Over Coffee

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   Seems like I've been to a lot of funerals in the past year or so. The most recent was that of Jerry "Red" Fowler, the one-of-a-kind Director of Public Works for the city of Duluth, Georgia on February 26, 2005. In his eulogy, Mayor Shirley Lasseter called Red "a legend in Duluth." And I guess he was. My favorite story about Red had to do with an overstuffed chair one of my sons brought home from somewhere. My son thought the price-"carry it away"-was right. That disreputable monster of a chair then became MY problem. I actually hated to touch it, (Where had it been?) and my trash service guy certainly couldn't get the thing in the trash packer by himself. So one day I asked Red if he would take pity on me and give me a special dispensation, like the Pope, to bring it up to the Duluth dumpster, even though I was not a resident of Duluth. I offered to pay a special dispensation price. Red didn't bat an eye. He told me he would let me offload the offensive chair if I would provide some Popsicles for his crew there at the city maintenance barn. It was the fastest deal I ever made! We brought about 50 Popsicles. Red agreed with me: That chair was the ugliest chair the world had ever seen. 
   I could also tell you about the time Red called to see if I could help him find the owner of a small tombstone that had mysteriously appeared at the city barn overnight. Red Fowler was a special man, indeed. He will be missed by the folks in Duluth for a very long time, but remembered forever because of the American flags and white memorial crosses, more than 700 of them by now, that Duluth marks every Memorial Day and Veterans' Day with, all along city roads. Red's project.

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   In light of the credit information scammy mess at ChoicePoint, I decided to get our free credit report from Equifax. Georgia law provides for its citizens to be able to receive two free credit files per year upon request. It took me a couple of times to navigate successfully through the automated telephone system at Equifax to get to the jumping off point for the free credit report, the Central Source, 1-877-322-8228, from whence comes our information. This was not a user-friendly situation. When I punched in my telephone number on that telephone prompt, I was informed by the recorded voice that this information would not be available in my area until June, 2005. 
   Things weren't as complicated at TransUnion. The automated prompts steered me to the free credit report, which was wrapped with the credit score, for which they charge $5.95. I couldn't see how to get only the free report, so I bought the deal. All of that information did arrive within the six to nine business days as promised by the recording.
   Experian's automated recording also sent me to the Central Source for my free credit report at 1-877-322-8228, which I already know is a dead end for about four months. Looks like the folks at TransUnion are a little bit smarter, doesn't it? They got my money for the credit score and the other two did not.
   My friends, all of these fancy-schmancy economists are forever trying to figure out why consumers do what we do in order to come up with their predictions. Guess what? Sometimes our actions are merely a matter of our being frustrated to death! To be user-friendly is not a difficult proposition, but in so many cases, it is apparently unachievable. Every time you encounter one of these quagmires, either over the telephone or in person, SOMEBODY is responsible for it! SOMEBODY in charge thought the quagmire approach was a good idea. In these cases, I absolutely find another place to do business. 

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   Well, the popular press in these parts have now got two things on the "Ooops! List" for the new term of Charles Bannister, newly elected chairman of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners. The first was an article about Billy McKinney, the chairman's good friend and political consultant, sticking his nose in county business in what was seen as an attempt to influence. Bannister, of course, disavowed any knowledge of McKinney's actions, but opinion on the street is quite skeptical on that point. The second item on the "Ooops! List" was the report of the "social opportunity" Bannister availed himself of on the gambling jaunt to the Golden Moon Hotel & Casino in Philadelphia, Mississippi on February 2nd. Bannister paid his own way and according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, didn't gamble, but hung out with senior-status Judge James Oxendine, who was also along on the Precision Planning social trip. 
Bring up this subject and just see what folks (voters) will tell you, in their opinion! 

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   For a number of years now, it does appear that there is another third rail in politics besides Social Security and that one is healthcare. I have noticed that certain of our local legislators know very little about the ramifications of healthcare here in Gwinnett County and very obviously do not want to talk about it. Unfortunately, this includes Congressman John Linder, who is our one-act pony from the 7th District. Now, the vexatious healthcare issue has been compounded by the increasingly volatile issue of illegal immigration. The two issues actually go together, my friends; they are joined at the hospital emergency room. When waves of immigrants wash up on the shores of our hospitals with injuries and illnesses and new babies and no insurance and no money, the American taxpayers and the hospitals themselves must foot the bill for their indigent care. That's the deal. Now that the numbers of illegal immigrants are reaching somewhere out of sight, we simply can't absorb these numbers any longer into a healthcare system that is facing future collapse from the extreme free over-use of its facilities unless we do something.
   Part of the seriousness of this problem is our reluctance to address it, since we tend to believe everybody should get healthcare. I fall in that camp myself. However, the numbers are stacking up against that belief because our healthcare system, the way it is structured now, is not an infinite resource. Cracking down on illegal immigration is imperative and one way to start getting a handle on these burgeoning numbers of indigents from other countries who are using our hospital resources at our expense. Our legislators were elected, both state and federal, to look after the interests of American citizens, not Mexican citizens, not African citizens or citizens from any other country. We must see that they fulfill their pledge.
   It remains a mystery to me why folks in other countries say they hate America, yet look at all the immigrants that are busting themselves to get to our free shores. Someone please explain this to me.

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   Tulips were emerging in our garden, but the new green shoots got cropped by our deer friends before we even noticed them. The new daylilies have been mowed over as well. We have had quite a deer visitation this winter. My granddaughters counted nine of them in the backyard on one recent day. They were thrilled and I was astonished.

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   Hope all is well. Thanks for reading.

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