The defiant one

I just came across this, on the Newburyport page on Facebook ... or one of them, at any rate ... It's from March, but somehow I missed it.

The woman in question is 80 years old.

Fran Dalton, a retired artist, survives on about $600 a month, checks from Social Security, and the Veterans Affairs Administration. She lives in a small, subsidized apartment in Newburyport. The next-to-last time she bought a carton of Lucky Strikes, it cost something like 60 bucks, and that was in New Hampshire.

"Every cigarette I have, it's a joy," she says. "It calms me. It soothes me. But I couldn't afford them."

Someone told her about a cigarette company run by Native Americans in New York that was selling by mail at discount prices.

And in that last sentence is the burn (pun intended).

In April, she got a letter from the Dept. of Revenue saying she has to pay taxes on her cigarette purchase from the tribe. She, at least at the time the piece was written, is refusing to pay the $91.58.

Now that it was in the Globe that she bought cigs in New Hampshire, I'm sure the state will be right on that, too.

I love this last paragraph:

So, if anybody from the state is looking to pinch the dangerous, seditious, and defiant Fran Dalton, she'll be easy pickings any Wednesday, around noon, at the corner of Water and Fair streets. You can't miss her. She's the one smoking Senecas.

The corner of Water and Fair streets is where the Salvation Army is. They serve free lunches there.

Beware of tall girls with backpacks

No seriously - there have been a rash of break-ins in the city perpetrated by women, one of which is tall, has black hair and a "medium" complexion and carries a backpack.

The better to stash booty in, I imagine.

"They knock on doors to see if people are home," Brunault said. "If anyone sees a girl walking around with a backpack, give us a call."

Perhaps Det. Brunault should have said "a girl fitting this description walking around with a backpack."

Brunault said in some instances, a teal-colored van has been spotted in neighborhoods. Along with the tall woman with black hair, there have been reports of two white females and one black female with her.

I wonder if this explains the SUV that followed me home a while ago ... just wondering ... I wasn't carrying my little backpack, but I did snitch some dirt from our garden plot at First Parish Church to plant seeds in at home (the dirt will go back to the garden with the plants, if anything sprouts) ...

Police are looking for the teal-colored van as well as a burgundy-colored sedan similar to a Chevy Lumina. There have also been descriptions of a dark-colored Jeep with stickers on the back.

You have to wonder about criminals who drive around in a teal-colored van (aside from the obvious wondering about criminal behavior in general). It's a good thing they don't drive a less obvious vehicle - something along the lines of a black Jetta, for instance.

Everyone and his brother has one of those.

A party out of bounds

Friends, watch out for your Facebooks. I poke fun at Facebook a lot, but this is serious ... this report on CNN tells about how people can steal your Facebook identity to con your friends into sending them money.

Of course, your friends think it's you asking ... and the following is from a Denver news station:

Consumer advocates have warned Facebook, which boasts more than 150 million active users, is a virtual gold mine for identity thieves who steal personal information and scam people into sending money.

The ABC affiliate offers the following tips (from the Better Business Bureau) to Facebook users, or people using any social networking site:

• Be extremely wary of messages from friends or strangers that direct the user to another Web site via a hyperlink.
• Before wiring money to a friend in a jam, users should attempt to contact their friend outside of the social networking site, such as over the phone or via e-mail to confirm the situation. If that’s not possible, BBB recommends asking them a question to which only they would know the answer.
• Users should always make sure their computer’s operating system’s antivirus and firewall software are up to date.
• Social networking sites are about sharing information, but BBB recommends that users take steps to keep important information private. While some social networking Web sites do allow for the user to share phone numbers and addresses, it’s best to keep such information private.
• Be selective when choosing friends. While a user might not want to be rude, BBB recommends that it’s best to decline a request for friendship if the user doesn’t actually know the person.

So ... if any of you get a message from me asking for money, be sure to send it to my home address (I'm in the book).

Thoughts on comments

As regular readers know, I love to read the comments accompanying stories on the Daily News website.

Sometimes, I really marvel at the things people say.

But - I was looking up similar incidents to the one that happened in Seabrook over the weekend. Two men in bar, fight, one ends up dead after his head strikes pool table, apparently. Read about it here.

I was looking up similar incidents online, and I found several such fights that resulted in death and lots of information about how Australia is cracking down on violence with a One Punch Can Kill campaign.

This incident, which happened near Cleveland (Ohio), is similar except the victim went home and apparently died during the night. The comments accompanying the report, however, are almost exactly the same as the ones on the Daily News.

So it's not just Seabrook, folks! It does, however, seem to be just men ...

Our house

I heard that our old house in Flint (well, one of three) is boarded up and abandoned.

This would be the one with the ghostly happenings, but I don't think that's why it would be boarded up.

This was the house we moved to from Clio, a town about 15 miles north of Flint, and where I grew up from age 7 to 17.

But when I Google the address of the house, it comes up as the residence of someone who is listed in the University of Michigan e-yearbook as a 1959 grad. Now there's a coincidence.

I once was told that the houses in that neighborhood were all built by General Motors, for sale to its workers. The houses on the corners, which were larger and more elaborately styled, were where the managers lived. Ours was on the corner of Milbourne Ave. and Copeman Blvd.

The ghost aside, that was a nice house - until anything and everything would be stolen from the yard, the garage, the cars ... in which case, one was never sure if the shadow you saw out the kitchen window was a spectral presence or someone cruising the yard for something to snitch.

I remember once being at my grandfather's house, in England, and answering the door to my uncle's knock. I opened the door a crack and peered out.

"C'mon, Gill," my uncle said. "You're not in Flint now."

You got used to it, just like I'm used to living here now. But things change, and thieves don't go where there's nothing worth stealing and/or nobody worth mugging.

My sense of safety on Plum Island might be very misguided indeed.