staffers take ateam approach to helping familiescoordinate information from mul-tiple providers and direct them toother resources in the community.

In the words of the AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics, patient

care in a medical home is “acces-sible, continuous, comprehensive,family-centered, coordinated,compassionate and culturallyeffective.”

It sounds like common sense,but it’s not common practice, saidDr. Joseph Hagan, co-chairman ofthe academy’s Bright FuturesEducation Center. In guidelines itis writing for the federal govern-ment, the center will recommendthat well-child visits for patientsup to age 21 be provided in the

Model could improvespecial-needs care

See MEDICAL CARE –– B2

JIM COLE / AP

Donna Dunlop’s daughter Elena Spahr has neurological problems.