Blog

From age five, sports were basically my life. If I wasn’t playing basketball, kickball or running bases outside with the kids who lived on my street, you would find me in a gym practicing. I grew up around my older sisters playing numerous sports and with a dad who was a sports fanatic. I played in so many organizations that I don’t know how my parents kept track of where I was supposed to be and when. These organized sports included basketball for the school I attended, AAU basketball, soccer, volleyball, swimming (indoor and outdoor seasons), volleyball for the school I attended and junior Olympics volleyball. One year ago, I was in the middle of my senior season as a college basketball player. I never knew how much I would miss morning practices, long bus rides and playing for a championship. Fast forward to January 2016 and I am on the other side of the game. It’s scary how fast I went from being #11 to Coach Jenn. I always knew I wanted to coach and share my experiences, but I never knew I would miss playing this much. Although I miss my time as a player, when I get that look of “Coach Jenn did you see that…I did it, I did it” from one of my little girls, nothing compares to that moment. I see that light go off and I realize that I have not lost the game. I often look around the gym and see the girls laughing and cheering each other on and remember it was never just about basketball itself, but who I was surrounded by while playing. Coaching, so far, has been fun, yet difficult for me at times. I sometimes forget that they are still learning. I’m pretty confident that, at least one time every practice, one of my girls says, “Jenn we have no idea what you are talking about.” At that point I just have to laugh, and usually tell them to get a drink so I can figure out a better way to explain. I think coaching will find a way to fill my need for sports and I am beyond happy to share my love of the game with the first team I have ever coached.

It takes a lot to get me to the movie theater these days. One thing that will always do the trick, though, is a new James Bond movie.  I’ve always been a big fan of the 007 franchise, and the character of James Bond has to be one of the most intriguing and enduring characters in cinematic history.  Every so often, one of the cable channels will run a James Bond Marathon and it’s fun just to scroll through the channel guide to see what is coming on next.  Whenever those marathons get going, I make it a point to set aside some time to watch “Goldfinger” and “Thunderball”. Sean Connery, 007’s gadgets, and sinister masterminds at their respective best. I’ve been very encouraged by the most recent installments of the franchise starring Daniel Craig in the 007 role.  For my money, he is a close second to Connery in the series and each of the most recent movies have been well worth the time.  The opening chase sequence and the poker scenes in “Casino Royale” are as good as Bond gets and I would put “Skyfall” right next to “Goldfinger” at the top of the list for all time Bond movies, thanks in large part to the performance of Javier Bardem as one of the best villains to have ever threatened the free world on screen. Unfortunately, I thought the franchise took a slight step back with “Spectre” released at the end of last year.  One of the things that I like so much about the Bond movies is their relative accessibility from one movie to the next.  For the most part, new viewers don’t have to be familiar with the entire series of movies to be able to follow the plot of any one of them.  This allows casual fans or new fans (like my kids) to be able to enjoy the movie without having to be worried about an extensive back-story.  On that note, “Spectre” fell short.  There were a lot of inside jokes that I appreciated, but probably missed the casual fan.  I also found the plot harder to follow than usual.  The best characters in Bond movies, good guys and bad, are not subtle about their motivations.  Everything is right on the surface.  “Spectre” was a bit more complicated than that. With all of that said, “Spectre” certainly delivered on many important fronts.  The action sequences were as good as you will see in any movie, including a sprawling battle in a helicopter over Mexico City and a chase that ultimately results in Bond intentionally crashing a plane into his adversary’s car.  Great stuff.  I also appreciate the return of the henchman.  The henchman is an underappreciate feature of the Bond films.  Who could forget Oddjob in “Goldfinger” and Jaws in “Moonraker”?  Two of the most memorable characters in the entire series.  In “Spectre” the job of the henchman, Mr. Hinx, is very well played by Dave Bautista, otherwise of WWE fame. I’d rank “Spectre” solidly in the middle of the pack when it comes to Bond films.  Rumors are already spreading about the next Bond film.  You can be sure that I will have my exploding watch and ejector seat ready to go.

