Category Archives: Uncategorized

This and That

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Oh no! Labor Day has come and gone and I missed it! I was working! Maybe that’s why they call it Labor Day. Believe it or not the first big Labor Day in the US was celebrated September 5, 1882. Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday 5 years later in 1887. It became Federal Holiday in 1994 and by then 30 states were celebrating the day.

Although Labor Day was meant to support and celebrate the Labor movement it is more likely to be thought of as the symbolic end of the summer with cookouts and parties. It is also the date when fashionable women stop wearing white.

Speaking of fashionable women, my friend Diane is going to try her hand at blogging. Was it really just about a year ago that I took the plunge? I love her concept of a Saturday Morning Coffee Klatch. I hope you’ll check out her site and encourage her along.

http://ladydiblog.wordpress.com/

I had to stop at Walmart last night on my way home. As I entered the store I followed a young man who was wearing the baggiest pants I have ever seen. They were below his “butt”! I kept waiting for them to fall right down around his ankles and leave him standing there in his boxers. They had a blue print by the way. He certainly wasn’t leaving anything to the imagination. I may be an old fogey because I was offended. It made me angry that his parents/family would let him out of the house like that so I was thrilled to hear that Florida has outlawed Baggy Pants on Campus, including high schools. Belts are even being issued to hold the pants up!

And my last observation for this post is the Postal Service. I just heard that they will be bankrupt in 30 days. They apparently have some loans and are about to default on them unless Congress bails them out. The news spot went on to say that the Post Office is prepared to eliminate Saturday Service, close a whole bunch of offices and reduce their workforce by 1/3. The postal workers have a union and their union contract includes a “no lay off clause”.  I can see where this is going to go. Are you ready for a postal worker’s strike?

That almost makes me want to comment on the Verizon situation but I said the Postal Service headline would be my last observation for this post so before I get myself in trouble I think I will close this out. 🙂

Bye Bye Summer

Scout’s Tips~ Passenger’s Bill of Rights

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Scout

With all of the things that have been going on in Dusty’s life from sick cats to photo contests and overtime at her work on top of that, Scout thought it would be a good time for one of his columns to give Dusty a tiny break.

The nice thing is that travel has been in the news lately. I don’t mean the travel alert to watch out for terrorists or the Aruba murders. I’m referring to the Airline traveler’s Bill of Rights.

This little bit of regulation came to be because of the severe abuses that airlines have reaped on their customers over the past 10 plus years or so. It all seemed to start back in 1999 when Northwest Airlines stranded a plane full of passengers on the tarmac for 8 horrible hours without food , water or working toilets.  It’s like being trapped in a cramped tin can. If we treated animals that way the ASPCA or maybe even PETA would be knocking down doors to bring charges of animal cruelty.

The worst part was that this wasn’t an isolated incident. It happened again in December 2006 but it was American Airlines this time.  Not to be out done Jet Blue held up 10 flights in February of 2007.

Still the worst situation involved a diabetic passenger who ran into significant blood sugar issues while trapped on a stranded plane with no food. When the flight attendants finally realized that the passenger was in extreme danger they relented and supplied a “snack” tray but charged the passenger $4.00.

At some point a group of passengers sued the airlines for false imprisonment and a media storm ensued. The Airlines set up their own “voluntary  bill of rights” but with no enforcement teeth, things soon returned to business as usual for the airlines. Escalating fees and ticket prices added to the general arrogance of the airline industry pushed the traveling public to revolt. Finally the government stepped in.

The result: A series of pro-passenger Department of Transportation airline regulations with real enforcement tools. The goal is to decrease the number and length of tarmac delays, clearly explain/define tickets costs and extra fees and decrease the number of fliers being bumped for overbooked flights.

Under these new regulations if a boarded commercial plane sits on the tarmac for more than 4 hours, the airline will be charged up to $27,500 per passenger. ( Currently this only applies to international flights.)

