R.I.P. Art Linkletter & Gary Coleman and Get your story straight Steve Wilkos

I have several things I want to talk to you about today. First there were a couple of celebrity deaths that made me very sad. I don't talk about all the deaths that make the news but when they touch me in some way, I like to put them here.

Art Linkletter passed away on May 26. He was a radio and television personality and the host of House Party which ran for 25 years and People Are Funny which ran for 19 years. He died at home in California. He was 98. 

July 17, 1912 – May 26, 2010

Then yesterday Gary Coleman passed away. He played the role of Arnold Jackson on Diff'rent Strokes from 1978 to 1986. He was one of my favorite child actors. Even my great grandmother loved him on that show. She'd make us all be quiet when her "little devil" was on. He led a hard life including kidney transplants when he was very young, heart issues, financial issues and suicide attempts. He died from a brain hemorrhage resulting from a fall in his home. He was 42.

February 8, 1968 – May 28, 2010

May they both Rest In Peace.

Now I'd like to talk to you about something personal. I mentioned in my last post that I was upset with The Steve Wilkos Show. For those of you that don't know, Steve Wilkos started out on The Jerry Springer Show as security. He later started his own show. 

This is not a show that I watch. Honestly if I hadn't had a family member on the show I would never have watched it. That's right, I said a family member appeared on his show. 

And after watching the clip of the show that Holly was on I can tell you that this will never be a show that I watch.

Holly is my brother-in-law's daughter. When she was 16 she found herself pregnant by a 19 year old that was only interested in having sex with her. He didn't want to have a baby or keep Holly around.

His mother however very much wanted the baby. So she told many horrible lies about Holly and was believed. Holly was put out in the rain and not allowed to see her son Kris who was only 3 months old at the time. 

Over the past 17 years, Kris has been told all the lies about his mother and believed that she was worthless and tried to kill him when he was an infant. I don't blame him for believing the lies. He was never allowed to contact his mother to find out the truth. His grandmother kept them apart, telling him that Holly didn't want anything to do with him. Holly very much wanted to see Kris but she wasn't allowed.

So Kris, now 17, called The Steve Wilkos show because he wanted to meet his mother and find out why she supposedly did the things she did to him. Holly was given a lie detector test and she passed it, proving that she did NOT abuse her son or try to kill him. 

Here's where my anger comes in.

Steve Wilkos tries to act like he is this great guy that just wants to help people. His MySpace page says this:

"Many of the guests who come on my show are facing serious problems and are crying out for help from someone who has their best interests at heart," says the 6-foot-3 Wilkos. "I believe the morale code I was taught during my Marine training, the street smarts I picked up as a police officer, and the patience and compassion I have developed from becoming a father, has prepared me to help my guests get through the hard times they are facing."

Patience and compassion? Are those the qualities that made you refuse to let Holly even sit down? There is no way that you can tell me that you didn't know the results of the lie detector test before you read them to your audience. But you still treated her as though she were guilty until the end of the show. I guess ratings and sensationalism are more important to The Steve Wilkos Show than honoring patience and compassion.

They did not have Holly's "best interests at heart". I know she has hurt terribly for the past 17 years but I guess making the show exciting is what it's all about. 

That "morale code" you were taught is really shining through Mr. Wilkos. I am completely disgusted by your show now. I didn't know anything about it before Holly appeared on it and now I don't want to ever see it again. It's nothing but a place for you to try to look like a tough guy and fill your pockets while hurting people who don't deserve to be hurt. 

You can bet that this very large family and everyone else we know will never add to your ratings. If you want to bring the truth to people, get the whole story next time and don't make an entire show based on one person's lies. If you actually had the street smarts you claim to have, you would have done that. Shame on you.

Do you believe in horoscopes?

Ever read your horoscope and think wow, that's actually what's happening in my life? That seems to be happening to me a lot lately. Today's is particularly on the mark. It says:

"For some reason, individuals of a certain type seem to be gravitating toward you. You've just about had it with listening to sad stories, pleas for redemption and promises to do better next time. That kind of energy just seems to follow you around right now. Practice saying no and walking away. It might be tough to master at first, but you'll get the hang of it eventually."

I have this person that I have forgiven repeatedly for things that should never have been forgiven but being the person that I am, I have forgiven her. I think I'm taking my horoscopes advice this time though and just saying no. I'm tired of being hurt because other people think they are more important than I am.

Does your horoscope ever ring true? Do you believe in what they say?

Need cell phone service? CRICKET is NOT the way to go

Let me tell you a little story....

We were in the mall one day in Texas before we moved up here to Georgia and we saw the Cricket Wireless store. There were huge signs saying they were having a sale so we decided to check it out. We were very specific about what roads we'd be traveling to Georgia and where we'd be once we got here. The man in the store assured us that we would be covered the whole way. He even got out a map and showed us that we would be covered all the way up I10. His exact words were "I guarantee you'll have phone service the whole way". He lied.

We lost service when we crossed into Louisiana and didn't have a signal even one time until we got to Atlanta. We never left the course we told him we'd be driving. My children were on the road at the same time heading to Oklahoma and they were frantic because they couldn't get a hold of us. They didn't know if we'd been in an accident or something like that. Not to mention that I couldn't call them to make sure they were traveling safely. We had to stop at a pay phone so that I could check in. We paid $148 for the phones from Cricket just so I could stop at a pay phone and spend more money. Ridiculous.

Once we arrived in Atlanta and actually had a signal we called customer service and talked to a lady named Ann. She talked to her supervisor and they both agreed that they're representative at K Wireless in Katy Mills Mall in Katy, Texas did not tell us the truth. She was very understanding and told us because their services had been misrepresented that we would get a full refund. Sounds good, right? It's another lie.

They said to take the phones back to the store we purchased them from (which was no problem because we planned on traveling back to Texas to get the rest of our belongings) and that the man WOULD give us our money back. Tim arrived there this morning only to be told he would NOT get our money back. He was slightly mad. He DID act mad I'm sure. Who wouldn't after being guaranteed something, driving 900 miles and then being told no?

Not only did the man refuse to give our money back like we were told would happen, BUT Tim was kicked out of the store! How's that for customer service? That's a joke in itself. Cricket has no idea what customer service means. When you try to call them and speak to someone, all you get is a recording or told that you'll be on hold for a few minutes...which is about 45 minutes according to all my trying to contact a live human being since 8:00 this morning. After waiting that 45 minutes it disconnected me. I am not happy.

So my message to all of you in blogland is DO NOT USE CRICKET WIRELESS SERVICE. You may get lucky and not have any issues but from what I've learned since making the mistake of believing their salesman it's not worth it. They lie, lie, lie. They'll tell you what you want to hear just to get your money. And the service sucks as far as keeping a signal. Trust me on this. I'll happily use AT&T from now on.