MEMPHIS, Tenn. - As if losing just about everything to flooding isn't bad enough, some flood victims are finding out the insurance coverage they thought they had doesn't exist. Now they're faced with no way to recoup their losses.
FEMA is the most hope some of the flood victims have. For others, it's a hard, expensive lesson learned. For insurance agents, it's a teachable moment so the next time this happens, fewer people will fall victim to Mother Nature.
Eula Horrell said she dodged the severe weather bullet that shot towards Tennessee on May 1st.
"I could not believe the amount of rain we had that weekend," said Horrell. "I've never seen any rain like that in Memphis in my life."
The rain that hovered over the state for nearly two days dumped inches of water outside, some of which crept inside homes forcing families elsewhere.
Insurance agent Kathy Thurmond-Edwards said, "We've been busy with a lot of phone calls inquiring about flood insurance." Thurmond-Edwards said it's a common misconception that a homeowner's policy covers flood insurance.
"When we're talking about flood, we're talking about areas of land that is normally dry and it floods and it enters in your house as surface water. That requires a separate flood policy," she explained.
The average policy is priced at about $400, but the sticking point that discourages many is that the money must be paid upfront. It's just another reason why people don't buy into the weather safety net.
"Most people don't have flood insurance because their lender didn't require it, but anybody can get flood insurance," she said.
Renters and buyers can all purchase a policy, whether you live in a high-risk flood zone or not. Better safe than sorry is what insurance agents often suggest. But Frayser resident Jamie Berner isn't buying what they're selling.
"They're misleading, very misleading," said Berner. "A lot of character clause in them. You've just got to watch what you reading."
Thurmond-Edwards agreed, saying "My advice is to do something unusual. Read your homeowners policy. It is a contract, and you can tell what's covered and not covered."
Thurmond-Edwards suggested making an appointment with your agent if you need clarity about coverage or your contract.
The good news for some flood victims, if you have comprehensive coverage on your car insurance, then you have flood coverage for your vehicle if it took on any rain water.
Source
Monday, June 28, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Memphis Police Officer Hits Pedestrian
FAST FACTS:
* Pedestrian struck by Memphis police officer
* Victim is 57 year old South Memphis woman
* Witnesses say officer was speeding with no lights and sirens
(Memphis 05/22/2010) - A South Memphis woman is dead after she is struck by a Memphis police squad car. The accident happened about 2:00 a.m. at Essex and South Third St. There are questions tonight from eyewitnesses about the officer's speed and if his lights and sirens were on at the time of the accident.
"The officer was just flying down the street. He wasn't on call. Wasn't no lights, sirens are nothing going," said Bernice Johnson, eyewitness.
Johnson, a nursing student who was on her way to work, describes what she saw when a Memphis police officer driving down Third St. struck pedestrian, 57 year old Irene Connard. She literally offered Connard her last breath. Johnson along with the officer administered CPR.
Johnson said, "I mean it's just horrible. It's just horrible. They need to slow it down, too. It just don't make no sense."
Hours later witnesses still talked about the power of the impact at the scene of the accident.
Source
* Pedestrian struck by Memphis police officer
* Victim is 57 year old South Memphis woman
* Witnesses say officer was speeding with no lights and sirens
(Memphis 05/22/2010) - A South Memphis woman is dead after she is struck by a Memphis police squad car. The accident happened about 2:00 a.m. at Essex and South Third St. There are questions tonight from eyewitnesses about the officer's speed and if his lights and sirens were on at the time of the accident.
"The officer was just flying down the street. He wasn't on call. Wasn't no lights, sirens are nothing going," said Bernice Johnson, eyewitness.
Johnson, a nursing student who was on her way to work, describes what she saw when a Memphis police officer driving down Third St. struck pedestrian, 57 year old Irene Connard. She literally offered Connard her last breath. Johnson along with the officer administered CPR.
