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In Roanoke, NAACP President Daniel Hale gets the frantic calls.

Throughout Western Virginia and all over the state, grass-roots organizer Barry Butler hears the same woeful tales.

Individuals and families are sinking deep into the financial quicksand of payday lending. "It's just ridiculous how they get trapped and how it really hurts them," Hale said. "I work with people, and I know it's hurting people."

Yet the stories of anguished consumers have not moved Virginia lawmakers to rein in the predatory practices of payday lenders.

Government protects society from unscrupulous lawyers and doctors. Why not from these legal loan sharks?

What they do calls to mind another scourge on society. The difference is these folks ply financial addiction.

"These people seem to have a carte blanche on what they're doing," Hale said.

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Ah Wednesday...the beginning of the end of the week.

Anything goes today. You tell me what's on your mind; I'll tell you what's on mine.

Since it's my blog, I'll get this party started: Am I the only one who believes former Henry County Sheriff Frank Cassell got away with a slap on the wrist when the federal prosecutor recommended a strap on the behind?

Go figure....and do tell your thoughts.

Remember, if you have something to say about payday lending, I want to hear that, too.

s

Sometimes, column writing is a tough gig. Some days, though, it's too easy.

Today is one of the easy days.

The rat infestation at Roanoke's Fairview Elementary School is so obviously bad, and the actions (until recently) of the school officials so obviously negligent that it's hard to imagine anyone defending its handling.

Recent news reports make Fairview sound like a great set for a remake of "Willard," the 1970s Hollywood movie starring a frightening swarm of beady-eyed rodents.

If the image of rats scurrying through a school close to children and staff makes your skin crawl as it does mine, we're only imagining it.

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Predatory lending is exploitation. As Barry Butler of the Virginia Organizing Project put it, if you can't make a go of it earning 36 percent interest, you need to rethink your business model.

Hit me back with your views, or your experience with the payday industry.

s

Readin, 'Ritin, 'Rithmetic and RATS!?

Tuesday we set some traps at Fairview Elementary in Roanoke. Weigh in with your thoughts about students there being forced to go to school with rodents.

s

Welcome to my new blog!

I'm excited about creating another way with which I can correspond with my readers. You see me in the newspaper three days a week. Some of you e-mail me when you like something---and many of you when you don't!

Up until now, the correspondences have been between me and the correspondent. Now, with the blog, we can create our own chat room of sorts, with folks mixing it up with each other on the issue of the day.

However, I'm in a bit of a jam. I'm new to this blogging thing, and I'm told every self-respecting blogger names his or her site. I'd like my site to be self-respecting, but I can't think of a handle that captures a bit of my personality yet expresses the free flow of dialogue and exchange I anticipate we'll share in this space. The suggestion doesn't have to contain my name.

Some of the early ideas have been "Flower Power," "Perspective," "My Take," "Shanna's Shenanigans" and "Shanna-igans."

If you can do better, post a blog entry with your suggestion by next Sunday. I'll read all entries. If I pick yours, we'll grab lunch together real soon, at any restaurant of your choosing in the Roanoke Valley.

Learn the details of how this blog came to be in today's column.

Let the blogging (and the naming) begin!

s