Law Book

In 1981 or so West Publishing Company (then the world's largest law book publisher) offered me a contract to write a volume on criminal law practice and procedure for use by Washington attorneys. I accepted and started to work, thinking the project would take about 90 days. It took over three years to write the manuscript, which I did while practicing law full-time during the day. The work was published in 1984. It has been cited as authority by both the Washington State Court of Appeals and Washington State Supreme Court.


To get the manuscript finished, I also hired a smart young lawyer named Jeff Gross, who helped quite a bit doing research. West also held the copyright on a lot of criminal law books from other states, so I had access to that material, too. I had been collecting a lot of legal forms from actual cases, which I wanted to include in the manuscript. Midge Wolff helped re-type the legal forms, and Della Wasson typed the manuscript. (Della also typed the manuscript for the 2nd and 3rd editions).


The manuscript resulted in volumes 12 and 13 of the Washington Practice Series. There are several thousand footnotes referring to Washington statutes, Washington cases, United States Supreme Court decisions and other laws and cases. The law is constantly changing through new and amended laws and old case decisions being followed, modified, distinguished or overruled in newer cases.

I now have an arrangement with the publisher to update the volumes each year. The updates are published as supplements to the bound volumes and are inserted into the back cover of the books.

Each year I am to read and summarize the newly enacted state statutes and amendments passed by the state legislature, as well as the Washington State Court of Appeals decisions (contained in the green "advance sheets"), Washington State Supreme Court decisions (contained in the yellow advance sheets), together with the United States Supreme Court decisions for the current session. "Advance sheets" are pamphlets containing the court decisions, available before the same decisions are compiled into bound books.

It's tedious, time-consuming, solitary work, but it's also satisfying-- sort of like taking your kid to get a new haircut and some school clothes before the beginning of a new school year. There is pride invested in the project. Plus, you want it to be accurate and true, as others will be relying upon it. It takes about 80 to 100 hours to do all the reading, summarizing and organizing. A 10-page court decision has to be summarized into a single sentence or phrase to be useful as a foot note. For example, a complex court decision might be summarized like this-- State v. Rathbun, 124 Wn.App. 372, 101 P.3d 119 (2004) (driver jumped out of vehicle and over fence and was 60 feet away from truck when arrested; search of truck was not incident to arrest).

Grill Cooking

My friend knows a lot about healthy cooking with fresh vegetables and how to spice up a meal.



So we went to the local supermarket to put some things together on the grill. I took my camera to photo-document some of the foods. Look at the colors of those vegetables. What a display!

There's also a small local fish market near the Everett waterfront. We bought some fresh oysters for grilling. I wanted to buy a new oyster knife rather than use a screw driver again. Next time I think I'll open the oysters and put them on the grill, rather than wait for the heat to open them.

We also got some tiger schrimp for grilling with some butter and garlic. Mmmmm....good.













This silver salmon was given to me by Clayton, who started me fishing this season. The Coke can is in there to show the size of that fish! I just put it on a boat of aluminum foil and it barely squeezed in under the hood of the grill-- no spices, no butter, no garnish. It was great!















There is other grilling that I've done and have planned this summer. We even went to the movie about Julia Child and I've been inspired to do something other than always drive through McDonald's, although there's a time and place for everything.

There are some U-Pick blueberry fields around here, and the berries taste real good with Bar-B-Q chicken.

Health Care Bill

There's so much discussion about the contents of the proposed "health care" bill that I decided to try to work my way through it. Yes, it's over 1,000 pages. Yes, it's complicated and would take months to figure it out. Yes, I see a lot of constitutional issues, including privacy rights, property rights, separation of powers issues, and 10th Amendment rights reserving power to the states and to the people. This chart is probably pretty close to accurate. (Left click on chart to enlarge it).

It appears to me that many of the complaints about the proposed legislation are well-founded, and that this is definitely a move for national health care and elimination of individual policies and protections. No, I would not support this legislation at all. There's too much in the text of the bill to address it all. Below are some excerpts of the actual text, which I have high-lighted in red. It would be best to read the actual text of the bill yourself. Here's the link to the actual text of the proposed house bill: http://docs.house.gov/edlabor/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf and here's the link to the analysis done by Duke Professor John David Lewis in plain english, which does a better job than me, but which does confirm the suspicions I found on my own by reading the bill: http://www.classicalideals.com/HR3200.htm

Selected excerpts I found pertinent--

QUALIFIED HEALTH BENEFITS PLAN
3 A QHBP offering entity is required to comply with
4 standards for electronic financial and administrative
5 transactions under section 1173A of the Social Security
6 Act, added by section 163(a).