Johnson said, "I mean it's just horrible. It's just horrible. They need to slow it down, too. It just don't make no sense."
Hours later witnesses still talked about the power of the impact at the scene of the accident.
Source
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
GOP gubernatorial frontrunner Oxendine agrees to take hunting safety course after shooting mishap
January 25, 2010 — Georgia Insurance Commissioner and prominent Republican candidate for governor John Oxendine was told Monday by the state Dept. of Natural Resources that he and his companions on a Jan. 17 quail-hunting trip should take a hunting safety course. Oxendine’s 13-year-old son accidentally shot a man in that hunting party, who sustained superficial wounds. Oxendine said Monday that he’ll take the course, but he added that he doesn’t need a state hunting permit because he hunts only on private reserves; he also said that the mishap wasn’t as big a deal as has been reported. ““No one is asked to stop driving a car because of an auto accident,” he said at a forum for gubernatorial candidates. --Pork projects for state legislators is a big reason why the state of Texas has wasted almost $1 billion of money that was supposed to be used for transportation improvements since 1991 but wasn’t, claims the Forth Worth Star-Telegram. --A staggering one million-plus new jobs need to be created in North Carolina over the next 10 years, says the US Chamber of Commerce. That would replace jobs lost in the state during the recession, and add new ones needed to meet expected population growth. The total number of jobs needing to be created nationwide is 20 million, says the chamber. --A 2005 water-rights lawsuitt filed by the Mississippi state attorney general against the city of Memphis has been dismissed by the US Supreme Court. The suit had alleged that Memphis has been stealing roughly one-third of its drinking water from Mississippi by pumping excessive amounts from an aquifer that runs beneath portions of Mississippi and western Tennessee. The high court denied Mississippi’s motion to overturn an appellate court’s 2009 ruling. Apparently all the pumping by Memphis has re-channeled water from where it has long flowed, underneath Mississippi, to underneath Memphis. |
| source |
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Alcohol troubles leading Gillispie to land of anonymous
The video is out there, and we'll see it someday. It'll show Billy Gillispie, months removed from leading the famous Kentucky basketball program, in an orange jumpsuit -- the kind worn by the prisoners picking up garbage on the highway. The video will show Gillispie in that jumpsuit, being arraigned last week on charges of driving while intoxicated.
Already the mug shot is out there, and it's startling enough. It shows Gillispie with puffy, heavy eyes. He looks 10 years older. He looks 20 pounds heavier. He looks drunk.Still, I submit the following: I submit that Gillispie is one of the luckiest SOB's around.
If he was going to get arrested for DUI -- and this being Gillispie, he was going to get arrested for DUI eventually -- last week was the best week possible. It came shortly after two enormous basketball stories had already broken in that state. Just one week earlier, the NCAA had taken away the 2008 Final Four banner from Memphis and the former Memphis coach who replaced Gillispie at Kentucky, John Calipari. And that came after the revelation that current Louisville (and former Kentucky) coach Rick Pitino had a one-dinner stand with a woman who accused him of raping her, impregnating her, marrying her off to his personal assistant and then paying for the abortion.
That's a lot of basketball headlines for a basketball state. By the time Gillispie landed himself in jail, there weren't many headlines left. He got a handful, but that's all. A handful.
For the most part, the college basketball world has already moved onward, meaning backward. Gillispie's DUI is the latest news, but it's not the biggest news. Not in Kentucky. The new Kentucky coach loses his second Final Four banner? The Louisville coach has an abortion scandal? Those are stories with staying power, and they've stayed around. Relatively speaking, Gillispie's DUI arrest was nothing.
Except for this fact:
It was everything.
It was the most recent straw -- I fear it's not the "final" straw -- in the unraveling of Billy Gillispie, the former coaching savant who won huge at UTEP and Texas A&M and then won bigger still in 2007 by landing the job at Kentucky. He was already a living legend. All he had to do was stay out of his own way, and Billy Gillispie was going to be a god.
