WalMart Announcement

[fatboyharley]

WalMart is openng in RP Building a new store to open by the end of this year or beginning of 2009. Can Home Depot and Costco be far behind?

[jerry]

Bob you sell out. Chinese slaves make crap for 100 bucks a month and live in places you wouldn't put your dog. Screw china,If American big business hadn't moved the factories to China for a small price gain over mexico 15 years ago we would now have a solid Mexican middle class living in mexico not Davenport Iowa.

[Submarine]

A legal battle with Wal-Mart over injury benefits broke this elderly store greeter’s spirit
By Paul Rubin
published: June 05, 2008
Herman Teague loved his new job as a greeter at the Wal-Mart Supercenter just off the 101 and Raintree Drive in Scottsdale.


Morgan Bellinger

This Wal-Mart just off the 101 and Raintree Drive in Scottsdale is where Herman Teague was injured in March 2006.
Morgan Bellinger

Morgan Bellinger

Wal-Mart has a policy of hiring senior citizens as greeters whenever possible.
Morgan Bellinger

Attorney Rick Kilfoy says the protracted court case depressed Herm Teague.
Morgan Bellinger

Wal-Mart's slogan — "Save money, live better" — was cruelly ironic in the Teague case.
Morgan Bellinger

Linda Kilfoy, with a photo of her mother, Cecil, and stepfather, Herm Teague.

Herm Teague, with a young friend, a few years before the Wal-Mart incident.
Subject(s):
Wal-Mart, Herman Teague, workers' compensationIt wasn't about the money, about $180 a week before taxes for part-time work, or the benefits (the company provided none to him).

Teague was living off Social Security, savings, and a comfortable pension earned after working more than 30 years as a metallurgist for U.S. Steel, mostly in Wyoming. His primary health insurance was Medicare, and he also had purchased two supplemental policies.

But it had lifted Teague's spirits to be back around people, he'd tell his stepdaughter, Linda Kilfoy, and her husband, Fred. He started living with the couple just a few miles away from the Wal-Mart store after his wife, Cecil, died in 2000.

Teague had been retired for years when Wal-Mart, which is North America's biggest retailer and Arizona's largest private employer, hired him in January 2006 to say hello to shoppers entering the store.

Herm Teague made people around him feel good. He always had a friendly "question of the day" for those he knew and a smile for those he didn't. The idea of getting paid to schmooze a little with customers appealed to him.

Teague was 86 when Wal-Mart hired him, though he looked and acted like a much younger man. He had heart problems and suffered from borderline diabetes and hypertension. But his doctor declared him fit for work, and he did fine for several weeks, winning over customers and his much younger co-workers with his upbeat attitude.

But in late February 2006, Teague complained at home of having a hard time catching his breath. He was out of work for a few weeks, during which time he underwent an angioplasty, a procedure in which doctors use a balloon to open a coronary blockage and improve a patient's blood flow.

But doctors told Teague that he was well enough to return to Wal-Mart, which he did on March 6, 2006.

What happened shortly after he punched in that day would become the focus of a significant court case decided by the Arizona Court of Appeals on April 1.

And, sadly, it marked the beginning of the end of Herm Teague.

What happened was, Teague fainted a few yards from his greeter's "station" just inside Wal-Mart and the back of his head hit the concrete floor, causing a deep wound. He came to before emergency paramedics arrived and said he recalled nothing after sipping on a Coke he'd just bought at a machine near his work post.

On the face of it, you might think that an employer of any size, much less a mega-corporation that registers a profit of about $20,000 a minute, at least would have been willing to pay for the cost of Teague's emergency room services, where the bill for stitching him up came to about $3,500.

But Wal-Mart — whose famous slogan is "Save money, live better" — declined to give Teague even one cent in workers' compensation benefits for the injuries he suffered on the job. In addition to the emergency room fee, that payout would have amounted to about $400 a month until Teague was able to go back to work.

How Wal-Mart dealt with its aged "associate," as the company likes to call its employees, paints a dismal picture that lays waste to what it calls its "Grass Roots Process."

That philosophy, coined by company founder Sam Walton after he opened his first discount store in Arkansas in 1962, calls for Wal-Mart executives to "listen to your associates. They're the best idea generators."

Herm Teague's stepdaughter says she knows what grassroots advice he would have given his bosses had he been given the opportunity.

"Herm lived his life by never asking for anything that he didn't have coming to him, and I never heard him speak out against anyone, including Wal-Mart," Linda Kilfoy says. "For him, there always was a right thing to do and you do it, whether you're a person or a huge company. He would have told them, 'Do what's right, guys.'"

Instead, Wal-Mart denied Teague's claim in the summer of 2006. The company is self-insured, and manages its workers' compensation claims out of a sprawling structure in northwest Arkansas, so big that the rows between workstations have street names.

After Teague appealed to the Industrial Commission of Arizona, Wal-Mart hired one of Arizona's top workers' comp defense attorneys to litigate against Teague's claim.

In early 2007, the case wound up before an administrative law judge at the Industrial Commission. That March — a year after Herm Teague had gotten hurt — Judge Joseph Moore ruled that Wal-Mart did, in fact, owe Teague workers' comp benefits.

But this was not to be an example of David slaying Goliath.

Wal-Mart instructed its attorney, Todd Lundmark, to appeal the ruling, which put the payments to Herm Teague on hold.

Another year passed. Then, last April 1, the Arizona Court of Appeals said Judge Moore had erred in awarding any benefits to Teague.

Herm Teague, the appellate court said, had been engaging in a "personal comfort activity" when he stepped the few feet from his greeter's post to buy his Coke, and hadn't been on an official work break.

Though no one had seen Teague faint and hit his head, it surely happened moments after he'd sipped from his soda, the alleged personal comfort activity. So, the court concluded, Teague's injury hadn't "arisen out of" his employment at Wal-Mart — he'd just happened to be at work when it happened.

