Today's Program: Children of Promise

Today's speaker, Tim Wilson, is director of the Children of Promise mentoring initiative, a component of Communities in Schools. Based at Northeast Texas Community College, Wilson is working to raise up mentors for children whose parents are in jail. He estimates that about 2 million children in America have a parent in prison. The present effects on the kids - not to mention the increased likelihood they will themselves be incarcerated later in life - are devastating. He's looking for mentors who will commit to spending an hour a week with a child for a year. He says the hour a week is flexible - but the year commitment is not: these kids have seen too many adults make promises and then drop out of their lives.

The requirements for being a mentor include:

• At least 21
• Agree to a one year commitment
• Commit to spending a minimum of an hour a week with the mentee
• Have access to an automobile
• Have a current driver's license, auto insurance, and a good driving record
• Have a clean criminal history [I interpret that to mean NO criminal history]
• Have never been arrested, charged, or convicted of child abuse, neglect, or molestation
• Not be a convicted felon
• Not be a user of illicit drugs
• Be willing to adhere to all CIS policies and procedures

Wilson says the need in Pittsburg and Mount Pleasant is dire. They have at least 40 children that need placement. For more information you can contact Tim Wilson at TWilson@ntcc.edu or 903-434-8212.

Program on Identity Theft

Today’s program featured Pittsburg Police Detective Richard Penn speaking on Identity Theft. He said they get 6-8 calls on this each month, and investigate each one. Texas has moved up to the number 4 state in the country for Identity Theft (the wrong direction) – California has the dubious honor of being number 1. This crime is on the rise in the Southwest, paralleling, Penn said, the location of the main production and use of methamphetamine, perhaps suggesting it is used as a way to finance the drug life.

Identity theft is a pain, besmirching your name and potentially costing you hundreds of hours of work and thousands of dollars to clear your record.

He noted that the crime is virtually unknown in Europe, probably because unlike US practice, the Europeans do not link personal identification and financial/credit information.

Some ways they steal your identity:

• “Pharming” – Thieves hijack a legitimate business or financial website and steal your information.


• “Phishing” – You get an email purporting to be from your bank or a business like Ebay. They tell you something is wrong with your account (some times that they’re about to cancel it) unless you click on the link and re-enter your account information. Although the link may look authentic, it’s not.


• Jury Duty – They call of an evening to tell you that you failed to respond to your jury summons. However, nice people that they are, they’d like to send you your jury pay anyway. Just give the nice person your financial data so they can “help” you.


• “Nigerian” scam letters – These purport to be from someone (frequently a relative of someone famous – I’ve gotten several from the “widow” of Sani Abacha, a former Nigerian dictator) who needs your help acquiring a large sum of money (usually in the millions). If you will handle the transaction through your bank, they will give you a percentage of the money. Instead, they empty your bank account for you.


• Mailbox theft – People steal pieces of mail during mid-day when you’re at work and your mail is innocently sitting in your box.

How to prevent ID theft:

• Get a secure post office box


• Shred financial documents before you dispose of them


• Guard your information, especially PINs (He told of an occasion where thieves wer able to use a fellow’s ATM card because he had his PIN written on a piece of tape on the card itself)


• Consult your credit report regularly


• Report any suspicious activity to the police


• Watch your credit card receipts (some businesses still use old machines that print your whole number)


• Limit the personal info you carry around.


• If you’re a victim, you can get a security freeze on your credit

Other sources of information:

• Federal Trade Commission


• Texas Department of Public Safety

Wednesday's Program

Judge Preston Combest (County Judger, Camp County) spoke last week on the “State of Camp County.” He began with state-wide legal changes that are impacting Camp County.

• The per diem for jurors has been raised from $6 to $40. A nice move for jurors, but the state failed to appropriate any money to cover the expense.


• The fines and fees associated resulting from DWI have risen dramatically. These costs have had the unintended consequence of increasing the number of unlicensed, uninsured motorists.

In news around the county:

• The county is looking at acquiring multi-lingual, handicapped accessible voting equipment, the Model 100 Precinct Ballot Counter.


• The new park will have a fishing lake, 4-6 ball fields, a 1.2 mile walking trail, facilities for volleyball, and a play area for children.


• The park will be built by August 2007.


• 90% of the stump digging has been done, with a major labor contribution from Jimmy Nickerson.


• $500k is coming from the state, with a requirement that the funds be matched locally..