Some random notes:
* Congresspeople who think a national financial default will have no effect -- Utah Sen. Mike Lee, for one -- should read my mail.
My campaign to raise funds to help our troops brought a touching note from an older woman in Ogden who sent $12 and said "I wish I could send more, but I don't even know if we'll get a Social Security check next month."
It may be good politics to scare old people, but it's nothing anyone should be proud of.
* I've written before about the ridiculous hoops you have to jump through to get or renew a Utah driver's license.
Knowing how to drive isn't enough. You have to show a passport or other proof of citizenship, a Social Security card to prove you're secure, bills to prove where you live and who knows what else.
Many government agencies issue cards with similar requirements, to the point that we are creating a bureaucratic Catch 22: To get card "A" you have to have card "B", and you need card "B" to get card "A."
Lose one, you're doomed.
So I was amused by the following note from a friend who swears he was standing right there:
"My wallet was stolen and I went to the federal building to get a replacement Social Security card. Another man also had the same issue.
"He couldn't get a Utah drivers license because the new law requires you to produce a Social Security card and he couldn't get a new Social Security card because he needed a drivers license.
"However he was told by Social Security that if he produced a medical exam record that contained distinguishing physical marks, then he could get a Social Security card.
"He had brought in his colonoscopy exam and was going to make them identify him by checking his butt."
* A reader said stories about Serge Simmons Field, the baseball field on Ogden's west side that was inundated by the Weber River, reminded her that she knew someone named Serge Simmons in school in the 1960s.
She wondered if it was the same guy, but said Ogden's Parks Department didn't know how the field got its name.
It has been a while, but some things shouldn't be forgotten.
Lt. Serge B. Simmons was a Weber County kid who was killed in Vietnam.
He was born in Roy in 1944, played football and track and field at Weber High School and graduated in 1962. He worked as a machinist at Hill Air Force Base, worked for Hiland Dairy, and in 1969 he graduated from Weber State College and joined the Marines as a 2nd lieutenant.
He commanded weapons platoons with the 1st Marine Division in Vietnam and was killed by a mine on Nov. 3, 1969. He is buried in Ogden City Cemetery.
Ed Bridge, director of Ogden Parks and Recreation, checked his files and discovered Ogden got a donation from a local store in 1985 with the request that a recreational facility in Ogden be named for Lt. Simmons.
In 1995 we did a story on the 20-year anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and interviewed Serge's wife, the former Jane Chugg, remarried and then Jane Renstrom, who said Serge volunteered to go to war.
"My husband and I had both been brought up to hate and fear communism. We lived in very patriotic families that believed many had given all they had for the United States and we must also do our part to live in such a wonderful land."
Wasatch Rambler is the opinion of Charles Trentelman. You can call him at 801-625-4232 or email ctrentelman@standard.net. He also blogs at www.standard.net.
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