March 21, 2001
 
 As our County Commissioners wring their hands and whimper about the tip jar bill that died a well deserved death in the state Senate this week, we have only one thing to say: sometimes, you get what you deserve.
 
 If ever there was a bill that deserved to die in committee, this loser was it. In spite of what our County Commissions said - that the bill did not have statewide implications, that it was a local bill only - the truth of the matter is the bill absolutely had statewide implications.
 
 That bill would have allowed Allegany County to make legal tip jar gambling with a regulation program so weak as to be laughable. It also would have allowed a revenue stream to go unchecked into the pockets of business owners.
 
 You think when there is no accounting for money made - as would happen with this tip jar bill - that people are going to report that money as income? Mother Teresa might have reported that income. But most people would cave to temptation and report a tiny bit, while pocketing the rest. Bar and restaurant owners are only human, you know.
 
 The tip jar bill put before the General Assembly by our Delegation was a loser, period. And stupid. It was a stupid loser. A stupid loser destined to make the General Assembly say, “Are morons running that county, or what?”
 
 The funniest part of this whole debacle was watching our County Commissioners and members of our Delegation point at each other when the deal fell apart.
 
 The Commissioners claimed to the public that they did not ask to create a tip jar taxing system, like that in Washington County, because the Delegation would never put forth a bill requesting that. The Delegation said they put forth the bill that the County Commissioners requested, implying they would have done the same with a bill creating a tip jar tax.
 
 The politician we liked best in all this was Senator John Hafer. When asked by the Senate committee considering the bill why the bill was submitted, he truthfully answered that the point was to essentially make legal an activity that had already been going on. Which is true - States Attorney Larry Kelly has never prosecuted illegal tip jar activity in our county. It’s a little weird that he thinks he gets to pick which laws to enforce, but that’s another topic.
 
 Senator Hafer also told the media after the bill was defeated by a vote of 11 to zero that a bill fashioned after the tip jar system in Washington County would have been approved, since that system successfully regulates, controls and taxes tip jar gambling. A bill like that wouldn’t have been considered new territory with stupid, statewide implications.
 
 Right again, Senator Hafer (ok, we threw in the “stupid” part).
 
 A bill creating a regulating and taxing system would have generated a revenue stream - a much needed revenue stream - for our fire companies and schools.
 
 A bill like that would have made sense. Which is why it wasn’t submitted. This is Allegany County, remember?