Do the Write Thing

Hey folks - so I am back and crazier than ever.

I must be crazy, or at least slow, because I seem to be one of the only white people out there who just doesn’t think this is funny.

Let me credit the folks over at SOULution for putting this best:

The troubling thing about satire is this: if it ain’t funny you’re screwed. And it appears the rest of the country didn’t get it.

There are multiple reasons this isn’t funny, the most obvious being that the now infamous cover gives a nice illustration to all those Barack-is-a-Muslim-spook emails floating around. The Obamas are even shown in the act of a real life moment, their controversial terrorist fist jab. 

The big reason this bothers me has to do with the nature of the illustration ( a racial caricature) and the response of all the white pundits I have seen on TV today (Gee guys, what’s the big deal? It’s funny, if you’re smart enough to get it!). Because, you know, Americans are smart.

Stick with me for a minute. Imagine a McCain cover, a satirical take on criticism that he is too old to be the president. On the cover we see McCain, standing at his bathroom sink looking in the mirror. A bottle of Viagra sits open on the counter. A framed photograph of George W. Bush hangs over the toilet. McCain is in his boxers, holding his slacks in his hand. A cartoon bubble dangles over his head as he shouts “Cindy, have you seen my pants?” Now that’s funny! 

Most of us might be able to imagine such a comic scene, but not on the cover of a major publication. Because the media doesn’t portray white people, especially old white war heroes, the way they so thoughtlessly portray African Americans. White people don’t have the nose to enlarge, the lips to redden, the watermelon handy, or the great Afros and fatigue. And let’s not forget the other terrible images that have surfaced on the Internet, specifically of Michelle Obama.

And where have the liberals (and in the case of Michelle, the feminists) been to speak out against the problems inherent in these illustrations? 

(Crickets chirping)

Police killing, beating, and harassing Black people is nothing new, so news of police brutality comes as no surprise. But the last few weeks have been so ri-fucking-diculous that response is necessary.

In the interest if journalistic integrity (as much as that concept can apply to a blog) I will freely admit that I have a visceral reaction to the types of stories that have been in the news in recent weeks. With the exception of myself, my family is Black men (ages 33, 9, 7, and 4.5 months). I fear the police harming them more than I fear damn near any other kind of violence that may impact their lives. That being said, I do not think my personal experiences detract one bit from the truth of my statements.

First we will start with Sean Bell. A father, a man on his wedding night. Murdered by police officers who were in “fear” for their lives - shot at over 50 times when he was unarmed.

Here is the truth of the matter. We excuse this kind of behavior because we believe that police are scared and that they reasonably fear for their lives when they let loose and a storm of bullets flies into another Black man. We understand their fear because we, as a society, fear Black men. They might just be men leaving a bachelor party, he might just be an immigrant reaching for his wallet, he might be an incapacitated man in handcuffs, but they are all a threat. Because of their blackness, it is reasonable they are drug dealers, rapists, gang bangers, and stone cold killers out to get “us.” So we understand when police officers respond with excessive force.

What it comes down to is a value judgment - we have decided, as a society, that the hypothetical safety of police officers, no matter how far fetched it might be, is worth more than Black lives.

And it does not matter, as in the case of Sean Bell, that some of the officers were not white. When you become a cop you become Blue - you become a part of a system that has operated to suppress Black people since there have been Black people in this country to suppress.

What we have said to Black America is “the loss of your lives is worth our piece of mind.” 50 bullets at an unarmed man does not even warrant a reckless endangerment charge. I don’t even need to bother to ask you, my readers, to imagine a white young man on his wedding night killed in this manner and what public reaction would be.

Talib Kweli put this hypocrisy best - “Kurt Loder ask me what I say to a dead cop’s wife/cops kill my people every day, that’s life.”

Now, on to these fools in Philly who are OUT OF CONTROL. Philly, the city of cheesesteaks, brotherly love, and dropping bombs on Black people (literally - this is not word play).

The sad thing is that, as in the case of Sean Bell, criminal charges won’t stick. I sincerely hope that these men will at least get some restitution in the civil suit sure to follow.

Even more disturbing, the very real problem of police brutality will never receive the attention it deserves. That is, until unarmed young white men and women start getting shot 50 or more times by the police.