* * *
1 SEC. 102. PROTECTING THE CHOICE TO KEEP CURRENT
2 COVERAGE.
3 (a) GRANDFATHERED HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE DEFINED
4 —Subject to the succeeding provisions of
5 this section, for purposes of establishing acceptable cov
6 erage under this division, the term ‘‘grandfathered health
7 insurance coverage’’ means individual health insurance
8 coverage that is offered and in force and effect before the
9 first day of Y1 if the following conditions are met:
10 (1) LIMITATION ON NEW ENROLLMENT.—
11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in
12 this paragraph, the individual health insurance
13 issuer offering such coverage does not enroll
14 any individual in such coverage if the first ef
15 fective date of coverage is on or after the first
16 day of Y1.

* * *
8 (b) GRACE PERIOD FOR CURRENT EMPLOYMENT
9 BASED HEALTH PLANS.—
10 (1) GRACE PERIOD.—
11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner
12 shall establish a grace period whereby, for plan
13 years beginning after the end of the 5-year pe
14 riod beginning with Y1, an employment-based
15 health plan in operation as of the day before
16 the first day of Y1 must meet the same require
17 ments as apply to a qualified health benefits
18 plan under section 101

* * *
1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Individual health insurance
2 coverage that is not grandfathered health insurance
3 coverage under subsection (a) may only be offered
4 on or after the first day of Y1 as an Exchange-par
5 ticipating health benefits plan.

* * *

(c) TRANSFERS TO TRUST FUND.—
23 (1) DEDICATED PAYMENTS.—There is hereby
24 appropriated to the Trust Fund amounts equivalent
25 to the following:

1 (A) TAXES ON INDIVIDUALS NOT OBTAINING ACCEPTABLE COVERAGE
2—The amounts re
3 ceived in the Treasury under section 59B of the
4 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to re
5quirement of health insurance coverage for indi
6viduals).

7 (B) EMPLOYMENT TAXES ON EMPLOYERS
8 NOT PROVIDING ACCEPTABLE COVERAGE.—The
9 amounts received in the Treasury under section
10 3111(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986
11 (relating to employers electing to not provide
12 health benefits).

13 (C) EXCISE TAX ON FAILURES TO MEET
14 CERTAIN HEALTH COVERAGE REQUIRE MENTS
15—The amounts received in the Treasury
16 under section 4980H(b) (relating to excise tax
17 with respect to failure to meet health coverage
18 participation requirements).

* * *

14 ‘‘(6) NOT TREATED AS TAX IMPOSED BY THIS
15 CHAPTER FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES.—The tax im
16 posed under this section shall not be treated as tax
17 imposed by this chapter for purposes of determining
18 the amount of any credit under this chapter or for
19 purposes of section 55.

* * *

15 ‘‘(f) ENFORCEMENT OF HEALTH COVERAGE PAR
16 TICIPATION REQUIREMENTS.—

17 ‘‘(1) CIVIL PENALTIES.—In the case of any em
18 ployer who fails (during any period with respect to
19 which the election under subsection (a) is in effect)
20 to satisfy the health coverage participation require
21 ments with respect to any employee, the Secretary
22 may assess a civil penalty against the employer of
23 $100 for each day in the period beginning on the
24 date such failure first occurs and ending on the date
25 such failure is corrected.

* * *

‘‘(C) OVERALL LIMITATION FOR UNINTEN
23 TIONAL FAILURES.—In the case of failures
24 which are due to reasonable cause and not to
25 willful neglect, the penalty assessed under para-

1 graph (1) for failures during any 1-year period
2 shall not exceed the amount equal to the lesser
3 of—
4 ‘‘(i) 10 percent of the aggregate
5 amount paid or incurred by the employer
6 (or predecessor employer) during the pre
7ceding taxable year for group health plans,
8 or
9 ‘‘(ii) $500,000.

* * *

18 ‘‘SEC. 59B. TAX ON INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE
19 HEALTH CARE COVERAGE.
20 ‘‘(a) TAX IMPOSED.—In the case of any individual
21 who does not meet the requirements of subsection (d) at
22 any time during the taxable year, there is hereby imposed
23 a tax equal to 2.5 percent of the excess of—

1 ‘‘(1) the taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross in
2 come for the taxable year, over
3 ‘‘(2) the amount of gross income specified in
4 section 6012(a)(1) with respect to the taxpayer.
‘‘(2) NONRESIDENT ALIENS.—Subsection (a)
2 shall not apply to any individual who is a non
3 resident alien.