Airlines will now have to display or post in a prominent position all bag, meal, cancellation and any other formerly hidden fees on their websites. They will have to compensate bumped passengers at least double the price of their ticket (provided the ticket is less than $650.00)

In January passengers will be allowed to change their reservations within 24 hours  of booking without having to pay a penalty fee.

And of course, baggage fees. With the new rules airlines will have to refund the baggage fees if they lose your luggage. Duh! Isn’t that just common sense? One caveat… if the luggage is only delayed this does not apply but if truly lost  at least you will not have paid the airlines  for the privilege of having them lose your luggage.

These rights are not due to law but are Department of Transportation regulations. Still for an industry that is notorious for poor customer service it is a step in the right direction. . It’s too bad doing the right thing doesn’t come naturally when it come to flying the not so friendly skys.

Don’t forget to Vote.This is your last chance to help out with the NH dream vacation!

http://www.nhdreamvacation.com/browse-and-vote/default.aspx?page=9

All’s Well Here

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Editor in Chief

We survived hurricane Irene with only the minor inconvenience of short power outages. Some of my neighbors weren’t as lucky as the winds brought down a lot of trees and tree branches.

Smokey has his Vet Appointment today so I’m off to take him there. More Later! In the meantime, here’s the link for the NH dream vacation. The Voting continues. 🙂

http://www.nhdreamvacation.com/browse-and-vote/

When Violence gets too close

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Last Sunday night I arrived home about 9 pm after a very long day (12 hours) at work. All I had on my mind was getting home, feeding the cats and kicking back so you can imagine how I felt when I reached my street only to see it blocked off by the police.

I tried going around the block and coming down my street from the other side thinking to go into my parking lot the “back way” but that was blocked too. The cruiser blocking the street was running with its lights on but no one was in it. About this time a large pick up truck came out of the street and maneuvered around the cruiser to exit. I flagged the driver down and asked him what was going on.

He said the police had shot an old man at the corner of Winthrop and Highland. He said he had gotten close enough to see that the man was on the ground but still alive. The man said he heard that the injured man had attacked the police officer with a knife.

I went back to my car and tried another side street. This one was blocked by the Animal Control Van but at least the officer was in the van. I explained that I lived in the condo complex and asked if I could go in. He backed out-of-the-way and motioned me through. He smiled and didn’t seem particularly upset.

I thought of going over to see if I could get a picture for this space and get more details but I was really tired and just figured I’d only be turned away. I don’t have any press credentials or anything like that.  I spoke to a couple of the neighbors but no one seemed to have any more information than I did. Nothing came on the news that night or the next morning.

When I picked my friend and her family up for our day on the Cape, she mentioned that the victim was a 64-year-old man who was a cancer survivor who needed a mechanical larynx to talk. I knew immediately who she was talking about then. He is one of my neighbors from the next building. He is disabled but maintained an electrical contractors license and I had hired him for work in my unit when I first moved in. At the time I thought he was a little strange but chalked it up to what he had to go through in his life. “Ernie” was always pleasant enough and would always wave when I saw him.

I wasn’t aware of his history but according to the Taunton Daily Gazette, he had a history with the police and had been involuntarily committed in the past. There was some speculation that Ernie was trying to commit “suicide by cop”. Witnesses  said Ernie flagged the patrol car down and then approached the officer while he was still in the cruiser. When Ernie reached the side of the cruised he pulled out a knife and tried to stab the officer. The police officer pulled away and into the condo complex and called for back up. In the meantime Ernie came at the officer again and refused to drop the knife. That is when the officer shot him.

These things are supposed to happen somewhere else to other people, not to people I know. I feel very bad for Ernie as he must have been very distressed to try that and I also feel for the officer. My brother is a police officer and I know an incident like that would be very traumatic for him.

It just shows that you never know what or where violence can spring up. This time is was way to close for my taste.

 http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/police_and_fire/x351384607/Taunton-police-officer-shoots-64-year-old-emotionally-disturbed-man