The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

Volunteer of

year delayed

The Star’s volunteer of the year recognition will happen in January 2017 instead of this month to allow people enough time to nominate people they know who deserve the recognition.

“Jury duty”

scam hits

county

The scammer calls claiming to work for the local court and claims you’ve failed to report for jury duty. He tells you that a warrant has been issued for your arrest.

With the victim now thrown off by the news, the caller asks for personal information, for “verification purposes,” that can lead to a nightmare of identity theft.

Specifically, the scammer asks for the victim’s Social Security number, birth date, and sometimes even for credit card numbers and other private information — exactly what the scammer needs to commit identity theft.

So far, this jury duty scam has been reported in Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington state, now including Grant County.

In reality, court workers will never call you to ask for private information.

In fact, most courts follow up via snail mail and rarely, if ever, call prospective jurors, notes a press release from the Grant County Sheriff’s Office on the problem.

They advise to never give out your Social Security number, credit card numbers or other personal, confidential information when you receive a telephone call.

Holiday

festivities listed

Readers will find a list of upcoming holiday events inside a special “Christmas in the Coulee” supplement inside this issue of The Star.

Pay by the mile, not the gallon?

The state’s Transportation Commission is going to test drive an experiment, and you’re invited. With gas mileage increasing in vehicles, the tax on a gallon of fuel isn’t covering what it needs to for road maintenance. So Washington will join 14 other states in a test of taxing mileage instead of gallons.

Participants who volunteer won’t actually be taxed on mileage, they’ll just report it so the state can see how the concept would work.

The commission’s next step is to test the concept with the public and see what people think of it based upon actual experience using it. Recruitment will begin in spring 2017, with up to 2,000 volunteers needed from across the state to participate in the year-long test. Individuals who want to learn more about the project and have an interest in participating can visit the Road Use Charge website at http://www.waroadusagecharge.org.