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“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
but only in expressing his opinion.” - Proverbs 18:2
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Common Sense
The Progress
Editorial
January 27,2022
From the Staff
Don’t fall for scams
An incident was recently relayed to us
by a senior citizen of the Hill City area:
She was awakened by a call from a
younger man, saying “grandma,” and
that he had been in an accident but was
okay. However, he needed some money
to handle issues with the wreck.
This greatly worried grandma, who
didn’t have her hearing aids in and pos
sibly hadn’t understood everything
clearly. The grandmother said she tried
to think of who this could be - she didn’t
have any grandsons, but did have grand
daughters and nephews and great-
nephews and does go by “grandma” with
the family.
She came to the right conclusion, a
nasty scam call before harm was done
but didn’t sense the danger immediately.
According to a local computer expert,
an equally vile and common scam is
someone posing (by e-mail or phone) as
a tech support person who says your
computer has been compromised and he
needs to fix it. But what he really wants
is access so he can find your banking,
credit card and personal information
stored on it.
Scams targeting the elderly are usually
conducted from overseas, can’t be easily
stopped and people who pull them off are
skilled. They are spreading like a Cali
fornia wildfire at this time, a malicious
byproduct of how connected we all are
by cell phones and the internet.
Consider this, right now in Pickens
County the chances of you encountering
a robber entering your house is minus
cule compared to the chances of someone
trying to fool you by phone or online.
The first defense is just recognizing these
bad people are out there and targeting
YOU (every trusting senior citizen with
internet access and a savings account).
Whether by phone or computer, once
the crooks have your money, forget about
getting it back.
The best precaution we can advise is
simply quit falling for these scams. Quit
giving your hard-earned savings away to
foreign con men. We have regularly pub
lished tips such as don’t ever send cash
cards or that court personnel never call
asking for immediate payments. But that
advice isn’t keeping people from being
lured in.
So we’ll make this simple: do not rush
to send anyone money. Never. There is
no exception. There is never anything
urgent requiring a cash card be sent
quickly. Never. Nope. You are being
fooled.
If you think there is any chance the
call is legitimate, tell them you will get
back to them. Get a call back number and
address for them, then call a friend/fam
ily member or 911 and ask them if they
think it’s real. The scammers prey on
panic; don’t let them rush you.
Mark Twain once quipped that it is
easier to fool someone than to convince
someone they have been fooled. In this
case, it’s easier to fool someone than to
convince them they may be fooled.
Everyone who has a phone or computer
is a potential victim.
More than a half million dollars was
scammed off people right here in Pickens
County in just a few months.
Someone on the phone has talked our
neighbors, friends and relatives out of
their hank accounts, in some cases all
they had. Think about that when you end
up on the line with someone you don’t
know.
You do not want to be next.
Don’t even take a chance, hang up.
Tell us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. E-mail to news@pickensprogress.com
See letter submission guidelines on the Letters to the Editor page or call us 706-253-2457.
New adult game
sweeping the country
By Jim Brescia
As of June 2021, China
accounts for about 42% of
U.S. maritime imports, which
equates to 3,139,939 ship
ments. China leads the
U.S. s next-largest importer
(Vietnam) by 35 percentage
points in terms of its claim on
total U.S. imports.
With those facts in mind,
I had an idea for a fictional
short story. It could also be
made into a movie.
Even if you are not a fan
of adult games (no, not that
kind you pervert) you proba
bly have heard of Monopoly,
Clue and Risk. Popular in
their day, they reflect the
times in which they were cre
ated. The latest huge hit is
called Finding Something
That Has Been Made In
America. There are two ver
sions: Finding Things Not
made In China and the more
difficult Finding Something
Actually Made In America.
The creation of both ver
sions is quite a story of rags
to riches. A group of manu
facturing employees had just
been fired due to a plant clos
ing.
(In the movie version the
fired workers would be Matt
Damon, Tina Fey, Dwayne
“The Rock” Johnson, Charl-
ize Theron, Kevin Hart,
Arnold Schwarzenegger and
Sylvester Stallone.) The fired
workers in the story had
worked for a USA flag man
ufacturer but the operation
was being moved to China.
While consoling one an
other at a bar, with the help
of some alcohol, one of the
ex-workers said “You can’t
even find products made in
America anymore.” After a
few more rounds of lubrica
tion, the group adjourned to
a local store where they
began to examine items to
see where they were made.
