Georgia Gazette

fb mr bruce gordon and this is georgia gazette coming up on today's program ten years had bisphenol a is the common knowledge is that the beginning of the year and all thought at the beginning of the spring the chinese celebrate their new year january thirty first carrie kahn explains what it means to be living in the year of the board you can possibly give their government in advance of the garden and have been cut short above all others it was supposed to be a field of dreams instead it was a field of mud likes average take you to the atlanta braves tryout can almost held this week in atlantic coast areas and much much more ahead on georgia gazette but first the new national public radio ms bee

oh good afternoon and welcome to georgia gazette i'm curious on todays edition georgia consumer advocate very brief targets unscrupulous home builders and contractors the taxman cometh ray davis is with the irs at the fear to information you needed to get your records in order sometimes trying to find something in the yellow pages as like being to look up a misspelled word in the dictionary we begin a one possibilities with five one one telephone information services will learn more about the poster is possible stop the uk founder and a movie review or to georgia gazette radio magazine enjoyed you lived

in a georgia gazette i'm bruce talking with me in the studio now greg davis a taxpayer service representative with the internal revenue service and of course it's tax time and after we're going to talk about great work and georgia gazette thank you first question about after i'm sure you get this a lot why is it so difficult for people to get through to the irs on the telephone well there we only have a limited staff available to him handel telephone calls tr eight hundred numbers and we service and quite a few states with each call side that we have around the country i like the one we have here in atlanta that we service and depending on the day of the week anywhere from three to six states usually and doesn't you know we can have done literally thousands of people calling at any one time we have approximately two to two hundred fifty people available for our one of the newest term changes in the tax service system is your boat see some of them time name changes are that like if you take

itemized deduction for charitable contributions for most of two hundred and fifty dollars or more whether it's cash or non cash you have to receive a receipt from the organization that you're giving me a contribution to are also the taxable to social security benefits is has changed somewhat after the fat tax act change my share if you it's still fifty percent of the benefits would be taxable of fear over thirty two thousand dollars in income other income other and so scared of benefits for married couple filing jointly for an individual as twenty five thousand m n if it's over forty four thousand now for a married couple falling and your return to eighty five percent of the benefits may be taxable and its thirty two thousand ugly for

for a single individual is there a date their employer hester have their w two form for the employees sent out and they should have them available to the tech to evade employee are by january thirty first and the employee should have it in hand by february fifteen we start taking debbie to complaints as of february fifteenth then will send something to the employee or requesting that they provide the employee with a copy of their now receded by that date do the current rules order passed rules still apply when it comes to if you cannot file by april fifteenth you can get an extension ah yes that is a war ii in order to receive an extension if you're unable to fall by april fifteenth or in this case this year it's april seventeenth as the fifties on a saturday i do you fill out a form forty eight sixty eight and submit it to irs by april seventeenth of ninety five requesting an extension and it's an automatic extension through august of fifty now and him but an individual filing

attacks has the ultimate the final responsibility for everything being accurate correct that is correct but if they go to one of these are places that do your tax return than a mistake is made and what recourse do they have who's liable well ultimately you'd be individual taxpayer are liable for what is on your return and depending on who you used to prepare your return they may or may not agree to pay any additional tax do from any topic changes that may come at a later time from review of the return or if the resinous day but that's something that's between you and that particular prepare greg davis taxpayer service representative with the internal revenue service great if an individual has been calling and calling and calling and could not get through to europe customer service line that eight hundred number arm in a person come to an irs office and look for and get assistance by yasser we do have on a walk in offices available across the state of

georgia we have four locations in the atlanta metropolitan area and then in various cities around the state what about the people who may file and claimed that actual number of dollars or do them and perhaps they made a mistake and more money is to them how they're as hamlet if it's basic math error or they save the down the ink or incorrect amount of tax on the tax return we'd just make a correction and send out the refund with the corrected amount and we also send a separate notice advising that we did make a change on your tax return this is the change we made and explain why it was made what is an eight hundred number one odds one eight hundred eight to nine one zero four zero text and forty x and forty what's the biggest complaint consumer complaint you get from taxpayers would say they had not received their refund for some

