Ohio woman, 100, has bank account dating to 1913

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio – An Ohio woman who just turned 100 years old has taken customer loyalty to the extreme: She's still using a bank savings account that's been around almost as long as she has, since the year before World War I.

June Gregg recently mentioned to a friend that her account is the same one her father opened for her in January 1913, when she wasn't even a year-and-a-half old. The friend told the people at Gregg's small-town bank in southern Ohio.

"That perked my ears up, because I was like, `1913?!'" said Doug Shoemaker, general manager of what's now a Huntington National Bank branch in this community, 45 miles south of Columbus. The bank's investigation found out that not only was it the same account, but also that the account number changed only once, when Columbus-based Huntington acquired the plainly-named Savings Bank in the early 1980s, Shoemaker said.

Gregg still has the little blue passbook from when the account was opened with an initial deposit of $6.11. Her father, Gilbert, a farmer who grew corn, wheat and hay, was a Savings Bank customer and wanted his only daughter to learn thrift.

"That's what he always taught us: to stay out of debt and save our money and not buy anything until we had the money to pay for it," Gregg said in an interview.

With the help of the account, Gregg is comfortable in retirement even after so many years, Shoemaker said.

"I get along good because I don't have many wants," said Gregg, who never married and has no children.

The compact, white-haired woman who tends to speak with a chuckle in her voice retired in 1976 after working for the post office for more than a quarter century. Earlier, she operated a general store, using the savings account for the business. Gregg opened the store in 1932, three years after she graduated from high school and received as gifts a $2.50 gold piece and a $5 gold piece, which went into the account.

"I wish I hadn't put those in," she said, aware of gold's value. "It was during the Depression, and my dad told me to put them in the bank."

Gregg said she never considered taking her savings elsewhere because she liked the bank, across the street from the Ross County Courthouse. Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com, said it used to be far more common for customers and families to develop long-term attachments to banks, but that was before all of today's shopping around and bank name changes.

"It seems less prevalent today because we're seeing such consolidation and so many changes in banking, and incentives for consumers to move," he said.

Though she has a checking account to pay bills, Gregg said she uses the savings account for "personal dealings" and still goes to the bank regularly, though she lives in Bainbridge, 17 miles away.

"I had to give up driving two years ago, so now I just have to go when I get a chance. I try to go once a month if I can," she said. Gregg now relies on friends to get around and walks with a cane.

The bank toasted Gregg on her 100th birthday Thursday with a party complete with balloons and a cake with large candles of the numerals "1-0-0." Bank employees sang "Happy Birthday."

"Certainly I think June takes the cake" for loyalty, Shoemaker said, while noting that there are other customers who've stayed with the bank for 30 or 40 years, sometimes more.

As a gift, the bank will bump up Gregg's interest rate for the next 100 days to around 5 percent, about 5 times the average going rate, Shoemaker said.

Breakfast Cereals Americans No Longer Love

The average American spends about 13 minutes a day preparing and eating breakfast, the meal nutritionists consider to be the most important of the day, according to NPD Group. Increasingly, people are eating less cold cereal, which has been part of breakfast for more than 100 years.

Sales of ready-to-eat cereals fell 2.55% in the 52 weeks ending April 17 to $6.41 billion, according to data from Symphony/IRI which covers retail outlets such as supermarkets. Sales of cheap, private label cereals dropped 7.2% to $637.5 million during that same time frame. Sales and units shipped have been lackluster since at least 2007, predating the Global Recession and the recent rise in grain prices. This represents a change in fortunes for Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K - News), General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS - News) Ralcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE: RAH - News), parent of Post, and Quaker Oats owner PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP - News).

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Six cereal brands have been hit particularly hard by American's changing breakfast tastes. These include Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Cheerios, Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies, Corn Pops, and Special K. Sales of some of these brands fell by double digits between 2007 to 2010, and those declines have continued in the most recent period measured by Symphony/IRI.

"In the 1980s and the first half of the 1990's, the RTE (ready-to-eat) cereal industry was one of the most profitable of all food manufacturing industries, with profits averaging 17 percent of sales," according to a 2000 report from the USDA. "Consumers' consumption of RTE cereals declined in the early 1990's because of the high prices of name-brand cereals and the rising popularity of convenient breakfast foods such as bagels and toaster pastries."

These struggles continue.

Indeed, Dean Foods (NYSE: DF - News) CEO Gregg Engles recently blamed "soft" milk sales partly on a "a weak cereal category, which drives roughly 30% of milk use."  The company is the largest U.S. processor and distributor of milk.

Cereal would seem like one of the most recession-resistant meals because it's fairly cheap and easy to prepare. S&P equity analyst Mark Graves, for one, said he was surprised by the softness in sales, which he doesn't believe is attributable much to restrictions on marketing food to children that the food industry implemented several years ago. Volume and sales should remain soft for at least the rest of the year, he added.

"I would expect cereal to be doing better," he says.

