Troubles over driver’s license

My wife was born and raised in Albany, attended all her schools here and was first married to a local man living in Linn County. They were divorced long ago and she married another man. They were later divorced. She and I have been married for 18 years, and she joined me in Alaska for eight years. I retired and then we returned to Albany, our home town. We have been here ever since.

Her birthday was July 18 and she went early to renew her driver’s license, which she has had for many years. She was told she had to provide a certified copy of our marriage from the Linn County courthouse, which we did for a $9.95 cost. Then she had to request a certified copy of her birth certificate from the office in Portland at a cost of $20. It took the people in Portland a month to get a certified copy to us. The total cost was to be $67.94.

She returned to the DMV on Aug. 4 expecting to get her driver’s license. A clerk advised her that since she had been married three times, she would have to provide a certified copy of her marriage to her second husband. She has no copy of a marriage license to him.

They did not tell her everything she needed the first time, which tells me they are either just finding things out or inventing more difficulty.

I have absolutely no problem with Spanish people here in Albany. Most of them are very nice and courteous and have beautiful families. But while at DMV, I observed many Spanish people go to the counter, present some kind of ID, then take a small test and have their picture taken. They were then provided with a driver’s license, which would be mailed to them. The exact way we used to get ours. What?

OK governor, senators and representatives, what are you trying to prove? How about the citizens?

William C. Hogg, Albany

Six visits to the DMV

I am writing in response to “License rules: Why not rebel?” (July 28).

I have appeared at the DMV in the last two days on six different occasions trying to get the proper identification they required to reinstate my license. They said hello to me today and stated, “You’re back.” By now we should be on a first-name basis.

It started with documents from the courts. Yes, those two pieces of paper printed off the computer. Stamped with a red stamp.

Then off to Vital Statistics. Another state office, which you have to either deal with on the phone — which sends you to the U.S. Postal Service to buy a stamp — or if you are computer-savvy, you may use the Internet. Either way you get to jump through the hoops.

If anyone has tried getting to the courts online, you would know what I mean. This is just to get the birth certificate that has a different name than the one you use now, being I had married.

Then off to the insurance office. Did you know you can’t get insurance without a license? Nor can you get a license without insurance. A Catch 22. I left DMV being told: Good luck. Eventually I found an insurance company to help me.

Now with all these documents in hand, along with my Social Security card, and my identification card, I arrive at the DMV.

I was informed that the ID card was not valid. Yet it does not expire till the year 2014, and the ID number that appears on the card has been registered through the DMV for 16 years. It is the only piece of photo ID I have. It is used everywhere else, why not here?

Yet the man who helped me today still wanted to see it so he could get the ID number. He could have asked me. Remember, they are not valid!

If all of this is not enough to send you through the sky, I was told I need proof I was married. Now with all the paperwork I have in hand, and in the position I am in, who would want to steal my identity? I went through all this trouble, rudeness of the people from the state offices. I have seen rolling eyes, been told to come back tomorrow when you’re not so upset and sorry for the inconvenience. Their inconvenience or mine?

Now I am back to find the marriage document. I searched the Internet and came up with websites that want you to pay money.

I found in the end you have to contact the state office of vital statistics, no matter what county you are married or divorced in. Once again you are back to the government offices!

It sounds to me it is a way for the state to get more money. This is not about terrorists or illegal aliens. It is a joke of our legal system. And as the article ended, “But instead, we meekly comply.” That is not my point of view. I am one not-so-happy citizen of this United States, and I am “standing up!”

Michelle England, Crabtree

Tips for good service

My first tip to Stacey (“How much we should tip,” Mailbag, Aug. 2) is with your math skills, you need to get out of the service industry, go to college and be a accountant and then you don’t have to worry about getting tips.

My second tip, which I don’t want to sound mean: A person will give a tip if they had good service, which means how long did they have to wait to be seated, how long did it take to get the meal, was the server friendly? Have you ever given a tip to the person who pumps your gas, or the person you bought your shoes from? Probably not; they also work in the service industry.

For some of us, it is a treat to go out to dinner, because of the high cost of gas and food.

If you’re wondering if I give a tip, I do, but it isn’t 20 percent. If I take my family out to dinner (four people) it costs about $75 just for dinner.

I can tell you that I can make four dinners at home for that much, but no one gives me a tip.

Shannon Geomans, Albany

Be grateful to truckers

Regarding the letter Aug. 3 by Ed Hemmingson: It seems to me that many of today’s Americans are being fed the idea that all truck drivers are fat, lazy and accident-prone and take drugs. My husband drives a semi and has done so for the past 17 years — safely, I might add.

It is unrealistic to think that all items that we buy in pretty much any store could get there without a semi. How would the lumber, for instance, get to the lumber yard or, for that matter, into our oh-so-important new housing developments?

If all of the products in the stores were shipped on rails I would have to imagine the next complaint would be how come we have to wait so long at the rail crossing, oh my goodness. We as Americans are impatient and have no concept of reality.

Please remember to be thankful for the truckers out there who work hard, run their log books legally, keep it between the lines, and get the products we buy to the warehouses, stores, job sites, etc. on time and safely.

I know I am thankful for my truck driver and the many others out there who work so hard every day providing for their families.

Heather Gullett, Albany

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