Clear Skies Common Sense

Vacations Clouded Over by Thoughts of Timeshares

2010-03-11T12:46:00Z

   Our vacation with friends at their timeshare in Puerto Vallarta clouded over the second day. After we lay on the beach for 15 minutes, Karen said, “OK, I want you to know that I’d love to lie on the beach under the sun and hear the ocean roar the first two weeks of every March.”
   Suddenly my vacation veered towards one of those marital collisions of competing interests, in this case her passion for sun-baked ocean frontage versus my passion for spring ski slopes. We investigated buying a timeshare and found the process more congenial than we expected and complex because our interests are complex.
   We hear about mixed experiences. Our hosts have enjoyed their two timeshares for 15 years. Another owns a timeshare at Wapato Point he’s never seen because he trades for ones in California during the winter. Others find themselves unable to escape rising maintenance costs as property values and sales drop. Still another retiree returned his ownership to the timeshare company because they changed their activities for younger people.
   Rather than submit to high-pressure sales tactics, I searched websites that offer timeshare resales. There are 180 resales in Puerto Vallarta and plenty for rent, which worries me about being stuck with one. The different options and point systems were confusing, so we startled Raintree Vacation Representatives by asking for a presentation regarding the timeshare we were in.
   Our representative had us sign a sheet acknowledging she would offer us incentives available only if we purchased that day, because Raintree knows impulse buying is a key factor in sales. We told her we were unlikely to purchase today and wondered if that was fair to her. She told us not to worry and ran through interview questions about our recent vacations.
   Unfortunately for her, she asked if we trusted timeshare companies. Of course not, I unloaded. We wouldn’t control the Mexican trust deed required for foreigners. And companies like Raintree control the points, expenses, maintenance fees, reservations, and assessments. Finally, Raintree is a private company that provides minimal about corporate finances.
   Nonplussed she presented a plan at 25 percent discount for one floating week anytime each year for 36 years, or two weeks for 18 years. We rejected it as too expensive, and three others at ever-increasing complexity and decreasing price.
   As we discussed those options, we realized we weren’t sure what we wanted or whether renting would be better. Would our children be able to join us? What weeks could Karen and I agree on? Would we swap to other sites?
   Afterward, I was surprised at how relieved I felt because we resisted. And my attitude toward their sales tactics softened when they graciously accepted our rejection. Raintree has a reputation as a premier company caring for its 50,000 members since it’s beginning in 1997, although angry members have posted a website complaining about a recent special assessment.
   And we realized the presentation offered complex options because we, like other timeshare owners, we have complicated, shifting vacation interests.
   Meanwhile Karen’s urge to lie under the sun near an ocean roar for two weeks every year is still simmering, so we’ll keep looking. We enjoyed our time there, and will spend more time there, in our, or somebody’s, timeshare.

Imagine Humane Treatments that Cut Illegal Drug Use

2010-03-04T09:24:00Z

Two days after our vacation began in Puerto Vallarta, the US State Department issued a travel alert for tourists in Mexican areas outside of Puerto Vallarta where violence has erupted from popular President Calderon’s assault on drug cartels. Under reported is that Calderon has balanced his enforcement with 300 treatment centers financed through drug money seized by Federales. Threatened cartels have attacked the centers, murdering 43 addicts and health care workers in Juarez.

Imagine the two fisted power of smashing drug distribution from cartel criminals while reducing demand through treatment centers for the 22 million drug addicts in the U.S.

Enforcement is getting headlines while treatment centers in other nations are getting results. For the past decade Switzerland has proven that administering a pharmaceutical heroin (diamorphine) to addicts is much more effective than any other program, including methadone treatment. In 2008 the Swiss research agency for treatment centers confirmed that addicts are much more likely to stay in the experimental program, stay out of jail, reduce criminal activity, improve their health, get employed, and get off the drug.

Imagine the satisfaction of a Swiss citizen who voted with the 68 percent majority to expand the program nationwide.

Imagine the pride of a German citizen in 2009 when years of results from treatment programs in seven participating cities propelled the program nationwide.

Imagine the frustration of British doctors who are authorized to prescribe heroin treatments, but rarely do. Britain has no treatment centers or supervised research to evaluate results, so doctors are demanding for support.

Imagine the hope of a Vancouver BC family suffering with an addict for five years who’s dropped out of at least two other treatments, who becomes one of 251 addicts offered heroin maintenance in an experimental program. Eighty-eight percent of them stayed in the treatment from 2005 through 2008.

Imagine the excitement of program director Martin Schecter from the University of British Columbia who said, [We] "can attract those most severely addicted to heroin, keep them in treatment, and more importantly, help to improve their social and medical conditions."

Imagine his sorrow as politicians debate that program which cut criminal activity more than half and cost far less than the $45,000 per year an addict costs a community. Imagine the sadness of being a health care worker who turns away addicts because the study has ended.

These nations are discovering these and other ways to treat addicts instead of criminalizing them. Other ideas have not worked well. The Netherlands permitted Cannabis coffee shops for legalized marijuana use, but local authorities have been closing them because customers cause problems when they leave. Rick Steeves reported in the Seattle PI that European "needle parks" where addicts could safely exchange needles were abandoned because they became public nuisances.

Steeves campaigns for humane treatment programs because conversations with Europeans have convinced him that humane treatment is one of the reasons their illicit drug usage is half our usage.

Imagine clear skies communities offering humane treatment centers that cut usage, which cuts demand. If we cut demand, we cut drug prices. If we cut prices, we cut profits in Mexican Cartels. If we cut profits, we cut community and border problems. And no one would have to vacation in Puerto Vallarta under travel alerts.

Identifying with Olympic Medallists and Losers

2010-02-25T10:55:00Z

    We seemed fascinated with Olympic dreams realized or deflated by hundredths of a second. Ski slalom commentator Picabo Street reminds us of the chasm between gold and silver: years ago she won by a hundredth of a second over some little known skier, watching somewhere.
     For a few seconds I imagined myself wearing a U.S. Olympic jacket. As a lifeguard the summer after breaking my college’s swim records, I swaggered around with a whistle draped around my neck. Across town a private coach had developed Olympic swimmers. Why not convince him to develop me? I could make the team. At that instant, I believed in headlines announcing my success like ones celebrating Wenatchee Valley’s skier, Torin Koos.
      My commitment lasted a few steps until reality washed away the dream. I wouldn’t burden my recently widowed mother, quit college, and swim for hours in chlorinated water. I have the thrill of the belief without the sacrifices that propelled Koos onto the team, and avoided a crushing blow like Koos felt when he failed to qualify for a quarterfinal heat. He made the team, I have my dream.
      Unfortunately I’ve been seconds from good decisions but chosen failures. My sister, brother and I sold fractional Montana mineral rights my grandfather left us, but I personally couldn’t confirm them by searching county records and unclaimed royalties. A North Dakota buyer called me representing parties who paid for undeveloped mineral rights. We were suspicious because developers were discovering oil. For a few seconds I considered paying an attorney to look into it, but dismissed the idea as costing more than the offer. We sold our rights worth a nice vacation.