Cereal is under assault from many quarters. Government officials want to further restrict the use of cartoon characters such as Toucan Sam to sell sugary cereals because of concerns about soaring rates of childhood obesity. Companies have been reducing the amount of sugar in their products. They are also selling them in other ways such as breakfast bars, sales of which are soaring.

Much to the horror of nutritionists, the popularity of egg-based breakfast sandwiches is surging. It remains unclear how much this eats into cereal sales, however, since some people apparently eat a small breakfast at home and eat a "snack" like an Egg McMuffin later in the morning. What it does illustrate is the power of a convenient food item to drive sales at restaurants, which have seen breakfast sales remain strong throughout the economic downturn.

"The easiest way to prepare that meal is a power window," says Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst with NPD Group, in an interview.

When 24/7 Wall St. decided to compile a list of the cereals with the weakest sales growth, it found a few bright spots. General Mills, for instance, has a hit with Multi-Grain Cheerios. Symphony/IRI estimates that sales of the healthy cereal rose 11.62% to $107.4 million in the recent 52 week period, the biggest gain of any ready-to-eat cereal listed by the market research firm. Another General Mills product, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, gained 7.5% to $196.9 million. Both products have seen gains for the past few years. Sales at the diversified food company's Retail Business, which includes cereal, are struggling. Net sales and operating profit fell by more than 1% each. A General Mills spokesperson said the company was in an earnings quiet period and was unable to comment for this story.

Kellogg, the largest cereal company, isn't faring as well. Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, for instance, rose 1% to $246.7 million in the 52 weeks ending April 17, while sales of such stalwarts as Fruit Loops, Raisin Bran and Special K fell in the single digits. Sales of Kellogg's Corn Pops dropped 19% to $73.9 million. Kris Charles, a spokeswoman for Battle Creek, Michigan-based Kellogg, told 24/7 Wall Street that the Symphony/IRI data is misleading because it does not include its biggest customer, Walmart, or club stores such as Costco.

"Ready-to-eat cereal is a robust category; it's trusted by moms, great tasting, nutritious, convenient and on trend," she writes in an email, adding that ready-to-eat cereal accounts for about 50% of global net sales as it has for several years. When Kellogg reported first quarter earnings on May 4, 2011, the company increased its full-year 2011 internal net sales growth guidance to approximately 4 percent." She did not mention that Kellogg's earnings missed Wall Street estimates.

Indeed, many investors are bullish on the cereal makers, though not necessarily the product itself. Shares of Kellogg are up about 11% this year, as is General Mills. Ralcorp, which also makes private label cereals, is up 35% during the same time,  buoyed by an unsolicited takeover bid from ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG - News). It acquired Post from Kraft Foods for $2.6 billion in 2007 and the business is under-performing. Sales of branded cereal fell 10% during the most recent quarter, the only Ralcorp business to do so. Volumes were off 14%. The unit, Ralcorp's most profitable, saw a 1% gain in segment profit because of cost cutting.

Post Honey Bunches of Oats, one of its flagship brands, fell 11.69% to $271.2 million in the April 52-week period, Symphony/IRI says. St. Louis-based Ralcorp said during its recent earnings conference call that sales of the product "grew revenue" by 8% in the quarter. A company spokesperson could not be reached for comment on the discrepancy. It plans to continue to improve its product pipeline.

These are 24/7 Wall St. Breakfast Cereals Americans No Longer Love.

1. Special K
> Company: Kellogg
> Year Introduced: 1956
> 52-Week Sales Through April: $88.9 million
> Pct. Change During That Period: -1.4%
> Pct. Change Sales 2007-2010: -15.9%

One of the first diet foods. It's still a good way to start your day on the right track — nutritionally speaking. Too bad that it is elbowing for attention in a very crowded market.

2. Corn Pops
> Company: Kellogg
> Year Introduced: 1951
> 52-Week Sales Through April: $73.8 million
> Pct. Change During That Period: -19%
> Pct. Change Sales 2007-2010: -12.8%

Corn Pops are a tough sell these days. Parents — smart ones anyway — are not thrilled if their children ingest sugary cereals. Adults don't want them either because they are not healthy with 117 calories and 14.8 grams of sugar.

3. Rice Krispies
> Company: Kellogg
> Year Introduced: 1928
> 52-Week Sales Through April: $121.5 million
> Pct. Change During That Period: -8.7%
> Pct. Change Sales 2007-2010: -10.3%

Snap, Crackle and Pop are among the most recognized brand icons in history. The product has morphed from a health food to a snack food product. It's kind of tough to argue that something that's an ingredient in delicious snacks is healthy.

4. Raisin Bran
> Company: Kellogg
> Year Introduced: 1926
> 52-Week Sales Through April: $115.1 million
> Pct. Change During That Period: -8.4%
> Pct. Change Sales 2007-2010: -7.9%

Raisin Bran is the victim of its own success, which has spawned legions of knock-off brands. Many of them are made by private makers and sold for a fraction of the cost of the real thing. Cash-strapped consumers probably can't tell the difference.

