ELECTED OFFICIALS SHOULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE, THE SAME AS THE REST OF US.
	I’ve been involved with the judicial system about six times in my life...three of which were negative experiences.

ARE YOU A "BAD NEWS" JUNKY?

I seldom watch the news but I do watch the weather since it has a direct impact on my schedule. I can’t do anything about stopping natural disasters and have no control over anyone else’s actions (drinking and dying in an automobile wreck somewhere half way across the nation). Listening to that causes our fight or flight responses to kick in and an increase in health impacting stress hormones. Research has shown an increase in cortisol, a stress hormone, contributes to an accumulation of abdominal fat. If you’re overweight and a bad news junky, think about it.

A JUDGE NAPPING ON THE JOB CAUGHT MY ATTENTION.

I have an outdoor video project in process and the other night turned on the TV weather. I half heard about a judge in El Paso being removed from the bench for possible sexual harassment or other problem. If he’s guilty or not, I have no idea. If he’s guilty, he should be held responsible the same as anyone else. At the end of that story the commentator said New Mexico also had a judge removed from the bench. One of the reasons for his removal was napping on the job. That caught my attention because I had a judge go to sleep during a court case.

BAILIFF, WHAT HAPPENED?

I was in the automotive business and my service manager had a customer sign the work order stating the customer would put the antifreeze in. That winter, the customer had a freeze related problem and took my business to court. During testimony and presentation of the signed work order, the judge went visibly to sleep and had to ask the bailiff what had been said and what the papers were all about. The judge found in my favor during the trial but changed his decision at some time later. It was small claims court and I had no recourse, couldn’t look at the court records and wasn’t able to talk to the judge. That cost my company a couple of hundred dollars and left bad memories concerning the judicial system.

DON'T THROW ROCKS AT MY DOG!

My business serviced most of the high end cars in the Eugene, Oregon area: Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Jaguars, plus eleven race cars. We had an eight foot chain link fence around the property and guard dogs for security. One evening I was closing up shop and, when going out the front door, I saw one of the local alcoholics, who’d just left the neighborhood tavern, throwing rocks at our guard dog. I went over and told him to quit and he threw a punch at my face. I flipped him over on his back and, while I had him pinned to the ground with my knee, told him if he ever did that again I’d have him thrown in jail. A couple of days later I was served with papers that he was suing me for assault and battery. There had been six witnesses and when I put that in my reply, the suit was dropped. End of problem, right? Wrong!

JUDGES SHOULD HAVE TO PAY FOR THEIR MISTAKES.

The judge who was supposed to sign it off forgot, had brain fade or some other form of dereliction of duty. I didn’t find out until some months later when two Eugene police showed up one morning, handcuffed me and hauled me off to jail for failure to appear in court. That cost the City of Eugene a sizable amount for false arrest which, I believe, the judge should have had to pay out of his own pocket the same as anyone else.

GOLF ANYONE?

When living in Hawaii I had another incident where a judge, and my attorney, didn’t follow through. We didn’t find out about that until nineteen years later. The entire story is too long for here, but I’ll post it on my website http://www.larryRmiller.com. The short of it is: the judge said, in his words, “We’ll expunge everything from your record if you can produce papers within the next thirty days stating the property is legally yours” which I did. Nineteen years later we found out differently. When entering Canada, a background check was run and they found I had a felony charge on my record. The border official gave me choices, come back in two weeks after their twenty year time limit elapsed or pay $200.00 for a complete background check. Our contract began in two days, so we paid. The next day, since they’d found nothing, we breezed through. Is the charge still on my record? I have no idea. In 1982 I paid thousands to have it taken care of, in 2002 we paid another $200.00 all because a judge, and attorney, apparently had other things on their minds. I know they both golfed.

WHY ARE LAWMAKERS ABOVE THE LAW?
	Are you aware that Senators and Representatives have passed legislation exempting them from many of the laws the rest of us are bound by...sexual harassment is one. Would the universal health bill be different if Senators, Representatives and the President had the same benefits, and charges, as the rest of us. That should be a no brainer to answer.