Claims And Issues

CONCERNS ABOUT VEHICLE SAFETY ISSUES & RECALLS: BEGIN WITH YOUR VIN.

 

(Photo by Dennis Wall)

The National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHTSA) has a Safety Issues & Recalls page on its website, at https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls.

If you are concerned about whether your vehicle has been recalled, begin by entering your VIN or Vehicle Identification Number.  NHTSA tells you where to find your VIN and what it is.

If you have further concerns about safety issues, NHTSA's website takes you through all the steps, beginning with reporting a safety issue and  progressing to investigations if safety issues are present, after that moving on through recalls if necessary.

A useful place to find out about Vehicle Safety Issues & Recalls.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT FLORIDA CONSUMER LAWS?

(Gridview-imagefull/FDACS)

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services answers questions for Florida Consumers Monday through Friday, 8 AM through 5 PM.  Call 1-800-HELP-FLA (1-800-435-7352) or 1-800-FL-AYUDA (1-800-352-9832), or go online through this link to the FDACS website.

Please read the disclaimer.  This blog post ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

OUTREACH AND SOCIAL MEDIA SUBCOMMITTEE, FLORIDA BAR CONSUMER PROTECTION LAW COMMITTEE.

The Outreach and Social Media Subcommittee of the CPLC invites everyone to follow and like the Committee's social media pages, posts and tweets, here and at:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-florida-bar-consumer-protection-committee.
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FLBarCPLC.

There are 7 stories in the subcommittees of the Consumer Protection Law Committee. This has been one of them.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

 

LEGISLATION SUBCOMMITTEE, FLORIDA BAR CONSUMER PROTECTION LAW COMMITTEE.

The Legislation Subcommittee of the CPLC is following these dates important to the upcoming Session of the Fla. Legislature:

• March 2: Deadline for filing bills.  Session begins.
• April 30: Scheduled end of Session.

There are 7 stories in the subcommittees of the Consumer Protection Law Committee. This has been one of them.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

 

"HEALING REQUIRES HOLDING PERPETRATORS ACCOUNTABLE. UNITY FOLLOWS JUSTICE."

Charlottesville Riots August 2017 (Edu Bayer / New York Times)

Astead W. Herndon, As President Preaches Unity, Charlottesville Calls For Justice, New York Times, Friday, January 22, 2021, at A1, based on an interview with Ms. Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Heyer who was killed in 2017 in the Charlottesville Riots.

Please read the disclaimer.  This blog article ©2020 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

GOOD BYE, ZANNAH LYLE. OUR HEARTS GO WITH YOU.

As the staff person from the Florida Bar providing support, Zannah Lyle has been the mainstay of the Consumer Protection Law Committee for a long time.  She is retiring.

Zannah, here's a well-deserved, richly earned farewell to you.  Know that when you go, our hearts go with you.

All the best, Zannah.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

CLE SUBCOMMITTEE, FLORIDA BAR CONSUMER PROTECTION LAW COMMITTEE.

The CLE Subcommittee of the CPLC has applied for a Presidential Showcase at the Florida Bar Annual Meeting to be held in Orlando in June.  The seminar would address many issues affecting Florida consumers because of the coronavirus pandemic.

There are 7 stories in the subcommittees of the Consumer Protection Law Committee. This story has been about one of them.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

AWARDS SUBCOMMITTEE OF FLORIDA BAR'S CONSUMER PROTECTION LAW COMMITTEE.

The Awards Subcommittee is preparing a nomination form for the Consumer Protection Lawyer of the Year Award, which will be finalized at the beginning of 2021.

There are 7 subcommittees of the Consumer Protection Law Committee. This story has been about one of them.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

COVID-19 AND THE FLORIDA CONSUMER IN THE PANDEMIC.

For information about Covid-19 and the coronavirus pandemic response in Florida, check the options for consumers at https://www.fdacs.gov/Consumer-Resources/COVID-19-Information.

(Photo by Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

"WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE?"

Plenty, as it turns out.

I think we may have already begun to get it back.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

AN EXAMPLE OF FOCUS ON THE ONE ISSUE THAT DECIDES.

