Oxendine touts service, insurance stabilization

Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine was in Columbia County on Tuesday to campaign for a third consecutive term.

"I'm here right now just doing a little political fund raising," he said. "It's the campaign season, and I'm meeting with some business leaders."

Oxendine said that while traveling the campaign trail for the 2002 election, he has been stressing a message of staying the course. In Columbia County, he hopes the message will take hold just as it has in the past.

"In Columbia County, I have received percentages in the upper 70s," he said. "We've done well in this entire area."

He touted his service, saying insurance rates have stabilized since his taking office. Oxendine said his department also is fighting fraud, citing a Monday night arrest of a Pike County couple for allegedly filing a false life insurance claim connected to the World Trade Center attack.

Charles and Cynthia Gavett were arrested for insurance fraud in the case, Mr. Oxendine said.

"This is a very unique case, the first in the country," he said, adding that the husband filed a claim stating that his wife had attended a 9 a.m. meeting at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 and had vanished. When officers from Oxendine's fraud division visited the Gavetts' residence, Cynthia Gavett answered the door, he said.

"There's probably going to be hundreds across the country before long. This is the first arrest of all of these cases being investigated."

Oxendine also provided a few insurance tips.

"One thing would be always shop around," he said. "Whenever you buy insurance, it's always good to double check with your company and make sure that the agent did transmit the payment to the company."