In college I majored in English literature and, as a result, I own a lot of books. Each time I’ve moved in the 10 years since I graduated, I’ve gone through the extended and exhausting process of packing and unpacking several bookcases’ worth of books. I don’t necessarily treat them all that well – I’ve always been likely to make extensive notes in the margins and dog-ear pages that contain my favorite passages. I like to say my books are well-loved. There’s something comforting about having a house full of bookcases and, for a long time, I thought I would never be willing to give up purchasing physical copies of books. I couldn’t understand the appeal of e-Readers. Sure, they seemed convenient and could store a ton of books at once, but how could they ever replace the feeling of holding a book in your hands? How could they replace being able to scribble notes beside interesting passages? How could they replace that smell of a new book? How could they replace my bookshelves? Finally, this past summer, I gave in and bought myself an e-Reader. I’m a chronic over-packer when it comes to vacations, so I thought it might be nice not to worry about the extra weight of a few hardbound books shoved into my suitcase. I didn’t expect that one vacation to change my mind. Not having to carry heavy books in my carry-on was kind of great. Being able to download a new book while I was on my layover was even better. Having a full selection of titles to choose from over the course of my entire vacation was eye-opening. It only took a week, and I was a convert. So while I won’t be getting rid of my bookshelves anytime soon, I’ve certainly seen what the fuss is all about. While e-Readers may lack that new book smell and don’t have any pages for me to dog-ear, I can’t help but be charmed by a piece of technology that has made it so much easier for me to read every day. I have actually found myself reading much more often and finishing many more books since I bought my e-Reader, and that has made the change well worth it.

Chase Harler is a lot of things to a lot of people- son, brother, pupil, teammate, but to one little boy he is a hero. Chase Harler is a senior at Wheeling Central who is breaking scoring records and excelling on and off the court. He has already signed to play basketball at Division I school, WVU, next year. These things make Chase so appealing to a little boy living with Spina Bifida. But what makes Chase amazing to me, and what makes Chase such a stellar example of human kindness is his willingness to embrace this young boy. Chase Harler in all his glory and record breaking athleticism is still just a boy himself- A high schooler, not yet an adult. Yet, he displayed more class and compassion than many of the adults I know when he welcomed this little boy with open arms onto "his" court. As a mother, I can only hope that I raise my five children, four of which are sons, to embrace others this way. I believe that much of Chase's compassion and kindness is a credit to his parents, who likely instilled in him all of the right values in life. I imagine some of it comes from the stellar education and Christian guidance he is receiving at CCHS. I also believe that some of it just comes naturally to Chase- an all around nice kid. God clearly has blessed Chase with a gift- the skill, knowledge and athleticism that makes him an incredible basketball player. It warms my heart to see Chase using his gift to touch a little boy who wasn't given the gift of mobility and athleticism, but instead, is confined to a wheelchair. I have no doubt that little Blake has so many gifts inside of him that he is bursting at the seams. My guess is Blake will touch just about everybody's life he meets in a different way than Chase has touched his. Chase has already said that "Blake is an inspiration to him." As Chase grows into an adult and lives life, Blake's inspiration will take on many different forms and meanings to him. He can look back on his good deed, and feel a reciprocity from that little boy that he never expected or foresaw. The greatest current athletes in the world are using their gifts to help others - I have seen videos of LeBron James taking time to welcome a crippled boy courtside at one of his games. Stephen Curry's philanthropy list is long and well known. It's impressive that at such a young age, Chase can be so impressionable to those supporting him and can rank with the likes of some big name athletes and their excellent character traits. As a mother, a basketball coach and former player I am beyond proud of Chase for taking  the time to give a little of himself to brighten someone's day.  Kudos to Chase and all those who have encouraged Chase to share his gift with the world and use it for the betterment of mankind. God Bless to Blake whose many gifts will be displayed in his lifetime and "pay it forward" to others. We all have gifts. May we all find them and use them to help others. "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace..." - 1 Peter 4:10 "We all have different gifts, each of which came because of the grace God gave us." ---Romans 12:6