The ruling stunned Herm Teague's survivors. Teague had died at age 88 in Scottsdale on February 11.

"My personal opinion," says Phoenix attorney Rick Kilfoy (who is Linda Kilfoy's son and litigated the Teague case pro bono), "was that Wal-Mart saw this as an opportunity to get a court to reduce the limits of employee liability in workers' comp cases. And they hit the jackpot."

A Wal-Mart representative did not return phone calls from New Times seeking comment.

Kilfoy and others who knew Teague well say the protracted battle with the mighty Wal-Mart after his spill broke Teague's spirit. By the time he died, Teague had incurred about $200,000 in medical bills unrelated to his Wal-Mart head injury that Medicare wouldn't pay while awaiting the outcome of the workers' comp case.

"He wondered if he'd have to go to jail for non-payment of debt," says Linda Kilfoy. "It was as if someone just started kicking him. He was so embarrassed."



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Herman Teague's workers' comp case would make for a cautionary tale even if it were an exception to the rule governing Wal-Mart's typical practices with employees.

But a review of the firm's history of dealing with injured employees suggests that Teague's experience hardly was exceptional.

In June 2007, the Washington, D.C.-based group Wal-Mart Watch issued a position paper on the company's dismal record in handling many workers' comp claims.

"Problems with Wal-Mart's often lengthy workers' compensation process and rates of compensation are pervasive, ranging from contesting and failing to pay out on valid claims to intimidating workers seeking compensation," it concluded, making note of a monumental class-action lawsuit filed against the company in Oklahoma last year.

That lawsuit alleges that, after plaintiffs filed claims for on-the-job injuries, Wal-Mart cut their pay, hours, or flat-out demoted them. One of the Oklahoma plaintiffs claims she was forced to quit her job as a condition of her workers' comp settlement, which is against the law.

"Wal-Mart is known for fighting even the simplest, most straightforward workers' comp claims," says Stacie Lock Temple, senior director of strategy and communications for Wal-Mart Watch, "dragging out the process and forcing its employees into lengthy arbitration or court battles."

It's not just plaintiffs' lawyers and watchdog groups who have taken notice of Wal-Mart's corporate attitude toward its injured "associates."

The state of Washington took the unprecedented step in February 2002 of ordering Wal-Mart to relinquish control of workers' comp claims for the next eight years. The state earlier had moved to revoke Wal-Mart's authority to handle its own claims after five audits showed the firm routinely failed to properly handle legitimate claims.

"Over the last seven years, Wal-Mart has 'repeatedly and unreasonably' delayed giving injured workers the benefits they were owed under workers' compensation laws," the director of Washington's Department of Labor and Industries wrote. "In some cases, Wal-Mart employees were not allowed to file workers' comp claims at all."

Wal-Mart was allowed to remain self-insured but remains barred from administering its own claims until 2010.

On the other side of the nation, the state of Maine announced in 2004 that Wal-Mart's policy of challenging its workers' comp claims was "off the charts" in comparison to other companies. In that state, a "notice of controversy" is filed each time an insurer (a self-insurer in Wal-Mart's case) challenges a claim, as is a memorandum of payouts.

Maine keeps track on a quarterly basis of how much insurers are paying in comp claims as compared with how often a claim is challenged.

"We think it keeps companies on its toes," says Cheryl Crowley of the Maine Worker's Compensation Board. "Not every claim is a good one, certainly, but certainly not every claim is controversial, either."

In the first three quarters of 2004, Wal-Mart contested a remarkable 94 percent of its workers' comp claims in Maine. By contrast, that state's largest grocery chain filed notices of controversy on just 17 percent of its claims.

Wal-Mart responded after word of its intransigence in handling workers' comp claims became public. By the end of 2006, the company denied 51 percent of injury claims in Maine, a dramatic decrease.

Unfortunately, according to an employee at the Industrial Commission of Arizona, this state is far behind Maine in tracking specific outcomes of workers' comp cases.

No one at the agency was able to provide New Times with how many of Wal-Mart's Arizona employees (more than 32,000 as of May 1, about 25,000 full-time) have filed injury claims, how many of the claims were denied by the company and were appealed by workers to the commission, and what happened after that.



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Things have been on a bit of an upswing lately for Wal-Mart's public image, with glowing news accounts of the company's emphasis on "greening" itself, and its allegedly improved record in providing affordable health insurance to more of its employees.

Still, Wal-Mart continues to take hits via books, magazines, a blistering documentary (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices), activist groups, and in courtrooms, where juries in a number of big-money cases have come down against the super-firm.

One common theme centers on how the company marches into a community, erects one of its 200,000-square-foot superstores and, by virtue of its generally lower prices, is able to unfairly wipe out competition (especially mom-and-pop stores) because of its reliance on cheap foreign labor and goods.

Another premise suggests that Wal-Mart has failed miserably in offering affordable healthcare programs to a majority of its workers. This has forced thousands of employees to enroll in taxpayer-funded public health programs to ensure medical care for themselves and their families.

Evidence amassed in researching this story reveals that Wal-Mart ranks at or near the top, in every reporting state, of those employers who foist a chunk of the cost of providing worker healthcare onto the public.

The state of Arizona can provide some figures on the latter point. In 2005, almost 3,000 Wal-Mart employees and 487 dependents were enrolled in AHCCCS (Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System), which is this state's Medicaid program. This cost Arizona taxpayers an estimated $12.2 million in that fiscal year alone.

All this seems to matter little to millions of loyal Wal-Mart shoppers, who continue to pour into the stores in record numbers.

On May 13, Wal-Mart announced record first-quarter sales and earnings, listing net sales of $94.1 billion and net income of $3.02 billion, a 6.9 percent increase.