Instead he tripped over his own shoes. He alienated the Kentucky administration. He wore down the players. He treated one of the most supportive fan bases in basketball like an annoyance. He had two of the worst seasons in school history, and then he was fired.
And then he was arrested. And spent the night in jail. In an orange jumpsuit.
No, Billy Gillispie isn't a god. He's a schmuck. And before he can even consider working at another school -- and before any school can even consider hiring him -- he probably needs to utter a very precise handful of words:
Hi. My name is Billy, and I have a drinking problem.
And listen to me. I don't write this with malice or mockery. Alcoholism is not a joking matter -- it's deadly serious -- and I'm convinced Gillispie has a deadly serious problem. If he's found guilty of DUI this would be his first alcohol-related conviction, but that's a technicality. This was his third such incident. He was arrested in 1999 in Tulsa, Okla., on charges of DWI, but those charges were dismissed after he pleaded guilty to reckless driving. In 2003 he was arrested in El Paso, Texas, on suspicion of drunken driving, but those charges were dropped for lack of evidence. Some of the evidence: When officers asked Gillispie in 2003 for identification, he gave them a credit card instead of his driver's license.
That's what Gillispie does when he gets pulled over on suspicion of DUI: He ceases to think like an adult. In this latest incident, Gillispie was borderline pathetic. According to the arrest report, he was unable to find proof of insurance for his car. He searched unsuccessfully in his golf bag, of all places, but only after being uncertain how to open the trunk of his own car. First he was befuddled by his car's passenger-side door lock, and then by the door to his glove box, which required several tries by Gillispie to open.
He also drove, spoke, looked and smelled like he was drunk, according to the police report. Gillispie might get out of this one, like he got out of his first two DUI arrests, but enough is enough. As if three DUI arrests in a decade weren't enough circumstantial evidence of a drinking problem, there were the two years Gillispie spent at Kentucky -- where he was infamous for enjoying the nightlife. The next school that thinks about hiring Gillispie will need to speak to administrators at Kentucky who heard story after story after story about their basketball coach. Those stories made their way to fans, and the media. Maybe you've heard them. I've heard at least 10. Do I believe them? I didn't at the time. But now? Yes. I believe some of them. Not sure which ones. Not sure it matters which ones.
You think Gillispie was fired at Kentucky simply for winning "only" 40 games in two years and for being prickly with fans? Think again. There were plenty of reasons, and if Gillispie continues his ill-conceived lawsuit against Kentucky -- which he says owes him a $6 million buyout for firing him with five years left on his deal -- those reasons will come out.
Gillispie doesn't need that, just like he didn't need his third arrest in 10 years on DUI charges. As it was, Gillispie was going to have a hard time finding a decent job in college basketball. What he did at UTEP and Texas A&M was terrific, but being run out of Lexington after just two years stained his résumé.
It's impossible to gauge where Gillispie will go next because there has never been a situation like this, but the closest two comparisons that come to mind -- for various reasons -- are Matt Doherty and Larry Eustachy.
After being chased out of North Carolina in 2003 after three years, Doherty had a comparable résumé to the one Gillispie has now -- Gillispie had more experience as a head coach, but Doherty had been a high-profile player at North Carolina and assistant at Kansas -- and Doherty had to start over at Florida Atlantic University. After one successful season there, he made the jump all the way to ... SMU.
After his painfully public drinking problem at Iowa State in 2003, Eustachy had to start over at the bottom of Conference USA. Maybe you think Gillispie has a better coaching reputation than Eustachy. Maybe you forget that Eustachy has made it to the Elite Eight, whereas Gillispie has not. Eustachy took Iowa State there in 2000, and still he had to swallow his pride in 2004 and take the job at Southern Mississippi.
Gillispie will have to swallow all sorts of pride to get his next job, because he's a combination of Doherty and Eustachy. He failed at a job where failure is almost impossible and he has a public history of alcohol abuse.
