SMILE

SOUTHERN INGENUITY TRIUMPHS AGAIN!



I heard a story about a guy named, Wallace who is president of his home owner's association in a Jackson , Mississippi suburb. They were having a terrible problem with litter near some of his association's homes. The reason according to Wallace is that six very large, luxurious new houses are being built right next to their community.



The trash was coming from the Mexican laborers working at the construction sites and included bags from McDonald's, Burger King and 7-Eleven, plus coffee cups, napkins, cigarette butts, coke cans, empty bottles, etc.



He went to see the site supervisor and even the general contractor, politely urging them to get their workers not to litter the neighborhood, to no avail. He called the city, county, and police and got no help there either.



So here's what his community did: They organized about twenty folks, named themselves, The "Inner Neighborhood Services" group, and arranged to go out at lunch time and "police" the trash themselves. It is what they did while picking up the trash that is so hilarious.



They bought navy blue baseball caps and had the initials "INS" embroidered in gold on the caps. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand what they hoped people might, mistakenly, think the letters really stood for.



After the "Inner Neighborhood Services" group's first lunchtime pickup detail, with all of them wearing their caps and some carrying cameras; 46 out of the total of 68 construction workers did not show up for work the next morning - and haven't come back yet. It has been ten days now and the General Contractor, I read, was madder than hell, but couldn't say anything publicly because he could be busted for hiring illegal aliens.



Wallace and his bunch can't be accused of impersonating federal personnel, because they have the official name of the group recorded in their homeowner association minutes in addition to a notation about the vote to approve formation of the new subcommittee, and they also informed the INS in advance of their plans. According to Wallace the INS basically said, "Have at it"!



SO FOLKS, I THINK YOU COULD SAY THAT SOUTHERN INGENUITY TRIUMPHED AGAIN!