Climbing into America may be a trap
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Texas farmers are well aware of this problem. In fact some farmers located near the Mexican border have gone so far as to install ladders on their property to allow illegal immigrants to climb over their fences.
While this may seem overly accommodating, the alternative is worse. The immigrants are making holes in the farmers? fences to cross the border, and those holes are allowing cattle to escape. As you can imagine, chasing cows over Texas and Mexico is not what most folks do for fun so the farmers erected the ladders with the hopes of solving the problem.
However, the illegal immigrants won?t use the ladders for fear there?s a catch or it?s some sort of trap. They are still making holes in the fences. With that in mind, here?s my question.
If immigrants are suspicious of a simple ladder, why aren?t Americans more suspicious of these Nigerian check scams that are finding new victims every day. Personally, I?m a little skeptical at the chance to earn $3 million for keeping money in my bank account for 10 days.
Speaking of scams, most of us realize identity theft is another of this country?s biggest problems. That can mean stealing someone?s Social Security card or swiping their driver?s license.
A 22-year-old waitress in Westlake, Ohio received a rude awakening last week when she asked a young lady for ID and was shown her very own driver?s license. This would instantly send off a signal to me that the young lady is underage. It turns out the waitress had lost her wallet at a bar in July.
The young lady became suspicious when the waitress was gone for a long time with the license and she fled the restaurant. That?s a good thing because the waitress had gone to call police.
The woman?s identity was discovered, however, when police arrived at the bar and her friends rolled on her. They told police her name and address and she was arrested.
As for today?s final tidbit, we?re all recovering from another round of elections with one more to go in November. Looking back at the local election season, it?s easy to analyze political strategies in hindsight and determine which ones were good and bad.
Dale Potter, for example, showed he had an ill-advised political strategy by going on the attack against opponent Lisa Zavogiannis. County commission hopeful David Snowden also went on the attack against his opponents, saying they had failed Warren County.
Both Potter and Snowden lost by wide margins.
But when it comes to flawed campaign strategies, California Assembly candidate Bill Conrad takes the cake. Conrad?s slogan was that his opponent ?doesn?t have the HEART for State Assembly.?
In case you?re wondering, HEART was in all capital letters because his opponent, Tom Berryhill, had undergone a heart transplant. This prompted Conrad to use a variety of disastrous campaign cliches like Berryhill has lost his heart to serve the people of California.
While I suppose it is technically true that Berryhill lost his heart, making fun of someone else?s health problems is not the best way to get elected. Berryhill won easily.
New cafe open for lunch
There?s a neat little cafe that will be open for lunch beginning this Monday and it?s appropriately named Lunch Time Cafe.
Is it open for breakfast? No. Is it open for dinner? No. Lunch Time Cafe is open from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday.
The cozy restaurant, located on S. Chancery Street across from USA Gym, specializes in homemade food. That includes the pasta salad, cole slaw and potato salad. It includes the meatballs, the tuna salad and the white breast chicken salad with apples and grapes.
?You can tell a big difference when it?s made from scratch,? said Alicia DeCesare, who owns the restaurant with her husband, John. ?Our emphasis is on freshness and quality ? no shortcuts.?
The couple has a long history in the restaurant business with John coming from a restaurant family in New Jersey. They lived in Florida for a while before moving to McMinnville about two years ago.
?We?re not trying to compete with anybody,? said John. ?We?re trying to bring our favorite recipes to the area for people to enjoy.?
The one thing that jumps out at me when looking at the menu is all the prices include sales tax. It?s like a tax free weekend every day at Lunch Time Cafe. There?s not a sandwich on the menu over $5 and all sandwiches come with one side item.
?We want to build up a good reputation and get people in to try it,? said John on why he set his prices so low.
Kandi Steele, a longtime employee with The Collection Cafe, has brought her famous fruit tea recipe and says she?s been impressed with working with the DeCesares.
?They have taken a lot of pains to make sure everything is right,? said Kandi. ?And you can tell by the taste. The food is great.?
There are several tables for folks who want to dine in and take-out orders are also more than welcome. If you want to fax in a dozen orders for an entire office, that?s encouraged too. The fax number is 507-3330. The phone number is 507-3333.