5. Cheerios
> Company: General Mills
> Year Introduced: 1941
> 52-Week Sales Through April: $282.9 million
> Pct. Change During That Period: -3.86%
> Pct. Change Sales 2007-2010: -6.9%

Cheerios has been the part of the diets of babies and toddlers for generations. Birth rates have fallen, however, as the economy went south. Moreover, the market for healthy cereals has exploded in recent years, further pressuring the venerable brand.

6. Corn Flakes
> Company: Kellogg
> Year Introduced: 1894
> 52-Week Sales Through April: $107.5 million
> Pct. Change During That Period: -5.86%
> Pct. Change Sales 2007-2010: -3.8%

Originally developed in 1894 by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the superintendent of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, as a way to promote the benefits of a vegetarian diet, it's an American classic like apple pie that is facing hard times because of the growth of private label brands. Also, it's being undermined by newer, organic brands.

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Pit bulls’ surprising past: Nanny dogs

Try to quickly summon an image of good-with-small-children dog, and chances are you'll picture something adorably Benji-shaggy. Or maybe a sweetie-pie golden retriever, or a loveball of a lab. It's not likely, at least not in today's perception of the breed, that an American pit bull terrier leaps to mind.

But not so long ago, pit bulls were brought in as "nanny dogs," the trusted caretaker pups to watch over kids.

Vintage photographs recently posted on a personal blog show off the breed as babysitter.

More vintage photos of pit bulls with children

It's striking--and quite sad--to see such documentation of how beloved the now-maligned dog once was. The very same American pit bull is now more often associated with Michael Vick's dogfights, and stories of household pets gone bad, sometimes tragically involving kids.

In the case of Vick, who was convicted of running a dogfighting ring, 47 of the pit bulls from his kennel were taken to animal sanctuaries or adopted. One rehabilitated dog named Mel, who moved to Dallas with a new owner, even received an edible key to the city.

But back to the breed's history as a family dog:Helen Keller had a pit bull. Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote "Little House on the Prairie," owned one, too. And Petey, the mascot pup with the black eye patch in "The Little Rascals?" Pit bull.

Over time, the breed, which was also bred to battle bulls and fight other dogs, picked up a reputation for a nasty nature. Cesar Millan, the "dog whisperer" who is around the breed every day, says it's people who should be blamed, not the breed. He writes on his website, "Pit bulls get a bad rap because of irresponsible owners."

Responsible owners include Jon Stewart, Alicia Silverstone, Jamie Foxx, Jessica Biel, and Jessica Alba.

High school yearbook snafus anger parents

High school yearbooks are supposed to enshrine one's happy youthful memories forever. Unfortunately, quite a few parents and students opened up their yearbooks with a gasp of horror this year to discover inappropriate quotes, photos and a politically inflammatory list instead of the usual feel-good fare. Let's hope everyone takes the summer to cool off.

In Little Rock, Arkansas, for instance, the 2010-2011 yearbook at Russellville Middle School lists the "5 worst people of all time." Students listed former President George W. Bush and Bush's vice president, Dick Cheney, right after Adolph Hitler, Osama Bin Laden and Charles Manson.

Superintendent Randall Williams asked the yearbook printing company to cover the list with pieces of tape, but many parents aren't mollified.

"I think it's just hard to explain, and I've talked to the sponsor and she is very very very upset about it. That she didn't pay any attention to that particular part of that particular page," he told the local Fox affiliate. "I think she maybe just scanned the whole page and went on."

At River City High School in West Sacramento, Calif, a 16-year-old yearbook editor wrote a screed describing the school's cheerleading team as being "dolled up" in "glorified underwear" in violation of the school's dress code, reports Babble's Meredith Carroll. The page dedicated to the cheerleading squad was titled "Who Wears Short Skirts?" and accompanied by an action-shot photo (above) showing the squad with their skirts raised, and another photo that was a cropped shot showing only the girls' legs.

School officials have told angry parents and students that the language is not libelous, nor does it harm the school's mission to educate students, so it's protected by the First Amendment. The 16-year-old who wrote the copy released a statement saying she deeply regrets writing the words and meant no harm. "While I did try out for the team in 2009, I carry no resentment towards the cheerleaders or their families," the student wrote.

"I was really mad. I was just shaking," one of the cheerleaders, Breannah Gully, told ABC in describing the moment she saw the yearbook. "Everyone had to tell me to calm down.... I called my mom, and I was crying."

Meanwhile in Chesapeake, Virginia, an Oscar Smith High School senior apparently thought it would be a good idea to quote Adolph Hitler in his yearbook. The student chose the phrase "The more, the merrier," attributing it rather ominously to the murderous German dictator for the senior saying that ran next to his photo. (It doesn't appear that Hitler actually ever said the words, but let us know if we're wrong.)

"It slipped through," Chesapeake schools spokesman Tom Cupitt told The Virginia Pilot. "We're so shocked and aghast that something like this happened, and we'll take every measure to make sure something like this never happens again."

Mercedes Malion, whose daughter attends the school, told a local TV news station that she was horrified when she noticed the quote because her daughter's grandparents escaped Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. She said the senior quickly apologized to her daughter via a Facebook message.