There may be situations in which a person thinks that maybe they have a legal case, but are not sure, and call a lawyer’s office to ask for help in determining whether or not they have any claims they could pursue, and if so, how to pursue them. Sometimes a person may feel strongly that they have a case, but after speaking to a lawyer, realize that they do not actually have any viable legal claims. Then there are other situations in which a person knows that they have a legal claim, and is contacting a lawyer’s office to secure representation for that claim. So why then, do some lawyers still decline to take the case? There are several important reasons for potential clients to understand. There may be a conflict of interest. Say you got in a straight-forward, clear liability motor vehicle collision. The other driver ran a red light, and hit your vehicle. The police were called, the other driver was ticketed, you were taken to the hospital in an ambulance and your seriously damaged car had to be towed from the scene. Following several weeks of treatment, your back and neck pain are still not improving, and your doctor thinks that you will continue to need physical therapy and other treatment for the next few months. You have missed work, and have many medical bills to pay. The other driver’s insurance company is being uncooperative, and is refusing to pay any of your medical bills. You know you have a case, and you call a local personal injury firm about it, yet they inform you that they are unable to represent you. Even in a situation like this, where it is pretty clear that you have some viable claims against the at-fault driver’s insurance company, the law firm will not be able to take on your case if there is some conflict with the at-fault driver. If that driver is a former or current client of the firm, even for a case that is completely unrelated to the motor vehicle collision, the firm may not be able to represent you. Or say a doctor amputated the wrong leg, and the situation is clearly one involving medical malpractice claims against the doctor and probably the hospital, but the firm you call says they are not able to help you. If that doctor, or another individual who would be liable in the lawsuit, is the husband, daughter, or other close relative of a lawyer or staff member who works at the firm, this is another situation in which a law firm will likely decline to take your case, no matter how good it may be. Lawyers are often unable to provide a detailed explanation of why they must decline due to conflicts of interest, because of attorney-client confidentiality and other ethical rules, and will usually simply inform you that they are unable to represent you due to a conflict of interest. Though this may be frustrating, and you may wish for a greater explanation, oftentimes the lawyer is not able to provide one. This does not necessarily mean that you do not have a case, however, and you should contact another attorney’s office to see if they have no conflicts and can take on your case. Your claims may be outside of the applicable Statutes of Limitations. Some cases that may be very good legal cases cannot be pursued because the potential client has waited too long. Every state has statutes of limitations which provide a time period in which a case may be brought. These periods of time vary depending on the type of case, as well as the state in which the case would be filed. This is why it is important to contact a lawyer’s office as soon as you think you may have a legal claim. It is also important to have available any relevant dates when you call the lawyer for an evaluation. This may be the date on which a motor vehicle collision or workplace injury took place, a surgery date, or, in the event of many medical malpractice and nursing home cases, a series of dates of treatment and incident. Unfortunately, in many situations, if the applicable statute of limitations has run, there is nothing that a lawyer can do to help you, no matter how good of a case you may have had. However, there are some rules that may apply to the statute of limitations where the potential client has not yet learned of their legal claims until a later date. A lawyer can help determine if that applies to your potential claims, so it does not hurt to call a lawyer even if you think too much time has passed. Your claims may not be within the area of law in which the firm you have called practices. While many law firms offer a broad range of legal services, and take on a variety of different cases involving different types of legal claims, there are many areas of law, and even more different types of legal claims, and not every lawyer or law firm will work in all of those areas or claims. Some types of law, such as Social Security, employee benefits, or worker’s compensation, involve detailed administrative and statutory regulations with which every lawyer may not be intimately familiar. In such situations, you will want to contact an attorney who has experience working within these areas, to help evaluate your situation and guide you through the process of pursuing those claims. Some firms who handle primarily criminal law cases will decline to take on a civil matter, even where it is related to the criminal case, and vice versa. Many lawyers or law offices practice exclusively in one type of law, such as family law, which would cover legal situations such as divorces and custody disputes, and will decline to represent clients in other matters, simply because this is beyond the focus of their practice. Other offices may assist with estate work from time to time, where it is necessary to pursue claims on behalf of a deceased person, such as in some medical malpractice or nursing home negligence cases, but are not able to assist a client with detailed estate planning or tax work. Again, simply because that particular lawyer or law firm declines to represent you in your claims, it does not necessarily mean that you do not have viable legal claims. Oftentimes in these situations, the lawyer who is declining your case will explain that your claims fall within an area of law beyond the scope of their practice, and may suggest you contact an attorney who advertises that they practice in that particular area of law. There may also be situations in which you have multiple legal claims, some of which the lawyer can assist you with, and others for which they would direct your call elsewhere. No matter the outcome, calling a lawyer’s office for an evaluation is the best way to determine what legal claims you have, and whether that firm can assist you with them. Regardless of whether the lawyers at Bordas & Bordas are ultimately able to take on your case, we are always here to listen to your situation and provide a free consultation of any potential claims you may have.

