http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/arti
cles/1016leepson1016.html
The first change in the pledge's wording was a minor one.
It came after Bellamy heard thousands of students in
'God' not part of 1st pledge
Boston recite the pledge on Oct. 12, 1892. On that day,
he changed the words slightly to read, "I pledge
Leepson
allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic . . . "
FREELANCE WRITER
Oct. 16, 2005 12:00 AM
Six years later, New York became the first state in the
nation to mandate that students recite the pledge, then
The nation's highest courts for the second time in two
primarily known as the Flag Salute, in public schools at
years are wrestling with the constitutionality of the words the beginning of the school day. Other states soon
"under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. If the Supreme followed suit.
Court deletes the words, it will be the fifth change in the
pledge since millions of schoolchildren first recited it as
The second and third changes in the pledge's wording
part of the nationwide Oct. 12, 1892, 400th anniversary
came in 1923 and 1924. They were made at the National
celebration of Columbus' voyage.
Flag Conference in Washington, D.C., in which dozens
of veterans and patriotic groups, led by the American
The words those children spoke that day were: "I pledge
Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution,
allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands; met to draw up a national Flag Code. Delegates to the
one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
conference replaced the words "my flag" with, first, "to
The words came from the pen of 37-year-old magazine
the flag of the United States," and, then later with "to the
editor Francis Bellamy, who wrote them for the 1892
flag of the United States of America." On June 22, 1942,
commemoration, officially known as the National
Congress officially recognized the pledge by including it
Columbian Public School Celebration. Bellamy, then an
in the U.S. Flag Code, which was adopted that year. In
assistant editor of the Youth's Companion magazine, also 1945, it became known officially as the Pledge of
happened to be an ordained Baptist minister.
Allegiance.
Bellamy, whose father also was a Baptist minister, was
born in Rome, N.Y., and graduated from the Rochester
Theological Seminary in 1876. He went on to practice his
ministry at the Baptist Church in Little Falls, N.Y., and
then at the Dearborn Street Church in Boston before
turning to magazine editing.
The third, and by far most controversial, change in the
pledge, adding "under God," came about in 1954 as the
result of a national campaign waged by the Knights of
Columbus and with the strong support of President
Eisenhower during the Cold War.
13 October 2005
Todd also collects a tax of one stamp (37 cents) per
month from each of us – supposedly it goes to help the
Dear ********,
white inmates who are being held in the Supermax yard
in Florence. Supposedly that lottery they wanted me to
Thank you for writing me again so soon. It’s good to hear enter goes to that also.
from you. You’re right that I don’t really need your news
updates, as I do receive the Arizona Republic regularly.
I am glad that Laro was able to defy the will of the Aryan
Sometimes I am reminded of an article I read a long time Brotherhood while he was being transferred. It would be
ago, and sometimes there are articles from other sources, very dangerous for him to sit next to a black man here.
so its not totally useless. The other inmates would not be
interested in your news summaries. They are surprisingly Thank you for telling me about Krystin Sinama. I am
pro-government for a bunch of people the government is glad we have someone in the anti-war movement in the
locking up for many years. I have heard many uttering
House of Representatives. I’m also glad she sticks it to
pro-war sentiments.
the religious folks as well.
Mostly what I do all day is read and watch my cellmates
television. I can’t hang around in the prison yard, because
we are locked down all day. They only let us out for
recreation, food, and medical appointments. Recreation is
three times a week.
The television here has four channels devoted to
Department of Corrections material. Channel 2 has a lot
of fundamentalist Christian garbage on it, but now that it
is Ramadan, they have Muslim shows on it so I suppose
they let different religions take turns.
I have never actually seen someone taking drugs or
dealing drugs here, but from what I hear it does go on,
and the Aryan Brotherhood is involved with it. One
inmate asked to borrow ten stamps from me (postage
stamps are a de facto currency in here), and I was told
later by my cellmate that he needed the stamps to pay a
cocaine debt. I don’t know what the attitude of the guards
is to drugs. There aren’t enough guards here to monitor
everything, so I imagine if one is discreet it is possible to
get away with taking drugs.
I am surprised to learn that all my letters have been
opened and read. They did not do that to the outgoing
mail when I was in jail, only incoming.
Bellamy, who died in 1931, adamantly opposed the 1923 You have my permission to post my letters on other the
Despite his long involvement with the church, Bellamy
and 1924 changes to his Pledge of Allegiance. He was
Indymedia site or other websites as you feel fit.
wrote the pledge without any reference to religion. That's miffed at not having been consulted about the changes,
because the pledge's origins had nothing to do with
and he regarded his original words as sacrosanct. The
There are definitely dangers her, but it would be an
religion. The pledge was an integral part of what was
changes "incensed me more the more I cannot say,"
exaggeration to say that I fear for my life in on a daily
known as the schoolhouse flag movement, a campaign
Bellamy's biographer quotes him as saying. "Robbed of
basis. 90% of the inmates here are nice and friendly. It’s
led by patriotic and veterans groups - spearheaded by the my authorship, my Salute was changed and revamped
a few inmates in a few circumstances that cause the
nation's first politically powerful veterans' service
with not even the courtesy of consultation on the
trouble.
organization, the Grand Army of the Republic - to put the revisions." I "never acknowledge these changes,"
Stars and Stripes in all the nation's schools. The idea was Bellamy said, "My Salute contains only twenty-three
There are nine housing units (HUs or “houses”_ on the
to gain the allegiance of millions of immigrant
words."
yard (the Rincon Unit). I am in HU6 or “House Six”.
schoolchildren and the children of immigrants to their
Each house has three corridors or “Runs”, A, B, and C. I
new nation.
It's a safe bet, therefore, that Francis Bellamy would be
am in B run or “Baker Run”, as the guards call it.
on the front lines with those working to delete "under
"We are all descendants of immigrants, but we want to
God" from the pledge. It's difficult to speculate, though,
Each run is governed by a representative of the Aryan
hasten that day, by every possible means when we shall
what he would have thought about an earlier Supreme
Brotherhood. For my run, HU6 B, the representative is an
be fused together," future President Theodore Roosevelt, Court ruling on the pledge. In 1943, the court ruled on an inmate named Todd Huston. (inmate number 115953,
a strong backer of the pledge and the schoolhouse flag
8-year-old case involving a young Jehovah's Witness
DOB 12/28/1977 ) If anyone wants to submit any kind
movement, wrote to Bellamy in 1892. "Consequently, by who refused to salute the flag. In a landmark case, the
of paperwork to the prison authorities, even a request for
all means in our power we ought to inculcate, among the court found that schoolchildren cannot be forced to recite medical treatment Todd has to see it to make sure no one
children of this country, the most fervent loyalty to the
the Pledge of Allegiance, a ruling that still stands.
is snitching. My paperwork has been examined closely
Flag."
this past week because Todd is afraid I will report what
Marc Leepson is the author of "Flag: An American
happened in the recreation field when I refused to enter
Bellamy chose the words "one nation indivisible," he
Biography," a history of the American flag from the
the lottery the Aryan Brotherhood was conducting. The
later explained, to promote post-Civil-War reconciliation. beginnings to today. His Web site is
Aryan Brotherhood doesn’t insist on examining letters
As for "liberty and justice for all," Bellamy said he was
www.flagbiography.com.
going to people outside the prison, however, and so I can
inspired by "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity," the
be perfectly frank about what goes on here. Still I prefer
"historic slogan of the French Revolution, which meant
<#==#>
to write these letters when my cellmate is at work and
so much to Jefferson and his friends."
finish before he comes back.
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
1 of 23
Yours,
Kevin
<#==#>
http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2005
/10/16/volunteers_get_cold_reception_in_vermont/
Volunteers get cold reception in Vermont
They run into protest and walk through wild to watch
Canada border
By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff | October 16, 2005
NEWPORT, Vt. -- It's hard to save the United States
from illegal immigrants when you can't find the border.
At noon yesterday, some volunteers in the Minuteman
Civil Defense Corps were in this bucolic town in
northern Vermont, trying to do both.
Eleven members of this citizens group had come to the
Vermont-Canada border to patrol for illegal immigrants.
They had intended to station themselves in Derby Line, a
quaint village that straddles the border.
But these Minutemen were forced out of town by a larger
crowd of protesters, who denounced their opposition to
illegal immigration as a front for racism.
So the volunteers set off to watch a stretch of border on a
bike path that runs along Lake Memphremagog.
Only they got lost.
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
Some of the men stood at a break in the path, which is
crossed by the Canadian border close to where they
stood. But the group's leader, Bob Casimiro of
Weymouth, Mass., was not sure which way to send them.
A couple of miles from the road where Casimiro left
them, three of the Minutemen were still walking, grand
houses on their left, the lake on their right. The rain
quickly soaked them.
He pointed down the path toward a footbridge. The
Minutemen started walking.
''This is really nice," said Weymouth police officer Bob
Johnson. ''We get a foliage tour thrown in for no extra
cost."
''Stay within sight," he told them. Within minutes, they
were out of sight.
The Minutemen were formed in Arizona by ordinary
citizens who believe that the federal government is not
doing enough to secure the country's borders. In April,
they stationed themselves along the southwest border
with Mexico, armed with binoculars and cellphones.
They alerted border patrol officers whenever they saw
people crossing illegally into the United States, hoping to
deter others from trying.
Last month, they announced they would start patrolling
the border with Canada.
Border patrol officers are careful not to criticize the
Minutemen directly. But they do point out that the
officers are best qualified to watch the border.
The border in this part of Vermont is nothing like the
mostly flat and open one that separates Arizona from
Mexico, where the Minutemen staged a high-profile
border watch that brought them to national prominence in
April.
This northern border is a slash through thick forest or a
tree line a few yards from a road in the town of Holland,
Vt. In Derby Line, it is narrow Lee Street, dotted with
pretty Victorian houses, or the building at 209 Main St.,
where apartment 2A is in Canada and 2B is in the United
States.
It is the thin, black line that runs along the floor of the
Haskell Free Library. It is a small obelisk in a field or in
the backyard of a run-down house high on a hill.
It is Canusa Avenue in the town of Beebe Plain, where
residents on one side of the street are Canadians and
Others were more openly critical this week. Yesterday,
those on the other are in the United States, and crossing
about 40 men and women stood in the pouring rain on the the road to borrow a cup of sugar means passing through
village common in Derby Line to protest the arrival of
a checkpoint at the end of the street. It cuts through the
the Minutemen in town.
middle of Lake Memphremagog.
''They are outsiders, and we don't want them here," said
David Van Deusen of Moretown, Vt., who helped to
organize the protest. ''We don't want their racist policies
in Vermont."
The Minutemen's efforts are as much about public
relations as apprehending illegal immigrants. They hope
to make the issue of immigration more prominent
nationally and to pressure the Bush administration into
providing more funding for border patrols.
Casimiro spent three weeks in Naco, Ariz., earlier this
year. He alerted authorities to one illegal immigrant, but
he said he saw more important results than that.
''What we saw in Arizona is our presence certainly has
energized [border enforcement] down there, because they
don't want to be embarrassed," he said.
John Pfeifer, assistant chief patrol agent for Customs and
Border Protection in the sector that includes Vermont,
defended the agency.
''Our resources are obviously not unlimited," Pfeifer said.
''But we work with what they give us, and I think we do a
really good job of monitoring and enforcing the laws on
the border."
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
Border patrol officers arrested 1,927 people along the
195 miles of border in the Swanton sector, which
includes Vermont and part of New York, between Oct. 1,
2004, and Sept. 30. Of those, 856 were crossing the
border illegally. Others were picked up on expired visas
and other violations.
[Derby Line] is a real small town, so people know who
belongs there and who does not."
Residents in Derby Line were mostly opposed to the
arrival of the Minutemen.
''I don't think they're needed," said Buzz Roy, a
pharmacist. ''The border patrol does an ample job. I don't
think we need a bunch of yahoos enforcing the law."
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the federal
government has tripled the number of officers patrolling
the border and tightened the rules: It used to be easier for
locals to cross the border, but now everybody in Derby
Line has to check in every time they pass over it.
''I don't know why [the Minutemen are here]," said
Florence Joyal, a sales assistant in Brown's Drugstore.
''We've got border patrol beaucoup. Security is tighter
now."
''It's just another form of vigilantism," said James Griffin,
62, who came to Derby Line eight years ago. ''I think
their agenda is racist, and they're just trying to impose
their will. They're just another form of militia. I don't like
their very presence, and I don't think Vermonters are
going to be too happy to have them crossing over their
land."
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
<#==#>
18 USC Sec. 1696
01/19/04
TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
PART I - CRIMES
CHAPTER 83 - POSTAL SERVICE
Sec. 1696. Private express for letters and packets
(a) Whoever establishes any private express for the
conveyance of letters or packets, or in any manner causes
or provides for the conveyance of the same by regular
trips or at stated periods over any post route which is or
may be established by law, or from any city, town, or
place to any other city, town, or place, between which the
mail is regularly carried, shall be fined not more than
$500 or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
This section shall not prohibit any person from receiving
and delivering to the nearest post office, postal car, or
other authorized depository for mail matter any mail
matter properly stamped. (b) Whoever transmits by
private express or other unlawful means, or delivers to
any agent thereof, or deposits at any appointed place, for
the purpose of being so transmitted any letter or packet,
shall be fined under this title. Libertarian Myth my ass.
Those criticisms are unjustified, said Casimiro, executive
director of the Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration
Reform and leader of the 11 volunteers from
Massachusetts, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire,
New York, and Connecticut.
--
''It's very simple," he said. ''I'm just trying to save my
country."
From wikipedia.
''National security is a big part of this," said Casimiro, 67,
a retired design and project engineer. ''As far as I'm
Along the 4,000-mile border between the United States
concerned, I don't care where it is, I just want the border
and Canada, 7,340 people were arrested in the last fiscal
secured. We cannot survive as a nation with porous
year, 2,100 of those in Vermont, New Hampshire, and
borders like that. It affects our economy, and it affects
Maine. Those numbers are minuscule compared to arrests our culture. We're just rapidly becoming a nation other
along the 1,951-mile border with Mexico, where over the than the one I grew up in."
same period about 1.2 million people were arrested by
border patrol officers.
Casimiro had heard that people in Derby Line had
defended the border patrol. He pointed out that the
Watching the northern border is far more complicated
Minutemen were observers and that their aim is to call
than it is in the South. Border patrol officers are
border patrol whenever they see illegal border crossers.
constantly in motion through the border towns in this
region, policing the boundary in all-terrain vehicles,
''Until the border is 100 percent secure, they're not doing
snowmobiles, boats, helicopters, and fixed-wing aircraft
a good job," Casimiro said.
that use infrared technology to survey the area at night.
Back on the bike path, the three Minutemen trudged on in
They also rely on residents to report anything suspicious. the rain. Finally, they knocked on Amy Audet's door to
ask directions.
''The residents are critical," Pfeifer said. ''The border goes
through people's backyards and through buildings.
The border, she told them, was in the opposite direction.
Obviously, we can't put a camera and a sensor on every
inch of the border, so we rely on the residents to call us.
Yvonne Abraham can be reached at
abraham@globe.com.
2 of 23
Escape the Rat Race for Peace, Quiet, and Miles of
Desert Beauty Take a Sanity Break at The Bunkhouse at
Liberty Haven Ranch
http://libertyhavenranch.com
Monopoly status The USPS enjoys a government
monopoly with respect to first-class and third-class letter
delivery under the authority of the Private Express
Statutes. The USPS says that these statutes were enacted
by Congress "to provide for an economically sound
postal system that could afford to deliver letters between
any two locations, however remote." In effect, those who
mail letters to a near location are subsidizing those who
are mailing letters to distant locations. The USPS enjoys
monopoly status in that it possesses the exclusive
permission under federal law to deliver first and third
class mail. However, an exception to private carriers is
made with regard to "extremely urgent letters" as long as
the private carrier charges at least $3 or twice the U.S.
postage, whichever is greater (other stipulations, such as
maximum delivery time, apply as well); or, alternatively,
it may be delivered for free. The USPS also enjoys a
monopoly privilege in placing mail into standardized
mailboxes marked "U.S. Mail." Hence, private carriers
must deliver packages directly to the recipient, leave
them in the open near the recipient's front door, or place
them in a special box dedicated solely to that carrier (a
technique commonly used by small courier and
messenger services). In the 1840s Lysander Spooner
started the commercially successful American Letter
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
Mail Company which competed with the United States
Post Office by providing lower rates. He was
successfully challenged with legal measures by the U.S.
government and exhausted his resources trying to defend
what he believed to be his right to compete. The 37 cents
(USD) required by the USPS to deliver a letter in the
U.S. compares favorably to other industrialized countries,
such as those of the European Union, where the postage
for an ordinary domestic first-class letter is nearly twice
that much. Today, it is arguable whether any meaningful
competition for ordinary letter delivery would develop in
the absence of a legal monopoly, as letter volume
continues to dwindle due to replacement by more
efficient electronic means of communication and
payment. In countries that have recently undergone postal
service privatization, such as Germany, no meaningful
competition for first-class letter delivery has materialized
and the overall cost of services to consumers has risen.
As it continues to lose package services market share to
private competitors, the USPS and its organizational
structure face an uncertain future. As an affiliate of the
federal government, the USPS is not required to pay any
of the federal or state income taxes that regular
businesses pay. Since the USPS is also directed by law to
break even in the long run, there is currently not much
tax revenue lost due to this tax exemption. However there
is a possibility that a private alternatives to the USPS
monopoly on normal letter delivery could be profitable
and net tax contributors (Private competitors in package
delivery have become profitable even with the tax burden
placed on them). Therefore some critics view the current
tax exemption as a subsidy provided by the government
to the USPS. [edit]Subsidized services The USPS claims
to have operated "in a businesslike manner without
taxpayer support" since its spinoff from the cabinet on
July 1, 1971 following the passage of the Postal
Reorganization Act of 1970. It does, however, receive
compensation from taxpayer funds for certain services
that it is mandated to provide for free or at a discount,
including free mail for the blind, military mail, nonprofit
mail and overseas ballots. $36 million such compensation
was paid for fiscal 2004. In addition, Congress
appropriated the USPS a total of $762 million for
biohazard decontamination and detection equipment in
response to the 2001 anthrax attacks.
-----Original Message----From: lightonliberty@aol.com
To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sun, 16 Oct 2005 13:28:50 EDT
Subject: Re: [lpaz-discuss] Japan to privatize its postal
agency
In a message dated 10/16/2005 1:26:42 PM Eastern
Daylight Time,
***********@***********.**** writes:
> i vaguely remember incidents in the past when people
> offered mail delivery that competed directly with the
> post office that the feds shut them down.
>
>
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
> mike
>
Can't think of any myself. Your vague memories are by
their nature, vague, probably inaccurate.
Kevin O'Connell
<#==#>
normally i give you news articles but i will change for
this time and give you a web site. this web page is from
the cato institute which is a libertarian think tank in
washington dc. read it and find out how the post office is
making our mail service better. yea sure!!!!! (for those
convicts who dont know what libertarians are we are a
political party like the republicans or democrats. we have
ballot status in all 50 states. we are the only political
party with a platform that alway has and always will
demand that ALL drugs be legalized, well and ALL guns
too, well and all victimless crimes. last the libertarian
party always had and probably always will welcome
convict to join our party if you have libertarain views)
missorted or touched by some mistake."(5) In reality, the
Postal Service is trying to solve its problems by
shredding its customers. The worse the Postal Service's
failures, the more grandiose its rhetoric.
The Postal Service is becoming increasingly secretive.
Last August it ceased divulging data on the number of
Express Mail letters that arrive late. Last November it
refused to divulge key information from a $23 million
test that revealed how many letters postal workers lose or
throw away each year. In recent years the Postal Service
appears to have knowingly violated Federal Trade
Commission regulations on false advertising, and it may
have also violated the U.S. Mail Fraud Act.
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-146.html
Mail service in America is slow and unreliable because
the government has a monopoly. Private companies can
only deliver letters pursuant to an exemption to the
private express statutes. Ironically, such exemptions are
granted by the Postal Service itself. Under the current
exemption, private companies must charge more than $3
per letter and more than double the price the Postal
Service would charge for the same letter. As long as the
Postal Service can legally quash its competitors, it need
not exert itself for its customers.
Cato Policy Analysis No. 146 February 1, 1991
The Great Mail Slowdown--or "Just Say Slow!"
Slower Is Better:
The New Postal Service
by James Bovard
A l987 Postal Service poster proclaimed, "The New
Postal Service. We're changing. We move mountains of
mail for you. Amazingly accurate. Amazingly fast. . . .
We're delivering the mail faster than ever."(6)
James Bovard is an associate policy analyst of the Cato
Institute and the author of The Farm Fiasco (ICS Press,
1989).
Executive Summary
The U.S. Postal Service is combining the largest increase
in stamp prices with the greatest intentional slowdown in
mail delivery in U.S. history. Billions of letters a year are
being delayed as part of a novel scheme to "improve mail
service." Postmaster General Anthony Frank has emerged
as America's grand champion of Doublespeak with his
endless misrepresentations of the Postal Service's
performance.
But last year the Postal Service decided to improve mail
service by delaying letter delivery. The Postal Service
has taken a great leap backwards, sharply reducing the
role of airplanes in mail delivery. Targets for overnight
and two-day mail delivery have been sharply reduced.
As Frank explained to the House Government Operations
Committee last September, "I began to hear complaints
from mailers and customers about inconsistent first-class
mail delivery. . . . We learned how important consistent,
reliable delivery is to our customers."(7) The Postal
Service seized on a supposed need for more consistent
delivery as a pretext for a general slowdown of the mail.
As Rep. Francis X. McCloskey (D-Ind.) complained,
In l764 colonial postmaster general Benjamin Franklin
"Postmasters from locations across the country have
announced a goal of two-day mail delivery between New informed this subcommittee that first-class mail is being
York City and Philadelphia.(1) In 1991 the Postal Service delayed for no apparent reason. Mail that could be
considers it a "success" to deliver mail from New York
processed at 3:00 in the morning. . . is not being
City to next-door Westchester County in two days.(2)
processed so that the morning shift has mail to
The average first-class letter now takes 22 percent longer process."(8)
to reach its destination than it did in 1969.(3) If the
current trend continues, the Postal Service may soon be
With its previous standards, the Postal Service strove for
charging people a storage fee for each letter they mail.
overnight delivery of first-class mail within a 100- to
150-mile radius of sectional mail-handling facilities.
Frank declared in 1989 that the Postal Service is "the
Now, in many areas, the target zone for overnight
most efficient and most loved American institution."(4)
delivery has been reduced to less than 50 miles. Nashua,
In September 1990 he declared that the Postal Service is
New Hampshire, is only 45 miles from Boston; the new
"better than 99.5 percent perfect"--meaning, according to standards call for two-day delivery, thereby allotting
Frank, that fewer than 1 of every 200 letters "is delayed,
roughly an hour for each mile a letter must travel
3 of 23
between the two cities.(9) The Postal Service planned to
put mail between Washington and Baltimore on a twoday standard, but the protests of Maryland senators and
congressmen persuaded the Postal Service to retain an
overnight delivery standard.(10)
Surprisingly, Frank insists that the new slower standards
will result in "improved mail service for our
customers."(11) Frank has even cited the mail slowdown
campaign as proof that the Postal Service is "living up to
that 'We Deliver' promise."(12) Last September Frank
told the Economic Club of Detroit: "We have not,
contrary to some opinion, slowed down mail service.
