If a 74-year-old blind woman owed a penny to the mafia, what mob boss would threaten 4800% interest and property confiscation should the debt go unpaid? No Al Capone, John Gotti, or Carlo Gambino would be so cruel. But the state would, which tells you something about the moral level upon which bureaucrats operate. "It would be fiscally irresponsible for me to have staff weed through the bills and pull out any below a certain amount," remarked Debora Marcoccio, an evidently small-minded bureaucrat, of the one-cent water bill and accompanying threatening note sent to Eileen Wilbur, the aforementioned 74-year-old blind woman from Attleboro, Massachusetts. "And what would that amount be?" Well, it would certainly be anything below the cost of a stamp, an envelope, and the contents within. She continued, foot deep in mouth: "My question is, how come it wasn't paid when the bills went out?" Insistent, perhaps gagging on her shoe, the town's collector lectured, "If there's a bill, it must be paid." And if it's not? Well, the state's goon squad that arrives to take your house for their penny will make a Don Corleone mob crew look like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Sure, thinking heads will prevail before that happens. But that it hasn't happened yet makes you wonder.

WTF.

Weed through? Apparently we're not using computers in this town, eh?

'WTF' is right!!

This IS the Republic, afterall.