Jack's Law Office March Newsletter

LOVING THOSE BUS RIDES

...(written while riding the DU team bus-2 nights ago)

The headlights of the Lakefront Lines bus steadily light the dark sky and help guide the motorcoach as it rolls towards Beckley, West Virginia. Denison University is getting ready to open its baseball season.

I sit in the front seat looking out the grey pavement of I-70. I am reminded of how lucky I have been to experience so many team bus rides for so many years.

First, the junior high bus rides of football, basketball, and baseball were short. From Middleburg Hts. (a suburb of Cleveland) to Greenbriar Junior High in Parma. Later, in high school, many were way across the Greater Cleveland area to the east side - to places like  Mentor, Eastlake North, Willougby; Maple Heights and Bedford.

I remember the JV Saturday AM football rides - Padua was a bummer. 

Willoughby South was probably the quietest ride-having played in the mud and downpour rain and ending up just short of victory; of just down the street to Berea for rival games; to the Canton Hall of Fame where we played our best game of the year against Canton McKinley.

To the last game of my high school baseball career: Bedford. I stood on second base with the tying run for the league championship and we lost.

I remember the bus ride that never happened; while waiting to go to a game my senior year in baseball, our football coach, Mr. Watts, came onto the bus to take me away. My father was ill with cancer and we didn't know if he was going to make it...

Onward to bigger and better (no longer a school bus, but a motor coach) at Denison. I was not sure if I would even be on the travel roster for football.

On a trip to Marietta where I for the first time in my life did not even get in; to the ride through Alexandria, Johnstown and Sunbury-ie the trip to Delaware and play OWU in football. (Lo and behold I would live there for 27 years just a few years later.)

Across state lines to Washington and Lee University, where I did get in on the kickoff team only to suffer a separated shoulder making a tackle. The defensive backs coach had just told me that I was starting the second half as open side defensive halfback.

The trainer had other ideas though as "Dale" took away my helmet. Great way to end your freshman year of playing football. (Boy did I have a lot to learn.)

Then there were the rides with the OWU Women's Basketball team for all those 25 years. Every team in the league had children along with them. For us, it was one on the shoulder and one in hand-with one briefcase of work or two as the work required.  How TJ slept through that game on my left shoulder I will never know...

And the Delaware Middle School bus ride home from Worthington after a stellar baseball win. It was the happiest bunch of 8th graders that I had ever seen.

Derrick Kline pitched the game of his life. He was just supposed to pitch a couple of innings and never came out. That bus rocked and rolled up R23 to Delaware all the way home.

I just loved the genuine happiness in their faces and the closeness those boys experienced for that short time that afternoon. It was a very diverse group of young boys. 

That brings me up to today; as the DU baseball team rolls towards Beckley WVA to open their season against Case Western and Marietta. It sure beats vans!

I guess the moral of the story is to enjoy life and keep moving; at the gym, around the block, at work and if you see a Lakefront team bus anywhere from Granville to Beckley WVA the next couple days-honk, Big Red Baseball is ready to play!

 Legal Scam Look OUT!

 For the second time in the last few months, I received a desperate phone call from a client worried about a "phone call" from a so-called bill collector. The client supposedly owed some money to a bank for overdraft charges.

Either the client was to pay NOW over the phone with a credit card etc or face criminal "felony" charges. This was an attorney she said.

Petrified the caller frantically got ahold of me. Answer: NO WAY! That is a scam. There is no such thing as "debtors prison".  Ask for their attorney code: it should be something like this...0053386. (That is mine.)

Historic Win for OWU Women's Basketball

Kudos to the OWU women's team for their historic victory last week against the defending National Champion Depauw. Depauw had won over 58 games in a row. Unfortunately or fortunately however you look at it as I am scribing this news, the internet report reveals that Denison has just beaten OWU women in the NCAC Semi-Final game. It makes me happy and sad at the same time. It does. 

BNI News

I recently was accepted into the BNI group out of Granville. I appreciate that opportunity. I previously was a member of the Delaware group.

BNI is a business networking group that meets weekly and works very hard at getting each other business.

The Delaware group was great and I am finding the Granville group engaging. Of course, it helps to meet at the Granville Inn in the same room as the fraternity formal party during my Denison days.

As I told the group-although I was in a fraternity, I was never found "hanging" from the chandelier.

And, as an aside, as I told my boys recently while we all watched, "Animal House", yes-I remember the motorcycle going thru our frat house but as to the rest-well, I do have some memory loss due to age I am sure. Anyway,

Look for some really good suggestions for business coaches, computer, painters, insurance, investment, accountants or real estate issues or needs. Although I am not formally involved in the Delaware group, that will not stop me from recommending the many good people I got to know in Delaware. 

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: "Dances with Wolves

Last night I ran across the movie Dances with Wolves starring Kevin Costner. Great movie. There are 2 things I would like to say about this movie. One-I told TJ-it was the night before the Bar Exam. I was miserable.

I had studied for an entire month. I was completely stressed out to the max. Over 4 years of non-stop study-exam-write-ready-analyze and then start over.

3 and 1/2 years in a row combined with 4 summers in a row. Whew. And the best thing I did that day to prepare for the biggest exam of my life-went to the mall and watched-you got it-Dances with Wolves.

Calmed my nerves incredibly. Took my mind away from Torts and Contracts, Real Property and Commercial Law, Constitutional Law, Corporations, Criminal Law, Civil Procedure - multi-state multiple choice questions and essays in all subjects. It makes me dizzy just thinking about it.

And, drum roll please-it turned out great-passed with flying colors! The second thing I realized after watching the movie last night was..(stay tuned-I want to think about this one.)

Sorry to Hear:

 Shirley Ann (Pheneger) Crim, 87 years old, of Newark Ohio, passed away on February 27, 2014. She was born July 10, 1926, in Granville. She was the oldest of 7 children.

Her brother Jim Pheneger of Berea Ohio was my basketball coach and now dear friend. Mr. Pheneger was the youngest in the family I believe.  Mr. Pheneger brought me to Granville in the winter of 1974 to visit Denison-about this time of year.

My father was too sick to drive and Mr. Pheneger thought DU would be a good fit for me. So, one Sunday, Mr. Pheneger drove my Father and me to Granville and back. I met Keith Piper.

I got my 3 buttons collared DU football shirt (I still have it) eat lunch at the Evergreens and I was sold! Funny, some days, I believe my Father knows exactly where I am. 

 Hitter of the Day for Granville Baseball

 TJ came home the other day from night practice so excited. He mentioned one of the coaches told him he was the best hitter of the day. Wow! TJ practices as a 9th grader with 9-12 graders-all in one. What I love about the team already is the fact that the coaches range from 30 to 80 in age-and most are over 60.

Awesome use of talent, love, and dedication for the game. Now, where is my folding chair...and TJ don't forget...momentum, elastic energy, sweet spot...I will shut up now...

Have a Great Week!

Jack's Law Office "Where Your NEEDS come first-Guaranteed"