* * *

16 ‘‘SEC. 59C. SURCHARGE ON HIGH INCOME INDIVIDUALS.
17 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—In the case of a taxpayer
18 other than a corporation, there is hereby imposed (in addi
19 tion to any other tax imposed by this subtitle) a tax equal
20 to—
21 ‘‘(1) 1 percent of so much of the modified ad
22 justed gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds
23 $350,000 but does not exceed $500,000,

1 ‘‘(2) 1.5 percent of so much of the modified ad
2 justed gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds
3 $500,000 but does not exceed $1,000,000, and
4 ‘‘(3) 5.4 percent of so much of the modified ad
5 justed gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds
6 $1,000,000.

* * *

‘‘(A) REPORTING.—Any person who is re
2 quired, but fails, to meet a reporting require
3 ment of paragraphs (1) and (2)(A) of sub
4 section (f) is subject to a civil money penalty of
5 not more than $10,000 for each day for which
6 reporting is required to have been made.

7 ‘‘(B) DISCLOSURE.—Any physician who is
8 required, but fails, to meet a disclosure require
9 ment of subsection (f)(2)(B) or a hospital that
10 is required, but fails, to meet a disclosure re
11 quirement of subsection (f)(2)(C) is subject to
12 a civil money penalty of not more than $10,000
13 for each case in which disclosure is required to
14 have been made.

* * *

22 (9) LANGUAGE SERVICES.—The term ‘‘lan
23 gauge services’’ means provision of health care serv
24 ices directly in a non-English language, interpreta
25 tion, translation, and non-English signage.

* * *

the Secretary shall include
12 quality measures on end of life care and ad
13 vanced care planning that have been adopted or
14 endorsed by a consensus-based organization

* * *

1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause
2 (ii), a qualifying ACO that meet or exceeds
3 annual quality and performance targets for
4 a year shall receive an incentive payment
5 for such year equal to a portion (as deter
6 mined appropriate by the Secretary) of the
7 amount by which payments under this title
8 for such year relative are estimated to be
9 below the performance target for such
10 year, as determined by the Secretary. The
11 Secretary may establish a cap on incentive
12 payments for a year for a qualifying ACO.

* * *

3 ‘‘(C) TARGETED HIGH NEED BENEFICIARY
4 DEFINED.—For purposes of this subsection, the
5 term ‘targeted high need beneficiary’ means a
6 high need beneficiary who, based on a risk score
7 as specified by the Secretary,

* * *

11 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION ON REVIEW.—There shall be
12 no administrative or judicial review under section
13 1869, section 1878, or otherwise, respecting—

* * *
‘‘(v) LIMITATION.—In no case shall
12 more than 20 full-time equivalent addi
13 tional residency positions be made available
14 under this subparagraph with respect to
15 any hospital.
16 ‘‘(vi) APPLICATION

* * *

8 ‘‘(10) The Secretary may disenroll, for a period of
9 not more than one year for each act, a physician or sup
10 plier under section 1866(j) if such physician or supplier
11 fails to maintain and, upon request of the Secretary, pro
12 vide access to documentation relating to written orders or
13 requests for payment for durable medical equipment, cer
14 tifications for home health services, or referrals for other
15 items or services written or ordered by such physician or
16 supplier under this title, as specified by the Secretary.’’

* * *

For purposes of law
18 enforcement activity, and to the extent consistent with ap
19 plicable disclosure, privacy, and security laws, including
20 the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
21 of 1996 and the Privacy Act of 1974, and subject to any
22 information systems security requirements enacted by law
23 or otherwise required by the Secretary, the Attorney Gen
24 eral shall have access, facilitation by the Inspector General
25 of the Department of Health and Human Services, to
1 claims and payment data relating to titles XVIII and XIX,
2 in consultation with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
3 Services or the owner of such data.’’

* * *

8 ‘‘(1) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—A State is
9 not eligible for payment under subsection (a) for a
10 calendar quarter beginning after the date of the en
11actment of this subsection if eligibility standards,
12 methodologies, or procedures under its plan under
13 this title (including any waiver under this title or
14 under section 1115 that is permitted to continue ef
15 fect) that are more restrictive than the eligibility
16 standards, methodologies, or procedures, respect
17 tively, under such plan (or waiver) as in effect on
18 June 16, 2009.

* * *

GENERAL.—A State is not eligible
2 for payment under subsection (a) for a calendar
3 quarter beginning on or after the first day of
4 Y1 (as defined in section 100(c) of the Amer
5 ica’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009), if
6 the State applies any asset or resource test in
7 determining (or redetermining) eligibility of any
8 individual on or after such first day

* * *

V9 SEC. 2541. LIMITATION ON FEDERAL FUNDS.
10 A State is eligible for Federal funds under the provi
11 sions of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et
12 seq.) only if the State—
13 (1) agrees to be subject in its capacity as an
14 employer to each obligation under division A of this
15 Act and the amendments made by such division ap
16 plicable to persons in their capacity as an employer;
17 and
18 (2) assures that all political subdivisions in the
19 State will do the same.

Cowboy Sidekick

"A sidekick is a stock character, a close companion who assists a partner in a superior position. Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, and Batman's companion Robin are some well-known sidekicks in fiction.

The sidekick has the literary function of playing against the hero, often contrasting in skill or performing functions not suited to the hero. By asking questions of the hero, or giving the hero someone to talk to, the sidekick provides an opportunity for the author to provide exposition.

It may also be argued that the comedy sidekick's apparent stupidity makes a non-intellectual hero look intelligent. An openly flamboyant effeminate sidekick may make an unimposing hero look more masculine. A strong, silent and modest hero may have his fighting qualities revealed to the other characters and the audience by a talkative sidekick." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidekick

So, get a beat-up cowboy hat, let your whiskers grow, mess up your hair, wear a tattered vest or coat, speak with a "twang" and say or do some goofy stuff to make the real cowboy hero look good, and you're probably a perfect cowboy "sidekick."

A good cowboy sidekick was George "Gabby" Hayes (top) who was sometimes Roy Rogers' sidekick "Windy Halliday." Walter Brennan (left) had some starring roles of his own, but he was often cast as a sidekick to others, such as John Wayne. Sometimes he was a bad guy.

My favorite was "Festus Haggan" on Gunsmoke, played by Ken Curtis for years. He was a perfect sidekick-- he rode a mule, not a horse. If he had to think about something, he said "I'm a studyin' on it." Perfect.



Another Roy Rogers sidekick was gravel-voiced Andy Devine, who played "Cookie."












Another favorite was Slim Pickens, who was particularly good in the 1973 movie "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" in the scene when he's dying to the music of Bob Dylan's song "Knockin' On Heaven's Door."







It's been said that the original cowboy sidekick was Lester "Smiley" Burnette, who played opposite Gene Autry. I don't remember him. He was just a little before my time.









It takes a lot of talent to be a good sidekick.

Walden Pond

Another stop during the Boston visit was at Walden Pond just outside of Concord Massachusetts. Author Henry David Thoreau made it famous.

Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) was an author, poet, naturalist, tax resister, surveyor, philosopher, and transcendentalist. He is best known for his book Walden (1854), a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Civil Disobedience (1849), an argument for individual resistance to civil government on grounds of moral opposition to an unjust state.

Thoreau was born in Concord Massachusetts. After attending college Thoreau moved back home to Concord where he met writer Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) (below left)(essayist, philosopher and poet, best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the early 19th century).














Emerson introduced him to a number of other local writers, which appears to have included Louisa May Alcott (1833 – 1888) (a novelist best known for the novel Little Women), Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 – 1864) (seated below) (novelist and short story writer) and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882) (below right) (educator and poet whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", "The Song of Hiawatha" and "Evangeline").













On July 4, 1845, Thoreau moved into a small house he built himself on land owned by Emerson in a forest around the shores of Walden Pond. The house was not in the wilderness but at the edge of town and within walking distance to his old family home, so his existence at the pond wasn’t exactly a test in raw survival. Thoreau earned money by surveying and was able to walk into town for meals. His mother also lived nearby in the old family home and would provide food.











Thoreau spent a little over two years at Walden Pond. He would later publish Walden, or Life in the Woods in 1854. In the book he compressed the two years into a single calendar year, using the passage of four seasons to symbolize human development. In it, Thoreau explores natural simplicity, harmony, and beauty as models for just social and cultural conditions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau

Thoreau was an early advocate of hiking and canoeing and conserving natural resources on private land and preserving wilderness as public land.

