WEDNESDAY'S HUM ( 10-04-06 )

HE'S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD...
Did you know that the Soldier and Sailor Relief Act allows military personnel to drive with expired licenses? We didn't either, until we read a letter in The World, a publication based in central Vermont.

Armed Forces ID Should Be Accepted

Editor:

Hello, Northfield, Norwich University and the surrounding community. I am MSG Shane Bailey in the U.S. Army currently stationed at Norwich University. I've got over 19 years in the U.S. Army and seven years of that time I've been deployed overseas to Eastern Africa, Middle East and Central Asia. I most recently participated in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

My story is simple. On 17 September 2006, on a beautiful, Northfield Sunday afternoon, I stopped by a local chain convenience store/gas station to pick up a 6-pack of beer. The lady behind the counter asked for I.D. and I provided her with a current Department of Defense Identification Card. The lady stated that company policy "did not accept military I.D. as a valid proof of age". Shocked and insulted I provided her with a driver's license. She did not accept that either as she stated that they were expired. I tried to explain to her that Active Duty Military could operate a vehicle with an expired driver's license under the federal law called the Soldier and Sailor Relief Act but she promptly ignored my appeal and rudely asked me to leave the store immediately.

I found it hard to believe that a local business, which gets much of its support from Norwich University, blatantly and with contempt, refused to serve an American soldier. I've been here 3 years, love the people, bought a house in town and made some lifelong friends. As for me, I refuse to buy anything from a stick of gum to a tank a gas from ANY of that chain's stores.

-MSG Shane Bailey

Northfield

There was a SSCRA; it has since been changed to the SCRA. We took a cursory look through the act's revision but could not find mention of the expired driver's license stipulation. Maybe we weren't looking hard enough.

GREEN MOUNTAIN RUMBLE
Green Mountain Daily took the first swing. Green Mountain Hard Right responded with a flurry of jabs followed by a roundhouse right (get it) that left GMD on the ropes - and we're unsure if they will come back for more. Hot diggety dog - this exchange is more interesting than the Douglas-Parker catfight! We've got a feeling GMHR has an advantage in weaponry, but GMD could sustain with its scrappiness. View the match now.

FIVE CORNERS UPDATE
Fell asleep at the Essex Junction Five Corners last night while listening to the Sorrell-Carver debate. When I came to, Morning Edition was on and the light STILL hadn't changed. Somebody's got to do something about that!

GET BACK TO WORK, HON.
Yeah, you.