This past week, we saw all over social media and the news that a K-9 officer was killed in the state of Ohio. Most people are saddened by a loss of any officer, but when it’s a K-9 officer, the emotions are so different.  These (four-legged) officers go first to clear the way for their human partners and they put themselves in danger and never once stop to think about themselves.  Why is that?  Dogs are protectors of humans and love us unconditionally and, more than likely, will befriend most humans until a human shows they can’t be trusted. Today’s K-9 officers are not like they were back in the day when dogs were first introduced to police work.  They are better trained and live with their human police officer partners and their families until retirement and most retired K-9s live out the rest of their days with the families that have become so dear to their heart. Today’s four-legged officers do more than just ride and walk our streets protecting us.  They are bomb sniffing, drug smuggling finders and they still keep us all safe.  K-9 breeds have changed, too. They are not just the standard German Shepherd   they had back in the day.  Mixed breeds and all sizes of dogs are now used to do so many wonder things for us.  Dogs, over the years, have become our best friends or they can be our worst nightmare.  No dog is born mean just like no person is born to hate. It is learned over the years. K-9 officers have given up their lives for so many. In the end, they deserve to be treated just like any other officer on the force.  If they are killed in the line of duty and the suspect is caught, that suspect should go on trial just like it would be for any other officer killed in the line of duty. I feel the same way about our military dogs, too, but that’s a whole other story waiting to be written. So from Barley, Guinness, Jackson, Caroline and myself, we thank you for your service and for putting your dog self in harms way for all of us. Bark on, Bordas Dog Nation, Bark On.

On January 4, 2016, President Obama announced a series of Executive Orders to address gun-related violence in America. Among those orders was the creation of a limited “express permission” in the HIPAA Privacy Rule to disclose information relevant to the federal mental prohibitor for National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).  The NICS is a national system maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to conduct background checks on persons who may be disqualified from receiving firearms based on federally prohibited categories or state law. Among the persons subject to the federal mental health prohibitor are individuals who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution; found incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity; or otherwise have been determined by a court, board, commission or other lawful authority to be a danger to themselves or others or to lack the mental capacity to contract or manage their own affairs, as a result of marked subnormal intelligence or mental illness, incompetency, condition or disease.  The President believes the HIPAA modification is “necessary to address the concerns of covered entities were reluctant to report perceiving HIPAA as a barrier.” Setting aside whether the President’s conduct in creating exceptions to federal laws established through congress is legal, many health care professionals are concerned about what these changes will have on our country’s mental health care system.  Opponents of the executive action argue that communications between patients and their health care providers should be kept confidential under all circumstances, and that HIPAA prohibits such conduct. For instance, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) strongly advocates that people should not be treated differently with respect to firearms regulations based on stereotypical assumptions about mental illness and its relationship to violence. NAMI believes that the current NICS law is based on faulty assumptions about the relationships between mental illness and violence, not grounded in science. We therefore do not support amending the HIPAA Privacy Rule to create a special exception for reporting of mental health records to the NICS database. Moreover, the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS) is concerned that the public will perceive the new rule as a mandate for their mental health doctor, nurse, therapist, counselor, etc.  to report an “incompetent” or “dangerous” patient to the federal registry.  As a result, the NAPHS believes that the rule will create a chilling effect on individuals' willingness to seek treatment, or discuss issues in treatment that could lead to positive resolution rather than violence directed toward themselves or others.  Others are concerned that some covered providers, motivated for political or other nefarious reasons, will exercise this rule to report political dissidents who, in their opinion, may be a danger to themselves or others, and therefore unfit to own a firearm.  For example, those patients diagnosed with “oppositional defiance disorder,” i.e. a recurrent pattern of negativistic, defiant, disobedient and hostile behavior toward authority figures, might be someone, who in the healthcare professional’s opinion, is incompetent or a risk of harming self or others, necessitating legal proceedings, NICS reports and ultimately deprivation of one’s Second Amendment rights. In response, the President acknowledged the need to balance the public safety interest and individual privacy interests, which is why the grant of permission to report applies only to those covered entities that order the involuntary commitments or make the other adjudications that cause individuals to be subject to the federal mental health prohibitor, or that serve as repositories of such information for NICS reporting purposes. Thus, the rule does not affect most treating providers or create a permission for them to disclose PHI about their own patients for these purposes. Furthermore, the information that may be disclosed is limited to an individual’s: Social Security number, state of residence, height, weight, place of birth, eye color, hair color and race.  The President, however, notes that this list could be expanded to include: the individual's name, sex and date of birth; as well as codes identifying (1) the Federal mental health prohibitor, (2) the record documenting the involuntary commitment or adjudication and (3) the entity from which the record initiated) that may be helpful in verifying identity and excluding false matches.  The White House further explained that this rule has no bearing as to who is authorized or prohibited from owning a firearm, just a grant of permission to release information. It remains to be seen whether the new HIPAA rule will foster public security, and/or have a deleterious effect on mental health care.  Will individuals in need of professional mental health services, refuse to seek treatment, thereby increasing the risk of suicides and/or homicides?  Perhaps not, but it would be interesting to see if the Department of Health and Human Services or some other federal agency would develop data gathering strategies to determine what effect the deprivation of individual privacy rights has on individual mental health and public safety in the United States of America.  Moreover, it will be interesting to see if the states revisit their own privacy laws, and decide whether they need to implement and/or modify state privacy laws to suit the needs of their residents.