(LexisNexis)

Here is an example of the point I was making in yesterday's blog article, FOCUS ON THE ONE ISSUE THAT WILL DECIDE THE THING.  In today's article, I fought to stay on one topic and one topic only, namely, the story of how Mary Jean Bradham's death resulted in cases decided by judges and argued by a lawyer from Florida Trial Courts to Florida Appellate Courts, over to Federal Trial Courts and then to Federal Appellate Courts (whew!) and, finally, to the Supreme Court of Florida.  It was hard, but I think I succeeded in keeping focus on the one issue that will decide the article.

This may be a longer blog post than many readers are accustomed to.  There is no getting around the length to illustrate the point, I am afraid.  Readers are advised to use their own discretion in visiting this one.

THE ROUGH DRAFT OF HISTORY

for Claims and Issues Blog, Wednesday, January 13, 2021

by

Dennis Wall

©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

When I try to write fiction, I often end up writing nonfiction.  Not "creative" nonfiction, but nonfiction without the whipped cream.  No accumulation of a little substance with a lot of air whipped up for taste.  "Just the facts, ma'am," as someone fictional often said.

           I would like to begin with the story of Mary Jean Bradham and malicious prosecution.  The story begins with this fact:

Mary Jean Bradham died.

           She told the State Attorney that when her husband got out of jail on his latest arrest charge that he was going to kill her when he was set free.  The State Attorney apparently did little or next to nothing.  There probably was not much the State Attorney could do.

           But the State Attorney could have asked for bail.  That is what the local police chief did.  When Mary Jean Bradham told the local police chief that her husband would kill her if he were not kept locked up, the chief told the judge at the husband's bail hearing that the judge should set bail very high.

           The State Attorney was speechless, saying nothing.  The judge shrugged and wrote, "ROR" on the husband's charge sheet.  "ROR" meant and means that the husband was released on his own recognizance.  No bail whatsoever.

           Released from jail, the husband made good his threat to kill Mary Jean Bradham.

           Her father, somewhere between his late 60's and his early 80's, talked to a lawyer.  The father couldn't pay for a lawyer, but he could agree to a contingency fee so that if there was any recovery, the lawyer would get paid something for his work.  The lawyer sued the State Attorney for negligence in the wrongful death of Mary Jean Bradham.

           The lawyer would never get paid, as it turned out.  The case against the State Attorney was dismissed.

           The next step was taken by the State Attorney.  He sued the lawyer, the lawyer's law firm, and Mary Jean Bradham's elderly father because they sued him.  The State Attorney sued them for malicious prosecution.

           The law firm turned to their errors and omissions carrier -- in other words, they turned to their malpractice insurance company -- for a defense to the State Attorney's malicious prosecution lawsuit.  The carrier accepted the defense, and not just for the law firm but also for the lawyer.  Their  carrier also offered a courtesy defense to Mary Jean Bradham's father.  A courtesy defense meant that they didn't have to give him one, but that he wouldn't have to pay for it either.

           The defense was loaded with political implications, some of which I knew from the beginning.  As a very young associate in the defense firm that defended the law firm sued by the State Attorney, I knew from the beginning of course that the State Attorney was a politician.  I knew, too, that the State Attorney had a tremendous amount of pull in that county.  That meant that anyone opposing the State Attorney's lawsuit had better get it right, or not at all.

           I can also see today from the better vantage point of a road that has climbed a little higher in the distance between now and then.  I can see now that when the State Attorney sued for malicious prosecution, that Mary Jean Bradham's lawyer and his law firm, and Mary Jean Bradham's father, all needed a defense to the State Attorney's lawsuit and they were each and all defended by some of the heavy hitters in the bar.

           And then there was me.  Some of the heavy hitters had built up decades of reputations as trial lawyers who could argue facts to judges and juries resulting in defense verdicts too numerous to count, even then.  Others among the heavy hitters were used to suing people, not defending them, resulting in plaintiff's verdicts in favor of injured people suing for their injuries, also in cases too numerous to count, even then.

          Some were recognized throughout the State as lawyers who could argue the law to judges in all the Courts in the land.  One of them had even argued, successfully, for a major change in the law so that injured people could sue their tormentors even if they, the victims, had also caused a relatively small amount of their hurt.

           All of them left the defense of the State Attorney's case to me.

           My research convinced me that I could make a strong argument that the lawyer and the father had an absolute right to sue the State Attorney.