It has been a staggering fall for a man who was one of the hottest coaches in college basketball in 2007, but that's where Gillispie is. He's not a rising star anymore. He's the drunk in the orange jumpsuit. He's the guy who couldn't open his own glove box. He's the grouchy coach who gave Kentucky almost no choice but to fire him after two years, and who then sued the school for doing just that.
If it weren't for the recent troubles of Calipari and Pitino, we would be talking a lot more about Gillispie. And we would be saying something like this:
Along with Dave Bliss, Jim Harrick and Nolan Richardson, Billy Gillispie is the least hirable coach in college basketball.
Source
Already the mug shot is out there, and it's startling enough. It shows Gillispie with puffy, heavy eyes. He looks 10 years older. He looks 20 pounds heavier. He looks drunk.Still, I submit the following: I submit that Gillispie is one of the luckiest SOB's around.
If he was going to get arrested for DUI -- and this being Gillispie, he was going to get arrested for DUI eventually -- last week was the best week possible. It came shortly after two enormous basketball stories had already broken in that state. Just one week earlier, the NCAA had taken away the 2008 Final Four banner from Memphis and the former Memphis coach who replaced Gillispie at Kentucky, John Calipari. And that came after the revelation that current Louisville (and former Kentucky) coach Rick Pitino had a one-dinner stand with a woman who accused him of raping her, impregnating her, marrying her off to his personal assistant and then paying for the abortion.
That's a lot of basketball headlines for a basketball state. By the time Gillispie landed himself in jail, there weren't many headlines left. He got a handful, but that's all. A handful.
For the most part, the college basketball world has already moved onward, meaning backward. Gillispie's DUI is the latest news, but it's not the biggest news. Not in Kentucky. The new Kentucky coach loses his second Final Four banner? The Louisville coach has an abortion scandal? Those are stories with staying power, and they've stayed around. Relatively speaking, Gillispie's DUI arrest was nothing.
Except for this fact:
It was everything.
It was the most recent straw -- I fear it's not the "final" straw -- in the unraveling of Billy Gillispie, the former coaching savant who won huge at UTEP and Texas A&M and then won bigger still in 2007 by landing the job at Kentucky. He was already a living legend. All he had to do was stay out of his own way, and Billy Gillispie was going to be a god.
Instead he tripped over his own shoes. He alienated the Kentucky administration. He wore down the players. He treated one of the most supportive fan bases in basketball like an annoyance. He had two of the worst seasons in school history, and then he was fired.
And then he was arrested. And spent the night in jail. In an orange jumpsuit.
No, Billy Gillispie isn't a god. He's a schmuck. And before he can even consider working at another school -- and before any school can even consider hiring him -- he probably needs to utter a very precise handful of words:
Hi. My name is Billy, and I have a drinking problem.
And listen to me. I don't write this with malice or mockery. Alcoholism is not a joking matter -- it's deadly serious -- and I'm convinced Gillispie has a deadly serious problem. If he's found guilty of DUI this would be his first alcohol-related conviction, but that's a technicality. This was his third such incident. He was arrested in 1999 in Tulsa, Okla., on charges of DWI, but those charges were dismissed after he pleaded guilty to reckless driving. In 2003 he was arrested in El Paso, Texas, on suspicion of drunken driving, but those charges were dropped for lack of evidence. Some of the evidence: When officers asked Gillispie in 2003 for identification, he gave them a credit card instead of his driver's license.
That's what Gillispie does when he gets pulled over on suspicion of DUI: He ceases to think like an adult. In this latest incident, Gillispie was borderline pathetic. According to the arrest report, he was unable to find proof of insurance for his car. He searched unsuccessfully in his golf bag, of all places, but only after being uncertain how to open the trunk of his own car. First he was befuddled by his car's passenger-side door lock, and then by the door to his glove box, which required several tries by Gillispie to open.