Lee Scott, the company chief executive officer, gave a slew of reasons for the upsurge, including one buried deep in the self-congratulatory glow: "A reduction of worker's compensation accruals."

CEO Scott may as well have been talking about the Herman Teague case.



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Herm Teague was born in Clarkdale, Arizona, near Cottonwood, in 1920, two years after Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton's birth in Oklahoma.

A young man with a bent toward science, Teague also excelled at athletics at what is now Cottonwood Mingus High School before enrolling at the University of Arizona.

He interrupted his studies to enlist in the Army Air Force after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and flew more than 20 missions as a B-24 pilot in the Pacific theater.

After his honorable discharge, he returned to U of A and completed his degree in metallurgy. He married his high school sweetheart, Betty, with whom he had three children.

Teague's field eventually led him to Lander, Wyoming, where he became the general foreman responsible for ore processing and shipping at a mine owned by U.S. Steel.

Wyoming suited Teague just fine, as he was a devoted hunter and fisherman — and an inveterate storyteller, to boot.

He liked to tell his closest friends, "Don't stop me if I've told you this story before because I want to hear myself tell it again."

Teague's first wife died in 1978, and he married Cecil Slagle the following year.

The new couple spent winters in Arizona after he retired from U.S. Steel in 1982. When he became a widower again in 2000, Teague remained active with the Shriners of North America, played golf, and explored his beloved Wind River Mountain range in Wyoming on horseback with friends.

By the time he reached his mid-80s, Herm Teague still was sharp mentally and didn't want to fade away into senior-citizen oblivion. That's what led him to the job at Wal-Mart.

On the day he got hurt at the store, Teague had clocked in at 12:31 p.m. He went to his assigned post and greeted people, as usual.

About an hour later, he asked fellow employee Josh McKay to help him purchase a Coke out of a nearby machine because he was having a hard time seeing what he was buying.

McKay later testified that Teague complained about feeling poorly and appeared pale. McKay handed the older man the soda and then went outside to gather up shopping carts.

Administrative law Judge Joseph Moore would ask Teague later whether he remembered choking on that Coke.

"Oh, yeah," Teague said, adding, "I don't remember when I fell. Everything just went black. The next thing I knew, I woke up and I was on the floor."

Wal-Mart employees found Teague unconscious and bleeding on the concrete floor, and called 911. Doctors at a nearby hospital stitched him up. Then they ordered a series of tests to determine what had caused him to faint for the first time.

The tests revealed that he needed a pacemaker, which was implanted the next day, March 7.

Teague remained in the hospital for a few days before he was released.

He never set foot in that Wal-Mart again.



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Herm Teague and his family didn't worry much at first about things like workers' compensation claims.

Foremost, of course, was Teague's recovery from his spill and from the more worrisome heart issues. He resolved to return to work at Wal-Mart as soon as he could, to the job he had been enjoying so much.

But then the medical bills started to pour in, and Teague realized that Wal-Mart wasn't going to cover the costs of the injuries he'd suffered on the job. He filed the proper paperwork requesting workers' comp benefits, and awaited Wal-Mart's reply.

The company's answer: No way.

"We never expected them to say no, never," Linda Kilfoy says. "We live in this wonderful country, with good benefits for a lot of people, and Herm continued to think that if you get hurt on the job, which he did, and don't ask for anything that's not coming to you, which he never would have done, then your boss takes care of you."

Teague enlisted his step-grandson, attorney Rick Kilfoy, to help him appeal Wal-Mart's denial at the state Industrial Commission. Wal-Mart retained Todd Lund<WASH MY MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP>mark, a workers' compensation specialist who had co-authored a handbook on the topic.

The burden of proof before the judge was Teague's.

Under the law, he was forced to undergo physical exams by two doctors of Wal-Mart's choosing, which he did in January 2007.

One of those physicians, Ernie Riffer, concluded that Teague's fainting spell and subsequent head injury "in no way related to his employment. [It] was related to his coughing and choking primarily. It was compounded by his underlying cardiac condition."

The second Wal-Mart doctor agreed with his colleague.

Teague didn't have the money to bring in experts to testify at the Industrial Commission, Rick Kilfoy says. But the lawyer still was confident the old guy had a fighting chance.

"If he had been on a couch at home when he fainted instead of standing up on a hard surface at work, he wouldn't have hurt himself when he fell," Kilfoy says. "He was a few feet from where he typically greeted people, and he took a second to get a soda. He wasn't on a break, and there was nothing in writing at Wal-Mart that kept him from grabbing a Coke."

Herm Teague was the first witness to testify at the Industrial Commission hearing.

It humiliated Teague even to be there, his stepdaughter says, and he kept his answers terse, not having much more to add than he'd sipped from his soda, fainted, and came to on the floor at Wal-Mart in a pool of blood.

Wal-Mart assistant manager Janice Kursch<WASH MY MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP>ner testified that she had assisted Teague on the floor after he'd fainted. She said it was "unusual" for someone to drink a soda while on duty.

"They're not to have anything on the floor except water," Kurschner testified.

So, Wal-Mart attorney Lundmark asked her, it wasn't okay for Teague to consume a soda near the machine?

"Normally, no," she said, "because we need somebody on the door at all times. So he had technically walked away from the station."

Rick Kilfoy asked whether "company employees [are] expressly precluded from purchasing and consuming sodas from that soda machine."

"No, sir," Kurschner replied. "They can do it on their breaks and lunch."

Kilfoy told the judge that Teague's employment with Wal-Mart "contributed to, if not caused, his injuries."

In his closing remarks, attorney Lund<WASH MY MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP>mark focused on a 1970 Arizona case in which a woman working as a stock clerk for a school district injured her lower back while arising from a toilet at work.

Going to the bathroom, Lundmark argued, even at work, is considered a "personal comfort activity" by the courts as compared with a more-typical work-related injury, such as blowing out a knee while lifting a large object.

