Welcome to Wednesday and Red Phone’s mid-week report
– chasing down answers to caller questions. Catch your friendly,
neighborhood Crimson Crusader twice a week every Wednesday and
Saturday in the Hollister Free Lance.
Welcome to Wednesday and Red Phone’s mid-week report – chasing down answers to caller questions. Catch your friendly, neighborhood Crimson Crusader twice a week every Wednesday and Saturday in the Hollister Free Lance. There’s been a lull in reader’s call this week so if you’ve been waiting to bend Red Phone’s ear, now is your chance. Got a question, need an answer, call the Red Phone – always listening, always online, always at 635-9219.
Red Phone goofs
“To err is human, to forgive is divine,” wrote English poet and satirist Alexander Pope in his “Essay on Criticism.” And after publishing an item on speeders tearing through a residential neighborhood last week, the Red Phone deserves both a little criticism and, hopefully, forgiveness.
“Hi this is Doug Emerson calling. I read your article in Saturday’s paper regarding the speeding on San Tropez Drive. You said in there that it’s in District 4, my district. Actually, it’s in District 1, Brad Pike’s district. The districts run kind of funny out there, but that particular street is in District 1. Just thought you’d like to know.”
Needless to say, the Crimson Crusader’s face is… well… red over the mistake. The caller had requested help in stopping speeders along the stretch of residential road and Red Phone suggested the caller contact their city councilman. District 1 City councilman Brad Pike can be reached at 636-5539 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Fortunately for the caller, Pike is no stranger to traffic dangers as a fire captain in Saratoga and the champion of the Stay Alive on 25 campaign that initiated safety improvements along the busy and dangerous stretch of road in San Benito County.
Ebay scam
Occasionally, Red Phone receives requests to its e-mail address – [email protected]. The Crimson Crusader, however, was shocked to learn via e-mail its ebay account had been suspended and there were also problems, detailed in a separate e-mail, with its paypal account. Considering Red Phone doesn’t shop on ebay or have a paypal account, the Crimson Crusader’s interest was peaked. After logging on to a link provided in the e-mails, Red Phone was directed to two pages that mimicked the legitimate sites almost exactly, right down to the logos. The pages requested bank account and personal information from Red Phone – an obvious scam. Red Phone reported the pages and addresses to both real ebay and paypal and learned this impostor site scams are quite common. Both ebay and paypal encouraged users to report all instances of these scams to their fraud divisions. The mirror sites typically come from out-of-country Internet service providers, they said, and users should never provide their personal information in response to unsolicited e-mails. Heads up in an era of increasing online fraud.
Don’t call Red Phone with delivery problems
In spite of repeated complaints, Red Phone feels the need to tell readers not to call the Crimson Crusader with delivery problems. If you haven’t received your paper or issues are mistakenly delivered to your home call Jeanette in our circulation department at 637-5566 ext. 326.
