WASHINGTON — Sen.  Christopher Dodd says there was nothing special about the 2003 mortgages on his two homes, and that he requested no preferential treatment from his lender. But it might take more than a short denial to get past this week's reports that he was one of several prominent politicians given deals by Countrywide Financial Corp. on their home loans.

 

Lawton_Another home in Lawton will be built in less than a week, but it's not another "Extreme Home Makeover". This time it's Habitat For Humanity -- with their third annual "Blitz Build."

Volunteers will build the home on Irwin Avenue from the ground up from June 11 to 15.  It will become the 16th Habitat home to be built in Lawton. "I still have to see that to believe it, five days," said future homeowner Nancy Coleman.

In the process of building her own home, Coleman will also spend 300 hours working on other homes in her neighborhood.  It's all part of the "sweat equity" used to help pay for her home. "It is very rewarding," Coleman said. "Sometimes it's a lot of hard work, but you learn a lot and meet a lot of nice people. But I've learned really, really a lot doing the sweat equity hours. Things that I normally probably would have never known."

Coleman's home is the newest home in the neighborhood, on a block full of other habitat homes.

"Lawton is a great place to live," said Jesse Nash, the President of the Lawton Board of Realtors. "We have three homes come up and three great families. It's really going to improve the area."

Habitat For Humanity actually has several lots in Lawton and volunteers standing by ready to build more houses. But there actually aren't enough people to live in them.

So they are encouraging you to apply to become a homeowner, so this story can become yours, too.

If you would like to volunteer with Habitat For Humanity and work on the "Blitz Build," you can simply show up June 11-15 and work any time from 8 a.m. til 8 p.m.