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1/9/2008
Gee, this story sounds familiar As I was reading the complaint about the mother who sued the Putnam County Board of Education over her son’s skateboarding accident (see story here), I couldn’t help but think of a story from my own middle school days.
It was about 24 years ago, and this story is a perfect illustration of how the legal climate has changed since then.
It was the spring of 1984, and I was a student at Wayne Middle School -- home of the Warriors back then, even though every other school in the town of Wayne went with the nickname Pioneers.
Anyway, I remember hearing about this incident that occurred during our intramural session one afternoon. Intramurals, I think, is a Latin word for “way to kill time before school is dismissed.”
Students signed up for a variety of intramural activities … anything from nature hiking to basketball to leaf collecting. It was a way to get students out of the class and exercising for a few minutes.
This particular incident took place during a game of volleyball. The student, a seventh-grader, was injured when she went to hit the ball. The ball must’ve come down just right on her hand, and it broke her middle finger.
In pain, the girl went to her teacher, Miss Davis, to tell her she thought she had broken her finger, which already was swelling and turning purple.
Much like the allegations against the principal in the Putnam lawsuit, Miss Davis refused to let the girl go the principal’s office or seek further medical attention.
Later that afternoon after the girl rode the school bus home, she showed her mother the finger, which now was even more swollen and purple. They rushed to the emergency room, where they spent most of the evening.
Now, the girl’s parents obviously were upset about what had happened. They couldn’t understand why Miss Davis hadn’t let the girl go to the principal’s office, call them or get medical attention.
They thought about calling the school and telling the principal what they thought of how Miss Davis handled the situation. But they didn’t even do that, let alone consider filing a lawsuit.
Let that sink in for a minute. In 1984, the parents didn’t even call the school about how the situation was handled. Today, parents sue over a similar incident. That isn’t meant to say one way was better or worse than the other. It’s just a change in our society, I think.
No lawsuit -- or thought of one -- 24 years ago. Instead, all the girl got to do was flip Miss Davis off for a few weeks while her middle finger healed in a splint.
Oh, I should tell you a few more details that make this story even more interesting. That girl who broke her finger is now my wife of almost 16 years. And Miss Davis? She’s my aunt.
Needless to say, my wife and her parents have ribbed Aunt Judy about the finger incident over the years.
And now, when Melissa flips Judy off, it’s simply in harmless fun.
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10/19/2007
Wright was a good man With a newspaper job, you tend to meet a lot of people.
And with this job in particular, I meet a lot of public officials.
While most of the people I meet with this job are fine people, I don't know that I'll ever meet another one like Don Wright.
And that's a shame.
Wright, 77, was Putnam County's Circuit Clerk for the past 26 years. He died last weekend after battling cancer.
Don was one of the most down-to-earth elected officials I've ever met. Every time I saw him in my weekly trips to the Putnam County Judicial Annex, he had a big smile on his face.
Besides that smile, he always had a handshake, a pat on the back and a warm greeting.
He was just a nice man.
He was a hands-on circuit clerk, too. Anytime I sat in on a jury trial, Don was in the courtroom seating the jurors.
His office staff also loved him. They all talked to each other and joked around, but they did their jobs efficiently and professionally.
You could just tell he loved his job -- almost as much as he loved his family. He frequently told me what his grandchildren were doing.
It will be relatively easy for Putnam Chief Circuit Judge Ed Eagloski to appoint a new Circuit Clerk, but it will be impossible for anyone to replace Don Wright.
He will be missed.
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8/31/2007
This is what we do, and this is what you do So, we recently added a new feature to the Web site (in addition to this blog). Now, readers can add their comments on stories.
It's just another way for us to be more interactive and to further increase the open discussion of ideas.
Of course, we have some basic rules. Rules you'd find on many media Web sites. We don't allow foul language, name-calling, racist comments, unsubstantiated attacks, personal attacks.
In short, keep it civil.
We don't correct grammatical or spelling errors. We either post the comment just how the reader wrote it or we don't do it at all.
We have this simple guidelines because we are responsible for the comments on the site ... even if they aren't ours.
Anyway, the story that has seen the most action in terms of reader comments is the $10 million McDonald's cheese lawsuit.
Many of the people who has submitted comments wonder why Jeromy Jackson, the plaintiff in the case, didn't open up the burger to see if the cheese he's allergic to was on the sandwich.
Some of the comments are funny, some are biting, some focus solely on the legal aspects of the case.
Then, one came in that took a different approach.
It's from a reader named Will. The e-mail address he left apparently isn't real, but his Aug. 31 comments don't focus on wondering why Jackson didn't look for the cheese after he had the burgers.
His headline was "You should all be ashamed."
"Prejudging a case based on reading only a complaint or a rehashing of the complaint is pure foolishness," Will wrote. "Complaints don't contain all the facts, not by a longshot.
"Even if Jackson didn't look at the burger, McDonalds has responsibility here. Surely enough to let a jury decide - AFTER all the facts are out."
As I was activating comments for the site, I was taken with his thoughts.
First, we reported the facts of the story. We essentially reported what Jackson, his mother and friend (the other plaintiffs) filed in the complaint through attorney Timothy Houston.
We simply told the story that they put on print in their lawsuit. In our news coverage of the filing, we do what we always do -- straight-forward reporting of the facts.
That is what we do. That is what makes our legal journal unique around here.
But Will wasn't talking about our coverage -- unless he read our editorial about the suit.
No, he was talking about all of the previous reader comments. The ones that suggested Jackson should've double-checked himself to see if the cheese was on his burgers, especially after having asked so many times during the ordering process at McDonald's.
"If I were that allergic, the first thing I would do is CHECK FOR CHEESE!" reader Cheryl wrote on Aug. 11. "People have to take SOME responsibility for their own safety. This lawsuit is ridiculous!"
Of course, everyone is entitled to an opinion. That is part of what makes our country -- and our legal process -- great.
Then, I thought. This is what you do. The reader, that is.
We present the facts of the case. You read them, form an opinion and decide for yourself.
Outrageous lawsuit? Ridiculous? Completely reasonable? Frivolous?
That's for you to decide.
We just report the facts.
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