A woman put a lethal dose of salt in her 5-week-old granddaughter's formula because she was angry at her son and his girlfriend, according to her confession to police.
"They would always pick on me," Merry Anne Long said in the confession, read in court Thursday. "They told me I was mentally retarded and needed help."
This woman murdered a 5-week-old infant because her mean son and his mean girlfriend said mean things about her, so she is without a doubt a nutcase and in need of help. However, I just hope that she is not found mentally retarded by a court of law, as that might prevent her from receiving the lethal injection/electric chair that she so deserves. Even if the baby hadn't died and had just become sick, as she planned, this woman should fry. What kind of sick bitch poisons a baby because she's angry at the baby's parents? A sick bitch named Merry Anne Long.
The Hillsborough County agency that regulates cars for hire placed a limousine company operator on probation Wednesday for charging some of his passengers too little.
The county's Public Transportation Commission will monitor DSL Transport Service for the next six months to ensure that he charges a minimum of $40 per passenger, per trip. In the meantime, the agency placed the company's application for permits to double its fleet to 10 vehicles on hold during the probationary period.
Daniel Steiner, owner of the fleet, said afterward that the ruling may very well put him out of business. A handful of his regulars, who ride his Lincoln Town Cars to appointments with doctors and who were generally new to attending government meetings, left appalled.
"I'm going to miss them if they go out of business, I'm telling you," said Albert Miller, who regularly calls on Steiner to ferry him to the doctor's office for treatment after losing a thumb in a machine shop accident last December.
"This is just - what are they doing? It's like he didn't join the boys club, or what? I don't know."
It's exactly like he didn't join the boys club. Being an immigrant, he actually took to heart all that "America's a free country" business.
Commission officials accused Steiner of undercutting the business of taxicab drivers, who might normally get the calls for rides that DSL Transport Service is now taking. They suggested he apply for taxi permits instead and charge passengers by the mile and minute as cabbies do.
Under commission rules, limousine drivers must charge $40 an hour, with a minimum one-hour charge, a rule that discourages short hop rentals that are generally the domain of taxi drivers.
The reason for the rule "is to attempt to keep a balance between the taxi industry and the limousine industry so that both remain solvent," said commission executive director Gregory Cox.
Steiner said he does comply with the rules, charging $40 or more to people who hire his drivers individually. The issue arises in a niche market he has carved out of transporting nonemergency, generally disabled patients to regular doctor visits.
So basically you have some disabled patients who want to go to their doctors. You have someone who is willing to provide this transportation, as well as enhanced service, to these disabled patients at an affordable price which both the payer and the payee freely agreed upon. And you have a city government that has passed some asinine ordinances preventing this.
Hilary Black, an attorney for Steiner, said he has negotiated monthly rates with doctors and clinics that sometimes result in charges for individual limousine rides of less than $40. But those trips typically run less than an hour. Combine the many short trips of various patients, and Steiner's charge per hour surpasses the minimum and can top $100 at times, she said.
Steiner said he is, in effect, charging wholesale rates. And Black said commission rules allow monthly rental rates and don't specify a $40-dollar-per-trip minimum, but rather a $40-per-hour minimum.
"Mr. Steiner's billing method complies with the plain language of the rules," Black said.
Commission board members said Steiner was attempting to twist the language to get around the intent of the rules.
"It appears the billing method you're using has been used just to circumvent the system," said Tampa City Council member Kevin White, who sits on the commission. "(You're) circumventing the system to give frequent fliers more favorable rates."
Steiner's customers said they have attempted to use taxi services before but have found drivers to be unreliable, late and unwilling to do the little things a disabled person needs. They like that Steiner's drivers open doors, help them inside and are kind when many of them are anxious about the doctor's visit ahead. A couple of them claimed to have been in taxicab accidents, whereas Steiner's company has a stellar safety record.
At the same time, he charges rates that insurance companies will actually pay, they said.
"Don't cut him off," said Dorothy York, 72, who suffers from Parkinson's disease. "Let him continue helping old people such as myself."
The commission voted 4-1 to place Steiner's company on probation, with Tampa City Council member Rose Ferlita voting no. She was in favor of revoking Steiner's permits altogether.
The commission then voted 3-2 to postpone considering his request for five additional permits, with White and Hillsborough Commissioner Ken Hagan voting no. White argued that if the board allowed Steiner to buy new cars, it might give him incentive to comply with the rules so that he wouldn't lose his investment.
"Play by the rules or don't play," said commission Chairman and Temple Terrace City Council member Joe Affronti, stating the commission majority's position.
Steiner said during the meeting that he would attempt to comply with the rules that he thought he was already obeying. But afterward, he said the $40-per-trip minimum would kill the bread and butter part of his business. Clinics and insurers won't cover the steeper costs, he said, and the patients can't afford it.
"This is a disaster," Steiner said. "There is no possible way that public transportation will ever get better in Tampa with public officials reinforcing the concentration of market power. They're saying that competition, the driving force of the economy, is unlawful."
Yes, that's exactly what they're saying. They're also telling elderly disabled people to call an unreliable cab to take them to their appointments and to tolerate (and pay for) mistreatment at the hands of the drivers of said cabs.
This is the third consecutive week that I've read the Onion in its entirety without so much of a peep of audible laughter. There was a time when reading the Onion would invariably cause shrieking, convulsing, uncontrollable hysterical laughter, so funny was it. I mean, the story about the dog that wasn't proud of his indiscretions? I had to run to the nearest cosmetics emporium for green-tinted concealer to make my face look normal, so purple was I from side-splitting laughter. Ahhhh, those were the days. I never thought I'd say this. For a long time now, I've been hoping against hope that things could return to the way they were. But alas, it is time to admit the awful truth. The Onion just isn't that funny anymore. Sure, there are a few little items that might cause a slight "haha" but that's about it. It's a pathetic shadow of it's former self, and not worthy of the name, "Onion." As I see it, there are two options: 1. Start being funny again, or 2. Find a lesser vegetable to name the site after. Number 1 would be ideal, but sadly it will probably never happen. So I lament the loss of what was once my finest news source. A tearful adieu!
2:04 PM