Until then…

As the folks at SOULution (and damn near every other Black blog) have covered, Hilary’s recent comments to USA Today leave no question as to her last ditch effort to beat steal the nomination from Barack Obama - play off America’s deep-seated racial stereotypes.

“Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.” - Sen. Hilary Clinton

Rumor has it that Hilary’s next move will be to accuse Barack Obama of winking at her, or maybe she will say he raped her.

It is deeply troubling to see such major players in the democratic party spiral into race baiting of the worse kind - i.e. Black people are lazy, white people work hard. Especially when Black support is so important to the success of the democratic party.

Although no additional evidence was needed, this illustrated yet again that Senator Hilary Clinton cares about one thing and one thing only - power.

As for me, I have to take my white ass back to working hard. All you Black folks take note.

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Mildred Loving, dubbed the Matriarch of interracial marriage, passed today.

I am a constitutional law nerd and have a soft spot for the landmark decision, Loving v. Virginia. This past year marked the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court holding that, by golly, it is unconstitutional to deny blacks and whites the right to marry (this is also the year my interracial son was born - like I said, I have a soft spot for this case). That’s right folks, 1967. But racism has been, like, over forever, right?

But I digress. 

Mildred Loving did not see herself as a hero - she simply wanted to marry the man she loved, who happened to be white. When they were married in Washington, she didn’t even realize it was illegal. When they returned to Virginia they were arrested, and only avoided jail by agreeing to leave the state. They relocated in Washington, and eventual brought their case to the Supreme Court with the help of the ACLU.

Let’s take a moment today to remember Mrs. Loving and the basic rights we take for granted.

I am watching the MSNBC documentary “Meeting David Wilson,” which chronicles a young Black man’s journey to seek out the white man descended from the family who owned his family during slavery. Both men are named David Wilson.

The documentary is much better than I expected it to be. I found myself left with a profound sadness, although the ending seems to be hopeful. Slavery has been called the original sin our of country. Our country is forged on the blood of a race we eliminated and a race we exploited and brutalized beyond all means. Jim Crow wasn’t much better. My generation is the first who has not known (legal) segregation. Is this white guilt? No. This is reflection. Looking at the terrible place from which our country started, you would think today we would do everything in our power to reach for something better. We have reached, for sure, but still our arms stretch for the fruit the Civil Rights Era promised us, still dangling quite out of reach. Let us not forget that we still have a lot to fight for. This doesn’t mean telling Black people how to improve, but educating our white brothers and sisters (and constantly reminding ourselves) about history, privilege, and how everything that has been is connected to everything we are today.

Forty years have passed since a sniper’s bullet ended the life of one of the greatest leader’s our country has known. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is the face of civil rights and represents a dream of equality many feel we have achieved. But have we?

It is easy to idealize King and make him the one- dimensional man who led boycotts in the South and gave the “I Have a Dream Speech.” He has risen to near sainthood, the man who saw us (all races) as equals and urged us towards a day when little white children would hold hands with little Black children and that would be okay.

Truth is King was more than the saint we have made him to be. He was, at times, a deeply flawed man who strayed from his marriage numerous times. Women of the civil rights era speak now of sexism that existed within the movement. But that simply makes him human - a person like you and me. It makes his legacy all the more beautiful because he was simply an ordinary person who undertook extraordinary things. He was a person who can claim what most of us will never be able to - not being afraid to die fighting for what you believe in.

What did King believe in? Certainly equality for all races. His theory of non-violent resistance was shaped by Ghandi and his philosophy of satyagraha is the protest means for which the Civil Rights era is known. He was also anti-war and a spoke out against poverty. So what would King think about where we are today? 

We can debate this question all we want but, of course, no one really knows. Here is my stab at it. We sit at a point in history where we quite possibly might have the first Black president. That is an achievement to be sure, yet we also sit at a period in history where young black men are more likely to go to jail or die than go to college. So while some individuals have certainly succeeded, what can be said for the masses, the young Black people that shape America today? Dr. King was certainly concerned with the whole. On the whole, I do not think Black America is where it should be 40 years later. Mind blowing disparities still exist in income, wealth, education, and housing. Racism has shifted from de facto to de jure, making it in some ways more difficult to battle. Black people can now eat in whatever restaurant they want, but still exists the tacit understanding that Black America is not to own the restaurants. 

