Legal Advice Blog: Legal Advice, Case Insights, & Local Law Information

This past April, Chief Justice John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas voted to strike down campaign contribution limits. Chief Justice Roberts stated: ". . . we conclude that the aggregate limits on contributions do not further the only governmental interest this Court accepted as legitimate . . . . They instead intrude without justification on a citizen's ability to exercise 'the most fundamental First Amendment activities.'" While I respect Chief Justice Roberts' right to his opinion, there is certainly justification for limits on campaign contributions. Campaign finance laws were enacted to protect us from being bought and paid for by the few hundred mega-rich who garner favor, and let's face it, favors, from the people they pay to get elected. Closing our eyes to quid pro quo corruption, or the appearance of quid pro quo corruption, doesn't make it go away. Corruption will not end with the end of campaign contribution limits. It will only grow as the rich pour money into the coffers of people running for office to uphold their interests, not the middle class, and certainly not those at poverty level. Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented. Justice Breyer made no bones about his strong disapproval by stating at the conclusion of his dissent: "The result, as I said at the outset, is a decision that substitutes judges' understandings of how the political process works for the understanding of Congress; that fails to recognize the difference between influence resting upon public opinion and influence bought by money alone; that overturns key precedent; that creates huge loopholes in the law; and that undermines, perhaps devastates, what remains of campaign finance reform." His words are absolutely true. This ruling will open the door for more and more reform until eventually elections will simply be a farce, and only those with the most money will have a political voice. You can read the decision and dissent here. When Shawn McCutcheon, a major Republican Party donor, said, "Ensuring that citizens are able to contribute to multiple candidates or causes who share their views only provides further support to a system in which 'We the People' hold the ultimate reins of power," he wasn't kidding. The problem with that statement is "We the People" are not billionaires or even millionaires. The majority of "We the People" are everyday working people trying to make a living and feed our families. What will happen to our voice? What power can we possibly hold in electing people that will uphold our interests? Well, for starters, educate yourselves before you vote. Find out who gave what to whom and how much. If you know the monkey on the backs of the people that are put into office, it won't come as a surprise when they do things contrary to your interests and the interests of every other hardworking American. You will know why.

Recently, the U.S. Patent office cancelled several trademark registrations for the Washington Redskins organization because they found the name to be "disparaging to Native Americans." This is a huge step in the right direction in leveraging Washington's owner Dan Snyder into changing the team name to something not so blatantly racist. I use the word leveraging because that is the only way that Mr. Snyder will change the name. No amount of reasoning or pleading will make him understand how offensive his team's moniker really is. Last year the President of the United States said if he were in his shoes and knew the name offended a group of people, he would change the name. 50 United States Senators... fifty... sent a letter to the NFL pleading for them to take action against Washington's organization for its overt use of a racial slur. Larry King recently interviewed Terry Bradshaw and they both agreed the name should be changed. A high school in Oregon has recently changed its name from the Redskins to the Red Hawks. Churches across the nation have urged boycotts of Washington's football team, and the list goes on and on. "Never," that all Dan has to say about it. If the President, half of the sitting U.S Senators, and every living Native American cannot convince you that the name should be changed, then I suppose financial leveraging is the only viable option. Hopefully now that every Tom, Dick, and Harry can print up Washington's logo without worrying about penalty or profit sharing, the message will get through. Nonetheless, it is a pathetic display of moral compass that this is the manner in which the name change had to occur- if it even does. How about this, Mr. Snyder? Walk up to Amanda Blackhorse, the Navajo woman spearheading the lawsuit against Washington's football team, and call her a Redskin to her face. It's just a harmless name that represents your football team's proud heritage right?

