Last week, the U.S. Postal Service unveiled Nevada's entry in the "Flags of Our Nation" postage stamp series:



The local paper in my other state had an article about how a scam artist is taking advantage of the high incidence of people abandoning their homes because of foreclosures. There is an increased need for locksmiths, so he creates lots of fake locksmith companies and lists them in the Yellow Pages with local addresses.

When you call one of the supposedly local locksmith companies, the phone rings in Florida or some other state, and you may think you are talking to a local business, it's just a dispatcher for a mobile locksmith who comes to your job in a van. Problem is that the local addresses belong to businesses and homes that have never heard of him or the locksmith business he claims is officed there. So any implied assurances of honesty and integrity have no basis, and if you have a problem with them, you can't find them, and although they quote low rates over the phone, they tack on a lot of extra fees when they get to your place.

In the particular case the article was about, the man who registered with the Secretary of State as the agent for all these fake locksmith companies provided an address that turned out to be the location of a Burger King, no locksmith business in sight.

For some reason hijacking peoples' addresses isn't considered a punishable crime by the authorities, but the Locksmiths of America and Better Business Bureau are upset about it. I don't understand why it's legal to lie to the Secretary of State office about the legal address of a business, but what do I know.

The other big ruckus is about a popular bakery/deli that was raided and padlocked by the city for not paying the city sales taxes collected on their sales. Come to find out this has been going on for years, and last year they worked out a payment plan with the city and then reneged on it, so the city went over there last week, kicked out their customers, and changed the locks on the building.

The city has admitted this isn't the only business in town that doesn't pay the sales tax owed to the city. I wonder if they also withhold the county and state sales taxes since all three types are sent to the state Dept of Revenue on the same return every month. No wonder our local governments are broke, and don't we feel like a bunch of chumps paying all those sales taxes just to provide free loans to the businesses collecting them.