OK, while even though not of sterling silver, I was raised with a silver plate spoon in my mouth. 

I admit it.

A driver picked-up our laundry every Monday and brought it back on Friday.  His name was Richard.  The sheets were washed, starched and ironed.  My daddy's dress shirts were each folded and individually packaged.

And the laundry man was different than the uniformed man who picked-up and delivered the dry cleaning.  His name was Mr. Wheeler.

Mr. Covini brought fresh eggs and butter every week, Mr. Crawford sent his driver with the prescription drugs, and Bovio's Grocery's barely English speaking delivery man, Beyanke brought our groceries in a big basket on his three-wheel bicycle.

Mrs. Levin at Nathan's would send the store's driver out to the house with several new outfits she thought my mom might like.  Often my mom would pick a couple, then send the others back.

There were no MasterCards or Visas.  Each store sent their own bill once a month.

And then little by little the civility ensured by door-to-door service has all but vanished, and I don't like it. 

ONE REMAINS: THE SCHWAN MAN

Schwan's has an enormous catalog of frozen foods, from steaks and lobster to garlic potatoes and blueberry cobbler.  The ice cream is of Bluebell quality.

Once every two weeks, our Schwan Man, Luke, comes by in his big yellow-cream colored refrigerated truck and we get our supply -- the basics of each of our orders are strip steaks, skinless chicken breasts and shrimp skewers.

While I understand Schwan's is in most of the larger communities nationwide, in Dallas you can have Luke as Your Schwan Man just like we have.  469 441-3744.

It's time for you to ensure that you are acting like a true conservative Republican, bringing civility back into your life at the same time.  Start by using the Schwan Man.  In Dallas, call Luke.  469-3744.

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS - HIGHLAND PARK

214 503-8563

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MEYER REISWERG -- GALVESTON'S STRAND SURPLUS SENTER

Those of you who visited and shopped Galveston's famous Strand Surplus Senter, also fondly called Col. Bubbies, will be saddened to learn that its owner, Meyer "Col. Bubbie" Reiswerg passed away yesterday.

Bubbie had such a wit that he was brought to New York as a guest on the David Letterman Show.  He brought the house down!

But what I liked best about Bubbie was his ability to debate.  More than once he took the Galveston School Board on.  He was always far better prepared than they were.  The winner was Bubbie in a slam dunk decision.

Meyer "Col. Bubbie" Reiswerg

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS - HIGHLAND PARK

214 503-8563

 

TEXAS DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICE ACT VS "AS IS" 

Some say that the reason the Texas Legislature put in place the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (Chapter 17 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code), was to give attorneys an opportunity to sue for big bucks, win big settlements, and pack their pockets with big legal fees.  Maybe so.

One thing that the DTPA brought was that it completely wiped out caveat emptor ("let the buyer beware") and replaced it with caveat vendor ("let the seller beware").  And along with it came the inability for either or both parties to waive the rights given them under the DPTA.

In 1995, the Texas Legislature amended the statute so that now consumers CAN waive their rights under the statute.  However, "The consumer-buyer must possess equal bargaining power with the seller, and be represented by legal counsel not identified, suggested or selected by the...seller."

So with respect to real estate transactions, property can now be sold "as-is" under certain circumstances.  And while the buyer can still file suit against the seller under the DPTA statute, if the "as-is" notice was properly negotiated and agreed to at the time of the sale, conventional wisdom seems to say that the buyer cannot recover any monetary damages.

There is a voluminous article titled "As-Is" in the April 2009 issue of Tierra Grande magazine that real estate professionals as well as propery owners should read.  It's written by Judon Fannbrough.  Tierra Grande is a publication of the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

It seems to me that it would be appropriate for any and everyone selling and buying property within the areas hit by Hurricane Ike to agree that the purchase is an "As-Is" transaction.  Afterall, no one can be sure the totality of damage to any property and further, that the remediation was properly done.

If I were a Realtor practicing in, say, Galveston County, I would advise my listing clients to properly identify their sales as "as-is"

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS - HIGHLAND PARK

214 503-8563

SECURITY MARINE BANK -- THE INDUSTRY'S PARADOX

 SECURITY MARINE BANK'S WORLD HEADQUARTERS

Many years ago, photographer David Thompson took this photograph of a real, existing, operating bank.

Of course the reason he thought the subject intriguing and the image worth preserving was because the building itself was nothing more than a small, frame home that had stuck to its front a scale painting of an elaborate bank building. 

The place is climate controlled by a single window air conditoning unit.

I've shown this picture to many friends and customers over the years, and it always brings a big roaring laugh and a few "I can't believe it," comments.

Of course the irony today is this:  There are banks of this size and caliber all over the US that have worked to exhaustion to retain their customer bases from being proselyted by the big mega banks...the ones in the big multi-million dollar buildings that aren't facaded with painted stage flats.

And those mega banks pay some individual officers -- the presidents and chairmen -- more each year than many of these small banks have in total deposits.