Weeks later a developer’s representative called to say we had unreported royalties, enough to pay for a time share in Puerto Vallarta. I was furious at myself and our slick buyer. We filed the first lawsuit to expose him, ultimately splitting the royalties. Every month an ETF voucher confirms a payment that almost covers my health club membership and needles me because a North Dakota bank deposits the other half I lost by seconds.

A Nerf basketball made by a willing supplier rested in my hands two years before it hit the market. I drowned an entrepreneurial temptation to quit my first job after graduate school because but my wife and baby girl were already under funded. Every time I throw a Nerf football I have to admit the entrepreneurs developed it well.

My most important success missed a disaster by fractions of a second. Our squirming toddler rode on my shoulders as we headed down three steps in a campground bathroom. I lost hold when I reached up to put him down and he plunged head first toward the bottom of the concrete steps. His ankle flashed past my eyes. My right hand shot down in unflinching instinct to grab that ankle and pull him up. I’ve never allowed myself to envision what would have happened. Countless times I’ve fumbled a pencil, grabbed for it, had it briefly in hand, and dropped it.

Don’t we all recall instances when our lives veered one way versus another? Those memories riveted us to Olympic coverage because we see young adults dedicated to life-fulfilling dreams who win and lose by blinks of an eye. We can relate and we cope, even having the courage to listen to a timeshare presentation that we may get talked into buying.

A Memoir of a Spirit That Strengthened Faiths

2010-02-18T09:59:00Z

    Our 33-year-old niece, Jill Marie McMullen, lost a courageous battle with cancer on Monday, February 8. Her faithful spirit shined through stories from family and friends making us wish we'd known her better.
    Since we moved from her Michigan hometown to the west coast when she was four, we knew her from glimpses during family visits or word-bites during distant sharing. We laughed about the time she and I tumbled into Deschutes River whitewater and I used my lifeguard skills to guide us to safety. Last year I thought about plunging into municipal bonds and she used her municipal bonding expertise to teach me about the financing.
    Jill tenaciously fought her aggressive cancer. She had enrolled herself in an experimental treatment at Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, but treatments wouldn’t take. Her parents learned later that she’d urged her doctor to seek enrollment in other university research centers.
    Finally with Jill’s blessing the doctors stopped the IV nutrition, increased the morphine, and slowed the saline solution. Even then she revealed her strength and love for her agonized parents. Her father said Jill lost her voice, whispering so softly they had to get close to hear her. He told about hearing her whisper something, and he kept getting closer until his head was over her lips. Jill summoned the strength to grab his head with both her hands and pull it to her. She kissed him on the forehead to flood him with love and said in a clear voice, “Water.”
    It was the last word he heard her say.
    Jill had told my wife she worried about her dad’s faith, so I asked him, “How’s your faith?”
    He surprised me. “It’s grown. Jill had enough faith for everyone, three to four times the rest of us.”
    The senior minister confirmed it. When he met with Jill, she said, “This wasn’t what I had planned, and with just 33 years, I don’t know if the fruit I produced is enough to get an everlasting life.”
    He said, “I know from talking to you and the way you are handling this, that your fruit has made a difference in my spirit. You just never know far it goes.”
    “If I get healed, I’ll do more.”
    Jill had gotten close to her brother and his wife in the last five or so years. We met women from her recently formed prayer group who were amazed at what she’d done. At their first meeting Jill told them she’d been diagnosed with colon cancer, but wasn’t in the group just to seek their support.
Her friends talked about how she supported them, advised them, or prayed for them.
    A surgical nurse was scheduled to leave for Haiti when Jill learned only days remained. Jill insisted her friend fulfill her mission. She left the day Jill died and after delivering supplies, returned for services. These young Christian souls testified to the remarkable faith they’d seen in Jill.
    We experienced her spirit through friends and family, and as her faith shined through them, they strengthened ours.

Consequences of Consumer Activism

2010-02-05T11:43:00Z

    In early January my Clear Skies column reported on deceptive practices I uncovered after telephone conversations solicited by a direct mail postcard from EWS – Vehicle Services, www.extendedwarrantyservices.com. An agent offered to sell me a services contract for my Honda Civic.
    After investigating I filed complaints with the BBB in Chicago and the office of Washington’s Attorney General. My complaints demanded EWS cease deceptive mailings and telephone sales practices. What has happened since is the good and bad news about the power of consumer action.
    EWS responded to my complaint. It terminated the agent because “the practice of telling [complainant] that it is his last chance of obtaining a warranty is unacceptable.” But its response raised questions and since the BBB assumes complaints are resolved without a second response from the complainant, I insisted my complaint wasn’t resolved. For example, EWS stated: “The mailing sent followed all VPA guidelines for a compliant postcard.”
    VPA is the Vehicle Protection Association, an industry membership organization with guidelines of professional conduct. My response asked, “Where would I find the VPA guidelines for compliant postcards? My search on the VPA website Standards of Conduct did not identify guidelines for postcards. I used the VPA consumer feedback form to request postcard guidelines but have not received a reply.”
    A few days later EWS sent me another postcard. That postcard has a different customer number, targeted my Honda Pilot and posted a deadline date of January 26. The deceptive wording was identical. I planned to call.
   Before I called EWS, EWS called me. Paul Chernawsky identified himself as EWS internal legal counsel and admitted their response should have referred to the postcard’s “preliminary approval.”
   He assured me I wouldn’t receive any more postcards because EWS placed me on an internal do-not-mail-list. That hardly meets my demand to cease deceptive mailings. I asked, “When did that happen?”
   He corrected himself to say, “It would be effective this week.” He went on to admit only manufacturers could offer warranties and his company should not promote the term. The company has re-branded itself as Endurance to avoid warranty, but it’s difficult because most Internet searches use terms like extended warranties or auto warranties.
   He revealed the VPA had hired an independent law firm to visit EWS for an on-site audit on February 2-3. He also promised to send me a written response to my Washington complaint, which the state had reminded him was overdue.
   My Google search on “Endurance Auto Warranties” turned up a number of companies that led to EWS, such as Endurance, Endurance Protection, and Endurance Direct. They all displayed the same logo. I clicked on a sidebar advertisement for “Endurance Protection for auto warranty services” and submitted information on my Pilot. I received email hours later from an agent who promised to call me.
   The fourth item on my Google search linked to the BBB website’s report on Endurance Warranty Services. The BBB had suspended its report because the firm is under investigation.
Early the next morning VPA sent me an email that said in part, “You are correct, we do not publish specific guidelines for a compliant postcard.”
   I talked with two other sales agents who repeated the deceptive sales techniques. On January 29 I forwarded my findings to VPA, adding my concern about dismissing agents because they had mastered the same sales techniques as the terminated agent. VPA responded with a promise to forward the information to the auditing attorneys.
   Chernawsky’s written response to my Washington complaint had not arrived by February 2. However, he’s been focused on an audit.
   Stay alert.