reason or having to pay their taxes basically ok anything new that we need to you need to be very strong record holder there have been some changes are also in the earned income credit in order to claim the earned income credit tax credit aa you do have to have a valid social security number for each dependent that you're climbing on the return and if the sauce esterly member cannot be verified you're processing a tax return it will cause the earned income credit portion of your refund be denied or held until it can be verified you would receive a refund of any tax credit that was two but the earned income earned income tax credit portion of your refund would be delayed until that verification was unveiled so that like telling someone a fire you had a child born on december thirty first sunni doing additional security number for the show all of the child under one is not required to have assess security number but on for earned

income credit they can require that you have a number on her return there was encouraging recruiters year the basic credit but maximum the sheer with one child is two thousand thirty eight dollars and with two or more children as two thousand five hundred and twenty eight our teammate any other major changes will moving expenses have been changed there are no longer and i must adapt and deductible item you can take it as a credit without having to file for i must actions where someone has been paid their moving expenses thousand and one only the expenses of moving the house of contents and personal possessions and the cost of traveling from the old to the new residents are a lot of it greg davis taxpayer service representative of the internal revenue service thanks for much for taking your time and come with us and georgia gazette and again that number is one eight hundred text and forty five thank you greg thank you

will a light snow was falling monday when more than one thousand brave wannabes showed up in a baseball field in the south campus in dekalb college in atlanta for open tryouts but as mike savage what that tested their that day was patients is broken into the standing water out of the cab college baseball fields bailout of race scouts decided nothing would be accomplished by holding the tryout campaign schedule i don't know instead of playing in front of a major league scout a large crowd was directed by grades officials just to fill out a registration cards charcoal or the director of scouting for the atlanta braves says he's disappointed the weather force a cancellation of

trials because he's certain a serious prospect would have been found and things go on as planned the baseball player hopefuls would have been allowed to strive at least some of their staff position players would have all run a sixty yard dash ok to try to find a small foot speed and they would've fallen field and their position with a baby in fear is with a big hitters with a baby alf that's what they've done because we're thrown off the male in object to shore strengthen and gone from there so they regard the only thing as sufferers in open tryouts camp like this especially with the numbers is the back very hard to give her boy ok a career opportunity to swing a bat but we're looking for that athletic ability anyway so they would show this by their body their actions theyre on street they're fielding ability how fast they won the sixty if we would have an interest in doing that they're not baseball players went out on strike august twelfth in a dispute over a proposed salary cap system unilaterally

supported by club owners first the world series fell by the wayside and now the april second start of the regular season it appears to be in jeopardy one way owners hope to minimize their losses and keep angry fans at least partially satisfied is by fielding teams made up a replacement players only baltimore orioles owner peter angelos has said no to that idea other teams like the atlanta braves are looking to their farm systems and to open tryouts define the nine hundred players that the thirty two teams need to start the season chuck lamar we believe it'll try out themes we believe in giving everybody that feels like an airport they still have achieved the play in the major leagues that opportunity in and we go through a lot of numbers throughout the country to find a few prospects but i think we have a full scale land that though we're going to try to turn over every stone the top five player and that's the reason why fifteen hundred men many of them in their thirties braved the rain the snow and the thirty

degree temperatures to come to the cab college monday no alice furlaud reporter that like in those are prisoners common element gang and photos later that moderator all with what major league baseball in a house you know this is the chance of the struggle among those as a chance to possibly get picked up and in our chancellor dark and you know this have been cut short by a lather you know lawyer fernando again love again double effect of the value of this no more the atlanta child can't may or may not be rescheduled ballplayers monday were told by scouts don't call us and we may or may not call you for georgia gazette i'm mike savage mm hmm i'm bruce gordon was a means to be on our sports guy