He also drove, spoke, looked and smelled like he was drunk, according to the police report. Gillispie might get out of this one, like he got out of his first two DUI arrests, but enough is enough. As if three DUI arrests in a decade weren't enough circumstantial evidence of a drinking problem, there were the two years Gillispie spent at Kentucky -- where he was infamous for enjoying the nightlife. The next school that thinks about hiring Gillispie will need to speak to administrators at Kentucky who heard story after story after story about their basketball coach. Those stories made their way to fans, and the media. Maybe you've heard them. I've heard at least 10. Do I believe them? I didn't at the time. But now? Yes. I believe some of them. Not sure which ones. Not sure it matters which ones.
You think Gillispie was fired at Kentucky simply for winning "only" 40 games in two years and for being prickly with fans? Think again. There were plenty of reasons, and if Gillispie continues his ill-conceived lawsuit against Kentucky -- which he says owes him a $6 million buyout for firing him with five years left on his deal -- those reasons will come out.
Gillispie doesn't need that, just like he didn't need his third arrest in 10 years on DUI charges. As it was, Gillispie was going to have a hard time finding a decent job in college basketball. What he did at UTEP and Texas A&M was terrific, but being run out of Lexington after just two years stained his résumé.
It's impossible to gauge where Gillispie will go next because there has never been a situation like this, but the closest two comparisons that come to mind -- for various reasons -- are Matt Doherty and Larry Eustachy.
After being chased out of North Carolina in 2003 after three years, Doherty had a comparable résumé to the one Gillispie has now -- Gillispie had more experience as a head coach, but Doherty had been a high-profile player at North Carolina and assistant at Kansas -- and Doherty had to start over at Florida Atlantic University. After one successful season there, he made the jump all the way to ... SMU.
After his painfully public drinking problem at Iowa State in 2003, Eustachy had to start over at the bottom of Conference USA. Maybe you think Gillispie has a better coaching reputation than Eustachy. Maybe you forget that Eustachy has made it to the Elite Eight, whereas Gillispie has not. Eustachy took Iowa State there in 2000, and still he had to swallow his pride in 2004 and take the job at Southern Mississippi.
Gillispie will have to swallow all sorts of pride to get his next job, because he's a combination of Doherty and Eustachy. He failed at a job where failure is almost impossible and he has a public history of alcohol abuse.
It has been a staggering fall for a man who was one of the hottest coaches in college basketball in 2007, but that's where Gillispie is. He's not a rising star anymore. He's the drunk in the orange jumpsuit. He's the guy who couldn't open his own glove box. He's the grouchy coach who gave Kentucky almost no choice but to fire him after two years, and who then sued the school for doing just that.
If it weren't for the recent troubles of Calipari and Pitino, we would be talking a lot more about Gillispie. And we would be saying something like this:
Along with Dave Bliss, Jim Harrick and Nolan Richardson, Billy Gillispie is the least hirable coach in college basketball.
Source
Saturday, November 28, 2009
From Part-Time Consulting Project To Full-Time Work
One of the readers of my missives asked recently if I had any regrets about my decision not to relocate to Memphis. I can say unequivocally that I have none. Even if I had known about the upcoming recession at the end of 2007, I would have made the same choice. Moving was never an option due to family obligations.
As longtime readers of this blog may recall, there were two members of my household who were unemployed. As I wrote about last March, my daughter Katie searched for a teaching position after graduating from college, but remained unemployed. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that I was underemployed since I was doing part-time consulting that brought in some income.
That situation changed recently when both of us landed a job, and on the same afternoon. Katie will be teaching English for a semester at a high school that is not too far away. She is filling in for another teacher who will soon be on maternity leave. Katie is hopeful that this opportunity will lead to something more permanent, but at the very least, it will provide her with some much needed experience.
