Category: Orphans

For quite some time I have considered dropping Bank of America as my banking institution. The recent news that the company planned to charge many customers a $5 monthly fee for debit card use, and my local bank confirming that I would be one of those customers, had me looking at alternatives.

Credit unions sound as if they might be what I am looking for in a bank. Some credit unions even have agreements with other corporations so that the use of their ATMs would not result in usage fees. A good number of local credit unions I looked into seemed as if changing to a new place to move my money around would not be the hassle I feared.

Now Bank of America has had input from enough pissed-off customers such as myself that they have reportedly backed off on charging the fee. I use the word “reportedly” because I have not asked the company myself. I would not be satisfied until I receive an unequivical answer from the bank that “no, they are not going to charge me the fee.”

But it is too late. I know Bank of America will find some other way to try to screw me and their other customers. And the company has infuriated me over their imaginative online bookkeeping and high overdraft charges to the point that I can’t take their smug method of operation any longer.

Other banks in the country which also tried to sneak in fees have likewise changed their minds due to the voice of the consumer being heard. I expect a good many more voices will continue to be heard in the weeks and months to come even though many banks backed off their plans to squeeze in fees.

“Based on the responses of a nationwide survey of 5,000 credit unions, the credit union advocacy group Credit Union National Assn. estimates that at least 650,000 consumers across the nation have joined credit unions since Sept. 29 (the day Bank of America unveiled its now-rescinded $5 monthly debit card fee).” This from a release via PR Newswire for Journalists. “Also during that time, CUNA estimates that credit unions have added $4.5 billion in new savings accounts, likely from the new members and existing members shifting their funds.”

Bill Cheney, president and CEO of CUNA, said consumers will on average “will save about $70 a year in fewer or no fees, lower rates on loans and higher return on savings.”

Not surprisingly, credit unions across the country are taking advantage of the swing toward these institutions with advertising, e-mail blasts, making information accessible through the CUNA’s Website aSmarterChoice.org and by extending business hours at local credit unions this Saturday, Nov. 5. A grassroots effort has made Saturday “Bank Transfer Day” with organizers telling consumers to switch their accounts to credit unions or community banks on that day.

I remember when I first started banking as a young civilian just out of the Navy. I had banked with a credit union for the time I was on shore duty but I never had enough money in my account to really think much about it. At the first couple of banks I used, I recall the days of going in and flirting with the cute tellers or even just showing up and waiting a few minutes before the bank president called me in to approve a loan. But the good old days, they are no more.

Perhaps I will not make my switch to a credit union this Saturday, but I do predict it will be soon. First I want to get a feeler out as to which is the best for me. Since our consumer revolt has kept Bank of America and some of the other institutions at bay, I feel there is a little time. Still, I know that large banks will raise some kind of fee so their chief executives do not want for the best jet to scoot around on or the best resort in which to stay. Personally, I am just tired of fighting with those mega banks.

Recently I told a friend that I was almost jealous at how active duty military people are treated these days compared to the time I served during the so-called “Vietnam Era.” I said “almost” because I know it would be stupid for me to feel pangs of jealously just because I served in the military during a different time. First of all, I wouldn’t care to be in today’s military because of what the military calls “ops tempo,” or the frequency of unit operations. It was difficult enough serving on a warship where you might make a deployment for almost a year then after a month’s stand-down you might go to sea once a week while you were in homeport.

The men and women who serve today have my thanks and my empathy.

An increased appreciation for the military following 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq has spilled over to those of us who have served in past wars both cold and hot. So, as if there would really be any jealousy felt on my part toward today’s armed service personnel, that helps make up for any feelings of underappreciation I feel.

For quite sometime a growing number of businesses have offered discounts or even freebies as a token of thanks for those who serve or have served in the military. Some of the long-time chains offering free meals on Veterans Day to active duty, reserve, or retired military or veterans include Applebee’s, who served 1,024,000 million free meals last year to the aforementioned, Golden Corral and Chili’s. That’s just to name a few.

An interesting site called The Military Wallet has a more extensive list of eating places where active duty and veterans can get a free meal on Veterans Day. If you have some proof of your service, an I.D. card or a picture or DD 214, and you are a veteran you shouldn’t go hungry this Veterans Day.

Restaurants aren’t the only merchants offering discounts or freebies. Businesses such as hotels and even beds and breakfasts are showing their appreciation to the military.

I have an upcoming appointment with a neurologist next week at the Houston VA hospital. During such visits I often book a hotel room the previous night so I won’t have to battle big city traffic after a 90-mile trip. I happened to find that the Red Roof Inn chain is offering 15 percent discounts to veterans during all of November. I don’t know how long it has been since I stayed in a Red Roof Inn. I looked on their Website for a room the night before my appointment and found a very good price for a hotel not far from the Texas Medical Center, where the DeBakey VA Hospital is located. I looked up several sites which have reviews of different hotels. I don’t pay a lot of attention to them because many times those who have a negative experience will be the main critics. However, I found some very good reviews for this particular inn.

A number of bed and breakfast outlets are offering free or discounted rooms on Veterans Day. As one might imagine, these are first come, first served and are going fast. I found some real gems on A Better Way To Stay, a Website self-described as a grassroots campaign to spread the word about B & Bs nationwide. Since I have a long weekend coming up then, it definitely has me thinking although I really need to act fast.

These are but a few, I hope they help if any present or former military people read this. And thanks for your service from one of you.

 

Today I am wrapping up 12 days off from work although I only burned about 40 hours of vacation. That would be a week’s worth of vacation to most folks but because of my part-time status that is about one-third of two work weeks. Got it? I will still have about 17 days leave left after accounting for the current 40 hours. One thing I do not lack is time off — on the books. Taking that time off is a hoarse of a different cough.