I’m not much of a gambler, but over the last few weeks everyone at the firm has been purchasing Powerball tickets as a team, and who knows? We could win! I find myself fantasizing about what if. Have you ever thought about what you would do if you won the lottery? For me, remaining anonymous would be a priority. Then I would fly off to paradise with my family for a few weeks and gather all their input to figure out just what we should do with our winnings. I know I would pay off bills for our family members.  My husband suggested that we just give away our current investments and belongings and go somewhere warm and start from scratch.  That’s not such a bad idea. I find myself smiling when I imagine us anonymously surprising someone by doing something spectacular for a person in need just because we can. Although I know there are things I would change, many things would be kept relatively the same.  I wouldn’t necessarily want to attain any specific material items, but I would look to improve quality of life. For myself, my intention of improving quality of life means allowing myself to spend a little extra money freeing up more time enjoying life.  Instead of doing everything myself, I then would have more time to take things in stride. That could mean hiring staff to assist me with my business or my home so I could spend all my time concentrating on those I love and hold close to my heart without the daily distractions and the hustle and bustle.  I guess it would somehow let us give ourselves permission to stop and smell the roses…something that gets put off all too often.  My loved ones would then have all of me and I would have all of them.  If you ask me, that’s something you can’t put a price tag on. - Erin Dodd What I would do with my cut of the Billion Dollar Power Ball Ok, a girl can dream, can’t she?!? Well, first and foremost, I would take care of my family and my friends who are like my family. Oh, the things I could do to help originations in our area. I would give some of my winnings to help find a cure for cancer, to help all domestic violence victims, to help abused children, to help those who have drug problems and more. My list could go on and on.  But my one passion in life is dogs.  I would love to help our local shelters and my one goal would be to open a home/hospice for dogs.   I would love to make sure they are cared for in a way that they know that they are loved long- or short- term.  Most shelters don’t have the time or the means to do this. I find it hard to believe that a person would dump their pet at the shelter because they just don’t want to take the time to care for them when they age.  My love of dogs has always been strong and I’ve always been a caretaker for someone in my life, but taking care of a dog is a privilege that not too many people understand. I want any dog in the last stages of life to have it good life, whether it’s playing with a bunch of balls, eating favorite foods or just sleeping in a comfortable bed before they head over the Rainbow Bridge. This would make me one happy lady.  I would do it in the name of love, Otis the Dog and Zoey Girl because no dog should ever have to head to their final resting place alone or without looking into the eyes of a loving human who really cares about what happens. What an awesome place it would be! Bark on Bordas Dog Nation, Bark on. -Jeanne Dedo

The smart phone era and social media popularity both certainly have their perks. I mean isn't it cool that we can get virtually any information needed at any time with portable devices? And how awesome is it that our friends and family across the globe can share in our lives via Facebook and other social media outlets by looking at photos of our kids, wishing us well when they didn't see us at the last holiday gathering, congratulating us on our accomplishments or a new baby, or sending us condolences for the loss of a loved one... The list goes on. How terrific is it that we can get information at an unbelievable speed and at utmost convenience? We can Google the answers to our child's homework, look up a phone number, shop online, check sports scores, find new recipes, you name it! They are all just a click away or sometimes a simple question to Siri. How convenient for all of us! Then there is texting. Which isn't exactly that new of a phenomenon, but still is awfully cool in and of itself. It is a quiet way to correspond with friends and family, a quick and easy way to tell them something. No kids yelling in the background, and no waiting to leave a voicemail. Just text and when they get a chance they will see it. I often think about how convenient that feature would have been for me while I was in law school and married, living away from my husband. I am not old. We had cell phones when I was in law school (I did graduate in the 2000s). They weren't big and bulky and ancient looking with antennas (think Jurassic Park or Saved By the Bell). They were compact and normal – flip phones. But we didn't text. No, I had to wait to call my husband when I was out of class and hope he was available to take my call. I couldn't just text a reminder to him here or there but a whole conversation had to