More from Neal Boortz
I LOVE THIS GOVERNMENT SCHOOL STORY ...
Years ago I was playing on a golf course near Atlanta. A thunderstorm developed nearby, and the sirens sounded clearing the course. About 20 minutes later the sky was blue, and we were itching to get back out there and finish the round ... but we couldn't. The insurance company covering the golf course had established a requirement that the course had to be cleared in the event of a lightning strike within a few miles of the course. That's reasonable. But then the course operators could not allow anybody to return to play until 30 minutes after the last lightning strike within five miles. We sat there ... 25 minutes would pass .. then lightning would hit about four miles away in a storm that was moving away from the course. The timer started again and it was almost an hour before we could resume play.
I never play that golf course when storms are in the forecast.
That brings us to a few government schools in Orlando. Last Friday, just a students were gathering their stuff together to go home for the weekend, a thunderstorm came wandering along. School officials at the Ocoee elementary and middle schools shut the doors. Students would not be allowed to leave. The mothers and fathers were lined up in the driveways to pick up their children.
It seems that these government schools were following the same policy they had at the golf course. The school officials kept starting their 30-minute timers every time they saw lightning or heard thunder. That's right ... the school rule was that no kid could go outside for 30 minutes after lightning is seen or thunder is heard.
So .. how long did the parents wait? Try five hours. That's right. Five Hours. Parents are waiting outside of the school .. but their children couldn't come out for almost five hours.
Now the Orange County schools say that they are going to "redo" their policy. The golf course did that many years ago. Funny how the competitive nature of the private marketplace changes things so fast..
ILLEGAL 'UNLICENSED' DRIVERS
The Los Angeles Police Department decided that it is going to stop impounding cars ... of "unlicensed drivers." They say the practice may be unconstitutional because "many unlicensed drivers who have their cars towed are illegal immigrants who cannot get driver's licenses."
Just an FYI ... I did a little research. There are over 2 million illegal immigrants in California alone. At least one million of them drive without a license.
The department decided to change its rules after civil rights aaaactivists and LA politicians read a court ruling in Oregon. The case involved a man named Jorge Miranda. Good ole Jorge (pronounced whore-hey) was teaching his wife, an unlicensed driver, to drive his car. She was pulled over by a cop. He impounded the vehicle for thirty days because it was being driven by an unlicensed driver. The ruling said this is a no-no.
Now let's see here. If you drive a car and you don't have a license, somewhat of an indication you don't know how to drive, they can't take the car. But if they find a little Mary Jane stuffed between the cushions of the back seat, they can.
LAPD will no longer impound vehicles solely because the driver is driving without a license. Now how is this for government brilliance ... the driver will be cited for driving without a license but the car will only be impounded if it cannot be driven away by a licensed driver or parked legally and secured.
In other words, if none of your amigos actually have a legal driver's license and cannot come and pick up the car, you are still SOL.
But don't worry. Senator Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles has information on his website as to how unlicensed drivers can fight impounds. Now there's man of the people.
Years ago I was playing on a golf course near Atlanta. A thunderstorm developed nearby, and the sirens sounded clearing the course. About 20 minutes later the sky was blue, and we were itching to get back out there and finish the round ... but we couldn't. The insurance company covering the golf course had established a requirement that the course had to be cleared in the event of a lightning strike within a few miles of the course. That's reasonable. But then the course operators could not allow anybody to return to play until 30 minutes after the last lightning strike within five miles. We sat there ... 25 minutes would pass .. then lightning would hit about four miles away in a storm that was moving away from the course. The timer started again and it was almost an hour before we could resume play.
I never play that golf course when storms are in the forecast.
That brings us to a few government schools in Orlando. Last Friday, just a students were gathering their stuff together to go home for the weekend, a thunderstorm came wandering along. School officials at the Ocoee elementary and middle schools shut the doors. Students would not be allowed to leave. The mothers and fathers were lined up in the driveways to pick up their children.
It seems that these government schools were following the same policy they had at the golf course. The school officials kept starting their 30-minute timers every time they saw lightning or heard thunder. That's right ... the school rule was that no kid could go outside for 30 minutes after lightning is seen or thunder is heard.
So .. how long did the parents wait? Try five hours. That's right. Five Hours. Parents are waiting outside of the school .. but their children couldn't come out for almost five hours.
Now the Orange County schools say that they are going to "redo" their policy. The golf course did that many years ago. Funny how the competitive nature of the private marketplace changes things so fast..
ILLEGAL 'UNLICENSED' DRIVERS
The Los Angeles Police Department decided that it is going to stop impounding cars ... of "unlicensed drivers." They say the practice may be unconstitutional because "many unlicensed drivers who have their cars towed are illegal immigrants who cannot get driver's licenses."
Just an FYI ... I did a little research. There are over 2 million illegal immigrants in California alone. At least one million of them drive without a license.
The department decided to change its rules after civil rights aaaactivists and LA politicians read a court ruling in Oregon. The case involved a man named Jorge Miranda. Good ole Jorge (pronounced whore-hey) was teaching his wife, an unlicensed driver, to drive his car. She was pulled over by a cop. He impounded the vehicle for thirty days because it was being driven by an unlicensed driver. The ruling said this is a no-no.
Now let's see here. If you drive a car and you don't have a license, somewhat of an indication you don't know how to drive, they can't take the car. But if they find a little Mary Jane stuffed between the cushions of the back seat, they can.
LAPD will no longer impound vehicles solely because the driver is driving without a license. Now how is this for government brilliance ... the driver will be cited for driving without a license but the car will only be impounded if it cannot be driven away by a licensed driver or parked legally and secured.
In other words, if none of your amigos actually have a legal driver's license and cannot come and pick up the car, you are still SOL.
But don't worry. Senator Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles has information on his website as to how unlicensed drivers can fight impounds. Now there's man of the people.