Anonymous Benefactor Offers Help to Stolen Car Victim

Yesterday, I told you the story of a single mother in Allentown whose car was stolen from outside her home as she slept. Though Whitehall police recovered her car, she was stuck with a $242 towing and storage bill. Unable to afford to keep the car in storage for a few more days, police will make no effort to investigate the theft because they can't check for fingerprints inside an impound lot. Though she had insurance to cover tows, Whitehall's contracted tow operator refused to accept it. Though the car was in storage for less than two full days, she was charged for three. That's how the system works for people who live from paycheck to paycheck. If you have a good job and steady income, a nicer car and collision policy is a given. If you have no job at all, the government steps in and gives you everything you need. But for our growing class of working poor, there really is no safety net, other than medical insurance for children (CHIP). So you can go hungry, have no funds to send your loved ones to school and have no nest eggs as you grow older.

In response to my story yesterday, an anonymous benefactor called, and offered to help. To be honest, I'm not sure his kind offer will be accepted. These people may be poor, but they are also proud. I offered some money myself, and was shot down pretty quickly. That's probably because I'm in the same boat myself. Either that or they think I'm a maniacal stalker who kicks pigs. But I was allowed to speak to the tow operator for them, which was probably the biggest mistake they could have made.

I'm a graduate of the Michael Molovinsky School of Diplomacy. He told me I'm a natural. But I came up short yesterday with the tow operator.

First, I got lost trying to find his place. The GPS on my iPhone kept sending me to a volunteer fire station on Pine Street for some reason. So I had to talk to the guy by phone.

"What's this I hear about you refusing to accept the insurance for the tow?"

----- "I'm sorry sir, but I have bills to pay, too."

"Why the hell are you charging three days storage when you haven't had the car for two?"

----- "I'm sorry sir, but I go by calendar days, and my contract with Whitehall allows me to do that."

"This has nothing to do with your contract with Whitehall. It has to do with your contract with this woman, who has no money to begin with. You were at home all weekend, sitting on your ass, and you're charging her. Are you telling me you can't give her a break on $30?"

----- "I'm entitled to take weekends off, too."

"We'll see what you're entitled to when I sue your ass."

At this point, the tow operator hung up on me and kicked the woman off his lot.

"Now, you're not going to get the car at all. Get out of here!" is what I'm told he said.

In hindsight, it was probably a bad idea to have me talk to the tow operator. I probably need a refresher course on my diplomacy skills.

Eventually, the tow operator relented and gave the woman her car, with no breaks on the original price. When she got it back, she learned that thieves took everything, from her cash and credit cards to even her son's social security card. She has to get a new registration card, which means even more money.

This situation, in my view, illustrates the shortcomings in our Democratic and Republican ideologies. On the one hand, we have a social welfare state that gives people no incentive to better themselves and provides little or no assistance to those who degrade themselves by working. On the other hand, we have a limited government mantra in which people are supposed to rely on family, churches and charities. People are told they should be more responsible and keep an emergency stash of cash, with absolutely no understanding that the working poor need every penny they earn to meet current expenses, and even that is sometimes inadequate.

Local government officials are too busy hobnobbing with the JB Reillys and Mark Jaindls to notice the people who are actually paying for the tax breaks they dispense. Those are the people who should be heard.

CACLV Executive Director Alan Jennings likes to say that he speaks for those who have no voice. Actually, there is a chorus of voices speaking for those who are dependent on government services.

But who speaks for the Abe Lincoln poor? Those who are willing to and do work? Unfortunately, no one. They are the backbone of America, and are daily becoming a serf class to both the very poor and very rich.