It turned out that the stock clerk, whose name was Sacks, had pre-existing back problems, akin to how Herm Teague had heart problems before fainting on the job.

In the Sacks case, an appellate court upheld an administrative law judge's ruling that her back injury had happened "in the course" of her employment with the school, but had not arisen "out of" her employment.

Under Arizona law, that's a huge distinction.

The court in that case said, "The mere fact that the accident occurred on the premises of the employer during working hours does not make it compensable."

But in March 2007, Judge Moore ruled against Wal-Mart, contrasting the Sacks case with the case at hand.

"Here," the judge wrote, "the employer contributed to the personal comfort of customers and employees by placing the vending machine on the premises . . . Employees had not been expressly prohibited from purchasing beverages from the soda-dispensing machine and had not been expressly prohibited from consuming such beverages at times during their work shift that were other than break times."

Even so, the Teague case was far from resolved.



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Rather than take their small defeat and move on, Wal-Mart commissioned its attorney to file a special action with the Arizona Court of Appeals. That put any workers' comp payments to Herm Teague on hold.

What really continued to eat at Teague were the mounting medical bills that Medicare was refusing to pay because of the still-pending comp case.

"He had doctors turning him away because they weren't sure if they'd ever get paid," Linda Kilfoy says. "Even the hospice, when he was near the end, called us and asked what was going on with the payments. I had to call the Wal-Mart insurance people and their lawyers to see what could be done. They said they didn't know who I was or what I was talking about."

Rick Kilfoy says he noticed a distinct deterioration in Teague's demeanor and physical appearance as time wore on.

"Even though we had won at the administrative-court level, Herman was very, very depressed and worried at the whole thing. Without being cliché about it, I think the ongoing battle and the mess with Medicare and so on was breaking his heart."

Teague spent his last months going back and forth between Arizona and Wyoming, where he still had dear friends.

He died in February, not knowing the outcome of his workers' comp case or what was going to happen with his substantial medical debts.

On April 1, presiding Court of Appeals Judge Susan A. Ehrlich, writing for a unanimous 3-0 panel, overturned Herm Teague's award.

"There was no evidence that Mr. Teague's work substantially contributed to his injury to such a degree that it overcame the personal contribution of his pre-existing cardiac conditions," Ehrlich wrote. "Without an increased risk from work, the circumstances of Mr. Teague's injury do not rise to the level of work connection necessary for compensability."

Herm Teague's body was taken to Wyoming for burial. His family and friends held a memorial service at a favorite restaurant outside of Riverton, the town where he had lived for so long while working for U.S. Steel.

People flew in from several states to pay tribute to a man for whom a court battle with his employer over a piddling sum of money would've been the last thing he'd have wanted.

"God knows they spent a lot more in attorneys fees than they would have spent on Herm," Rick Kilfoy says of Wal-Mart.

Kilfoy's mother, Linda, sums up the story like this:

"This had to do with how in the world do you keep a big corporation, the biggest of the big, from taking advantage of hard-working innocent people? Maybe you just can't."

[rockyptjoe]

Bob you sell out. Chinese slaves make crap for 100 bucks a month and live in places you wouldn't put your dog. Screw china,If American big business hadn't moved the factories to China for a small price gain over mexico 15 years ago we would now have a solid Mexican middle class living in mexico not Davenport Iowa.
Oh PULEEEEEZE!!! I'm not getting into a discussion of the pros/cons on Walmart....but blaming allof the problems in Mexico on American "big business" moving plants to China, etc., is ridiculous! There has been and will be the "haves" and the "have nots" in Mexico, and rampant corruption is heavily ingrained in the culture of the country. The "haves" don't want a middle class.

[rockyptjoe]

If I recall, didn't that McDonald's coffee case with the ridiculous judgement, finally get overturned on appeal????

When there are ligitimate cases, companies should pay....but what ever happened to personal responsibility? It's always the other guy's, or company's fault!!!

[Stuart]

My only gripe?

Walmart will only increase the plague of empty plastic bags that litter every Mexican town I've ever been in. In Mexico, you can always tell when you're approaching a town. You need only notice the empty plastic bags in every fence, cactus, shrub, and bush. Town ahead! :|

[rockyptjoe]

My only gripe?

Walmart will only increase the plague of empty plastic bags that litter every Mexican town I've ever been in. In Mexico, you can always tell when you're approaching a town. You need only notice the empty plastic bags in every fence, cactus, shrub, and bush. Town ahead! :|

But is that Walmart's fault?....or the fault of the people dumping garbage everywhere. The rv park where I used to keep my trailer has pools that they rent out to the locals, and for parties. Whenever there was a party (birthday, wedding, christening, etc.) you would find broken beer bottles and garbage (including diapers) everywhere....even though there were plenty of garbage cans provided!

[fatboyharley]

Information from Urban Freak Forums- Puerto Penesco It is in Spanish so you have to translate it.

[Ladyjeeper]

Information from Urban Freak Forums- Puerto Penesco It is in Spanish so you have to translate it.

Do you have a link?

[Ladyjeeper]

Oh, I figured out how to use the quote button!!!!! Maybe there's hope for me yet!

[fatboyharley]

Puerto Peñasco.- Con la adquisición de un terreno de casi seis hectáreas, grandes centros comerciales como Wal Mart le apuestan Puerto Peñasco como un punto importante de ventas, afirmó Heriberto Rentería Sánchez.

Puerto Peñasco aumentará la oferta y demanda de productos y servicios, con la apertura de una nueva tienda en la ciudad, la cual se pretende que abra sus puertas al público a finales del presente año o a principios del 2009, reveló el alcalde.