As for poverty, the working poor are REAL and growing in numbers everyday. People are losing jobs and homes left and right. Children are homeless, by the hundreds of thousands, and without healthcare in the richest country in the world.

And the whole war thing? Well, we have spent five years in a war fought for corporate greed. 4,000 of our young men and women are dead. We will never know the number of lost Iraqi men, women, and children which to compare that number.

Have we made progress? Certainly. But that HOPE, that unyielding optimism that seemed to grip the heart of the country at the peak of the Civil Rights era and a few short years before King was assassinated, do we still feel that? Barack Obama seems to be the closest thing my generation has experienced. Time will only tell if we will see the rebirth of a dream that seemed to have died with its messenger on April 4, 1968, on a hotel balcony in Tennessee. 

** I suggest everyone pay some homage and go read Letter from Birmingham Jail - it’s one of my favorite King writings. http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” 

Obama is my guy. Let’s not get that twisted. That being said, I am really upset that my guy is, shall we say, leaving a lot to be desired when it comes to gay rights (also known as civil rights). I turned 18 just a few days before the 2000 election - my experience as a voting citizen has been less than satisfactory. Despite the satisfaction that in 2008 a woman or a black man will be the democratic nominee, it is heavily tainted by the fact that NO ONE on the ballot, from either party, supports gay marriage. This brings the fact that this country accepts discrimination against a class of people into some harsh light, and it sure does look ugly. 

I love Obama, but I hate the separate but equal status he puts on the right of gay citizens to marry. I expect this from the grumpy old white men in politics, but not from him. Sure, he is just following what the law says. The Supreme Court has not said that gay people do not have the right to marry, but it is not looking good should the specific issue ever come before the court. No such right is granted by the Constitution (you know, that grand old document that had brilliant quips like “three-fifths a person.”) The VAST majority of states to vote on the issue have banned gay marriage. The only real “progress” on the legal side of things is Lawrence v. Texas, where the Supreme Court decided it’s not really fair to make sodomy illegal (Internet porn stars everywhere breathed a sigh of relief - how can a girl get a gig if she can’t take it in the butt? But that’s neither here nor there.) 

Ironically for Obama, the son of a white woman and a Black man, it was just over 40 years ago (1967) that the Supreme Court decided, in Loving v. Virginia, that it was unconstitutional to prohibit Blacks and whites from marrying. Tomorrow also happens to mark the 40 year anniversary since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. In the unforgettable “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King wrote:

I can only hope that once Obama gets in office, before it is all said and done, he has the courage to stand up for what is just in the face of injustice.

**Speaking of injustice, man, racism sucks. Reflections on how far we have (or have not) come in the 40 years since King’s death to follow tomorrow**

I am watching Barack Obama on Hardball with Chris Matthews in “real time.” If anyone else is watching - did it hurt your heart to hear him say “I do not support gay marriage,” because I know it sure hurt me.I realize supporting gay marriage is political suicide, but come one, when will we see a democrat with the balls to support basic rights for all (gay) people? 

Hello friends and loyal readers (oh, wait, y’all are the same people),

Between Spring Break, lack of an Internet connection, and my much needed week off from MSNBC, I am behind on my posts. Now, even though I swore off cable news I am no way out of the loop, I have just been getting my news through a tolerable new source (The SOULution, Jack and Jill Politics).

Of course, when I take off the most important things seem to happen. Here are the posts you can expect from me over the next day or two:

1. Barack Obama’s “More Perfect Union” - this speech was unprecedented in presidential candidacies and unparalleled in its deep understanding of race relations in our country. I cried. I have, at no  time I can remember, felt such pride in a presidential candidate, president, or politician.
2. Even though Obama put it to rest, I still gotta say something about Geraldine Ferraro.
3. The Eliot Spitzer scandal…But, I think I can actually sum this up right now. Are we really shocked that a politician would cheat on his wife or get a hooker? I mean, really folks.

On a house-keeping note, I will be modifying Do the Write Thing and putting the posts concerning motherhood into their very own blog (to come soon).

Lastly (for now), check out http://the-soulution.blogspot.com/2008/03/pause-for-kys-rising-prison-population.html for the prestigious new record KY holds.