But banks like Security Marine Bank have not asked taxpayers to bail them out...to make them solvent.  They've operated prudently.

So in the end, whether the building's facade is real or a stage set makes no difference.  It's the management behind the desks inside that counts. 

Which group deserves Americans' business?

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS - HIGHLAND PARK

214 503-8563

Prior to the first issue of “Playboy,” which reached newsstands in December 1953, men’s magazines, if they were anything other than about sports, automobile mechanics or woodworking, were primarily on the trashy side. 

Let’s start with “Police Gazette” and count them off from there.

Most, printed on newsprint with poor art, graphics and composition, featured mindless articles thats purpose was a shallow attempt to stimulate libido, and with photos of girls standing on their tip-toes obviously with poking-chests the product of Frederick’s of Hollywood bullet bras.

Esquire attempted to be the men’s magazine bible, but it was so stodgy that it missed the mark.

So Mr. Hefner took it upon himself to design and produce a graphically artistic men’s magazine, and print it on slick paper, slick paper just like “Town and Country,” “Vogue,” and “Vanity Fair” were.

He found known experts to write about jazz and theater and cars and cooking and manners and how to dress.  He added photographs of young women who could have easily lived next door to Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. Maybe next door to me, too.

There were short stories by the same writers who were frequently published in the “New Yorker” and “Harpers.” 

There were business essays by one of the world’s most-wealthy, J. Paul Getty.

Mr. Hefner made sure men discovered jazz critic Leonard Feather, humorist Shel Silverstein and cartoonist Gahan Wilson. We found out for ourselves that art could be something more relevant for us than the Mona Lisa because of the excitingly colorful paintings of artist Leroy Neiman.

Somewhere in the ‘60s, Mr. Hefner researched and wrote “The Playboy Philosophy.” It discussed and drew supported conclusions on sex, religion and politics.  It caused readers to think, evaluate and debate.  Many, for the first time, determined precisely how they felt about some matters of life.  Some agreed with Mr. Hefner; others didn't.  Nevertheless "Playboy" was the genesis for a long overdue debate.

Dr. Steven Watts is the chairman of the history department at the University of Missouri in Columbia.  If my math is correct, he and “Playboy” were both born circa 1953.

Professor Watts wrote Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream.  Rather than talk about and discuss what Mr. Hefner brought to readers like me, readers who were at least teenagers in 1953, the story Professor Watts preferred to weave was about the shallow romantic life that Mr. Hefner has led for more than fifty years. 

I think Professor Watts’ book is a disservice to Mr. Hefner, and I’m inclined to think it is because he was never a boy much less a man before Mr. Hefner took it upon himself to teach males how to be cultured.

While abbreviated and perhaps, therefore, not precisely accurate:  Jews and Christians believe in and worship the same God.  A messiah has not delivered the message to Jews that there will be life after death for them in heaven.  By contrast, the Christians' messiah, Jesus Christ, has delivered that message and its promise.

So Jews feel that their afterlife, until the heaven matter is reconciled for them, is comprised of their contributions on earth and how they are each personally remembered by those who live and those who come after them. 

One way Jews meet their remembrance requirements is through charitable contributions, many of enormous sizes.  Drive by a number of local hospitals and there will be buildings named after the Jewish family whose financial support caused each particular building to be built. 

Watch a PBS documentary and find at the end that it was financed by at least one Jewish foundation. 

Look at Jewish foundations supporting enormous number of educational and research benefactors. 

Notice how many Jews in your community spend inordinate amounts of their personal time doing charity work.

You've no doubt read about Bernard Madoff, the Jewish money manager who has been charged with bilking billions of dollars from his clients through a Ponzi scheme.

If you have seen the list of his clients, you'll have noticed that he managed huge amounts of assets for many Jewish charitable foundations.  Another big portion are Jewish individuals' personal accounts.  The government's claim is that most if not all of those assets are now lost. 

So those assets --- probably several billions in value -- won't be able to be used for their owners' purposes:  their contributions on earth and how each will be personally remembered after death.  Even worse, perhaps, the intended recipients of those financial benefits have been robbed of them, short-falling education, cultural events, medical research and the like.

What is commonly called the Holocaust is what Hitler called Die Endlosung.  It referenced "the final solution of  the Jewish question."  And it was to be accomplished by the systematic genocide of an entire people and, congruently, to prevent many from making their earthly contributions.  So the solution?  No more Jews.

If, in fact, Mr. Madoff contrived and headed the Ponzi scheme as many feel he did, isn't it interesting that he, a Jew, has prevented many Jews from being able to leave their sizable mark behind?  In a way, isn't that yet another holocaust, but this time a Jew against his own people?

Copyright 2009 - William S. Cherry

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS - HIGHLAND PARK

214 503-8563

Of course the stock market fell 400 points.  Banking Principles are not at all difficult.  The banking lobby MUST be what is causing congress to act so irrationally.  It simply can't be that those we elected are really that dumb....if they are, they need to resign.