“El terreno ya lo adquirieron, este trámite lo agilizamos aquí en el Ayuntamiento y se le dio pronta solución, con el fin de hacerles más ágil el proceso, con lo que podemos asegurar que esta nueva tienda de nivel mundial, vendrá a mejorar los servicios que actualmente se ofrecen en nuestra entidad”, recalcó.

El terreno adquirido para la construcción del centro comercial, está ubicado entre el bulevar Benito Juárez y Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, a la altura de la calle López Portillo, precisó el alcalde.

En cuanto a las ventajas de tener una cadena comercial de talla mundial, el jefe municipal afirmó que es casi seguro que otras cadenas internacionales fijarán su vista en Puerto Peñasco, pues la ciudad comienza a dar los primeros pasos en cuanto a inversión comercial se refiere.

“Lo más importante para la comunidad será la generación de empleos, tanto en la etapa de la construcción como en las vacantes que se darán al abrir la tienda”, aseveró.

Rentería Sánchez destacó que la economía local se verá favorecida en cuanto a los proveedores locales, que tendrán una nueva fuente de ingresos, por lo que deberá darse el paso al siguiente nivel de calidad en productos y servicios.

Como un beneficio adicional a la comunidad, el alcalde Heriberto Rentería Sánchez mencionó que la administración que él preside, ha buscado, desde septiembre del 2006, aportar mejoras sustanciales a la ciudad y con estas nuevas inversiones, se logra un objetivo más.
__________________

from www.urbanfreak.net (http://www.urbanfreak.net)

[Kenny]

Here ya go..
__________________

[/quote]Puerto Peñasco .- With the acquisition of a plot of almost six hectares, big shopping malls like Wal Mart is betting Puerto Peñasco as an important point of sales, Renteria said Heriberto Sanchez.

Puerto Peñasco increase in supply and demand for products and services, with opening a new store in the city, which is intended to open its doors to the public later this year or early 2009, the mayor revealed.

"The ground has already acquired, what expediting this procedure here in the city council and was given prompt solution, in order to make the process more agile, so that we can ensure that this new store worldwide, will improve services currently offered in our institution, "he stressed.

The land acquired for the construction of the mall, is located between Boulevard Benito Juárez and Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, at the height of the street Lopez Portillo, the mayor explained.

As for the advantages of having a world-class commercial chain, the municipal chief said that it is almost certain that other international chains set his sight in Puerto Peñasco, as the city begins to take the first steps on business investment is concerned.

"The most important thing for the community will generate jobs, both in the construction phase as the vacancies that will open at the store," he said.

Renteria Sanchez stressed that the local economy should benefit in terms of local suppliers, who will have a new source of revenue, so it should be given passage to the next level of quality products and services.

As an added benefit to the community, Mayor Heriberto Renteria Sanchez mentioned that the administration over which he presides, has sought since September 2006, make substantial improvements to the city and with these new investments, it gives a more objective.
__________________

from http://www.urbanfreak.net

[Ladyjeeper]

Thanks Kenny,
It would have taken me 10 minutes to write and post the translation. What translater are you using? That's the best one I have ever seen. I checked out the website, it's really big. I'll have to look at it later. First Ace, then Circle K, then Burger King...now maybe Walmart. The old Penasco we knew and loved is going away. Good for the town, perhaps , but bad for us old timers.........

[fatboyharley]

Go to urbanfreak.net then to north american forums, then to foro mexicano the subforos regionales then sonora, then puerto penasco hope this helps FBH

[Ladyjeeper]

Yes, thanks fbh. I found all that last night but I didn't have enough time to really look around. Looks like a big site with lots of info. Thank goodness I'm bilingual.

[Kelney]

I look at it this way. I would rather see development that benefits the local population rather than the tourist industry. Would you rather see a Wally World or another condo project? I know one will create a longer border wait for me and one will not.

I really just want a decent marina that does not hose its customers with BS fees.

[Stuart]

My only gripe?

But is that Walmart's fault?....or the fault of the people dumping garbage everywhere.

Both, actually. I'd love to see a return to paper bags. But that kills trees! So, it's a Catch-22 -- the environmental damage done by paper OR plastic. But yeah, I think the only place I've ever been that was trashier than Mexico was Italy. Might have had something to do with the time of the year (New Year). People just literally chucked anything they didn't want anymore out into the streets. Looked like a war zone New Years Day with dead TVs, appliances, mountains of trash, you name it, everywhere on the streets.

Diapers.... ewwww. Nothing disgusts me more. You see the same thing here in Phoenix. Even in WalMart parking lots. Change the baby in the car and chuck the diaper right there. Some traditions that have made it over the border should have stayed there!

[Kenny]

Stuart,
A Mexican friend call the plastic bag the real flag of Mexico since you see it flying everywhere.

Much paper is made from trees specifically grown to make paper and not cutting forests. The best pulp trees are the fast growers. So paper is probably a better option and it can be recycled.

As most of you know HEMP is a resource that is not being used because of our outdated laws. Now if Mexico started making, never mind..LOL

Kenny

[Submarine]

As usual, you are missing the point completely Bob.
It's generally considered common knowledge that if you get injured on the job you are covered under Arizona's Workers Compensation laws unless you opt out prior to your injury. Herm was working when he injured himself, however menial his job may be. Walmart screwed each and every employee in Arizona by basically gutting the intent of the law. Going to the bathroom? Better hope you don't get injured by some equipment along the way. That's a personal comfort activity you are undertaking there and all your responsibility! So enjoy voting with your dollars and screwing everybody else. I'll pass.


