Corpus Christie Caller-Times: Disabled Man Failed to Follow Filing Protocol
Filed under: Earth 911 - February 25, 2008
By Mike Baird
Continuing communication can close cracks in disability disbursement; and there’s only one place locally to take e-waste to keep it from tainting our landfill.
Arthur Lee Work Jr., a 60-year-old commercial insulator, has had two knee replacements and nearly died from a staph infection in his spine. He was approved Dec. 31, 2006, by the U.S. Social Security Administration for disability income and received his first monthly check in June 2007. Work was told then the arrears would be paid to him in about six weeks, he said. After six months passed, he called the administration and was told he would not receive the difference at all, but the representative didn’t explain why, he said.
To help Work get an answer, the Troubleshooter contacted Aurora Arias, spokeswoman for the administration’s Dallas office. A representative contacted Work on Tuesday to explain that he will not get paid back to his application date because he didn’t follow the right filing procedure.
Arias had some advice for others.
“Once people are approved, they should keep in touch with their local office, at 361-806-5560 in Corpus Christi, to ensure their case stays on track and that they do abide guidelines,” Arias said. Most important: Document whom you talk with, the time and the crux of the conversation to later help track the case, she said.
“Anything can happen,” Arias said. “There could be a computer processing delay, a payment center problem that requires manual inputs, or some documentation could be missing.”
A case also could be selected for random review, which can slow payment, she said.
“I’m disappointed,” said Work, who expects to get back to work soon. “But I learned you have to follow their procedures precisely.”
Nancy Steward couldn’t recycle her old computer printer where she recently bought a new one. She contacted the Troubleshooter, concerned about discarded gadgets getting tossed into landfills where cadmium, copper, mercury, arsenic, nickel, zinc and lead can leach out.
People in the U.S. generated an estimated 1.5 billion pounds of e-waste in 2006, according to www.earth911.org, an online component of Global Alerts, a media company that compiles content to enable people to “think global, act local and make a difference.”
The amount of e-waste, which includes an estimated 44 million computers and televisions in 2006, is growing at three times the rate of other municipal waste, the Web site reports.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality lists nearly 90 Texas recycling businesses on its Web site, with several specializing in electronics recycling, but they are mostly companies that accept only their own brand of equipment.
None of the Texas e-waste specialty recyclers is located within 100 miles of Corpus Christi.
In Corpus Christi, only the two Office Depot locations offer a recycling drop-off for electronic dinosaurs, with a cost. Disposal boxes range from $5 to $15, and the larger box holds up to a 19-inch monitor. For bigger items, the store will help arrange a direct freight pickup, but it costs according to weight.
Best Buy has a free disposal box at the front of its store for small items: cell phones, iPods, MP3 players, pagers, ink cartridges and batteries.
Still-functional items are accepted at the three Goodwill Industries of South Texas locations. Goodwill takes working computers, VCRs, CD-ROMs, DVD players, office machinery, small appliances and televisions. Concerned recyclers also can contact their favorite charity to see if they are interested in reusing equipment.