The story of Jennifer Wilbanks skipping out on her wedding has at least two good angles worth considering.
The Center for Missing Adults says:
According the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Crime Information Center (NCIC) as of July 30, 2004 there are 47,842 active missing adult cases in NCIC with 30,622 missing adults missing one year or more.
How does this case diminish all of those other missing adult cases? It seems to me that when there is a case like this one, which turns out not to be an abduction, that harms those other cases -- raising the possibility that they too are just people who ran away from their pasts. I suppose some might have done just that, but some of these cases could legitimately have benefited from the kind of coverage this case received.
How are missing adult cases different from missing children cases in the way that police treat and investigate them? If there is no reason to believe that a crime has been committed, do police spend much time on the case at all? What cases would your local cops love to have more answers about? What missing persons case has been pending the longest in your town?
There may be another story here. As wedding season approaches, is there a story about the value of premarital counseling preventing this kind of last minute runaway bride/cold feet situation? (OK, OK, I think this is where I have to disclose that I am married to a shrink who is a minister and does premarital counseling.)
Some states offer reduced prices on marriage licenses if you have been to counseling. Similar ideas are in the legislature now in
North Carolina and
North Dakota.
Other states
make couples wait longer to get a license if they have not been through counseling.
The Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Web site includes an article about several cities in Alabama, Michigan, Georgia and California where clergy, judges and magistrates banded together to refuse to take part in a marriage if the couple did not get premarital counseling.
But a recent
New York Times story says marriage education counseling is gaining popularity while traditional marriage therapy may be losing some luster.
Living Large on a Mortgage of Last Resort
This Wall Street Journal story is worth your attention. The piece looks at how, increasingly, Americans are using what was supposed to be a tool of last resort to fund a more lavish lifestyle instead.
Al's Morning Meeting has included many stories about "reverse mortgages" over the years. This one is new.
Reverse mortgages allow persons who are 62 years or older to, in a sense, sell their home back to the bank in exchange for monthly payments. Just as you may have paid for your home month by month, the lender pays you month by month. When your estate is finally liquidated, the loan is paid back from the proceeds. AARP has a really useful page full of resources to help you explore this story. It is not only very useful for seniors but for younger folks who are looking after their parent's finances. This is most certainly a cross-generational story.
The story says:
Homeowners are using reverse mortgages to do everything from buying airplanes or recreational vehicles to renting apartments a few months a year in Paris.
Another use becoming more common: Purchasing a second home for a vacation getaway. With property values soaring in recent years and interest rates near record lows, an increasing number of homeowners are deciding to enjoy the rewards of having paid off their house.
All of this is a far cry from just a few years ago when reverse mortgages were generally considered loans of last resort for seniors to avoid foreclosure, make necessary home repairs, or simply cover living expenses, such as prescription drugs.
"The product has evolved from needs-based reasons" to funding people's wants, says James Mahoney, chief executive officer of Irvine, Calif.-based Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corp., one of the largest U.S. reverse-mortgage purveyors and a unit of IndyMac Bancorp Inc.
With a reverse mortgage, instead of the borrower making payments to the lender, as with a traditional mortgage, the lender makes a payment, or payments, to the borrower. The borrower keeps control of the house and doesn't have to pay back the money as long he or she lives there. When the homeowner dies or moves out, the house is sold, the loan is paid off, and any money left over goes to the owner or the estate.
There's no way to put a number on how many people are using such loans for luxury items, because no one tracks the use of proceeds. But the number of federally insured reverse mortgages made in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 doubled to about 38,000, worth about $6 billion, from a year earlier -- and represented nearly one-third of all reverse mortgages made since 1989, according to federal housing data. That figure, though, still represents less than 1 percent of mortgages issued over that period.
The story includes this:
The product first came into wide use in 1989, when the federal government began to insure reverse mortgages. They were slow to catch on at first because many older homeowners worried they would lose their homes.
To make sure borrowers understand how the loans work, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which backs reverse mortgages, requires loan applicants to go through counseling. But there are no restrictions on what people can do with their home equity.
"I think the reverse-mortgage product is the fastest-growing product in the industry," says Jeff Taylor, vice president for Wells Fargo & Co.'s senior products group in Greensboro, N.C.
Mr. Taylor forecasts the business will continue to see exponential growth. The average home involved in a Wells Fargo jumbo reverse mortgage is worth about $1.2 million, he adds. And the average age of a reverse-mortgage borrower has dropped to 75 from 78 in recent years.
How Far the Recruiters Will Go
KCNC-TV in Denver found that some military recruiters, under pressure to meet targets, are willing to do about anything to get a recruit to sign up.
Wednesday Church
Where I grew up in rural Kentucky, Wednesday night church was part of everyday culture. Athletics practice ended early, you never scheduled PTA meetings or political events on Wednesday night because so many people went to church. Now, The Washington Post says, Wednesday night church is spreading, especially for youth activities.
Farmers Feel Fuel/Fertilizer Prices
With planting season upon us, in those places where it is dry enough to get into the fields, farmers start out knowing this year will probably not be very profitable. Fuel and fertilizer costs are through the roof. Reporter Boyd Huppert at KARE-TV in Minneapolis reported:
For farmers, running tractors is not the only bite from high fuel prices.
Fertilizer is costing more too, says Dwight Nelson of Nelson Farm Supply, "The nitrogen products are all made from natural gas so really heavily linked to the cost of energy."
Nelson says nitrogen prices are up 50 percent from two years ago and that's not the worst of it.
Potash is another major component of farm fertilizer. It's mined mostly in Canada, but right now demand in other parts of the world has pushed up prices to record levels.
A Virginia Farm Bureau Federation article said:
According to a report from the Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri, rising prices for fuel and fertilizer will increase corn and soybean production costs significantly. The report estimates total production costs could increase by 15 percent to 19 percent from 2004 levels for corn and 20 percent to 22 percent for soybeans.
"Current corn and soybean prices do not offer much in a way of profitability in a normal year," said Jonah Bowles, agricultural risk management coordinator for the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation. "This year, the producer will have to be even more aware of his costs of production and should lock in attractive prices when or if they become available."
Gasoline and diesel fuel prices are substantially higher than last spring with a 19-cent increase between March 18 and April 8. According to the Energy Information Administration, the average retail diesel price for the lower Mid-Atlantic region is $2.23, compared to $1.61 a year ago.
Fire Deaths
Firehouse.com reports that it has been an unusually deadly year for firefighters so far.
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Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts, and other materials from a variety of websites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed, and a link will be provided, whenever possible.