And since we are on the subject, I've been holding on to these photos of that "beautiful historic art district" known as Miami. See the wonderful benefits of a World Class Retailer such as WalMart. Revel in the magic that is HyTime Appliances, at least then non-boarded up side.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24346028@N ... 339438569/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/24346028@N02/sets/72157606339438569/)

[Submarine]

Herm Teague is more a victim of a distorted, hysterical reporting system than of Wal Mart. They're picking over the poor guy's bones to sell news. It's difficult to establish anything from that disjointed story. If you believe WalllyWorld controls the entire judicial system try some Prolixin, it's great for paranod delusions. It sounds like the poor guy was drinking a soda, went into cardiac arrest, fell over and hit his head. It sounds like he had maybe 4 layers of insurance and nobody payed if he had lots of unpaid medical bills. His liar, er lawyer, was clearly incompetent, they should have sued all of the insurance providers, Coke, the manufacturer of the soda machine, the manufacturer of the soda container, the manufacturer of the chair he was sitting on, the manufacturer of the flooring too and the fellow employee that did not diagnose the problem correctly and several bystanders who might have been able to catch him when he fell, then the community in which it occured because they don't have an ordinance requiring the guy to wear a helmet, but should. Mc Donalds lost a case to a woman who was in a car and put a cup of coffee in a soft styrofoam cup between her legs, squeezing it and popping the top, spilling it and burning herself. The coffee temperature was to blame, not the inane behavior of the lady :eek3: :eek3: Yeah, poor Herm was surely the victim of our system but why Walmart?

You know, after re-reading that drivel to my girlfriend, she asked "What world did he come from?" She's a former Walmart shopper, former after reading about Herm Teague. It's nice that you can dismiss the life of a respected citizen and veteran in order to make inane statements about our litigious system. Herm didn't want to sue everyone to profit, just his $3500 in medical bills paid. Worrying about his debt put him on his deathbed, thanks to Walmart. It's personally insulting to me that you would lump Herm in with that coffee suing 'lady'.
My G/F was worried after this ruling because she was going through a comp claim herself, which easily could have been called into question via this ruling.
I guess you must be happy you live in Mexico Bob. I suggest you re-read the article with a little compassion this time.

By the way, the New Times is a free publication.

[BienVida]

Sorry Submarine, you're incorrect on the work comp issue. I work in occ health, and do work comp exams all day. Alot of people have the misconception that just because something happens at work, it is automatically covered under workers compensation. Not true, and this guy is a perfect example.

If you have a pre-existing condition, and it's the reason you have an incident, it's not necessarily "caused by" work. Ex: If you have a seizure disorder, and have a seizure at work and sustain injury as a result, it's not a work comp case. You would have had that seizure and subsequent injury no matter where you were that day! Same with heart disease. If you have a heart attack sitting at your desk, it's not work comp.

Another example: You're simply walking thru a warehouse, and for no reason at all you develop knee pain. You didn't trip or twist, there was no wet floor, no barriers, etc. Nothing at work contributed or incited the pain. You happen to be morbidly obese, and Xray shows your knees have degenerated to "bone on bone"...that explains the pain. Again, not a work comp case. But if you have chronic knee pain, and slip on a wet floor therefore twisting your knee, it is covered. Work did contribute or cause your current symptoms.

Hope that makes sense. :D

[Kenny]

Lets see, where was I ? Oh, HEMP :D . :arrow: "In 1916, USDA Bulletin No. 404, reported that one acre of cannabis hemp, in annual rotation over a 20-year period, would produce as much pulp for paper as 4.1 acres of trees being cut down over the same 20-year period. This process would use only 1/4 to 1/7 as much polluting sulfur-based acid chemicals to break down the glue-like lignin that binds the fibers of the pulp, or even none at all using soda ash. The problem of dioxin contamination of rivers is avoided in the hemp paper making process, which does not need to use chlorine bleach (as the wood pulp paper making process requires) but instead safely substitutes hydrogen peroxide in the bleaching process. ... If the new (1916) hemp pulp paper process were legal today, it would soon replace about 70% of all wood pulp paper, including computer printout paper, corrugated boxes and paper bags".
Kenny

[jerry]

So if a guy who hated Walmart waited till that happy old greeter bastard (a modern day Judas goat) went on break and preceded to beat the old dude with a can of soda in a Hanes tube sock he had just shoplifted (along with some castmaster lures) would the old geezer be covered by workmans comp?

[Submarine]

Sorry Submarine, you're incorrect on the work comp issue. I work in occ health, and do work comp exams all day. Alot of people have the misconception that just because something happens at work, it is automatically covered under workers compensation. Not true, and this guy is a perfect example.

If you have a pre-existing condition, and it's the reason you have an incident, it's not necessarily "caused by" work. Ex: If you have a seizure disorder, and have a seizure at work and sustain injury as a result, it's not a work comp case. You would have had that seizure and subsequent injury no matter where you were that day! Same with heart disease. If you have a heart attack sitting at your desk, it's not work comp.

Another example: You're simply walking thru a warehouse, and for no reason at all you develop knee pain. You didn't trip or twist, there was no wet floor, no barriers, etc. Nothing at work contributed or incited the pain. You happen to be morbidly obese, and Xray shows your knees have degenerated to "bone on bone"...that explains the pain. Again, not a work comp case. But if you have chronic knee pain, and slip on a wet floor therefore twisting your knee, it is covered. Work did contribute or cause your current symptoms.

Hope that makes sense. :D

I appreciate your post, but my statement, that it is generally considered common knowledge when you are hurt at work that you are covered under AZ Workers Comp etc, is generally true. Obviously there are exceptions but Walmart; in my, the Teagues, Herm's lawyer, and lower courts opinion unjustly denied Herm compensation. Walmart has a history of abusing their employees by unjustly denying WC payments and will spend ungodly amounts of money to do so. I also stated "On the job" not just limiting it to "At work", which would also be generally true, but now this right has been greatly diluted thanks to Walmart. An employee can also 'opt out' of AZ's WC system altogether and simply sue to recover medical costs and damages. So while I appreciate your perspective examining WC patients, there is a lot more going on that you probably don't see on a regular basis.

