Sometimes it's too easy. . .or the tale of 2-1-1

A story in today’s Enterprise (page 5A, Tuesday, Jan. 30) shares information about a great program for readers 60 or older who need a health maintenance device not covered by their insurance.

That might be something like a hearing aid, walkers, shower stools, dentures or glasses. A federal grant program is available to help purchase those items for people in Hardin, Jefferson and Orange counties, if they were living here before Hurricane Rita and still live here.

All that is wonderful. The confusion is in how they might apply for that aid. They simply call 2-1-1. Yes, that’s the same 2-1-1 number that has been linked to emergency evacuation information, the same 2-1-1 that has been used for other programs for the aging. Just 2-1-1.

The Enterprise has nothing to do with administering the program, nor is the weary reporter whose phone number appears at the end of the story taking the applications herself – and she can’t transfer callers to extension 211.

So, if you, or a family member, or a friend or neighbors are interested in the program, please pursue it. It’s a great opportunity for seniors to save some money on medical costs.

Just call 2-1-1.

We're helpful, but we don't do homework

I got an e-mail request today from someone representing themselves as a graduate student at a prestigious Texas university. He said he was working on a research paper and asked, very nicely, that I send him everything we have written, and all photographs, of damage caused by Hurricane Rita.

When I stopped laughing, I declined, but very nicely, offering him other options for his research. Besides the fact that there have been very few days since September 2005 that we haven’t written something about Hurricane Rita, as the old colloquialism says, I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck. I recognize homework desperation when I see, hear or read it.

As a mother of two, I’ve seen it close up and participated in some late-night bail outs myself. I know a parent’s temptation to let kids mess up and learn a lesson, and the inclination to step in and help them out so the lesson’s not quite so tough.

We’re helpful here at The Enterprise. We answer questions, we give directions (usually to the public library) and even have been known on one or two occasions to juggle our work schedules to spend a few minutes talking to an eager student trying to crank something out.

We give building tours; we speak at school career days and various classroom events. We have employees who are volunteers and mentors for various organizations. But, we don’t do homework.

For parents trying to step into the breach, it’s important to know that many (but not all) of our articles are available on-line at BeaumontEnterprise.com, free, for a week or so. Beyond that, there is a link to our archives on the left side of our Web page, which allows further access to our archives. Cost for that service is $4.95 for 24-hours, $9.95 for seven days. Back issues of our newspaper are available, at regular cover price, for about a month after publication.

The Beaumont Public Library also has a set of microfilm of The Enterprise and their set, unlike ours, is indexed to allow for easier research. The Enterprise does not allow public access to our newspaper library or microfilm collection.

So, as spring arrives and term paper deadlines near, students and parents be aware, we’re nice people here, but we don’t do homework.

Take a moment, send a nomination

This Friday is the announced deadline for receipt of nominations for this year’s Jefferson Awards and Young Jefferson Awards program. I don’t want that to discourage anyone who thinks they know some deserving volunteer worthy of this wonderful honor.

If you’ve thought about nominating someone and just haven’t done it yet, now is your chance. If you are intimidated by the Friday deadline, send me an e-mail and let me know your nomination is coming and I’ll stretch to meet you halfway.

It’s also important for you to realize, though the awards are a big deal, the nomination need not be. All that is required is some basic contact information for you and the nominee and a letter of not more than 300 words, touching on the reasons you are nominating the person.

The Enterprise has sponsored the Jefferson Awards, a national program recognizing unsung heroes in communities across the country, since 1990. I’ve coordinated the program for The Enterprise since 1997. We added the Young Jefferson Award program, honoring high school seniors and younger, in 2004.

In those years I’ve seen one-page heartfelt, handwritten nominations on notebook paper win the award for a volunteer. I’ve also seen thick resumes and copies of multiple honors and quantities of publicity not win the award.

Judges, I can say with certainty, present this award based on the quality of the person, not the quality of the nomination.

So, that said, nominate someone . . . someone who volunteered at a church after Hurricane Rita; someone who helped re-roof houses for people who couldn’t do that themselves; someone who helps children, or the elderly, or the handicapped – or the community in general. We ALL know people like this, please take a moment to recognize them and help us show appreciation for their efforts to better our world.

Nomination forms have been published repeatedly in the pages of The Enterprise and can be mailed to our office or dropped off in person. Nominations also can be made on-line by clicking on the Jefferson Award Medallion to the right on our homepage or using the link below.
http://home.beaumontenterprise.com/forms/Jefferson/

If that doesn’t work for you, e-mail me at readerrep@beaumontenterprise.com, or feel free to call at 409-838-2846 and I will be happy to provide you with whatever you need to make your nomination of a worthy volunteer.

We're back! ... but a little worse for wear

After about four days wandering lost in cyberspace, BeaumontEnterprise.com is back in orbit!

But our high-wire act without a 'Net left a few visible bumps and bruises, which we hope will be healed very soon. Among them, you might notice:

-- When you click on stories, you might still get an error message. Refresh the page, or just be persistent and it will likely come up eventually.

-- Crossword puzzles and games are still banjaxed. We're working on them.

-- Message boards remain down. So are Classified Ads.

-- Intermittent problems persist throughout the site. If you have a problem, come back later and try again.

If you see anything else at BeaumontEnterprise.com that could use a little TLC, please email our Reader Representative Sheila Friedeck

BeaumontEnterprise.com is down ... but not out

"Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining."
Jef Raskin

~~~

Perhaps you've noticed that BeaumontEnterprise.com has crashed. And burned. Spectacularly.

Last weekend, the company that hosts our Web site physically moved their servers from New Jersey to New York City. The move was done over the weekend to reduce the impact on readers, most of whom read BeaumontEnterprise.com during the week.

We were assured that "the main front end Web servers should see no downtime. Web sites will continue to serve and be accessible for your customers and readers."

But the best laid plans don't amount to a bucket of warm spit when computers are involved.

Once they were moved, the computer servers couldn't be rebooted. And the back-up plans failed, too. So starting sometime early Sunday morning, BeaumontEnterprise.com was gushing about as much information as Spindletop ... in 2007.

Right now, for new news, go to BeaumontEnterprise.com and click on the banner at the top of the page. You'll be redirected to a blog (click here to go directly) where we are posting our top headlines. It ain't pretty, but it's news.

Please be assured we're trying to bring BeaumontEnterprise.com back as quickly as possible!

~~~

“A computer will do what you tell it to do, but that may be much different from what you had in mind”

Joseph Weizenbaum