Helpful Ideas for Holiday Haze Health Hazards

2010-01-28T11:53:00Z

    When we moved here in 2001 the Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce promised 300 days of sunshine, so I get depressed when our Christmas/News Years holiday haze hides my clear skies. My mood darkens when I read in the World that ozone pollutants are suspended in the aired when western winds blow in contaminated air from Asia. Mission Ridge’s snow sparkled views of the Northern Cascades lift my mood, but otherwise I obsess on ways to reclaim my 300 days of sunshine.
    Those obsessions have generated threads of ideas to clear up our skies and my gloominess. First I’ll list the threads and then weave them together. Wind farms could blow away the air and generate electricity during other seasons. The legislature has required PUD to generate electricity from renewable sources as wind power. Growers are studying a water reservoir to replace declining aquifers. Water stored in reservoirs can be used to generate electricity. Waterfalls once roared down from the sides of Grand Coulee.
    The idea to move air out of the valley with wind farms arose while driving under towering blades on wind farms along the Columbia River south of Goldendale. What if those blades were reversible or convertible to fan blades that would blow stagnant air or fire smoke out of the valley and generate power the rest of the year?
    The state might subsidize the cost because legislators required our PUDs to generate renewable energy such as wind power. State funding is the wildest idea, but the PUDs have to invest in the renewable energy so why not investigate alternatives that make us healthier and happier? Wind farms could generate electricity other seasons to meet the state mandate.
    What if electricity to move the blades costs too much? That is where generating electricity from a water reservoir comes in. During the 1970s Consumers Power in Michigan used a water reservoir to store electrical power above the coast of Lake Michigan. Lake water was pumped into the reservoir at night with excess power at low cost. Water flowed down to the lake during the day through turbines that generated electricity sold at a higher rate.
    Present plans for an irrigation water reservoir are difficult to cost justify. If those reservoirs could generate power the increased income might justify the project. We have a place where water could flow downhill through turbines.
    The Grand Coulee has miles of precipices over which spectacular waterfalls flowed thousands of years ago. A friend drove the Grand Coulee during a pounding rainstorm. He pulled off the highway to marvel at countless waterfalls plummeting over the edges, each one rivaling Multnomah Falls. If we re-supplied the upper ridges of the Grand Coulee cliffs with water for irrigation, wintertime hydropower might generate electricity for wind farms to blow away our weather born blues.
    These ideas are outlandish, but when we’re shrouded under holiday haze 300 days of promised sunshine seems equally outlandish. Rather than stay melancholy we can brainstorm our ways to better moods. Visions of clear skies, irrigated crops, and abundant electricity transform my mood when I’m not on Mission Ridge. And who knows, maybe one idea leads to another and something practical comes out of the daydreaming.

Stahl’s Right: Stall Genetically Modified Wheat in Eastern Washington

2010-01-21T14:19:00Z

    Last week’s Empire Press profiled Tom Stahl’s fight to forestall genetically modified wheat from firms such as Monsanto in eastern Washington. Stahl believes growers would be disadvantaged, and I believe he’s right, not just because of gm wheat, but because business and regulatory practices have heaped burdens onto growers.
    The Wenatchee World recently reported lawsuits against Monsanto, which controls as much as 90 percent of some seed genetics. The practices began when Monsanto patented genetically modified seeds so they’d benefit growers with increased characteristics and benefit Monsanto because they couldn’t reproduce.
    The seeds increase yields and simplify life for growers who no longer have to save seeds to sew. Growers use whatever profit might be left after the harvest to buy Monsanto seeds next year. And growers can more efficiently apply herbicides such as Monsanto’s Round-Up since seeds are unaffected by it.
    Those yields and efficiencies promise growers such value that Monsanto has an irresistible urge to capture part of that value by raising prices of seed where it has quasi-monopoly control. Monsanto’s CEO excited investors by promoting pricing power that leads to increased income.
Consumers are happy with abundant food and lower prices. Monsanto is happy with growth and profits. Investors are happy with increased yields that always raise income.
    Unfortunately, increased yields and efficiencies don’t always increase grower income. Larger yields drive down prices and lower grower income. Growers are pleasing them all with their labor and their debt.
    This reminds me of when Will Rogers was originally thrilled to entertain audiences for $20 per week at a traveling circus. He lost his enthusiasm when he had to pay the circus $.75 per meal or $15.75 per week. Or course he probably saved money by skipping meals.
    Monsanto defends its right to profit from its patent technology. However if Monsanto abuses that right, the FTC or Department of Justice may restrict that right.
    Monsanto’s second line of defense is to point out that its practices are procompetitive for its competitors and improve consumer welfare through lower prices and innovation.
    Since 1970 those procompetitive arguments, consumer welfare and innovation growth have been the three ideological gods before which courts and regulatory agencies have blessed mergers and acquisitions. For example unregulated financial institutions grew by mergers and acquisitions because they added to consumer welfare. Also permitted have been patents and marketing practices that led to quasi-monopoly companies such as Monsanto.
    Congress sensed something might be wrong with antitrust law that permitted these too-big-to-fail financial companies. And the Federal Trade Commission and the National Academy of Sciences accused the U.S. Patent Office of sloppy approvals of patents, increased processing time and growing backlogs. Poor quality patents and patent processing stifle innovation and competition.
    Taking firm action, Congress appointed an Antitrust Modernization Commission.
    The Commission concluded in the spring of 2007, eight month before the assembled financial firms began to fail, that no changes were needed in antitrust law or patent infringement because data showed that economic efficiencies and innovation were improving consumer welfare. That commission proved Will Rogers’s’ statement once again, “Well, what’s the use of having a lot of statistics and data on something that you don’t know what to do with? That’s the way with commissions.”
    Tolerance of abuse is changing. The Department of Justice is investigating unfair trade practices of faulty financial firms.
    More optimistically, growers should recognize they have the true power. They have the land and the skill to produce food. Eventually courts, Congress and agencies will grant grower welfare equal priority alongside such abstract concepts as competition, innovation and efficiency. When that happens I’ll picture Will Rogers smiling wherever he is. Meanwhile we need to support Tom Stahl.

