Rumley Still Doesn't Have His Mess Cleaned Up

A little while after the election in Nov, I posed the question of who would clean up Jim Rumley's mess of stickers on public street signs,etc... Details here in this post.

In a comment to the Nov post on this Jim Rumley himself said "As with any campaign, some volunteers are a bit over zealous. I pay for my campaign materials and will take them down wherever I can after the Nov. 7th election. The bumper stickers you see are very easily removed vinyl and I will make an effort to remove them. None have been placed on public property with my permission. I too think the lollipop signs are unique and they and the regular yard signs are all I have authorized to be put up. I will make a true effort even if I have to do it my self over the next few weeks. Also as with many campaigns we have had many signs removed from private property and I am sure some volunteers have reacted to that as well. Thanks for the discussion."

Well Jim it is January going on February and I'm still seeing them around town. The pictures above were taken today. The sticker on the back of the street sign is at the center median of Benjamin Parkway and S Aycock St. The lollipop sign is by Radience on S Aycock St.

I have a challenge for you Jim. You come to this blog and name a time convenient for you to come clean up your mess. I'd would like to see you do this with my own eyes. I will post photos of you doing this here so you can redeem your character as a politico. If you fail to do this, you have taken from the pockets of the taxpayers in Greensboro and that doesn't bode well for you in the future. There it is Jim, be a man of your word, or lie to appease and crap on Greensboro.

Which will it be?

My Day In Raleigh and Sierra Club NC Blogging

I attended the 1st day of the General Legislature today in Raleigh. I watched the swearing in of the House of Representatives and the election of Joe Hackney to Speaker of the House. I met with most of our Guilford County reps, including Pricey Harrison, Maggie Jeffus, Katie Dorsett and Kay Hagen. I ran into the New and Records Mark Binker as well.

I also met some new folks while out in Raleigh. One of whom is the Director of Government Relations for The North Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club, Christa Wagner. We made small talk and wound up on blogging. Come to find out the NC chapter of the Sierra Club is blogging. Check out the blog here, static website here. They are a very important special interest group that is taking the steps we need to take to save our planet from ourselves. Keep up the great work.

Quote of the day: Ed Cone says to me, when I call leaving after the election of Joe Hackney to give him the results to blog, "I know already. You can't beat the Internet." He's right you can't, I should have brought my laptop to live blog the event. Maybe next time.

A Bold And Visionary Leader?

Tony Snow said today, leading up to the State Of The Union address, that we would see a bold and visionary leader. I saw one, and she was sitting behind the President and next to the Vice President. Nancy Pelosi must have been the bold and visionary leader Tony Snow was speaking of.

On a side note, Sen Webb did a fine job with the Democratic response. He pointed to two Republican President's that fixed a past economic divide and ending a lost war. Maybe the President can look up to those leaders and pick himself up off the ground.

I feel that this was more sugar coating by the President. Another smoke and mirrors speech. Civilian reserve for the military? Tax incentives for Health Insurance? I don't know about all of that. 727 days left in office and then the Democrats can really help the people.

Outlook From DC

I ran into Congressman Brad Miller yesterday at the NC Democratic State Executive Committee meeting. I asked how things were going in DC now that the Dem's have power. He said, "It feels good to finally have a voice, we can finally get some things done for the people." I also commented on how happy I was with the first 100 hours plan. He pointed out that it only took 42 working hours to do it. "Either way", I said, "you have already done more in 6 days then the Republican Congress did in 6 years for the average American."

The Congressman was very upbeat and yes I saw him smile more then I have ever seen in the past. Keep up the good job Congressman.

Something else I heard or saw at the meeting:

A bumper sticker that reads, "If chickens were Republicans, they would vote for the Colonel." I must say, I laughed my ass off.

I also met Larry Kissell, who says he is gearing up to get those 330+ votes it will take in 2008 to defeat Robin Hayes, the man who sold out the people of his district by sending jobs overseas in the deciding CAFTA vote. Go Larry!!

Jerry Meek will lead us again, as he should. He has done a hell of a good job in his time as chair and unanimously was re-elected to chair the party.

Outlook from DC is bright and sunny with lots for the people to smile about. Outlook on the state level is the same.

Mom Takes On Wal-Mart

We all know how Wal-Mart is when it comes to eradicating small businesses and running up your local social services bills to astronomical rates, but the following is a prime example of how Wal-Mart treats their own customers when they are injured by someone of Wal-Mart's employ.

Mom and Pop have frequented the Sam's Club(owned by Wal-Mart) on Wendover Ave in Greensboro, pretty much since the doors opened. It was the same attraction as everyone else has, a lot more for less money. The only problems they have ever incurred there was long lines and the overcrowding of shoppers. That is until June 3rd, 2006.

On June the 3rd, 2006 mom and pop set out on a grocery run to Sam's Club. Upon arriving, they parked, walked inside and pop went on as mom grabbed a shopping cart inside the first set of doors. As she began to turn with the cart to proceed inside, BAM!, she was blindsided by a train of shopping carts on one of those machines that makes it easier for the "cart guy" to gather and bring the carts inside. She was struck in her lower back with force and pushed into her cart and wedged with extreme prejudice.

There are witnesses, that stayed with mom all the way from the incident occurring through the report being taken at Sam's Club. Mom was offered no chair, wheelchair, etc.. and when a manager was finally fetched to come to the scene, she left to take care of another incident of a women falling. Another member of the management team was sought and handled the rest of the process. A report was taken at Sam's Club that evening at the customer service desk with mom standing the entire time in extreme pain. After bringing this to light, which I am sure isn't the only incident, Wal-Mart/Sam's Club may want to add a customer disservice desk when they get a chance.

Mom went to her doctor the next day, whom referred her to go to physical therapy. Problem being, she must pay up front for the physical therapy which she doesn't have the money for and to this day still can't go and figure out what is exactly wrong with her back.

Mom and pop sought legal council on this matter and found Robert Boyan of High Point, who came recommended for this case due to his prior experiences with Wal-Mart and their insurance company. Here is where it gets complicated.

Wal-Mart claims that the employee whose negligence caused my mom's injuries is a temp and they are not liable for them. The temp company says they will settle on part of the case, but Wal-mart must cover the other part and they absolutely refuse.

Mr Boyan has told me that in his experience with Wal-Mart they always deny the claim right off the bat, no matter what it is. Then they dispute it if the case doesn't go away with the denial. If the case persists, they will discuss a settlement. He says, "This is extremely time consuming."

Mom's lower back still hurts bad. Wal-Mart was asked to pay for her physical therapy and they denied. Besides the pain in her back, mom is experiencing pain in her left leg, massive headaches that Tylenol and Advil don't touch, she can not walk or sit for long periods of time, any time she does sit down it has to be with a lumbar pillow, she has experienced lack of sleep and to put it mildly certain aspects of being married can not happen due to pain.

Her bills are in the thousands already and Wal-Mart still plays with this case like a toy.

This is not the only case against Wal-Mart. Here is a site devoted to litigation against Wal-mart. Another site here. Here is the Google search for "Wal-mart customer injuries". There is a lot to sift through.