extraordinary her white boards show host and commentator for w cnn and a very powerful former nba play with the atlanta hawks and good friend sports talk to assert holiday under gray bruce about it others find that's the city's east of runaway forested a syllable questo picking <unk> everyone is invited over san diego certainly because ceo of bookmakers in las vegas or las vegas and set the land had twenty and have actually started out eighteen a half couldn't get invited bet on san diego it that that number now it's up to twenty and a half and i had a stolen problems getting people to bet course with the bookmakers try to do is set the lion doesn't really mean what they feel the outcome of the game will be a line is basically what they think they can get there half the people to bet on the chargers and have people to bet on the forty niners course the bookies get their money right off the top you know we may be underestimating the charges not from a blue send you that supports assad is going to win but not all things san diego is

going to be that bad and i think we do that all the fresh and you know how we are in the media i think we're just going to give a little fuel those in the audience that you lose the government a respectable shoulder i grew it if somebody help me now maybe bet my house on an ugly led to take the poison go san diego bobby ross is a gas is well known for the preparation he can get there for his ball club you want a national chairmanship to georgia tech or actually shared one of colorado he's been in the nfl now this is third year i believe him days get his team in the super bowl he said two weeks to prepare it pollinates all that for seven sisko but i would think that san diego may have a few surprises and can keep it within twenty to twenty one points speaking of georgia tech school college basketball they have just recruited and i believe they have signed the number one high school basketball player in the country greg correct stephon marbury but there's a little bit of controversy surrounding marbury and years basketball career well yesterday on our program we discussed a

little bit the way this whole thing has been treated in atlanta paper's sunday there was a large article about stephon marbury it seemed to indicate his intention was to go to check georgia tech because of the fact that bobby kremlin to put several point guards and of the nba marc price kenny anderson and people find travis best the current poor girl gordon play in the nba stefan city was to go there and looks like he's only going to be their year or two most people are indicating now is that the message that we want to send the kids is at the messes at georgia tech's trying to put out the day we don't really care if this young man is going to come here to be a student with intent to graduate he's come in here when some basketball games for us the last few years i think it's been a healthy attitude to the presidents of college athletic directors of move toward increasing the academic requirements for athletes to get into school and to maintain their eligibility while they're in

school i think that has filtered down into the high schools and the great school letting kids have been getting the message that not many are you going to go on to play in the nba or the nfl kids so tim horton part about going to college is getting that education and now when something like this happens in the emphasis is put on i'm going to take so i can be a point guard in the nba are going to be their year to i think were sending out the wrong message i just think that it should've been handled differently i know from our show your door to public television prep sports plus were we on our kids to do well academically there has been improvement with the no pass know play and high schools they i think it's more than ever that they did need to do that but i think when things like this happens it goes across purposes with what we're trying to achieve well it's going on college basketball at georgia tech lost the heartbreak or the other day and into virginia on the road double overtime game there's some crucial free throws at the end travis best one banner free throw shooters in the year and collegiate basketball but at forty five percent mr obama stretch

you can still win on the road it's big mac say were unable to do it and georgette have the auburn a saturday night for a victory so to even up their sec record at three and three attack now stands at two and three in the acc has taken george or get to play again they will not play again and that there's been some controversy about that the last week or so about the georgia last movie ga ga taking which has been played in the army in atlanta for twelve years back to a home and home bases which is offend a lot of people because the georgia seem to make this decision unilaterally although they claim that they did tell georgia tech so they'll be more on that soon and i don't think it's been completely decided i have offered a year what i think is that he has and a compromise for both teams to play the open the cup and hammer which is the basketball classic every year atlanta taken george already playing that they'll host james they take turns hosting that event it's the same weak right now is a georgia georgia tech game that's one of the reasons they

wanted move the georgia take a mile away they fell on the cup and iman the georgia georgia tech game was siphoning off some interest from each other i say let taken george open the cup and hammer each year an invite to more teens and you can go back to eighty four game format or fourteen format two games for each team which used to be and i think that can solve the problem but more on that later will say would push to leave your shoes your just ended the ball's in his court right now ok to her white sports announcers sports commentator and looks like some tv sports arbitrator recovery and they were the city ordered always a pleasure cruise uses his long today friday january twenty seven composer wolfgang amadeus mozart was born in salzburg austria on the state and seventeen fifty six author charles manson well under the pen name lewis carroll was born in cheshire england on the state making thirty two another thomas

edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamps january twenty seven eighteen ad on this date in nineteen sixty seven astronauts virgil gus grissom edward white and roger chaffee died in a flash fire during it testa border apollo one spacecraft at cape kennedy in florida and vietnam peace accords were signed in paris on this date in nineteen seventy three people celebrating birthdays today include musical conductor skip henderson he's seventy seven after troy donahue is fifty nine ballet star mikhail baryshnikov is forty seven and actress brigitte fonda turns thirty one today the georgia gazette this sunday at three baritone goldstein holds they're reformists songs by anne mendelson in his atlanta debut acts by the car slightly hall is located on the

campus of latent state college in mara a new trough wadsworth and friends will present a concert with an auditorium a restoration project this saturday night at the municipal auditory on the program is music by dobro were shot and beethoven among others as well as bronstein korean dancers and schumann to your tablet and when spring and the theater stage in georgia by streetcar named desire has just opened at the spring opera house and columnist through february fourth mr collins series shakespeare's the tempest is tonight and tomorrow night at eight at the maxwell performing arts theatre also in augusta ga this sunday afternoon at three at the lighthouse on walton way it is partly the augusta players imagine that feeling this is the last weekend against the ireland players presentation second time around here

ornstein simons island fine lace and jazz events to note instead to repel quintet is that the rich theater on st simons island tonight winter jazz at the ruins digging again and the columbus symphony welcomes stand firmly in her condo for a program called the late great ladies of jazz saturday night live present portraits of the wonderful women who sang the great music of the golden age of jackson county jackson's billie holiday if you have any questions you know i hesitate to call us at one eight hundred six five were trio create for georgia is that i can't hear it you need a rule for all washing machine repair person but you don't know what's happening there in under the yellow pages or the warriors a dial it five one one and some of the telephone information services in cities throughout georgia

said hoskinson looks into how they work i'm talking to dave with roots in the night he's the president of info ventures out what is five one when can you explain it five one one is is merely a bow enrichment just like for one one which most consumers and george are used to and bowing to get directory information or the telephone number of people five one wine and there are more than one one numbers than just that available in georgia to one one three one won five one one six one won seven one nominate one all of these numbers were my first mission for information providers to use to provide information over the telephone a variety of information to consumers at a very low fixed price much like the pricing of one would know there's other one when members available why five when warren five one one was the number that was a sign to us

about the georgia public service commission for use in the atlanta and our narrative there's no real significance to that number other than that was one of the ones that was available and i was assigned to us and that's what we use for instance in augusta and athens morris communications has three one which they've implemented here in atlanta williams communications has seven one one where's there's a number in all the name it they all the newspaper has a member bainbridge probably there's also some in rome and often on the military members do those services differ at all from the five one one service i think each service will be different because what the un one one which is what they're called less unsafe i won one an investor they are designed to be local services for that local community so that each service will be designed with that

community's information needs and nine vin number and bainbridge torture which ugly through a weekly newspaper there will use the information included on that would be much different than the information included in atlanta well primarily with misinformation nature much different in this community so i think the key all of this is there were design from the very beginning to be local services and were designed to help people with information and those local communities do it at a very low price to the concern well let's find out first white they do what happens why marijuana dialing in one one member ahmad were when you dial the number you have access to a myriad of of information topics they're updated on an ongoing basis throughout the day his mom the largest user of the numbers as newspaper so let's take a newspaper for

example when you receive that newspaper in the morning the weather report the stock quotes the sports scores are all static information that they have gathered in some cases from the night before or the day before that is the type of information that we update on an ongoing basis a perfect example would be the weather the last couple of days in atlanta which was touching go but calling the pile one one number you were able to have an updated weather forecast it was updated every time they're worse additional ms sports scores as they have the winning lottery number eleven a one pm strong as well as the entire yellow pages database any information that's in the atlanta yellow pages any information that's in the atlanta journal constitution class of finances available so it's a live operator for some things and what a recorded