Do you work for MBI by any chance?

[Submarine]

Now, now Bien Vida, Uncle Sub knows more about all these things than we do. Just relax and Uncle Sub will take care of everything.
Unlike you Bob, I'm not an Uncle, nor a Grandfather, nor a Great Uncle, nor a Father, nor a Baby's Daddy.


Sub, I'm not going to stoop to the level of name calling and insults because you are better at it than me, also better at distortion and twisting someone else's words around.
True, but too late.


I also won't get into a battle of wits with an unarmed person. Cliche's? Really? I'm disappointed.


You need to put that disclaimer back on your posts, you remember the one that says whatever you post is meaningless drivel with lots of random unchecked facts etc.
Fine as long as we come up with one about Senility for you.


You seem to come up with a lot of those, too much time on your hands I guess all you have to do is troll the internet for stupidities to support your preconceptions.
Hmmm, or I could just come up with unsupported bullshit like you do. Hey aren't you retired? You should be able to come up with something more substantial other than insults. Oh, but you aren't doing that are you?


Read the article over again yourself, but try to have an open mind. Difficult I know, but you can do it Subby, you can do it.
Wow, and I thought you were going to be insulting! Little crotchety today Bob! What is the Pharmacia all out of your Viagra?

Little disappointed that Miami wasn't the Paradise you and Dry Heat thought it was?

On second thought Bob, enjoy your new Walmart. That is exactly where the kind of person you are belongs, and one more reason for me not to shop there. Reason #1142242423556 in fact.

[Submarine]

I look at it this way. I would rather see development that benefits the local population rather than the tourist industry. Would you rather see a Wally World or another condo project? I know one will create a longer border wait for me and one will not.

I really just want a decent marina that does not hose its customers with BS fees.

So would I , but I strongly feel that Walmart benefits only Walmart and not the local population in any meaningful way. My Mom saw firsthand how Walmart can damage a community. Watch Walmart: The high cost of low prices documentary and tell me if you feel the same way.

[rikyt]

Hey Sub,
Did Al Gore make "The high cost of low prices documentary"?

[Submarine]

No, it was Robert Greenwald.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339254/bio

[joester]

I'm a wal-mart hater - and I live less than 2 miles from one.
I will not shop there, period.
cheap prices are not everything.

[InkaRoads]

There is always a thread about Mexican corruption or big talk about it in the papers, etc. how is it that nobody name this and other USA cases corruption? specially when it comes to famous or should it be infamous Wal-mart?

[Submarine]

Walmart buys a lot of advertising so they are treated pretty leniently by the mainstream media in my opinion, especially newspapers. Most newspapers are barely keeping their heads above water right now so they desparately need those advertising dollars.

[InkaRoads]

Walmart buys a lot of advertising so they are treated pretty leniently by the mainstream media in my opinion, especially newspapers. Most newspapers are barely keeping their heads above water right now so they desparately need those advertising dollars.

Agreed, however there are many other cases that are corrupted or will be consider corruption by many people here an elsewhere, however they are not mention or if mention seems like they always get swept under the carpet, reaLLY fast, which is already getting pretty thick with all the garbage under it, IMHO :o

PS: specially politics/politicians but that is another thread along with the religion one!!!! :eek3:

[Submarine]

Read the article again there Bob, the family wasn't suing for big $, just their bills to be covered. The Teagues were good people, not gold diggers. I'm sure you were very impartial while sharing their story though.

Gee, employees on the job wouldn't badmouth walmart? I'm so surprised! Might want to check some facts against your 'interviews'. Did you happen to ask any of those employees if they had to use KidsCare or other Government aid because Walmart won't step up?

I used to see a dozen Walmart employees every day. They were 'happy' too, happy because they didn't know how bad they were getting screwed. I happily educated them about what Walmart could afford and what comparable companies were paying for. None of them work for Walmart anymore and they still thank me for opening their eyes. One favorite comment was "I see what you mean about Corporate greed now." Opening their eyes to such facts as that less than 50% of Walmart employees are covered by their health plan when, on average, 64% of employees nationally in companies larger than 5000 employees are covered. Facts like more than 80% of Costco employees are covered by their employers health plan. Facts like Walmarts policy of making you call in sick for 2 days unpaid before you receive sick pay on your third day is unconscionable. Facts like Walmart makes you wait 1 year for health benefits when the national average is 3 months. I'd go on but that is probably a bit too much for you to chew on.

Hey, did you tour 'arty' Miami while you were at it?

Add "Professional Tool" to your business cards.

Oh, my G/F read your post(s) and said "You can't fix stupid, and that guy is terminal." Thought I'd share.

[rockyptjoe]

ding ding ding....Roberto and Sub...both of you back to your respective corners....this round is over!!!! :lol: :twisted: :roll:

[Submarine]

So it's thinly veiled threats now Bob?


Not smart.

[dry heat]

there is corruption in everything (religion, family, politics, employers, employees, mom, dad, etc.) so who care's where one shops or eats or sh*ts. If it bothers you then don't go to those places.

I go to walmart because I want to support the 12 year that is making my chinese toxic product.

[gunner]

Roberto - Your comment was real chicken <WASH MY MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP><WASH MY MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP><WASH MY MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP><WASH MY MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP>. We can differ on opinions without getting real nasty,when you start to threaten folks beware of the fallout.

[jerry]

Dryheat I just can't picture you shopping for condo furnishings at Walmart spiffy wardrobe upgrades? na hunting and fishin stuff? to messy beef jerky and china made cheetos? not possible large quantities of cold medicine for the best meth lab in Las Palomas? maybe

[Submarine]

I'm sure UPS would be very happy to know that one of their employees is educating some of their customers employees so well !!

That was a threat bobby boy, though it wouldnt get you the results you wish. You might want to listen to your pal Gunner.