Agricultural Worker Layoffs Demand Immigration Reform That May be Coming Soon

2010-01-14T10:36:00Z

    Recent agricultural layoffs that devastated the local Brewster area are further proof that communities suffer under weak immigration administrative systems and inadequate immigration policies. Substantial progress on immigration reform for our clear skies agricultural businesses is much closer than we may realize. Now is the time for us to support it, but it takes teamwork.
    Hiring legal workers requires governmental administrative systems. Never underestimate the damage ineffective administration can inflict. For example, until 2006, illegal alien felons in federal prisons were released to local communities. By 2009 ICE exported virtually every one.
    More importantly, Congress supports an Immigration Service program called E-Verify, an electronic employment verification system that uses an employee's I-9 form to verify work status within minutes. In Congressional testimony in April 2009 US Citizen & Immigration Deputy Director Michael Aytes appropriately thanked Congress for appropriating $100 million to implement it, and said 117,000 employers out of 7.4 million employers nationwide used the system to validate 6.6 million of 60 million new workers in 2008. At that time non-agricultural employers validated 96.1 percent of all hires with E-Verify, which is up from 83 percent in 2002. Employer satisfaction ratings were 83 percent.
    The system needs to be more rigorous for mandatory use. Photos already can be matched for Homeland Security green cards. Driver's license photos could be used if states permit. The Immigration Policy Center reports two states mandate E-Verify for all hiring, seven states require public contractors to use it, and by September 2009, some federal contracts require it for employees performing direct, substantial work.
    However, local agricultural hiring needs special help. Kirk Mayer, manager of the Washington Growers Clearinghouse, said, "We've been told that approximately 65% of Ag workers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho are illegally documented."
    With the current system of I-9 letter verification, employers wait weeks to get verification, and when non-compliance notice is received, the employer directs the employee to visit the social security office for proper identification. The worker usually never returns. Understandably, agricultural employers with perishable crops to be picked prefer the slower verification process.
    Fortunately our agricultural industry has a well-thought out plan for survival according to Mike Gempler, Executive Director of the Washington Grower's League in Yakima, a non-profit serving the Ag industry on employment issues. The League has processed legal guest worker programs, such as H-2A, since 1999. Gempler said industry survival depends on three tactics: "More reliance on guest worker programs, continuing movement toward more labor saving technology, and developing the local workforce, although we don't see them filling the need for seasonal labor."
    The industry also needs immigration reform. Gempler serves on the board of the National Council of Agricultural Employers. He expects Sen. Schumer (D-NY) to introduce comprehensive reform in early 2010 that includes language the industry can support. Gempler believes bipartisan support exists to pass reform.
    The current language also allows the Ag industry to have a bridge program while immigration authorities clamp down on illegal workers and expands guest work programs. The Ag industry currently requires the largely illegal Ag workers labor pool such as laid-off workers in Brewster and Gempler believes they deserve to be employed legally. The language allows illegal Ag workers with strong work and community histories to earn legal status that includes working in the Ag industry for three years.
    Our local community needs to support comprehensive immigration reform to avoid unnecessary damage to our communities. Not surprisingly, our region is providing leadership at the national level. We need to support them.

Diverting Deception from Recycle to Evidence

2010-01-07T09:19:00Z

    Deceptive mail advertising quickly lands in my recycle. One warranted attention, and complaints.
    EWS -- Vehicle Division mailed me an "IMPORTANT VEHICLE NOTICE" for my 2008 Honda. The front listed a Customer ID No. and Deadline Date: Jan 8, 2010. The back had: "Call Now to Activate your Vehicle Service Contract." Below that in bold, underlined words: "Your Risks: If you choose NOT to take action, you will be FINANCIALLY LIABLE .." Liable for what?
"Any repairs that are necessary after your warranty expiration date." The notice offered help: "ACT NOW" You still have time to ACTIVATE extended out-of-warranty vehicle coverage." I decided to call after that prodigious deception.
    Mr. Harris answered and asked for my customer number. I asked, "Am I a customer?"
    "No," he said, "they're giving you the last chance to extend the warranty, so, how many miles on your car?"
    Based on my stated mileage, he proposed a 5-year, 100,000-mile warranty with a $260.50 down payment (after a $200 first-call discount), and $130.25 for 18 months, a total of $2,605.
    He advised me to buy, saying it's, "The smartest thing you can do. I guarantee you, you go into a dealer and they'll run you through a wringer at more than a $130 a month."
    I declined and called Sheri Freer in the finance department at my dealer, Apple Valley Honda. Based on the same mileage she quoted a similar payment plan that included Washington sales tax. Her total was $1932.12. Mr. Harris never mentioned taxes, and still quoted almost $700 more.
    Freer said they'd never hire a third party to contact customers. "If the warranty is ending, you may get a call from me as a courtesy."
    Freer told me, "Companies can get owner and the VIN number from Washington's DOL, but they don't have the mileage or the warranty date."
    Using owner and VIN numbers from state information for marketing purposes is illegal, according to Mary Lobdell, in Washington's Attorney General's office. She is overseeing Washington's two-year investigation with 39 other states on deceptive marketing practices for vehicle service contracts. "There are all levels of deception in these cases, " she said.
    My notice implied a relationships with a customer, the manufacturer, a final deadline, a final chance, and that it's a warranty. EWS marketed me a service contract from an insurer, not a warranty. The insurer must be registered with Washington's Office of the Insurance Commissioner. EWS, actually Endurance Warranty Services, LLC, is not registered with the OIC, so I called back. A man said EWS is a "warranty broker," and that my quote would be insured by Royal Administrative Services from Massachusetts.
    Royal is not registered on the OIC site, so late yesterday I emailed Royal asking if they were authorized to sell in Washington.
    Endurance is accredited with the Chicago BBB since March, 2007. The Chicago BBB rating is a C, with details about 55 complaints in the last 36 months, 38 of which have been resolved in the last year. Five were irresolvable.
    Lobdell said the investigation is impacting the industry. "The business works, as companies have admitted, when marketing outruns the refunds, which they have to keep low." Some insurers are failing as contract sales generate less cash.
    I filed complaints with Washington's Consumer Protection Division and Chicago's BBB, but Lobdell advised me to also file with the Illinois Attorney General.
    A commenter on the Town-Hall for the automotive website Edmunds.com admitted giving credit card information to the EWS sales person. After trying to revoke it during the call, the representative said, "that could not be done." The frustrated victim accuses an unknown, unscrupulous dealer employee of providing information, which is unlikely.
    Lobdell said the state has tightened regulations around companies authorized to obtain vehicle information for research and statistical analysis, but she believes there is still a leak to the industry, perhaps through another firm.
    These incidents make me feel like an elk in a herd crossing Alaskan tundra, trailed by wolves. Aging toward frailty, I increasingly fear these predatory firms tracking me and my information. The good news is our Attorney General's office is investigating, but my complaint to the Consumer Protection Division is the only one against Endurance.
    Our initial defense is accurate, registered complaints, more publicly available. In the meantime we can alert people and save the evidence.