message and an updated recorded message for other thing that's exactly right when you dial into the number you'd get a menu that says if you walk and weather or stocks if you push this memory of your recording but if you made a live operator for anything if you don't know the category though mr prager will transfer you back into it if you want yellow page or classified information our operators will will help it well no they're not there and the ventures operators they are hired and trained specifically for this project so they are not for one one operators are four zero operators they're they're specially trained on how to access the information out of the computer database very quickly provide that information back to the consumer to satisfy their request and if the consumer lines actually connect that consumer straight to the business or person that they need to talk to to complete a transaction i would imagine given some of the information that people might want your operators also

are or possibly trained in interpersonal skills and also interviewing skills because sometimes it seems like it might be difficult to get at the information that it that a column i really want so some of the requests are very vague and don't follow the standard classifications of information so the operator of very much has to query the consumer to find out what their needs really are us anecdotally they range all the way from the person who called who wanted to find a live cow that they could then get butchered and put the meat in their freezer which of course does not fit the standard requests all the way to the lady who had taken her car and four car repair but cannot remember very sharp that they took it into but she knew the part of town and you have to stay with those people and she remembered the

repairman slam was here to the lady just the other day who accidentally locked her own grandchild in the car and i have no keys call us and we had to stay with that person and to redefine a locksmith you can get out there immediately solve problems i think our prayers were ascertained estefan part of a job that's what makes it a job that has a lot of self satisfaction for now how does this service had how do you accommodate disabilities physical disabilities and the death and and other things several different ways and i guess i would have to be very straightforward in terms of the death with it been an audio service we did not at this point have they ever tell a text them entry into the service the newspapers so does have access atlanta which is a computer package service and as technology goes forward our servers ross have i have that accommodated in terms of the visually

impaired out we do have a policy that did visually impaired people call and now i'm certified to his burly that the visually impaired we do provide them special access to the services they can obtain information that they might not be able to obtain special access which we set up an arrangement with and white don't want anything else nothing other than ninety are still a developing services for signing are etched into the problem which didn't use a world beer from well thank you for being with us and to advise him very much it's over just president your mic night talking with cyd hoskinson about and one one telephone information services and torture yunus and

georgia gazette i'm bruce gordon on the phone now elena ringle our georgia gazette movie critic owen are once again they're welcome and thanks for being with us about what a wonder wheel will be a will and they went on to play practical the mad king george the year eighty eight and came toward the third party lab colony now look but he's losing his mind nelly georgia played wonderfully by night gale hawthorne you probably think and then well after the quake after georgia's your average worker the guy the one they urine turned blue mini golf term fund for the modern experts believe in metaphor for metabolic if we're performing a way the technician immediately affected power play ivan what i really loved about the movie to look at the whole truth of like you know what are normal and when they admit that they don't like the pretty

quickly and which will be which is pretty crazy to help the headlining winner the ruling class but harper of extraordinary performance give men an older boy you get that when after contender the nfl made a lot of people heard that would have been on broadway have been closer to drive that gene hackman then the category we've heard thinking pretty well fit for the quiet down the town's go quietly what happens in the movie is agree with her favorite former political prisoner and a name that american country left hama began that throbbing kingsley had been brought home by her husband that well i think i can wait to push for fifteen years that the changes you made but weaver brinker usual the complete underwritten part of what you were the plot something about you know getting the yeltsin though he died some real good actor we'll play a

record five of our people who that everything can be kind of the dangers on the record with the fake very i'll play something a foreign thing it is noting this and that they need to be made in this intimate maneuvered by polanski yeah you said a pretty good track record of them all the madness of thing that you would say okay you think people might want that will be the start to open and oh yeah we're walking a miami need to be pretty upbeat parable of what what you were writing it you know the nineteen eighties and the loop would you like i like it better and only get bigger greenberg will because the point was in the shelf life are there was absolutely martin luther yeah well enough italy sorry that you were much eleanor ringel was visit georgia is a movie critic we have