I'll pass your assessment about Herm on to his family, along with directions to your house.

[Submarine]

Dryheat I just can't picture you shopping for condo furnishings at Walmart spiffy wardrobe upgrades? na hunting and fishin stuff? to messy beef jerky and china made cheetos? not possible large quantities of cold medicine for the best meth lab in Las Palomas? maybe

You have it all wrong Jerry. He makes special trips to Miami where he can load up at non-city-tax paying Walmart goods along with obselete appliances from HyTyme and art from Miami's "art" district to ship to his condo in Dubai.

[InkaRoads]

I believe that the way Walmart and its subsidaries suck in the way thay treat their employees and what they do to the small businesses around them once they open their doors, and on top of everything the quality of the majority of their products its not fit even for the cheapest place on earth, we all know that, so why is it that those F!@#$rs are still in business and still in the top 5 list of most earnings in USA? and lots of mercedes and jaguars in the parking lot.....things that make you go hhhhmmmmmmmmm!!!!!
Also know that some rich folks got richer by going to places like walmart, but still it is sickening...OH and by the way this thread should not be in "real estate" it should be in the garbage and you boys quit quarreling!!! dog gammit :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[jerry]

Gunner
I think sometimes Bob and Sub both cross the line from" brushing back the batter " to throwing borderline beanballs in their conversations.I think it has a history from a Pigeon Coup related fight (Bob sort of hates them while Sub really hates them) on the the late,great,old forum that piece of crap condo rental agency owning huckster Steve destroyed.
Oops just threw one myself

[InkaRoads]

nice hook!!!!!

[BeachMom]

Honesty you guys... If the employees are treated so badly at Walmart, they can choose to go work somewhere else.

[gunner]

Gunner
I think sometimes Bob and Sub both cross the line from" brushing back the batter " to throwing borderline beanballs in their conversations.I think it has a history from a Pigeon Coup related fight (Bob sort of hates them while Sub really hates them) on the the late,great,old forum that piece of crap condo rental agency owning huckster Steve destroyed.
Oops just threw one myself

I know the history! I just drop in on occasion to stir the pidgeon chit and let everyone know a few of us coupper's are still lurking. See ya all in a few months :lol:

[cactusamigo]

Kenny - Nothing illegal about the bulk hemp pulp processing process. The problem is growing and getting the feedstock - hemp (marijuana plants). The government doesn't know how to support hemp cultivation on one hand and enforce marijuana prohibition laws on the other. On the other hand, Coca Cola is able to purchase and import all the coca leaf it requires for flavoring. The cocaine is extracted from the leaf by a chemical processing company in New Jersey - Diamond Shamrock Co. This may not be current info at this time. The name may be different by virtue of corporate buy out.

[InkaRoads]

Kenny - .... On the other hand, Coca Cola is able to purchase and import all the coca leaf it requires for flavoring. The cocaine is extracted from the leaf by a chemical processing company in New Jersey - Diamond Shamrock Co. This may not be current info at this time. The name may be different by virtue of corporate buy out.

Cactus last I heard Coca Cola co. stop putting coca estract in their soda around the 1920' or 30', but you say they still do it?
No wonder Frog is going nuts with all that Mexican Coca Cola drinking!!!! :eek3:

[Kenny]

Kenny - Nothing illegal about the bulk hemp pulp processing process. The problem is growing and getting the feedstock - hemp (marijuana plants). The government doesn't know how to support hemp cultivation on one hand and enforce marijuana prohibition laws on the other. On the other hand, Coca Cola is able to purchase and import all the coca leaf it requires for flavoring. The cocaine is extracted from the leaf by a chemical processing company in New Jersey - Diamond Shamrock Co. This may not be current info at this time. The name may be different by virtue of corporate buy out.

A little help from my friends.http://www.hempfarm.com/

Now if you want to know the real reason read this Cactus..
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/history/conspiracy.htm

....."To this day, Coca Cola uses as an ingredient a cocaine free coca leaf extract prepared at a Stepan Company plant in Maywood, New Jersey.

In the United States, Stepan Company is the only manufacturing plant authorized by the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant. Stepan laboratory in Maywood, New Jersey, is the nation's only legal commercial importer of coca leaves, which it obtains mainly from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. Besides producing the coca flavouring agent for Coca Cola, Stepan Company extracts cocaine from the coca leaves, which it sells to Mallinckrodt, a St. Louis, Missouri pharmaceutical manufacturer that is the only company in the United States licensed to purify cocaine for medicinal use. N.J. Stepan buys about 100 metric tons of dried Peruvian coca leaves each year, said Marco Castillo, spokesman for Peru's state-owned National Coca Co".

[jerry]

The origin of the Sinaloa cartels can be traced back to the US governments need for Opium after the Japanese jumped us in the pacific in WW2. Strangely Sonora once produced a lot of Tobacco. In the mid 1800s the Apaches prized it above everything(well except guns,good looking Sonora women,gambling,drinking and horses.) What happened to Tobacco growing in Mexico?

[cactusamigo]

Kenny - Great research job! I got the location right, but was wrong on the name of the company. Stepan Chemical Company also manufactures two-part polyurethane foam compounds. Makes one wonder what Merck does with all that cocaine since most medical applications have been replaced with synthetic anaesthetics. Cocaine alkaloid can run as high as 10% of the dry weight of the leaf.

[InkaRoads]

Kenny, I do agree with Cactus, your internet searching abilities are impresive, do the college kids pay you for their term papers by any chance? I hear good money can be made that way!!!! :lol: :lol:
I just finished with my Business Plan and I tell you there is a lot of research involve and thanks to the internet it simplyfies the job ten fold, if not more, I surely could have use your internet searching abilities a few weeks back!!!!! I could've pay you in nice coffee beans!!!! :lol: :lol: