The Three Stooges at Yellowstone

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19 year old Don Knott's with his ventriloquist dummy, Danny

 Don Knotts is no dummy, but he worked with one when he was a teenager. He started performing as a ventriloquist and comedian when he was in his early teens for his school mates and at church functions. Thinking that his ventriloquism act would take him to the big time he left West Virginia to go to New York City, when his dreams didn't pan out he returned home before joining Army during World War II.

Knotts' career found the boost he was looking for in the Pacific Islands of all places. Most of his time in the war was spent working with the G.I. variety show Stars and Gripes where he performed with Danny until 1946. Supposedly, Knotts threw Danny overboard after their final performance.

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Today's "Daily Journal", whose readers are primarily attorneys.

Erika Girardi’s lawyer, Chicago plaintiffs’ lawyer, trustee’s lawyer trade charges

The allegation and incendiary statements subsequently lobbed Wednesday by several of the parties in the Girardi bankruptcy may have been in part aimed at influencing public opinion on the eve of the TV season finale of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” reunion show.

A lawyer for Tom Girardi’s estranged wife accused a Chicago plaintiffs’ law firm of entering into an illegal fee sharing agreement with her husband in litigation over a 2018 airplane crash in Indonesia.

Evan C. Borges made that allegation in papers filed in bankruptcy court Tuesday. Borges is opposing a request by Edelson PC in Chicago to lift a stay on a lawsuit Edelson filed accusing Tom Girardi and his now-defunct law firm of misappropriating millions of dollars in settlement funds meant for air crash victims.

“The evidence undisputedly shows that the Illinois litigation to collect attorneys’ fees allegedly due, which Edelson seeks relief from stay to pursue, is based on an unethical, unenforceable and illegal fee- sharing agreement between Edelson and Girardi Keese ... , which will require that the Illinois litigation be dismissed,” wrote Borges of Greenberg Gross LLP in Costa Mesa.

Edelson could face discipline by the State Bars of Illinois and California, Borges implied in the opposition papers.

The allegation and incendiary statements subsequently lobbed Wednesday by several of the parties in the Girardi bankruptcy may have been in part aimed at influencing public opinion on the eve of the TV season finale of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” reunion show. Erika Girardi is a cast member on the reality show and was expected to be questioned Wednesday night about $20 million Tom Girardi funneled from his law firm to a company that supported her show business career.

Jay Edelson, who wants to pursue Erika Girardi in federal court in Chicago even if he can’t pursue her husband, said in an email the filing was just fodder for the TV show.

“Erika’s response, we have learned, was carefully planned with the trustee’s lawyers and came only after we explained that the bankruptcy process has turned into a reality TV circus, which seems aimed at protecting Erika, ensuring that insiders and the bankruptcy lawyers get all the money, and the clients are — yet again — holding the bag,” Edelson wrote.

Ronald Richards, the trustee’s lawyer mentioned by Edelson, and a ringleader in the online ecosystem that attends the “The Real Housewives” franchise, weighed in with his own statement that echoed Borges’ allegation — that Edelson never got the air crash litigants to sign off on Girardi’s co- representation — and essentially telling Edelson good luck getting any money from the bankruptcy process.

“The only way Edelson would be entitled to any attorneys’ fees that went through the debtor’s accounts would be if Edelson had a valid fee agreement AND they could show a clear tracing back to Boeing (Lion Air) settlement payment,” Richards wrote. “Since the record at this time is missing both, Edelson’s motion at this point is merely diverting Erika Girardi’s limited resources and holding up a resolution with the trustee because of unknown future legal expenses.”

Richards said Edelson can only pursue one accounting claim against Erika Girardi in his Chicago litigation. But Richards is already pursuing that claim in the Los Angeles bankruptcy, he said.

“There is no basis to drag her to Chicago for a nonmonetary claim. Apparently, Erika has also filed an opposition which exposes Edelson’s lack of a code compliant written fee sharing agreement signed by their former clients,” Richards wrote.

The Girardi drama began to unfold late last year when Edelson accused Girardi and Girardi Keese in federal court in Illinois of misappropriating the funds. Creditors quickly forced the law firm and Girardi into bankruptcy in Los Angeles, and Erika Girardi filed for divorce from her husband. Richards was tasked with finding Erika Girardi’s assets, which he has delightfully chronicled on social media, pointing out her clothes and accessories and speculating how much they might be worth.

In an email Wednesday, Borges followed up on his court filing by suggesting that Edelson “does not have clean hands.”

“The hypocrisy of Mr. Edelson claiming to enforce virtue when it results that, based on the evidence cited in our opposition, he flagrantly violated ethical rules in his representation of the Lion Air plaintiffs, is disturbing,” Borges wrote.
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https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21098435-erika-girardis-lawyer-chicago-plaintiffs-lawyer-trustees-lawyer-trade-charges  

This sounds like a soap opera...

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Cookie monster

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Pigskin for book binding

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Curious about Arkansas?

