[pct-l] Attention Thrulys - passports to re-enter the US

[chelin at teleport.com (Sharon & Chuck Chelin)]

Good evening, all,

My expectations are low regarding any kind of process by any kind of
government, but I would like to report one very positive incident with the
folks that process passports.  Several passports ago I was filling out the
application, and there is . or was . a place to enter, "When do you need the
passport?"  I screwed up.  I somehow entered a date that was several months
too early.  I didn't notice the error until I got a phone call from the DC
office of the United States Senator representing that state.  They said, in
affect, "We were notified that you need a passport on short notice, and we
are going to do all we can to expedite it for you."  Frankly, I was too
embarrassed to 'fess-up to the error, and I let them go for it.  I did get
the passport, and a week or so ahead of my bogus date.

It wasn't a diplomatic passport.  I don't have a famous name, and certainly
insufficient money to attract the interest of politicians.  I have no
political connections; in fact the Senator whose office called is of the
opposite party from me.  I don't know if it was routine for them to lay on
an all-hands drill in such instances, or if some junior staffers were just
sitting around with too much time on their hands.  For whatever reason, they
deserve credit for identifying and fixing a problem I didn't even know I
had.

By the way, will an expired passport suffice for identification purposes?
OK, the photo is out-of-date, but they have accepted my birth certificate at
the border, which is now so old it looks like parchment, and doesn't even
have a footprint, let alone a photo.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Trekker4@aol.com>
To: <pct-l@backcountry.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 2:46 PM
Subject: [pct-l] Attention Thrulys - passports to re-enter the US


 I wouldn't  trust the Feds at all;
> they'll do everything they can, as fast as they can, to  become more
> Gestapo-like.

>
> Bob "Trekker"
> Big Bend Desert Denizen
> (Naturalized Citizen, Republic of  Texas)