ALEXJONES.BIZ

I went to the tag office on April 25th to obtain a new tag for my car that had been sitting up for almost 12 months. Knowing what is needed for the transaction I showed up early at 8AM so I could be done and out in 15 minutes. The tag office in Jackson is very quick to serve you. Or they have been in the past.

I knew the tag had expired and was told by a friend that all I needed was to sign an affidavit attesting to the fact. The MS State Code tells me that same thing.

http://www.mscode.com/free/statutes/27/051/0041.htm

(6) If the person owning a vehicle subject to taxation under the provisions of this chapter does not operate such vehicle on the highways of this state from the date of acquisition or, if previously registered, from the end of the anniversary month of the tag and decals to the date on which he makes application for a current license tag or decals, he shall pay such ad valorem tax for a period of twelve (12) months beginning with the first day of the month in which he applies for a current license tag or decals under Chapter 19, Title 27, Mississippi Code of 1972. The owner shall submit an affidavit with an application attesting to the fact that the vehicle was not operated on the highways of this state from the date of acquisition or, if previously registered, from the end of the anniversary month of the tag and decals to the date on which he makes application for the current license tag or decals.

(7) Any person found violating any of the provisions of this section shall be arrested and tried, and if found guilty shall be fined in an amount double the total amount of taxes involved.

But to no avail. I had no luck getting it accomplished the right way. I had to spend the next three hours obtaining signed affidavits from others. Upon presenting the unnecessary paperwork I was cheated again when the representative placed a March decal on the new tag instead of an April decal. The rep also would not correct her mistake when I pointed it out to her causing me to loose 30 days of the 12 months I paid for.

So I decided to write a letter to at least obtain a copy of this “so-called” policy. I know it will be a long drawn out battle but it is necessary to make a point. Here is the letter I wrote to the Jackson operations manager. I think he is the person I spoke to that day but I’m not sure.

—– Original Message —–
From: “Alex Jones”
To: “Larry Camper” lcamper@co.hinds.ms.us
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2008 12:37 PM
Subject: Hinds County Exemptions and Credits Policy

Mr. Camper,

I am looking to obtain a copy of the Hinds County Tax Collectors policies in regards to exemptions and credits that are required of Mississippians and not listed in the MS Code.

According to MS State Law SEC 27-51-41

(6) If the person owning a vehicle subject to taxation under the provisions of this chapter does not operate such vehicle on the highways of this state from the date of acquisition or, if previously registered, from the end of the anniversary month of the tag and decals to the date on which he makes application for a current license tag or decals, he shall pay such ad valorem tax for a period of twelve (12) months beginning with the first day of the month in which he applies for a current license tag or decals under Chapter 19, Title 27, Mississippi Code of 1972. The owner shall submit an affidavit with the application attesting to the fact that the vehicle was not operated on the highways of this state from the date of acquisition or, if previously registered, from the end of the anniversary month of the tag and decals to the date on which he makes application for the current license tag or decals.

I attempted to follow this law this very morning and was meet with malcontent at the Jackson office. My affidavit was not acceptable by the representative nor their supervisor. I was told it is policy that not only do I provide an affidavit but that my neighbors must also provide an affidavit as well. Something about the vehicle being less than 10 years of age. I asked to see a copy of this policy so I could follow it to the letter and the supervisor could not provide one.

I find it appalling that the Hinds County Tax Office usurps the law for financial gain. I have no problem paying my taxes and I do not understand why the law cannot be followed. Not only was my notarized affidavit not accepted, I had to sign an additional affidavit on-site. Upon providing the un-necessary documents I again was cheated at payment. The law states that “he shall pay such ad valorem tax for a period of twelve (12) months beginning with the first day of the month in which he applies for a current license tag.” That was today April 25, 2008. I should have been provided an April decal. The representative placed a March decal instead April. When I brought this to the representatives attention she indicated it goes back 30 days from the date I apply and would not correct her mistake.

I cannot believe their is such gross incompetence in that office. If policies actually exist they should be posted on your website and made available to the public. I am demanding that I be provided the details I should follow to obtain a copy of this policy. I will be seeking reimbursement for my time this morning as well as a corrected decal for my tag. If you have any questions for me please feel free to contact me at (cell-number). Thank you for your time.

Alex Jones

I’m going to give Mr. Camper 1 week to reply. Then I am going to send an email to Mr. Fair the Tax Collector. If no response then I’ll just keep going to others such as the Attorney General and or the News outlets. I hope to update soon.

Today I read where we lost two great singers that were from my home town, Meridian MS. Al Wilson and Paul Davis. I did not know the Wilson’s but I have enjoyed his music.

Paul’s parents lived on the same street as we did and Paul lived with them for a time and though we were not friends we did at times speak to each other as neighbors through the years.