We've made very minor adjustments to our service
areas."(13)
But the Postal Service's own tests show that mail delivery
has slowed since implementation of the new standards
began in late July 1990. The Postal Service conducts
internal examinations of mail delivery using its OriginDestination Information System. Though the ODIS is
heavily biased to present a rosy picture of postal
performance, ODIS tests do provide a series of statistics
on the average number of days required to deliver a firstclass letter. In 1969 it required l.5 days on average to
deliver a first-class letter.(14) By 1982 the average firstclass letter required 1.65 days for delivery, and by 1987,
1.72 days. In the quarter of 1990 before the new
standards were implemented, the average had increased
to l.80 days. In the quarter after the new standards began
to be implemented, the average rose to l.83 days--a 1.7
percent increase that makes current average delivery 22
percent slower than 1969 delivery.(15) According to
Postal Service official John Potter, the reform could
increase the average delivery time for all first-class mail
by as much as 10 percent.(16)
Frank has downplayed public concerns about the delivery
cutback, calling the slowdown a "nonevent."(17) When
asked about the costs of the slowdown to the American
public, Frank declared, "I don't think it costs the
American public anything."(18)
The American Bankers Association estimates "that banks'
lockbox customers could lose in excess of $90 million
each year as a result of the slower standards."(19) The
U.S. Chamber of Commerce warns, "Small businesses
will be especially hard hit by this slowdown because of
their reliance on customers' prompt payments to keep
their businesses afloat."(20) John Mapley, general
manager of the New Hampshire branch of the world's
largest mail-order photofinishing business, told a
congressional committee that, because of the new
standard, his first-class mail had slowed more than 20
percent.(21)
Before implementing the slowdown, the Postal Service
conducted a public survey. A House Government
Operations Committee report subtitled Just Say Slow
notes: "The [Postal Service's] research was based largely
on customer surveys in which a single question asked
respondents to choose between speed of delivery and
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
consistency of delivery. The question implied that they
could not have both."(22) Robert Cohen, technical
director of the Postal Rate Commission, observed, "There
is no evidence that the interviewees had any idea what
was meant by the concept of consistency as . . . employed
in the questionnaire."(23) Stephen A. Gold, the consumer
advocate of the Postal Rate Commission, declared, "The
Service leaped to the conclusion that a one-day delay in
volume, no matter how great, of local First-Class Mail
was acceptable if it produced any improvement, no
matter how small, in consistency."(24) Frank declared at
a congressional hearing that "we believe the savings will
be negligible."(25)
The primary benefit is that the slowdown will make it
appear that the Postal Service is better serving the public.
Frank claims that the new standards will "improve our
ability to deliver local mail on time."(26) But that is
almost entirely a result of the Postal Service's changing
the definition of "on time." As Frank says, "You have a
better chance to get l00% perfection in a small radius
than a large radius."(27) Sen. David Pryor (D-Ark.)
observes, "This is like trying to fool the public by cutting
the top off the flag-pole when the flag is stuck halfway
up."(28) The Postal Rate Commission concluded that the
slowdown will provide "minimal, if any, countervailing
benefits to the postal customer."(29)
The goal of prompt mail delivery is sinking into a swamp
of postal relativity. In l960 the U.S. Post Office's Annual
Report proudly announced "the ultimate objective of
next-day delivery of first-class mail anywhere in the
United States."(30) In 1990 Frank declared: "I don't think
we have anything to be ashamed of. Over half the mail in
the U.S. has an overnight standard."(31) Thus, Frank is
now bragging that the Postal Service has a goal of nextday delivery for over half of first-class mail. But even
that is no longer true. According to the Postal Service's
Consumer Affairs Department, as a result of the new
slower standards, there was an overnight delivery
commitment for only 49 percent of first-class mail in the
third quarter of 1990.(32)
At the August 1990 meeting of the Board of Governors,
Frank defended the Postal Service's overnight delivery
standards by noting that the Mexican mail service does
not have an official overnight delivery goal for any of its
mail.(33) In 30 years the Postal Service has progressed
from striving to provide prompt delivery of all first-class
mail to using comparisons with the Mexican mail service
to justify itself.
The behavior of the Postal Service can be understood
only in light of its monopoly. No private delivery service
would lecture its customers that there was no real
difference between faster and slower delivery. What
would happen if MCI announced that, in order to make
life easier for MCI operators, many calls placed via MCI
in the future would take twice as long to complete?
AT&T and Sprint would have a field day savaging MCI
for its contempt of its customers.
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
Mail Fraud: The Speed of Mail Delivery
For decades postal leaders have declared that 95 percent,
or almost 95 percent, of all local first-class mail is
successfully delivered overnight. Former postmaster
general Preston Tisch, responding to calls for
privatization of mail service, declared in 1987, "Stamped,
overnight first-class mail was delivered at a recordequalling 95.5 percent ontime pace" in the previous
year.(34) Postmaster General Frank bragged to the
National League of Postmasters on August 17, 1989, that
the Postal Service was succeeding in meeting the 95
percent delivery standard for local first-class mail.(35)
The Postal Service's l989 Annual Report, released in
early 1990, declared that "overnight stamped first-class
mail service performance was 94%."(36) Postal leaders
stress that the service's official standard calls for 95
percent next-day delivery of local first-class mail.
The Postal Service's perennial claim of 95 percent, or
nearly 95 percent, next-day delivery of local first-class
mail--the first line of defense for the nation's postal
monopoly--was derived from the Origin-Destination
Information System. But the ODIS does not measure the
actual time required for letter delivery; it measures the
time between when a letter leaves the originating postal
facility and when it arrives at the final postal facility.
ODIS does not measure the service the Postal Service
provides to the public but the transport of mail bags
between post offices. ODIS is designed to make mail
service appear far speedier than it actually is.
ODIS tests have long been recognized by postal critics as
bogus; Commissioner John Crutcher notes, "Notice is
given before data are collected--enough notice to move
the over-ripe mail out of the way."(37) The Postal
Inspection Service found that pervasive cheating
occurred in tests of delivery speed of first-class mail.(38)
Postal clerks in Cleveland told the Postal Inspection
Service that management used "subtle forms of
intimidation" to get good results on the ODIS tests.(39)
Some postal employees have been bumped from their
jobs because they refused to cheat on the mail delivery
tests.(40) Even Frank has conceded, "Our service
standards were internal and exclusively for our own
convenience and not for the customers."(41) On
November 6, 1990, Frank admitted, "We've never had a
customer-oriented measurement" of mail delivery
speed.(42)
Last year, for the first time, the Postal Service contracted
with a private firm--Price Waterhouse--to measure the
speed of delivery of first-class mail. In November the
Postal Service announced the results. Even with the new
slower standards for overnight mail delivery, almost four
times more first-class letters were delivered late than
Postal Service officials had previously claimed.(43) Yet
Postmaster General Frank praised the results: "They
show we are doing a pretty good job in the 86 cities
where the tests are being conducted."(44) In some ways
Frank's statement is more shocking than the actual test
results. What CEO of a private corporation, upon
discovering that his company had a service failure rate
300 percent higher than the company's standard, would
cite that as evidence that the company was doing "a
pretty good job"?
The Price Waterhouse results for New York City were
especially revealing. In 1989 the Postal Service lowered
the target for mail delivery for New York City, thereby
affecting 26 percent of all first-class New York mail.(45)
(New York City accounts for over 10 percent of all letters
mailed in the United States.) Previously, the target for
overnight delivery was a radius of roughly 100 miles
around New York City; under the new standard, anything
outside the city limits fell into two- or three-day delivery
target zones. In September 1990 Frank declared that the
New York City delivery goal cutback "worked
splendidly. . . . The improvement in service was
immediate. Service performance for stamped and
metered mail improved substantially in the local area and
has continued to improve."(46) Yet the Price Waterhouse
test revealed that mail service in the Big Apple was the
worst in the nation: only 46.9 percent of first- class letters
mailed within the city of New York to New York City
destinations were delivered overnight.(47)
class mail in order to persuade people to use its mail
services.
Since the Price Waterhouse results were released, not a
single postal official has stepped forward to apologize to
the American public for the service's decades of
deceptive advertising claims about the delivery of firstclass mail.
The Postal Service's War on Service
Since 1987 the Postal Service has slashed service by
abolishing Sunday mail pickups and rolling back the last
mail pickup times in many towns and cities from 5 p.m.
to 4 p.m. But the biggest cutback in service has been the
abolition of home mail delivery for millions of
Americans.
Doorstep delivery was abolished in 1978 for new homes
and is gradually being phased out for older homes. The
Postal Service is imposing a new mail delivery system. It
is delivering mail to central locations--"cluster boxes"-and requiring people to travel half a mile or more to pick
it up. The Postal Service is carrying out that service
cutback solely because it is cheaper not to deliver mail to
Frank said in response to the Price Waterhouse comments people's homes. And the Postal Service will fine or
at the November 6, 1990, meeting of the Postal Service's imprison any private carrier who delivers letters to
Board of Governors, "I think the numbers came out
people's doorsteps.
pretty much about where we expected them under this
different kind of a measurement system."(48) A week
The Miami Herald reported in 1988 that "only 29 percent
later, writing in USA Today, Frank commented, "The
of South Florida residents get their letters delivered to
results of this . . . 'checkup' are about what we
their doors."(52) According to Meg Harris, a Postal
expected."(49) Yet if the Postal Service "expected" that
Service Washington spokeswoman, "Times are changing.
the Price Waterhouse test results would come in far lower . . . Communities are growing so large and the volume of
than its own in-house measurements, why did the Postal
mail increasing so rapidly that new delivery methods are
Service spend millions of dollars in the past decade
essential. Over time, door delivery is going to be phased
making false claims about first-class mail delivery in its
out."(53) Postmaster J. N. Campbell of Virginia Beach,
advertisements?
Virginia, declared: "The old days of mail being taken to
your home are coming to an end. Efficiency is first in our
The question arises: what did the postmaster general
minds."(54) The Miami Herald noted, "Only a decade
know, and when did he know it? If Frank actually
after the new regulations took effect, half of all new
recognized that the ODIS information understated by 75
deliveries nationwide are to cluster boxes."(55) A 1987
percent the number of late first-class letters, he
General Accounting Office report concluded that local
knowingly sought to deceive the American public in his
postal officials were forcing developers of new housing
speeches claiming a 95 percent success rate. And if Frank to install cluster boxes regardless of whether those
did not realize that the ODIS numbers were a farce, he
developers wanted cluster boxes.(56)
was completely in the dark about the actual performance
of his organization.
Cluster boxes may be mail thieves' best friend. Ed
Gleiman, a staff director of the Senate Governmental
As Federal Trade Commission spokesman Joel Winston
Affairs Committee, noted: "It is nobody's obligation to
noted: "If a company is claiming a success rate for a
watch the cluster box, and a thief can steal 16 people's
product or service, and that is not the rate that the
mail at once with a simple screwdriver. Those locks
company has, then that would be false advertising. If you might make the Postal Service feel safe, but they
knew what you were saying was false, or if you showed
certainly wouldn't discourage anyone who really wanted
reckless disregard for the facts, then that might be
to break into them."(57)
considered fraudulent."(50) According to Postal
Inspection Service spokesman Daniel Mihalko, mail
The Postal Service is substituting a profusion of
fraud is any type of scheme or artifice to obtain money or grandiose claims for real service. Postmaster General
property by means of misrepresentation or deception via
Frank told a congressional committee in September, "I
the mails, and it is punishable by up to five years in
want to emphasize that I believe the Postal Service
prison and a fine of $250,000.(51) The Postal Service
provides the best service in the world."(58) In early 1990
published false information in its advertisements for first- Frank declared, "We deliver 41 percent of the world's
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
4 of 23
mail volume and we do it faster . . . than . . . the postal
services of Great Britain and Germany."(59) But in the
United States customers must pay the Postal Service
$8.75 for quasi-guaranteed next-day delivery with a high
failure rate. In Great Britain and West Germany, for 50
cents, a citizen can get practically guaranteed next-day
mail delivery throughout the country. The United States
is much larger than Germany, but at the U.S. Postal
Service's pace, a first-class letter would take three or four
days to go from Hamburg to Munich.
don't have room for the junk mail--so we've been
throwing it out."(66) A Postal Inspection Service audit
Express mail sales representatives are under the gun.
found properly addressed mail dumped in the trash at 76
While their product usually isn't competitive in the
percent of the post offices visited.(67) The Federal Times corporate market, post offices' commercial accounts reps.
reported that an investigation of Philadelphia post offices are pressured to get new business. There are penalties for
"found deliverable first-class mail strewn on the
failing. . . . As a result of such pressures, corporate
workroom floor and being walked on by employees . . .
mailers have been told that more Express Mail business
and the destruction of mail that could have been returned would "enhance" their relations with the post offices.(78)
to senders."(68) Between October 1989 and March 1990,
the Postal Inspection Service arrested almost 1,000 postal According to Frederick W. Smith, the CEO of Federal
workers for stealing, delaying, or destroying mail.(69)
Express, if a company cannot meet the delivery deadline
Missing: Honest Information on Lost and Destroyed Mail Throwing away mail has be come so pervasive that postal for over 99.5 percent of its courier letters, the company
inspectors in 1986 notified employees that throwing
should not be in the express business.(79) The Postal
When the contract for the Price Waterhouse study was
away mail is bad for business.(70) The Postal Service is
Service's goal for Express Mail delivery is 95
announced, a special part of the study was to determine
probably losing or throwing out over a billion letters a
percent.(80) Thus, the Postal Service's standard explicitly
how much mail vanishes into the postal abyss--the
year.(71)
sanctions 10 times more late express letters than does the
percentage of mail lost or misdelivered.(60) Though the
Federal Express standard. (The Postal Service's low
Postal Service did release some of the Price Waterhouse
Express Mail: The Biggest Turkey of Them All?
Express Mail standard has been sharply criticized by
test results, it decided that other parts of the test results
postal governor John Griesemer.)(81)
must be kept secret. As the New York Daily News
Express Mail is widely perceived as the "flagship of the
editorialized, "How many of these 'overnight' letters fail
Postal Service," as former Board of Governors member
But even with its low standards, the Postal Service has
to arrive within two days? or three days? or even two
John Mckean declared in 1986.(72) Even though Express performed dismally. In the second quarter of 1990, the
weeks? That the post office won't say. It arrogantly draws Mail accounts for less than 0.05 of 1 percent of the Postal Postal Service failed to deliver almost 10 percent of all
a line on public disclosure about its quality of service,
Service's annual mail volume and less than 1.5 percent of Express Mail letters on time. From mid-December 1989
claiming 'proprietary rights' to secrecy. With mail service its total revenue, postal managers have become obsessed through mid-January 1990, over 16 percent of all Express
as bad as it is, of course, it's easy to understand the
with increasing Express Mail volume. As Adweek noted Mail letters were delivered late.(82) Those figures are
silence. Postal officials no doubt fear the public's wrath if in 1989, "A winning battle against Fed Ex could gain the derived from Postal Service internal tests that, like other
more figures are released."(61) Postal Service spokesman Postal Service new credibility with Congress."(73)
internal tests, probably severely understate the percentage
Michael West explained: "The only information that we
of late mail. Express Mail service is especially bad in the
have been making public is the percentage of first-class
The Postal Service's share of overnight courier mail has
West. Joseph Caraveo, postmaster general of the Western
mail that was delivered on-time in the respective
collapsed in recent years--down from 30 percent in the
Region, told the Board of Governors of the Postal Service
categories: overnight, two-day, and three-day. I cannot
late 1970s to 12 percent in l990. Craig Kloner, an analyst last July: "In our western hub at Las Vegas . . . we have
provide any more information."(62)
at Goldman Sachs, observes: "The quality of service the
suffered from poor reliability. . . . The Pacific Northwest
post office provides is not anywhere near what Federal
continues to be a difficult area to connect with
The monopoly Postal Service is effectively forcing
Express offers. The post office's market is with the
transportation, and as a consequence Portland and Seattle
American citizens to pay for the $23 million Price
infrequent user who for some odd reason uses the post
continue to experience Express Mail service
Waterhouse survey. Yet postal officials insist that the
office. Maybe they just don't know any better."(74)
problems."(83)
citizens have no right to more than a tiny sliver of the
information the survey gathered. If a private business
Federal Express has an extensive computer tracking
The Postal Service deftly solved the problem of its
conducts a survey and keeps the results confidential, that system that can tell a customer at any time the location of odious early 1990 Express Mail performance statistics. In
is one thing. But if a government entity with a monopoly his letter. If Fed Ex cannot tell a customer within half an August 1990 the Postal Service announced that it would
forces its captive customers to pay for a survey and then
hour exactly where his package is in the system, the
no longer reveal its Express Mail failure rate.(84) Postal
refuses to release most of the results of the survey to the
company will provide a full refund. The Postal Service
Service spokesman Michael West explained: "It was
customers who paid for it, that is entirely different. There has no tracking system and has suffered some major
decided to keep Express Mail proprietary. The
is probably a huge variance in the percentage of letters
embarrassments over lost packages. Swimming champion information would unfairly benefit our direct competitors
lost by different post offices in different cities. If a city
Mary Meager had two gold medals from the l984
in this product line."(85) The Postal Service rarely misses
has an especially high rate of lost letters, then citizens
Summer Olympics vanish when her parents mailed them a chance to wrap itself in the American flag; it even uses
should be so informed so that they can protect themselves to her via Express Mail.(75)
the American eagle as a symbol of its service. The Postal
against being victimized by an inefficient, incompetent,
Service apparently feels that it is entitled to all of the
and apathetic postal operation.
One Washington postal expert observed, "You go to any benefits of being a government agency but should have to
post office and the management is worried about
accept none of the responsibilities.
The Postal Service may soon have to file environmental
increasing this tiny slice of the Postal Service's total
impact statements for all the mail its workers are
volume--and it gets more management attention than any In October 1990, three months after Express Mail
dumping in America's trash cans and on her roadsides. A other service they have on the menu."(76) The late Rep.
performance data had become top secret, Frank
Rhode Island carrier was arrested after 94,000 letters
Mickey Leland (D-Tex.), chairman of the House Postal
announced that "Express Mail has reached record highs
were found buried in his back yard.(63) A Boulder,
Operations and Services Subcommittee, complained in
for on-time delivery."(86) Since the performance data are
Colorado, mail carrier was arrested after three tons of
1989 that much of the Express Mail operation "is a
now top secret, it is difficult to dispute Frank's claim. But
undelivered mail were discovered in his house.(64)
wasteful allocation of resources in derogation of the
it is extremely unlikely that in a few months Express
Eleven letter carriers at a Brooklyn post office--a quarter postal constitutional mandate, unsound as a business
Mail turned itself around and went from near all-time low
of all the carriers at the post office--were arrested in 1988 matter and needlessly duplicates the same or better
levels of performance in early 1990 to the levels of
for throwing away thousands of letters.(65) One
service available from private service entities."(77)
performance it had attained in the mid-1980s, when it
Arlington, Virginia, postal clerk told a customer, "We
Business Mailers Review reported in 1988:
claims to have delivered 96 percent of its letters on time.
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
5 of 23
It is also highly implausible that the Postal Service
decided to keep Express Mail performance data secret
just at the time the service achieved by far its greatest
increase in reliability. The Postal Service has no plans to
have Price Waterhouse measure the delivery success rate
of Express Mail any time in the future.
Postal Service officials perennially exaggerate the
contribution of Express Mail to postal revenues. In
October 1990 Frank declared that Express Mail made a
"net contribution of $500 million to the Postal Service,"
meaning that, after costs of providing Express Mail, the
Postal Service made a $500 million profit.(87) But the
Postal Service's total revenue from Express Mail was
only $676 million. For Frank's statement to be accurate,
the Postal Service would have needed to have made a
profit of 284 percent on Express Mail. According to the
Postal Rate Commission, the "institutional contribution"-the amount left over after payment of directly
attributable costs--of Express Mail was only $150 million
in both 1989 and 1990, and that contribution has fallen
by over 50 percent since 1985.(88) In percentage terms,
first-class mail makes a much greater contribution (185
percent) to the Postal Service than does Express Mail
(128 percent).(89) Since a large portion of the costs of all
mail classes is classified as institutional, the Postal
Service is effectively forcing first-class mail users to
subsidize Express Mail services.
If the Postal Service is unwilling to publish its Express
Mail failure rate, the least it could do is to voluntarily
print a warning on each Express Mail letter clearly
stating, "Warning: Relying on Express Mail Could Be
Fatal to Your Business."
The Mirage of Postal Productivity
On September 19, 1990, Postmaster General Frank
declared, "In a year when productivity slumped in every
sector of the American economy, ours rose four
consecutive quarters from the final quarter of last fiscal
year."(90) Postal officials have made great hay of the fact
that the Postal Service has shown a slight increase in
productivity in the last year and a half, after its
productivity had sharply declined in the previous year.
But despite Frank's bragging, the Postal Service's
productivity has long been abysmal. Its problems are the
natural results of a government monopoly with minimal
incentives to maximize its productivity or control its
costs.
Frank bragged to a congressional committee in April
1989: "We are deploying the greatest amount of
automation that has ever been deployed. Every day we
are making progress."(91) But the great mail slowdown is
intricately connected with the "success" of the Postal
Service's automation program. Representative
McCloskey observes, "It appears that the decision to
insure two-day rather than one-day delivery was based
solely upon the sorting of mail with new automated
equipment."(92) Robert Cohen, of the Office of
Technical Analysis and Planning of the Postal Rate
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
Commission, concluded, "We found no savings and no
impact on postal productivity for the three-quarters of a
billion dollars spent on automation" since 1982.(93)
The Postal Rate Commission issued a massive report last
year that concluded, "Postal productivity peaked in 1978
. . . and generally has declined with some fluctuations
since that time."(94) The commission's Cohen observed:
"For l988 the Service said automation and other cost
control plans would reduce the number of work years by
l7,222. Instead they increased 24,8l3 over its plan."(95)
A General Accounting Office investigation found that at
22 sites where mail was being processed on new
machinery, "only about a third of the work-hour savings
forecast from the equipment was being attained."(96)
The U.S. Postal Service's productivity increases compare
extremely poorly with those of the Canadian postal
service. The U.S. Postal Rate Commission found that the
total factor productivity of the Canada Post increased 30
times faster during the 1980s than did that of the U.S.
Postal Service.(97) The commission also noted, "Labor
productivity gains in [Postal Service] mail processing
functions, which are in many ways analogous to
manufacturing operations, were 0.8 percent per year in
1971-89, compared with 2.7 percent per year for the
Manufacturing Sector."(98) The real measure of
productivity is the cost of production--whether the cost of
delivering mail has increased or decreased in constant
dollars. The commission concluded, "Since 1971, the
Postal Service's real unit operating expenses have risen
14 percent."(99)
The poor productivity of postal workers should come as
no surprise. A survey by the Postal Inspection Service
concluded that the average letter carrier wasted an hour
and a half each day, thereby costing the Postal Service
$646 million per year.(100)
During the 1990 Postal Rate Commission hearings on the
proposed rate hike, the Postal Service was forced to
admit that the amount of time U.S. mail-processing
employees were unproductive had tripled in the last 20
years. In 1969 the Post Office paid $118 million for mail
processors' nonproductive time; by 1989 that cost had
ballooned to $l.82 billion. Postal officials had little or no
idea why the increase in nonproductive time occurred;
one hypothesis was that workers were taking more
cigarette breaks. Assistant Postmaster General Frank
Heselton reassured Washington Post reporter Dana Priest
"that the increase in nonproductive time has not affected
productivity."(101)
Postal clerk C. J. Roux told the Washington Post: "The
mail is not coming in here so we have to slow down. . . .
