Monthly Archives: April 2024

It looks a little different here, but my cousin was taking a ride in northern Ohio and took a picture of this house recently. My dad and friends built most of it from 1964 to 1965. Almost every weekend and some evenings during the week, I was there helping—lots of shoveling, both dirt and gravel. 

During sixth grade, we lived in town above the bar my grandparents owned. Seven people cramped into a two-bedroom apartment with a converted room for my bedroom. It was a walk-through room for everyone, so there wasn’t much privacy. A major feature this place had over the first home was heat. Well, that and a lot more room.

The first home we lived in on Peck Road was about 700 square feet, and the only heat was a stove in the living room and opening the oven on frigid nights. I didn’t have a bedroom there either, and I was afforded little privacy. It was always cold in the winter. I liked it there, though. It had a great woods behind it for walking around all day or sitting in the woods daydreaming.

We moved to this home a month before 7th grade started. It wasn’t finished, but it was close enough. The floors were still plywood, and there were mounds of dirt out front. My dad and I cleared land by hand for two horses, built a couple of barns, and put in a fence, barbed wire, and electric. 

Clearing the land was done with a chain, tractor, and me with an ax chopping roots while he pulled the tree forward with the chain and tractor. Other times, we traveled back roads collecting rocks for the driveway. It had a spring under it, and we had to fill it. We’d load rocks, toss those in the driveway, and pound the rocks with sledgehammers, watching the rock and stone disappear before getting another load. Because horses like to eat bark, one of my jobs that seemed never ending was to creosote the remaining trees.

What looks like a new barn behind the house is different from the one we built. The one to the right looks like the one we built, but I’m unsure. The front yard looks different today, too. The fence along the right side wasn’t there either, nor were the rocks in the yard just above the four trees to the left in the picture.

When my grandfather died during my junior year, I moved back to the bar to be with my grandmother. We only lived about 3-4 miles from the bar, and my mom worked there, so I saw her most days.

By the way, for those who think having horses is fun, it’s not. They have to be watered and fed every day, and in the winter, I would go out before school, light paper on fire to thaw the outdoor spigots and carry buckets of water to fill their water. Getting hay wasn’t so bad, but you had to clean the barn, and in the winter with a pitchfork, it’s almost a joke to try to do it. I have other ideas of fun than chipping away frozen horse manure. 

We also staked the horses out to eat grass in the summer, which fell to me. It’s another great way to waste a day. Other people would ride, but not me; I got to the point where I hated the horses. My wife thinks the horses are a chick magnet. They weren’t for me; they were work. 

When my parents decided to sell the quarter horse, people came when my parents weren’t home. I sold the horse and threw in the saddle for a total of $125.00 to get rid of it. When my parents got home and found out, they wanted to get rid of me.

Fast-forward to around 2000, when I started dating my future bride, Dawn. At some point, when her parents deemed it okay to invite me to their home, I walked in, and it was like deja vu. Everything, with a tiny exception, was like the home pictured. Thinking about it, my dad helped build her home she moved to Mantua to begin ninth grade. I remember my dad took the original, reworked one small area upstairs, and made another change with the basement. 

I contacted the current owner when we decided to move back to Mantua. In calling, I wanted to see if he wanted to sell. No, he didn’t. When we found a home, I called again to see if he had changed his mind. He hadn’t. He did offer to let me stop by if I ever wanted to. That was 2022. 

Remembering his offer, I mentioned it to my wife, suggesting she experienced what I did a little over 20 years ago. She said yes. So, now I have to try to find his number again. 

1. I don’t need one; I don’t have anything.

Strangely, there have been occasions when I’ve agreed with this, but rarely. Everyone has property of some kind, and with no Will, your property will be distributed according to the laws of the State of Ohio. If you have children, all bets are off on this reason. It is then a matter of ensuring your children will be cared for when you’re gone. I’m not suggesting your children will end up wards of the state, but if you want any say in who will care for them, you should have a Will.

2. It’s too expensive, or it can be complicated.

Some simple estate planning techniques cost very little, saving thousands of dollars. I’ve talked to people who feel this way but have given some tips that can cost little. I also gave folks information on things they can do without cost but will save money later. And yes, it can be complicated, but for most people, it’s not. Not everyone needs to do extensive estate planning or have a trust. Most importantly, it buys peace of mind.