           There was case law that good lawyers, the heavy hitters on the defense side included, believed would allow the State Attorney to bring his lawsuit.  If my argument succeeded, there would not be a lawsuit any longer.  So the heavy hitters stepped back, as it were, and let me have at it for the time being.

           Or, in retrospect, so they must have thought.

           The defense took longer to play out than they probably expected, and much credit has to go to the insurance company that funded the defense through all that followed.

           First, I filed a motion to dismiss in the State Trial Court where the State Attorney had filed his malicious prosecution lawsuit.  The State Attorney was represented by one of the premier lawyers of the Democratic Party, a figure who was nationally known and respected.  The trial judge agreed with his argument,  not mine.  Score in numbers of Judges:  1 to 0, against me.

           Next, I asked a Florida State Appellate Court to review the order denying the motion to dismiss.  They refused to review the case.  Score at the end of that case:  4 to 0, against me.

           Then, I filed suit in Federal Court asking a Federal Trial Judge to stop the State Attorney's malicious prosecution suit.  The Federal judge also ruled against me.  Score then:  5 to 0 against me.

           Undaunted, I filed an appeal of the Federal Trial Judge's ruling dismissing my Federal Court case.  The Federal Appellate Court, all three judges, unanimously wrote an opinion adopting the position I took on behalf of my clients.  However, they withheld adjudication, you might say, if this had been a criminal case.  They formally withheld their ruling while they asked the Supreme Court of Florida whether I had a point.  At that time, 5 judges had ruled against my position, and 3 ruled in favor of it.

           At that point, my position was in the lap of the Supreme Court of Florida with one proviso.  I had never been in this position before, whether looking at the substance or at the procedure of the thing.  Procedurally, I had an opinion from the Federal Appellate Court literally in my jacket pocket.  The opinion was squarely in my client's favor despite anything that the Supreme Court of Florida might do.  Come what may, my clients would prevail and not be sued by the State Attorney.  As one of the Florida Supreme Court Justices asked me, "Mr. Wall, you have come to this Court through a rather circuitous route, have you not?"

           Before I answered, I touched the outside of my jacket pocket that held the Federal Appellate Court's opinion. 

           When the Florida Supreme Court mailed out its opinion, I of course read it eagerly.  The Supreme Court voted unanimously in favor of my clients.  The final lineup of judges was now 10 judges in my favor, and 5 against.  That was double the number of judges ruling against me, as ruled for me, of course.  But as if that were not enough of a shock, I noticed something familiar about the Supreme Court's opinion.

           The Supreme Court of Florida adopted my brief word for word.  My words were now the law of Florida.  And so they remain the law of Florida to this day.

           That is where I would like to begin this story.

To be continued ....

-30-  The End.

©2020 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

FOCUS ON THE ONE ISSUE THAT WILL DECIDE THE THING.

(LexisNexis)

I focus on the one issue that will decide the case.  I have done this for many years.  For me, it has been the key to persuasion, a very successful technique.

When I write, I focus on the one issue that will decide the piece.  This is natural enough, I can see, what with all that successful experience of focusing on the one issue that will decide the matter.

However, it is not a universally shared approach to cases, writing, or other matters.  This lesson came hard to me, but it came nonetheless.  Focusing separates people, whether they are writing or not.  But today, and here, I am writing about writing.

My observation in this blog article is a simple one.  Actually I have already made it:  Focus on the one issue that will decide the piece that I am writing.

For example, I originally wrote a poem about lawyers arguing cases and especially about judges deciding cases.  It was and is a poem about what it is like to experience the ways in which one group makes their arguments and the other group decides.   I wrote the poem as a villanelle and openly based it on Dylan Thomas's famous poem Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night.  I even called my poem Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Fight.

Well, I must have lost sight a little bit of my overriding objective in writing the piece.  I did not know it when I wrote it, but based on reaction to it, I must have lost sight of the one issue that prompted me to write it in the first place.

Some people reacted to it as though I wrote an indictment of all judges or maybe all lawyers, or both.  Plus the tone was a little intense, perhaps, in the original version which is all right, of course, except that in this case it distracted from the reason I wrote the poem.

So, I tweaked it.  I used a couple of different words and edited some punctuation to make my meaning clearer:  I wrote the poem about judges who write overly long opinions about very little things.