We don't want to work ourselves out of a job."(102)
Postal carriers also told Post reporters that they slowed
down in order to preserve their jobs.(103) I have talked
with several postal employees who are profoundly
frustrated and disgruntled by the lack of proper
management; workers who hustle are not recognized and
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
rewarded by managers, and workers who loaf routinely
go unpenalized.
The Postal Service has also gotten poor returns on its
investments. Congress recently raised the Postal Service's
borrowing limit to more than $10 billion. Yet, like a
Third World government that borrows heavily and then
wastes the capital, the Postal Service often squanders
what it borrows. A recent internal study of l4 major
Postal Service capital projects found that most had
negative returns or returns of less than 5 percent.(104)
The GAO recently surveyed the Postal Service's property
acquisition program and found rampant bureaucratic
imperialism: the Postal Service bought 50 percent more
property than its own estimates showed that it needed. On
28 percent of the purchases, the Postal Service did not
even attempt to negotiate a lower price--it simply paid
the seller's first asking price.(105)
Postal management has a novel attitude toward
productivity. Frank told the Senate Governmental Affairs
Committee in 1989: "There are aspects of the Postal
Service that do not deal with productivity--in fact, that
are inimical to productivity. And, one, of course, is
service. Well, I suppose the higher the level of service,
the lower the productivity."(106) It is peculiar that the
postmaster general believes that a service organization's
productivity can somehow be decreased by providing
service.
The slower the mail becomes, the more productive the
Postal Service can appear to be. The Postal Service's
productivity measurement completely disregards the
quality, or speed, of the service that it provides to its
customers. Thus, it is not surprising that the service
claims some of the biggest productivity advances in the
year of the largest mail slowdown. A spokesman for the
Senate Governmental Affairs Committee told the Federal
Times in November, "Anybody can save money by not
delivering the mail."(107)
New York, area with the pay earned by private-sector
mail handlers and concluded that Postal Service pay and
perks were more than double those received by workers
in the private sector.(111)
prohibits postal supervisors from pitching in to help
customers when long lines develop at post office
windows. But at least the Postal Service has begun asking
its clerks to be less surly to customers.
Contracting out postal work could save billions of
dollars. The Postal Service already contracts out some
rural delivery routes. A 1989 Postal Inspection Service
audit that compared the contract delivery routes with the
postal carrier routes found that "most offices rated
contract delivery service, attendance, route coverage,
customer satisfaction, and security of the mail equal to
rural route and city carrier performance."(112) Eight
cities reported that contract carriers had better attendance
records than postal employees doing the same type of
delivery work. The inspection service concluded that, on
average, the contract routes provided service for only half
the cost of the postal carrier routes.(113)
Postal unions donate over $1 million a year to
congressional campaigns, and Congress has sometimes
intervened to prevent postal management from adopting
cost-saving measures that would diminish union
members' power or income. Rep. William Clay (D-Mo.)
is taking over the chairmanship of the House Post Office
and Civil Service Committee this year. When he was
asked at a recent dinner for the Board of Governors of the
Postal Service what his postal legislative policy would
be, Clay answered, "Anything the postal unions want, I
want."(122)
In 1989 the Postal Service contracted to put postal outlets
manned by Sears employees in Sears stores. The service
paid Sears 7 percent of sales, roughly one-third of the inhouse cost of providing the same service.(114) The
American Postal Workers Union was outraged; APWU
members sent a form letter to Sears declaiming, "We're
mad as hell over the low-wage, no-skill, non-union postal
outlets."(115) (It is surprising that the union would admit
that being a postal clerk is a "no-skill" job.) APWU
president Moe Biller declared, "Postal workers view this
as an outrageous attack on their jobs. It represents a
dangerous step down the road towards
privatization."(116) The APWU urged its members to
tear up their Sears credit cards and mail them back to the
store.(117)
Postal Service managers are trying to solve the
Washington riddle of the sphinx--how to achieve a better
image while providing worse service. Since the agency
does not face competition--and has no reason to strain
itself to serve its customers--it has become obsessed with
its own image.
Sears eventually succumbed to the union boycott and
closed down its postal outlets. Though that contract
represented a huge savings for the Postal Service--and a
benefit to its customers, who appreciated the longer
opening hours of Sears postal outlets--the Postal Service
did nothing to come to Sears's support when the APWU
Contracting Out and the Unions
began attacking Sears. At least one Sears official felt that
the company had been "set up" by postal management to
The Postal Service is raising stamp prices largely because get clobbered in a public relations fiasco.(118) Van
it has failed to control its labor costs. Labor accounts for Seagraves, editor of Business Mailers Review, observed,
83 percent of the Postal Service's budget. Each worker is "In hindsight, it is obvious that postal management
costing the Postal Service over $43,000 per year in pay
goofed by setting up Sears up as the 'lightning rod.'"(119)
and perks, according to John Crutcher of the Postal Rate
Commission in a survey that compared postal wages with Postal unions have even denounced allowing grocery
the wages of state government mailroom and delivery
stores to sell stamps. Al Walker, president of National
workers.(108) Commissioner Crutcher has called postal
Post Office Mail Handlers Local 318 in Hollywood,
workers "the highest-paid semi-skilled workers in the
Florida, declared, "I am opposed to anybody else selling
world."(109)
stamps, because it would be denying dedicated people the
work they were hired to do."(120) Manuel Moro,
U.S. Postal Service employees are paid far better than
APWU's vice president, complained: "Eventually they
workers performing comparable work elsewhere in the
will be taking our jobs. We don't want anybody to invade
U.S. economy. In the previously mentioned survey,
our turf."(121)
Commissioner Crutcher and his associate, Len Merewitz,
concluded that postal wages were 84 percent higher than The long lines at many post offices are simply the Postal
wages paid by state governments for the same type of
Service's way of forcing the average citizen to "make a
work.(110) The U.S. Department of Labor compared
contribution" to the members of the APWU. The Postal
Postal Service mail handlers' pay in the Binghamton,
Service agreed to a clause in the union contract that
6 of 23
"Image Is Everything"
The Postal Service spent roughly $15 million for the right
to be a cosponsor of the 1992 Olympic Games and will
spend more than $120 million on Olympic promotions
during the next three years. As the Federal Times noted,
"Fundraising plans include the Postal Olympic Express, a
festive cross-country caravan that will stop in 30 cities
and be used to generate enthusiasm for the games,
advertising campaigns and the selling of rights to use the
Olympic/Postal Service logo to businesses and
mailers."(123) (Postal management believes it will be
able to turn a profit by selling the right to cosponsor the
Olympics to foreign postal systems and others.)
The Postal Service's obsession with its Olympic
sponsorship--and its bizarre hopes that the sponsorship
will change its image--epitomizes management's
thinking. Assistant Postmaster General Deborah Bowker
declared at the September 1990 meeting of the Board of
Governors, "Research following the 1988 Olympics
concluded that 95 percent of Americans view Olympic
sponsors as successful; 88 percent see sponsors as vital
and energetic; 86 percent see sponsors as industry
leaders; and 80 percent believe that Olympic sponsors are
dedicated to excellence."(124) Frank declared, "Olympic
sponsors such as VISA, 3M, and Coca-Cola are viewed
by customers as industry leaders, as quality service
providers--the kind of people you'd like to do business
with."(125) Postal management appears to have blind
faith in "competence by association"--that Olympic
viewers will somehow assume that, since many topnotch
private companies back the Olympics, the Postal Service
must also be topnotch. One congressional staffer
cynically suggested that part of the enthusiasm for
sponsorship of the Olympics derives from the fact that
many top postal officials will get free trips to the games.
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
"We're 'going for the gold' by focusing on competitive
excellence--the Olympic spirit--that the Postal Service
shares. We hope to tap that personal and institutional
pride 'to deliver America's best,'" Frank declared last
September.(126) The Postal Service's pride in its
Olympic sponsorship is difficult to reconcile with its
enthusiasm for slowing the mail. How would people
respond if a U.S. Olympic coach announced that, in the
future, U.S. hurdlers would run 10 percent slower so as to
hit fewer hurdles--or that American swimmers would
swim 10 percent slower to avoid bumping their heads on
the edge of the pool?
overhead costs 24 percent higher than the average for all
mail classes, while third-class users make a contribution
7 percent less than the average. Though the commission
package is better than the Postal Service proposal, firstclass mail users are still being forced to help underwrite
junk mail. Partly because of that indirect subsidization,
third- class mail volume increased 214 percent between
1970 and 1989, rising from 24 to 39 percent of all
domestic mail.
Service's own employees, in contrast, are paragons of
virtue. Fourteen New York employees were arrested in
April l988 for backdating postmarks on entries in a New
York Daily News contest to predict the final score of the
l987 Super Bowl.(136) The most recent U.S. Postal
Inspection Service semiannual report noted that, in La
Puente, California, "a letter sorting machine clerk was
identified and arrested for supplying credit cards stolen
from the mail to a major credit card ring" (losses to 16
credit card companies totaled $4.5 million); in Wichita,
Kansas, a postal clerk was convicted of stealing letters
containing food stamps; in St. Paul, Minnesota, a
mailhandler "rifled and embezzled the contents of
hundreds of parcels being returned to Fingerhut
Corporation."(137) Of course, most postal workers are
honest, law-abiding citizens. Yet there is no reason to
assume that postal workers are inherently more virtuous
or trustworthy than private employees.
The most revealing aspect of the entire debate on the rate
package was the proposed rate for a category of thirdclass mail in which the Postal Service is now facing
There is also irony in the Postal Service's attempt to
fierce competition from private delivery services. While
capitalize on the theme of "competitive excellence." If
the Postal Service sought to raise the rate for first-class
the U.S. Olympic team "competed" like the U.S. Postal
mail by 20 percent, it proposed reducing the rate for the
Service, it would take a few hundred lawyers to
lowest priced third-class mail by 9 percent. Postal
Barcelona in 1992 to file suits against foreign athletes
Service economist Richard Mitchell told the Wall Street
who jumped too high, ran too fast, or punched too hard.
Journal that the rates were being cut in order to help the
service meet private competition.(130) Mitchell, in
Frank, commenting on the mail slowdown last
Last year the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, angry over the testimony before the Postal Rate Commission, voiced
September, declared, "We could just tell [the American
plans for the big rate hike, solicited Postal Service
concern over "whether private [third-class delivery
people] that we are 'all you've got' and 'tough luck' or we
"horror stories" from businesses. Postal workers were
companies] can compete unfairly with the Postal
could have listened to them, and we listened to
furious, and the chamber was soon deluged with form
Service."(131) Mitchell warned that private delivery rates them."(138) "Tough luck" is exactly what Americans will
letters denouncing its efforts. As columnists Jack
lower than Postal Service rates could "create an
have if they need speedy delivery of first-class mail
Anderson and Dale Van Atta noted, "Nearly all
anticompetitive situation" and that, "from the point of
correspondence from Kansas was a form letter and the
view of the nation, this is a very undesirable
.
majority of the letters were sent on Postal Service
outcome."(132) The Postal Service apparently feels that
To protect the U.S. Postal Service, the government has
stationery stamped for official business."(127) James
the national interest requires it to manipulate rates in
effectively nationalized every American's mailbox. The
Mruk, postal spokesman for the Central Region, said the order to crush private competition. While first-class rates federal government prohibits any private company from
Postal Service "has a responsibility to respond to such
have increased 93 percent in nominal terms since 1981,
depositing letters or other material in private citizens'
attacks. We're not apologizing in any way for using
from 15 cents to 29 cents, rates for the lowest priced
mailboxes. Even if a private citizen chooses to allow a
official business stationery. We did it the most efficient
third-class mail have increased less than 30 percent.
private carrier to deposit mail in his mailbox, the Postal
and least expensive way we could."(128) This is the
Service will confiscate the privately delivered letters and
Postal Service's view of "efficiency": doing what is best
Postal Service officials claim that the rate increase is
impose a heavy fine on the private carrier. Frank told
for postal workers at the public's expense. The Postal
justified because the service is obliged by law to operate
Fortune magazine in August 1989 that his "doomsday
Service needs to retain a monopoly in order to provide
on a "break-even" financial basis. But that is simply a
scenario" was "that Congress would give other deliverers
sufficient revenue to finance postal workers'
glorified version of the old doctrine of "need is the basis
access to the mailbox."(139)
counterattacks on anyone who criticizes the Postal
of right." Any time the Postal Service appears to need
Service.
more revenue, citizens should be forced to pay higher
Frank told Steve Tompkins of the Memphis Commercial
prices for stamps. Citizens have an unlimited duty to pay Appeal in July 1990, "The framers of the Constitution
The New Rates
for the Postal Service's operation, but the Postal Service
said everybody is entitled to the same service at the same
has no obligation to operate in an efficient, effective
price."(140) That is a figment of the postmaster general's
The new postage rates that become effective on February manner or to provide prompt, reliable service.
imagination. The Founding Fathers never made any such
3 are carefully crafted to sacrifice the Postal Service's
claim. The U.S. Constitution says that the U.S.
captive customers to subsidize mailers in mail classes in
Why Not the Best?
government has the power to establish a post office. (It
which the Postal Service faces competition. The Postal
does not require the government to do so.) There is
Service had requested a 30-cent first-class stamp; the
Anthony Frank appears to suffer from a severe case of
nothing about uniform rates or service or about a
Postal Rate Commission instead mandated a 29-cent
"agonistephobia"--fear of competition. In January 1990
monopoly. Besides, the Postal Service does not provide
stamp, thereby saving mailers $800 million a year. The
he declared, "Competition--as an economic principle-the same service to all the people: citizens in Kansas City
commission concluded that "the original Postal Service
might make us more efficient but that would be at the
are twice as likely to get next-day delivery of local firstrate proposals placed an increasing and unjustified
expense of making us less effective."(133) Frank told
class letters as are citizens in New York City.(141)
proportion of [the burden on] institutional or overhead
USA Today, "What I'm after is to make the Postal
first class while reducing the burden on bulk third
Service so efficient that we don't have to worry about the Frank told Advertising Age in September 1989, "Private
class."(129) The Postal Service sought a rate structure
marketplace."(134)
delivery has . . . been tried plenty of times before and
that would increase the relative institutional/overhead
failed every time."(142) In reality, for 200 years the
burden on first-class users from 20 percent above the
Frank has missed few opportunities to denounce
government's postal service has been playing a game of
average for all classes of mail to 35 percent above that
proposals to allow private competition in mail delivery.
catch-up with its illegal competition. The Pony Express
average and a reduction of the overhead costs imposed on He warned in 1989 that privatization would be "the Wino was originally a private service that delivered mail
third-class mailers from 16 percent below average to 21
and Derelict Full Employment Act. . . . A lot of [private
between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento,
percent below average. The commission revised the rates, carriers] would only work until they get the price of a
California, in less than half the time it took the Post
mandating that first-class users make a contribution to
bottle of Ripple and then they'd quit."(135) The Postal
Office to deliver it. Likewise, private carriers pioneered
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
7 of 23
home delivery of mail in the 19th century--after which
the Post Office's lawyers shut them down and the Post
Office management adopted their methods.
In every area in which the government has not banned
alternative delivery, private competition is burying the
Posal Service. When asked about the near-extinction of
the Postal Service's fourth-class parcel business, Frank
declared in 1989: "Unfortunately, we only handle about
six to eight percent of all the parcels in the United States.
The remainder is sent primarily with United Parcel
Service and some of the other services. So we never even
get a shot at being able to compete."(143) This is the
ultimate in self-delusion: a businessman, whose company
vexes customers almost every chance it gets, whining
about not getting a chance to compete. In 1973
Postmaster General Elmer Klassen admitted that the
Postal Service damages five times as many packages as
does United Parcel Service.(144) Little has changed since
the 1970s. And the Postal Service's first-class mail
delivery goals are now slower than United Parcel
Service's standards for fourth-class parcel mail.
The postal monopoly gives local post offices the right to
arbitrarily ban mail delivery to some people's houses. In
the old days, postal officials loved to brag that "neither
snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these
couriers from the swift completion of their appointed
rounds." But in the 1990s the only thing necessary to stop
mail delivery is a few leaves. In California, the Altadena
post office informed one disabled woman that it would
not deliver her mail until she picked up the leaves on the
parkway in front of her house because postal officials
feared that the leaves made the dirt road "slippery when
wet," and therefore too dangerous for a postal
carrier.(145) In Lynn, Massachusetts, postal officials
ended mail delivery to dozens of residents on Vine Street
after someone reportedly verbally harassed a female
postal carrier. The residents were told that they could
come to the post office to pick up their mail between l0
a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays. (A local police sergeant
disagreed with the Postal Service's belief that the
neighborhood was dangerous for a female carrier.)(146)
If the Postal Service actually cared about serving its
customers, and a threat to the female carrier actually
existed, the service could have simply assigned a male
carrier to the route.
Frank, who is concerned about the strong postal unions,
recently complained to Fortune: "The auto industry and
the UAW cooperate largely because of the Japanese
threat. Well, I don't have a Japanese threat to wave over
our people."(147) Frank is learning the same lesson that
Gorbachev is learning: it takes more than moral
exhortation to make workers exert themselves. And like
Gorbachev, Frank has failed to reach the logical
conclusion: full-fledged competition is needed to boost
productivity.
Frank declared last September that one reason for cutting
back next-day mail delivery targets was the increase in
mail volume.(148) The Postal Service insists on
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
monopolizing letter delivery--and then cites the quantity
of letters as an excuse to delay mail delivery.
Last fall Sen. James R. Sasser (D-Tenn.) proposed an
amendment to allow private companies to carry priority
mail at the same price the Postal Service charges during
an 18-month trial period. Currently, postal regulations
mandate that competitors must charge at least double the
Postal Service's rate for priority mail.(149) The
amendment would have allowed private companies to
carry bundles of letters for as little as $3 a bundle;
currently, such discounts are forbidden by postal
regulations.(150) As Frank told the House Post Office
and Civil Service Committee, the Sasser amendment
"provides for large corporations to take all of their mail
from one place to another place and bundle them up
without stamps and send them, via these packages."(151)
Frank warned that the Sasser amendment "would be the
beginning of the end of the Postal Service as we know it.
. . . It would open up priority mail to be raided by the
overnight couriers."(152) (According to the Postal
Service's Consumer Affairs Department, "priority mail"
is an oxymoron: over 17 percent of priority mail
nationwide was delivered late according to the most
recent official report.)(153) Sasser is expected to
reintroduce his amendment this year.
opening the door for private postal delivery.(155) Scores
of U.S. government officials have flown to Poland in the
past year to lecture the Poles on the virtues of free
enterprise and the evils of socialism. The United States
should not be too proud to take a lesson from a nation
that has suffered grievously from government-controlled
enterprises.
(11) Jim Luther, "Lawmakers Criticize Reduced
Overnight De liveries," Associated Press, September 6,
1990.
(12) U.S. Postal Service, Board of Governors, official
tran script of meeting, Hartford, Connecticut, July 10,
1990, p. 11.
The United States cannot afford to enter the 21st century
with a communications system that has been
deteriorating ever since the 18th century. Regardless of
Frank's good intentions, mail service continues to get
slower, more expensive, and less reliable. How much
more can the Postal Service punish its customers before it
loses the right to ban competitors?
(13) Anthony Frank, speech to the Economic Club of
Detroit.
(14) U.S. Postal Service, Rates and Classification
Department, Origin-Destination Information System
Quarterly Sta tistics Report, 1969, 1982, 1987, 1990.
In 1843 Postmaster General Charles Wickliffe admitted
that many people thought the government's mail
monopoly was "odious" but insisted that it must be
preserved for the good of the country.(156) Now, almost
150 years later, the monopoly is still odious and less
justifiable than ever. There is no need to give a federal
behemoth exclusive control over the transport of small
envelopes. It should not be a federal crime to deliver the
mail faster than the Postal Service.
(15) Interview with an official in the Postal Service's
Rates and Classification Department, January 3, 1991.
(16) U.S. Postal Rate Commission, Advisory Opinion
Concern ing a Proposed Change in the Nature of Postal
Service, July 25, 1990, p. 14.
(17) Quoted in DM News, September 17, 1990.
(18) U.S. Congress, House Post Office and Civil Service
Committee, hearing on Implementation of New FirstClass Mail Delivery Standards, p. 28.
Notes
The foundation of the postal monopoly is the belief that
government must prohibit other people from carrying the
mail--no matter how slowly the mail moves, or how
many letters the government loses, or how high stamp
prices go. America's postal system is based on the idea
that it is better to trust a public monopoly to provide
service out of its own good will than to rely on private
companies to provide good service out of sheer necessity.
Postal Service officials perennially proclaim they are a
public service-- even as they repeatedly slash service to
the public.
America should recognize that the words "monopoly"
and "public service" will almost always be in
contradiction. We have a choice of blindly trusting the
generosity of government bureaucrats or of relying on
competing entrepreneurs. Who believes that America
would be better off if the government outlawed Federal
Express and United Parcel Service?
Pressure to end the postal monopoly is mounting. The
Third Class Mail Association, one of the largest mailer
lobbies, is on the warpath to repeal the monopoly over
third-class letters. New Zealand recently privatized its
postal system, and Canada is now allowing competition
for all classes of mail except first. As a Reason
Foundation study reported, Britain, Finland, Israel, the
Netherlands, South Africa, and South Korea are also
taking steps toward ending government mail
monopolies.(154)
(1) Thomas Dibacco, "Slow Mail Has Roots in American
Histo ry," Washington Times, October 20, 1989.
(19) U.S. Congress, House Committee on Government
Opera tions, U.S. Postal Service Realignment of FirstClass Mail Delivery Standards: Just Say Slow, November
30, 1990, p. 13.
(2) James Bovard, "Mail Monopoly Says Happy New
Year," Wall Street Journal, December 29, 1989.
(3) U.S. Postal Service, Rates and Classification Depart
ment, Origin-Destination Information System Quarterly
Sta tistics Report, 1969 and 1990.
(20) U.S. Chamber of Commerce, "Comment on U.S.
Postal Ser vice's Planned Slowdown in Mail Delivery by
Tracey Schreft, Associate Director, Small Business
Center," press release, Washington, D.C., July 27, 1990.
(4) Quoted in Mark Kodama, "Postal Scene--Striving for
Improvement through Working Together," Federal
Times, July 24, 1989.
(21) U.S. Congress, House Post Office and Civil Service
Committee, hearing on Implementation of New FirstClass Mail Delivery Standards, p. 58.
(5) Anthony Frank, speech to the Economic Club of
Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, September 17, 1990.
(22) U.S. Congress, House Committee on Government
Operations, U.S. Postal Service Realignment of FirstClass Mail Delivery Standards, p. 7.
(6) Official poster on the wall of a post office in Palo
Alto, California, July 1987.
(23) U.S. Congress, House Government Operations
Committee, hearing on Slower First-Class Mail Delivery
Standards, writ ten statement of Anthony Frank.
(7) U.S. Congress, House Government Operations
Committee, hearing on Slower First-Class Mail Delivery
Standards, Sep tember 6, 1990, written statement of
Anthony Frank.
(24) U.S. Congress, House Committee on Government
Opera tions, U.S. Postal Service Realignment of FirstClass Mail Delivery Standards, p. 8.
(8) U.S. Congress, House Post Office and Civil Service
Com mittee, hearing on Implementation of New FirstClass Mail Delivery Standards, September 27, 1990, p. 1.