By now we've all learned about General Motors' faulty ignition switches, responsible for dozens of deaths (the number is probably much greater) and numerous unnecessary injuries for its customers. Jim Bordas pioneered certain types of automobile product liability cases decades ago, including the first second-impact seatback collapse case won nationwide, in Strope v. Honda, so these reports are something we watch carefully. What interested me most about the news coverage though, is what we didn't hear or read about the history of this issue. GM's own Valukas report is over 300 pages, so it's understandable a lot of reporters didn't read it all. New accounts tended to focus on the summary, where the report chalked up GM's scandalous behavior as its "failure to understand" a "complicated mystery." But when someone tells you something in plain words and you ignore it - that's not a "failure to understand" a "mystery," it's willful blindness that in this case had many, many fatal results. News sources especially liked a yarn GM spun about how, if only the part number had been changed by a lonely, careless engineer, these deaths could have been prevented. You probably heard that one a lot. Amber Marie Rose, killed in 2006 because of GM's faulty switch, did not live long enough to hear GM spin that tale for its present-day PR purposes. If you read through it all, though, you find something interesting. GM did know about the problems with the switch. How did it know? Because trial lawyers told it so. Start on page 103, footnote 419, of the Valukas report, and you realize lawyers told GM what was happening with these vehicles more than ten years ago. More than one lawsuit uncovered the problem and presented detailed evidence to GM of exactly what was happening. But GM didn't listen. Instead, like many large companies, it issued automatic, blanket denials of wrongdoing, and deliberately buried its head in the sand. GM preferred to play to the public, claiming that " alcohol, the failure to wear seatbelts and high speeds " were the real cause of wrecks and deaths caused by its faulty swtich. The Valukas report is replete with how GM and its legal counsel tried to think of anything it could blame these preventable highway deaths on, except the thing it had been sued for: air bags that did not deploy when they should. But GM did settle some of the cases confidentially, while internally refusing to fix the problem. When State Troopers specifically told GM that the ignition switch failures were causing these deaths, GM circular filed the information - engineers and lawyers claim not to have ever heard about documents GM received. Report at 115-116. NHTSA reports also logged complaints against GM for the very problem it claims only now to understand. More lawsuits, from more trial lawyers representing victims followed: GM explained them away and settled confidentially, while refusing to recognize the problem. It gets worse, of course. GM actually made a warranty claim against the switch manufacturer for "ignition switch failures" in 2007, seven years before GM came (sort of) clean about what happened. The Volukas report incuriously reports that "no witness" could be "found" at GM who knew what GM was being paid off for on its warranty claim against Delphi for defective switches, while Americans were dying because of the same defective switches. Report at 128. The Volukas report, of course, was paid for by GM and its investigators were picked by GM. It goes out of its way to say that engineers were "baffled" about events plainly described in lawsuits against the company. The report fairly revels in explaining how people at GM who learned damaging information never shared it, or how computer documents illustrating the defects were never accessed. Four years ago, there had been enough deaths that GM's own lawyers started telling GM it would not only lose the cases, but be subject to large awards of punitive damages. Report at 140-42, 148-149. But we are led to believe by the Report that crippling awards of punitive damages simply do not reach responsible management at GM. The report sums up what happened in classic bureaucratese: GM simply suffered from a "failure to understand" what was happening in its own cars. That's one way to put it. Sinclair wrote that "t is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." GM understood all right, because trial lawyers told it time and time again what was happening. But GM paid its people not to "understand" and it pays well. Or should I say you paid them. We all paid them. The corporation that did this went bankrupt in 2008-09 and the American people bailed them out. While GM busied itself "not understanding" how Americans were being killed in its cars, no matter how many times it was told, We the People covered its empty bank accounts. After taking the bailout, according to Valukas, GM engineers were looking at actual photographs of Americans killed in their cars without any sense of "urgency": Although he does not specifically remember, Sprague believed that fatalities were discussed; the deaths were apparent based on the files shared and pictures shown.681 The urgency of the situation should have been manifest . . . at the meeting, Wachtel, the Senior Manager of Product Investigations, expressed reluctance to take on the issue by opining that the incident rate was not high. Report at 152. If only more Americans had the good sense to be killed in these cars, perhaps Mr. Wachtel could have brought himself to care. But it was not to be. And what does Mr. Wachtel have to say for himself, to the People who paid his lofty salary: "Wachtel denied attending the meeting at all, saying that he was told after the meeting to assign an investigator to the matter." Report at 152-53. At least mainstream reporting captured GM's name for its own indifference: Wachtel's conduct is a demonstration of what Mary Barra described as the "GM nod": When everyone nods in agreement to a proposed plan of action, but then leaves the room and does little. Report at 154. One thing you can learn in the executive summary is this: "hile the issue of the ignition switch passed through numerous hands at GM, from engineers to investigators to lawyers, nobody raised the problem to the highest levels of the company. As a result those in the best position to demand quick answers did not know questions needed to be asked." Report at 4. But this is not a mistake - it's not a "bug" in GM's programming that top people don't hear about problems like this. It's a feature. The top people all want to keep their jobs and to avoid embarrassment. So they are careful to make sure no one who works from them tells them anything they might have to answer for later. Likewise, GM's Valukas report curiously mentions mainly the names of its defense lawyers and corporate lawyers who assisted in the coverup. It never credits the lawyers for victims that brought this matter to GM's attention more than ten years ago. Mary Barra, GM's CEO, has scapegoated some middle managers, endured her Capitol Hill grilling and moved along. But GM doesn't have any intention of crediting the people who first warned it about what it was doing - trial lawyers - because it's going right back to its business of denying the next problem, starting today.

Jury duty, oh those two dirty little words...or are they? Not too many people get excited when they see that card arrive in the mail--the notification that it's their turn to be a potential juror for the upcoming term in their county. Some people even feel a sigh of relief when their term has passed and they hadn't been called. It has even been joked about in many movies and ridiculed in conversations as to the punishment of jury duty. I ask you to take a different look at things. No matter what type of case you are called to evaluate, do you realize how important a juror is to a case? The jurors ultimately are the decision makers. You decide the case. Of course, you are aided by the guidance and expertise of the judge of that particular court, but you get to listen to the facts of the case and determine the outcome. This is a huge and valuable burden. If you were that plaintiff or that defendant, wouldn't you want someone like yourself to objectively take a look at the circumstances and render a verdict? These cases are so very important to so many families. This is a right, a privilege and a duty that you have been given and when that notification arrives please try to embrace the experience in a positive manner. Many times after I accompany Geoff Brown to trials, when the court permits, I call the jurors and I talk to them. I get their firsthand thoughts and feelings on the matters which were presented and amazingly I hear more often than not that it was a pleasurable, interesting experience that they were glad to take part in. For this great task that you are asked to undertake, please know counsel, parties, and judges all appreciate you. We know that you put your lives on hold for a period of time to see cases through. We know it is difficult to be at the court's mercy and unable to go about your normal everyday living and we know what strains this can put on your personal life for a period of time. However, please know how important these matters are to plaintiffs and defendants alike. After all, should you ever find yourself in need of seeking justice through our judicial system, wouldn't you too like to have a juror on the panel just like yourself? So, I leave you changing those two dirty little words, jury duty, into something different, an act of consideration and an act of kindness, two new words: THANK YOU!

My mother, Carolyn, just turned 83. About a year and a half ago, she bought an iPad! Mom started out with a Kindle and she really loved it. After I received an iPad as a gift from my son, Mom took a gander at it and decided she wanted one of those. So we jumped in the car, went up to Best Buy and she bought an iPad! Mind you, my mother never really used a computer and, in fact, was scared to death of them. So the iPad was truly a new experience. Back up twenty or more years. Pap-Pap Wally, my mother's father, was in his late seventies when he bought his first computer. It was from Radio Shack and had a cassette tape player hooked to it! He loved it and taught himself how to write programs in DOS and use spreadsheets. He bought a new computer about every six months (much to my grandmother's dismay). Pap-Pap Wally was a whiz, especially considering his age. He attempted to teach my mother but she was so afraid she would delete something or make the thing crash, she didn't do very well. Believe it or not, Pap-Pap Wally was instrumental in my beginning interest in computers. When I left work to begin my family in 1980, the office I worked at had just purchased a Word Processor. I didn't get an opportunity to even use it. In 1986, a friend and I opened up a children's used clothing business and decided we should get a computer to keep track of our inventory. So I went to Pap-Pap Wally to take a few lessons! I think my grandfather would now be proud of his daughter and her iPad! So what does an 83 year old woman do with an iPad? After a rough start and hundreds of "mini-lessons," my mother uses her calendar and its reminders for birthdays, anniversaries, doctor appointments and even to remind her to take her medicine! Mom has several journal apps that she uses to keep track of her daily activities. She uses one of the journal apps to reminisce about days gone by. She will write stories of things that happened in our family and she will use Google Images to add a picture to the journal story. Sometimes, she reverses the process and finds an image that reminds her of something and then writes about it. She uses Tags in her daily journal to keep track of atrial fibrillation episodes and then takes her iPad to the doctor to report how many episodes she has had between visits. The doctors are amazed! Mom also keeps track of her weight since she has to weigh herself daily as part of her treatment for congestive heart failure. Mom emails, texts and even uses Facebook. She actually uses Facebook more than I do. She's always asking if I saw the picture of this person and that person. I keep telling her that I don't really use Facebook that much. This morning she pointed out a picture of my granddaughter that she downloaded from Facebook. I had her message me the picture since I've never been able to figure out how to download a picture from Facebook! Of course, Mom uses her iPad in replacement of her Kindle to read books. She has a very close relationship with God and uses at least two Bible apps. She has several versions of the Bible and various concordances. There are many daily devotionals available through Olive Tree, a wonderful Bible application, and she is using at least one read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year devotional. Mom also has a lot of games that she plays. I will hear her in her room berating Mr. Word for using letters that really don't seem to be words at all in a game similar to scrabble. She also has Sudoku and a jigsaw puzzle game. I am sure there are various other ones as well. Needless to say, Mom's iPad has no battery life left at the end of the day. This is a good thing, since it means she is getting her money's worth out of her iPad! The downfall to using an iPad at 83 is that none of her friends even have email, let alone an iPad, so she is pretty much stuck with emailing and texting family. I have to say that I'm pretty proud of my mom, the iPad geek!!

I work at a law firm. A really great one. The people within it work tirelessly within each of our now three locations to make certain that justice is served for our clients. I, however, am not a lawyer. I'm not a paralegal. Or a legal secretary. I'm not a legal assistant and I don't handle accounting. I'm quite certain that many of the nearly 40 people that work together to make this law firm the most preferred in the region aren't exactly certain what I do here. They know that from my office comes a lot of noise, laughter, occasional frustration and somehow, someway, exciting and interesting things happen. I am one part of a team of creative minds that help to manage the communications and philanthropic outreach of the firm. What does that mean in real life? Well...it means we wear a ton of hats. Every given day is different. One minute we can be on the phone with Keith Urban's tour manager coordinating a special event for Jamboree in the Hills and the next we can be collaborating with the media to discuss a recent verdict or community issue. Today it could be designing billboards; tomorrow it could be editing a radio commercial or assisting with the Driving For a Cure annual golf scramble for breast cancer survivors. We write press releases, design brochures, coordinate newsletters and execute the social media outreach for the firm. Anywhere across the region, if you see that now very recognizable Bordas & Bordas shield logo, chances are it passed through our hands. But traditional "marketing" isn't all we do on a day-to-day basis. Last year, Bordas & Bordas worked closely with more than 200 local non-profit organizations and charities to support their events and community outreach. From answering phones at the Easter Seals telethon, working with local high schools to honor students in our own Anti-bully campaign, or partnering with the OVAC, the largest high school athletic conference in the county, our office manages those efforts as well. Giving back to our community is what we do here, and I am honored to have even a small hand in helping to make that happen. We spin a lot of plates. And it takes a ton of coordinated effort to keep them all turning. Each attorney and staff member at the firm assists the social media effort by writing blogs, making community appearances at events as well as practicing some seriously good law. I love what I do. And I love even more where I get to do it. I love that my professional runway has brought me here to Bordas & Bordas where I am proud to do my part to creatively share the amazing professional accomplishments of our attorneys, the multiple legal capacities of our firm and the exceptional contributions back to our community.

Tune into this week's episode of the Bordas & Bordas Legal Review where host Jamie Bordas and guest Chris Regan discuss the Ed O'Bannon law suit against the NCAA that seeks to allow college players to be paid for use of their names, images and likenesses. In the second half of the show, Jamie and Chris discuss GM's difficulties with its defective switch that caused more than a dozen deaths across the country, in a variety of Chevy models. Learn about product liability, antitrust law, and a host of other interesting topics on this week's episode of the Bordas & Bordas Legal Review. You can view the Bordas & Bordas Legal Review locally on Comcast Channel 14 or also online, both streaming and in the archive. The current episode is embedded within this post. Click here to view the program on vimeo, or watch the embedded version if your browser supports it. Click this link to see the WLUTV schedule so you can view a live-stream of WLUTV and check this page for a schedule of when the program airs.

The most recent school shooting in Oregon made its way across my Twitter timeline with the same urgency of a story about the most recent baseball player to be the highest paid at his position. After a full day, I couldn't have told you the exact number of casualties, the names of those who died, or who the shooter was. In fact, I would imagine the majority of people reading this would have a better chance naming every starting quarterback in the NFL than one kid involved in the Oregon shooting. Compare that to Columbine High School, where in 1999 two young men named Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire and killed 12 of their fellow students. For weeks, the Columbine story was all we saw on news stations across the country. The names and faces of the victims were etched into our minds, and the shooters' lives unraveled before us. As a nation we truly grieved. Let us fast forward to 2014. School shootings are becoming so commonplace we, without realizing it, brush them off just as we would a mosquito on a soggy summer night. According to The Washington Post, since January 2013 there have been at least 74 other instances of shootings either on or near school grounds. Seventy-Four-in eighteen months. That averages out to one school shooting every 7 days. When I read that figure everything stopped for several moments...and the magnitude of one school shooting per week for the last year and a half sunk in. This is not where I begin to try and sway you one way or the other in the polarizing debate our politicians have created over the 2nd amendment and what it means (or should mean) for gun owners. This is where I plead with you to consider the largest issue at stake here-the safety of our nation's children. Our sons and daughters are currently going to schools where, based on recent statistics, there will be a shooting next week. And the next week, and the next, and the next, until something changes. Please get angry about the amount of violence plaguing America's schools. Take that anger and contact your political representatives-local, state, federal-and let them know it is time to put party lines and egos aside, fix this problem, and protect our children.

On Friday afternoon, a Wheeling jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty in the much anticipated Craig Peacock Trial. The trial, which focused on the death of Wheeling Jesuit student, Kevin Figaniak, who died after a fight with the defendant, was widely publicized. Within minutes of the jury returning a verdict, social media began to explode with posts and comments. Many of the local news outlets posted BREAKING:NEWS updates informing the public of the recent findings. People were quick to chime in with their opinions on the merits of the case and the decision of the jury. Many were stereotyping pipeliners, some poking fun at the justice system, yet others gently reminded the public that they were not part of the jury, and therefore, did not hear the facts of the case as presented. I, like everyone, was deeply saddened by this story. After all, I am a mother, and the thought of a phone call telling me that my college student child had gotten into a street fight and subsequently died, makes me sick to my stomach. I am also young enough to remember college and nights of drinking and partying and just how horribly alcohol can affect people- their minds, their judgment, their memory, their impulses. Nothing about the story of a young person losing their life is justifiable or excusable. Losing a child is one of the most heart wrenching things I can fathom. And when alcohol is involved, sadly, it is also the most preventable. All of these emotions- shock, sadness, confusion, got me thinking about the significant right and responsibility that we all hold as citizens of the United States. Most of the people commenting on the not guilty verdict shared their shock and disbelief that a jury could actually have come to such a conclusion. They were irritated that a life had been lost, and yet, the jury could not find fault in the defendant. It is actually quite amazing how powerful jurors are. Jurors are essential to our existence! They determine the outcome of every jury trial that takes place in our country. They have the power to determine a person's guilt or innocence. The have the authority to set someone free or take away their freedom. The 7 th Amendment of the United States Constitution grants us the right to a jury trial. Just as surely as we have the Freedom of Speech granted to us by the 1 st Amendment, we have a right to a trial by jury granted to us by the 7 th Amendment. This is so very important for many reasons... Whether you are granted a jury trial with a jury of your peers in a criminal case as Peacock was, or whether you are granted a jury trial to determine the negligence and damages caused to you by a civil defendant, the stakes are often very high to both yourself and your family members. What this means is that your future, sometimes your freedom, depends on the 6-12 people that are chosen to act as your jury. These jurors often spend several days away from their jobs, lives, and families to sit and listen to the facts of your case and deliberate to render a decision that ultimately affects your life. Conversely, you hold the power to make decisions that ultimately affect the lives of others as well. It is really quite fascinating to think about... the same people that you pass on the street, the people who share the check-out aisle with you at Walmart or the drive thru line at McDonalds - these are the people that determine your future should you be involved in a lawsuit someday. The 7 th Amendment gives you this wonderful right to a jury trial. It gives jurors this incredible power to decide someone's fate. It gives US amazing influence over the lives of others. And it gives YOU immense and unbelievably important authority to make such important decisions. After all, we are all potential jurors. We never know when we may be called to exercise our civic duty and sit through a trial of facts, deliberate and decide. We aren't sure when we will be called for jury duty, report and make it through jury selection, but one thing is for sure, we are extremely important. When you act as a juror, YOU are vital the person whose case you are hearing. You have an integral and paramount job when you sit on a jury. A job that none of us should take lightly. A job that we understand to be so critically important, and one that we are all grateful that you undertake. Jurors are powerful people, therefore, we are powerful people! Famous philosopher Voltaire once said, "With great power, comes great responsibility." How true are those words!

A question that law students and attorneys are often asked is "so, what made you want to become a lawyer?" The answers to this question are limitless, and certainly a variety of factors influences one's decision to pursue a legal career, but one that I have heard from many of my friends and colleagues is that a family member or other respected person in their life is an attorney. This was not the case for me. Having said that, you may assume that this is because I was not closely acquainted with any lawyers during the time that I was figuring out my career path. Also not the case. My father, who is one of my biggest heroes and role models, is a lawyer, and a good one, at that. You may be wondering, then, how it is that my father's being an attorney did not influence me to become an attorney. Recently, the Legal News in my home county did their weekly " Monday Profile " on my dad. Anyone who knows me will quickly see where I get my wit when you catch his off-beat answers sprinkled in with the serious ones. (Where would he like to be when he is 90? - Anywhere above ground.) This profile highlights my father's many successes in his legal career, from graduating from law school, to getting his first job at the Public Defender's Office, to becoming a partner at a law firm in his hometown, and to this day, still practicing full time and loving every minute of it. My dad also has some great advice about becoming a lawyer, advising those who are considering going to law school to think carefully about that decision before investing the time, money, and emotion in a demanding, but rewarding, educational experience. But more than showing that my father has worked hard to become a great attorney, this profile shows what a great man he is. He has a wide variety of interests, including marine biology, in which he obtained both his undergraduate and master's degrees, and traveling, enjoying both camping in the great outdoors and sightseeing at historic locations. My dad enjoys things we can all relate to, like golfing, listening to music, and hanging out at his favorite local bar & grill. He is also down-to-earth. If he could have ANY car in the world, if money was no object, what would this man drive? A Ford Escape. The same car he drives now. But a new one. Most importantly though, and the thing that sticks out most about this profile of my dad, is that he is a wonderful husband, father, and family man. When asked about all of his happiest memories, proudest moments, and biggest achievements, each and every one centers around his family. What was his proudest moment as a lawyer? When he was sworn in, and his whole family was there for it. Who is one of the three people, living or dead, he would want to have dinner with? His father, who passed away just this past December. What is his greatest achievement? Helping my mother raise my sister and me. My father never once pushed me to become an attorney. He stood back and let me make my own choices, supporting me at every turn. We never had discussions about whether or not I should take the LSAT, apply to this law school or that one, or focus on a particular practice area. If I had asked, would he have helped me? Of course. But he had the confidence in me, the person he raised, to figure things out and make decisions that were right for me. And that right decision turned out to be going to law school and becoming a lawyer. So, to explain what I mean when I say that my father's being an attorney had nothing to do with my decision to become an attorney, I mean just that. But it had everything to do with him being my father, and the man that he is.