I always loved his songs but wasn’t seeing him enough on the charts and was not sure he would be a continued success. He survived a shooting in Nashville on July 30, 1986 and I’m not sure he ever fully recovered. Here is a link to his MySpace page – www.myspace.com/pauldavis2006

I enjoyed talking to him about his music as a kid and hate to see that he is gone.

I remember the series like it was yesterday and unfortunately the others as well. Michael Knight, played by David Hasselhoff, was a modern knight who avoided violence whenever possible and generally refrained from using firearms. Although most of his cases were based in California where FLAG was headquartered, he could travel to whatever part of the country trouble arose in; sometimes even crossing borders into Mexico. FLAG also had facilities in Las Vegas and Chicago. The organization also owned an 18-wheeler that served as a mobile office and also offered technical support for KITT.

I loved this series. I don’t believe I missed an episode. The car was the draw for me. Sometimes the story line was boring but the car scenes made up for it. I never really knew much about the shows/movies that spawned from the series.

The two part episode “Mouth of the Snake” in 1984 served as a backdoor pilot for a short lived series entitled Code of Vengeance, revolving around Vietnam vet David Dalton. The Knight Rider episode featured David exhibiting great gymnastics, but when Code of Vengeance aired, Dalton was an ordinary-skilled drifter. It soon fell off the schedules after only five episodes.

Knight Rider 2000, has Devon Miles killed, with KITT being given a new sporty red body (provided by the Pontiac Banshee IV concept car) as the Knight 4000. It did not sell. The Banshee was/is a horrible looking car. It has no style at all.

Knight Rider 2010, a 1994 movie very loosely based on the show. In this case, a Classic 1969 Ford Mustang replaces the legendary Pontiac Trans Am. I’ll have to look this one up and see if it is available.

In 1997, Team Knight Rider was introduced as a spinoff. Set sometime in the near future, the show featured a fleet of intelligent vehicles. Michael Knight returned at the end of the final episode of the first season, though not played by Hasselhoff. This was a cliffhanger intended to be explained in the next season. However, the show did not catch on and the second season was not commissioned. Team Knight Rider ran for 22 episodes. I liked this series and was sad to see it go.

On September 26, 2007, NBC announced that it was creating a two-hour backdoor pilot to air later that season. In the new version, Justin Bruening stars as the estranged son of Michael Knight, Mike Traceur. Deanna Russo plays Traceur’s one-time girlfriend and love interest, Sarah Graiman. Bruce Davison co-stars as her father, physicist Charles Graiman, the original designer of KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand). Wayne Kasserman co-stars as Mike’s roommate and friend. David Hasselhoff also had a cameo as Michael Knight. KITT is portrayed as a black 550 HP Ford Shelby GT 500 KR Mustang. Awesome looking car. I even like the Attack version.

NBC aired the show on February 17, 2008. Val Kilmer was the voice for the new KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand) Mustang (the part had been recorded by Will Arnett, but he was asked to withdraw by General Motors because of Arnett’s prior agreements with GM on advertising.), and Sydney Tamiia Poitier,the youngest daughter of Sidney Poitier, plays FBI agent Carrie Rivai.

So after receiving good enough ratings, NBC announced that Knight Rider will return as a weekly series beginning in the fall of 2008. The show is set to air Wednesdays at 8:00PM/7:00PM CT. Looking forward to it.

My personal opinion on Facebook / MySpace and other social networking sites is that it makes so many people mindless zombies. So many people in this world think it is the greatest thing since the Internet. Email has been around for years and people use it everyday to “socialize.” However, the advent of these sites gives the Internet inept a voice, a face and even an address! Most often times these inept are not capable of carrying on a normal conversation face-to-face yet certainly show their ignorance with their keyboard.

I would not be surprised to learn that a social networking site had conducted a study that shows the average persons IQ has lowered since signing on. Of course that will never happen! Instead of making intelligent choices on what to do with their free time people sit in front of their computer screen for hours on end thinking that they are keeping up with friends. The truth is that if someone truly wanted to contact a past friend or even family member they had all the resources available to do so way before these sites ever existed. In fact they would argue that “I would not have found you if it weren’t for [Insert Social Networking Site Here].” Really? You mean my telephone number, home address, email address or the WWW were not enough?

People give you every excuse to make themselves “feel good” about the choices they make in life. “I’m keeping up with my friends more than ever by using these sites!” They can’t be! Those that use these sites do not place 100% of their lives in their space. Why? Because they are afraid. Information even longtime users put on their space is no more than 25% of who they are. You don’t get to know them. You don’t get to BE a part of their everyday lives. They are kidding themselves.

It is the social networking sites that entice users to stay online and use their silly childish features. It is truly a disease.

Now there will be those that disagree with me, but are too inept to have their own site to voice their opinion. So they show their ignorance even more by ranting on someone else’s Page, Blog, Vlog, etc. Doubtful it will happen here.

Thanks to my brother-in-law, we now have our van back. He did a great job and my wife is back on the road.