Inmates vs. Pigs

How did an image of a pig — the infamous ’60s-era epithet by protesters for police officers — wind up on a decal used on as many as 30 Vermont State Police cruisers?

Keith Flynn, Vermont's public safety commissioner had to explain how an alteration of decals which are affixed to the Vermont State Police Cars ended up on thirty Vermont State Police Cars.  There was, it appears, an artistically talented inmate who reshaped a spot on a cow -- an animal featured in the Vermont state seal -- in the shape of a pig.  Versions of the altered decal were placed on as many as 30 state police cruisers.

"It is fair to say the quality control will be improved at the Corrections Department and the Vermont State Police," said the executive officer of the State Police.

If you look at the cow's shoulder there is the pig!

“This is not as offensive as it would have been years ago. We can see the humor,” said Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn, a former state trooper and state prosecutor who was named commissioner a year ago. “If the person had used some of that creativeness [more positively], he or she would not have ended up inside.”

“We used to play in the Pig Bowl,” said Senator Campbell, the Vermont State Senate leader, and former State Police Officer. “It was the state versus the county and municipal police. While it was derogatory in the ’60s, we used it as a fundraisers for charities.”

Good Lawyer/Bad Lawyer

There is a very entertaining blog "The Velvet Hammer".  It is written by a personal injury attorney who practices in Portland, Oregon.  Recently she posted ten reasons why she would prefers to have good lawyers on the other side of the dispute.  Her reasons:

"Here are the top 10 reasons I'd rather try a case against a good defense lawyer:
10.  Don't have to mute normal style and appear almost blase.
9.  Don't have to dumb down technique to avoid seeming too smooth.
8.  Jurors appreciate an evenly matched fight.
7.  Judge gets less exasperated.
6.  Easier to predict timing which helps with scheduling witnesses
5.  Don't get bogged down (bored) as much with foundation and procedural issues
4.  Hate waste of time and it can become difficult to hide impatience (eye rolling syndrome)
3.  The jury may decide it needs to do that lawyer's job.
2.  Makes the defense look like it doesn't have the resources to hire decent counsel (even though an insurance company is footing the bill); and most importantly
1.  It is way more fun to try a case against a really good lawyer."

Another related situation is the relatively common situation when I have had to represent a client against a party that has no lawyer.  About fifteen years ago I represented a very nice woman who married a nut.  They had a couple of children.  The wife, we will call her Mrs. Sane, was intelligent but did not like confrontation.  The husband, we will call Mr. Nut, was, well..., a nut.  He sent many letters to the Judge, Judge Demarest, accusing him and Mrs. Sane and me and the law guardian of being part of the "Lawyer-Lesbian Conspiracy".  This was troubling for two reasons.  First, Mrs. Sane was not a lesbian.  (Neither is Judge Demarest.  Neither am I.  Neither was the Law Guardian.)  Second, I was not aware that there was a Lawyer-Lesbian Conspiracy.

On the serious side, though, a three day trial could have been solved without trial had Mr. Nut not been acting like Mr. Nut.  The fun part of the trial was the look on Judge Demarest's face when I had Mr. Nut read the letter that he sent to Mrs. Sane about Judge Demarest being part of the Lawyer Lesbian Conspiracy.

By the way, if you are interested the Velvet Hammer blog, which is always funny and useful can be found at http://www.karenkoehlerblog.com/  I found the blog from an article in the ABA Magazine as one of the top ten blogs for lawyers.