So, readers, I was messing around with my “manage” settings and talking on the phone at the same time and…um, yeah. I deleted my tow post. Luckily I know myself so when I started playing with settings I saved it in word first. So here it is, comments and all.

Hopefully a posting of the receipt for the services I didn’t pay for to come soon. Just need to get to a scanner.

Fuck You Very Much, Rend Lake Towing

Is racism alive and well in middle America or was my family just the victim on a tow operator’s ego?So my boo is driving to STL to pick up our two beautiful boys who we don’t get to spend nearly enough time with. On the way back at mile marker 62 on highway 64 east (this is also know as “somewhere in Illinois,” or the “middle of nowhere”), the car breaks down. In case anyone reading this lives in LA and doesn’t watch the news, it has been really, really cold in the Midwest as of late. So my boys are freezing their butts off while I am in Louisville KY 180 miles away frantically trying to figure out where they are and how to get them out of there.You can imagine my relief when I find a tow company less than ten miles away.Within the next hour my boys are safe and warm in a hotel and I am on my way to get them (leaving my eight week old at home with my mom for the first time ever, but that’s another blog post).  I get there around one in the morning and we are home around four.The next morning Stacy calls the tow guy to get our car. Now, we are calling the tow guy and not the repair shop because the tow guy is the only contact number we have and his FRICKIN CARD SAYS THEY DO REPAIRS. Tow guy tells Stacy “It cost $80 to fix and is running just fine.”  Stacy arranges a time to go pay our bill and heads off with one of our kind friends who was willing to take 6+ hours out of his day to help us out.Now, picture this scene as it unfolds:They get to Mt Vernon and call this tow guy, who tells them to meet him in the parking lot of the hotel they stayed at the previous night. Now, this sounds more like someone who is about to sell a sack of weed than the practice of any type of reputable business.  Stacy gets out of the car and both this man and his son get out to come get their money. Then they give Stacy the number of the mechanic and leave. Stacy calls the mechanic only to be told that he never said our car was fixed, the engine is blown, and the thousands it would cost to fix it render the car useless. Stacy and our friend turn around and drive home, having wasted a precious day he could have been with his two sons he sees less than a fourth of the year.So today I decide to call the tow guy and see what in the world could have caused us to get such a false report. I tell him what happened and that I feel like we were lied to. He tells me  I need to just “shut up,” accuses us of trying to run out on our bill, berates us for leaving the hotel to bring the kids home (which apparently makes us thieves), acts like he did a favor by “rescuing” us, and ADMITS HE LIED TO GET STACY TO DRIVE 180 MILES TO PAY THIS ASSHOLE $85!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was proud of this, like he had outsmarted us. Then he hung up on me. He hung up on Stacy when he called as well.Stacy and I cannot figure out what would cause a human being to act in a way so devoid of humanness or what would cause someone to be so suspicious of someone who offered to pay upfront and then was later willing to drive 180 miles and meet them in a PARKING LOT to pay a measly $85. This is what we have come up with (Disclaimer only a law student would find necessary - this blog represents only my opinions seeing as I will never know the true motivation for tow man’s illigocal conclusion we were theives):(1) This guy is an ego maniac who gets his rocks off by taking advantage of the often helpless people he comes across(2) He took one look at Stacy, a young Black male with locks and thought “This n****r isn’t gonna pay me shit.” When he found out Stacy had dared to leave the hotel without his permission that must have confirmed this impression (ah, good old paternalistic racism - my favorite!)In the end Stacy and I are mad as a hornets nest,  no longer have a car (which is great when you have a newborn and two kids that live out of state), and have no course of action except to report tow guy to the Better Business Bureau (which I already did) and to put him on blast on the Internet.Mission accomplished, but I don’t feel any better.If you happen to be an eccentric rich person who wants a charity project that involves a shiny new car for an interracial couple with a new baby trying to come up in this world drop me a line.Update: Upon further consideration, I would add “age” and “class” to possible reasons for jumping to the conclusion we were theives. If Stacy was 50 and drove a Benz we would probably not be having this conversation. February 16, 2008 - Posted by dothewritething | Uncategorized | racism, screwed | 12 Comments | Edit

