Plumbing problem fixed.
The valve at the wall was corroded. Replaced with a higher quality valve. He also cannibalized a new toilet tank on the trunk for parts to replace the old parts in our tank. Plumber Guy turned out to be Executive Plumber Guy; he has 50 men working for him, and their bread and butter is plumbing entire subdivisions, apartment complexes, and office buildings. He's got three guys that he sends for residential jobs like this one, as well as doing them for himself. There was about 30 dollars in parts, then labor and Holiday Rate. Came to abou $325, but he knocked off $50 if I wrote the check to him as opposed to his plumbing company. Hey, it's his company, so it works for me.

So ouch. :) It needed doing though, and it wasn't something I could do myself (note to self; in the future when I'm not doing anything else, look into a night class at a local junior college on basic plumbing). Mom was pretty frazzled by the fact that the water was constantly running and that toilet was unusable, but it's all better now.

Continuing Constitutional Law now...