He was not a strict vegetarian, but preferred that diet and advocated it as a means of self-improvement. He wrote in Walden:

“The practical objection to animal food in my case was its uncleanness; and besides, when I had caught and cleaned and cooked and eaten my fish, they seemed not to have fed me essentially. It was insignificant and unnecessary and cost more than it came to. A little bread or a few potatoes would have done as well, with less trouble and filth."

While living at Walden Pond, Thoreau ran into the local tax collector who asked him to pay six years of delinquent poll taxes. Thoreau refused (as opposing slavery and the Mexican-American War) and spent a night in jail. He was freed the next day after his aunt paid his taxes. While it wasn’t very long, the incarceration appears to have made a strong impact on Thoreau. The incident started him thinking, lecturing and writing about civil disobedience. His essay entitled “Resistance to Civil Government” (also known as “Civil Disobedience”) was published in 1849.

The essay argues that people should not permit governments to overrule their consciences, and that people have a duty to avoid allowing their implied consent to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice.

“That government is best which governs least.” This statement is sometimes attributed to Thomas Jefferson or Thomas Paine, but its essential wording appears to have been first found in Thoreau’s essay on civil disobedience. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Disobedience_(Thoreau

Thoreau’s philosophy of civil disobedience is said to have influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Henry David Thoreau was a Transcendentalist, a philosophy advocated by Emerson, which holds that an ideal spiritual state transcends, or goes beyond, the physical state and that a person achieves that insight through personal intuition rather than religious doctrine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendentalism

Paul Revere

As mentioned, we were recently in Boston to see the historical sights. A number of incidents preceding the American Revolutionary War, including the Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party, happened right there in Boston.















In the North End of Boston we saw Paul Revere's house, as well as the Old North Church. Remember the words from "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" by poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)--

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere . . .

He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light--

One if by land, and two if by sea
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."

Then he said "Good-night!" and with muffled oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore. . .

British soldiers planned to head west to seize arms and gunpowder stored at Concord. The British would have to pass through Lexington on their way to Concord, five miles further. It was uncertain whether the British would start from Boston by marching south over the narrow isthmus or by first taking a short boat ride to the west across the back bay of the Charles River.

The guy in the church was going to signal which way the British were going. The signal would be either one or two lanterns hung in the steeple of the Old North Church. Revere would be watching from Charlestown, which was north across the river from Boston.

Paul Revere was known by Longfellow's poem as having warned all the citizen soldiers in the surrounding area that "the British were coming." According to Arthur B. Tourtellot's book "Lexington and Concord, The Beginning of the War of the American Revolution" (1959) --


Paul Revere made arrangements for the sexton of the North Church to display the signal lanterns long enough to be seen across the Charles River but not long enough to be seen by the British as a signal. (We visited the Old North Church and I sat in the church pew which may have been used by Paul Revere).

Then he had two friends row him across the river to Charlestown, where he walked into town. He saw that two lanterns were hung as a signal and borrowed a horse and started riding the 11 miles towards Lexington, which could have been done in about an hour on a fast horse.

Revere was spotted by two British officers on horseback, so he had to turn around and head north and then back towards Lexington about midnight.


Samuel Adams (right) and John Hancock (below)and their party were staying in Lexington at the house of Reverend Jonas Clarke. Revere arrived to warn them that the British were coming through Lexington on their way to Concord, where the British intended to seize the local armory of weapons. Alarm was given to the Lexington minutemen.

After warning Adams and Hancock in Lexington, Revere set out for Concord about 5 miles further. Half way to Concord Revere and two companions were surrounded by British officers and were forced into a pasture. The two companions eluded capture, but Revere did not. With some other prisoners, Revere was taken back towards Lexington by the British. Close to Lexington the British confiscated his horse and set Revere free on foot.

Revere walked back to the Clarke house and met up with Adams and Hancock again. Sam Adams hated to ride horseback, so a carriage was brought to take him, Hancock, Revere and the rest of the party away from Lexington before British troops arrived.














British soldiers arrived at the Lexington Common after Revere and the others had left town. There was a battle there, which common is now called the Battle Green.

The British then went on towards Concord where they were repulsed by the assembled Minutemen at the North Bridge.

Not surprisingly, actual events weren't exactly like the Longfellow poem. Yet, pretty close. Paul Revere played a major role in the American Revolution. He lived after the war and was buried in Boston.

At least Paul Revere is remembered through the Longfellow poem, (as well as the rock-n-roll band "Paul Revere and the Raiders") while Sam Adams is remembered as a beer maker, and John Hancock as an insurance salesman.