Once-prosperous family struggling on the edge

The Dallas Morning News ^ | Aug. 18, 2003 | SHERRY JACOBSON

[Iwo Jima]

Yes, I did misunderstand. I see now that you said "the" wife has breast cancer and I thought that you had said "my" wife has breast cancer. Thanks for straightening me out. Glad to hear that you have been spared that particular tragedy.

BTW, there is nothing in Texas like MediCal. Texas's version of Medicaid is very austere, which is one reason why Texas is in better financial shape than most states.

[jart]

does it cry , to read people laughing and making fun
of the tragedy of others? it makes me so proud to be
a conservative.

[TheSpottedOwl]

"Yes, I thought that the "GOTCHAs" about the coffee was pretty lame. Coffee doesn't cost much and lasts a long time."

The point of the article is this woman needed to panhandle for food to feed her family! Coffee has no nutritional value as opposed to fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, and dairy! So it is illogical to spend money on something that does not meet nutritional needs when one has to panhandle for the money to buy it!

Again a clear case of a crisis of priorities!

Holy crap! A whole can of coffee! They're leeches!!! I guess she should have bought a few tea bags and made sun tea. No wait, tea has no nutritional value either! What a crock...

[tx_eggman]

Seems like last March she was hawking Breast Exam Pads on the internet, things must be looking up ...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/breastcancerforum/message/355

[TheSpottedOwl]

BTW, there is nothing in Texas like MediCal. Texas's version of Medicaid is very austere, which is one reason why Texas is in better financial shape than most states.

That's what I thought. I live in CA, and illegals get all kinds of goodies. Most of us figure we don't qualify. We'd be solvent and help our own out if we simply escorted our uninvited guests back over the border. Let them start another Mexican Revolution in their own country.

[tx_eggman]

Make that February ... and at 3:25 in the morning ... all that coffee must be keeping her up.

[glorgau]

I used to get breakfast at a Mcdonalds rest stop on the toll way. I'd pick up something and read the paper in the car while waiting for traffic to die down. There were a number of people that used to work the lot regular. Their lines usually went something like "I ran out of gas and I'm out of work" and suchlike. you know it's a line when you see the same face saying it a couple of times.
Another popular scam was to park a car at the bottom of an exit ramp so that it looks "broken down" - putting the hood up is a good prop. Even better is having the car block traffic so that other cars have to pull around. It gives a good chance to deliver the "line". The line will be by a female and goes something like "we need money for a tow". A good prop is to have a kid in the car. I've seen the same faces do this at different exit ramps in the city.
if you really want to help, call the tow truck yourself, or pay for the gas yourself. handing out cash is an incitement to crime. I prefer giving cash to people who are honest and say that they are going to spend it on drugs or alcohol.

[Mad Dawgg]

"Holy crap! A whole can of coffee! They're leeches!!! I guess she should have bought a few tea bags and made sun tea. No wait, tea has no nutritional value either! What a crock...

Again the point is she has NO JOB and NO MONEY for FOOD! if you are destitute and losin' (as the song goes) then do you blow money on something that will not keep you from starving?

Maybe you would, I wouldn't! I feel it is my duty to provide sustenance first for my family. If I was panhandling on the street for food I would skip buying coffee because I don't have a crisis of priorities.

[Iwo Jima]

I think that you need to cut back on the coffee, M.D.

[motherof 3]

I Emailed Sherry Jacobson her article with all of your comments and said maybe she should do a follow up. She wrote me right back that "I read through these comments and I'm not going to respond." I thought you all had some good points.

[eleni121]

A Canadian company offered free chemo drugs if Sheila Wessenberg needs to take them again.

How generous. Especially when Canadians line up by the thousands to get medical care in the US.

As for the former 6 figure family: What happened to all the money? No savings at all?

[ladyrustic]

Yes, and with the 2 bucks she saved by not buying herself and her husband a can of coffee she could have bought her family...what? A tomato? A bunch of carrots? A loaf of cheap white bread? A can of soup?

C'mon, give them a break. They want a cup of coffee in the morning. Her children are not starving.

I'm always shocked at how hard-hearted many of my fellow freepers can be. I'm not talking about you Maddog, but freepers in general. Isn't it best to give people the benefit of the doubt, unless they are very clearly being deceptive?

[Timesink]

Republican Enters White House: Homelessness Skyrockets Within Hours

---

This is the nascent Mainstream Media Shenanigans ping list. Please freepmail me to be added or dropped.
Please note this will likely become a high-volume list.
Also feel free to ping me if you come across a thread you would think worthy of the ping list. I can't catch them all!

[ItsOurTimeNow]

She wrote me right back that "I read through these comments and I'm not going to respond."

Seems to me that Sherry Jacobson has something she doesn't want to discuss openly.

Perhaps she fears being exposed?

[FoxPro]

I am losing my house and my wife this month. I have no Idea where I am going to live.