Stories to Ignite our Imagination for New Year’s Resolution

2009-12-31T11:26:00Z

    Three recent stories of judicial cases saddened me and fired my imagination for a news resolution.
    A Waterville man, Phillip Wilson, 48, admitted that his Toyota Tundra crossed the centerline, careened off a semi-truck, and killed a 62-year-old Oroville driver. Wilson admitted he’d taken prescription medications for chronic back pain. The state’s blood analyst said the combination of drugs in his blood would make a patient drowsy. On December 31st Wilson is scheduled to begin a two years and three months prison sentence.
    The sentence does little to alleviate the tragedy. Does it heal the victim’s family? A civil case that might compensate the family requires another trial. Does it rehabilitate Wilson, who was also injured in the crash? Does the community benefit more than it costs to jail him?
    Journalist Ron Suskind reports a related case in his book The Way of the World. He interviewed Tom Koenigs, the German-born UN special envoy in Afghanistan, who told a story about one of his young Muslim drivers. The driver nodded off while driving and killed another young man. The driver immediately visited the victim’s father, an old man, and confessed, “We are all Muslims. This is my fault. I fell asleep. I am profoundly sorry. Is there any way we can resolve this?”
    The father said, “My son, who you killed, supported our family. Now you will be my son, and you will support our family.”
    The driver then reported the incident to Koenigs who had two choices: turn the case over to Afghanistan authorities, or to Sharia jurists, called Ulemas. Ulemas are scholarly specialists in the current rulings and interpretations that are an expansion of Sharia Islamic law.
    Koenigs chose the Ulemas who wrote up a binding agreement. Koenigs said, “Sharia law, I’ve learned, is much more victim-oriented, rather than the way it is in modern legal systems, where it’s the state versus the perpetrator in a courtroom, and the victim is nowhere to be seen.”
    K. C. Mehaffey recently reported on local Tribal Courts in the Wenatchee World. Tribal Courts on the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation administer justice for minor crimes that warrant punishment for a year or less. When the Colville Tribal Court handles these cases, it’s praised for its focus on healing and rehabilitation. Vicki Hanks, who advocated for battered women in both tribal and state courts said, “They don’t just want to punish, they want to heal, both the perpetrator, and the victim.”
    Steve Graham, an attorney from Republic, said, “A lot of judges in state court don’t successfully convince the defendant that they really hope the best for them, but in tribal court, that’s just apparent.”
    Our justice system is a model for the world. Yet, we must improve a system that punishes a 48-year-old defendant and his family, ignores healing for the grieving family, and increases costs for our community correctional system. Imagine a New Year’s resolution to infuse our justice system with more compassion. If we summon the determination to select the best components of other judicial systems, our American imagination would generate a judicial system that broadly delivers healing and rehabilitation for victims, defendants, and communities.

Honoring People Who Inspire Us to Persist in Serving People

2009-12-24T13:06:00Z

    Last week three stories inspired me to persist when other stories threatened me with despair.
    For 15 years, Randy Smith, 54, and volunteers have moved and lit his Wenatchee Valley Cross. The 100-foot cross with 1,000 lights shines atop a 24,000-pound concrete pedestal in Wenatchee Heights, compliments of Wenatchee Sand and Gravel and Star Rentals. Volunteers fuel a gasoline generator until they raise $5,000 for electrical lines. “Out of all the things I’ve done, this is my most worthwhile project. It’s the one God would point to and say, ‘I like that one. It touches the most people.’” It lightens me up.
    James Bain, 54, Florida, is free after 35-years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He said, “I’m not angry, because I’ve got God.”
    He’s got supportive people too. Pro bono lawyers from the Innocence Project helped him file a petition for state of-the-art DNA testing after a judge denied Bain’s earlier petitions. Police personnel had sealed evidence in bags and kept it in climate-controlled storage, which permitted indisputable tests. And Floridians award innocent inmates $50,000 per prison year.
    Bain should receive $1.8 million to sustain his desire for fried chicken, Dr. Pepper and possibly schooling. That is, after spending time with his family and ailing mother. “That’s the most important thing in my life right now, besides God.” And, I’d hope, thanking conscientious people.
    Closer to home, Viva Barnes, 55, completed her degree at Western Washington University by taking one course per term for 21 years. Her experience was the reverse of the Dorian Gray character who stayed young as others aged: she aged as students stayed young. “At first it was intimidating because everyone was half my age. I found the students were more than encouraging.”
She started with a math class to help her as a cashier, but ultimately her journey evolved to personal growth. “I think that’s what it started to become,” she said. “It’s advancement, but its also enrichment in your own life.” Her creative writing might enrich our lives.
    These people inspire me. I need it after reading that hospitals in North Central Washington struggle with more and more uncompensated care. “The sad part is, people don’t have anywhere to go, so they’re all turning to us,” said Dale Polla, administrator at Okanogan Douglas Hospital in Brewster.
    Nevertheless newspaper commentators abandon healthcare reform. Why dismiss a plan that covers 30 million uninsured people and cuts healthcare costs? Even more callous are analysts who gleefully focus on the supposition that Democrats will lose either way in 2010 elections. If Democrats pass healthcare, it’ll be onerous. If Democrats fail to pass it, they’re useless.
    Understandably doctors and the public think our healthcare system needs repair. We should pass the bill. Our nation’s greatness rises from doing the right thing one step at a time.
    Fortunately we can draw inspiration from persistent, positive individuals like Smith, Bain, Barnes and people around them who do the right thing for the right reason, especially in the Christmas season.

What Does Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Speech Have to Do with Clear Skies?

2009-12-17T12:28:00Z

    Preoccupied with this year’s charitable activities and next year’s budget preparations, I first thought President Obama’s Nobel speech had nothing to do with our clear skies people. He spent half the time clarifying his moral responsibility as Commander-In-Chief, and the other half his moral responsibility to build a lasting and just peace. His speech does apply to us.
    Obama addressed the need to confront evil with a just war. Here, we confront evil with our peacekeeping officers. Obama said, “When force is necessary, we have a moral and strategic interest in binding ourselves to certain rules of conduct.” Our local leaders require those rules of conduct by, and for, our officers. We witnessed our last Douglas County sheriff request a state level review of whether the County met those standards.
    So when Obama says, “Adhering to standards, international standards, strengthen those who do, and isolates and weakens those who do not,” we should agree. We should oppose torture and support closing Guantanamo.
    But just-war standards were half of his speech, yet few commentators mentioned the other half. Obama listed three advances to build a lasting and just peace, something violence never does. We’re working on those advances here in clear skies.
    He said, “We must develop alternatives to violence that are tough enough to actually change behavior – for if we want a lasting peace, then the words of the international community must mean something.” We support local inter-governmental working agreements. We supported the upgrade for the 911-call center. Our local commitments should serve as a reminder to support our nation’s demand that all countries cooperate to avoid violence and limit nuclear proliferation.
    Obama went on to say, “Only a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting.” Here in clear skies we speak freely. We worship as we please. Grudgingly we increasingly respect the cultures of Latinos and Native Americans. Obama insisted such tolerance and dignity requires we speak with repressive regimes like Iran so those leaders know we are ready to dialogue about options. We should support such dialogue nationally.
    “Third, a just peace is not just freedom from fear, but freedom from want.” Locally the economy is making it difficult to deliver freedom from want and balance our budgets, but each government is setting priorities in balanced budgets. Our county projects savings from a new jail agreement. Our state has proposed a frightening budget, but we’ll balance it. Our nation needs our model to address freedom from want within a balanced budget.
    Lifting our world’s vision even higher. Obama insisted that collaboration, strong institutions, human rights, and development couldn’t be sustained without an expansion of our “moral imagination” to embrace the “law of love:” “do unto others as we would have them do unto us.” He said, “Let us reach for the world that ought to be – that spark of divine that still stirs within each of our souls.”
    That moral imagination is what we should be about this Christmas season. The better we model that behavior here, the better we’ll call for it at all levels of leadership.

