Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 38, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 21, 1972 Page: 18 of 32
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1972 THE RIO GRANDE HERALD PAGE 18
I
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to
ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCED — Israel Garcia of Garciasville
announces the engagement and approaching marriage of his
daughter Lily Gloria to Pedro Ochoa Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs.
Pedro Ochoa of Perezville. Miss Garcials a graduate of Rio
Grande City Schools and Pan American University. She is
presently employed as a bilingual material specialist with the
La Joya School District. Her fiance is a graduate of La Joya
Schools and Texas A&I University. He is also employed by
the La Joya School district. The wedding will be held in Gar-
ciasville September 30. (Herald Photo)
THE INFORMED
CONSUMER
BY CRAWFORD C. MARTINI
Attorney General of Texas
It's time to pay bills again.
And there's a bill from the
department store for a whop-
ping $520! What do you do'.'
Begin to grill eacli family mem-
ber ruthlessly to find the cul-
prit? Maybe, but it could be
that a computer's the one to
blame.
In our electronic age, com-
puter billing is becoming more
and more frequent — and so
are the billing mix-ups. Com-
puters are fussy and one small
human error can cause them to
over-react and botch up thou-
sands of accounts.
Some of the things that can go
wrong in the course of a trans-
action are: mistakes in the
credit office when a girl reads
off the wrong charge card num-
ber for a customer who forgot
his card; salesmen inserting a
"$" on a bill and the billing
clerk reading "1" instead, or,
the alteration and billing de-
partments not getting together
and charging a customer for
clothes that haven't even been
delivered yet.
Another mix-up can occur
when a customer pays part of a
purchase in cash and charges
the rest. With the billing forms
used, it is easy for a key
punch operator to misread a
statement and charge the cus-
tomer for the bull purchase in-
stead of just what is owed.
The wrost mix-up is when
new mistakes are made while
trying to correct old ones. A
customer who tries to stop bill-
ing on an account until it is put
in order often can wind up with
a service charge and his name
on a delinquent payment list.
A consumer can do some
tilings to protect himself from
tlie computer's tantrums, how-
ever. Make sure to use a cre-
dit card plate whenever pos-
sible. Clieck and make sure
the figures on your sales slips
are clear and correct. Save
those duplicate salts invoices
and compare them with the
■monthly statement. Always re-
turn the bill form or punch card
with the check to insure you get
the credit for paying.
If you do come up with errors
on your account, notify the bill
sender as soon as possible. If
you phone in your complaint,
know and remember who you
talk to so you can find them
again if tlie situation isn't
solved. If you write, don't fur-
ther confuse tlie issue by en-
closing a bill payment or other
correspondence. Don't pay for
any part of an incorrect bill or
merchandise you didn't get.
Allow enough time for a mis-
take to clear up. It can take
two billing cycles for tlie ad-
justers to track down a mis-
take and correct it. But re-
member, you have a legal right
not to be harassed over bills
that aren't yours. So be on tlie
look-out for mistakes and speak
up if you find them.
"They need your help just to
survive."
"A dollar means so little to
you but it means so much to
them."
Have you heard similar ap-
peals lately? Of course you
have, nearly everyone has.
But are such appeals legiti-
mate? Often it is difficult to
tell. Sometimes the request is
virtually a swindle.
The Postal Inspectors were
involved in the investigation of
one of the biggest charity rack-
ets of which I have heard. This
involved a professional fund-
raising organization which soli-
cited from millions of persons
throughout the United States on
an annual basis for seven year s.
Ostensibly they were seeking
funds to help find a cure for a
crippling disease.
The investigation by the Pos-
tal Authorities disclosed that of
approximately $22 million con-
tributed by tlie public, nearly
$11 million was earmarked for
salaries and expenses. In addi-
tion. illegal kickbacks were giv-
en to the charity's officers.
While the dollars involved
here are larger than most, the
percentages are not unusual.
Synthetic Material Is Developed
To Aid With Artificial Implants
HOUSTON - A new
synthetic material to hold arti-
ficial implants in the body has
been developed at Methodist
Hospital and Baylor College of
Medicine.
It's called Proplast, and the
development was disclosed Fri-
day by its designer, Dr.
Charles A. Homsy, a plastics
engineer. He called it "prolv
ably the first material that has
been designed from the ground
up for use in the lxxly."
Proplast has been used so
far, he said, to coat metal im-
plants which replace the top
part of the thigh txjne and fit
into the joint.
It lias also been used for the
reconstruction of jaws, building
up of gums so dentures can be
fitted, reconstruction of fiicial
features and securing artificial
tendons in the hands.
Homsy described the mate-
rial as a "high porosity com-
posite of Teflon and vitreous
carbon filler."
The grey, spongy substance
does not interact chemically
with lxxly tissue and allows tis-
sue to grow into it, he said,
making it part of the body it-
self.
'In effect, the Proplast im-
plant causes the body to form
new tissues, where the cosmet-
ic or functional reasons, it is
desirable that this occur," he
explained.
Once the body's cells have
grown into, he said, Proplast
becomes 80 per cent living tis-
sue.
Homsy, director of the Pro-
thesis Research laboratory at
Methodist and an assistant pro-
fessor in orthopedic survery at
Baylor, has lieen working on
the material since 19GC, he said.
The first use of the material
in humans came 29 months
ago, involving tlie coasting of
an artificial jaw joint in a 19-
year-old man whose own jaw
had been frozen since infancy.
Homsy said many uncoated
metal objects implanted in the
lxxly start loosening after two
to five years but he anticipates
this will not occur with Pro-
plast.
Medical and dental research-
ers also are exploring the use
of the material for lining de-
vices to be implanted in the
jaw to secure permanent false
teeth, as roots for artificial
teeth, as substitutes for carti-
lege removed from joints de-
stroyed by arthritis, for coating
of artificial hearts, kidney fil-
ters and pacemakers, and for
patching hernias and protection
of the brain where there are
openings in the skull, he said.
DUCKS GET NEW RINGS
BERLIN - East Berlin
bird researchers have started
placing multi-colored plastic
rings around the necks of wild
ducks to keep track of their
movements.
The colorful "neckties" can
be easily spotted from a dis-
tance This is not the case with
the more conventional method
whereby small metal or plastic
bands were attached to birds'
legs.
In Our
Community
are but
two Prides...
Our Children
and our town,
We're Glad you
Came To Visit
both • • •
TORRES
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Rio Grande City
487-2582
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Trejo, Raul. Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 21, No. 38, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 21, 1972, newspaper, September 21, 1972; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth194373/m1/18/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rio Grande City Public Library.