(25) Ibid., p. 12.
(9) Ibid., p. 51.
(26) U.S. Congress, House Government Operations
Committee, hearing on Slower First-Class Mail Delivery
Standards, writtern statement of Anthony Frank.
Conclusion
Last October the Polish Parliament voted 256 to 1 to end
the Polish government's postal monopoly, formally
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
(10) Mick Rood, "Postal Service Backs Off Proposal for
Two- day D.C.-to-Baltimore Delivery," Evening Sun,
July 2, 1990.
8
(27) Ibid.
of 23
(28) Business Mailers Review, August 6, 1990.
(29) U.S. Postal Rate Commission, Advisory Opinion, p.
9.
(30) U.S. Post Office, Annual Report, 1960, p. 4.
(31) U.S. Congress, House Post Office and Civil Service
Committee, hearing on Implementation of New FirstClass Mail Delivery Standards, p. 22.
(32) U.S. Postal Service, Consumer Affairs Department,
"Service Performance, Quarter IV, Fiscal Year 1990."
(33) U.S. Postal Service, Board of Governors, official
tran script of meeting, Washington, D.C., August 7,
1990, p. 11.
(34) Robert Walters, "Delivering Doctored Numbers?"
Washington Times, July 31, 1987.
(35) Anthony Frank, speech to the National League of
Post masters, Atlanta, Georgia, August 17, 1989.
(36) U.S. Postal Service, Annual Report, 1989, p. 7.
(37) Gil Klein, "U.S. Has Questions about Its Own
Service," Richmond Times Dispatch, August 20, 1990.
(38) Ibid.
(39) Business Mailers Review, July 13, 1987.
(40) Ibid.
(41) U.S. Congress, House Post Office and Civil Service
Com mittee, hearing on Implementation of New FirstClass Mail Delivery Standards, p. 18.
(42) Albert R. Karr, "Time Is Elastic at Postal Service,
Outside Test Finds," Wall Street Journal, November 7,
1990.
(43) Mark Kodama, "Delivery Scores Fall Short of
Goal," Federal Times, November 19, 1990.
(44) Anthony Frank, "The Postal Service is Getting
Better," USA Today, November 13, 1990.
(45) U.S. Postal Rate Commission, Advisory Opinion, p.
20.
(46) U.S. Congress, House Government Operations
Committee, hearing on Slower First-Class Mail Delivery
Standards, written statement of Anthony Frank.
(47) Editorial, Register (Orange County, California),
November 11, 1990.
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
(48) U.S. Postal Service, Board of Governors, official
transcript of meeting, Washington, D.C., November 6,
1990, p. 95.
(49) Frank, "The Postal Service is Getting Better."
(50) Interview with Joel Winston, January 2, 1990.
(51) Interview with Daniel Mihalko, January 2, 1991.
(52) Elinor Burkett, "Door to Door No More," Miami
Herald, July 25, 1988.
(53) Quoted in Burkett.
(54) Norfolk Virginian Pilot, December 19, 1983.
(71) No accurate estimates of the percentage of first-class
mail that is trashed or destroyed are available. Business
groups have done many surveys of third-class mail. A
1987 survey by Doubleday and Company found that up
to 14 percent of bulk business mail was either thrown
away or lost. Busi ness Mailers Review, November 9,
1987. A Postal Service in-house test found that only 2.5
percent of bulk business mail is lost or misdelivered. DM
News, February 15, 1989. But the Postal Service's results
were heavily biased because some of the test mail pieces
were specially marked and addressed to postal
employees' supervisors. Since third-class mail volume is
now over 50 billion pieces a year, the Postal Service
almost certainly loses or trashes over a billion pieces of
mail--not counting first-class letter losses.
(87) U.S. Congress, House Post Office and Civil Service
Committee, hearing on Implementation of New FirstClass Delivery Standards, p. 62.
(106) U.S. Congress, Senate Governmental Affairs
Committee, Annual Report of the Postmaster General, p.
7.
(88) U.S. Postal Rate Commission, Postal Rate and Fee
Changes, 1990: Opinion and Recommended Decision,
January 4, 1991, vol. 1, p. V-395.
(107) Kodama, "Delivery Scores Fall Short of Goal.
(89) Ibid., pp. V-102, V-393.
(90) Anthony Frank, speech to the National Postal
Forum, Washington, D.C., September 19, 1990.
(91) U.S. Congress, Senate Governmental Affairs
Committee, Annual Report of the Postmaster General,
April 7, 1989, p. 5.
(108) John Crutcher and Leonard Merewitz, A Survey to
Compare Compensation for Mail Services in State
Government with U.S. Postal Service Wages, U.S. Postal
Rate Commission, October 30, 1989, p. 1.
(109) John Crutcher, speech to the Commonwealth Club,
San Francisco, California, August 26, 1983.
(110) Crutcher and Merewitz, p. 7.
(111) Business Mailers Review, May 21, 1990.
(55) Burkett.
(56) U.S. General Accounting Office, Mail Delivery to
New Residential Addresses--Adherence to Policy Can Be
Improved, June 1987, p. i.
(57) Burkett.
(58) U.S. Congress, House Government Operations
Committee, hearing on Slower First-Class Mail Delivery
Standards, written statement of Anthony Frank.
(59) Anthony Frank, speech to the Indianapolis
Economic Club, Indianapolis, Indiana, January 25, 1990.
(60) U.S. Postal Service, Board of Governors, official
transcript of meeting, Los Angeles, California, February
6, 1990, p. 57.
(61) Editorial, Daily News, November 24, 1990.
(72) Cited in Bovard, "Prepare for Talks by Parceling
Out the Mail."
(92) U.S. Congress, House Post Office and Civil Service
Committee, hearing on Implementation of New FirstClass Mail Delivery Standards, p. 4.
(73) Nancy Nichols, "Waking Up a Sleeping Giant,"
Adweek's Marketing Week, June 12, 1989.
(112) Don Lambro, "Stamp Out Waste by Canceling
Postal Service," Register (Orange County, California),
July 17, 1989.
(93) Robert Cohen, speech to the Graphics
Communication Association, Hilton Head, South
(113) Ibid.
(74) Ibid.
Carolina, March 30, 1989. (94) U.S. Postal Rate
Commission, A Study of U.S. Postal Service Productivity (114) Business Mailers Review, May 8, 1989.
(75) "Olympic Swimmer Loses 2 Gold Medals in Mail,"
and Its Measurement, May 9, 1990, vol. 1, p. iii.
Palm Beach Post, July 18, 1988.
(115) Ibid.
(95) Business Mailers Review, April 10, 1989.
(76) Interview with a Washington postal expert who
(116) John Purnell, "Postal Union Urges Members to
wished to remain anonymous, January 2, 1991.
(96) Gil Klein, "If Big Mailers Fly the Coop, U.S.
Trash Their Sears Cards," Washington Times, July 7,
Agency 'Will Melt Away,'" Richmond Times Dispatch,
1989.
(77) Mark Kodama, "Kill Express Mail, Hill Critic Says," August 19, 1990.
Federal Times, June 5, 1989.
(117) Ibid.
(97) U.S. Postal Rate Commission, A Study of U.S.
(78) Business Mailers Review, June 13, 1988.
Postal Service Productivity and Its Measurement, vol. 1,
(118) Interview with a Sears official who preferred
p. viii.
anonymity, September 17, 1990.
(79) Interview with Federal Express official, January 2,
1990.
(98) Ibid., p. ix.
(119) Business Mailers Review, July 10, 1989.
(62) Interview with Michael West, January 3, 1991.
(63) James Bovard, "Enough Fourth-Class Service on
Third- Class Mail," New York Times, June 9, 1987.
(64) "One Man's Junk Mail Is Another's Home,"
Washington Times, July 10, 1989.
(65) Marvine Howe, "11 Carriers Charged with
Discarding the Mail," New York Times, July 27, 1988.
(66) Business Mailers Review, November 9, 1987.
(67) Direct Mail News, March 1, 1988.
(68) J. P. Mackley, "Inspectors Find Little to Boast about
in Philadelphia Division," Federal Times, September 19,
1988.
(69) Mark Kodama, "Inspection Service Chalks Up 5800
Arrests in Six Months," Federal Times, June 25, 1990.
(70) James Bovard, "Prepare for Talks by Parceling Out
the Mail," Wall Street Journal, January 9, 1987.
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
(80) U.S. Postal Service, Consumer Affairs Department,
"Ser vice Performance, Quarter IV, Fiscal Year 1990."
(99) Ibid., p. iv.
(120) Larmia Robbins, "Postal Union Opposes Private
Sales," Sun-Tattler (Hollywood, Florida), July 30, 1988.
(100) Business Mailers Review, January 27, 1986.
(81) According to Griesemer: "If you are shooting for
95% [delivery rate for Express Mail], you are shooting to
go out of the market. You have got to be 99% or better,
or you are not even trying." Business Mailers Review,
February 20, 1989.
(121) Ibid.
(101) Dana Priest, "Postal Workers 'Nonproductive' Time
Said to Triple in 20 Years," Washington Post, September
21, 1990.
(102) Dana Priest and Judith Havemann, "Benefits of
Costly Automation Elude Nation's Postal Managers,"
Washington Post, November 26, 1989.
(82) U.S. Postal Service, Consumer Affairs Department,
"Ser vice Performance, Quarter II, Fiscal Year 1990."
(83) U.S. Postal Service, Board of Governors, official
transcript of meeting, Anchorage, Alaska, June 5, 1990,
p. 37.
(103) Ibid.
(104) John Crutcher, speech to the Industry Leaders
Confer ence, Miami, Florida, January 23, 1990.
(84) Interview with Michael West.
(105) U.S. General Accounting Office, Sites for New
Post Offices May Be Larger Than Needed, September
1989, p. 1.
(85) Ibid.
(86) Anthony Frank, "Postal Report Card Shows
Progress, Potential," DM News, October 1, 1990.
9
of 23
(122) Business Mailers Review, September 17, 1990.
(123) Mark Kodama, "Postal Service Sees Olympics As
Event Paved with 'Gold,'" Federal Times, October 1,
1990.
(124) U.S. Postal Service, Board of Governors, official
transcript of meeting, St. Louis, Missouri, September 11,
1990, p. 88.
(125) Anthony Frank, speech to the Direct Marketing
Association Conference, San Francisco, California,
October 31, 1990.
(126) Anthony Frank, speech to the National Postal
Forum, Washington, D.C., September 19, 1990.
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
(127) Jack Anderson and Dale Van Atta, "Postal
Service's Stamp of Disapproval," Washington Post, July
11, 1990.
(146) United Press International bulletin, July 3, 1989,
Lynn, Massachusetts.
(128) Ibid.
(147) "Can This Man Really Deliver?"
(129) U.S. Postal Rate Commission, "Postal Rate
Commission Announces Recommended Decision," press
release, January 4, 1991.
(148) U.S. Congress, House Government Operations
Committee, hearing on Slower First-Class Mail Delivery
Standards, writ ten statement of Anthony Frank.
(130) Barbara Marsh, "Some Mailers Give Stamp of
Approval to Postal Plan," Wall Street Journal, March 8,
1990.
(149) Mark Kodama, "Congress May Allow Private
Firms to Reduce Rates for 'Priority' Mail," Federal
Times, October 15, 1990.
(131) U.S. Postal Rate Commission, hearing on Postal
Rate and Fee Changes, 1990, USPS-T-20, Docket no. R90-1, testimony of Robert W. Mitchell, p. 93.
(150) Ibid.
(132) Ibid., p. 94.
(151) U.S. Congress, House Post Office and Civil
Service Committee, hearing on Implementation of New
First-Class Mail Delivery Standards, p. 24.
(133) Frank, speech to the Indianapolis Economic Club.
(152) Ibid.
(134) "Delivering the Mail--Interview with Anthony
Frank," USA Today, April 17, 1989.
(153) U.S. Postal Service, Consumer Affairs Department,
"Service Performance Quarterly Report, Quarter IV,
Fiscal Year 1990."
(135) Interview with Anthony Frank, "Ask Washington,"
the Learning Channel, Larry Butler, host, July 21, 1988.
(136) "Winners with Marked Advantage," Washington
Post, April 20, 1988.
(137) U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Semiannual Report,
vol. 4, April 1, 1990-September 30, 1990, p. 17 et seq.
(154) Lloyd Schwartz, "Countries Take First Steps to
Postal Privatization," Stamp Collector, July 29, 1989.
(155) "Pole Lawmakers: End Monopolies," Associated
Press, October 26, 1990.
(156) Haldi, p. 5
(138) U.S. Congress, House Post Office and Civil
Service Committee, hearing on Implementation of New
First-Class Mail Delivery Standards, p. 23.
© 1991 The Cato Institute
(139) "Can This Man Really Deliver?" Fortune, August
14, 1989.
free money for cops??????
<#==#>
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=50726
(140) Stephen G. Tompkins, "Horror Stories Abound
Despite New Technology," Commercial Appeal, July 25,
1990.
Arizona seeks security goals shift
By Le Templar, Tribune
October 16, 2005
dollars should be used to improve control of the Mexican
border.
extensions on federal deadlines to finish spending the
grant dollars.
Navarrete, who reports directly to Gov. Janet Napolitano,
has control of federal Homeland Security grants.
Napolitano has frequently clashed with GOP lawmakers
over the proper role of the state in addressing illegal
immigration.
Border security will be much a higher priority for the
next round of federal grants, Navarrete said. He already
has used Napolitano’s emergency declaration for the four
border counties in August to combine $1.7 million in
state and federal dollars to pay overtime costs for local
law enforcement.
Until now, a large portion of Arizona’s federal grants
have been used by state and local public safety agencies
to buy equipment ranging from communication vans and
fire vehicles to biohazard protection suits and gas masks.
State officials want a change, saying limited federal
dollars should be devoted to regional or statewide
projects. Navarrete said he plans to spend more on
effective training and border security.
"In terms of equipment and hard assets, I think the state .
. . is in pretty good shape," Navarrete said. "Let’s start
using some of this gear and quit focusing on buying more
gear."
Key lawmakers also now say they are concerned that
some public safety agencies have used federal grants for
equipment and other expenses that should be covered by
local tax dollars.
"Anytime there’s money available, they are going to go
after it because it’s free money," said Rep. Russell
Pearce, R-Mesa, chairman of a House appropriations
committee. "It’s not a matter of picking on them, but
somebody has to say ‘no.’ "
Local police agencies hadn’t heard that the state was
considering changing how the money was spent so police
were reluctant last week to discuss how that might affect
their agencies’ operations.
Sgt. Mark Clark, a spokesman for the Scottsdale Police
Department, noted that police agencies were continuing
to take advantage of Homeland Security dollars still
available but that the effects of any changes on his
agency’s funding weren’t yet clear.
Now, Navarrete wants to learn more about a ground radar
system built by a Scottsdale company and already used
by the U.S. Marines Corps to keep illegal border crossers
away from a flight training area in southeast Arizona.
Pearce and several other lawmakers toured the Marine
operation last month, and Pearce estimates similar radar
sites could be placed along the entire Arizona-Mexico
border for up to $60 million.
"To be fair to Frank, he came to me about this, a radar
and a fence on the border," Pearce said. "We are going to
talk about how he can help with some of this."
A number of issues would have to resolved, such as who
would operate the radar sites and who would be expected
to respond when an illegal crossing is detected. Pearce
said he would expect the state to sign agreements with
federal immigration officials and encourage local police
to act as well.
Napolitano vetoed an attempt during the 2005 regular
session to have local police involved in immigration
enforcement. But during the summer, Napolitano sought
agreements with the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security related to using state troopers at ports of entry
and to deporting foreign criminals directly from state
prisons.
Navarrete acknowledged he supports changing priorities
for Homeland Security grants, in part, because
Napolitano is pushing her administration to develop
concrete solutions for problems created by illegal
immigration.
Contact Le Templar by email, or phone (602) 542-5813
(141) Kodama, "Delivery Scores Fall Short of Goal."
(142) "Harried Pace in Race," interview with Anthony
Frank, Advertising Age, September 25, 1989.
(143) Anthony Frank, speech to the National Press Club,
Wash ington, D.C., January 6, 1989.
(144) John Haldi, Postal Monopoly: An Assessment of
the Pri vate Express Statutes (Washington: American
Enterprise In stitute, 1974), p. 5.
(145) Marina Milligan, "A Falling Out Briefly Cancels
Mail Delivery," Pasadena Star-News, November 10,
1990. The post office decided to resume delivery after
postal managers discovered that a reporter was writing a
story about the incident.
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
Arizona officials want to dramatically shift how they
spend federal Homeland Security money — focusing
more heavily on border enforcement and disaster
preparation and away from buying vehicles and personal
protection equipment for local police officers and
firefighters.
The focus on buying equipment for local agencies has
contributed to the slow pace of spending of Homeland
Security grants, which total more than $113 million for
the past three years.
Navarrete said Arizona has committed about 80 percent
of the $41.7 million in grants received this year. But
Arizona Homeland Security Director Frank Navarrete has almost none of the money actually has been spent
been meeting with Republican state lawmakers to discuss because state officials have to wait for public safety
new priorities for millions of dollars in federal grants that agencies to prove they have ordered and received specific
were bulked up by Congress after the terrorist attacks of
equipment before they can be reimbursed, he said.
Sept. 11, 2001.
Some of the delays have been extensive, with agencies
Now, Navarrete and key lawmakers have reached a quiet, waiting up to two years for specialized vehicles for radio
tentative agreement that some Homeland Security grant
communications or toxic chemical decontamination. For
the prior two fiscal years, Arizona received six-month
10 of 23
<#==#>
there are only two really big questions in government.
who are we going to steal the money from? and who are
we going to give the money to?
in this case the money is stolen from the citizens who
own the land. who gets to steal the money is the big
question.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MINING_THE_
WEST?SITE=AZMES&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLAT
E=DEFAULT
Oct 16, 2:40 PM EDT
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
Colorado Residents Challenge Mining Laws
Officials at the Nogales port of entry seized 1,745 laser
visas from impostors in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30,
By JOHN HEILPRIN
said Jesus Jerez, chief of passenger operations at the
Associated Press Writer
Other patents, the coalition said, would allow the sale of
downtown Nogales port. The year before that, more than
995 acres of California's Inyo National Forest, worth $7.5 2,300 were seized.
CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. (AP) -- The ruddy slopes of
Getting a patent is not easy. Slightly more than one-third million, for $3,100; 673 acres of California's Mojave
12,392-foot Mount Emmons loom over this town,
of the 405 applications were withdrawn or rejected by the National Preserve, worth up to $1 million, for $2,300;
Starting Monday, consular offices will no longer issue
drawing hikers, backcountry skiers and snowshoers. But
Bush and Clinton administrations, often for lack of
and 100 acres of Washington state's Mount Baker
replacement laser visas, said Benjamin Ousley, the
to residents such as Jim Starr, they also stand for what is supporting paperwork.
National Forest, worth up to $937,000, for $470.
consular section chief for the U.S. Consulate in Nogales,
wrong with the nation's antiquated mining laws.
Sonora.
Companies have to convince the Interior Department that At Mount Emmons, it is unclear what will happen.
Those laws allowed the Bush administration to sell 155
the land has a valuable mineral deposit and it can be
Phoenix-based Phelps Dodge Corp., inherited the
Instead, people who report their missing visas to consular
acres of public land on the "Red Lady" to a mining
mined at a profit. Department officials say companies
applications from a company it acquired, but has said in
officials for a replacement will be issued a sticker visa to
company for less than $900. The land has deposits of
typically spend about $10,000 to $15,000 per acre trying court documents it wants to unload the property.
place inside their passport. The sticker will be annotated
molybdenum, a gray metal used to make steel, alloys and to document that it is economically viable to mine there.
with a stamp denoting the missing laser visa as lost or
lubricants.
<#==#>
stolen.
Once a patent is granted, officials say, the law does not
"It's a huge threat. If anyone did put a mine in there, it's
let them challenge a company if it drops its plan to mine
a foolproof government issued photo id. only the INS
The hope is that inspectors at the ports of entry will
hard to imagine that it would not destroy this area," said
at a site that could be resold as valuable real estate.
idiots dont scan it most of the time
notice the "lost/stolen" annotation and ask more questions
Starr, a lawyer and Democratic chairman of Gunnison
of the person seeking entry into the United States, Ousley
County's board of commissioners.
The department acknowledges cases in which lands that
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AZ_LASER_VIS said.
companies had patented for mining were used for private, AS_AZOLThe sale was made possible by an 1872 mining law that
commercial development, such as at the ski resorts of
?SITE=AZMES&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DE "You're walking up to the inspector holding a red flag,"
lets the government sell, for just $2.50 or $5 an acre,
Aspen, Breckendridge, Keystone and Telluride in
FAULT
he said.
public lands that contain minerals. This land sale, known Colorado and Park City in Utah.
as a patent, gives companies absolute title to the property.
Oct 16, 3:19 PM EDT
Critics say the new passport sticker system is as flawed
At Keystone, developers fetched $11,000 an acre in 1989
as the initial scanner system put in place last year.
Since October 1994, Congress has voted each year to
selling off more than one-quarter of the 160 acres the
Authorities trying to prevent misuse of laser visas
renew a temporary ban that prevents companies from
government had sold. The land was never mined.
<#==#>
submitting new patent applications to buy more
NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) -- The federal government is
government land at rock-bottom prices.
In Arizona, a Phoenix luxury hotel sits on 61 acres, part
trying to fight a trend of illegal immigrants trying to
http://www.prensahispanaaz.com/index.asp?id=3598
of an area that a businessman patented in 1970 for $153.
sneak into the country using U.S. laser visas that are
That left the Interior Department's Bureau of Land
He sold it to a developer for $400,000, plus a 1 percent
supposed to offer the highest level of security available.
Desafían a racistas
Management with 405 applications it had received before share in future profits.
October 1994. Those applications came from companies
The U.S. State Department is starting a new tracking
Cientos de personas, incluyendo anglosajones, se unieron
looking to buy land managed by the BLM and the Forest Congress has made numerous efforts to change the law,
system Monday to dissuade people from selling off their en protesta contra Rusty Childress y van por Andrew
Service.
and not even the National Mining Association is a
laser visas - or to at least encourage them to hold on to
Thomas y Russell Pearce.
vigorous defender. Spokeswoman Carol Raulston said
them more carefully.
John Leshy, who approved 68 of those patents as the
the trade group would support updating the law so
Edmundo Apodaca
Interior Department's top lawyer during the Clinton
companies pay "fair market value" for patents.
The visas are counterfeit-proof and in 2004, Congress
administration, said the law requires the government to
appropriated $11 million to install scanners at all U.S.
Por primera vez en mucho tiempo, anglosajones venidos
give land away needlessly.
But advocates of overhauling the law have been thwarted ports of entry to read the data embedded on the cards.
de distintas ciudades del valle participaron junto con
by those resisting an end to the free-access approach to
hispanos en la protesta pacífica en la empresa Childress
"The mining law was a cover for getting the land for non- public lands upon which the nation was built.
