Had to laugh, found this article in the Phoenix paper :^)

http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0102buffalo02.html

Snowplowing contractors accused of gouging Buffalo residents, mostly the elderly

Associated Press Jan. 02, 2002

BUFFALO, N.Y. - It's not enough that the city is digging itself out of an unprecedented 7 feet of snow. Some, apparently, have gone to extremes to profit from it.

Buffalo city officials have been fielding complaints about snowplowing contractors gouging clients, in one instance asking a senior citizen for $200 to clear a driveway.

"Anyone who does this should be shot at dawn," Buffalo Common Council member Mary Martino said in a story published in the Buffalo News on Tuesday. "You don't take advantage of people at a time like this."

Martino said her office has received a handful of complaints, mostly from senior citizens, involving contractors either charging exorbitant rates or failing to live up to their contracts.

Preparing to investigate the complaints fully, Martino has not ruled out revoking the licenses of contractors found guilty of price gouging and requesting the state Attorney General office's involvement.

Jim Hornung, a Buffalo snowplowing contractor, believed the complaints stemmed from out-of-town contractors trying to make an extra buck.

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2002

Answers

as if the elderly couldn't get out of the way of the plow in time? LOL

-- Anonymous, January 02, 2002

Two hundred bucks?! My elderly neighbor gives me a bag of chocolate chip cookies when I clear her driveway.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2002

I once cleared the rather long driveway of an elderly neighbor across the street (the year we first moved here), only to hear her talking very badly about me not long afterwards. (I can pick up cordless phones on my scanner.) Needless to say, the old cow has not had her driveway cleared since. I saw her out this morning, looking at me shoveling on mine and then looking at hers. Ha! Tough spit! I hope the old bag can't get her car out for several days.

It's snowing again. It didn't really stop, just slowed down. Sweetie just came in and said "It's basically a blizzard out there." Must go and have a look in a minute.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2002

OG, you have illustrated yet another reason why I don't own a cordless phone.

My scanner picks up phones, too, but the last conversation I bothered to listen to was a mom going on and on with some woman about her toddler's potty training problems. When I lived near an apartment complex, I used to hear the residents phoning the sex lines and Dial- A-Psychic. That was marginally more entertaining but pretty depressing, too.

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2002