What sets the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture apart from its peers across the country? “I don’t think any other state encyclopedia has an entry on a death metal band,” offers Mike Keckhaver, the online collection’s media editor and author of the entry on the band in question, North Little Rock’s Rwake.

Other topics on which the EOA (encyclopediaofarkansas.net) likely has a monopoly among similar projects: cheese dip (“… considered to be an important part of Arkansas’s food culture”), drag shows (“… have their roots in rural folk dramas often used as fundraisers for community institutions”) and slime molds (“… do not have a particularly attractive name, but some examples produce fruiting bodies that are miniature objects of considerable beauty”).

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas takes on topics that might be of broader interest, of course: The entry on the Little Rock Nine who integrated Central High School is the EOA’s most visited page, often, judging from the sorts of queries the staff gets, from students working on assignments, according to editor Guy Lancaster. That means the encyclopedia is fulfilling one of its original aims. A big reason the Central Arkansas Library System started the project in 2002 “was a recognition that, if we’re going to teach Arkansas history in secondary schools, we need a resource,” said Susan Gele, assistant director, public relations for the library.

More here:

https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2014/07/30/from-civil-rights-to-slime-molds-the-encyclopedia-of-arkansas-has-all-of-arkansas-covered

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Dog in hot cars...

In many states there are no hard-and-fast rules on the legality of leaving a dog unattended in a vehicle, although offenders can (and frequently do) face animal cruelty charges. But 16 pawsome states do have specific "hot car" laws! The Animal Legal & Historical Center reports that these pupactive states have statutes that specifically prohibit leaving an animal in a confined vehicle.

1. Arizona : A.R.S. § 13-2910 It is illegal to leave an animal "unattended and confined in a motor vehicle when physical injury to or death of the animal is likely to result."

2. California: Cal. Penal Code § 597.7 It is illegal to "leave or confine an animal in any unattended motor vehicle under conditions that endanger the health or well-being of an animal due to heat, cold, lack of adequate ventilation, or lack of food or water, or other circumstances that could reasonably be expected to cause suffering, disability, or death to the animal."

3. Illinois: 510 ILCS 70/7.1 It is illegal to "confine any animal in a motor vehicle in such a manner that places it in a life or health threatening situation by exposure to a prolonged period of extreme heat or cold, without proper ventilation or other protection from such heat or cold."

4. Maine: 7 MRSA § 4019 The law states a window can be broken if an "animal's safety, health or well-being appears to be in immediate danger from heat, cold or lack of adequate ventilation and the conditions could reasonably be expected to cause extreme suffering or death."

5. Maryland : MD Code, Transportation § 21-1004.1 It is illegal for a cat or dog to be in a "standing or parked motor vehicle in a manner that endangers the health or safety of the cat or dog."

6. Minnesota: M.S.A. § 346.57 A cat or dog cannot be "unattended in a standing or parked motor vehicle in a manner that endangers the dog's or cat's health or safety."

7. North Carolina: NC ST § 14-363.3 Illegal = "An animal that is confined in a motor vehicle under conditions that are likely to cause suffering, injury, or death to the animal due to heat, cold, lack of adequate ventilation, or under other endangering conditions."

8. Nevada: N.R.S. 574.195 A cat or dog cannot be "unattended in a parked or standing motor vehicle during a period of extreme heat or cold or in any other manner that endangers the health or safety of the cat or dog."

9. New Hampshire: N.H. Rev. Stat. 644:8-aa "It shall be cruelty to confine an animal in a motor vehicle or other enclosed space in which the temperature is either so high or so low as to cause serious harm to the animal."

10. New Jersey: N.J.S.A. 4:22-26c "A living animal or creature [cannot be] unattended in a vehicle under inhumane conditions adverse to the health or welfare of the living animal or creature."

11. New York: NY Agri. & Mkts. § 353-d "A companion animal [cannot be] confined in motor vehicle in extreme heat or cold without proper ventilation or other protection where confinement places companion animal in imminent danger of death or serious injury due to exposure."

12. North Dakota: NDCC ST 36-21.1-03.1 Illegal = a dog or cat "unattended in a stationary or parked motor vehicle in a manner that endangers the animal's health or safety."

13. Rhode Island: 2014-S 2312A "No owner or person shall confine any animal in a motor vehicle which is done in a manner that places the animal in a life threatening or extreme health threatening situation by exposing it to a prolonged period of extreme heat or cold, without proper ventilation or other protection from such heat or cold."

14. South Dakota: S D C L § 40-1-36 "A cat, dog, or other small animal cannot be unattended in a standing or parked vehicle in a manner that endangers the health or safety of such animal."

15. Vermont: 13 V.S.A. § 386 Breaking the law = leaving an animal "unattended in a standing or parked motor vehicle in a manner that would endanger the health or safety of the animal."

16. West Virginia : W. Va. Code, § 61-8-19E Criminal behavior = leaving an animal "unattended and confined in a motor vehicle when physical injury to or death of the animal is likely to result."

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