appreciated will be talking you again next week but according to the associated press the most popular movies of the box office this past weekend we're number five murder in the first nobody's fool came in a number four number three dumb and dumber higher learning was number two and number one legends of the fall in the studio now with me is barry w reed executive director of the governor's office of consumer fears weren't going very well and how bruce could be with you today won't create a hypothetical situation say you buy a new home only to discover later that the foundation has cracked that plumbing is not insulated than the builder refuses to correct the problems directly from our nerve in georgia there's not much you can do except to go to court basically that's it there are large in existence a couple of homeowner warranty programs but we're finding that home buyers

are having a very difficult time getting those warranty programs to really work offer them bruce adjusted their bribe was looking through the mail and i brought with me a typical kind of complaint that we're getting it's a growing portion of our caseload new homebuyer complaints here is a lady in town in north georgia who bought a home had built actually gets into the home doesn't that goes through them a lot of the checklist is everything she supposed to do only to learn after she occupies the home that the builder has put the upper bathroom soil piper ways water pipe right next to the bedroom wall between that wall and the gray a room so anyone sleeping in their bedroom obviously gets treated to some very very horrendous crashing sounds of the facility of stairs get she used when she goes back to the balance is low self discovery web he says to her well you could have it wrapped that was his answer that was his idea of good consumer response or customer spots where she didn't know that the was little point was there was no way in the world she could have seen it she needed some redress we think

also this is a code violation as it turned out for some other reasons related to the placement of that pipe bottom line is we now are seeking legislation in georgia that would require mandatory arbitration where allegations of coda violations are on the table breeze well there was a bill or your goal that drew strong opposition that would require buildings to be licensed and would establish a clearinghouse for consumer complaints the field of that where we want we don't oppose any efforts to assist consumers homebuyers with this got a problem however that particular licensing bill that you're mentioning odd did not really provide for consumer redress in the instance where you had been wrong what i did was allow the state to set up a rather expensive bureaucracy to licensed individuals and allow them to pull licenses if complaints could be substantiated but it didn't provide a vehicle for

redress we feel made it to arbitration in those matters is much more effective because that bill does provide for redress it says in that case were that third party expert's has heard the arbitration and rosen's a little mahler at the builder is bound to in fact made good on that problem is my next question with the arbitrator's decision be like that's exactly right it would in fact be binding of course as any matter bruce if it was serious enough the eve of the homeowner or the builder could take that decision to disappear court could be appealed their however would whiz whether or not the the arbitrator acted within the rule is in regulation so upon our office to work to administer that program is a corrective george are a general contractor we need to obtain a permit before setting up shop that's correct are now all of most of your sub contractors electrical contractor the plumbing contractor trotter those folks are in fact a licensed contractor really is more of a broker in many cases and here she is a builder per se

and so a licensing the contractor really does not and the real problem of licensing and other states have told us this you do you fred jones comes in and applies for a builder his license and he gets what he commit serious violations state takes action pools his license next week nancy jones as white as in they're applying for a license or fred jones his son isn't there apply bottom line is the customs united states says it would be a violation of their rights not to give them an opportunity to affect the builder it really doesn't our judgment speak to the problem that i was talking about earlier were you know lady with a pipe coming down next to a wall where it should never been located in the first place the chances of that lady under licensing bill getting assistance or between slim and none under arbitration back in if that were the judgment is on the part of your journey that they're that they lit the musical abolishes all of the back and moved that party workers take

this letter that you say is one of the steps that you will walk will basically if a person gets a complaint union under the bill you know where the situation is right now okay basically at this point in time will go out on this one because the law is not in effect yet under georgia's their business practices act will go out and investigate this complaint to see if in fact a deceptive act or practice has occurred and currently bruce we take the position that if you have sold a home in the georgia market and it does not meet code that you have committed a violation of the fair business practices act in that it was implied representation that the home was habitable that meant all elements of phone so we'll go and evaluate this can play right now to see if in fact that occurred then after we have our determination of fact will call it conor gaughan say look we've got these compliant here's what we think you're going to make some sort of redress hear or see something can be worked out or shall we pursue this matter further through legal channels offering its original code violation if there is no code violation the only thing as ladies gonna be left with is the hope that she had a

