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Tickets over Public Safety - Where's the spirit of the Law?
From: 2/8/10

Cal Trans and the Highway Patrol advertise they work together 'To Get You There'. However, recently, there have been some erros and unprofessional actions that were not in the publics best safety concerns on both parts with regards to the San Bernardino mountain communisities. In 2003 when the worst fire disaster Southern California had seen in 40 years happened, there was a tight monitoring of the access to all moutnain regions, with roadways being closed off during mandatory evacuations, then opening up strictly for the resdients to return. However, on February 8, 2010, with a storm warning in effect for that night and next day, both of these departments seriously dropped the ball leaving all moutain residents coming home from work or otherwise to fend for themselves, leaving residents to face the impending storm bringning on unsafe driving conditions with no detour or public service information to them.

Those familiar with the Lake Arrowhead mountain region know there are limited roadways to access these areas and any detour is at least a 50 mile diversion, something that could be dangerous with bad weather conditions approaching.

On this night the Highway patrol deserted their post at the intersection of Hwy 173 and 138 when the road was partially bloced to access by cones and some flares. Neither the CHP or Cal Trans left a unit at the scene to provide assistance and detour directions to the community. What's worse, 138 at the 173 turn off was only partially blocked by the cones leaving the left hand lane open, theeby confusing the commuters, with no detour signs. Some residents, being confused went around the cones to seek help in search of some law enforcement officials as the still burning flares gave the impression that either the prupose for the closure was over and Cal Trans had not yet returned to remove the cones or flares, something that frequently happens. Those that made it to the top of Vista Point saw flashing red lights ahead and were approached by a lone CHP officer who had little or no concern for their purpose and issued tickets. When asked why he evacuated his post he said they didn't have enough manpower. Also, he offereed no alternative routing and said he was there because of an accident and was needed, but he still took 30 minutes to write tickets. This was perhaps the 'Letter of the Law', but where was the 'Spirit of the Law?' This is not in the best interest of the mountain communities, especially when all he had to do was to radio ahead to the Phelan CHP office 1000 feet before the 138 exit on Hwy 15 North to inform them to post a road closed sign at the offramp. This would have at least saved residents a 40 mile diversion in bad weather.

There comes a point when some quality control measures need to be enforced within the CHP to educate their officers that they are public servants, not tax collectors. Their job is to see that the highways are safe for all commutors, but in this case their interest was in issuing tickets instead of helping the local community in such a situation.

When someone seeks out law enforcement for sound safety reasons there should be cooperation and understanding, not a punishment to gain revenue in hardhip situations. Residents were left to find their own route to the mountain and with 173 to Lake Arrowhead being an unsafe to travel dirt road, there were only a couple options, go all the way around to the front side of Hwy 18, a 50-60 mile detour, or the back way to big bear and then take the 18, not a smart option considering the weather.

There was no excuse for such harse and callous of an action on the CHP. Either Cal Trans should have left a unit in place until the impending problem was over, or the CHP should have remained on the road block area to assist commutors that were facing traveling into an upcoming storm. There were too many options available to assist the community and saying that they didn't have enough manpower is not an excuse, it is not the publics fault because the CHP Cal Trans didn't man the area in a responsible manner to ensure public safety and reduce hardhip on an entire community.

Don't worry about getting confused or being misinformed over local TV news and weather reports, observe the weather off of the Pacific West Coast 24 hrs 'directly' from NOAA.

In an infrared (IR) image cold clouds are high clouds, so the colors typically highlight the colder regions. In a water vapor image, white areas indicate moisture and dark areas indicate little or no moisture, so the colors typically highlight areas with large amounts of moisture. (NOAA)

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FICO Score - Fair ISAAC? - or - Race Track Touts?

Many are saying that the word 'FAIR' should not be associated with the firm, Fair Isaac. The firm that invented the FICO score continues to receive a great deal of scrutiny and anger from the consumer public. The FICO score is now the main factor in receiving a Home Loan. While a great deal of factors affect exactly what your score will be it seems that Fair Isaac and company are being referred to as nothing more than pyschic card readers, charletons and race track touts.

For example, miss a credit card payment and your score will drop, get too many inquiries and it will also drop and here's one that really shows Fair Isaac needs to be revamped, pay off an old chargoff or delinquincy and watch your credit score drop. You've got to wonder what the staff at FICO uses for brains on that one.. Whenever you apply for a credit card for example, your FICO score will change, usually for the lower. In our review of how the FICO is actually affecting consumers, we tend to agree with the general public. The unfairness seems to be compounded by the fact of the question as to "what right does this company have to make 'predictions' on how you will pay your bills based on spending actions that have 'not as yet' been performed. For any company to make predictions on a consumers spending habits based on anything other than 'Actual Credit History', is in our opinion, both unprofessional and irresponsible.

Fair Isaac says that they are 'calculating' risk factors. They are basically doing this based off a series of mathematical equations. The most arrogant and blatant violations of a consumers predicitive spending potential is that of inquiries. There is currently a bill in congress that intends to correct that manner in which Fair Isaac can report inquiries. There should be in no way, a method that Fair Isaac should be allowed to use in negatively affecting ones FICO score simply because you applied for a loan or credit card. A person should enjoy the freedom of applying anywhere and everywhere they choose in their attempt to seek the best rates possible without being prematurely punished. The actual spending and credit 'history' should be the only factor that should be allowed to enter into an individuals FICO scoring method, anything else is simply unethical, there is no other way to state it.