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Note: Comments posted at the bottom of this page are not submissions for the print version of Tell Willie and are for online readers to discuss today's Tell Willie column in real time. To submit a question or comment to Willie for the print newspaper click here or call 864-882-0903 and leave Willie a message. He checks his voice mail daily.

Willie,

I saw where one of your readers was looking for a man with funnel cakes. He is on Highway 11 at the flea market on Fridays and Saturdays.

Willie says:

Thanks for finding The Funnel Man for us! You’ve made one of Willie’s readers very, very happy.

Willie,

Can you ask your ace reporter friends to check on a couple of things? Why has the county ladder truck at Westminster been sitting out of service for months? It is real funny that some want to build a $1.8 million to $2.1 million building in that fire district and yet we cannot keep the truck to protect it in service. Sounds like the county needs to either fix or replace the truck for good. From what I hear, we have to wait for a ladder truck to arrive from Walhalla or Seneca if we need one in Westminster. By the way, the repair is really not that major according to some informed volunteers that work there.

Secondly, why no report on the infamous Keowee Fire District and the autopilot exploits of there much touted rescue truck? I saw some great pictures as it was being pulled out of the woods. It’s a crying shame that the Journal picks and chooses the news that they want to report. It should be both the good and the bad. The Journal has printed many other stories with a detrimental tone about other fire departments in Oconee, why not

Keowee? Favoritism?

Willie says:

Checked on that ladder truck and found out it’s at the motor pool being fixed as we speak. A tank had rusted out making the pumping part of the truck risky since rust could have gotten into the lines and fouled things up even more. A new tank was ordered and is being installed. By the way, the ladder portion of the truck was still operable had it been needed. As for Keowee

Key, Willie’s been reading the paper for a long time and I haven’t seen many stories that were unfavorable to any of the fire departments. I think the folks at the paper feel, just like Willie, that firemen and women put their lives on the line all the time and deserve our thanks. Also, our firefighters do a great job. The folks at the paper said they did see some pictures of the truck that rolled across the parking lot into the woods. They were taken from beyond the fence and were not good quality photos, which is why you didn’t see them in the paper. Get that chip off your shoulder!

Willie,

Thank you to all the wonderful teachers who have chosen to utilize their talents to help mold our young people into the model citizens we all should strive to be. Thanks for a job well done. Enjoy your summer!

Willie says:

I’ll second that sentiment!

Willie,

I would like to know why you pick and choose the names of people and businesses you print in the comments sent to you. I have sent in comments twice and you have deleted the business names. You don’t check some information before printing it, and I know what happened to me was the truth so explain that!

Willie says:

With identifying people by name, the general assumption is that public figures are in the public eye and may be commented on by name. Also, good comments and thanks to particular people are certainly fine by me. As far as businesses, it mainly depends on the purpose and tenor of the letter whether I put the name in, run it as a generic comment or trash it. Making the tough calls is part of my job.

Willie,

I have a problem that has been bothering me. I was permanently laid off from my job. I know the economy is bad and everything is slow right now, and I am not the only one. But my problem is that the plant I worked for let go of some of the finest employees and kept some of the worst ones. They also told some of us that they would go by attendance, length of employment and knowledge of the job. The problem is the ones they let go were replaced by people that were only there for less than six months or had to be trained in order to run the job or have kinfolk on the inside (if you know what I mean). I would like to know if this is bad management or what? I would appreciate any help on this.

Willie says:

Willie can’t give you any help, but I can give you my opinion. Unless management has signed a contract with its employees that has procedures to be followed in case of layoffs, they can pretty much call the shots. If a company wants to play favorites for nepotism (relatives) or any other reason, there’s not much you can do about it. No, Willie doesn’t think it’s fair. I hope you can find another job ASAP.

Willie,

I was wondering if anyone knows if they ever located those three people that went missing in Guyana, one of which was from Salem. It was three or four months ago.

Willie says:

To Willie’s knowledge they have not been found.

Willie,

Since times are tough and I need to save on postage, please note the following for consideration. Some things never change. Who will be the first? This has been going on I think for about 40-plus years. Who will be the first to stop charging a $2 item to the tenth of a cent? Isn’t it interesting in this modern and technological world that marketing a product to less than a penny still has a bearing if we are getting a good deal, and no one is willing to take a chance and change something that isn’t broken? Mr. Willie, now admit it. If you saw two gas stations across the street from one another, what one would you fill up at? Station A for $2.35 9/10 or Station B for $2.36. OK, Station B since you have to wait at the light or clear traffic to get to A. Maybe the technology is actually working since the stations are proving to us that the gas pump computers can actually break down a penny in tenths.

Why don’t they match? Why make it so difficult? Now that the summer is here and we are grilling the good ol’ hot dogs, why is it the hot dog makers and hot dog bun guys DO NOT package the same number of dogs to match the same number of buns or visa versa? You would think with the technology world — oh forget that you have heard that before. I know: If the kids drop a dog or bun on the ground, maybe either way this works, there might be an extra dog or bun to make the day.

Willie says:

I gotta admit, I wasn’t following you until you got to the price of gas part. When it comes to pricing, I’ve always figured they do that $4,999 (for example) just because it looks psychologically better than $5,000, which is only a dang dollar more! That hot dog versus hot dog bun thing is a real conundrum. One of the mysteries of the universe. With eight buns to every 10 dogs, you’d have to buy five packs of buns and four packs of dogs before it would come out EVEN at 40 each!