I am starting to send computer projects over to Moscow and India, but the margins are so thin, and nobody is signing on the bottom line. People arent even willing to do computer systems for $50,000 when the same development would have cost $250,000 just two years ago.

I will survive. Maybe I will go wait on tables. Life was great for about 10 years. Now it sucks. I will just have to deal with it.

[mtbopfuyn]

Well, la tee da to you. I don't get your point. Are you jealous that when times were good this woman could afford a fur coat? Do you criticize her for selling it when times got bad? Do you think that the fact that she had a fur coat to sell means that she could sell it and feed her family for the rest of time and therefore would never need to do desperate things to put food on the table? What is your point???? So you once played computer games about how cheaply you could feed a family. Guess what? This woman is not playing games. This woman is dying of cancer and taking care of an autistic child who needs 24 hour care. Maybe she doesn't have the stamina, time, and transportation to cruise garage sales. And $30 for a year's worth of new undies and shoes???? How ridiculous.

No, you're being ridiculous. If you had bothered to read my post you would have seen the budget menu is REAL LIFE. Hello, there are some of us living a frugal lifestyle not only because we don't approve of excess but also for something as simple as it's an accepted result from the priorities we've made. Living within a strict budget is a whole lot easier when one makes it into a game. Wow, a game instead of stressing out, what a concept!

Yes, it is very possible to clothe a child for <$30 and send them to school just as well dressed as the wealthier crowd. Ya know, window shopping is very rewarding and super fun to the kids when they see their latest garage sale outfit at a boutique for $$$, lol. We don't know what her lot's size is but mine is only 60' wide which is plenty for a garden that produces enough to help suppliment the food bill throughout the year by freezing (requires a freezer), home canning (a one time $15 investment for garage sale canner/pressure cooker and jars, and $3 new lids), and dehydrating ($10 garage sale dehydrator or homemade for free). Most cities, and being in TX myself, I'm fairly sure her codes allow for a few chickens for meat and eggs.

My "point" is this woman doesn't have a clue; which again I wrote in my previous post, but once again you failed to understand. You suppose the woman doesn't have the stamina to garage sale, so explain her standing for hours on a street corner with a coffee can - raking in a very decent tax free salary of $15/hr. Sorry, but I certainly don't feel anything close to jealousy of her, her fur coat, or her 6 figure income. Her husband doesn't have a clue either. He's obviously healthy and I doubt his graying hair would keep him from obtaining any number jobs outside his chosen field. It sounds like he's one of those we hear about who had rather be unemployed than accept a lower paying job. Did either one of them think to put back enough for such times? No, they lived off their credit cards (guess who gets to foot those bills), charity, and declined help from their family because... because they don't want to move back to NY (there's your ridiculous). Instead of living it up with a fur coat in the good times, we had the foresight to put back a nest egg, budget, and set priorities. Thanks to that we don't owe a dime to anyone, have paid off the house and vehicles, and have college funds for the kids. No, we have never had a 6 figure income but have proudly managed that on a low 2 figure income. We've also grasped the fact that Mr. M's health may not last until retirement but there's a plan for that eventuality (oh, there's that dang foresight again). It is about having a clue, prioritizing, and actually following through with the game plan.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

Please expand I dont know that one..

Well, the quick version is essentially this:

The ant works his butt off all spring and summer, squirreling away food stores and supplies. The grasshopper, choses not to think ahead, and spends the spring and summer goofing off and not working.

Come winter, the ant is prepared. He is warm, cozy, and well fed. The grasshopper, finally realizing the consequences of his slacking off, is starving and cold. Grasshopper dies, ant lives.

Moral of the story...plan ahead.

[philetus]

This is a load of crap.

[LadyDoc]

After her husband lost his six-figure job, she had to stop chemotherapy treatments. There was no way the family could afford health insurance when the premiums jumped to $837 a month. Her doctor gave her 18 months to live.

THEY HAD A SIX FIGURE SALARY.....Let's see. She could see her jewelry, the car, the house, move into a mobile home in a small town, get food stamps, go to the food shelter, put an ad in the paper to clean houses, borrow from relatives, cash in their retirement savings etc. As for health insurance, she could get a cheaper policy and usually really poor people can get grants for the chemo. the fact that she doesn't have any of these things suggests they are trying to keep an expensive house/car etc. (you need to spend down before you get welfare)...

Sorry, I don't buy it. Panhandling for a couple bucks doesn't make sense.

[Luke Skyfreeper]

Thank you for your compassion. I was beginning to think that FreeRepublic had become composed of nothing but cruel people.

Yeah, me too. Whenever a story is posted like this, the number of @$$holes that come racing out of the woodwork to throw in a few extra kicks is just nothing short of amazing.

I like to think the world (and especially Free Republic) is made up of good people, and find it all pretty damn disheartening.