12 Comments »

1.      Are you certain the engine is actually blown? Because if it isn’t, I have a very reasonable and honest mechanic here who I am happy to recommend to anyone and everyone. They have had half a dozen opportunities to soak me for big bucks when I didn’t know any better, and they always did the right thing. That’s nearly impossible to find.Comment by ChristopherM | February 17, 2008 | Edit 2.      That’s outrageous.Comment by Phillip M. Bailey | February 17, 2008 | Edit 3.      I am going to go with choice #2. maybe its because i grew up in the south, and b/c my brother (white dude who at the time had dreads - lame, i know, but he’s a happy hippie) and best friend (beautiful gay black man) were once arrested in Whiteville (no literally, that is the name of the town “Whiteville, NC”) for driving 15 miles over the speed limit, and yes they slept there till they got the money to get out. that sucks lucie. when i win the lottery i will buy your fam a sweet minivan. and fuck a bunch of rend lake towing.Comment by Becca O’Neill | February 19, 2008 | Edit 4.      This story is TOTALLY UNTRUE! When we picked up your car and your family that cold night, we took them to a motel and the car to a repair shop that specializes in foreign car repair. It was agreed that we would call the motel the next morning to inform Stacy of the extent of repairs needed. Our mistake was trusting you to pay the tow bill after a repair estimate was completed. The repair shop told me that they got the car running, but would need additional repairs. When I called the motel to inform Stacy of the situation, I was told he had checked out in the middle of the night. I then called his cell phone several times over the next few hours. I left messages asking him to please return my calls. These calls were never returned. I also left voicemails on your phone which you failed to return. From my standpoint this was another case of theft of my service and vehicle abandonment. I am tired of people requesting help from our company only to skip out on paying for a tow charge and leaving us to dispose of another JUNK car. Yours and Stacy’s failure to have the courtesy to even return my phone calls is inexcuseable! Why would you sneak out of town in the middle of the night? To accuse me of racism is a cowards way out. I don’t care if you are purple, as long as you pay for services rendered. Do you think tow trucks are free? Is fuel free? Is insurance? Are drivers wages? NO! You should be ashamed of yourself. We helped your family on a very cold night & you tried to stick us holding the bag, then you tell lies & use foul language on this forum. Your last paragraph sums up your character, wanting something for nothing! SHAME ON YOU!
Why don’t you tell the truth - you knew your car needed major repairs, you skipped out of town, like a theif in the night, owing a tow bill & repair estimate bill,Comment by REND LAKE TOWING | February 28, 2008 | Edit 5.      To my readers and Rend Lake:
(1) At the point we returned to pay the bill you should have realized we were not theives
(2) Every time we have spoken to the repair shop they have assured us they never spoke to you or made any statement about our car running
(3) The repair shop is who would have been stuck with a junk car - they can attest that we have continued communication with them, which has involved obtaining a new title and mailing it to them so they do not get stuck with a junk car
(4) Our decision to leave in the middle of the night was completely reasonable. We had a car to use at that moment as well as childcare for our newborn. We did not know what was wrong with our car, when it would be repaired, or when we would have a car and childcare again. Plenty of people who have car repairs do not stick around to wait to see what is wrong - in fact, most do not.
(5)We returned your call before noon the next day. As I explained I was in class and he was caring for three children so could not answer your call immediately. We timely returned your call.
(6)We have paid our tow and our repair bill - Stacy made a special trip to pay both, and the repair bill was taken care of with us knowing we would not have a car to drive home.
(7) Only one person in this situation lied, and it was not us.
( There is no such thing as a purple person.
(9) This represents only my opinion - we are not the people you made us out to be and we have no other understanding of why you would act like that other than that you have stereotypes are in general are an unkind person. It is your JOB to get people in the middle of the night, no matter what the weather. We returned your call by noon the next day. We have paid all our bills, which has required almost 500 miles or driving to do so. We have managed to go to the county clerks office and get a new title (without a car to do so) just so the repair shop will not be stuck with a junk car.
(10) the last sentence is a joke
(11) The real kicker - my insurance pays for all towing so despite what you think we never had any motivation to skip out on you.
