The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Chelsea Chamber warns of booster advertising scam
By Edward Freundl, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 22, 2008
Chelsea-area businesses are being targeted again by a fraudulent sports booster advertising scheme, similar to one that plagued the area a couple of years ago.
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"A school booster company is claiming to be selling ads for the 'Chelsea High School fall sports poster,'" said Bob Pierce, executive director of the Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce.
"Two businesses have already received invoices for payment that they didn't authorize."
Pierce said the sports poster was not authorized by the school.
"Sue Myers from the Athletic Department notified us that they're at it again," Pierce said.
"Our warning is, buyer beware; this is not an authorized poster from the schools.
"They will also occasionally say that the chamber is supporting it, and we are not."
Pierce said perpetrators of such scams frequently prey on small-town businesses because they know such merchants tend to be ardent supporters of local sports programs.
"These are not expensive ads, and a businessman may not think too hard about paying $200 to support the sports boosters," Pierce said, and may not take the time to check the veracity of the solicitor.
"In this difficult economy, businesses and merchants do not need anybody taking money from them under false pretenses," he said.
Farm Bureau offers support
The Michigan Farm Bureau, the state's largest general farm organization, said in a news release that it's pleased both chambers of the Michigan Legislature have approved legislation to ratify the Great Lakes Compact and protect Michigan's water resources.
"Farm Bureau had formally gone on record to support the Senate legislation, so we were thrilled to see the Senate take a leadership stand in deciding to go ahead and consider these bills and give them their unanimous endorsement," said Matt Smego, Michigan Farm Bureau legislative counsel.
Following the Senate's lead in the morning, the House later passed a set of similar bills.
"The Michigan Farm Bureau has been a longtime supporter of Michigan ratifying the Great Lakes Compact to protect the Great Lakes from water diversions," Smego said. "The Senate and House bills do just that while guaranteeing that Michigan doesn't surrender its legislative authority to govern the waters of Michigan. So, getting to this point is an important step forward for Michigan."
In addition to ratifying the compact, all Great Lakes Compact partner states and provinces must implement their own water use protections to accompany the agreement. Some of those protections were covered in legislation approved, but one issue remains up for consideration in both chambers and that's the idea of using a water withdrawal assessment tool to determine whether a new or expanded water use would cause harm.
"Michigan's $60 billion agriculture industry is dependent on access to and the availability of water for the more than 200 agricultural commodities produced in our state," Smego said. "We maintain that it's entirely possible to protect Michigan's water resources without requiring burdensome regulations, such as increased permitting, which could have unintended consequences on other foundations of our state, such as agriculture."
Identity protection
The personal identities of Michigan residents are expected to better protected under legislation introduced recently by state Reps. Brian Palmer and Kathy Angerer.
The bipartisan, 12-bill identity theft package is designed to address solutions for safeguarding personal information and punishing identity thieves.
"The threat to personal identities in Michigan is in the top third nationally, and as a victim myself, I know firsthand the pain it can cause," Palmer said. "Michigan must step up the fight against these faceless criminals."
House Bills 6096-6107 address efforts to deal with the transfer of personally identifiable information, requires restitution from criminals for the time and effort that goes into credit restoration and establishes a commission to interface with the state and federal governments to enhance efforts to assist victims in their recovery.
"This plan gives consumers the power to prevent and protect their personal identities in the same way that we lock the door when we leave our homes," Angerer, D-55th District, said in a news release. "This is the right thing to do for Michigan consumers."
The representatives were joined by Sgt. Matt Bolger of the Michigan State Police, Jim Cozzi of Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. and Felicia Wasson of AARP at the news conference.
"AARP Michigan is proud to support the Palmer/Angerer Identity Theft bills," Wasson said. "We applaud the bi-partisan effort by the sponsors of all of the bills in the package and are encouraged by their commitment toward working to protect the identity of all Michigan citizens. On behalf of Michigan's 1.5 million AARP members, we stand with the sponsors of these bills in putting would-be thieves on notice."
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