Smugglers and spotters have noticed that U.S. Customs
Automall, propiedad del principal patrocinador de la 200.
mining purposes like hunting, fishing, brothels or a
inspectors don't always scan the laser visa cards, relying
saloon. I don't think people need incentives to settle the
This year, the chairman of the House Resources
instead on their instincts about border-crossers, to speed
El mensaje fue claro: No pemitirán el avance de leyes
West any longer," said Leshy, a University of California
Committee, GOP Rep. Richard Pombo of California,
up the entry process.
racistas.
law professor and author of "The Mining Law."
tried to have the ban on new patents lifted. The
Rusty Childress fue uno de los principales aportantes de
committee's top Democrat, Rep. Nick Rahall of West
The illicit laser visa scam is booming in towns like
dinero para promover la proposición 200, que luego se
The Bush administration and Congress have made a push Virginia, proposed sweeping changes, including a
Nogales, Sonora. Hundreds are reported lost or stolen
convirtió en ley.
to approve the remaining applications - approximately
permanent end to such patents.
every year, and hundreds more are seized as impostors
Encabezados por Elías Bermúdez y una gran cantidad de
200 - that were unresolved when President Bush took
try to cross through the ports of entry.
líderes sociales, entre ellos Julián Nabozny, José Robles,
office. Under the Bush administration, 139 were
The remaining applications, mostly in Nevada, Arizona,
de la Diócesis católica de Phoenix, Alfredo Gutiérrez,
approved and 50 remain to be considered.
California and Montana, involve selling 71 square miles
U.S. border officials have tracked thousands of stolen
Phillip Austin, de la Asociación de Ciudadanos Hispanos
of federal land in 11 states for just $130,000, according to laser visas, some up for sale, available to migrants who
de Mesa, entre otros, cientos de personas se reunieron el
The BLM's deputy director, Jim Hughes, said the patents Westerners for Responsible Mining, a coalition of 12
want to avoid the desert for prices ranging from $50 to
pasado fin de semana en la 23 avenida y la Camelback,
convey property rights, but not a free pass to disregard
state and national conservation groups.
$2,000.
para manifestarse en contra del racismo. Con pancartas
environmental laws. He said private investment, mostly
en mano se mostraron a favor de una reforma migratoria
in the rural West, provides good jobs, but acknowledged The lands' real value is $178 million, the coalition has
Theft is only one way visas end up on the streets. Border y que se frene, de una vez por todas, la aprobación de
that some oppose mining because of legitimate aesthetic
estimated, based on figures from local assessors and real residents also sell their visas and claim them stolen.
leyes antiinmigrantes en Arizona.
values.
estate agents. Some $85 million of that total is in just one
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
"As always, the BLM is sort of caught between the two
and we have to make decisions on those competing
interests," he said. "At the end of the day, we are told to
follow the law. It's not an easy choice."
parcel - 3,000 acres near Arizona's popular Roosevelt
Lake - that could be sold for $8,500, the coalition said.
11 of 23
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
Advirtieron que la movilización social continuará en los
próximos días, incluso realizarán un plantón en la sede de
la Conferencia sobre Inmigración Ilegal, Crimen y
Seguridad Fronteriza que promueve el procurador
Andrew Thomas.
http://www.prensahispanaaz.com/index.asp?id=3604
Este jueves 13 habrá uno en Mesa titulado Autism
Raising Awareness, que tendrá lugar en Del Sol
Reception, localizado en 243 S. Mesa Drive; el viernes
habrá una feria de salud en el supermercado Ranch
Market de la calle 16 y Roosevelt, en Phoenix, donde se
ofrecerán varios servicios gratuitos a la comunidad.
El sábado 15 se celebrará el Día Nacional para la Concientización del VIH, el cual marcará la clausura de la
Semana Binacional de Salud; será en el Concilio Latino
de Salud, localizado en 546 E. Osborn, en Phoenix.
Todos estos eventos son organizados por el Instituto de
los Mexicanos en el Exterior (IME) a través del
Consulado de México en Phoenix.
Realizarán Consulado Móvil en Sur Phoenix
Pie de foto:
Será este sábado 15 de octubre en la escuela de Santa
Catalina de Siena.
Un nuevo Consulado Móvil se realizará este sábado, será
en Sur Phoenix.
Leo Hernández
<#==#>
Personal del Consulado General de México en Phoenix
instalarán un Consulado Móvil, en el que ofrecerán
trámites de documentos, darán información gratuita y
tendrán muchos otros servicios.
childress buick is run by racists who support prop 200
and hate latinos??? si?
El evento será este sábado 15 de octubre en las
instalaciones de la escuela Santa Catalina de Siena, la
cual se localiza en 6401 S. de la avenida Central, entre
las calles Southern y Baseline.
El “gigante” se mueve
<#==#>
the mexican embassy or consulate is moving to south
phoenix - 6401 S. Central between Southern and
Baseline.
La atención al público será de 9 de la mañana a 2 de la
tarde, y durante la jornada se expedirán diversos
documentos como la matrícula consular, el pasaporte, la
cartilla del serivicio militar y documentos del registro
civil. Además, se proporcionará información gratuita
sobre asuntos civiles, legales, laborales, migratorios y
penales. Los interesados en tramitar la matrícula, deben
presentar el acta de nacimiento, una identificación oficial
con fotografía, comprobante de domicilio a nombre del
interesado y acta de matrimonio (los casados). Si van a
tramitar el pasaporte mexicano, deben tener acta de
nacimiento, identificación oficial con fotografía, tres
fotografías tamaño pasaporte de frente y a colores, así
como acta de matrimonio si es el caso.
Para la cartilla militar se necesitan el acta de nacimiento,
una identificación oficial con fotografía, cuatro fotos
tamaño pasaporte de frente, que no sean instantáneas y
con la cara despejada, además, comprobar que ha
residido en los Estados Unidos por al menos un año.
Para más información sobre el Consulado Móvil, los
interesados pueden llamar al (602) 242-7398, extensión
230.
Semana binacional de salud
Como parte de un acuerdo de cooperación entre Estados
Unidos y México, se llevará a cabo la Quinta Semana
Binacional de Salud en el Valle del Sol del 13 al 15 de
octubre con varios eventos.
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
http://www.prensahispanaaz.com/index.asp?id=3564
Miembros de la comunidad anglosajona se sumaron a la
gigantesca protesta realizada el pasado sábado contra la
empresa Childress Automall o Childress Buick, ubicada
en Camelback y 23 Avenida.
Childress retiró un letrero que por años mantuvo en las
afueras de su negocio, donde se anunciaba que ahí se
habla español, y de esta manera atraer a clientes
hispanos, obviamente a quienes no les pide papeles que
demuestren su estatus legal para poder venderles.
La Iglesia en defensa de la comunidad inmigrante
José Robles, representante de la Diócesis de Phoenix,
dijo que este tipo de acciones, que se multiplicaron el
pasado fin de semana en varios estados de la Unión
Americana como Chicago, Dallas, Nueva York, Los
Ángeles y Washington, tiene el propósito de llamar la
atención de los congresistas federales para que respalden
una reforma migratoria justa, que reconozca las
aportaciones de la comunidad inmigrante al desarrollo y
fortaleza de este país. Se trata de un movimiento nacional
en defensa de la dignidad de los inmigrantes.
Señaló que la protesta contra Childress es porque este
empresario patrocinó la Proposición 200, que luego se
convirtió en ley para negar servicios a la comunidad
inmigrante.
Para Elías Bermúdez, uno de los principales impulsores
de estas acciones de protesta, que el pasado 10 de mayo
reunió a más de 4 mil hispanos en la defensa de sus
derechos, afirmó tajante que este movimiento seguirá
creciendo porque es justo, hasta que se logre la
aprobación de la reforma migratoria. Además, es
preparativo para una gran concentración en el Congreso
local el próximo 9 de enero del 2006, cuando se reanuda
el trabajo legislativo, a fin de que no se sigan aprobando
leyes antiinmigrantes.
Buscan apoyo del reverendo Jesse Jackson
Nabozny anunció que se han puesto en contacto con
gente del influyente reverendo Jesse Jackson, para buscar
el apoyo de la comunidad afroamericana a esta lucha. El
contacto es Raúl Yzaguirre, líder moral del Consejo
Nacional de la Raza, actualmente el hispano con mayor
influencia en el país.
Se une la comunidad anglosajona
Para los cientos de personas que se sumaron a la protesta
resultó sorpresiva y estimulante la presencia de
anglosajones en la manifestación.
Linda y Richard Brown -padre e hija-, así como Alia
Sonissi, Drew Sullivan y Brian Tomasi, entre otros, se
solidarizaron con el plantón pacífico contra Rusty
Childress, “porque es injusto que se trate a la comunidad
inmigrante como criminales.
Estamos aquí porque queremos decirle al mundo que los
inmigrantes son gente decente, trabajadora y respetable.
Exigimos respeto a los derechos humanos de estas
personas y seguiremos su lucha porque la consideramos
justa”, fueron algunas de las expresiones de los
anglosajones presentes en la protesta.
Defensa casa por casa
Linda Brown, quien pertenece a organizaciones como la
Red de Abogados de Arizona, Unidos en Arizona y del
Foro Hispano, anunció que una red de ciudadanos
estadounidenses se dará a la tarea de ir casa por casa
diciendo la verdad sobre las mentiras que gente como
La compañía es propiedad de Rusty Childress, uno de los “Vamos a seguir presionando para que en Arizona no
Rusty Childresss, Rusell Pearce y otros “destacados”
principales patrocinadores de la Proposición 200, contra
siga creciendo el sentimiento antiinmigrante. Además,
antiinmigrantes, han venido repitiendo sobre el fenómeno
quien los cientos de manifestantes lanzaron consignas y
tenemos que enviarle el mensaje a la comunidad
migratorio y las consecuencias para el estado y el país.
pidieron a la comunidad entera no comprar carros en esa anglosajona que los promotores de la 200 son mentirosos, Además, criticó el hecho de que estos personajes nunca
empresa, “por la hipocresía de su propietario, quien por
ya que con engaños lograron el apoyo de la población, le hablen de la otra parte del problema, que es el efecto
un lado se lanzó contra la comunidad inmigrante y por
metieron miedo con el argumento de que los inmigrantes devastador de las políticas económicas que Estados
otra parte trata de venderle sus autos”, dijo Elías
son criminales, cuando en realidad se trata de gente
Unidos aplica en los países pobres, que generan el éxodo,
Bermúdez.
trabajadora, honesta, dedicada, y cuyo único propósito es la salida de la gente de sus lugares de origen para venirse
ganarse el pan de cada día con el sudor de su frente.”
a la Unión Americana a ganar la vida y salvar a su
A la manifestación, encabezada por el presidente de
familia del hambre y la marginación.
Migrantes Sin Fronteras, se unieron muchos líderes y
“Serenata” a Russell Pearce y plantón a Andrew Thomas “De eso nunca hablan, porque no les daría ningún
activistas comunitarios, entre ellos Julián Nabozny,
Anunció para los próximos días una protesta frente a la
resultado positivo en sus carrreras políticas. Por eso es
reconocido benefactor de la comunidad hispana, José
casa del legislador republicano Russell Pearce, ubicada
que vamos a solidarizarnos y luchar unidos con los
Robles, de la Diócesis de Phoenix, Phillip Austin, de la
en Mesa, Arizona, y para el 3 al 5 de noviembre un
hispanos en la defensa de sus derechos”, coincidieron
Asociación de Hispanos de Mesa, el ex senador Alfredo
plantón en la Conferencia del Suroeste sobre Inmigración Alia Sonissi y Drew Sullivan, jóvenes anglosajones
Gutiérrez, entre otros.
Ilegal, Seguridad Fronteriza y Crimen, que promueve y
involucrados en la defensa cívica la comunidad hispana.
patrocina el Procurador del Condado Maricopa, Andrew
Fue una protesta pacífica, donde se leían cientos de
Thomas.
Mientras tanto, el presidente de la Asociación de
consignas en contra de la empresa Childress Buick y su
Ciudadanos Hispanos de Mesa, Phillip Austin, quien
propietario, a quien acusaron de ser un ignorante de la
El evento se efectuará en el Scottsdale Resort y centro de también participó en la protesta, dijo que nadie debe
realidad del fenómeno migratorio y de tratar de restarle
conferencias de esa ciudad.
quedarse al margen de la lucha contra leyes y actitudes
valor e importancia a la enorme contribución de los
Julián Nabozny, propietario de restaurantes McDonald’s antiinmigrantes.
hispanos al desarrollo y fortaleza de este país y del estado y un activo miembro de la comunidad de Arizona, expuso
de Arizona.
que se tiene que educar a la comunidad anglosajona del
Agregó que es urgente unirse a todas aquellas
valor que representa para el estado y para el país la
manifestaciones de protesta que impliquen acciones
Evidencias
presencia de los inmigrantes hispanos para que se una a
concretas contra el avance del racismo en el estado.
la lucha contra el racismo. Hoy están mal informados y
Advirtió que sin la unidad no hay fortaleza, por lo que se
Incluso, en un intento por “borrar” evidencias de lo
por tanto temerosos, porque les han mentido sobre la
ha iniciado un movimiento que será capaz de involucrar a
importante que es la comunidad hispana para su negocio, realidad del fenómeno migratorio.
toda la comunidad inmigrante, hispanos y de otras
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
12 of 23
nacionalidades, en la lucha contra el racismo manifestado
ya en leyes aprobadas por legisladores republicanos
estatales.
Dijo que se debe insistir ante el Congreso federal para
que sea aprobada la reforma migratoria, mediante la que
se lograría solucionar de una vez por todas este problema.
f*ck prop 200! f*ck the racists at childress buick who
“En realidad mucha gente trabaja y pocos son los que
helped pass the law! f*ck Rusty Childress the person who reciben el dinero de sus impuestos. ¿Cómo dicen ellos
runs childress buick!
que nosotros somos una carga pública?”, protestó.
No quieren hablar
Protestan por apoyo a la 200
Nadie de la empresa Childress Automall, ni el mismo
Rusty Childress quisieron dar sus impresiones de la
protesta realizada el pasado fin de semana por cientos de
personas.
Vía telefónica se intentó contactar a Childress, se le dejó
un mensaje solicitándole una entrevista para que diera su
versión de los hechos, pero nunca contestó ni devolvió la
llamada.
Por Valeria Fernández
La Voz
Octubre 12, 2005
<#==#>
La manifestación pacífica ha sido una de las más grandes
realizadas hasta el momento de una serie organizada por
el grupo “Emigrantes sin Fronteras”.
how do you spell government taxes and $revenue$? 15
mph school zones. its not about safety! its about
$revenue$. but i am sure that the readers from south of
the border understand this fact much better then the
american who actually beleive that the government is
protecting their children with these silly laws that protect
no one other then to raise money for government rulers
http://www.prensahispanaaz.com/index.asp?id=3586
Automovilistas ignoran límite de velocidad en zonas
escolares
A pesar de los señalamientos que indican que el límite de
velocidad en zonas escolares es de 15 millas por hora,
muchos automovilistas lo exceden, provocando una
situación de riesgo para los estudiantes.
De acuerdo con el oficial John Williams, de la Policía de
Mesa, exceder el límite de velocidad en zonas escolares
puede recaer en multas de hasta el triple del costo por
cometer la misma infracción en otras zonas de la ciudad.
El costo de la multa por exceder el límite de velocidad es
de 105 dólares. En zonas escolares éste puede ser de
hasta 400 dólares, dependiendo de otros factores como la
falta de seguro de auto y de licencia.
Pero de acuerdo con el oficial Williams, lo más grave no
es la multa sino la tragedia que pudiera ocasionarse a raíz
de esa omisión.
Para prevenir accidentes, oficiales de la Policía
mantienen operativos especiales en las escuelas para
supervisar la llegada y salida de los estudiantes.
Sin embargo, hace falta más conciencia en la población
para disminuir el peligro de accidentes, enfatizó.
<#==#>
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
http://www.azcentral.com/lavoz/front/articles/101105chil
dress-CR.html.html
Cientos de personas sitiaron el perímetro del negocio
automotriz de Rusty Childress, ubicado sobre Camelback
y la Avenida 24, en señal de protesta por su apoyo
económico a la Proposición 200.
Más que protestar una ley que ya se aprobó la idea fue
enviar el mensaje de que “a todos los comerciantes que
estén financiando medidas contra los inmigrantes les
vamos a atacar en el bolsillo”, dijo Elías Bermúdez, líder
del grupo.
El activista subrayó que la importancia de protestas como
estas radica en la unión de los latinos para pedir una
reforma migratoria.
“Ya no vamos a llorar sobre la leche derramada”,
subrayó.
Los conductores y hasta una estación de radio en una
compañía de colchones ayudó a darle visibilidad a la
protesta demostrando su apoyo.
En un punto las mismas alarmas de los autos fueron
activadas por los ruidos del tumulto.
“Mucha gente por el temor cuando necesitaban servicios
médicos de emergencia no los aprovechaban (por la
200)”, opinó José Robles, representante de ministerios
hispanos de la Diócesis de Phoenix que también se sumó
a la protesta.
Al evento tampoco faltaron negociantes de la otra cara
del debate migratorio como Julian Nabozny, dueño de un
McDonalds en el sur de Phoenix.
“Un boicot económico da resultados parciales, lo
importante es informar al votante”, subrayó Nabozny.
“Este país necesita la mano de obra que no existe”.
Jesús Betancur, gerente de una compañía de soldadura
que lleva 20 años viviendo en Estados Unidos, fue a
protestar indignado de que lo acusen de vivir de los
demás.
Por Valeria Fernández
Octubre 12, 2005
Autoridades del Departamento de Motores y Vehículos
(MVD, por sus siglas en inglés) continúan sus esfuerzos
para implementar una ley que desde hace 20 años obliga
a las personas que residen y trabajan en Arizona a
registrar sus vehículos en el estado.
Con el rápido incremento de la población se ha
comenzado a detectar autos con placas de otros estados y
de estados fronterizas como Sonora, México, con mayor
frecuencia, dijo Cydney DeModica, portavoz de MVD.
Si una persona vive, trabaja e incluso tiene a sus hijos
inscritos en una escuela de Arizona, tiene que llevar una
placa del estado, un seguro y una licencia, subrayó la
funcionaria.
“Mucha gente piensa que hay un período de gracia de 30
a 60 días para hacer estos cambios, pero no lo hay”,
agregó DeModica.
Apoyando a Childress
Childress, quien empezó como tesorero de la
organización Protect Arizona Now en julio de 2003
cuando se iniciará la campaña de la 200, también tuvo
quien lo apoyara.
“La 200 ya pasó hace un año, es hora de que lo superen”,
opinó Donna Neil, representante de la asociación de
vecindario Westwood.
Bermúdez acusó a Childress de haber invertido más de
100 mil dólares en la campaña para apoyar la ley 200. Sin Neil denunció el impacto negativo de un boicot en esa
embargo, una revisión del record público del Comité
zona y defendió a Childress por haber apoyada la 200.
Protect Arizona Now sólo indicó que el negociante
contribuyó con mil dólares.
Sin embargo, el comerciante se mofó de la protesta
asegurando que más que alejar a los clientes los atrajeron
Un visible anuncio instalado en la entrada del negocio
por los cientos de faxes y correos electrónicos que recibió
que leía “Se habla español” brilló por su ausencia durante de ciudadanos expresándole su apoyo.
la protesta, ya que Childress decidió quitarlo.
“Este evento sólo sirvió para molestar al millón de
“¿Por qué dicen que hablan español y tienen carros para
personas que votaron por la 200”, respondió a una
los hispanos? Si no le gustan los hispanos tampoco
interrogante de La Voz.
queremos que les guste nuestro dinero”, protestó
Magdalena Swartz, una de las activistas.
<#==#>
A la convocatoria asistieron cerca de mil personas, entre
estas familias con carteles de “No a la 200”, y algunos
por primera vez se animaban a gritar: “somos muchos y
seremos más”.
Multas por no usar placas de Arizona
how do you spell $revenue$ and taxes? shaking down
people with out of state license plates is how you spell
revenue in arizona!!! but on the other hand i suspect the
state of arizona steals much less then the mexican
government does when they tax your car. perhaps kevin
and laro can ask some latinos how much it costs to
register a car in mexico. many years ago i though that
cars cost two or three times in mexico because of the
taxes government theives put on them.
http://www.azcentral.com/lavoz/front/articles/101105plac
as-CR.html.html
13 of 23
No obstante las leyes en el estado contemplan una
excepción para los turistas y los visitantes que vienen de
otros estados a pasar los meses de invierno en Arizona.
La multa por no tener una placa del estado asciende a 350
dólares, pero puede llegar a 500 si se incluyen costos
extras en las cortes.
MVD cuenta con 200 oficiales a nivel estatal que se
encargan de la implementación de esta y otras
regulaciones patrullando estacionamientos de compañías.
Durante los meses de julio y agosto esa dependencia
recaudó cerca de 5 millones de dólares en multas, 2
millones de éstas fueron por tener el registro expirado y
el resto por no contar con placas de Arizona.
El dinero que se obtiene de los registros de automóviles
se invierte en el mantenimiento de autopistas y carreteras
del estado.
“Para poder seguir al día con las demandas del
crecimiento de la población, tenemos que asegurarnos
que todo el mundo pague la parte que le corresponde”,
subrayó DeMonica.
Vehículos de México
Aunque algunos lo hacen a propósito, no todo el mundo
está informado sobre las demandas de esta ley.
Luis Ortega, un inmigrante con visa de trabajo, reside en
Arizona desde hace casi 10 meses pero tiene un auto de
México con placas de Sonora.
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
Ortega no está seguro si puede registrar en el estado su
vehículo extranjero.
De acuerdo a DeModica, si el auto es de otro país todo
depende de si fue manufacturado para la exportación.
Para determinar esto la persona debe llevar su vehículo a
una inspección sin costo en cualquier oficina del MVD.
Si el vehículo no puede ser registrado no será confiscado,
subrayó DeModica. Para registrarlo, el dueño del
vehículo tiene que presentar el título del automóvil, u
otras documentos que acrediten su propiedad. El registro
se paga anualmente y tiene un costo promedio de 150 a
160 dólares que puede variar basándose en el valor del
auto.
“Este es un problema enorme principalmente con gente
de otros estados (de la nación)”, dijo el sargento Tony
Morales, del Departamento de Policía de Phoenix.
Es común que los oficiales en las patrullas tengan que
multar a los conductores por no traer placas de Arizona
cuando se sabe que trabajan aquí, agregó.
Para obtener información sobre la ubicación de la oficina
de MVD más próxima se puede llamar al 602-255-0072,
o al 1-800-251-5866.
<#==#>
arizona is a police state and you need a stinking
government issued photo id to vote. well almost you do
need id to vote and arizona is a police state
http://www.azcentral.com/lavoz/front/articles/101105IDCR.html
Exigirán una identificación
Por Valeria Fernández
La Voz
Octubre 12, 2005
El uso de una identificación en los comicios para poder
votar será obligatorio en las elecciones de 2006 gracias a
una decisión del Departamento de Justicia (DOJ, por sus
siglas en inglés).
Las personas que no lleven un documento de identidad
podrán votar con una boleta provisional, según estos
reglamentos.
Para que el voto cuente deberán comprobar su identidad
en un plazo máximo de cinco días después, si se trata de
una elección general, o tres si es elección primaria, dijo
Kevin Tyne, portavoz de la Secretaría de Estado.
Los cambios, que forman parte de las disposiciones de la
Proposición 200, fueron ampliamente discutidos por la
gobernadora Janet Napolitano, el procurador Terry
Goddard y la secretaria de estado Jan Brewer, antes de
ser enviados al DOJ para su aprobación final.
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
Los críticos de esta medida aseguran que se prestará para
el uso de perfiles raciales y discriminación contra las
minorías en los recintos de votantes ya que muchas
personas no cuentan con los documentos necesarios
como una licencia de conducir.