Steering Clear of Danger Zones

2009-12-14T13:23:00Z

    Several losers leaped into local headlines last week: Calvin White, Loop Trail extension opponents and Tiger Woods. We all lost in the process, some more than the rest of us. What can we gain?
    White soared into lofty investments with wealth from Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises until the economy clipped his wings. Sadly local people face losses, including employees whose only risk was to trust their employer would pay. And the public may lose if the local water district’s $16,000 receivable goes down the drain.
    Loop Trail extension opponents lost money by contesting community preferences. They wanted to protect orchards and protest the government’s condemnation of land for a highway and instead using it for recreational transportation. Of course, they wouldn’t have minded reacquiring the land for its future value.
    Woods’ losses and escapades came to light in the darkness after he crunched a Cadillac Escalade over a fire hydrant and into a tree trunk. His degeneracy is astonishing, and with his mistress count now at seven, his losses should continue to mount. This may be his most remarkable, deplorable score.
    Why do we fawn over apparent infallibility? Who among the elite is infallible? One possible exception is George Bush who once said he couldn’t think of any mistakes he’d made -- although to be fair, he’s had more time to think about it.
    Who has never lost money, or an argument? Or never had an automobile accident? With my accident record, my heroes include elite truckers who drive one, two, or even three million miles without an accident. Are they super humans immune to the throb of diesel engines in massive trucks? No. Safety experts discovered they all follow a similar system to avoid accidents.
    They drive with three zones in mind. They drive in a safety zone where risk of an accident is minimized. Their speed matches the conditions and the traffic. The million-milers recognize warning zones and quickly back out into safety zones. When they signal and pass another truck on a two-lane expressway, they’re in a safety zone. However, a warning zone could occur if both vehicles approach an entrance ramp where another vehicle is entering. A warning zone is a potential danger zone. The danger zone would occur if the entering vehicle doesn’t yield and the truck being passed swerves to avoid it.
    Our latest losers knowlingly, some even heroically, entered warning zones and failed to back out before they crashed. For White, the warning was the amount of debt he accumulated. For Loop Extension opponents, it was repeated losses explained in judicial decisions. For Woods, who knows, but it probably started by drinking alcohol while he was attracted to a waitress, perhaps the one who served him and his wife.
    Reducing our losses is as mundane as admitting we’re fallible. Power, wealth, fame don’t prevent losses, but do provide resources to cover the crashes for a while. We all take risks and lose to some degree. We are humans with potent passions inside that can be ignited by greed, fame and sex. Alcohol reduces our inhibitions about the warning zone. We need to accept our fallibility, recognize warning zones, and back out of them.

Remembering to be Fully Thankful and a Wish for Next Thanksgiving

2009-12-03T09:36:00Z

    Last Thursday my wife Karen and I joined our three children and two spouses to share blessings during our nation’s Thanksgiving. We forgot to be thankful for national support, which set me to thinking about our nation’s priority.
    Our oldest daughter began by relishing our family’s close proximity, even such simple things as driving from Seattle to Bellingham for a day with her nieces and sister-in-law while her brother was traveling. He joked he now felt at home after “ex-pat” jobs in New Hampshire and Minnesota. And so it went, as each blessed the support we felt every day from our life choice partners, family and friends.
    The thankfulness reflected the family’s triumph over a year that drenched us in anguish the first six months. Death claimed both Karen’s beloved father and also our children’s beloved Uncle Bill. Pain dogged Karen while she awaited foot surgery. When the surgical schedule opened up, she endured three months of intense pain and rehabilitation.
    Economic problems hit hard. Our daughter in Seattle applied for teaching jobs with a new degree as hundreds were laid off. Our youngest learned her job was eliminated, and faced unemployment in September. She canceled an agreement to buy her first home. Our determined daughter-in-law added infrequent mediation sessions to her new mediation practice.
    Our dismal perspectives brightened with October colors. Both our unemployed prospects secured jobs that inspired them and paid more than they’d hoped. The mediation business generated referrals. Karen and I hiked the foothills trail. And we celebrated in our youngest daughter’s new home that is better than the one they canceled.
    Underlying family triumphs were several governmental programs none of us thought to thank. Medicare largely covered Karen’s surgery. Federal stimulus funds and grant money prevented worse budget cuts for both our daughters’ jobs in education. The first-home buyers tax credit enabled our youngest daughter’s home purchase. And we felt peace inside our neighborhoods and nation.
    My thankfulness for those governmental programs leads me to these conclusions. Our family’s priorities are health, economic security, and peace through justice. While our family takes responsibility to encourage and sustain each member, we depend on political and private leadership.
Our leadership deserves praise for progress on health issues according Melinda Beck in a recent Wall Street Journal article. Governments have created smoke-free environments for 71 percent of our population, leading to cleaner air and reduced heart attack rates. Mandated seat belt enforcement helped reduced last year’s traffic fatalities to the lowest level since 1981. Public and private worldwide efforts since 1990 to help children have dramatically dropped the undernourished rate for all children and the death rate for children under five.
    This Thanksgiving reminded me to belatedly thank our nation’s neighbors and leaders. What would make me most thankful for leaders next year?
    Leadership cooperation to convince us all that the governmental support we received last year is unsustainable given our fiscal resources. Current budget deficits will destroy our future capabilities and undermine our family’s blessings. I would be most thankful if next Thanksgiving we celebrate a collaborative long-term fiscal discipline we need to sustain our families.

Already Too Big to Fail

2009-11-25T09:00:00Z

    Three seemingly unrelated media stories convince me that each of us under these clear skies is too big to fail to act ethically. Let me tie these stories together.
    Netflix mailed us Frozen River, a gripping low-budget film that earned two academy award nominations. We watched two poverty-pressured women, one white American and one Mohawk Canadian, become untrusting partners desperate for money for their children. They drive across the frozen St Lawrence River into New York with illegal immigrants, including a Pakistani couple, hidden in their trunk. They fail their children, although they appear to be headed toward ethically reconnecting with them after enduring punishment.
    Meanwhile I’m reading, The Way of the World by Ron Suskind. He writes about the radical Islamic terrorist cells expanding inside the Mohawk reservations in Canada alongside that border. Terrorists bleed across the porous boundary on a trail established by Russian spies during the Cold War.
    Simultaneously Congress is wrestling with regulation for financial firms deemed too big to fail financially, despite having failed ethically. The House Financial Services committee, frustrated by understaffed or timid regulators, voted to give regulators the power to bust them up. Who knows if they’ll allocate extra funds? Even if they do, firms too big to fail avoid regulation by acting unethically.
    One example is Canada’s MDS Nordion, the world’s leading isotope supplier for medical imaging. It purchases highly enriched uranium (HEU) from the U.S. to provide nuclear imaging capability. But HEU has been converted into nuclear weapons, so in 1992 Congress prohibited HEU shipments for medical isotopes because lowly enriched uranium (LEU) works as well.
    Nordion pledged to comply, but afterward built a HEU facility. According to NTI (nti.org), a non-governmental advocacy group whose mission is to reduce the risk of nuclear weapons by reducing the spread of nuclear materials, Nordion precipitated a confrontation in 2003. It claimed withholding HEU would destroy its business, and hired lobbyists to exempt Canadian firms from the law. It initiated letter writing and email campaigns to suppliers, medical facilities, and patient groups. Lobbyists teamed with other countries until Congress exempted both Canada and Europe in the 2005 energy bill. The author of the original law, Rep Schumer from New York, said, “It’s unbelievable we would pass this legislation in a post-911 era.”
   It’s not unbelievable for me. Interestingly, I received one of the emails generated by Nordion’s campaign. I deleted it, never realizing I needed to alert people to the deception.
    We must urge legislators to stop believing we can regulate firms that are too big to fail financially. A better strategy is opposing acquisitions that allow colossal firms to form. Enforcing regulation on smaller firms is easier, just as we enforce small violations from our children and citizens.
    Finally, when I, or any of us, or any company, get tempted to violate ethical standards, we need to resist them because each failure inevitably diminishes everybody else’s well-being. In effect, I already am too big to fail ethically. We all are.

