CommerceNewsTODAY

By Mark Beardsley

I am always amazed by the number of reports of people victimized by scam artists.

The currant rage among scammers is to threaten action against the victim for either unpaid taxes or an unpaid electric bill, although occasionally someone falls for a scam related to winning a lottery they never entered.

I do not have statistics, but I’ve always heard that most of the victims are elderly. Having just survived another birthday and qualified to receive Social Security benefits, this concerns me. At what point do I, a lifelong skeptic, become susceptible to scams?

Something dreadful must happen at a certain age that I don’t know about. I offer the following evidence to support that suspicion. When I buy wine at Ingles, the cashiers always ask for ID or my birth date. No one with eyesight good enough to work a cash register needs to see my ID to know I’m over age 21, so my guess is that there’s a certain age at which Ingles will refuse to sell me beer or wine, perhaps because of concerns of liability. Is that the same age at which I will suddenly respond to the emails about the former oil minister of Nigeria wanting to use my bank account to hide $40 million?

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The Commerce Downtown Development Authority will hold its annual beautification day Saturday, April 2, from 8 a.m. to noon.

Volunteers will replant the downtown flower beds, power wash sidewalks, remove litter from streets and alleys, replant roses along the railroad tracks, add mulch to the playground in Spencer Park and weed flower beds and planted areas in the park. The project covers Broad, Elm, State, Little and Sycamore streets.

“We are probably reaching about 70 volunteers,” said DDA manager Natalie Thomas, “but more are welcome.”

The annual effort is sponsored by Southeast Toyota, which provides the money to buy plants and other materials and sends a large contingent of associates to assist with the work. In addition, SET associates will cook hot dogs for the volunteers.

The Boys and Girls Club of Jackson County will celebrate the grand opening of its new Commerce building this week.

The building dedication ceremony will take place Thursday, March 31, at 3:30 p.m., followed by an open house from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

The building is located on Ridgeway Street across from the existing clubhouse.