Yvone Reed, portavoz de la Oficina de Registro de
Votantes del Condado Maricopa, aseguró que los
trabajadores en los comicios serán entrenados para que
cumplan con los reglamentos de forma pareja.
Es posible que votar por correo se convierta en una de las
formas más sencillas de votar, sugirió Reed.
Hasta ahora no se ha determinado en dónde se recibirá a
las personas que tengan que presentar su voto.
Algunos activistas políticos, como el ex senador Alfredo
Gutiérrez, opositor de la 200, sostienen que estos
cambios no representarán mayor problema para las
comunidades latinas ya que muchos usan identificación a
diario para cualquier servicio.
Para poder votar, los electores tendrán que presentar una
forma de identificación con fotografía como una licencia
de conducir que cuente con el domicilio vigente de la
persona. Otra alternativa será presentar dos documentos
sin foto como los recibos de la luz y el agua, la tarjeta de
registro de votantes, o una tarjeta de seguro del auto.
Los nuevos reglamentos no se implementarán en las
elecciones de noviembre de 2005 en el Condado
Maricopa, confirmó Reed.
But rural Arizona will be hit the hardest. There, hundreds
of small private water companies pump only
groundwater, which tends to have more arsenic. Those
firms have less cash to treat water than a big city
operation and will be more likely to pass the cost on,
regulators and industry experts say.
In 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency slashed
the federal standard for arsenic in water from 50 parts per
billion to 10 parts per billion to protect the public against
the cancer-causing substance.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1017arsenic17.ht
ml
New water rule costing communities
Jahna Berry
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 17, 2005 12:00 AM
Those municipal water customers should see their bills
creep up gradually over time, city officials predicted.
The tap water most Valley consumers drink is surface
water from the Salt River Project or Central Arizona
Project Canal. Groundwater is a backup source during
peak summer periods.
But that's little comfort to small-town residents who may
have to dig deeper to pay for water.
So even if all of Mesa's city wells don't meet the tougher
standards this winter, water from faucets should be fine,
said Alan Martindale, Mesa's water quality supervisor.
"I heard if they have to put in more equipment, they will
have to raise the bills," said Leroy Hunter, a 70-year-old
Camp Verde resident, who pays $68 a month for water in
the summer. "The people on fixed incomes can't afford
the increases."
The tough new arsenic guidelines may force Mesa to take
some of their wells offline permanently, which means the
city has less breathing room during a crisis. This past
January, Mesa leaned on its wells during the waterquality scare, Martindale said.
When the January deadline rolls around, most large cities "We relied on every well we had during the Val Vista
will be ready, but some water taps would still have higher turbidity scare," he said. "We won't have the luxury next
levels of arsenic, state officials predict.
year."
But municipal and private water systems will have a little
extra time to comply.
Even though the change starts Jan. 23, the water systems
are tested for contaminants on a pre-set cycle, and the
new arsenic rule will be rolled into those existing tests.
The state won't determine if a utility's surface water
complies with the tougher arsenic rules until December
2006, groundwater in December 2007.
<#==#>
i read about this effort by the feds to remove arsenic from
water in popular science or popular mechanics maybe a
year ago. this new water law to remove arsenic from
water will cost millions, probably billions. the law will
prevent maybe one or two cancer deaths a year. most
normal people would think thats a pretty sh*tty
investment but the feds think its great!
"It's been a huge financial hit," said Catherine Connolly,
executive director of the League of Arizona Cities and
Towns.
"We want to make sure that everyone is on the road to
compliance," said Steve Owens, director of the Arizona
Department of Environmental Quality. Owens' agency
and industry groups are educating small companies about
the rule and lower-cost arsenic technology.
It's a different story in small cities. Tucked at the feet of
the Bradshaw Mountains, Prescott budgeted $23 million
to treat water for its 20,000 customers.
"Up here in rural Arizona, we are groundwater
dependent," said Carol Johnson, a Prescott water official.
Arizona Water Co., which serves 76,000 customers from
Coolidge to Sedona, expects to spend $30 million on
plant construction and water treatment to meet the federal
arsenic guidelines, President William Garfield said.
"It's a rush to get them done as soon as possible," he said.
"Our hope is that through our efforts, we can identify
those systems that are not going to make it."
Some towns, such as Sedona, won't see dramatic changes
in their water bills. But customers in nearby Rim Rock,
which has higher arsenic levels in its groundwater, could
see their water bills double, Garfield said.
The penalty for violators is high. Under the worst-case
scenario, a water company can be charged up to $25,000
a day for violating federal drinking-water standards or
could be shut down.
In Arizona, the new federal arsenic rule is a political sore
spot. Naturally occurring arsenic is more common here
than in other parts of the country, so reaching the new
standard is a bigger challenge.
That's why the state has focused on helping small
The state originally resisted the move for tougher arsenic
companies comply, Owens said. Shuttering a utility could rules but seems to be implementing the new standard,
devastate a small town with no alternate water source.
said Sandy Bahr, conservation outreach director for the
Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club.
Cities and private water companies across the state are
The new rule has big cities feeling the pain, too.
under the gun to build plants and install systems that will Scottsdale, which has 23 wells affected by the new rule,
"Whether you get your water from a big system or a
make Arizona's water safer.
expects to spend $85 million on water system
small system, your water should be safe," she said. "This
improvements. Chandler is spending more than $16
is about public health."
The large municipal water plants run by Valley cities,
million, Phoenix $24 million and Mesa nearly $8 million
treating surface water and some groundwater, are shelling for upgrades.
While many studies link arsenic to cancer, there has been
out millions to meet a new federal requirement to cut
a debate about what is a safe level for human
arsenic that begins Jan. 23.
consumption.
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
14 of 23
associates who encourage investor clients to hide rental
"From an epidemiological standpoint, you can't say that
status by lying on property documents.
Arizona has ever been affected," said Paul Westerhoff, an
associate professor in Arizona State University's
The 6-year-old state rental-registration law is designed to
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
prevent blight, identify owners and agents and ease tax
collections. But Joan Blackburn, support-services
While the standard was 50 parts per billion for years,
manager for the Maricopa County assessor, said that
"new health data suggested that the level should be
among about 780,000 residential parcels in the county,
lower," he said.
100,300 are registered as rentals. She suspects that as
many as 160,000 others are unregistered, based on
One part per billion is similar to a drop of liquid from an differences between properties' addresses and mailing
eyedropper in an Olympic-size swimming pool,
addresses of owners. And she admits to reporting
according to state officials.
unregistered rentals in her own Glendale neighborhood.
In Western states, where arsenic is more prevalent, some
have argued that the tougher rules create a huge expense
without significant health benefits. Now that the January
deadline looms, everyone's focus has shifted, utilities say.
County Assessor Keith Russell has said his office doesn't
have the staff to check individual sales to be sure the
addresses of buyers match that of the property and to
determine that occupants aren't family members of
owners, not renters.
"We will conform to the new standard," said Garfield,
who belongs to a coalition assisting small utilities to meet Cities, not the county, stand to lose sales tax revenues on
the federal guideline. "It's not for us to debate at this
unreported rentals, and many are taking on the burden of
point."
discovering them.
<#==#>
cities asking tenants to snitch on your landlord so the
cities can collect more revenue. what the cities are not
saying is that if you snitch our your landlord the end
result is you will end up paying more taxes. the Arizona
Department of Real Estate also is asking asking real
estate agents to snitch on fellow real estate agents who
dont register. and last the arizona department of real
estate is asking real estate agents to snitch on their clients
who may be disobeying the law. isnt that a conflict of
interest? and doesnt arizona resemble nazi germany
where the nazi thugs asked children to report their
neighbors? and one other lame excuse for this is it will
make it easy for the government to catch messy yard
criminals!
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1017rentals17sid
e.html
Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Scottsdale, Tempe and
Glendale have programs that audit county property
records and scout neighborhood "for rent" signs. They
also urge residents to call to report rentals they suspect
are unregistered.
Terry Feinberg, president of the Phoenix-based Arizona
Multihousing Association, which represents rental
owners, said out-of-state investors might be in violation
out of ignorance, not intention. That's because Arizona is
the only state with mandatory rental registration.
However, "I don't doubt there are some intentional taxevasion strategies," he said.
Landlords are also challenged by different rental-tax
rules in the Valley's cities, said Steve Urie, a property
manager and Gilbert Town Councilman. Some, like
Chandler, require taxes on the first rental; others,
including Phoenix and Mesa don't tax rent until an
investor owns three or more rentals in Arizona.
Landlords ignoring law on registration
Edythe Jensen
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 17, 2005 12:00 AM
The state Department of Real Estate is starting a drive to
stem criticism of investors and increase compliance with
rental-registration laws, said spokeswoman Amy
Bjelland.
Arizona is the only state in the nation to require rentalproperty registration, but Maricopa County officials
suspect that more than half of the Valley's landlords
aren't obeying the law.
Earlier this year it issued a plea to agents to turn in
counterparts who encourage clients to lie to avoid rental
taxes. The agency threatened to discipline such agents,
but no action has been taken, files show.
Since most Valley cities collect sales tax on rent and look
to the registration for tax audits, many are encouraging
homeowners to snitch on their rental neighbors as the
number of investor-owned properties increases.
<#==#>
The problem is so widespread that the Arizona
Department of Real Estate is asking agents to report
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
welfare to make up for the mistake. and of course us tax
payers pay for it all.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1014trailcredit14-ON.html
Loan program could ease light rail woes for Tempe
businesses
Katie Nelson
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 14, 2005 02:00 PM
Light-rail construction is barely under way, but some
Tempe business owners say they are already struggling.
Backhoes and orange construction signs are clogging
traffic on Apache Boulevard, down the road from Abbas
Naini's auto sales and repair shop. He says they are the
reason business is bad.
"It's been devastating," he said, looking around Auto
Club, filled only with a few employees. If it keeps going
like this until the rail actually opens, "we're going to have
to shut down. It's just killing us."
Help could be on the way for Naini and some 300 other
Tempe businesses along the light-rail route. November
marks the kick off of a new city-sponsored loan program
put together by the Tempe Chamber of Commerce and
the Tempe Schools Credit Union. Pre-qualified
businesses could receive a $20,000 line of credit.
Long-term, $20,000 might not be much. But it could
mean the difference between losing and keeping some
customers, said Michael Monti. His steakhouse on the
north end of Tempe's downtown is the first business to
sign up for the program.
"Customers are creatures of habit," Monti said.
"Anything that breaks their routine affects our business.
There's just something about orange barricades and
flashing yellow lights that creates a reflex response."
"It's not going to bail them out, but it's certainly going to
help when the tractors are in front of their business,"
Vander Laan said.
And, if the businesses eventually need more money, that
could be arranged, said Stephen Hazel, president of the
credit union.
"Any help is better than no help," said Sonny Nguyen, a
manager of the Khai Hoan Vietnamese restaurant on
Apache Boulevard. "We have to do something. With the
construction decrease we've seen so far, we might not be
open by the time the train opens."
Reach the reporter at katie.nelson@arizonarepublic.com
<#==#>
sounds like a jobs program for government nannies!!! the
carnie food vendors have to deal with a alice in
wonderland set of regulations where something that is
required in arizona is illegal in another state or vise verse.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1
017ruelas17.html
Inspectors keep State Fair treats 'healthy'
Oct. 17, 2005 12:00 AM
About 15 minutes before the Arizona State Fair opened
for business Friday, a squadron of Maricopa County
health inspectors, metal clipboards in hand, miniature
thermometers stuck in their pockets, spilled out of four
fleet cars parked in the lot behind the Ferris wheel. Their
mission: examine every hot-dog-on-a-stick, turkey leg,
fried Twinkie and funnel cake stand by day's end.
Gregory Epperson, one of the unit's supervisors, broke
the fair down into manageable segments: Midway, the
Avenue of Flags, Grandstand and Veterans Coliseum. He
assigned four people to each area.
Monti's La Casa Vieja steakhouse will likely use the
money for advertising, to tell diners how to circumvent
the construction, Monti said.
Each inspection takes about a half-hour. It takes that long
to check off each of the items on the standard pink and
white form titled the "Maricopa County Food Safety
Evaluation Report."
Only certain businesses are eligible for the program:
They must be along the line, independently owned and
open for at least two years. The owner must agree to keep
accounts with, or move them to, the Tempe Schools
Credit Union.
It was Epperson's seventh fair. It's a time of year that
brings lots of dread for Epperson. Although it's not his
dread. It's the sympathetic dread others have for him,
imagining he has his hands full making sure stands
selling fry bread and deep-fried cheesecake pass muster.
In exchange they'll get a credit line set at 1 percent over
prime, for 48 months.
"I tell people I'm going to be at the State Fair," Epperson
said, "and they say, 'Oh, the State Fair.' But really, it's not
that bad."
tempe to give $20,000 in corporate welfare out to
About 150 businesses potentially meet the criteria, said
business along light rail path. first the idiots in tempe
Dutch Vander Laan, who is helping facilitate the
government approve the light rail construction which will program.
cause many of these businesses to go bankrupt, then the
city of tempe decides to give each business 20 grand in
15 of 23
The temporary food booths at the fair actually end up
getting closer scrutiny than a restaurant down the street.
Maricopa County gets to each dining establishment at
least twice a year. Each food booth at the State Fair will
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
get that many visits within the three weeks the fair is
open.
First stop was the Philly Steak and Cheese stand by the
Wallace and Ladmo Stage. Epperson climbed up into the
trailer and stuck his thermometer into a vat of cooked
chicken resting on a hot grill. The temperature read 168
degrees, well above the required 130.
A customer outside ordered a $6 brat. Epperson noted
that the employee put on gloves before handling the bun.
"You're supposed to do that for ready-to-eat items," he
said.
Outside, Epperson checked the freezers. He opened the
largest one, careful not to spill the packs of cigarettes
resting on it, and the inner lid hung loose. "Yeah, that's
like a minor violation," Epperson said. The freezer was
still holding a cold-enough temperature. "If it was fixed,
it might hold better," Epperson told the stand's operator.
Since the stand is one of the few set up on grass,
Epperson also suggested a tarp or mat to keep down the
dust.
"Oh, no, don't put that down," Horamina said to me, then
turning to Epperson, added, "I tell them to just put in a
capful, but they probably put in more."
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1017security17.h
tml
Permanent barriers to go up at airport
The concentration of bleach in the water was 200 parts
per million, acceptable in some states, but twice the level
allowed in Arizona. Epperson left Horamina with some
testing strips so he could get the mix right.
"You tell the people, come on down," Horamina said to
me. "Don't be afraid. We work hard to please all tastes."
Ginger D. Richardson
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 17, 2005 12:00 AM
PHOENIX - The city plans to spend more than $70,000
on new concrete barriers to shore up the perimeter fence
at Sky Harbor International Airport.
All the booths Epperson checked out were fine, with only
a few violations. But that wasn't the case for the rest of
Officials set up hundreds of the blockades along portions
the fair. Epperson huddled with two of his inspectors who of the fence line after a June security breach in which a
were along the Avenue of Flags.
man in a stolen truck drove onto the airfield.
Behind the Western Barbeque stand, a plumber was
working on a stopped drain. It wasn't the fault of the
booth operators themselves, Epperson said, but it would
need to get fixed.
Now, the department and some legislative leaders want
an across-theboard pay raise for the state’s 36,000
workers that would cost more than $586 million over the
next five years.
Officials with the Department of Administration, one of
the largest agencies in the state, say the pay hike would
help retain workers defecting to jobs in the private sector
and municipal governments simply because they pay
more.
"We’ve become the Arizona training facility," said Sen.
However, many of those walls were rented in order to get Jay Tibshraeny, R-Chandler, who was cochairman of a
them in place quickly. The city has now opted to buy new committee charged with looking at state salaries.
blockades that could be put in place permanently.
Tibshraeny said pay raises should be a priority for
The City Council will vote Wednesday on the proposed
lawmakers in the coming year and that they would be
contract with Pre-Cast Manufacturing Co.
embarrassed if an across-the-board pay hike didn’t pass.
Another booth down the way, serving grilled turkey legs,
didn't have hot water. Probably the breaker blew that
Wayne McGlothen, starting his third year of serving up
served their hot-water heater. If it wasn't fixed within a
Officials say it will cost the same amount of money to
cheesesteaks and gyros at the State Fair, said the
day, Epperson would have to shut it down. He also wasn't buy the barriers as it does to rent them for one month.
inspections become routine. His kitchen on wheels moves sure if they had the right permit.
to a new city every few weeks, and each stop brings a
Altogether, Phoenix could spend nearly $16 million on
government official. "Some states, it's every day," he
The two inspectors said they'd circle back to make sure
improvements. A panel charged with evaluating the fence
said. "You get to know all the rules and regulations, try to all was fine with the hot water and the drain, then got
line also has recommended new cable restraints and
remember them all."
back to work. One headed toward a fry bread stand; the
guardrails, as well as the installation of a hydraulic
other inspected a lemonade booth housed in giant lemon. barrier that could be raised in an instant if a vehicle tried
The inspectors, technically called environmental
to break through a gate.
specialists, aren't concerned with how the food is
Epperson headed back to his car to get some paperwork
prepared. All they check is that foods in refrigerators or
for the turkey leg booth. On his way, he dropped by a
The proposed changes are a result of the June incident in
freezers are kept below 41 degrees and that hot, ready-to- caramel apple stand to hand out a permit. He had trouble which a man drove through an open gate into a fire
serve foods, like pork chops or pizza, are kept above 130 finding it. "After a while, it gets to where they all look
station parking lot and smashed through a wrought-iron
degrees.
alike," he said.
fence to get onto the taxiway. He sped past several
passenger-filled airplanes before crashing into a second
Sometimes, ingredients can come into play. Last year, at The rest of the day he would be "passing out permits and fence west of Terminal 2. More than 50 flights were
a fried Twinkie stand, Epperson noted the batter was
putting out fires," he said.
delayed. The suspect was indicted in July on charges of
made with eggs. That meant it had to be kept adequately
auto theft, aggravated assault and unlawful flight.
chilled. "That could be a hazard," he said.
All in the name of making sure all those fried Snickers
bars, pizza rolls and cotton candy wads wouldn't make
Reach the reporter at
Epperson walked into the trailer housing Felini's Pizza on anybody sick.
ginger.richardson@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444the Avenue of Flags, near the commercial exhibit
2474.
building. The instant thermometer he stuck into a tub of
Well, at least not right away.
hot dogs floating in water read 148 degrees, well above
<#==#>
the requirement.
Reach Ruelas at (602) 444-8473 or
richard.ruelas@arizonarepublic.com.
the government nannies that rule us want to be paid more
"See, perfect?" said the booth's operator, Eduardo
money to micromanage our lives
Horamina, who also operates a hot dog stand outside the <#==#>
Maricopa County Courthouse and has developed a keen
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=50766
sense of media savvy. He spoke like he knew his words
a while ago somebody stole a car and drove it on to the
might end up in the newspaper and lovingly displayed his take off and landing area at sky harbor airport. as a result Pay hike pushed for state workers
food for a photographer.
of that the government nannies put up these barriers. i bet By Dennis Welch, Tribune
sky harbor airport is the only airport in the country that
October 17, 2005
Epperson stuck a tiny testing strip into a can holding
does this. i suspect that other airports that have the same
sanitized water. The strip turned black, indicating the
security flaw wont have this done. -- unless some idiot
State employees are falling behind their counterparts
solution had a tad too much bleach. "That's potentially
steal a car and drives it on to the flight path of that
across the country and state officials are pushing for
toxic," Epperson said.
airport.
bigger paychecks.
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
recent study by the Arizona Department of
Administration shows that employee salaries rank among
the lowest in the country, 22 percent below the national
average for state workers.
16 of 23
Besides hitting taxpayers in the pocketbook, high attrition
rates affect services provided by the state as experienced
employees leave for higher paying jobs, he said.
Tibshraeny said he faced the same problem when he was
mayor of Chandler in the late 1990s.
To keep that city’s employees from jumping ship,
Tibshraeny said that he and Chandler’s City Council
were forced to raise salaries.
Nearly half of the money would come out of the state’s
General Fund with federal and nonappropriated money
covering the rest, said Kathy Peckardt, director of human
resources at the Department of Administration.
Currently, the average salary of a state employee is a
$32,897, nearly 22 percent below the national average,
according to the department’s study.
The proposed hike would lift employees closer to market
value, but not all the way.
Peckardt said employees do not need full market value
because the state benefits package makes it competitive
in the workplace.
If the plan is approved, a state employee making $33,000
per year would be lifted to nearly $45,300 by the end of
fiscal year 2011, said Alan Ecker, a spokesman for the
Department of Administration.
But the proposed raise would help the state save on
recruiting and training costs, officials said.
The state must fill more than 600 positions each month
and officials estimate the attrition rate, which hovers at
just over 17 percent, is costing about $50 million a year.
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
Not all state lawmakers favor across-the-board pay hikes.
Last week, Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, said a
portion of any raise should be performance based.
And other lawmakers say they’re not convinced that all
state jobs are below their market value.
In the recent study, state salaries were compared with
other public employers across the country.
Last week, a legislative panel looking into employee
salaries stopped short of adopting the Department of
Administration’s proposal.
Sen. Ken Cheuvront, D-Phoenix, said he wouldn’t mind
performance-based raises, but only after an across-theboard hike is approved.
Three years ago, Cheuvront called for state employees to
rally against the Legislature after lawmakers killed a
proposed pay raise.
"It is imperative that we bring pay up for our employees
who are so underpaid," he said last week.
That committee is required to make a recommendation to
the Department of Administration by Dec. 1.
Representatives with the American Federation of State,
County, and Municipal Employees Council 97, which
represents state workers, did not return phone calls
during the week seeking comment on the proposal.
Contact Dennis Welch by email, or phone (480) 8986573
<#==#>
some fake libertarian news from john semmens
http://www.azconservative.org/Column_Archives.htm
http://www.azconservative.org/Semmens1.htm
JOHN SEMMENS: Semi-News
Louisiana Pork
October 12, 2005
Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.) has requested $250
billion in federal reconstruction funds for Louisiana.
That's more than $50,000 per person in the state. This
money would come in addition to $62 billion that
Congress has already appropriated for emergency relief
and payouts from businesses, national charities and
insurers.
"All the money will be for the benefit of Louisiana and
Louisianans," said Landrieu. "All expenditures for
machinery, materials, labor and special handling fees will
go to Louisianans. All we are asking is for someone else
to pay for it."
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
The items on Landrieu's list include: $5 billion to fund
ads promoting Louisiana seafood, $10 billion to fund
Viagra for alligator breeding, $20 billion to replace liquor
and drugs lost or stolen during the hurricane, $40 billion
for substandard building materials, $100 billion for
shoddy workmanship and $75 billion in assorted
consulting fees and service charges.
Democrats Attack Bill to Boost Refineries
A new Republican-crafted energy bill, prompted by
hurricane devastation and high fuel prices, came under
sharp attack from Democrats. Supporters argue the
measure is needed to spur construction of new refineries.
In 1981, the United States had 325 refineries capable of
producing 18.6 million barrels a day. Today there are
fewer than half that number, producing 16.9 million
barrels daily. No refineries have been built in the United
States since 1976.
One outspoken critic of the proposed legislation is Rep.
Edward Markey (D-Mass). "It does nothing to curb
unwarranted automobile travel," said Markey. "We need
high gas prices to encourage more people to stay home."
keep our birth control clinics going,” said Amy Nought,
director of communications for the organization.
