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Dear Junk Mailers: Leave My Son Alone
NewsWeek ^

Posted on 02/27/2007 10:12:45 AM PST by SmoothTalker

"Feb. 19, 2007 issue - When his 18th birthday arrived, my son, Jacob, became awfully popular. The U.S. Navy wanted him. "Before you find your place in the world, maybe you should see it first," it urged. A local menswear shop offered him 50 percent off a tuxedo package for high-school graduation. And a razor company sent him a free razor, hoping, I suppose, to make a lifelong customer out of him. Their only miscalculation was that Jacob didn't shave. Nor was it likely that any of the armed forces would gain Jacob's services. And he certainly wouldn't graduate from high school. Jacob, you see, died in 1993. He was only 7 years old when a cancerous brain tumor stole him from us."

"I thought I had learned not to take these mailings personally, but in the months surrounding Jake's 18th birthday I had to throw out dozens of letters soliciting my dead son. How galling it was to receive envelopes with bright colors and bold lettering urging him to have professional high-school graduation pictures taken, to consider a particular limousine service for prom night or to make sure not to drink and drive."

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
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To: Quilla
I just went to look at the mail. She had a notice from her pharmacy who knows she died but the national office must not know. Why get upset at something as trivial as that? It only takes a moment to toss it. I am doing ok. In fact, some of my friends are amazed at how well I am coping. I KNOW where they are and I WILL see them again some day. They all are together singing praises to God and are our angels. Prayers work.
21 posted on 02/27/2007 10:40:12 AM PST by MamaB
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To: goodnesswins

I know. But it seems like school records would have been purged...eventually.


22 posted on 02/27/2007 10:40:29 AM PST by Corin Stormhands (RINO = Rudy Is Number One)
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To: SmoothTalker

My dad died in 1992. He just recently got a credit card application.


23 posted on 02/27/2007 10:41:03 AM PST by Grammy
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To: rabscuttle385

I remember in the mid 90s I was at my grandmothers' house and she got a telemarketing call for my grandfather.

He died November 22, 1971.


24 posted on 02/27/2007 10:41:55 AM PST by RockinRight (When Chuck Norris goes to bed at night, he checks under the bed for Jack Bauer.)
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To: MamaB

G-D bless you and comfort you in your loss.


25 posted on 02/27/2007 10:43:36 AM PST by Alouette (Learned Mother of Zion)
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To: SmoothTalker

I am saddened by your loss,and receiving this junk mail would make your pain amplified by these creatures.


26 posted on 02/27/2007 10:44:21 AM PST by xarmydog
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To: YoungSoutherner
My FiL received a jury notice after he died 14 months ago. When we called the court house about it they told us we had to come down and tell them in person to remove his name and to bring a copy of the death certificate. We just ignored them.
27 posted on 02/27/2007 10:46:30 AM PST by SLB (Wyoming's Alan Simpson on the Washington press - "all you get is controversy, crap and confusion")
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To: SmoothTalker

18? Hell! I have been receiving crap mail from AARP for almost 10 years now and my returning their prepaid mailers with nasty comments on why I would never join their socialist, anti-gun organization has fallen on deaf ears....I still get their BS in the mail.

I think I am going to start attaching their prepaid envelopes to bricks and mailing them back.


28 posted on 02/27/2007 10:47:09 AM PST by Vaquero ("An armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
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To: SmoothTalker

oh I didnt read the whole thing....horrible.


29 posted on 02/27/2007 10:48:13 AM PST by Vaquero ("An armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
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To: MamaB

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! I'll say a prayer for you.


30 posted on 02/27/2007 10:48:32 AM PST by proud American in Canada ("We can, and we will prevail.")
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To: SmoothTalker

Ohter than banning bulk advertising to specific individuals...I don't know how to get around this. You could mandate an xref of lists vs death records in a given area, but that seems impractical if the list entry point and the death are decades apart . It would also be pretty damned intrusive.

I guess we should just ban unsolicited advertising to specific addresses....


31 posted on 02/27/2007 10:48:40 AM PST by Skip Ripley
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To: SmoothTalker

Very awful. At first I thought it was an anti-military story until I continued. Now I feel like a heel...


32 posted on 02/27/2007 10:50:05 AM PST by napscoordinator
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To: Skip Ripley

It's unfair on an emotional level, but there isn't much you can do about it, honestly. I feel for this poor person though to have to be reminded daily of their child's death.


33 posted on 02/27/2007 10:51:33 AM PST by RockinRight (When Chuck Norris goes to bed at night, he checks under the bed for Jack Bauer.)
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To: MamaB

I'm so sorry to hear that. My Dad died three years ago, and it's still something I deal with now and then. I cannot imagine dealing with the loss of more than just one.


34 posted on 02/27/2007 10:52:18 AM PST by reagan_fanatic (Don't screw with the Kitties)
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To: YoungSoutherner
My stepfather got collection calls for his mother about 2 years after her death...he told them "she's dead, she doesn't live here" and anything else he could think of. Finally one day they asked for her address and he gave them her cemetery plot number.
35 posted on 02/27/2007 10:53:33 AM PST by RockinRight (When Chuck Norris goes to bed at night, he checks under the bed for Jack Bauer.)
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To: MamaB

So sorry to hear about your losses. In a span of 3 years (Nov 2003-Aug 2006) 4 woman very close to me (3 relatives and a good friend) have lost their husbands. My good friend's hubby died in August 2006 (she was 5 months pregnant with their 3rd child at the time), she is now left at the young age of 25 to raise 3 kids (ages 5,2, and 2 months) on her own. It hurts me so much to see what she is going through. My heart goes out to you and I can't begin to imagine what you are going through.


36 posted on 02/27/2007 10:53:38 AM PST by YoungSoutherner
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To: SmoothTalker

I thought it was bad getting baby advertisements for a year after I'd lost a baby - but the mind boggles at this.

Mrs VS


37 posted on 02/27/2007 10:56:40 AM PST by VeritatisSplendor
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To: proud American in Canada
You know some people complain about simple things like getting mail for someone who has gone on before us. I am not like that. Why waste the energy when it only takes a moment to toss whatever mail I get. Some of it is funny and I get a laugh out of it. Guess you could say I know what is important and what isn't.

Thanks for the prayers. They are what has kept me sane these past few years. We knew that my mom did not have long since she would have been 103 in April. She was a wonderful Christian lady who had been singing "Going Home" for years. She was ready to see all of her loved ones and friends who had gone on before her. She had lost a daughter in 1977, a son in 2006, a grandson in 2002, a granddaughter in 2004 and a great grandson in 2005.

38 posted on 02/27/2007 11:01:46 AM PST by MamaB
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To: proud American in Canada
You know some people complain about simple things like getting mail for someone who has gone on before us. I am not like that. Why waste the energy when it only takes a moment to toss whatever mail I get. Some of it is funny and I get a laugh out of it. Guess you could say I know what is important and what isn't.

Thanks for the prayers. They are what has kept me sane these past few years. We knew that my mom did not have long since she would have been 103 in April. She was a wonderful Christian lady who had been singing "Going Home" for years. She was ready to see all of her loved ones and friends who had gone on before her. She had lost a daughter in 1977, a son in 2006, a grandson in 2002, a granddaughter in 2004 and a great grandson in 2005.

39 posted on 02/27/2007 11:01:58 AM PST by MamaB
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To: Corin Stormhands

Local school boards and birth records supply lists like this.


40 posted on 02/27/2007 11:03:50 AM PST by kevinm13 (The Main Stream Media is dead! Fox News Channel and Freerepublic Rocks!)
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