Archive for April, 2007

adopt this weblog . . .

0

david giacalone - April 22, 2007 @ 4:50 pm · News Items, Website Admin

   HelpWantedSign  It’s been four weeks since I announced my retiring as Editor of this weblog and my hope to pass the SHLEP torch to a group of committed persons willing and able to continue its important role in the pro-se/self-help community and movement.  To date, I am sorry to say that no candidates have stepped forward to adopt shlep.  Despite the posting hiatus, we’re still getting about 250 visits a day, most from search engine queries, taking advantage of our deep content.  Please browse the site, and see our prior post and About page, describing why shlep deserves to be an ongoing, frequently-updated weblog, Our high search engine profile also suggests that it would make a great resource as part of a website with complementary goals. 

  • If you would like to discuss taking over responsibility for SHLEP, please send an email to: shlep AT localnet DOT com. [no spaces in the actual email address]  I will do all I can to make the transition as smooth as possible.

dagIcon  If shlep were active over the past month, it surely would have informed you of such stories as:

  1. Oregon House Bill 2316, which aims to increase the small claims jurisdictional limit from $5,000 to $7,500, and has now passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate. (via April 9, 2007 HALT ejournal)
  2. The Edmonton Journal story “Law service shows lay people the ropes: Alberta Justice hopes information centres will reduce backlogs in court” (April 18, 2007), which details the opening on April 2nd of on-site Family Law Information Centres, offering assistance to self-represented litigants in Alberta. (via SelfHelpSupport.org)
  3. The companion bills introduced in the New Mexico House and Senate, in the 2007 legislative session, which would rewrite the definition of the practice of law so broadly that they would require consumers to retain the services of a lawyer for virtually any legal need. (via March 26, 2007 HALT ejournal)  

Until shlep is once again updated regularly under new management, check out the SelfHelpSupport.org homepage and the HALT website and bi-weekly newsletter (which you can have delivered free by email) for a bit of news and commentary about pro se and self-help issues.  Meanwhile, if you can help find a good home for shlep, please let me know or urge the likely candidates to step up and grab this opportunity.

Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence

1

MaryWhisner - April 5, 2007 @ 11:17 pm · Resources-Consumer, Resources-Practitioner

Tragically, a staff person was killed on the campus where I work this week. A man she used to be involved with went to her office, shot her to death, and then committed suicide. The victim had taken many steps to protect herself: she had obtained protective orders against the man, she had alerted university police, and she had shown her coworkers his picture and told them to call 911 if they saw him. Still, he found her. (See Seattle Times story.)

Today I read that, ironically or aptly, this is Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Awareness Week on campus. I started looking for more information and found that different organizations have designated April Sexual Assault Awareness Month. (H. Res. 289, a resolution introduced in the House of Representatives last week, would call it National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.)

During my search for information about the event, I found a great self-help resource, by the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs: A Survivor’s Guide to Filing a Civil Lawsuit (2004). It’s a 54-page book (in pdf) that explains the whole process — including long ists of pros and cons (p. 4) to help potential plaintiffs make the decision whether to sue. WCSAP has other resources (for the public and for attorneys) on its legal page.

The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (part of CDC) takes a public health approach to the problem. See its Sexual Violence fact sheet, with resources for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center has links to legal organizations working on the topic here.

Thanks, David!

1

MaryWhisner - April 5, 2007 @ 10:30 pm · Website Admin

I thank David for his tremendous commitment and hard work in dreaming up shlep and providing such great content and commentary!

And I echo David in his plea for someone to pick up the torch. I hope there’s an organization or group that would like to carry this on.

It takes a lot of commitment to keep a blog active, watching for relevant news and posting regularly. My own relationship to shlep illustrates that. Early on, I said I could post about once a week, and I was good at my word for a while, writing when I came across something on the topic. But in recent weeks, I’ve been snowed under at my regular job (and, I’ll confess I left town for five days during spring break). When I did have time, I wrote for my own blog. Truth be told, I hadn’t even looked at shlep for a few weeks.

The successor editor should be aware of the commitment needed to keep a blog fresh. An organization or group of people might be able to share the work so that no one person would be swamped (as David was, when he made sure there were daily posts by writing them himself).

I also want to say that being part of an enterprise like this can be fun and rewarding. I enjoy the medium — it’s great to be able to gather some information, write a comment, and then instantly have it available to readers. If you occasionally have someone comment that what you’ve done is useful, all the better! (I thank David again — this time for giving me the opportunity to be part of the shlep team.)

So if you’re interested in providing a service and enjoy writing and sharing information, do write to David about this opportunity.

In the meantime, I came across something applicable to self-help law, so you’ll see another post from me soon.

Protected by Akismet • Blog with WordPress