“Creating artificial stem cells is an affront to natural
processes. It would be a step toward a Frankenstein
culture that we find abhorrent.”
The organization says it will lobby Congress to outlaw
the proposed research.
Sheehan Urges Governor Schwarzenegger to March on
Washington
In an audio tape sent to the media, a spokesman for
Hizbul Mujahideen promised more strikes against the
enemies of Islam. “The earthquake is a message from
Allah,” said the voice on the tape. “Death will be visited
upon all who do not believe the words of the Prophet.
Those that Allah does not strike down himself will feel
our knives on their throats.”
The tape also offered to sell videos of the recent murders
for $29.95 plus postage and handling.
Bush, Blair ‘War Criminals’
Vacaville mother and anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan
is asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to send
California's National Guard troops to Washington to
arrest President Bush.
Sheehan wants to deliver a letter to the governor. The
letter reads, in part: "California should exploit the
element of surprise by attacking Washington while the
president is preoccupied with Iraq. After California
troops depose the Bush regime, you could declare
yourself president."
The governor's office acknowledged the implied vote of
confidence Ms. Sheehan has expressed for the governor,
but rebuffed her suggestion calling it "infeasible and
probably illegal."
Among the groups trying to kill the bill are the National
League of Cities, nine state attorneys general, most
environmental organizations and groups representing
state officials in charge of implementing federal clean air Willey and Broaddrick to Tour Clinton Library
requirements. They said the bill would hinder their ability
to engage in litigation aimed at blocking energy
Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick, two of the
production.
women assaulted by former president Bill Clinton plan to
visit his presidential library.
"Soaring fuel prices open an opportunity for Americans
to get back to a more natural way of living," said Nathan Broaddrick alleges that then-Governor Clinton raped her
Greenpants, spokesman for Earth First, an environmental during a conference in Arkansas in 1978, and Willey says
lobbying organization. "We should be tending organic
that Clinton fondled her when she worked in the White
gardens or gathering fruits and nuts in the forest, not
House in 1993. Both also charge that Clinton’s inner
racing down concrete freeways at 80 mph. Katrina has
circle—including wife Hillary Rodham Clinton—
sent us a wake-up call. We should listen."
subsequently attempted to pressure and intimidate them
into silence.
Embryonic Cells without an Embryo
Broaddrick expressed eagerness to see the wax version of
Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch of M.I.T. and Dr. George Daley of
Monica Lewinski squatting in the knee hole of the
Harvard Medical School have started some unusual and
presidential desk and the sink where Clinton reputedly
difficult experiments.
"finished himself off." Willey says she hopes to purchase
one of the souvenir cigars and perhaps a copy of the
Stem cells, a type of universal cell in early embryos, can famous blue dress, if they're not too expensive.
in theory grow into any of the body's tissues and organs.
But embryonic stem cells are drawn from human
Terrorists Sabotage Relief Work in Kashmir
embryos that are destroyed in the process. The moral
objection has been that this is destroying human life.
There has been no letup in terrorist activity in Kashmir
despite the earthquake. This was evident from the
So, Dr. Daley and Dr. Jaenisch have tried to get stem
unabated violence by terrorists since Saturday when the
cells another way by creating aberrant cell clusters that
tragedy struck people on both sides of the Line of
contain stem cells. The idea is to produce embryonic cells Control.
without the embryos and make everyone happy.
Terrorists killed 10 members of two families by slitting
Not everyone is happy, though. Planned Parenthood was their throats and robbing them. The terrorists are reported
quick to condemn the proposed research. “Harvested
to be from the Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen.
stem cells are an important revenue source that helps
17 of 23
A former chief UN weapons inspector has compared
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President
George Bush to the Nazi war criminals who started
World War II.
Scott Ritter, a former U.S. marine, said the U.S. and
Britain's "aggressive warfare" in Iraq was similar to
German actions in Europe 66 years ago.
"Both these men could be pulled up as war criminals for
engaging in actions that we condemned Germany in 1946
for doing the same thing," he said. "Tony Blair and
George Bush are guilty of the crime of planning and
committing aggressive warfare."
He described pre-war Iraq as a “peace-loving” nation.
“Saddam Hussein never hurt anyone,” said Ritter. “The
Iraqi people revered him and repeatedly re-elected him
by a huge margin.”
But he said the aim of the U.S. Government was to
exterminate the Iraqis. “Abu Graib was a death camp,”
Ritter asserted. George Bush is the Middle Eastern
equivalent of Adolf Hitler."
Ritter called for the removal of U.S. and British troops
from Iraq and the hanging of the war criminals.
Europe facing age 'time-bomb'
A low birthrate combined with increased longevity is
placing severe stresses on the welfare state. The president
of the European Central Bank, Henri Gaspaud, warned
Eurozone governments that drastic measures may have to
be taken.
Officials in Brussels reputedly are looking into an idea
first broached in a movie called “Soylent Green.”
John Semmens got his start writing about politics for his
college newspaper. Since then, he has written more than
400 articles that have been published. In addition to
"Semi-News," John writes a recurring column for the
East Valley Tribune.
<#==#>
what is the world coming to. this judge is telling
prosecutors and cops that they are not allowed to commit
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
perjury and lie in a federal court. isnt that the standard
way the police have opperated for years. whats wrong
with this judge!!!! well you know im joking. the systems
f*cked up and after all these years a judge actually has
the balls to yell at government goons for committing
perjury
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1017hellsangelsON.html
Judge threatens to dismiss Hell Angels' indictments
Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 17, 2005 05:29 PM
A U.S. District judge is expected to take federal
prosecutors to task this week for making false and legally
incorrect statements in a racketeering and murder case
against the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.
Judge David Campbell called for Friday's hearing in a
sharply worded order suggesting that indictments against
members of the biker organization might be dismissed if
the U.S. Attorney's Office fails to abide by due-process
rules.
Campbell described his order as "an extraordinary step of
requiring the chief of the criminal division of the United
States Attorney's Office . . . to appear in court and
personally certify that the government has complied with
its disclosure obligations . . .
"Statements made to the court by counsel for the
government have been inaccurate, inconsistent and
sometimes legally incorrect," the judge wrote. "The court
has concluded . . . that a higher level of attention is
necessary if this case is to be brought to trial."
Prosecutors apparently responded in a memorandum, but
it was filed under seal. A spokeswoman in U.S. Attorney
Paul Charlton's office declined to comment.
In July 2003 federal agents and Valley police raided
Hells Angels' homes, businesses and chapter houses,
arresting 16 club members and associates under a federal
grand jury indictment for murder, gunrunning, drugdealing, racketeering and other crimes.
The undercover probe known as Operation Black Biscuit
netted three Hells Angel chapter presidents in the state.
Agents seized 600 firearms, plus stolen vehicles, drugs,
club records and paraphernalia.
As part of the sting, undercover investigators from the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
infiltrated the club and were invited to become members.
Similar cases are being tried against dozens of Hells
Angels in Nevada, California and other states.
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
Defense attorneys have complained about misconduct by
undercover operatives in the Arizona case, and about the
prosecution's failure to disclose evidence that must be
shared under federal justice rules.
Federal investigators say the Hells Angels organization is
a violent criminal gang that operates as a syndicate,
dealing in guns, drugs and theft for profit.
Joe Abodeely, counsel for defendant Craig T. Kelly, filed
a motion for dismissal this week based on prosecutors'
conduct during 20 months and 10 hearings.
Reach the reporter at
dennis.wagner@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8874.
<#==#>
"It is painfully clear that the government has not and does
not intend to comply with its legal requirements in
hmmmmm.... the government thugs have a double
keeping with due process, fair play and with this court's
standard when it comes to shanking down people for
orders," Abodeely wrote.
revenue
In another court filing, Patricia Gitre, attorney for
defendant Kevin Augustiniak, noted that the government
employed three paid informers with backgrounds of
violence and drug abuse.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AZ_MVD_COMP
LIANCE_AZOL?SITE=AZMES&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DE
FAULT
One of them failed to tell investigators that he
participated in a murder that is integral to the case. A
second informer concealed the fact that, while working
undercover, he used methamphetamine and beat people
up. A third operative was arrested and removed from the
probe after state police caught him with
methamphetamines.
Oct 17, 2:43 PM EDT
Gitre claims those "snitches" made the government's
case, yet prosecutors have withheld volumes of
information that raises doubt about their credibility. She
argues that all three operatives have motive to lie for the
government, which has given them money, plea deals and
protection in return for cooperation.
Statewide, nearly $5 million of additional taxes and fees
have been collected, but George Lamb, program manager
for the MVD's registration compliance enforcement
program, said compliance efforts are difficult to conduct
in Yuma because of the transient population.
Keith Vercauteren, the prosecutor, contends in legal
filings that the government has only withheld materials
that are irrelevant, unavailable or not yet subject to
release under court rules. In some cases, Vercauteren
argues, the defense wants information that would
jeopardize ongoing investigations or the safety of
informers.
No MVD crackdown in Yuma
YUMA, Ariz. (AP) -- The state Motor Vehicle Division
has been cracking down on unregistered vehicles around
the state but not in Yuma.
Without a specific complaint, it's difficult to do
enforcement given the number of winter visitors,
seasonal workers, out-of-state students and Marines, he
said. Marines are generally considered exempt from
registering their vehicles in state.
Information from: The Sun, http://www.yumasun.com
<#==#>
Judge Campbell stopped short of finding that prosecutors
have acted in "bad faith," but warned that the government lifes tough when your a government ruler and part of the
must provide an "unequivocal confirmation" that
american royality. i would have trouble making ends
defendants are getting all required information.
meet if i only made $165,200 a year
Campbell included an exhaustive review of the two-year
battle over pre-trial evidence, noting that prosecutors
claimed in January 2004 that they had "given all of the
discovery" to defense lawyers. Since then, the
government has produced thousands of additional
documents, wiretap tapes, video recordings and other
evidence.
The sixteen defendants are scheduled for trial in
February. A key issue appears to be whether the Hells
Angels is a criminal racketeering enterprise.
HAMC members and attorneys claim there is no
statewide hierarchy for the biker gang, just independent
clubs whose members sometimes break the law.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AZ_CONGRESS
_PAY_RAISE_AZOL?SITE=AZMES&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DE
FAULT
Under Kyl's amendment to a spending bill covering
federal workers, senators would forgo the estimated 1.9
percent cost-of-living increase that will automatically go
into effect unless the Senate votes to reject it.
The pay increase, also applicable to House members,
would boost the salary for rank-and-file lawmakers by
$3,100 to $165,200.
The $2 million in savings would take care of about three
minutes of the year's deficit.
The House earlier approved a similar spending bill with
only one lawmaker speaking out against the pay increase,
but House conservatives have recently revived the issue
in a package of proposals to cut federal spending in light
of the mounting costs of rebuilding after hurricanes
Katrina and Rita.
"One way that we might encourage others to come forth
with potential savings is to demonstrate that we ourselves
are willing to forgo this COLA," said Kyl, R-Ariz. "It's a
gesture that members of the Senate ought to make."
Republicans froze salaries for several years after gaining
the majority in 1995, but in seven of the past eight years
lawmakers have accepted cost-of-living increases,
usually with little or no debate.
A vote on Kyl's amendment could take place later this
week. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., who for years has
tried without success to freeze lawmaker pay, is cosponsoring the amendment.
<#==#>
kevin finally gets a slave labor assignment.
http://www.azcorrections.gov/cgibin/IWorkProgram.cgi/1583533737112051016
Work Program
Inmate: 197573 WALSH, KEVIN
Eval Date Assignment
Type *Rating* Hrs
Rate DI SP
10/13/2005 CLEANUP/JANITORIAL WIPP 0 0 0 0
0
.34 NEW ASSI
Page 1 of 1
Oct 17, 7:22 PM EDT
<#==#>
Senator says lawmakers should turn down pay increase
mayor phil gordon is real good at giving away tax dollars
collected by the city of phoenix to the state of arizona.
here mayor gordon promises to give the U of A $115
million
By JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senators should do their part in
reducing federal spending by turning down a pay raise,
Sen. Jon Kyl said Monday.
18 of 23
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1018uamedOLP
18a1.html
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
Gordon pledges millions for UA med school
Mike Cronin
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 18, 2005 12:00 AM
Rain pelted their suits, skirts and shoes. Soaked within
seconds. And still they stayed.
The constant impact of falling water couldn't match the
impact of Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon's words.
For the first time, supporters of the University of Arizona
College of Medicine's Phoenix campus learned that what
has so far been a trickle of money for the school could
now become a cascade. advertisement
During an outdoor news conference Monday, Gordon
told a crowd of about two dozen that the city has given
the school $25 million. And he promised he will attempt
to come up with $90 million more.
That could bring the medical school a new education
facility, with classrooms, labs and student and business
services. And by the 2014-15 academic year, the school
would be larger than its counterpart in Tucson, injecting
new research, physicians and economic benefits into the
Valley.
The $25 million comes in the form of a loan that is part
of a federal program designed to help underdeveloped
areas. The downtown site qualifies because the medical
school is occupying renovated buildings that might
otherwise be torn down. Gordon said he also will seek
the additional $90 million from the Phoenix Community
Development and Investment Corp.
Fourth-year students and Phoenix natives Tony Petelin
and Gina Carter would have chosen to remain in their
hometown if they'd had that option.
"If I have to go to another city to do my training, am I
more likely to set up shop and work in that city? Yes,"
Petelin said.
Joiner specifies cancer treatment as the specialty he
wants the medical school to be renowned for, in the same
way Boston's Joslin Diabetes Center is for that disease.
Now, all Arizona medical students spend their first two
years in Tucson for traditional academic classroom
instruction. Students can decide to remain in Tucson or
move to Phoenix to finish the final two years, which
focus more on clinical instruction.
A July study by Tripp-Umbach found that a downtown
medical school would generate $2.1 billion annually in
economic impact, adding 24,000 jobs by 2025. It could
also bring $80 million a year to the state, with a yield of
$2 for every $1 the state invests .
"We'll have a comprehensive program," he said, "where
the clinical, educational and research areas will link in
such a way that an individual with any type of cancer will
consider us as the destination for out-of-state care."
<#==#>
"It would be ideal to have those two steps combined in
the same city," said Petelin, 28. "There would be a
greater sense of community."
Carter, 26, said her life would have been easier had she
been able to stay in Phoenix. She would have saved
money by living with her parents and been closer to
friends.
"And there are so many hospitals here, they could easily
take more students," she said. Carter said she was often
the only medical student on her clinical rotation team.
"That allows for more teaching," she said.
There are 28 acute-care hospitals in the Phoenix area,
with an additional six under construction, said Adda
Alexander, an Arizona Hospital and Healthcare
Association spokeswoman. "And it seems like there's a
new proposal for one every month."
More doctors
That's good news for those who want the Phoenix
medical campus to address Arizona's severe doctor
shortage. A study by Arizona State University and UA
researchers released in June showed that the state boasts
only 208 physicians per 100,000 people, compared with
the national average of 283.
The loan will be paid back from the school's lease
payments. The school already is receiving $7 million a
year in state money approved by the Legislature and Gov. Joiner said it is critical that UA educate more medical
Janet Napolitano. That money will allow UA to begin
students.
and operate its program starting in 2007 with 24 firstyear students.
"We currently train seven physicians per 100,000
people," he said. "That puts us last in the country of all
Keith Joiner, dean of UA's College of Medicine, said the states with medical schools. The national average is 22.
school will continue to search for other sources of money We're not even a third of that."
through legislative requests, private fund-raising and
grants.
By having a medical school here, it will be possible build
a medical infrastructure, Petelin said. That would
As more funding emerges, ultimately 150 students will
increase the number of residencies, the three- to sevenbe assured of having the choice of becoming doctors in
year training periods when medical school graduates
Tucson, UA's traditional medical base, or in Phoenix,
become doctors in their chosen fields.
where the campus will tie into a biotech complex.
"But you can't do it without a medical school," Petelin
Despite opposition from some state legislators,
said.
proponents of a downtown Phoenix medical school insist
it will bring a number of benefits, including more choices Increasing residency spots is crucial for Arizona because
for students, additional doctors and new jobs for the state, doctors are likely to settle in the areas they do their
and cutting-edge research.
residencies.
"Academic health centers are financial engines," Joiner
said. "In general, a medical school and its related
facilities yield a return of $3.11 for every $1 spent on the
research side of things. It's such a sure bet, that there
should just be no doubt that this is a great investment."
george w hitler is losing popularity. hey kevin isnt this
the same george w hitler that had his secrets service
goons illegally declare you as being insane because you
said that you "wished he were dead" and lock you up in
jail for using your first amendment right of free speach?
Yet several legislators, including Majority Leader
Stephen Tully, R-Phoenix, wonder if that's true.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1018bushpoll18.html
"It hasn't been thoughtfully done, and it hasn't been done
correctly," Tully said.
Poll: 39% approval rate is lowest ever for Bush
Tully doesn't believe university officials proposed the
medical school to meet a lack of physicians.
"They simply desired a medical school in Phoenix and
came up with the doctor shortage and jump-starting the
downtown Phoenix core after the fact," he said. "Maybe
their instinct is correct. The problem is when we started
asking questions that we're required to at the Legislature,
we got a lot of resistance and not a lot of answers."
Top research
Joiner's goal for the school includes top-notch faculty,
which will do research that benefits both students and the
local community.
"We're going to have faculty who are world-renowned
investigators," Joiner said.
"The best teachers have an understanding of the basic
science of medicine. We want to build a researchintensive facility to complement the clinical training we'll
give our physicians."
WASHINGTON - Beset by political and economic
troubles at home and a difficult war in Iraq, President
Bush's job approval rating has slipped to 39 percent, the
lowest measure of his presidency, according to a USA
Today/CNN/Gallup Poll.
Bush, whose approval rating hit 55 percent shortly after
he was re-elected last November, has been below 50
percent approval since May. But this marks the first time
he has fallen below 40 percent, a level that until now had
been his floor.
Bush hit 40 percent, his previous low, twice: in midAugust - when Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier
killed in Iraq, began an anti-war vigil on the road to the
president's Crawford, Texas, ranch - and again in midSeptember, when he was under fire for a slow federal
response to Hurricane Katrina. advertisement
Analysts attribute the latest erosion to multiple factors:
Dr. Jeffrey Singer, a general surgeon who works in
Phoenix and north Scottsdale, said campus-scientist
research and the campus medical library will prove
valuable to the Valley's physicians.
"We'll have access to doctors who work full-time in
academia," he said.
• The continued problems of managing the recovery from
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
• The possible indictment of top White House aides in a
grand-jury inquiry into the leaking of CIA agent Valerie
Plame's identity.
"We'll be able to get information and data as well as
attend conferences and symposia the campus will host."
• The furor among some conservatives over Bush's
nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to the
Supreme Court.
Rep. Laura Knaperek, R-Tempe, also cites the public
benefits the school and its research would provide.
• High gasoline prices.
Student choices
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
Richard Benedetto
USA Today
Oct. 18, 2005 12:00 AM
19 of 23
• Public perception of a lack of progress in stabilizing
Iraq.
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
Bush's fall in public approval, down from 45 percent in
late September, is largely due to a drop in support among
independents and Democrats.
Bush's approval among independents declined to 32
percent from 37 percent since the last USA
Today/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Sept. 26 through 28.
Approval among Democrats fell to 8 percent from 15
percent in that period.
Hess says that loss among independents "bodes ill" for
Republicans in the 2006 elections.
However, Bush's approval among his Republican base
continues to hold steady. It was 85 percent in the
previous poll and 84 percent now.
That steady GOP support is preventing him from falling
lower.
District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee must decide whether
Abu Ali's confession to the Saudis is admissible at trial.
His attorneys want the confession thrown out. They argue But Richard Schwartz said he examined Abu Ali in
that the 24-year-old falsely confessed after being tortured February, when officials brought the man to the United
and whipped by the Saudis, and they say U.S. authorities States from Saudi Arabia to face charges.
were complicit in the torture.
He said little more than acne scarring appeared on the
Prosecutors deny Abu Ali, of Falls Church, was
Abu Ali's back and that Abu Ali told him he wasn't
mistreated.
mistreated.
Richard Schwartz, a doctor contracted by the FBI,
testified at a pretrial hearing that he examined Abu Ali in
February, when he was brought to the U.S. from Saudi
Arabia to face charges.
Schwartz said he saw three or four lines of "increased
pigmentation" on Abu Ali's upper back when he
conducted his physical exam.
How long that GOP base holds remains a key question,
Edmonds says.
The marks "appeared somewhat inconsequential,"
Schwartz said, and he did not include them in his written
report. But he acknowledged on cross-examination that
they could have been caused by a flogging.
The poll of 1,012 adults, taken Oct. 13 through 16, had a
margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Schwartz said he specifically asked Abu Ali if he had
been mistreated, and Abu Ali said no.
<#==#>
Abu Ali, at his initial court appearance in the U.S. in
February, told a magistrate that he had been tortured and
offered to show the judge the scars on his back. Several
of his previous lawyers also signed affidavits saying they
had seen the scars.
FBI Doctor says the FBI doesnt torture people (but they
do fly them off to other countries and have other
countries question them under questionable condictions
... but they say trust us we NEVER torture people) nope
those marks on his back are not whip scars they are acne
scars.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Bush_Pl
ot.html
Monday, October 17, 2005 · Last updated 4:47 p.m. PT
Doctor disputes defendant's torture claims
By MATTHEW BARAKAT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- An FBI doctor testified Monday
that he found no significant scars on the back of a U.S.
citizen who claims that Saudi police whipped and
tortured him into falsely confessing he joined al-Qaida
and plotted to assassinate President Bush.
Prosecutors allege Ahmed Omar Abu Ali joined al-Qaida
in 2002 while enrolled in a college in Saudi Arabia. They
say he confessed to plotting Bush's assassination along
with other terrorist acts, including plans to establish an
al-Qaida cell in the United States and to rescue of
Muslim prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay.
Defense lawyers are scheduled to begin presenting their
case Tuesday in the pretrial hearing at which U.S.
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
into giving the confession. They say U.S. officials acted
in concert with the Saudis.
Abu Ali alleges that the torture occurred in the first few
days after the Saudis arrested him in June 2003.
Schwartz, the first American to examine him, did not do
so until February 2005.
A nurse at the Alexandria jail also testified Monday that
she did not notice the scars when she examined him in
February. Merry Brinkley said she noticed only a few
pimples and acne scars.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2005/10/17/AR2005101701873.html
Doctor Testifies on Torture Issue
Marks Were Observed on Student's Back but Cause
Unclear
By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 18, 2005; Page A16
A U.S. government doctor saw marks on the back of a
Virginia student charged in a plot to kill President Bush
but could not conclude that the lines came from physical
abuse, the doctor testified at a hearing yesterday.
The testimony is significant, because attorneys for
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali claim that their client was tortured
while in Saudi custody and that a confession that forms
the crux of the government's case was coerced. Ahmed
Omar Abu Ali is accused of plotting to kill President
Bush. (AP)
The four "linear marks" were seen on Abu Ali's upper
back as he was flown to Northern Virginia in February to
face charges of plotting with al Qaeda to kill Bush,
according to the doctor, Richard Schwartz. Schwartz,
chairman of emergency medicine at the Medical College
of Georgia and an FBI contractor, examined Abu Ali
during the flight.
The doctor's testimony came on the third day of the
hearing, which is examining whether Abu Ali's
confession to taking part in the alleged al Qaeda plot was
extracted through torture. Prosecutors deny that Abu Ali,
24, was tortured and have presented testimony from FBI
agents and State Department officers who saw him in
Saudi Arabia and said he never raised the subject with
them and seemed healthy.