Spotting the Traps Hidden in Messages Like the Cherokee Legend

2009-11-19T09:46:00Z

    Want to know what emotional hooks predators use to snag well-intentioned people into behaving against their interests? You can see hooks in bogus emails like the “Cherokee Legend.” That unknown author tempted me with pride, fatherly love, faith, intimidation and Biblical authority.
    The email begins, “Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth’s rite of passage?” Two hooks snagged me: identifying with Cherokees and passing on a good story. I read on.
    “His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove his blindfold. He cannot cry out for help. Once he survives the night, he is a man.”
    That paragraph raised questions. When I checked Wiki.answers, I found comments from an offended Cherokee. “I have spoken to two tribal leaders and three other old ones and not one of them has ever heard of such an outlandish load of dung. This boy had to a pretty wimpy little boy. If I was him, I would’ve enjoyed the chance to be out there.”
    White folk shouldn’t bite on that rite. Would we award high school diplomas only after blindfolded boys quivered all night on a bar stool outside the Clearwater saloon? That rite does have one advantage: it’d be easier to grade than the WASL.
    Having dropped my guard in favor of pride and a good story, I read on.
    At daybreak the son discovers his father sat next to him, protecting him from harm. Maybe I could rewrite the story so my grandchildren would know I am protecting them when I’m out of sight.
    Then comes an emotional appeal to faith: “We are never alone because God is watching over us.” That’s a nice thought, but not when I’m putting my son through that helplessness.
    A fourth hook intimidates readers: pass it on or be a sissy. “If you liked this story, pass it on. If not, you took off your blindfold before dawn.” (The second sentence is in red font for emphasis.)
    The author claims the moral is: “Just because you can’t see God, doesn’t mean He is not there.” True, but a lot of things exist that I can’t see, like the author’s real purpose – is this a faith inspiring message, or a ruse to collect email addresses for spam or fraud?
    The last appeal misuses Biblical scripture: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
    The verse is from 2 Corinthians 2 5:7 in the King James Version of Paul’s letter to missionaries at Corinth. He said they should feel comforted at night in their nomadic tents for they ministered by day.
    Internet predators use appeals to admirable emotions and beliefs. They’d like the image of us sitting on a stump blindfolded, and believing they are watching over us. Watch for their emails, stand up against them, and search the Internet for authenticity. It’s good practice for the real world.

Longing for Simplicity, Ensared in Complicity

2009-11-19T09:33:00Z

    My current motto is "simplify with less." Simplifying is complicated.
  My wife laid part number 9010, a filter for our refrigerator’s water and ice dispenser, on my to-do table. 9010 will take eons to breakdown in a trash heap and complicated my life. Every six months a warning light energizes her to buy a replacement 9010. She’s a retired network operating systems consultant with a deep faith in warning lights.
    Suspicious about that light filtering money out of my wallet, I called Allen Gossett at Guarantee Appliance and Vic Blair at Vic’s Fix-It Shop, both in East Wenatchee. They aren’t certain about my refrigerator, but an electronic timer activates most warning lights. 9010 may be working just fine, but the light’s complicating my life. Maybe that light needs a burned out bulb.
    Gossett recommends replacing 9010s annually.
    But what’s its value compared to its eco-cost? 9010’s box reduces (note it doesn’t say filters) a frightening list of toxins such as chlorine taste and odor, lead, mercury, benzene, toxaphene, 2,4-D, asbestos, and altrazine. It sounds like my family would turn to toxic minerals if I didn’t replace it.
    A representative at the refrigerator store referred me to managemyhome.com, which had 41,251 answers to consumer questions. I asked, “What happens to my water and refrigerator if I never replace water filter 9010?”
    The site produced two answers: One said filters do not remove fluoride, and the other explained how to reset my warning light. Aha! Resetting my warning light would work until the timer turned it on again. This feels like guerrilla living to fool intrusive merchandising protocols.
    The first time the refrigerator’s instructional manual mentions the dispenser, it adds this statement in bold: “Do not use with water that is microbiologically unsafe or of unknown quality without adequate disinfection before or after the system.”
    The manual included the statement two more times. I figured the emphasis was designed to intimidate me into not even thinking about not inserting 9010, even though it was possible. Blair said he thought it didn’t need to be inserted let alone replaced, and if needed, there are less expensive alternatives.
    Sure enough, several pages later the manual gave directions on how to avoid using 9010, but warned, “Your water will not be filtered.”
    Not by 9010, but our drinking water is filtered better than the safety standards identified by Washington. By federal law, municipal water districts must publish an annual Consumer Confidence Report, which is available on the EWWD website under forms.
    9010 may be worthwhile in other communities where water supplies are contaminated.
    But what value is there in needlessly plopping onto our county’s earth this mechanical and chemical reduction filter, especially when we discard it more often than its useful life warrants because an electronic timer programs it into premature waste?
    As my age soars into loftier ranges, I long for simplicity but I’m ensnared in complicity.
    Convincing my wife may be even more complicated.

Holden Village: A Place Apart

2009-11-05T12:27:00Z

    Holden Village: A Place Apart, is a faith-based community with hydropower, fire service, public education, and a paid pastor. It resembles a theocracy that nurtures a faith-based balm for our bruising lifestyles.
    Holden lies at the feet of Buckskin and Copper Peak mountains near the west end of Lake Chelan. Pilgrims reaching Holden’s boat dock endure a faith-inducing ride up nine hairpin curves in ‘Honey,’ a groaning school bus long ago surplused by a prudent school district. Holden’s mechanic had said, “This one’s a honey,” making me wonder what he tattooed on Holden’s two other refugee buses.
    Eleven of us from our Methodist church experienced Holden’s spirit when we disembarked to the applause of village residents. We’d never been applauded for stepping off a bus. Maybe they welcome anybody with the faith to ride up on the bus.
    Holden has no keys for rooms, where we trustingly deposited our personal keys and cell phones. Buckskin blissfully blocks cellular signals. We bussed our tables, slid food waste into compost cans and stacked dishes into tubs. Volunteer staff, primarily young adults, cooks meals, chop wood, and teach classes. A few paid staff with a maximum five-year contract shares all the workload. Every thing had its place and everybody had roles to fulfill. We were free to do everything we wanted, within expectations.
    Everyone is expected to attend matins at breakfast, where announcements and scripture readings or hymns give thoughts for the day, and a half-hour 7:00 pm ecumenical vespers conducted within the guidelines of former director John Schramm. He said Holden is “where Jesus as Lord is not up for vote, but we try to make it welcome for all those who have another affirmation.”
    At the vespers on Halloween we witnessed Holden’s marvelous infusion of humor, which may have arrived with the gift of the abandoned village and copper mine. Mine owners had received three letters from a student at the Lutheran Bible Institute requesting a discounted price to LBI, but who never informed LBI he was negotiating on their behalf. When the mining company counter-offered to donate Holden, LBI thought the student was joking.
    Eventually LBI accepted it and transferred joint ownership to three Lutheran denominations for a youth retreat. These denominations are so at odds over the ordination of women and administration of the Eucharist that one denomination withholds ministry and fellowship from members in other denominations. Nevertheless these disputants transformed Holden to a lighthearted restorative community that hosts people of all ages and faiths.
    At the vespers on Halloween, a teenage soloist stood with arms sticking out of her costume, a silver box named after “Aunt Alice,” the legendary, cantankerous washing machine. Attendees in Halloween costumes chuckled, she giggled and the pastor behind a Robin Hood mask laughed, until we settled down to a reverent worship.
    Maybe we saw that lively spirit because costumes didn’t reveal which faith people affirmed. More likely the spirit prevails because villagers believe and practice a faith of service to others despite differences. We brought back a renewed faith that religion can serve collaboratively.