And I can?t end this write up without mentioning the house special, the Jersey Shore Italian (all beef) Hot Dog that?s served with peppers, onion and fried potatoes. If you?re watching your weight, sandwiches can be served as a wrap instead of on bread.
Sonic is about to get bigger
If you like restaurant news, this is the Business Pulse column for you. If you like the great taste of Sonic and wish the drive-in would expand to offer more parking spaces to place your order, your wish is in the process of coming true.
Dirt has been moved and the steel work for the overhead metal structures is expected to begin later this week. When the project is done (the target date is mid-September), Sonic will have eight new stalls for a total of 40.
?We?re trying to upgrade our facilities here,? said manager Steve Hannah. ?I guess you could say business has been good. We?re doing this to better serve our customers. There are times when they have to drive around looking for a parking spot.?
The expansion will give Sonic two separate entrances and two exits. The new entrance will be off Roberts Drive, which is the short road that runs between Sonic and Scot Market.
The eight new stalls will face the ones on the southern end of the restaurant. For folks like me who don?t always pay attention to north, south, east and west, those are the stalls closest to Scot Market.
Treat your heart to New Energy Wellness
Every 60 seconds someone dies of a heart attack. Heart attacks kill more people than the next nine causes of death combined. Those statistics were provided to me by the folks at New Energy Wellness, a health-conscious business that has recently opened on Yager Road.
The business goal is to improve the cardiovascular fitness of folks in this area by making them aware of warning signs before they lead to death. And I?ve always maintained the best time to address a health problem is before you die.
New Energy Wellness offers testing by a digital pulse wave analysis (DPA) machine. In a five-minute test, the DPA machine can measure circulation, heart efficiency, hydration, and pulse. Grades are given on a scale from A to G, with A being the best.
?When our mom got sick and suffered some strokes, we decided it was time to do something,? said Janice Meadows, who has opened the business with her two sisters, Kathy Bell and Wanda Manning, and her son, Michael Meadows. ?We as a family all took the test and we didn?t fare too well but now we?ve all improved.?
Key to improved heart health is a supplement called Cardio Cocktail. The way it was explained to me, this Cardio Cocktail doesn?t get your heart drunk. Rather it offers a different treat.
According to Janice, plaque builds up on your artery walls and that plaque restricts blood flow. It can lead to blood pressure problems, a stroke or a heart attack. But Cardio Cocktail attacks that plaque.
?It dissolves the plaque and moves it out of your body,? said Janice. ?It cleans the arteries and makes them smooth.?
New Energy Wellness also has a Rife Wellness Technology Machine that can help treat over 550 conditions that come from infectious agents. The machine works using vibrational energy.
Janice was careful to stress that New Energy Wellness does not make wild claims about miraculous cures. Rather the Rife machine allows your body to heal in accordance to the laws of nature without harsh man-made chemicals with dangerous side effects.
There is also a bio-cleanse machine that removes body toxins through the feet. This detoxification takes place while you are comfortably seated with your feet in warm water.
The bio-cleanse works by generating a stream of positive and negative ions which attach themselves to oppositely charged toxic particles and draws them out of the body through the skin.
All of this stuff is a little bit over my head so I encourage you to call New Energy Wellness with any questions. The phone number is 668-1834 and the address is 3611 Yager Road.
More good news for local jeweler Greg Yates
Let?s all give Greg Yates at United Diamond Brokers a warm round of applause. Although I say that figuratively. There?s no need to stand in your living room and clap.
Greg was recently honored with an 18-karat gold and diamond pin to signify 10 years of membership in the Independent Jewelers Organization. IJO is the world?s largest jewelry buying group.
?Being a part of IJO all these years has changed the way I do business and has turned out to be a great benefit to my customers,? said Greg. ?I?m able to offer the quality, integrity and trust my customers deserve and the very finest product on the market.?
United Diamond Brokers is located in Plaza Shopping Center.
That?s all folks
If you have business news I haven?t covered in this column then let me know. The phone number is 473-2191.
Since the business tips haven?t been pouring in lately, and since I?m eager for conversation, you can also give me a call to talk football.