whole warranty purchased that she can go back to war actor and see if in fact they can get the bill are going first to war to companies rely on the builders to go ahead and make whatever adjustments made him a short of that if there is no violation that we can find you a redress left now would be for her to take this matter to say small claims court if it's under five thousand dollars and we don't know with total would they if it's over that she's going to have to go ahead and probably a private action that's regrettable because so you know there'll be about a widow and we think that arbitration bill would do it and what do you feel is the mood of the legislation the bill passed the house last year there is a strong sentimental got into the senate moved all way to the less than the session before a few folks it apparently had not gotten what they needed from their professional representatives that all those essays are observers had in my judgment not a very good job of informing some of their members they raise questions at the last minute and the bill got held there's a strong sentiment that session ought to go ahead and passes

legislation into law i think just about all parties concerned about you know the house and senate agree something has to be done and this is seen as the most logical course of action let's talk a little about your office very few years for the benefit our ears i'm not sure that everyone really knows what the governor's office of consumer fears does what we enforce we administer many of georgia's consumer protection statutes that is to say the main one being the fair business practices act which regulates the conduct of consumer transaction anything your alibi for household purse or families typically will be covered as a transaction under the bill are basically that read that not all deals with pairs of passing off goods and services as those of another one in fact they're not they switch operations just give examples of the kinds of things that we looked into and take action or we're one of the strongest laws in the country and the syrian and you're right it's not well known but we do in fact have teeth of that law and we use them quite readily what we feel and wrong has been done to a consumer group of consumers in the

marketplace where the only state in the country bruce who's consumer affairs office has cease and desist authority prior to a hearing this bill when it was passed a few years ago the general assembly has allowed us to intervene before the proverbial horse gets out the barn door were able to go after that hotel where the phony jewelry salesman has set up an overruled operating lot of a fly by night the solar energy panel raza few years back who are claiming to be cited the atlanta representatives and they wore we're able to issue them or c indian stop that operation we have aggressive enforcement pride as an authority and people to go out and look in the matters like this we also in and forced many other consumer last fall all stealing with trains ian merchants of metal but the season systems along the book the deal too pham they're mimics a little card services practices act to do with the regulation of health spas in our state which is always a topical area and something we talk about on the show later on many many avenue may just think of all the purchases of your i

make that fall under the category house oh purse or family use to get some idea of the kinds of case load that are fifteen or sixteen investigators handle a daily basis this year forty of us well you know over one hundred and twenty thousand citizen complaints thirty percent or more bruce will be telemarketing fraud that we've talked about on the show earlier we do many many things of this nature and we are right in some cases in some instances it's kind of the line with us because we don't know how to get better known sometimes were afraid we get much better no we won't be able to do anything but answer the phone right now those lines just burn up all the time but durr we're hopeful that there will be a power to fine that's exactly right under that cease and desist order up a lot i was mentioning i also have the right to levy a civil penalty again prior to hearing it's interesting concept the offender of the person i'm alleging have committed the offense has ten days if they disagree to request a hearing i then by law have fifteen days to appoint a neutral hearing

officer not a member of my agency we have a pool and later on it will be you will is a new agency being formed to supply hearing officers to all state regulatory agencies right now will poor hearing officers their attorneys and they'll hear that case based on the fact that this is a way to get around the top of the loss of time waiting on a court docket and tell you judges really like it a lot because it's helping their workload and i know consumers like it sad because instead of the three or four or five six month wait oh where we get action within a month month and a half but on the hearings and get a resolution of the problem ok barrie debbie reed executive director of the governor's office of consumer affairs as always very it's been a pleasure talking to you every time you leave your i want something new thank you chris i say hello you listeners out there and i hope they'll take advantage of our officers in fact they need to fix again you're listening to george my guest know if you really want to hear it

