What's up? $12-a-pound potato chips

Ever wonder how your tax dollars are spent? A trip to a Thomasville supermarket Wednesday morning would have provided an answer.

I stopped at the store to purchase paper towels that were on sale and to pick up fat-free milk. A group of rowdy people who kept getting in my way as I shopped were at the checkout next to me.

The group - of six or seven - consisted of middle-age and young women and small children. Their buggy was full of junk food. You name it. They had some of it.

There were small, plastic bottles of a sugary, color-tinted beverages, soft drinks and bag after bag of chips and other snack foods. The bags were the type stores put at checkouts to encourage impulse purchases. This group was impulsive.

The children grabbed bag after bag of the snacks. The adult seemingly in charge never called a halt to the youngsters' ever-increasing purchases. No one ever said no.

To my amazement, the incharge woman pulled out a food stamp card and paid for all the fattening, empty, greasy, sugarladen calories. She held up the cash register tape as she and the group made their way toward the door. The tape was long.

Next, a woman bought a small bag of the snack food and a soft drink and paid for it with a food stamp card. I could not believe my eyes.

Meanwhile, I wrote a check for $8.65. The clerk asked to see my driver's license.

Before I left the store, I asked the clerk who had handled the food stamp purchases if I had seen what I thought I had seen. She nonchalantly confirmedit.

Maybe someone can tell me why I was in the store to purchase fat-free milk and paper towels on sale. I felt like a fool. I was trying to save a couple of dollars while these people were spending my hard-earned tax dollars on junk food.

One-ounce bags of snack foods in a vending machine at the newspaper cost 75 cents. If there are 16 ounces in a pound, that's $12 a pound for potato and corn chips. That is too rich for my blood, and I certainly don't want to pay steak prices for snacks for someone else.

If I were shopping for steak, and it cost $12 a pound, I would not pay it. That is a ridiculous price to pay for any food, but that is what our taxes are funding in the form of junk food.

We should question why our country allows this type of activity. The woman at the supermarket was not abusing the food stamp privilege. She can purchase junk food for herself and her family. It is perfectly legal. She also could purchase nutritious food and prepare it. Junk food is easier, and it doesn't cost a dime.

A woman left her wallet in her vehicle at a Coolidge store recently and went inside to cash a check. Her wallet was stolen. She told police the wallet contained $630 in cash and her food stamp card.

If a woman has $630 in cash, why does she need a food stamp card? I also wonder why she had such little regard for the money and card as to leave it in an unlocked vehicle. Easy come, easy go, I guess.

When I complain to elected officials about food stamp abuse and other tax rip-offs, I can tell they are not listening, do not care and do not plan to do anything about it. Unfortunately, these arrogant individuals never have opposition at election time. Food stamp and other taxfunded programs cost billions and billions of dollars each year, and we pay the bills. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why no one cares.

The incident at the grocery store made me so angry that I put my milk in the trunk of my car and the eight-pack of paper towels on the front seat.

When I arrived at work a few minutes later, I forgot to put my car in park, could not get the key out and locked myself in the car. My heart was pounding.

I begin to see all over again when I recalled the clerk questioning the validity of my check and me by asking to see my driver's license.

The situation could have been worse. I could have locked myself out of my car and been stuck with air-conditioned paper towels and sour, hot milk.

I wonder how fat-free, sour milk would taste with greasy, salty $12-a-pound potato chips. I'll never know because I cannot afford the luxury of such costly treats.

Patti Dozier is a former Colquittan and is the senior reporter at the Times-Enterprise.