An end, an Elvis and a loss

Of course you know the first story that caught my eye while reading my morning news was about PCA (Peanut Corp of America). Federal officials now say PCA intentionally sent out products that were contaminated with salmonella. I’ve been trying to tell people but I guess those particular people don’t read my blog.

The story also said that the USDA was one of PCA’s biggest clients. While USDA officials did regularly visit the plant in Blakely Georgia, they were not trained in food safety and basically did no more than read reports while they were there. This week the USDA ended their business connection to PCA. Peanut butter from that plant was sent out for use in free lunch programs in California, Minnesota and Idaho.

As of today the salmonella outbreak has caused 575 illnesses in 43 states and at least 8 deaths. There are now 1679 products on the recall list.

The second story that caught my eye today came out of Florida and involves Elvis. That’s really what caught my eye. The first line of the story read “Elvis has left the vehicle.” I had a giggle and just had to read the whole story.

The 46 year old man named Elvis Alonzo Barrett racked up quite a few traffic violations. More than 50 actually. All in the same day.

Apparently his license had been suspended and he panicked when officers tried to pull him over. Police chased him during which time he ran red lights, crashed into a fence and into another car. He received tickets for everything from possession of a crack pipe all the way down to not wearing his seat belt.

The last thing I really paid attention to before starting my daily blogs was my Dead or Alive feed. James Whitmore has died at the age of 87 from lung cancer. He was an actor. He appeared in the films The Asphalt Jungle, Give ‘em Hell, Harry, and many others. My favorite movie that he performed in was The Shawshank Redemption.