take place. That's just a simple example of a difference that technology has brought to our lives in just a few short (less than 10) years. There are thousands of other examples I could give and many more examples those older than me could share. The generation before me, they had phones that were connected to the wall! Hard to believe you had to stand in the same location to have a conversation. And when they needed to help their kids with their homework, they used books- encyclopedias and dictionaries. Their computers, if you were financially sound enough to even own one, weren’t portable. They were connected to the wall and often times used a dial up connection to get on the Internet. Which meant the phone, connected to the wall, now couldn’t be used. How lucky are we today with the technology and resources we have available? Pretty lucky. But as with all things, there are drawbacks. And this leads me to why I am jealous of the older generation and why the younger generation should be jealous of me... I’m jealous of the TIME the older generation had. And the younger generation should be jealous of the PRIVACY I had growing up. Let me explain...you know those answers that are so readily available to us? And those friends that we can reach with just a quick post on Facebook or a text? These people that technology has made so easy for us to reach?  They’re stealing my TIME! I do it. I am guilty of it. I know I am. And probably some of you are, too. I check texts when I shouldn't. I read social media when I shouldn't. When what I want to be doing, and what I need to be doing is spending time with my loved ones or enjoying a family dinner. I should be taking in a moment that may seem normal and ordinary and making it spectacular and extraordinary. I could be having an old-fashioned conversation!  I could be present in the moment before the moment becomes a memory. Have any of you seen the pictures that were taken of families looking at their phones, and the phones were removed from the photos via Photoshop? It was incredible! People on dates looking at their hands (where the phone would normally be), couples in bed and on the same couch on their photo-shopped out phones, parents at the park with their kids or at their sporting events on their photo-shopped out phones, kids at the dinner table with photo-shopped out iPads. How silly the photos looked without the device in them, yet how clearly the point was made. We have welcomed these devices into our homes and allowed them to be a part of our intimate moments with our loved ones and family members. We bring them to dinner, bed, sporting events, vacation. These smart phones, they have made me stupid. Stupid enough to have let them steal my TIME and for that I am jealous of the older generation who didn't have the temptation or existence of such devices. And that younger generation: my children. It makes me sad and nervous to think of their childhood and adolescence. They are fortunate to have so many wonderful opportunities afforded to them because of technology. They can learn things younger and faster than I ever could. They can self –teach by simply watching a YouTube video and they can explore areas of the world - photos of foreign lands and animals, videos of foreign languages and customs. They can read without books and watch movies without DVDs. But they have so much freedom that their privacy has been lost. Growing up is hard enough to do without social media to accentuate your flaws. Going to school was hard enough when people were mean and nasty to you in the confines of the school building, now there is cyber bullying. A kid can't even go home to the place he feels secure, with people that love him, without still being connected to the horrible people who haunt him. And what about all those stupid things we do - in college, or while drunk or ever? Now, there is a camera as readily available to us as our phones to document all that stuff quickly, easily and indiscreetly. We have all done something that we probably regret. How would we feel if that regretful thing was captured in a photo or a video and then sent to people or worse yet publicly posted for the whole world to see? The horror!!! There are so many wonderful ways that social media and smart phones help us - find lost loved ones, solve crime, capture memories easier, execute prayer chains, etc., but there are so many ways that the same media can hurt our lives. I don't want technological advances to take away any more of my TIME and I don't want it to invade any more of my children's privacy. I want my children to get to enjoy life and make mistakes and live without the fear and anxiety that comes with social media. They don't see technology that way. This is all they know! But I know differently! And my parents knew differently, and their parents did, and their parents did and so on. It's the evolution of life. It is a beautiful thing. Minds are reaching new horizons and making awesome gadgets. Brains are finding cures for diseases that those before them could have only dreamed of finding. We get to LIVE this! Let us make sure that we actually are LIVING it. And not merely using it as a substitute for living.

