Cost of being a good citizen?

[ultrarunner]

There was a neighborhood lawyer with a small office in the business district...

Twice I went to him on behalf of elderly and both times he said he would not be charging and was glad to help...

40 years in the same 300 square feet storefront office.

He actually did accept payment from one of the ladies... she said she is not a Charity Case and demanded a proper bill... he invoiced $75 to put her at ease... Anyone else at the time would have charged at least 10x that amount... for two letters and several phone calls and reviewing legal notices.

 

[jaxs]

I learned when I was young that being truthful and helpful can cause grief.
I was about 8 yrs old, a bunch of us were playing under a bridge over a small stream. Northern Vermont, winter, deep snow. I found a wallet with an ID and some other stuff in it and the corner of a $10 bill.
Brought it home to my parents, they contacted the lady who owned it. Story we got was something like someone stole her purse when she was at a bar. When she and some guy showed up to get the wallet etc. they accused me of stealing the money out of the wallet.

I understand how you felt,especially at that young age but here's my take and what I would told you if I were your dad. Alowing one bad apple to spoil the barrel,shooting all dogs because one has fleas could be applied to damage a single a-hole can do to society. You know the truth in your heart and anyone with half a brain knows that if one steals money from wallet they couldn't care less what becomes of wallet (proven by the fact thief threw wallet in question off the bridge.) On a larger scale the same small minority of a-holes shame soldiers returning from combat for reasons I don't understand. It certainly doesn't show support of those stepping out for our protection and undoubtedly discourages candidates for military service. Don't let "themothers"get you down.

That's one reason that nearly any time I've found but money or a wallet, I turn it into the local PD or sheriff's department.

You might think about turning it over to a clergy or other trusted individual.
My brother reported his car stolen and more than 60 days passed without any word on it. A neighbor heard about it and contacted my brother to say he was passed at high rate of speed by car like my brothers then shortly saw it beside road pulled over by a State Trooper 25 miles from where brother lived. Brother had several thousand dollars of tools and personal processions in car that ins co was balking on paying for plus he had a high deductible to offset male under 25 rates. Brother cantacted local dept that he reparted theft to and a few surounding police departments with this new info. All were clueless so he contacted ins agent. Ins agent called brother 2 days later to arrange a meeting at a police impound less than 30 miles away. Car was undamaged,license plates intact and everything still in it,,,except a ball cap which perp probably wore to jail.
I've bought cars and boats at police auctions to resale,all with unaltered vin and several with tags (3 years ago they began removing tags). There's always high dollar cars,boats and trucks in those auctions. Any towing co,car dealer,bank,several others can find who owns a vehicle within 5 minutes if they have a vin.
Do police try getting property back to owners? You be the judge.

If I find a briefcase full of money, like in No Country for Old men, I'm keeping quiet.

You are the most honest of us all. I'd have less problem keeping a briefcase full than a couple hundred but my puckering string would be super tight until I was sure the king pin didn't see me making off with it.
Click here for a great movie about something similar.

 

[sea2summit]

I hope this was tongue in cheek. Last thing we need in a situation like that is a bunch of civilians going in and playing Rambo. Ain't no way that's gonna end well.

Yeah, it ended so much better with the professionals handling it…

 

[jaxs]

Actually often they don't have to do any "fumbling". I had to get a lawyer for a case once concerning alimony and it was out of state. Wanted like $5K down. By the time the case came around and finished he had only billed for about half. But he refused to refund the leftover and sent me a bill every month, charging me about $250 for the billing. My local attorney said it would cost to much to contest.

That is a very common response to someone seeking justice. A self storage company built more than 50,000 sq feet of buildings with 40,000 sq feet of pavement for a total of 90,000 sq feet shedding 100% of rainfall diverted onto my adjoining 5 acres. Attorneys agreed they were in violation of 3 state laws and told me a big outfit like that would bankrupt me before I collect a cent of damages. The idea that lawyers take cases on contingent must have came from a stand up comedian because I've never seen it happen once. Since they violated state laws,how come government wouldn't file suit? Ha ha ha aahaaa they acted like they didn't know what I was talking about.

 

[Citydude]

That is a very common response to someone seeking justice. A self storage company built more than 50,000 sq feet of buildings with 40,000 sq feet of pavement for a total of 90,000 sq feet shedding 100% of rainfall diverted onto my adjoining 5 acres. Attorneys agreed they were in violation of 3 state laws and told me a big outfit like that would bankrupt me before I collect a cent of damages. The idea that lawyers take cases on contingent must have came from a stand up comedian because I've never seen it happen once. Since they violated state laws,how come government wouldn't file suit? Ha ha ha aahaaa they acted like they didn't know what I was talking about.