(12) Ummm…how did we not return your calls when Stacy called you and then went and met you?Readers, only one person shoul be ashamed here. It is the people who lied and followed poor business practices. We did leave to take our children home. We promptly returned the next day and days later to take care of our bills. Tell me, how are people who pay stealing anything? You can debate all you want and claim we only returned when you said our car was fixed - the people at the repair shop can vouch that this is not our character. Who can vouch for you?Comment by dothewritething | February 28, 2008 | Edit 6.      “I left messages asking him to please return my calls. These calls were never returned. I also left voicemails on your phone which you failed to return.” “you knew your car needed major repairs, you skipped out of town, like a theif in the night, owing a tow bill & repair estimate bill,”- Rend LakeThey claim we never called back and never paid - so how did we meet them and how do we have a receipt? We have a record of when we paid - phone records show that by noon the next day we called back. How can someone make the claim, then, that we never called back or paid?Comment by dothewritething | February 28, 2008 | Edit 7.      And one last thought - how does your accustaion that we knew the car was junked and were gonna leave you with it even make sense with the claim that we only drove to meet you because we thought the car was fixed?And readers, come on, this guy denies that Stacy offered to pay the night the car was towed. Have any of you ever gotten your car towed without even asking about who or how much you pay?Comment by dothewritething | February 28, 2008 | Edit 8.      Rend Lake -I could care less about the money. All I would like is acknowledgement that you misjudged us and that we did pay.Comment by dothewritething | February 28, 2008 | Edit 9.      I am appalled at the comment made by Rend Lake…honestly, of all the people in the world I know you could never even come close to a list I would have of a “thief in the night.” For goodness sake, I can’t even believe that guy was talking about you!! Gosh I hope I never have to go anywhere near Rend Lake and their crazy towing company.I have enjoyed reading your blog because you are one person that I can say I wish I was more like, you are a wonderfully strong, courageous and beautiful person and I think we need more people like you in the world.I hope you never have to deal with this guy ever again. How did he find your blog anyway???Comment by JessicaM | February 29, 2008 | Edit 10.  The response by Rend Lake is ridiculous. They allege that Lucie and Stacey never called then back, when in fact they did call them the next day. Even if you take Rend Lake at their word, the fact that in the past customers have not paid is no reason to treat future customers as if they are “thieves.” I think the result of this much publicized blog is that Rend Lake will lose business, as well they should. I have already told my friends in family who live in the area (or anyone else driving through those parts) about this sad story. Also, Rend Lake should be made aware that people (and their small children) are not required to stay in a motel overnight so that the tow company can be paid at the crack of dawn. Customers are free to travel home, if possible, and then to pay. The fact that Rend Lake assumes Stacey would want to sleep at a motel and miss out on time that the boys and their new brother could be together (not to mention sleeping in their father’s home) is ludicrous. Notice Rend Lake does not deny lying to Lucie’s family.Rend Lake is clearly not a family friendly, or “friendly” business at all. And, I don’t think it is a stretch for Lucie to suggest that Stacey’s race had something to do with their assumption that Lucie and her family are “thieves.”Rend Lake is just pissed because their shady practices have been exposed and now people (allll the way in Kentucky) know not to patronize them.Comment by Becca | February 29, 2008 | Edit 11.  If this towing company is so terribly concerned about customers who don’t pay, perhaps they should make a proactive business practice of asking customers to pay for service WHEN THEY RECEIVE IT! I have never had a tow company not make payment arrangements with me when service is rendered, much less expect me to spend the night in a motel so I may pay them the next day. It seems the owner of Rend Lake is a bad businessman in addition to being a jerk.The funny thing is Lucie and Stacey probably would have been willing to drive all that way to pay the bill if they had to regardless of the status of the car. Rend Lake must have gotten screwed by their foolish business practices so many times that they don’t recognize honest decent people when they meet them.Comment by ChristopherM | February 29, 2008 | Edit 12.  I can’t believe this tow company is attacking you like this. They have absolutely no grounds to complain. You went out of your way to ensure that the towing bill was paid (when it probably easily could have been covered over the phone by credit card if they had offered and not blatantly lied to you), and you have been nothing but helpful in making sure that the repair shop is not stuck with a junk car. I fail to see how you or Stacy have behaved like “thieves.” I have never once called a tow truck and not made payment arrangements before they even hooked up the car. How can they expect to mandate that Stacy and the boys stay in a hotel?I’m sorry you both had to endure this experience, as well as the further character-assassination that Rend Lake is attempting. Clearly they didn’t know who they were dealing with.Comment by Sarah | February 29, 2008 | Edit