with the chinese community center and is very active in the asian community in atlanta and here in georgia we're going to talk about the chinese new year kerry thank you very much for coming in thank you know i'm going to be here this or coming up a generation we're actually begins when our generator for the first and it is the year of the border yes okay that's correct what is the significance of the the year of football well all these supply all zodiac animal to present some different scenes but the bar is a particular they represent prosperity anticipated the record it is and what are some of the celebrations we're going to see going on around george i may mention for our audience we have about one hundred forty thousand asians it will be celebrating the chinese new year career and fifty thousand and it's not just chinese been a nice car or email server to the same new year

what is the significance of the chinese know you our new year's obviously you're coming into a new year but a chinese new year is a little different yes our chinese new year traditional way is a counter not only just as the beginning of the year and also the beginning of the spring and salt it's basically according to the traditional chinese concept that is a promising that to stop it so it's alive you start at a new year's status so we all start at the bar a new beginning and he's also celebrated although accomplishment and could have is that in the last year or so chinese new year is the most important holidays among chinese or korean then the enemy's up our communities returning to your start every year and richard kirsch know it's a goal by the chinese and lunar calendar science of ruby land on different dates to a once i come in there we're using and the future

of france generate ten always always too much digging in for much its size of our under each year also any anytime between january march each year they know for now the music that is played during the chinese new year there is something special about that i you were made them you see them playing and doing the chinese new year i'm all likely heard the music that has a lot of the celebrations and the percussion music is the mall popular during that also can change their campaign is like hell we call the song and it's kind of a trumpet we don't see any sign that nice nice it's fairly large asian communities all around the state correct yes and atlanta was not always the largest i

believe you told me was in augusta yes augusta and savannah was a rarity a lot of the chinese up to the good dr susan orlean the western parts and they can more hear fall the panel from augusta to savannah and also the real world building a lot of some of the events that will be occurring that the general public may be able to participate in for the chinese knew what are some of things we should look for that will be happening well four chan using your first of all all these who are chinese korean and lovely then these communities are going to have an alternative in the celebrated activities and that as far as i know that chinese a concert going to behold a r o diesel sunday upon the ninth summer clock at the edge of the packers and the role of arts and also all there's a cool basis celebration event in chinese community center

fabric the falls and the fields two consecutive days from eleven hallway to six o'clock and that you're going to have all kind of different a chinese food in there and also arctic states and the general for farming bard's mirror and the full goals and there's some of the asian games and the dragon dances and that in this event all fall we added one new feature this year that is a chinese chess going to have often challenge of parliament there and the revival of enemies community participate in this oz and the korean lee chinese has to let me go where the approval and so we basically live eleven emmys stuff at his opinion and the chinese new year without a parade well i don't sing we gather chinese new year without for it we going to have a preserve your friend chinese communities and her work they carried on and by the way you know one last thing worth mentioning there is no year attached to each chinese new year

the closer you mentioned to me that its a sixty year cycle correct yes that is a cracked ok you're gone for the chinese community center and a leader in the asian community here in georgia that we thank you very much for coming in and is a proper for me to say happy new year yes it is chinese new year starts generates thirty first if you're interested in any of the activities in your community you can contac the chinese community center in the area or anyone in the asian community thanks again here and that's our program for this week coming up next week a conversation with governor zell miller talk about his legislative agenda and his vision for the future of yogurt punch humans and techniques you can use to help your kids better manage their money those theories but her white with sports arena with more reviews came here and were urged calm that's the next time on georgia gazette i restored and i hope you enjoy todays program have a good day

and then this week barack are georgia gazette is a production of peach a public radio news the executive producer is bruce gordon the series producer is that gas can send the contributing editors are susanna capelouto james art rose mike savage brian smith winston came and can carry an additional support provided by the staff of wu ji hey athens and listeners like you if you have questions or comments about this program right two georges bizet fifty forty stewart avenue southwest atlanta georgia the zero three one zero four percent happier today's program call one eight hundred six five nine tape program number is the same as the day the program here you can also reach us on the line to get our internet address just call one eight hundred six five four

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