Month: March 2008

Kudos go to my local hometown paper, the Beaumont Enterprise, for joining a lawsuit with the Texas Attorney General’s Office on an open records matter.

The issue at hand are use-of-force reports filed by the local police department which the newspaper asked for but were denied. The paper sought reports during a period in time in which the son of Beaumont Police Chief Frank Coffin, the son also a Beaumont P.D. officer, was accused of assaulting a man.

Beaumont officials maintain releasing such information would open the door to tons of lawsuits over such issues. The Enterprise and the AG, as well as appeals courts, maintain the records are public under the state’s public information law.

Now if we could just get the Enterprise to investigate another matter involving the Beaumont police — the issue of buy-and-bust drug arrests. The issue pops up from time-to-time especially when such police operations end like the one in January in which Beaumont officers shot and killed a man in a Jack-in-the-Box parking lot during an undercover drug arrest.

I have no beef with the officers’ action although one would hope for a great deal of scrutiny in officer-involved shooting situations in which one of the officers happens to be the son of a city council member as was the case in this instance. The officers were cleared because they defended themselves, which is how it should be. I do have, however, doubts as to the effectiveness of the buy-and-bust tactics used to catch drug dealers.

As I noted just after the shooting, there remains some doubters in police circles who say the yield in such operations tend to be mainly low-level drug dealers. Those tactics also are obviously dangerous for both officers and civilians.

I e-mailed a copy of my concerns as listed in my Jan. 24 post to a managing editor of the Enterprise but I suppose she thought I was a crackpot. I am, of course, a crackpot but that’s better than being a crack head, right?

There is something seriously wrong with the computer I am using here at the public library. Perhaps I will attempt a post from elsewhere tomorrow when I have more time…

Excitement has been bountiful during the last week or so over Texas playing a part in picking a president. Of course, Texans always play some part in picking a president. It elected a Texan during the past two presidential elections, but forgive us of that trespass.

Lost in the hubub over Hillary v. Barack is the bigger picture come January 2009. That will be when the new president steps in and Gee Dubya will load up his U-Haul for Crawford or Highland Park or wherever it is he plans to live after the White House. For that — the words “Bush” and “after the White House” — I will be so grateful. But regardless whether President Obama takes that sacred oath or President Hillary Clinton or President John McCain we will still have to deal with that little group of men and women on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue known as Congress.

Unless change happens, meaning one party or the other elects more members in order to achieve a passable majority, we will be figuratively living in Deadlock City, U.S.A. If the present Democratic majority doesn’t increase sufficiently to do a little overriding and such, and if either Obama or Hillary is elected, I predict you will find the most do-nothing Congress in American history. That will especially be the case if we have another President Clinton. She’s the Anti-Christ to the GOPs, don’t you know?

So if Texas, Ohio and the other states voting today put Obama over the top, or put Hillary in a position where she may be finally sitting pretty, just remember it’s a long time from now until November. And it’s an even longer time until January. Then, we will have both a new president and Congress. Let’s just hope for the best, whatever that might be.

My lackluster start to this year in what I still consider to be my primary occupation, that of a freelance writer, has hit yet another bump in the road after a very unhappy few months with Sprint as my wireless Internet provider.

The problem started when I purchased their so-called “Broadband” aircard only to discover the company didn’t provide Broadband service in my home area. Thus, I was paying almost twice the amount for what a good dialup service (an oxymoron as far as I can tell) would cost yet I was receiving speeds which were slower than or as slow as most dialups.

I decided at some point that, even though I knew I was getting the shaft, I really should deal with the situation so I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau outlining a case of what I considered deceptive trade practices. Although I have not had a lot of luck filing complaints with the “triple Bees” this one got someone’s attention at Sprint.

As a result I ultimately was able to sever my wireless Internet service without having to pay an early termination fee and ended up not paying for the last two months during which I used that service. I should point out that the company asked me to consider giving their service a chance and I ultimately went past their 30-day window when one may avoid an early termination fee for breaking a contract as well as receiving a refund.

The last straw came when I went to pay Sprint what I owed them. The customer service person I talked to said they had not yet received information that I had successfully returned their aircard so I would have to pay the early termination fee until they made sure the card had been returned. I told them in no uncertain terms that they could screw themselves, that if I paid the extra amount I would probably die of old age before I had that amount refunded. Not long after this conversation, I got a letter from Sprint threatening to turn me over to a collection agency. This was after I had offered to pay them.

Luckily, I eventually came across a young lady with Sprint with a modicum of sense who was able to have the amount I owed discharged as paid. I thus ended up having had two months’ of service — albeit crappy service — for free. I would like to thank Sprint for doing the right thing, but this and many other of life’s experiences have left me a wee bit cynical. Okay, a whole hell of a lot cynical.

But there is a lesson here. It is easy to just let these large companies jack you around and it can be frustrating trying to exact justice from corporations who don’t know you, don’t want to know you and just wish the heck you would go away. But sometimes you do win. And it is those times which let you smell the sweet fragrance of success and satisfaction.

In short, if you are getting screwed by a large company and have a legitimate beef, don’t get mad. Well, yes, DO get mad and do something about it. Venting can be mighty therapeutic and just think about what might happen if you win.