Hopefully my edited version, now online here, reflects that.  And hopefully the edited version also reflects a little less intensity about the people in it, while preserving a real sense of enthusiasm for the subject of it.  It tells a story that in my view still needs to be told even if, in this case, it needed to be tweaked.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2020 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH JANUARY 17?

(Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press)

January 17 is the date reportedly set for Capitol Hill Riot Part Two.  That date is the choice of  the same people who staged the Capitol Hill Riot Part One, on January 6, to do it again.

January 16 -- the date before Capitol Hill Riot Part Two, or shall we call it Capitol Hill Coup Part Two -- is the day that the current chief of the Capitol Police says that he will leave office.

If you believe in coincidence, you are living in the wrong time and place.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2020 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

HAVE FAITH, ABIGAIL SPANBERGER,* NOT FEAR.

(Doug Mills / New York Times)

The victories of Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock in the U.S. Senate runoff elections in Georgia surprised many people.  But their victories did not surprise Mr. Ossoff or Reverend Warnock.

And their successes were certainly not surprising to Ms. Stacey Abrams, whose approach to politics is a successful contrast to Democratic Party politics nationally.

    The two Democratic Senate candidates were a striking shift from previous recruits, who tended to be white moderates, and stepped gingerly, and sometimes awkwardly, around the God and guns issues crucial to white voters who had become disenchanted with Democrats.

    Mr. Ossoff, with his degrees from Georgetown and the London School of Economics, speaks without a hint of Southern twang; he could hail from Santa Monica, or Portland. He would also be the first Jewish person to be elected to the Senate from Georgia.

    Mr. Warnock is the kind of preacher who sees activism as central to the mission of the Black church. As pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached, he has embraced Dr. King’s philosophy of economic justice as a corollary to racial justice.

    In effect, the two men ran as themselves. As unabashed liberals. In Georgia.

Lisa Lerer and Richard Fausset, Republican Bulwark is Confirmed as an Election Battleground, NEW YORK TIMES, Thursday, January 7, 2021, at A18, online with the headline and subhead, For Democrats in Georgia, ‘There’s No Going Back’ / The two Democratic victories in the Senate runoffs confirmed that Georgia’s metamorphosis from conservative bastion to battleground state was complete.

*You may be wondering about the name of Abigail Spanberger in the headline of this blog article.  Ms. Spanberger is the person who exemplifies the national Democratic approach to elections.  She famously melted down during a telephone conference call among Democratic Members of the House of Representatives, blaming Progressives for the loss of Democratic seats in the House in 2020.

It seems that the national Democratic party needs to look at how it does things just as much as it needs to look at how things are now done in Georgia.  Not a single Progressive lost a House seat in 2020.  Not one.  Now, two Senators are coming to Washington who ran "as unabashed liberals.  In Georgia."

Faith Over Fear, Ms. Spanberger.  Faith Over Fear, Democratic National Committee.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

INVESTIGATING "TRIAL BY COMBAT": THE CAPITOL HILL RIOT

"Pro-Russian insurrectionists in Ukraine in 2014 had a look similar to what was seen on Wednesday."  Caption to this photograph published in The New York Times, Friday, January 8, 2021:

(Mauricio Lima / New York Times)

Possible Putin connections or directions are compared by Andrew Higgins in the accompanying article, Moscow Dispatch / Scene in Washington Recalls Images of Post-Soviet Uprisings, NEW YORK TIMES, Friday, Jan. 8, 2021, at A16.

Nothing should be off the table for investigators of the Capitol Hill Riot. 

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2020 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

THEY GOT INSIDE, BECAUSE IT WAS AN INSIDE JOB.

(Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press)

The Capitol Hill Riot did not just happen.  The Capitol Police did not just make a mistake yesterday, January 6, 2021.

Law enforcement showed a very different face yesterday from Black Lives Matter protests and since June, when border guards and prison guards and the D.C. National Guard all showed up equipped for riots, although there were no riots.

I am not sure about the involvement of the Capitol Police or for that matter the involvement of the Metropolitan Police Department (D.C. Police) on those earlier occasions.  I do not know if they were among the people who showed up in riot gear, although there were no riots then.

There was a riot yesterday at the U.S. Capitol.  The Capitol Police were not equipped in riot gear.  They were not equipped for riots, although even civilians could see that a riot was coming their way.  That was true for days beforehand.  Any fool could see that a riot was at least possible and, more likely, that a riot was probable.

History has this lesson about riots, not a hidden lesson either but one that is well-known:  Historically, police either allow riots or they join them, when they don't put them down.

The Capitol Police did not put down the Capitol Hill Riot of January 6, 2021.  If history is our guide, that leaves just two options.

There have been pictures and videos of Capitol Police easing the way of the rioters into the Capitol.  Only 52 people as of this writing have been arrested.  Along with much of the rest of the country, I watched the Capitol Hill Riot on television.  There were thousands of rioters to choose from, but only 52 were chosen.  That says something about the enthusiasm behind making arrests following the Capitol Hill Riot.

The performance of the Capitol Police was not confined to just grunts.  More were implicated than just frontline police officers.  What happened is beyond the power of grunts.  It is within the power of their leaders.

Don't always assume negligence as the cause of things.  For four years now, negligence seems to be the default assumption about the cause of such events as we witnessed yesterday. 

When the Capitol Hill Riot is investigated, perhaps it will instead be investigated by experienced people who doubt the easy assumption.  Perhaps, at long last, it will be the Capitol Hill Riot investigation that works on inductive reasoning, which is the same tool that police officers use when they are tasked with investigating crimes:  Inductive reasoning reasons from the specific to the general.

In the case of the Capital Hill Riot, we pretty much know that there was a riot and that the Capitol Police were nowhere to be seen preventing access to the Capitol (although there is a now-famous photograph taken at the time the rioters reached the House Chamber, showing some of the police inside the Chamber who pulled their guns but by then the rioters were already inside the building), and the Capitol Police were definitely not seen slowing the flow of any rioters coming in, let alone turning the rioters back.

That is what we know, all we know, at this early time in our investigation.  Now, without assumptions, let's look all the way to where this leads.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2020 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

"BEHAVIOR FOLLOWS MONEY."

 

Tropical Bank (Photo by Dennis Wall)

I think there is a certain wisdom in this saying.  I like it almost as much as this quote, rephrased from a saying by Mr. Upton Sinclair:  'It is difficult to get a person to recognize a fact, when their salary depends on them not knowing it.'

 

GEORGIA MAY HAVE JUST SAVED THE UNION.

One Hundred, Fifty-Five+ Years after the Civil War ended.

Warnock wins Ga. runoff, bringing Democrats closer to control of U.S. Senate / Jon Ossoff has narrow lead over Republican David Perdue (Washington Post, online Wed., January 6, 2021) (subscription required by the Washinngton Post, but even without the subscription, their headline says everything anyone needs to know).

GEORGIA, THIS IS THE DAY AND THIS IS YOUR HOUR

Georgia, this is the day and this is the hour, beginning at 7 AM and going through 7 PM.

Vote!  Elect Democrats Ossoff + Warnock for Senate and Daniel Blackman for PSC.  If you have your Absentee Ballot, drop it off at a drop box or at a polling site.

Or vote in person!  But vote! 

Your Vote = Your Voice, make sure you are heard!

AN OPEN LETTER TO DEMOCRATS IN VALDOSTA, GEORGIA

(John Amis / Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Elect Democrats Ossoff + Warnock for Senate and Daniel Blackman for PSC.

The Georgia Secretary of State says that Friday was the last day both to Vote Early and to ask for an Absentee Ballot.

So, plan to vote in person on Tuesday, January 5 OR if you have not dropped off your Absentee Ballot yet, the SOS Website says you can drop off your Absentee Ballot by Election Day!

Your Vote = Your Voice, make sure you are heard!

AN OPEN LETTER TO DEMOCRATS IN SAVANNAH AND RICHMOND HILL

(John Amis / Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Elect Democrats Ossoff + Warnock for Senate and Daniel Blackman for PSC.

The Georgia Secretary of State says that Friday was the last day both to Vote Early and to ask for an Absentee Ballot.

So, plan to vote in person on Tuesday, January 5 OR if you have not dropped off your Absentee Ballot yet, the SOS Website says you can drop off your Absentee Ballot by Election Day!

Your Vote = Your Voice, make sure you are heard!

AN OPEN LETTER TO DEMOCRATS IN ATLANTA AND STONE MOUNTAIN

(John Amis / Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Elect Democrats Ossoff + Warnock for Senate and Daniel Blackman for PSC.

The Georgia Secretary of State says that Friday was the last day both to Vote Early and to ask for an Absentee Ballot.