On Saturday night, I wrote on Social Media during the AFC Playoff Game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals that I hoped that young kids watching the game were learning how not to play football. The Bengals not only self-destructed in the final two minutes of the game, but they did it in a way that is embarrassing to the NFL, and to be quite frank, to those associated with football everywhere. Jeremy Hill fumbled the football with the game on the line.  The man made a mistake by not securing the football with the game all but wrapped up for his team. Mistakes happen. That is part of football. Indeed, it is part of life. His fumble gave the Steelers the ball and a chance to drive for a game-winning field goal.  But, what followed should not be part of football. Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict and cornerback Adam (formerly known as "Pacman") Jones handed the Steelers the game with conduct that was not only unsportsmanlike, but also flies in the face of all that is good about football.  I am a lawyer. I am also a high school football coach.  But, the role in my life that I take most seriously is that of father.  Would any father watching the actions of Burfict and Jones at the end of that game want their son to play a game where such conduct occurs? Are they examples of the values we want our kids to learn? Burfict took a cheap and illegal shot to the head of Antonio Brown, a defenseless Steelers wideout and the best receiver in the league this season, giving him a concussion. His team was penalized 15 yards for his conduct while Brown remained on the field for several minutes being checked. Jones then garnered an additional 15 yard penalty as a result of a verbal and/or physical exchange with Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter and the officials.  The result of the two penalties was the Steelers having the ball at the Bengals 18 yard line instead of the 48 yard line. The next play Chris Boswell drilled a 35 yard field goal to win the game and eliminate the Bengals from the playoffs. It was the culmination of a night where Burfict and his defensive teammates were out of control both on the field and on the sideline.  And, it should be a lesson for all young kids who watched --- it's not the way you are supposed to play the game. Football can be and is at times a violent sport. After all, you have tremendous athletes moving at a high rate of speed colliding into each other with a significant amount of force. Because of this, players sometimes get injured. However, it should never be the goal to illegally injure an opposing player. It is unsportsmanlike, it is dirty and it is downright immoral. We play the game to learn about hard work, teamwork and perseverance.  We accept the risk of injury because we know that what we gain from the game outweighs the hardships it may bring. But, this is all premised upon the participants playing the game by the rules. When players are out of control and have no regard for the rules, the scales are tipped, the risk of serious injury goes up and it makes it a game not worth watching. Intent to illegally injure. Verbal and physical altercations. Unfair play.  None of these are principles that make the game great. None of these make us want to watch. None of these make us want to sign our kids up to play.  They are downright despicable.  So, I'm glad the actions of Burfict and Jones cost their team the game Saturday night.  In fact, I hope it costs them their jobs. As for kids watching the game, I hope you learned something important.  Playing illegally or acting like a fool is not the way you play the game. It will only cost you in football and in life.

Want to make a good business investment? Easy. Invest in your employees. Start by serving as a mentor. Let that employee learn by example to the best of their ability.  Treat them with respect.  Appreciate their service and remember they are human beings with real needs and issues.  Recognize efforts and remember everyone can contribute on different levels in order to build a solid team for your business. Take time with this investment and nurture it daily.  These are tools to help you find success. What happens from the employee perspective when the bosses recognize you are working hard and decide you need a reward? You feel like you’ve hit the jackpot.  In my case, well…in the case of everyone here at Bordas & Bordas, that may just happen.  We are all feeling lucky right now. Why? Well, the Partners of the firm have been paying particular attention to performances and efforts of the associates and staff.  They take time to encourage the growth and development of each and every member.  Sure, they care about us as people, but they also have no doubt that the more they invest in their people, the better the result.  In any business, each and every person plays a very important role in the success of a company. We were given an extra special reward this past Christmas and I already notice the return on that investment. What was this extra special incentive? In recognition of the contributions of each employee here, Managing Partner Jamie Bordas announced at our Christmas party that our efforts have not gone unnoticed. That’s when the big surprise hit. We were informed that, in the near future, we would report to work, but instead of working, we would be toted off to the airport to board a plane.  Each member of the firm and a guest will be spending a week in Las Vegas!  How awesome is that? I see how excited each and every one of our staff members are as the days grow nearer. It has given incentive to everyone to have the drive to exceed each preceding year because they see that those efforts will not be ignored. It has built camaraderie amongst staff as they plan a great trip. It’s motivation.  We set the standards high here and we settle for nothing less. Here at Bordas & Bordas, we work hard and we will play hard! Such a generous gift from such generous people and we are so very grateful for this. Thanks Jim, Linda, Jamie, Scott, Geoff & Chris!  You truly gave us a Christmas to remember and a year to look forward to.