3. I don’t want to think about death and dying.

It is a matter of facing your mortality, to be sure. But the reality is, we’re all going to die. That sounds harsh, I guess, but it’s true. We just don’t know when. 

A final thought on Wills. The purpose is to make your final wishes known. You do this for peace of mind and for those you leave behind.

I just found this out while reading my Ohio State Bar news daily. James Edgar Robinson was a Justice on the Supreme Court of Ohio and the great-grandfather of former First Lady Barbara Bush. 

He was a Union County prosecuting attorney for two terms from 1900 to 1906. Robinson then went into private practice, but in January 1916, the governor of Ohio appointed him to the 3rd District Court of Appeals, which opened when a judge resigned. Unfortunately, the appointment didn’t go well. Ten months later, he lost his election bid for a full term.

His fortunes turned when he was elected to the Supreme Court of Ohio in 1918, taking his seat on the bench on January 1, 1919. Re-elected twice, Robinson died in office in 1932. Robinson was also a sixth cousin of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, once removed. 

 Before beginning, understand that the free market and capitalism are not the same but are closely related. Capitalism refers to creating wealth and owning capital, production, and distribution. The free market system involves the exchange of wealth or goods and services. I don’t see how one exists without the other.

The top 10% of income earners contribute significantly to federal income tax revenue, paying either 71% or 76%. Yet, debate continues on whether this distribution is fair or whether reforms are needed to address wealth inequality.

The free market encourages competition, innovation, and efficient resource allocation. It also allows businesses to respond quickly to consumer demands. Compare this to communist regimes, past and present.

People have the individual freedom to choose what to produce, buy, and sell. This gives us entrepreneurship and personal initiative. Again, compare this to past and present communist regimes.

The kicker is a free market generates wealth by promoting economic growth, job creation, and investment opportunities. This means that while creating jobs, there is a financial risk, which equality advocates want to ignore.

So, we arbitrarily take from those who can best afford it and give it to those most in need. This is Marxist Theory 101: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” This has failed time and again throughout history.

The free market system dates back to William Bradford. The communal system failed by making those unwilling to work to be non-productive and take from those who produced. The colony was dying, so Bradford experimented with giving people private property rights to produce and earn. The colony flourished under the new system.

What is there to debate?

The Case of the Dangerous Dachshund

A jury felt an “attack” by a 4-pound Dachshund was worth $130,000.00, but justice prevailed…

Plaintiff: Plaintiff enters the Penny Pinchers grocery store in West Point, Mississippi, on August 16, 2006. She says hello. She walks down the aisle. Suddenly, the bark of a savage dog rings out! Plaintiff flees, terrified, with the clicking of the pursuing animal’s claws echoing in her ears. When Plaintiff turns to see how close her pursuer is, she collides with a freezer at the back of the store. Frantically, she tries to claw her way onto the freezer, desperately trying to survive!

Defendant: The dog is a four-pound Dachshund puppy.

Plaintiff: Plaintiff explains that she is terrified of all dogs and was not initially aware of the size of her pursuer. She laughs. She continues to shop. She can pick up five pounds of catfish and four pounds of sugar before the terrible pain in her hip begins. She sobs. If only the store had not created a dangerous condition by failing to properly restrain the dog and/or warn customers of its presence. How different things would be now!

Defendant: Um, hold on a minute. It turns out Plaintiff has had hip problems for decades, beginning long before this or any Dachshund allegedly chased her into a freezer. Also, the dog is a four-pound Dachshund puppy, ergo, not a “dangerous condition.”

The Jury: Justice is elusive in the case before us. Each party has made several points that we partly understand. So that we may depart, let us assign some fault to each, say, 30 percent to the Plaintiff and 70 percent to the Defendant. Thus, we award $130,000 to the woman who fled in terror from a Dachshund.

The Trial Judge: I agree that the evidence supports such a result.

The Mississippi Court of Appeals: It is now time to get serious. A business owner has a duty to warn of dangerous conditions that are not apparent. “[I]mplicit in that duty is that a dangerous condition must exist.” Dogs are not dangerous per se, and no evidence showed that this one had exhibited dangerous propensities during the four months she had been alive. “We must also consider that Sophie was a four-pound puppy at the time of the incident,” and that invitees must themselves use “that degree of care and prudence which a person of ordinary intelligence” would use under the circumstances. The Plaintiff’s decision to run headlong into a large object while fleeing from a four-pound dog must be viewed in this light.

The Result: Reversed.