After 30 minutes they had
still not found a Made in
America item. The store
manager, accompanied by a
couple of security people,
asked them to leave.
The intrepid group re
turned to the bar and realized
that this was an opportunity
to develop a fun game. They
began designing the box
cover and writing the rules.
It was a talented group. They
were not fired for incompe
tence or performance.
It was just that there were
workers in the Wuhan area of
China recently released from
a research laboratory due to
some kind of accident and
now these researchers were
willing to work for 1/3 of the
pay given to the USA work
ers.
The rules of the “Finding”
games are simple:
• Players cannot go on
line and search for products
by the country in which they
were manufactured.
• If the components of a
product are made outside of
the USA and assembled in
the USA, they do not count.
• Players must order
something they actually need
and when it arrives, look for
the “Made In” label.
The game is not available
in local game stores. The rea
son being game stores, like
manufacturing plants, are
scarce. They have been
forced out of business by a
combination of Covid restric
tions and electronic vendors.
Lest this article be consid
ered ideologic, you should
know that I am not con
cerned that the country doing
most of the manufacturing of
things we consume in the
USA has made it clear that
they want to eat our lunch,
figuratively and literally
(they are buying up our farm
land). So, spare me the “ist”
and “ism” accusations. I am
merely an observer of the
apocalypse.
The success of the “Find
ing” games has changed the
lives of the creators. But they
are staying faithful to their
profession. They are opening
their own manufacturing
plant, in the Philippines.
[Jim Brescia is a contributor
to the Progress. He is involved
in several veterans groups in the
Jasper area.]
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main Street, Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457
www.pickensprogressonline.com
DAN POOL
Publisher/Editor
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#lbe H>ci)ciol
WOW! WE A1?E STILL
^ WAITING!
giffcens gonitis
WUNCflk V i 24 HOUR BANKING
HOW —*1 l'"' l '
SooN? T *
Attorney generals oppose over the counter
hearing aid sales without state oversight
Attorney General Chris
Carr has joined a bipartisan
coalition in urging the U.S.
Food and Drag Administra
tion (FDA) to preserve state
authority to enforce con
sumer protection laws in con
nection to the sale of
over-the-counter hearing
aids.
“Georgia’s consumer pro
tection laws exist to ensure
our citizens are kept safe,”
said Carr. “We are proud of
the long-standing record we
have protecting Georgians
and are concerned by any
federal rale that undermines
that role. The FDA should
work with us, not around us,
on significant matters that
impact our state.”
The FDA is currently con
sidering a proposal that
would establish for the first
time a new category of over-
the-counter hearing aids that
would allow such devices to
be sold directly to consumers
without a medical exam or
fitting by an audiologist.
Currently, all 50 states
have hearing professional li
censing requirements and
many have important protec
tions for hearing aid con
sumers, including mandatory
warrantees and returns and
advertising restrictions.
The attorneys general cau
tion that rales currently under
review by the FDA may un
intentionally hinder or repeal
those important consumer
protection authorities, under
mining the ability of the
states to ensure safe and af
fordable access to hearing
aids.
The attorneys general
urge the FDA to make ex
plicit that their federal rale
will not preempt these criti
cal state consumer protec
tions.
The attorneys general sent
a comment letter to the FDA.
In part, the letter states.
“While the FDA’s proposed
rale offers consumers much
needed relief in the form of
more affordable and accessi
ble hearing aids, it could
have unintended negative
consequences on our con
stituents. The proposed rale
includes broad language that
could be interpreted to repeal
virtually all the state-re-
quested exemptions from
preemption issued by the
FDA since 1980 - even those
related exclusively to non-
OTC hearing aids. Such lan
guage could create unneeded
confusion and the potential
for unnecessary litigation.”
The attorneys general fur
ther urge the FDA to
strengthen age verification
processes to protect children
under 18 and make it clear
that over-the-counter hearing
aids are only appropriate for
those with mild to moderate
hearing loss.
“Additionally, we are con
cerned with the inadequate
age verification processes
mandated and deficient label
ing requirements. Without
these proper guardrails to
protect consumers’ health,
OTC hearing aids could re
sult in hearing loss or other
consumer harm. The FDA
should mandate age verifica
tion processes to protect
those under 18 and ensure
proper labeling to make clear
that OTC hearing aids are
only for those with mild to
moderate hearing loss,” the
attorneys general write in the
letter.
Spot an error?
Let our editor
hear about it,
dpool@
pickensprogress. com
706-253-2457
WEATHER
By William Dilbeck
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