I think some of the prevention has to do with oversight and reports. The bank can't police the individual transactions. That's a business issue.

DARE tends not to be as effective for drug prevention. But it enables a child partnership with the police.

Our police officers also say they need help lobbying for resources for prevention and treatment. Dismantling labs leaves them with less time to chase bad guys,

There's a threshold, and once you cross it, you're really not a credit union in the true sense of the word. After you've grown to be about a billion dollars or $5 billion, and you're offering everything from life insurance to stock brokerage to the full range of financial products ---- perhaps some community banks in the market don't even offer ---- it seems the tax exemption they enjoy is a bit misplaced.

Banks are concerned that there's a new breed of credit union evolving that's not the credit union of old. As long as it's fair competition and public policy hasn't skewed the marketplace, bankers are happy to compete with anyone.

It smacks of financial eavesdropping. It's not our role -- we're a service provider to small businesses. This proposal would put the credit card banks in a very strange position.