I was offered, and accepted, a full-time position at the company where I have been working as an external consultant this past year. As the project has picked up momentum in the past couple of months. I was indeed expecting that this full-time opportunity might arise. I will now have the opportunity to see the team’s efforts to fruition as a consultant for this services company. The work is similar to what I’ve done in my last several jobs and will be in the IT arena. I will also be able to work from home with occasional travel to the company site in Ohio.
As with a high percentage of job landings, this opportunity came about through networking. Someone I used to work with at ServiceMaster, and who also decided not to relocate to Memphis in 2007, gave me a call a year ago and asked if I could assist his organization on a project. I continued my job search while working as a consultant because it was part-time and it was never a given that it would lead to something full-time. As it turns out, it did.
Source
As longtime readers of this blog may recall, there were two members of my household who were unemployed. As I wrote about last March, my daughter Katie searched for a teaching position after graduating from college, but remained unemployed. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that I was underemployed since I was doing part-time consulting that brought in some income.
That situation changed recently when both of us landed a job, and on the same afternoon. Katie will be teaching English for a semester at a high school that is not too far away. She is filling in for another teacher who will soon be on maternity leave. Katie is hopeful that this opportunity will lead to something more permanent, but at the very least, it will provide her with some much needed experience.
I was offered, and accepted, a full-time position at the company where I have been working as an external consultant this past year. As the project has picked up momentum in the past couple of months. I was indeed expecting that this full-time opportunity might arise. I will now have the opportunity to see the team’s efforts to fruition as a consultant for this services company. The work is similar to what I’ve done in my last several jobs and will be in the IT arena. I will also be able to work from home with occasional travel to the company site in Ohio.
As with a high percentage of job landings, this opportunity came about through networking. Someone I used to work with at ServiceMaster, and who also decided not to relocate to Memphis in 2007, gave me a call a year ago and asked if I could assist his organization on a project. I continued my job search while working as a consultant because it was part-time and it was never a given that it would lead to something full-time. As it turns out, it did.
Source
Sunday, November 15, 2009
My Thoughts: Doing 'right thing' requires giving thought to some things
The unemployment rate for the Memphis metropolitan area is hovering around 10 percent. In Tipton County, where I own a small business, the rate already has topped 12 percent. You have to go back more than two decades to find a more challenging economic environment.Having served on the Memphis City Council and as its chairman, I have a pretty good idea about what elected officials now hear from their constituents: "Do something." When times are tough, government is one of the places people look for help. Unfortunately, "do something" isn't a policy prescription, and it can run counter to the medical principle of "first do no harm."
The message officials should be hearing is "do something that works" or, to quote Spike Lee, "do the right thing." The challenge is to determine what is the right thing.
One thing is certain: The "right thing" isn't trying to spend our way into prosperity or tax our way into a balanced budget. Unfortunately, those are the policy prescriptions Washington is writing.
Just look at the "stimulus bill" signed into law earlier this year. We were told this was needed to keep the national unemployment rate under 8 percent. Unfortunately, unemployment now seems about to top 10 percent nationwide, with some pockets of 25 percent or more.
It appears the only thing being stimulated right now is the federal budget deficit, which already is four times larger than the biggest deficit under President George W. Bush. Clearly, we need to rethink this approach. I have a few suggestions:
First, let the "cap and trade" bill that passed in the House of Representatives die in the Senate. There's a general consensus that this bill will increase energy costs, especially in states like Tennessee that depend on coal-fired power plants for much of their electricity needs. Supporters point to the "green jobs" that this bill will create. We know from Spain's experience with cap and trade that it does create green jobs. Unfortunately, for every green job created, 2.2 other jobs are lost.
Second, defeat President Barack Obama's proposed job-killing tax increases on U.S. businesses with international operations. Presently, U.S. companies may defer paying taxes on overseas earnings until the funds are returned to the United States. Since U.S. companies pay the second-highest corporate tax rates among major nations, this deferral helps make them more competitive. The president also would make it more difficult for U.S. companies to receive credit for taxes paid to foreign governments, and eliminate the provision that gives U.S. companies flexibility in the way they structure their overseas operations.
