He’s Losing Every Shred of Privacy to Olliemania

Long before the Ollie North stink, Greg Taylor was quietly going about his work in San Diego County. Now, everyone’s making fun of him. They call him names like “Ollie,” and they wonder if he has hired Fawn yet.

Taylor, 35 and, yes, a former Marine, owns and operates Security On Site, a mobile shredding service. For a price, he’ll tear up just about whatever you want.

He shreds winning lottery tickets that are cashed in at 7-11 stores; he rips into companies’ sales lists, credit statements from thrift and loan outfits, corporate in-house memos and other proprietary information, even credit cards, microfilm, staples and paper clips.

Taylor, who lives in Oceanside and spent 10 years in the U.S. Marine Corps as a pilot, has been shredding stuff for two years.

“We work too fast to look at what we’re shredding, but some customers put their own material onto the conveyor belt and make sure it comes out shredded at the other end. They don’t want to take any chances,” he said.

Taylor and his five employees shred between 60 and 100 tons of paper a month, he figures. He can rip into 1,000 pounds an hour, or 120 sheets per gulp.

But Taylor doesn’t dwell on the politics or the intrigue of his work. Instead, he says things like, “For every ton of paper that we shred, bale and recycle, we save about 21 trees.”

Which makes you wonder, of course, how many trees Ollie and Fawn saved.

The Hype Goes On

Not to dwell on Ollie longer than we have to, be aware that San Diego is not immune to Ollie-hype.

There’s a billboard opposite Miramar Naval Air Station off Interstate 15 pitching, “Ollie North for President.”

Then there’s Ernie Pyle of Escondido, a promotions fellow who has come out with a red, white and blue T-shirt complete with Ollie-in-uniform caricature that reads: “I’m Proud to Be a North American.”

Presumably the shirt won’t shrink in hot water.

Story’s a Scoop

Shredders and T-shirt distributors aside, perhaps our most unusual businessman of the summer is Robert Hallman.

Looking for a little summer, uh, pickup work, Hallman is a manure entrepreneur.

His advertisement in a Rancho Bernardo newspaper reads: “Pooper Scoopers. Why should you pick up what you didn’t drop? Call the professional.”

He has been in business for for about four weeks and has only received a couple of calls, including “one lady who wondered if I’m serious.”

Yes indeed, says the 18-year-old.

He has prior experience (thanks to two large family dogs) and has a rate card. He’ll clean up your yard for $10 a shot. Or, he’ll keep it clean on a regular basis ($40 a month).

He figured he would attract an older clientele and affluent teen-agers “who don’t want to do it as one of their chores and will hire me instead.”

If the business is successful by the time school begins next month, he said, he’ll turn it over to his 14-year-old sister. “But she said she’ll only do it if it’s making money,” he said.

Flights of Fancy

TWA will be the official carrier of the Pope when he flies into California; United Airlines was the official panda plane. Now we have Carlsbad-based Air Resorts Airlines, the official carrier of Mikhail Baryshnikov when he begins a 28-city, 50-day tour this week through the East and Midwest.

The aircraft, says Air Resorts owner Ted Vallas, has been specially configured to accommodate Baryshnikov’s company of 25 dancers. Air Resorts, which does contract and charter work, is no stranger to aircraft designed to meet the needs of its customers.

Vallas recalls the Convair 240 once flown by Howard Hughes which he purchased, flew and then sold to guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, late of Oregon. When Rajneesh’s karma went kaput, the plane was sold to another Oregonian who now is trying to sell it for $99,500.

“It’s still in excellent shape and it’s a steal at that price. I sold it for about three times what they’re offering,” Vallas said. The plane holds 28 passengers plus a crew of three and currently is in an “executive” configuration.

Versus, say, a guru configuration or a blue-collar configuration?

Pin Money for Taiwan

We have the People’s Republic of China to thank for the current visit of the two giant pandas at the San Diego Zoo.

Never mind that the souvenir panda pins on sale at the zoo are made in Taiwan.