So, plan to vote in person on Tuesday, January 5 OR if you have not dropped off your Absentee Ballot yet, the SOS Website says you can drop off your Absentee Ballot by Election Day!

Your Vote = Your Voice, make sure you are heard!

LET THEM KNOW THEY ARE PLAYING HARDBALL. THIS ISN'T SLOW-PITCH.

(John Amis / Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Let the objectors know that they have chosen to play hardball.  This is not slow-pitch softball.

Since they choose to make objections and challenges, fine.  Challenge them back.

The best defense is an offense whether in war, in football, or in politics.

Challenge Tommy Tuberville of Alabama who also stood for election in 2020.  Oh, you say, that was an election to the U.S. Senate and January 6th is only about the presidential electors?  Okay, then Democrats challenge the certification of presidential electors from Alabama.

Then after starting with the letter "A," challenge the certification of electors from every other State which voted for anyone other than Biden-Harris.  Object to certifying electors from each and every one of those States.

If the objectors in the Senate and House are going to make their challenges, let them know that they have opened up everything to objections and challenges including the elections that elected or re-elected them.

There is no reason to let them have the inevitable microphones to themselves.  There is no good reason to let them hog the TV coverage that is coming, either.  Share the air time.  Give the corporate media their sound bites and videos.

And for good measure, remind the people of this country every chance you get that these federal challengers, these federal objectors in the Senate and the House, are attacking democracy itself.  They are trying to have the federal government tell the States what to do.  They want the federal government to overturn the will of the voters in America.

There is no such thing as a free lunch.  Make them pay a price for what they themselves have chosen.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

AN OPEN LETTER TO DEMOCRATS IN ATHENS, GEORGIA

(FreePhotos)

Put that University education to work for your State and your Nation!  Elect Democrats Ossoff + Warnock for Senate and Daniel Blackman for PSC.

The Georgia Secretary of State says that Friday was the last day both to Vote Early and to ask for an Absentee Ballot.

So, plan to vote in person on Tuesday, January 5 OR if you have not dropped off your Absentee Ballot yet, the SOS Website says you can drop off your Absentee Ballot by Election Day!

Your Vote = Your Voice, make sure you are heard!

AN OPEN LETTER TO DULUTH, MACON, AND PERRY DEMOCRATS

 

(John Amis / Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Elect Democrats Ossoff + Warnock for Senate and Daniel Blackman for PSC.

The Georgia Secretary of State says that Friday was the last day both to Vote Early and to ask for an Absentee Ballot.

So, plan to vote in person on Tuesday, January 5 OR if you have not dropped off your Absentee Ballot yet, the SOS Website says you can drop off your Absentee Ballot by Election Day!

Your Vote = Your Voice, make sure you are heard!

 

AN OPEN LETTER TO ALBANY, AUGUSTA, AND COLUMBUS DEMOCRATS

(John Amis / Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Elect Democrats Ossoff + Warnock for Senate and Daniel Blackman for PSC.

The Georgia Secretary of State says that Friday was the last day both to Vote Early and to ask for an Absentee Ballot.

So, plan to vote in person on Tuesday, January 5 OR if you have not dropped off your Absentee Ballot yet, the SOS Website says you can drop off your Absentee Ballot by Election Day!

Your Vote = Your Voice, make sure you are heard!

LEGAL VILLANELLE. 010121.Update 01.03.21.

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD FIGHT.

©2021 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

To those judges, not all judges, who write big opinions that do not say as much as they seem to think they do.  They share every one of their thoughts.  They shall not be named.  They also serve.

 

Do not go gentle into those good fights,

Authors should write and write all they can say;

Page, page before they turn off the lights.

 

Though it's clear wise people leave others their own lights,

Because their words never righted any wrongs, they

Do not go gentle into those good fights.

 

Good people, on all sides, crying how bright

Their frail rights might have danced in a fair court,

Page, page before they turn off the lights.

 

Wild ones who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into those good fights.

 

Grave claims near death, are seen in glaring sight,

Blind eyes blaze and hearts no role to play,

Page, page before they turn off the lights.

 

And you, your honor, there on the sad height,

Some judges, not all, write more than they say;

Do not go gentle into those good fights.

Page, page before they turn off the lights.

 

Inspired by Dylan Thomas who urged rage against the dying of the light.