Get the EPA involved with water issues. They can shut down anything.

 

[IndyJay]

Get the EPA involved with water issues. They can shut down anything.

... and they love large corporations with deep pocket$...

 

[Cat_Driver]

I reported a property crime in progress calling 911.

Apparently the excellent video surveillance system the business has in place resulted in the arrest of the perpetrator(s).

I found this out when subpoenaed to appear as a witness by the District Attourney.

The incident occurred to a neighboring establishment while I was on the job doing my property rounds.

My dilemma is I have now appeared 4 times at the court house 25 miles away and each time after about half a day the motion to continue is granted which means another trip at a later date to the court house.

My employer was at first very enthusiastic as all the local businesses are experiencing a rash of property crime… now not so much as my departure is affecting patient care at the hospital…

For those that know… is there a limit to how many times a witness can be subpoenaed by the prosecution?

I had no contact nor could I identify party(s) involved and can only testify as to the time I heard the glass shatter and seeing someone leaving premises through the shattered glass carrying a sack and speed off in a waiting car…

PS… the owner of the affected business has not made or been asked to appear in court and was surprised when I said I have???

A crazy man pulled a gun on me on the freeway. I just entered the freeway, with teh wife and my baby daughter was asleep in her car seat so I wasn't doing any crazy maneuvers or road rage, just merging onto traffic. He came out of nowhere got next to me and pointed a gun at me. I slammed on the brakes going 65mph, he flew forward I dropped behind him. I took the fast lane with two or more passengers knowing he couldn't follow. Wrong, he gave chase. I called 911 and within minutes there were onto him. Small chase and they had him pulled over.

Time went on and I was subpoenaed to appear as a witness by the District Attorney also. The court was about an hour away in a big city, traffic in the morning made the one-way trip two hours, parking was horrible and expensive, and the walk to the courthouse was ridiculous.

Checking in was like entering a state prison, and I lost the best-ever keychain knife that I forgot was on my kets when I went through the metal detector, they made me either throw it away or take it back to my vehicle. The walk was too far and time was getting close so I gave up the knife.

I waited and waited as hours went by for someone to come out and tell me that the judge gave them more time to prepare their case and I could go home.

At the time I was running my company and having me gone from the company was a huge inconvenience.

Well, that was it they again subpoenaed me to appear as a witness and I never answered or never appeared again.

You can bet I will never be a witness to anything again in my lifetime.

 

[jaxs]

Get the EPA involved with water issues. They can shut down anything.

Sir I hope you believe me when I say I don't intend to offend you. You are correct,EPA and CPS can shut anything down and leave it up to the agrieved (if the action was wrongful) to prove the action wasn't for good reason. When I told the water control board which has EPA at their disposal that floodwaters could wash pollutants from my buildings and carry them to reservoir 5 miles away,they said that would make me the violator. Almost every household has properly stored material that would be washed away by floodwater. Fertilizer,herbicides,pseticides,oil,grease,paint,solvents,gasoline and tires not on a vehicle to name a few.

 

[jaxs]

SNIP
Checking in was like entering a state prison, and I lost the best-ever keychain knife that I forgot was on my kets when I went through the metal detector, they made me either throw it away or take it back to my vehicle. The walk was too far and time was getting close so I gave up the knife. SNIP

I once ran into the same thing when reporting to jury duty. I walked quite a ways to truck to store the knife and got an idea.
I talked to a couple of Entrepreneur acquaintances about putting lockers at buildings where this happens. One appeared on our behalf before some city councils and county commissioners with details including projected monthly income for them. Although every building has various vending machines and a few have privately run snack bars and such we couldn't get off the ground. 3 guesses why and here's a hint. Think of the #1 singular reason given every day why things can't be done.

 

[IndyJay]

I once ran into the same thing when reporting to jury duty. I walked quite a ways to truck to store the knife and got an idea.
I talked to a couple of Entrepreneur acquaintances about putting lockers at buildings where this happens. One appeared on our behalf before some city councils and county commissioners with details including projected monthly income for them. Although every building has various vending machines and a few have privately run snack bars and such we couldn't get off the ground. 3 guesses why and here's a hint. Think of the #1 singular reason given every day why things can't be done.

Liability?