Inspired Volunteers Serving Our National Guard and Reservists

2009-10-29T09:21:00Z

     It bothers me that almost half of U.S. National Guard and reservists have served in Iraq or Afghanistan. West Point graduate Bill McDowell, East Wenatchee, said our country has never fought a war using so many soldiers from our Reserve Component. “Some people have too much time devoted to reserves over the years as a portion of their retirement and can’t afford to say to hell with it, despite severe hardships. I sure want to help those service men and women.”
     Bill is one of 4,500 volunteers in the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a volunteer agency in the Department of Defense whose mission is: gain and maintain employer support for reserve service, increase awareness of the law, and resolve conflict through mediation.
     Bill received “the best training I’ve ever had” to resolve conflicts. A Westside county cited an attorney general’s opinion to compute its fire chief’s vacation time without his 21-day military leave. Bill explained newer federal regulations superceded that opinion. “We all agreed there should be another look at this. I was thrilled.”
     He even let it cut into his tennis time.
     Rich Cronin, Wenatchee, garners employer support and advises employees. He’s a former Naval aircraft maintenance officer honored to be a “mustang” for taking the rare route from enlisted swabby to officer. He said, “When a company is small and a guy goes, it really hurts, but they have to understand and comply, and the employee has to comply with it too.”
     Employers are not allowed to ask if an applicant is in the reserve and must re-employ soldiers to their exact positions. Employees must give notice of their deployment, serve honorably and return to work within ESGR guidelines.
     Reserve training and discipline helps Rich convince employers, such as Top Food & Drug and Costco to sign and post a Statement of Support (SOS) for the Reserve Component. .
     Employees can nominate exceptionally supportive employers for the “My Boss is a Patriot” award. Last May Neal Fechner of Merchant Patrol Security in Wenatchee received the award after Guard member Zachary Muhly, Cashmere, nominated him.
Rich rounded up donations for a picnic with families before the Wenatchee-based 81st Heavy Brigade Combat Team deployed last year. He said, “People gave me so much money I turned over $450 in phone cards to guards. The town was very, very generous.”
     He helps families, such as a young wife needing job prospects for her returning husband whose electrical contractor had gone out of business.
     Recently Rich and Jim Sewell, Area Chair for ESGR, attended a “Freedom Salute” honoring the Army National Guard based in Yakima. Sewell said, “This particular unit transported fuel, food and other supplies throughout their year-long deployment in Iraq, traveling over one million miles without loss of life or serious injury.”
     Rich added that, unlike the 81st Heavy Brigade Combat Team trained for combat, “Those military folks guarding convoys were all basically support people (cooks, logistics specialists, supply, etc.) who were retrained to do something they were never originally intended to do (like combat). Amazing, wonderful group of men and women - people to be proud of, very proud of.”
     Those men and women inspire Bill, Rich and Jim. Those three inspire me, especially when we demand so much of our reservists.

Buckner and Aiken for East Wenatchee City Council

2009-10-22T09:08:00Z

    Two contests for East Wenatchee City Council deserve attention because the city’s five-year cash flow forecast projects deficits for infrastructure, reserves, and capital improvements. The council must balance budgets, unlike Congress leaders, which blissfully earmarks our requests for funds despite staggering budget deficits. Sorry, that was a detour.
    These are my recommendations based on Douglas County candidate profiles, the Chamber of Commerce’s candidate forum and information provided to the Wenatchee Business Journal and World.
    Three-term councilman George Buckner is challenged by Steve Still. Buckner worked with municipal finance for 30 years. He was the sole courageous vote against dropping the utility tax in 2001, which deprived the City of an estimated $2.5 million. Had Buckner’s view prevailed, the City could have avoided its cash crisis in 2008 and projected shortfalls.
    When asked about the Loop Trail, he told the forum he’s, “interested in public access, not overly developed, and respecting private property interests.” That’s a politician’s answer that covers the waterfront, but development between the waterfront trail would ruin the trail.
    Still had the courage to stand for election, which I respect and appreciate. Raised in Waterville, he ran a farm for 15 years, and in 1983 opened Still Properties that operates from East Wenatchee. He was an appointed county commissioner for nine months.
    His profile says, “I can bring a lot of business experience to the counsel,” although counsel refers to the city attorney. He added, “A budget should be created that does not jeopardize public safety and one we can all live with.” Buckner’s been working on that.
    Still didn’t show up at the candidate forum, nor respond to the WBJ.
    Buckner should still serve on the Council.
    One-term councilman Chuck Johnson is challenged by C. Elaine Aiken. Johnson owned Wenatchee Office Supply for twenty years and served as Finance Commissioner for the City of Wenatchee from 1994 to 2000, so he’s brought significant experience to budgeting.
    He’s promoting a strategic plan that would answer questions like, “What will our population be in 20-25 years?” My question is how valuable is a plan like that when the lack of buildable land means significant growth would come through annexation, which must be initiated by residents who live outside the city?
    Johnson wants to keep the Loop Trail pretty much like it is, but might compromise for development inland.
    Aiken co-owned a business with her late husband Ralph for eight years. She’s been active in local politics for years and campaigned for Ralph when he was commissioner. She was an administrative assistant for 11 years in Free Methodist churches, first with Wenatchee and then Eastmont Community. She’s transformed her life with three college degrees since 2004 and become a self-employed mental health counselor. She’s energetic.
    She told the WBJ she could “contribute a unique, decisive perspective to the city council.” She also emphasized building pride in East Wenatchee and its cultural diversity to improve its leadership in the valley. She didn’t show up at the forum.
    Aiken’s responses to the local papers indicate she would offer a compassionate, historical voice to advance East Wenatchee’s leadership role. While Johnson is a highly qualified community servant, the Council and Treasurer have sufficient business expertise.
    Aiken got my vote.