Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all and a special thank you to all the court personnel, sheriffs and judges who allow us to have a safe and fair venue to present our legal issues.

Trials this week

I am working on a new section which you will find on the bottom right. With the great assistance of the courts, I will attempt to post whatever trials are taking place in Fort Bend County each week. It is our great right to be able to have our disputes resolved by a jury of our peers when other attempts of resolution fail. Trials are generally open to the public and if you have never seen a real trial, I would suggest that you take some time and just stop in and watch one.

Responsiblity

As many of you know, we represent both individuals and corporations in a variety of legal issues, but the overriding issue is responsibility. Taking responsibility and in some cases (with the help of the jury) getting others to take the responsibility for their actions when they will not do so voluntarily is one of the fundamental basis for the legal system. Currently we are involved in a case in which two people were killed in a parking lot at a local business. I have already received messages stating that this is the problem with the justice system that we are attempting to blame the business instead of the killer. That is a misunderstanding of the situation. We want (and are doing everything in our power to help the authorities) the killer to be brought to justice, but by the same token we believe that a business that knows of an on-going crime problem, including a prior murder should take some action to protect the people who are paying their hard earned money to shop there. If you follow the logic of some of the messages I have received no business would be responsible for maintaining their property or taking reasonable measures to keep it safe. Their only responsibility would be to collect the money from the customers without care for their safety. The families that went to Kroger that night to buy groceries did their jobs, they drove to the store, brought their money and were ready to buy the groceries. They were not warned about the dangerous nature of the area, they were not provided with any security, the store did not invest in any cameras outside, did not increase lighting nor patrols outside, instead they left it to the criminals and the criminals took advantage of it. Should a business be held responsible for criminal activity when they know it has been going on for sometime? Should they compensate the victims whose only mistake was choosing to shop at this complex? Should the killer be punished? It is my position that the answer to the questions is the same --yes. Let me know your thoughts.

New Court of Appeals Justice Appointed

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry has appointed Kent C. Sullivan of Houston justice of the 14th Court of Appeals for a term to expire at the next general election. The court represents 10 Houston area counties.

Sullivan is the first assistant attorney general of Texas and past presiding judge of the 80th District Court in Harris County. He is a member of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee and Houston Bar Association, member and past director of the State Bar of Texas Texas and Houston Bar Foundation fellow. He is also a past member of the Houston Society of the Performing Arts Board of Directors, Downtown Association, and Texas Public Policy Foundation. Sullivan received a bachelor’s degree and law degree from the University of Virginia. He replaces Wanda Fowler of Houston.

Lampson Deserves our Thanks

Now that the election is over and Pete Olsen has been elected (I have almost gotten over the sign theft) I think everyone should thank Nick Lampson for all he has done for our county. While the republicans are congratulating themselves on electing Mr. Olsen, I would like to point out what we have lost. We have lost a representative who had seniority. We have lost a representative who was on the major committees which impacted our community and his constituents. We have lost a representative who met with more of his constituents in two years than his predessor did in his entire tenure. We have lost a representative who had the ear of the leadership. What was his failure, other than apparently having a D next to his name? The biggest complaint I heard was that he voted conservative, and (gasp) he voted as his constituents wanted. The comment was that it was all part of some big plan to keep him in office. I always thought that was what our representatives were supposed to do. So regardless of your party affiliation or who your "guy" was, I think we all should thank Nick Lampson for all he has done over the last two years. As for our new representative, Mr. Olsen, my hope is that you can keep the same lines of communication open with your constituents, but be careful, voting as your constituents want can be hazardous to your re-election.

The Vote is in

The two District Judges in Fort Bend County Judge Vacek of the 400th and Judge Shoemake of the 434th retained their positions. I would like to congratulate both of the Judges and also both of their opponents. Mr. Flick and Mr. Hollan in running great campaigns. All the candidates should be congratulated on their ability and willingness to serve the public and a very professional and ethical campaign. We are fortunate in Fort Bend County to have such qualified people willing to work for all our benefit.