Don Blankenship will escape his criminal trial without receiving the long prison sentence he deserves. A possible one year in jail, and a fine, are punishments that do not fit his crimes. But rather than rail against the injustice, we need to understand it, and address it, by fixing the laws and the system that made it happen. Don’t imagine the lawyers, or the judge or the jury rigged it. All of those folks performed their roles properly and honestly in this case. Everyone involved did their lawful duty in the epic Charleston trial of the former coal baron. But the resulting sentence points to a larger and more important truth below the surface. For a powerful few in this country, nothing is left to chance. Blankenship didn’t have to try to influence the judge or jury unduly, because people like him set the system up well in advance, and make sure that the law itself is looking after them. When the chips fall their way, there is no surprise because everything has been arranged ahead of time. CEOs like Blankenship have rigged our system in a deep and systematic way. The reason the sentence will be such a letdown was perfectly expressed by Vann Newkirk’s observation that our “system cannot avenge those it was not designed to protect.” Exactly so. Our justice system has been built up over hundreds of years — all of them dominated, to one extent or another, by the power of organized money. A person can receive a long prison term for possessing marijuana, but not for conspiring to violate mine safety regulations. The reason is that those who would conspire to violate mine safety regulations organize their money and demand special protections from the legal system — and they get them. West Virginians overwhelmingly believe that Don Blankenship bears responsibility for the deaths at Upper Big Branch. A clearer case of “industrial homicide” has rarely been seen. Yet again and again, Blankenship’s team expressed frank incredulity and indignity at the idea that he would even be tried, let alone convicted, of anything. Booth Goodwin’s historic prosecution of Blankenship was a tour de force, all the more so given the limited tools we give our prosecutors to work with against CEOs. But the light sentence — destined to be heavier in money than jail time — clearly shows us where ordinary miners stand in our legal system compared to the big bosses. Mine safety regulations are a matter of life and death. But conspiracy to violate them carries a misdemeanor-grade sentence. The system we have cannot avenge those it was not designed to protect. So we must change the system, and bring it into balance with what truly matters — bringing workers home at the end of the day to be reunited with their families — instead of tilting it towards “profit at any cost.” All aspects of the system have this problem. Pensions and health benefits for workers are no safer than the workers themselves. In bankruptcy court, there is always money and more money to pay executives their salaries, bankers their fees and bonuses on top of that. But there is never money for the workers’ pensions. Modest, monthly checks earned over 30-plus years of service at hard labor are suddenly “bloated” or “excessive,” while multi-million dollar bonanzas for single executives are “necessary expenditures” for “key employees.” More often than not, the most-highly compensated personnel have the most responsibility for the financial disasters, just as they have the most responsibility for the the human catastrophes. But they have financed a system that makes sure the price for their mistakes is paid by others. And they are getting their way. Year after year, just as families are broken and bereft of their loved ones who do not survive Blankenship’s vision of how to “run coal,” so are those who survive bereft of the money once thought to have been earned underground.  Organized money operates a system much like the house in a casino; in the end, they get it all. Financial criminals brought this nation to its knees in 2007, and few if any of them have been prosecuted and none received a significant jail sentence despite costing the nation hundreds of billions of dollars and millions of jobs. Meanwhile, thousands of Americans are jailed for failing to have money enough to pay fines for petty violations of the law and regulations. Privatization of our prisons and courts is another means for organized money to extract profit from ordinary working people, and it’s a growth industry in 2016. We need to redesign our system. We need to give prosecutors the tools they need to reach the top — where the decisions really get made. Mine safety is as good a place as any to start.  At the federal level, the Byrd Act remains ready to go — every member of West Virginia’s Congressional delegation should support it as a top priority. If West Virginia’s leaders won’t stand up for miners and their families, who will? At the state level, conspiracies like Blankenship’s to violate mine safety rules should be deemed a felony and carry a stiff sentence. Some say that West Virginia prosecutors wouldn’t have the moxie to take on CEOs like Blankenship. But our U.S. Attorney has set an example for others to follow by boldly placing the responsibility where it belongs: on the wealthy men making the decisions that sent honest, hardworking, decent people into needless peril and death. Others must follow his work. The least leaders can do is deliver to our prosecuting attorneys the legal tools they need to make their convictions count at sentencing time. Working people don’t have the advantage of unlimited bank accounts. They have to educate, organize and vote to beat the Blankenships at their own game. When organized people demand it, we will have a system that protects them from organized money. Let's get started.