This proposed tax hike would hit the Memphis-area economy especially hard. Companies with headquarters or major operations in Memphis, such as International Paper, Buckeye Technologies, Schering-Plough, Cargill, DuPont, Valero and of course FedEx, must be internationally competitive if they are to grow and prosper locally.
Third, get government out of business. We don't need a "car czar" beholden only to the president calling the shots at GM and Chrysler. Sen. Lamar Alexander's proposal to turn the government's ownership share of these companies over to American taxpayers is a good one. And we certainly don't need a "banking czar" deciding who should get loans and what interest they should pay. After all, it was the government-backed home loans to unqualified buyers that triggered this recession.
And finally, "just say slow" with health care reform. This is not the time to rush headlong into increasing federal spending by $1 trillion. Let's address a few critical issues such as making health insurance affordable for individuals with pre-existing conditions or allowing small businesses to join together to form larger groups to spread risk and lower average costs. Government needs to demonstrate it can get it right taking small steps before we make wholesale changes that affect almost 20 percent of our nation's economy.
Source
The message officials should be hearing is "do something that works" or, to quote Spike Lee, "do the right thing." The challenge is to determine what is the right thing.
One thing is certain: The "right thing" isn't trying to spend our way into prosperity or tax our way into a balanced budget. Unfortunately, those are the policy prescriptions Washington is writing.
Just look at the "stimulus bill" signed into law earlier this year. We were told this was needed to keep the national unemployment rate under 8 percent. Unfortunately, unemployment now seems about to top 10 percent nationwide, with some pockets of 25 percent or more.
It appears the only thing being stimulated right now is the federal budget deficit, which already is four times larger than the biggest deficit under President George W. Bush. Clearly, we need to rethink this approach. I have a few suggestions:
First, let the "cap and trade" bill that passed in the House of Representatives die in the Senate. There's a general consensus that this bill will increase energy costs, especially in states like Tennessee that depend on coal-fired power plants for much of their electricity needs. Supporters point to the "green jobs" that this bill will create. We know from Spain's experience with cap and trade that it does create green jobs. Unfortunately, for every green job created, 2.2 other jobs are lost.
Second, defeat President Barack Obama's proposed job-killing tax increases on U.S. businesses with international operations. Presently, U.S. companies may defer paying taxes on overseas earnings until the funds are returned to the United States. Since U.S. companies pay the second-highest corporate tax rates among major nations, this deferral helps make them more competitive. The president also would make it more difficult for U.S. companies to receive credit for taxes paid to foreign governments, and eliminate the provision that gives U.S. companies flexibility in the way they structure their overseas operations.
This proposed tax hike would hit the Memphis-area economy especially hard. Companies with headquarters or major operations in Memphis, such as International Paper, Buckeye Technologies, Schering-Plough, Cargill, DuPont, Valero and of course FedEx, must be internationally competitive if they are to grow and prosper locally.
Third, get government out of business. We don't need a "car czar" beholden only to the president calling the shots at GM and Chrysler. Sen. Lamar Alexander's proposal to turn the government's ownership share of these companies over to American taxpayers is a good one. And we certainly don't need a "banking czar" deciding who should get loans and what interest they should pay. After all, it was the government-backed home loans to unqualified buyers that triggered this recession.
And finally, "just say slow" with health care reform. This is not the time to rush headlong into increasing federal spending by $1 trillion. Let's address a few critical issues such as making health insurance affordable for individuals with pre-existing conditions or allowing small businesses to join together to form larger groups to spread risk and lower average costs. Government needs to demonstrate it can get it right taking small steps before we make wholesale changes that affect almost 20 percent of our nation's economy.
Source
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
West Memphis Family Survives SUV Crash into their Home
WEST MEMPHIS, AR - A West Memphis home was demolished by a suspected drunk driver who plowed into the house early Sunday morning. The explosive crash put two kids in the hospital and left a family homeless.