Whenever I return to the town where I went to college I always refer to it as “returning to the scene of the crime.” It’s not that I committed a crime there — I plead the Fifth and a six-pack — it is just my quaint way of saying I have more memories than can fit in this aging mind of mine. Nacogdoches, Texas, is more than just the town where I attended and received my bachelor’s degree at the local Stephen F. Austin State University. After all, I lived there three separate times. The third time’s a charm says the old adage. I would think so but it is hard not feel a wistfulness for this town and the people I lived among.

The picture above is one is of where I once lived. I mean, I didn’t live out with the herd itself. I lived in a small house with its front yard essentially bordering the pasture. There was no fence separating the yard from the herd — the fence in the above photo spans the property line — and it wasn’t unusual to wake up and find cows huddled around your car. I’d get up and go shoo them away or if one of the two dogs I had when I lived there, also at two separate occasions, were around they would chase the cattle from the yard.

It really wasn’t a complicated arrangement.

The house had a really small front porch, par for the course since it was a rather small structure. But one couldn’t find a better place to sit on that shade-covered porch and watch a thunderstorm roll in from the south on a hot summer day. It was a great place to be even if you were alone. What is it about watching rain fall down that can make us feel, at least for a little while, that all is right with the world?

I noticed that nothing much has changed out at the farm since I left it. Oh several folks have lived there. The house hasn’t been occupied in awhile. A car, most likely needing work or scrapping, sits in the yard. The nearly 200 acres on which the house sits still provides hay and pasture land for a modest herd as was the case when I lived there in the middle 1980s. The same cannot be said for the area nearby.

Fewer than five houses were located in the mile-long stretch of oil-paved road from my house to the farm-to-market road which led to town when I lived there. That seems to have more than doubled. Folks are flocking to the countryside. While the city population of Nacogdoches has hovered around 30,000 people from the time I first moved there in the late 1970s to the present, the county population has grown by nearly 20,000, according to the latest Census estimates.

Time marches on and people move in search of something. Maybe it is solitude. Perhaps it is a shade tree. Or maybe it is a porch overlooking a pasture. Go find whatever you are looking for before it is gone.

 

 

I am on vacation, technically, until Nov. 1. I might write something between now and then if I feel like it. But right now I am about 58 percent pissed off, in pain a tad more than normal and my truck is once again having @#&^%!*?>+ing problems with its cooling system. I thought all that was fixed. It isn’t.

Meanwhile, for those of you in Southeast Texas or within driving distance of Newton — almost as far as you can go east and still be in Texas — and if you want something entertaining to do for a good cause, the Newton County Fire Department and Sheriff’s Association is hosting a day-long cornucopia of events for your entertainment pleasure benefiting the county’s Toys For Tots drive. Here are the details:

When: Beginning at 8 a.m.

Where: Newton County Fair Grounds, Newton, Texas

Newton is 15 miles east Southeast of Jasper, Texas, on U.S. 190; 51 miles North of Orange, Texas on State Hwy. 87; 36 miles West of DeRidder/Fort Polk, La., area on U.S. 190; and about 70 miles east Southeast of Lufkin, Texas, via State Highway 62 and U.S. 190.

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Cajun and zydeco performer Wayne Toups plays the night of the festival. Pre-sale tickets will be available at NAPA Auto in Newton, Top Line in Newton and First Insurance in Jasper or you can call one of the numbers listed below for tickets. Only $10.00!!

Brian Hornois…Star of Haunted Rhode Island and formerly of Ghost Hunters has graciously donated his time to come out and sign autographs and have pictures taken from 5-8 pm for all you ghost hunting fans.

Bikers Ride register 8am. First bike out 10am, last bike in 3pm. $20 per bike, $10 passenger. All bikers will receive an event bandana and there will be a 50/50 drawing and door prizes.

Chili cook off registration: 9am. Judging 1pm. $50 entry fee – 1st place trophy awarded – call for rules and entry forms. 409-224-6173

Non- food vendors welcome – $25. per booth.

10am-3pm -we will have free games for the kids,a petting zoo, a cake walk, bounce house, food booth and more!! Smokey the Bear as well as McGruff the Crime Dog will be there to meet the kids, and the fire trucks/police cars and Jasper Countys D.A.R.E. car will be on display.

Trailride – begins at 9am at the softball field beside the fair grounds. Call Karen @ Top Line for more information. 409-379-2283

5-8pm washer and horseshoe tournaments, $10 entry fee. 50% for toys for tots, 30/20% split for 1st and 2nd place winners.

Concert gates open at 4 p.m.. First band plays 6 p.m. Auction will be during intermissions.

Donations can also be mailed to Santas Toy Brigade, P.O. Box 1292, Newton, Texas. 75966

Donations of can goods, dry goods, new boxed toys, and auction items would be appreciated.

Sponsored by the Newton County Fire Department and Newton County Sheriff Association – All proceeds go to Newton County Toys for Tots.

And just a note. Tell them Eight Feet Deep sent you and you might just get a free trip to the Newton County lockup! Seriously, this is for a good cause put on by some good folks. I saw Wayne Toups and ZyDeCajun play at the 2004 Beaumont Blues Fest and they were some good sho’ nuff! He is probably the most successful Cajun recording artist today and he brings a great combination of Cajun, zydeco, blues and swamp pop to the stage. And all is for $10 and a good cause. It’s a steal.

Leave me alone. I am watching Game 5. Texas and Detroit are tied 2-2. I can’t help but wonder, though, how distracting would it be for the pitching coach to come out and tell the pitcher that his pants are unzipped? I’m talking about the pitching coach telling the pitcher that. From that time on, the pitcher is looking down. Are they or aren’t they? Do the pants even have a zipper? Yes, I’d say that would be a hell of a distraction. The pitcher would probably bean his own pitching coach.