Two other doctors who examined Abu Ali found
evidence that he was tortured in Saudi Arabia and said
scars on his back were consistent with his having been
whipped, defense attorneys have said in court papers. If a
judge accepts the defense arguments, he could throw out
much of the government's evidence.
The hearing began last week and is scheduled to last
through Thursday. The defense's doctors are scheduled to
testify later this week.
Abu Ali is charged with conspiracy to assassinate Bush
and other terrorism counts in connection with the alleged
plot, which prosecutors say also envisioned a Sept. 11style attack inside the United States. Prosecutors say that
Abu Ali has admitted his participation and that he
planned to shoot Bush or blow him up with a car bomb.
He admitted that the plan never got past the idea stage,
prosecutors have said in court papers.
During the hearing last week, prosecutors introduced a
13-minute videotape in which Abu Ali said he joined the
al Qaeda plot while in Saudi Arabia because of his
disgust with U.S. support for Israel.
Yesterday, FBI agent Barry Cole testified that when he
interrogated Abu Ali in Saudi Arabia in September 2003,
the Falls Church man said he had been subjected to
"mental torture" but did not mention physical abuse.
FBI agents followed up on the mental torture allegation,
but Abu Ali refused to answer, Cole testified. "He just
told us to forget about it," Cole said. "[He said] we
Under cross-examination from defense lawyers, Schwartz wouldn't understand, because it was a Muslim thing.'
acknowledged that the marks could have been a result of
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1005/269590.html
whipping. Abu Ali's claim of torture is the subject of a
<#==#>
hearing continuing this week in U.S. District Court in
FBI Disputes Falls Church Man's Torture Claims
Alexandria.
another government??? site asking you to snitch on your
Monday October 17, 2005 9:04pm
neighbors
Schwartz also testified that the marks could have come
Alexandria, Va. (AP) - An FBI doctor is disputing a Falls from old scarring or could have been self-inflicted. "It's
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=50859
Church man's claim that Saudi police tortured him into
rather inconclusive what caused them. . . . Based on his
saying he joined al-Qaida and plotted to assassinate
history and physical, they did not seem consequential,"
Web site tracking school crime reports
President Bush.
he said. "I examine many, many patients every day, and I By Hayley Ringle, Tribune
see marks like this on many people. It's one of those
October 18, 2005
The doctor's testimony against 24-year-old Ahmed Omar things that can occur in life."
Students and parents can now anonymously report a
Abu Ali came in a northern Virginia courtroom Monday.
school crime or a problem by text messaging or sending
Abu Ali is accused of joining the terror organization in
Schwartz added that he did not mention the marks in his
an e-mail.
2002, while a college student in Saudi Arabia.
two-page report -- which was based on his 10- to 15minute exam -- and did not ask Abu Ali where they came By visiting a local, nonprofit Web site,
Abu Ali's lawyers are asking a federal judge to dismiss
from or tell anyone about them at the time.
www.alertrecall.com, reports can be made on everything
the government's prosecution, arguing he was whipped
from bullying and drugs, to sexual abuse and vandalism.
20 of 23
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
"Kids want to be safe on campus," said Cecil Jackson, the * Appropriate and effective ways to conduct a search
site co-founder and a school resource officer at
* Appropriate and effective ways to deal with allegations
Washington High School in Glendale.
of “bullying”
* What all staff members need to know about breaking
"They want to do the right thing. But they don’t want to
up fist fights and assaults
be labeled as a ‘snitch’ or a ‘rat’ and want to be safe in
* Methods to build a relationship of trust with your
reporting any problems they may have," he said.
student body
problem or crime, and how sure you are that the crime
occurred or will occur.
• Go to www.alertrecall.com
Contact Hayley Ringle by email, or phone (480)-8986301
Roger Fuss
8203 W Oraibi Drive #1115
Peoria, Az
85282
The Statutory Agent is:
<#==#>
The Web site went online March 27, and last month
received 70,000 e-mails and text messages from across
the country. Certain key words alert volunteers to severe
issues for quick responses.
To receive more information or to sign up for a seminar,
contact us at Seminars@alertrecall.com
Gwen Rusk is a parentvolunteer at Jane Dee Hull
Elementary School in the Chandler Unified School
District. She said although her fourth-grade daughter,
Devon, has never had any problems at her school, and
she has no problems talking to the school principal, she
would feel comfortable using the Web site if needed.
Web site tracking school crime reports
By Hayley Ringle, Tribune
October 18, 2005
Students and parents can now anonymously report a
school crime or a problem by text messaging or sending
an e-mail.
However, she said if the reports are made anonymously
she would like to see the complaints validated.
Related Links
News
When filling out the form online the person reporting the
problem is asked whether they are "very sure" the crime
has been committed, or whether it’s "just a rumor."
By visiting a local, nonprofit Web site,
www.alertrecall.com, reports can be made on everything
from bullying and drugs, to sexual abuse and vandalism.
Jackson said this weeds out people trying to report a false
crime.
"Kids want to be safe on campus," said Cecil Jackson, the That says
By visiting a local, nonprofit Web site,
site co-founder and a school resource officer at
www.alertrecall.com, reports can be made on everything
Washington High School in Glendale.
Forms - search by corporate name for reports to be filed from bullying and drugs, to sexual abuse and vandalism.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=50859
This web site allows your children to become
government snitches and snitch on the activities of their
friends, parents, and other loved ones.
www.alertrecall.com
The site is a non-profit 501-C1 Arizona corporation so all
the information about the people who created this
wonderful site which will allow Arizona to become a lot
like Nazi Germany is on the web site of the Arizona
Corporation Commission at:
http://www.cc.state.az.us/corp/disclaimer.htm
Go there then click on the item under
Annual Reports
Michael F Patterson
TITUS BRUECKNER AND BERRY PC
7373 N Scottsdale Road, B-252
Scottsdale, Az 85254
Here is a newspaper article about this great company that
is trying to turn Arizona into a world class place like
Nazi Germany, Red China, or the Soviet Union:
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=50859
Web site tracking school crime reports
By Hayley Ringle, Tribune
October 18, 2005
Students and parents can now anonymously report a
school crime or a problem by text messaging or sending
an e-mail.
To report a problem
• Text message alert@alertrecall.com or call (602) 9805887. Include school name, state, severity of action with
one being most severe and five being least severe, the
problem or crime, and how sure you are that the crime
occurred or will occur.
• Go to www.alertrecall.com
Contact Hayley Ringle by email, or phone (480)-8986301
<#==#>
the nazis at this snitch site put on seminars to teach
school officials how to violate their students rights it
might be interesting to attend one. the ad follows. to
attend send an email to Seminars@alertrecall.com
School Administrators:
Empower your staff with the tools to be proactive, rather
than reactive
In our seminars you will learn:
* Effective and best methods in the introduction and use
of “AlertRecall” in your school
* Appropriate and effective ways to conduct an
investigation of student allegations
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
"They want to do the right thing. But they don’t want to
be labeled as a ‘snitch’ or a ‘rat’ and want to be safe in
reporting any problems they may have," he said.
The Web site went online March 27, and last month
received 70,000 e-mails and text messages from across
the country. Certain key words alert volunteers to severe
issues for quick responses.
Gwen Rusk is a parentvolunteer at Jane Dee Hull
Elementary School in the Chandler Unified School
District. She said although her fourth-grade daughter,
Devon, has never had any problems at her school, and
she has no problems talking to the school principal, she
would feel comfortable using the Web site if needed.
However, she said if the reports are made anonymously
she would like to see the complaints validated.
When filling out the form online the person reporting the
problem is asked whether they are "very sure" the crime
has been committed, or whether it’s "just a rumor."
Jackson said this weeds out people trying to report a false
crime.
To report a problem
• Text message alert@alertrecall.com or call (602) 9805887. Include school name, state, severity of action with
one being most severe and five being least severe, the
So you don’t have to do the search here are the details
about this wonderful company Alert Recall which is
trying to make Arizona look a lot like Nazi Germany.
Their File Number with the Arizona Corporation is
1191583-8.
"Kids want to be safe on campus," said Cecil Jackson, the
site co-founder and a school resource officer at
Washington High School in Glendale.
Their business address is:
"They want to do the right thing. But they don’t want to
be labeled as a ‘snitch’ or a ‘rat’ and want to be safe in
reporting any problems they may have," he said.
Alert Recall
4030 W BEVERLY LN
PHOENIX, AZ 85053
(602)980-5887
The Web site went online March 27, and last month
received 70,000 e-mails and text messages from across
the country. Certain key words alert volunteers to severe
issues for quick responses.
The wonderful people that incorporated the company and
run it are:
Gwen Rusk is a parentvolunteer at Jane Dee Hull
Elementary School in the Chandler Unified School
District. She said although her fourth-grade daughter,
Devon, has never had any problems at her school, and
she has no problems talking to the school principal, she
would feel comfortable using the Web site if needed.
Bruce Frankie
4030 W BEVERLY LN
PHOENIX, AZ 85053
(602) 439-4588
(602) 439-5887
Diane Frankie
4030 W BEVERLY LN
PHOENIX, AZ 85053
(602) 439-4588
(602) 439-5887
Cecil Jackson
16726 N 50 Way
Scottsdale, Az 85254
21 of 23
However, she said if the reports are made anonymously
she would like to see the complaints validated.
When filling out the form online the person reporting the
problem is asked whether they are "very sure" the crime
has been committed, or whether it’s "just a rumor."
Jackson said this weeds out people trying to report a false
crime.
To report a problem
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
Instead, Phoenix police will be trained to rely more
heavily on aircraft and undercover units to follow
suspects and to lead patrol officers to them when they get
out of their cars.
It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it isn't. The pages
coming out of your color printer may contain hidden
information that could be used to track you down if you
ever cross the U.S. government.
"The goal is still to arrest them, just in a different, safer
way," Harris said.
Phoenix's new policy was unveiled Tuesday to the City
Council's Public Safety Subcommittee. It has been in the
works since late 2003 and comes on the heels of a study
analyzing 423 pursuits in 2002.
Last year, an article in PC World magazine pointed out
that printouts from many color laser printers contained
yellow dots scattered across the page, viewable only with
a special kind of flashlight. The article quoted a senior
researcher at Xerox Corp. as saying the dots contain
information useful to law-enforcement authorities, a
secret digital "license tag" for tracking down criminals.
Only 43 of those pursuits resulted in arrests for violent
felonies. At the same time, 25 percent ended in traffic
collisions.
The content of the coded information was supposed to be
a secret, available only to agencies looking for
counterfeiters who use color printers.
Now, the secret is out.
Phoenix police are restricting car chases
Focus is safety of bystanders
"It all goes back to community safety for us," Phoenix
police Cmdr. Joe Yahner said. "It's in everybody's best
interest for us to have a policy like this. . . . We're in an
urban environment with lots of cars. There's like 1,200
red-light signals in the city of Phoenix. That's 1,200
opportunities for this to end badly."
Judi Villa
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 19, 2005 12:00 AM
Policies at other Valley agencies, including the Maricopa
County Sheriff's Office and Tempe, Peoria and Glendale
police, already have changed to limit who can be chased.
• Text message alert@alertrecall.com or call (602) 980
5887. Include school name, state, severity of action with
one being most severe and five being least severe, the
problem or crime, and how sure you are that the crime
occurred or will occur.
• Go to www.alertrecall.com
Contact Hayley Ringle by email, or phone
(480)-898-6301
<#==#>
hmmm.... 25% of phoenix police pursuits cause traffic
accidents. and one person a day nationwide dies in a
traffic accident caused by a police pursuit.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1
019phxpursuits19.html
Phoenix police no longer will chase fleeing drivers on the Nationwide, one person dies every day as a result of a
city's roadways unless the person is wanted for a violent
police pursuit, according to an FBI Law Enforcement
crime.
Bulletin issued three years ago. Innocent third parties
constitute 42 percent of people killed or injured in
The Phoenix Police Department joins a growing number pursuits. And one of every 100 high-speed pursuits
of law enforcement agencies in the Valley and
results in a death.
nationwide that are restricting pursuits in an attempt to
safeguard the public from unintended car crashes and
"There's no doubt that getting an innocent civilian killed
deaths.
for a traffic violation or even a stolen car isn't worth it,"
said Phoenix City Councilman Dave Siebert, chairman of
The new policy forbids pursuits for traffic violations,
the Public Safety Subcommittee.
stolen vehicles, misdemeanors and non-violent felonies.
It also tells police to refrain from starting or continuing
Over the past few years, the department had already
pursuits when the fleeing driver exhibits "reckless
begun to not go after some suspects if it was deemed too
disregard" for public safety.
dangerous. Between 2002 and 2004, pursuits fell more
than 65 percent in Phoenix.
The policy mirrors a nationwide trend to end the days of
police barreling down the streets in pursuit of drivers
"This is stuff that happens very quickly, and it's very
who overwhelmingly are not violent felons.
fluid, and it poses an extreme danger to the public,"
Yahner said. "It can end tragically in a heartbeat. We just
"The bottom line is pursuits are risky, and what you get
don't want that to happen."
at the end of the day isn't worth raising the risk for my
family or your family," said Geoffrey Alpert, a professor <#==#>
of criminology at the University of South Carolina.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp"When the bad guy has the upper hand, sometimes you
dyn/content/article/2005/10/18/AR2005101801663.html
have to let them go and get them another day. Ninetynine percent of the time, you'll get another day."
Sleuths Crack Tracking Code Discovered in Color
Printers
Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris said even though his
department's new pursuit policy is "very restrictive," it
By Mike Musgrove
doesn't mean police will simply let the bad guys get
Washington Post Staff Writer
away.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005; Page D01
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
printer industry and those who are working to reduce
counterfeiting.
Schoen said that the existence of the encoded information
could be a threat to people who live in repressive
governments or those who have a legitimate need for
privacy. It reminds him, he said, of a program the Soviet
Union once had in place to record sample typewriter
printouts in hopes of tracking the origins of underground,
self-published literature.
"It's disturbing that something on this scale, with so many
privacy implications, happened with such a tiny amount
of publicity," Schoen said.
And it's not as if the information is encrypted in a highly
secure fashion, Schoen said. The EFF spent months
collecting samples from printers around the world and
then handed them off to an intern, who came back with
the results in about a week.
Yesterday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San
Francisco consumer privacy group, said it had cracked
the code used in a widely used line of Xerox printers, an
"We were able to break this code very rapidly," Schoen
invisible bar code of sorts that contains the serial number said.
of the printer as well as the date and time a document was
printed.
http://www.scoopt.org/article20652-governmenttracking-you.html
With the Xerox printers, the information appears as a
pattern of yellow dots, each only a millimeter wide and
Government Tracking You with Secret Code in Color
visible only with a magnifying glass and a blue light.
Printers
The EFF said it has identified similar coding on pages
printed from nearly every major printer manufacturer,
including Hewlett-Packard Co., though its team has so far
cracked the codes for only one type of Xerox printer.
The U.S. Secret Service acknowledged yesterday that the
markings, which are not visible to the human eye, are
there, but it played down the use for invading privacy.
"It's strictly a countermeasure to prevent illegal activity
specific to counterfeiting," agency spokesman Eric
Zahren said. "It's to protect our currency and to protect
people's hard-earned money."
A research team led by the Electronic Frontier
Foundation (EFF) recently broke the code behind tiny
tracking dots that some color laser printers secretly hide
in every document. The U.S. Secret Service admitted that
the tracking information is part of a deal struck with
selected color laser printer manufacturers, ostensibly to
identify counterfeiters. However, the nature of the private
information encoded in each document was not
previously known. "We've found that the dots from at
least one line of printers encode the date and time your
document was printed, as well as the serial number of the
printer," said EFF Staff Technologist Seth David Schoen.
Source: Technology News Daily
It's unclear whether the yellow-dot codes have ever been
used to make an arrest. And no one would say how long
the codes have been in use. But Seth Schoen, the EFF
technologist who led the organization's research, said he
had seen the coding on documents produced by printers
that were at least 10 years old.
"It seems like someone in the government has managed
to have a lot of influence in printing technology," he said.
Xerox spokesman Bill McKee confirmed the existence of
the hidden codes, but he said the company was simply
assisting an agency that asked for help. McKee said the
program was part of a cooperation with government
agencies, competing manufacturers and a "consortium of
banks," but would not provide further details. HP said in
a statement that it is involved in anti-counterfeiting
measures and supports the cooperation between the
22 of 23
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=14041&hed=
Printers+Sport+Hidden+Codes
Printers Sport Hidden Codes
The Electronic Frontier Foundation alleges some color
printers can help track consumer information through
hidden codes.
October 18, 2005
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a consumer privacy
and digital rights organization, alleged Tuesday that there
are codes embedded in printouts made by some color
laser printers that can be used to track the origin of a
printed document.
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com
The codes are ostensibly a part of anti-counterfeiting
measures developed by government agencies to curb the
creation of fake currency but could have serious
implications for consumer privacy, according to privacy
advocates.
Mr. Mckee said that Xerox’s cooperation is limited to
technologies involved in color printing and copying.
Jessica Coomes
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 20, 2005 12:00 AM
Hills. He now owns his own advertising and
communications company.
Reach the reporter at jessica.coomes@scottsdale
republic.com or (602) 444-6848.
Privacy Concerns
This is not the first time that the issue of tracking codes
A research team led by the EFF said that it has broken the embedded in color printers has raised the hackles of
code behind tiny tracking dots that some color laser
privacy advocates.
printers secretly hide in every document.
Nearly six years ago, Lauren Weinstein, moderator of the
“We’ve found that the dots from at least one line of
Privacy Forum and the co-founder of People For Internet
printers encode the date and time your document was
Responsibility, said he met with Xerox officials to
printed, as well as the serial number of the printer,” said
discuss the issue.
Seth David Schoen, staff technologist at EFF.
Mr. Weinstein said that there were rumors of hidden
According to Mr. Schoen, the dots are yellow, less than
codes for a long time. Though often dismissed as an
one millimeter in diameter, and are typically repeated
urban legend, Mr. Weinstein said that he spoke to a
over each page of a document. The pattern is visible
Xerox official in 1999 who confirmed the presence of the
under blue light with the help of a magnifying glass or a
codes as a measure against possible counterfeiting
microscope, the foundation said.
attempts.
FOUNTAIN HILLS - Town Councilman Keith
McMahan will spend at least one day in jail after
pleading guilty to driving under the influence.
‘What other deals have been or are being made to ensure
that our technology rats on us?’
-Lee Tien,
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Printers also include other anti-counterfeiting measures,
such as dumping extra cyan toner onto images when the
unit believes it has detected an attempt to specifically
copy currency, said Mr. Weinstein.
EFF and its partners began their project to break the
printer code with the Xerox DocuColor line. Researchers
compared dots from test pages, noting similarities and
differences in their arrangement, and then found a simple
way to read the pattern, the foundation said.
But the attempts bring into spotlight the issue of
consumer rights and privacy, he said, because few
consumers know about the codes and there are no laws to
control the use of the information gleaned from the
codes.
Give my best to Laro; & take care of yourself.
People who have too much to drink could give a donation
to a community service club in exchange for a ride home, Good luck in all your endeavors.
McMahan said Wednesday.
Your Friend
"It'd be a nice program, and it'd save a lot of problems,"
McMahan said.
Marc
“So far, we’ve only broken the code for Xerox
DocuColor printers,” said Mr. Schoen. “But we believe
that other models from other manufacturers include the
same personally identifiable information in their tracking
dots.”
A judge waived nine more days in jail if McMahan
completes an alcohol education and treatment program at
Dynamic Living Counseling, according to his plea
agreement.
The councilman, who represented himself in court, also
was ordered to pay more than $1,000 in fees and fines.
"I just said, 'That's it. Let's get it over with and get on,' "
McMahan said of his plea agreement.
He plans to turn his experience into something positive
by starting a taxi fund-raiser program after the holidays.
The misdemeanor DUI charge came after a Maricopa
County Sheriff's Office deputy pulled McMahan over
June 28 for driving his Pontiac Grand Am erratically in
downtown Fountain Hills.
“As the technology has gotten better, the Secret Service
is understandably concerned that not just crooks but
ordinary people can print counterfeit currency as a oneHis blood-alcohol content was 0.126 to 0.132 percent,
off thing,” said Mr. Weinstein. “But then this becomes an according to an incident report. It is illegal to drive with a
example of data creep, which is when you have
blood-alcohol content of 0.08 percent or higher.
something implemented for one purpose but ends up
EFF has said that the tracking data is used by government morphing into other things because there are no controls. The case was transferred to Scottsdale from Fountain
agencies, especially the United States Secret Service,
Hills to avoid conflicts of interest.
ostensibly to identify counterfeiters.
The EFF has said that the latest discovery calls for
greater transparency in the workings between the
McMahan originally entered a not guilty plea but then
A Secret Service spokesperson, Jonathan Cherry, said the technology industry and the government.
changed it.
organization does work with other government agencies
and “industry partners on preventive technological
“It shows how the government and private industry make Two related charges were dismissed in the plea
countermeasures designed to discourage the illegal use of backroom deals to weaken our privacy by compromising agreement, including failure to drive on the right side of
printers and copiers in the production of counterfeit
everyday equipment like printers,” said EFF Senior Staff the road.
currencies.”
Attorney Lee Tien. “The logical next question is: What
other deals have been or are being made to ensure that
McMahan said he's going to set up his jail date and
Mr. Cherry declined to elaborate on the technology or the our technology rats on us?”
counseling times next week.
countermeasures. “They are specific and limited to the
reproduction of currency and in no way track or affect the The EFF has released a complete list of printers where
Fountain Hills Mayor Wally Nichols is out of town but
use of personal computer hardware and software,” he
dots on color printers can be seen on its web site.
said in July that Fountain Hills doesn't require dismissal
said.
of a council member who is convicted of a crime.
<#==#>
Printer manufacturer Xerox said that the company would
The 73-year-old was elected May 2004 in a close race.
not elaborate on the codes but said that it has and will
http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/
cooperate with government agencies. “We do work, as
1020sr-fhmcmahan20Z8.html
He was one of the first residents of Fountain Hills when
any manufacturer does, with any investigating agency as
he came to the new development 1973.
requested,” said Xerox spokesperson Bill Mckee. “But it Ftn. Hills councilman gets day in jail
is important to note that we do not routinely give
McMahan enters guilty plea to DUI
For two decades he worked in advertising for McCulloch
customer information to anyone.”
Properties, the company that started developing Fountain
Kevin Laro Letter - #36 Oct -23, 2005
23 of 23
<*==*>
Dear ??????,
This morning I served the warden with your papers. She
was a little pissed, but not particularly upset. Hell, she
probably gets sued every other day! Anyway, at best she
knows her mail room clowns are not completely at liberty
to destroying mail.
Not much else to report. I’m a third of the way through
my 3rd draft of my book – Nature of Religion ( about
350 pages) – Hopefully there will only be one more draft
– will see. But, the work is looking good & I stay busy.
A while ago I asked Marc if he would be willing to server
the warden with my lawsuit which will sue here for
messing with the mail I sent Marc and Laro. He mailed
me back and said he would be glad to.
After I made the final draft of the lawsuit I made three
copies of it and sent one to the warden, one to Laro, and
one to Marc. Marc probably thought that copy was me
asking him to serve the warden. It wasn’t. I have to file
the lawsuit before the warden can be served with it and I
have not filed the lawsuit yet.
<#==#>
http://kevin-laro.tripod.com