"I was asleep," says crash eyewitness Ashley Craig, "and I heard a loud explosion like a volcano exploded."
Ashley was lucky. She was sleeping in the back of the house when an SUV came crashing through the front door. 10-year-old Noel Gonzalez and 15-year-old Tony McKinny weren't so lucky.
"I saw my cousin and my step-brother," says Craig, "walking out of the room with blood on them."
The boys were on a couch in the living room when plaster, bricks, concrete and glass came raining down on them.
"The kids had a gash on the head," says their aunt, Linnie Dove. "Noel has a gash in his head. And Tony got glass in his hair and a big knot on his head. And he hurt his hand, too. And now Noel is traumatized, too scared go to to sleep."
West Memphis Police say they noticed a driver who appeared intoxicated leaving the Waffle House around 5:00 a.m. As officers began pursuing him, the driver sped up and tried to outrun the cops. He lost control of his car in the 400-block of Ok Street near Broadway and MLK Drive. He hopped a curb, sliced through several yards and slammed into a house filled with sleeping people.
"He was on the ground crying like a little baby," says Craig. "He was on the ground next to his vehicle. Police had to get him out of his car because his legs were jammed up between the seats."
Investigators say the driver is wanted on a felony warrant out of Missouri. He can now add this accident to his legal problems.
"Everybody got to find a place to live," says Dove, "because somebody made a stupid mistake."
A stupid mistake that almost cost two kids their lives. Gonzalez and McKinny were treated for cuts and bruises at Crittenden Memorial and are expected to recover.
22-year-old Maurice Jefferson, of West Memphis, is charged with DWI, fleeing from police, reckless driving, driving on a suspended license, driving without insurance and not wearing a seatbelt.
Investigators say Jefferson had been involved in a domestic dispute about five hours before the accident. Cops were called out to handle the situation.
Jefferson was seriously injured in the accident and remained in custody at The MED late Sunday.
Source
"I was asleep," says crash eyewitness Ashley Craig, "and I heard a loud explosion like a volcano exploded."
Ashley was lucky. She was sleeping in the back of the house when an SUV came crashing through the front door. 10-year-old Noel Gonzalez and 15-year-old Tony McKinny weren't so lucky.
"I saw my cousin and my step-brother," says Craig, "walking out of the room with blood on them."
The boys were on a couch in the living room when plaster, bricks, concrete and glass came raining down on them.
"The kids had a gash on the head," says their aunt, Linnie Dove. "Noel has a gash in his head. And Tony got glass in his hair and a big knot on his head. And he hurt his hand, too. And now Noel is traumatized, too scared go to to sleep."
West Memphis Police say they noticed a driver who appeared intoxicated leaving the Waffle House around 5:00 a.m. As officers began pursuing him, the driver sped up and tried to outrun the cops. He lost control of his car in the 400-block of Ok Street near Broadway and MLK Drive. He hopped a curb, sliced through several yards and slammed into a house filled with sleeping people.
"He was on the ground crying like a little baby," says Craig. "He was on the ground next to his vehicle. Police had to get him out of his car because his legs were jammed up between the seats."
Investigators say the driver is wanted on a felony warrant out of Missouri. He can now add this accident to his legal problems.
"Everybody got to find a place to live," says Dove, "because somebody made a stupid mistake."
A stupid mistake that almost cost two kids their lives. Gonzalez and McKinny were treated for cuts and bruises at Crittenden Memorial and are expected to recover.
22-year-old Maurice Jefferson, of West Memphis, is charged with DWI, fleeing from police, reckless driving, driving on a suspended license, driving without insurance and not wearing a seatbelt.
Investigators say Jefferson had been involved in a domestic dispute about five hours before the accident. Cops were called out to handle the situation.
Jefferson was seriously injured in the accident and remained in custody at The MED late Sunday.
Source
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)