Bordas & Bordas was in trial and I was in a hurry, trying to file a document that had to be hand-delivered to the judge and to our attorneys who were in trial. I was in a very big rush, and one of the clerks asked me a question. When I turned to answer her as I was stepping into the elevator, my car key slipped out of my hand and fell though the small opening at the bottom of the elevator and disappeared into the shaft below. The hole was only about an inch wide. "Oh My Stars!" I said. The clerk looked at me and said "Was that your phone that dropped down into the elevator shaft?" "No," I responded, "It was my car key." Even more unfortunately, it was a car key belonging to my husband's car, and he was out of town. She looked at me and said, "What are you going to do?" I told her "I'll worry about it later, but right now I have to get back upstairs and deliver these documents to the judge and the attorney from our office in trial." The clerk was kind enough to call the building maintenance staff for me to get some help.  This is when my story got really interesting. First, I had to call my husband and ask him where the extra key was for  his car.  He reminded me that I had just dropped the extra key down the elevator shaft, as he had his own keys with him.  Things were really starting to look bad for me.  The maintenance gentleman told me it was a one in a million shot to retrieve my key.   He also said that they would have to call an elevator company out of Pittsburgh to come down to stop the elevator. Things went from bad to worse.  I had to call AAA and have them call a tow truck company to unlock my car door for me so I could retrieve my purse from the trunk of the car.  I had to tell both the AAA lady and the tow truck driver what happened, and they both couldn't help but laugh at me.  If you have ever been in the Ohio County Court House, you know you have to go through the metal detector with the help of our very own Ohio County Sheriff's Department and some wonderful guards, who are there to make sure everyone who enters the court house isn't carrying anything that could harm others.   They all just couldn't help but laugh at me too. I stood there waiting for someone to come and save me, and thank the good Lord above for my friend and co-worker Linda Scaggs, who came to save me from some of the embarrassment I'd caused myself. Of course while I was standing there waiting for her, what felt like every single person I knew in the tri-state area came through the elevator, and I had to tell my story to each and every one of them. Some of them were confused how I had achieved such a feat, because the crack in the elevator seemed so small! As I like to tease my friends, I told them that I just had to see if I could shove my key though the slit in the bottom of the elevator, to see if they would it fit and what would happen. Some of them just looked at me and thought I was crazy. Others who knew my sense of humor laughed with me (and at me, I'm sure). When I told some of my friends at the court house what the maintenance man told me about needing to bring in help from Pittsburgh, they told me to call the county commissioner's office and have them contact the maintenance man to ask him to stop the elevator.  Apparently at that office, they have a stick that they've used before to retrieve things out of the elevator shaft.  They got my keys out!  I also had to ask for special permission from  the Wheeling Police Department, the Ohio County Sherriff's Office and our wonderful meter maids so I wouldn't be towed until I could finally rescue my car.  I can't thank them all enough for helping me out, and for keeping my husband's car from being towed, vandalized or ticketed.  You all rock! I also can't thank everyone at the Ohio County Court House for their help in persuading the maintenance department to stop the elevator and use their stick to get my keys back. Thank you also to Jeff the maintenance man who did all this to get my key back for me.  I guess if the worst thing that came from all of this was that I'm now the butt of all the jokes at the Ohio County Court House, then I can live with that outcome! The moral to this story is don't use your husband's car when he is out of town.  Lesson learned.  Until the next time, Rock on Wheeling West Virginia Rock on!

As I began to wind down from my weekend on Sunday evening, I chose to watch the 63rd annual Miss USA Pageant on NBC. Luckily enough I caught it right at the beginning and I, like many other women my age, was hooked and had to stay up late until the Miss USA 2014 was crowned. The competition was held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the entertainment provided by Florida Georgia Line featuring Nelly added to the show. With 51 women, one representing each state and one representing the District of Columbia all participating in the event, the competition seemed extremely tense. However, what truly amazed me was how the representatives from our tri-state area were three women from nearby towns. I believe that we live in the best area of the United States, and have always been fascinated by the fact that we can be in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio in such a short travel time. When the three candidates were announced, their hometowns were all relatively close to my hometown of Wheeling, WV, as Miss West Virginia was a Parkersburg, WV native, Miss Pennsylvania was from Pittsburgh, PA, and Miss Ohio was from Massillon, OH. Although Miss Pennsylvania was the only one to make it into the top 20 before being eliminated in the next round, it is really exciting to know that these women were representing such beautiful towns so close to my home. All three attended local universities as well. Miss West Virginia was a 2011 graduate from West Virginia University with a bachelor of science degree in pre-med, and is currently the Development Manager for West Virginia Rx Card. Miss Pennsylvania is an alumni of the University of Pittsburgh and is currently a marketing coordinator and hopes to become an actress. Miss Ohio is a recent graduate from The Ohio State University and is currently a first year law student who plans on completing law school. All three of these women have hometowns only a short distance from Wheeling, and it's my hope that this will show local young women and girls who wish to compete in the Miss USA Pageant that anything is possible. Knowing that women from local towns achieved their dreams is truly an inspiration, and it showed me that you don't have to be from a big city to make your dreams come true. With the support of their "small town USA" hometowns behind them and their goals set high, any woman can make her wildest dreams come true. In general, The Miss USA Pageant teaches young girls and women all over the country that being an all-around genuine individual makes you the most beautiful person in the world. After all, Miss USA is not only chosen by her beauty on the outside, but by her beauty on the inside.