Four books – Book 4

I get personal in this blog. More personal than my family would like me to be. I apparently live by a philosophy that encourages me not to hide any dirt under the rug. Maybe writing this post was prompted by this intelligent story from today’s NPR. Unlike ISD 709 I have little to hide. So:

My life has had four separate strands running through it since this blog began and each has been more than worthy enough of a book. The first strand is an actual book. Its the book I put on the shelf to fight for a vote on the Red Plan. The book is about quite possibly the biggest scandal in twentieth century Minnesota. I’ve begun dusting it off and hope to return to it full time by January.

The second is also the subject for a book I’ve promised to have done by the end of the year. Its the Red Plan, of course, and all my activities related to Let Duluth Vote.

The third strand is my unanticipated role as a very busy grandfather of the two cutest boys in the universe. Any books I write about that will be circulated primarily to my family but occassional glimpses make it to this blog and to Flickr and might yet make it to Facebook if I ever bother trying to figure out how my Facebook page works.

The fourth is also quite personal and I’ve made occassional comments about it as well on the blog. It has involved a wrenching family fight over my Mother’s care. The time spend on this particular imbroglio may very well have cost me the time I needed to help Let Duluth Vote win a more favorable conclusion in the Red Plan War.

The three or four years that this family saga has taken seems to be nearing an end but its not over yet. To sum it up. My brother and I won court approval to become co-conservators over my Mother. Tomorrow I will be leaving town in an Access North Medical Van and helping load Mom for a trip to Duluth where she will reside, I presume, for the rest of her life. Not with me. My family can’t offer the kind of intensive medical care she requires. I could have funded two Red Plan fights with the expenses this battle took.

We have waited four months for the court to approve the accounting of our Mother’s assets. Every phase of the legal war involved godawful court delays and every one of them can be pinned on the strangling of the court system by state officials who have been unwilling to properly fund our courts. By now I’ve become a bit apathetic or maybe the word should be fatalistic about the whole damn business.

I do not blame the courts. What I see reminds me of the tired old Lucile Ball episode where Lucy and her best buddy go to work in a bakery on an assembly line.
The cakes come out too fast and the viewer is treated to Lucy’s moronic take on how two nincompoops would deal with a flood of pastry.

This is a telling portion of an email I recently received from our exceptionally competent attorney on the Max Senate comedy that has been our recent court experience.

The proceedings continue to be frustrating at best.  This morning I had a meeting with the probate judge of Hennepin County and about 5 other attorneys.  The Judge said that he has been very frustrated and concerned about the administrative problems and delays with guardianship/conservatorship cases in particular.  He said the public needs to be better served; he referenced delays, inconsistencies, and lost documents.  He told us of some things he is working on at the court to start improving these problems immediately, which includes asking a judge who is not familiar with probate to start hearing cases just so that cases can be heard and seeking approval to have volunteer attorneys start hearing cases in lieu of the judicial officers.  This could work well over time, but I have concerns on its impact on existing cases like yours that are already being negatively impacted.

Before starting this paragraph, please note it is immensely frustrating (to be kind) and that I will not charge for time associated with trying to figure out what has happened at the court.  As to your specific case, last week when I talked with the court clerk she found the original Inventory and asked me to send her our 2010 papers again.  I did that.  She now cannot find the original Inventory again (which we filed in June 2009).  I am working with them to determine what they want us to do.  As a result, she returned the 2010 Amended Inventory to me because they cannot accept this until they have the original Inventory. On top of that, your brother’s signature is no longer on the Amended Inventory and they need his signature. I have the copy of the signature showing we did provide it to the court.  Again, I am talking with the court to see what we can do.  I have clearly told them that we will do whatever they want, whatever hoop jumping is necessary, to help get this done. We’re exploring whether I can file online as a work-around for them. 

When I know more, I will let you know.  However, I think the best advice I can give you is to seek a change in jurisdiction up to Duluth.

My attorney also explained that the Court Referee had met with five other attorneys experienced with cases like ours to explain all the problems Minnesota’s fourth District courts are suffering under.

The maxim that comes to mind is: “you get what you pay for.” In that vein I’m so glad to see Tom Emmer is about to sue St. Louis County for not doing a good enough job counting his votes. He seems to have come up a little short. I’m sure if he finds those votes and becomes our state’s Governor he’ll be in a lather to pump more money into Minnesota’s legal system.

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