Since Dixy Lee Ray’s name was brought up on my FaceBook page, I thought I’d share a fun memory of her. I knew her while I was working as a reporter and news anchor on KIRO-TV in Seattle.
Dixy, who was then running for office as Washington State Governor, was actually kind of a wild lady. She did an occasional TV show on KIRO, always wearing the same faded canary-yellow jacket. One day just moments before the show went live, a floor director suggested that she put on a different colored jacket which he had in his hands.
I usually write these blogs in the middle of the night when I’m barely awake. So I’m constantly finding embarrassing typos. Of course, I realize you’re never supposed to admit these things publicly, but after forty years in a TV newsroom I’m used to having others correct my spelling and grammar. We’re all on the same team, here, right? And we all want to be credible, right? So please don’t hesitate to point out errors that need correcting.
I’m easy to reach at Ward@NeighborsAtWar.com. And I will correct any and all errors when I get the signal. Egads, I love the Internet!
Across this grand country of ours, people are waking up to the massive corruption scheme known as the Homeowners Association Movement. This cash cow has transferred billions of dollars from the assets of homeowners into the pockets of the tort industry. No lawyer can afford NOT to represent Homeowners Associations against individual homeowners. And lots of HOA board officials get slipped cash for going along with the program.
Is this writer really serious? Isn’t he a little off his rocker? Organized crime? Didn’t we all think all members of the Mafia were either dead or in prison?
You don’t hear many stories about HOA nightmares in Oregon and Washington. Well, folks, that’s changing.
Here’s a story that claims 31 Homeowners Associations in Oregon were ripped off by their management company. Homeowners are facing huge special assessments to make up for the loss. The management company employee embezzled up to two million dollars. HOAs from Portland to Forest Grove are struggling under the weight of the financial disaster.
Stunned homeowners were heard saying, “Gosh, you just don’t hear about this kind of thing happening.” to which our only comment should be “HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!”
One of the saddest stories out of Washington this Christmas is that Congressmen are forbidden from wishing their constituents “Merry Christmas” if they’re using Congressional franking privileges. In fact, the newest rules accept “Have a happy new year,” but do not permit “Happy New Year!”
It seems the PC crowd doesn’t want tax dollars used for anything that even hints at any connection to religion. The First Amendment doesn’t mandate that life in America be absolutely secular, it simply says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” But 200 years of Supreme Court rulings have decided that the First Amendment doesn’t say what our common sense tells us it does.
