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While I am not as extreme as say Oliver Stone, I do believe in conspiracies. I don’t believe that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe that the gas companies are preventing us from having a viable alternative to petroleum-powered cars and that whatever the government is hiding at Area 51 is not of this earth. None of these things can be proved and the best we can do is look at what information is available and come to our own conclusions.
I knew when I started writing this column that if I truly spoke my mind that there could be possible repercussions. Whether it came via letters to the editor or the occasional confrontation from people who didn’t like what I had written and wanted to “discuss” it with me. Which is a good argument for why I don’t put my picture at the top of my column. I don’t relish the thought of being accosted in Ralph's while buying an artichoke.
So when one week after voicing my displeasure with one of our local government departments I received the following letter, you can draw your own conclusions as to its timing and reason for being sent. . . .
February 10, 2005
Janet A. Sherman
Community Development Department
9701 Las Tunas Drive
Temple City, CA 91780-2249
Dear Janet,
Thank you for your correspondence pertaining to how I earn a living. It is nice to know that the Planning Commission, out of the blue and a mere week after my article criticizing your sister department, Code Enforcement, took the time to investigate me. While I am sure it would be a hoot to come down and hang out with you guys at City Hall and explain this in person, I think it is best that we do it in writing so we don’t have to venture down this path again.
Please don’t misunderstand me Janet, I don’t blame you personally. After all you are only the messenger so my comments are not directed at you. Although I am very impressed at your apparent supernatural powers. Your ability to mail out a letter before you wrote it is absolutely amazing. To get a letter postmarked February 8th that was written on February 9th sent chills up my spine. I felt like I was in an episode of The Twilight Zone. Very spooky.
Unfortunately, the information you received is incorrect. I do not now, nor have I ever operated a business in the City of Temple. Although, when I first became a sales representative, I made the mistake of getting a business license because I didn’t know any better. I found out later that it wasn’t required so I think that the City owes me a refund for selling me something I did not need. This, even though I explained at the time what it was I did for a living. I will be looking for the rebate check in the mail.
As you referenced my web site in your letter you could have saved yourself the stamp had someone there bothered to read the first line on the first page of the site. But then we wouldn’t have had this opportunity to become pen pals would we? To save you a trip back to the Internet it says that I “Represent Manufacturers in the Packaging Industry.” Just in case you don’t understand what that means please let me clarify. I work for manufacturers as an independent salesman. None of these businesses operate anywhere near our community otherwise you might have had some where to go with this little witch-hunt.
Just for your edification, the purpose of the web site is nothing more than a place to showcase those manufacturers. The name ####### is a nickname I was given by some of the artists I worked with in the past. I do not sell, manufacture, or distribute anything from this location. All billing and sales are done by the manufacturers, not me. All I do is answer a phone, go out to take orders and measure equipment and the manufacturers pay me. End of story. Asking me to get a business license is like asking the employees behind the counter at McDonald’s to get a business license to sell burgers.
What I find particularly irritating about having to even address this topic again is the fact that I have explained this two times before to Jaime Guerrero in your Code Enforcement Department. I know City Hall is a big place but I would think that if you called across the room to ask him he would confirm this fact. That is unless, of course, he is the one who brought this to your “attention” in the first place as a means of harassment or retaliation for my recent article.
Martin Cole, in a recent Temple City Focus column, spoke of how busy your departments were. I am assuming this was a means of explaining why the guy, who has been operating a car repair shop in his front yard two doors away from me and hasn’t been stopped for almost three years since my reporting of it, is still in business. This person is not just operating a business without a license; he is operating a business that shouldn’t even exist in a residential location. Maybe now that my case has been solved somebody over there can refocus their attention on him.
So Janet, while I wish I needed a business license to be able to join the city’s little club, I can’t help but being reminded of the immortal words of Groucho Marx, “I wouldn’t want to be a part of any club that would have me as a member.”
Sincerely,
Bill Dunn
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