Greatest Snow on Earth

Gardners have been in Utah since 1847 when Archibald Gardner pulled up with his covered wagon. One of the unforeseen benefits of him traveling from Scotland and ending up eventually in the West (after a stop or two in Canada and Iowa and piling on a few wives--I come from number four out of 11) was that his progeny would have the Wasatch Mountain range within which to play. The snow there is dry and light, lacking the water content you would normally find on either coast or anywhere else for that matter. The canyons surrounding the greater Salt Lake area rise sharply above what is basically a desert basin that includes an ancient dried sea bed formerly known as Lake Bonneville. What's left is a mostly dry desert and its small remnant, The Great Salt Lake. Between the salt and the desert, the moist storms that arrive from the Pacific get sucked dry. The clouds then slam into the Wasatch range that unusually run North/South and begin to dump the perfect recipe for Utah Powder--The Greatest Snow on Earth. No where else has this recipe. If you've skied here you know that. By the way, if you need a local ski shop to get outfitted while you are in town, stop by the Sports Den in Salt Lake City. They are the last of the locally owned speciality ski stores. Support local please. They can be found at 1350 Foothill Drive, SLC, UT 84109. By far the best shop in town. Ask for Mark. Check out the latest snow report here: www.skiutah.com/snow_report/

The Music of Antonio Carlos Jobim

I attended a jazz concert the other night in Salt Lake City, yes, Jazz in SLC, put on by the GAM Foundation that featured the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, or "Tom" as he was affectionately called. He was one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. It featured Holly Hoffman on flute, Christoph Luty on Bass and Jeff Hamilton on drums (if you don't already know Jeff Hamilton, he is considered by most musicians to be the best jazz drummer out there today--you can hear him on most Diana Krall CD's or his own Jeff Hamilton Trio and can hear his phenomenal brush work in the movie, "Good Night and Good Luck." Listen particularly to the song "One for My Baby" in that movie).

The music of Jobim reminded me why I love music. It's poetic, haunting, at times painful, hopeful, and emotional but always worth the journey if you take it. I think what I am trying to say can be best found in the lyrics he wrote in a song called "Waters of March." Here it is:

Waters of March (Águas de março)

by Antônio Carlos Jobim

(1972)

A stick, a stone, it's the end of the road
It's the rest of a stump, it's a little alone
It's a sliver of glass, it is life, it's the sun
It is night, it is death, it's a trap, it's a gun
The oak when it blooms, a fox in the brush
A knot in the wood, the song of a thrush
The wood of the wind, a cliff, a fall
A scratch, a lump, it is nothing at all
It's the wind blowing free, it's the end of the slope
It's a beam it's a void, it's a hunch, it's a hope
And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the end of the strain
The joy in your heart
The foot, the ground, the flesh and the bone
The beat of the road, a slingshot's stone
A fish, a flash, a silvery glow
A fight, a bet the fange of a bow
The bed of the well, the end of the line
The dismay in the face, it's a loss, it's a find
A spear, a spike, a point, a nail
A drip, a drop, the end of the tale
A truckload of bricks in the soft morning light
The sound of a shot in the dead of the night
A mile, a must, a thrust, a bump,
It's a girl, it's a rhyme, it's a cold, it's the mumps
The plan of the house, the body in bed
And the car that got stuck, it's the mud, it's the mud
A float, a drift, a flight, a wing
A hank, a quail, the promise of spring
And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life, it's the joy in your heart
A stick, a stone, it's the end of the road
It's the rest of a stump, it's a little alone
A snake, a stick, it is John, it is Joe
It's a thorn in your hand and a cut in your toe
A point, a grain, a bee, a bite
A blink, a buzzard, a sudden stroke of night
A pin, a needle, a sting a pain
A snail, a riddle, a wasp, a stain
A pass in the mountains, a horse and a mule
In the distance the shelves rode three shadows of blue
And the river talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life in your heart
A stick, a stone, the end of the road
The rest of a stump, a lonesome road
A sliver of glass, a life, the sun
A knife, a death, the end of the run
And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the end of all strain, it's the joy in your heart

God Made Louis Pasteur Too

Apparently, as we progress through time we tend to forget about history, or at least minimize it since I suppose we must be getting smarter. Right? Every so often certain elements of society endeavor to repeat the past or at least stumble accross it without knowing that society has been there before. Don't get me wrong, I believe in individual liberties. If you want too run and jump off a cliff knowingly, and I stress knowingly, you should have the right to do so. Just make sure before you jump and land (splat) you don't fall on someone.

So this brings me to my point. As a planet we have been drinking raw milk for a long time, perhaps thousands of years. To be sure, raw milk is rich in protein, fat and beneficial bacteria. Unfortunately, once the milk comes out of the cow or goat it can just as easily kill you with its bad bacteria. Since Louis Pasteur and his idea of pasteurization — subjecting milk to some heat followed by cooling — pasteurization has helped to lower the disease rates in the U.S. by over 90%. Isn't less E. coli, salmonella and listeria, a good thing? Got Pasteurization? Perhaps a better way to treat milk will come forward someday that will allow the raw milk folks to enjoy their glass of milk without it killing or seriously injurying anyone. Until then, just make sure you enjoy your raw milk alone, wash your hands and pray.

What We Hear

"The litigious spirit is more often found with ignorance than with knowledge of law." -Cicero

"Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser--in fees, expenses and waste of time." - Abraham Lincoln

"The entire legal profession--lawyers, judges, law professors--has become so mesmerized with the stimulation of the courtroom that we tend to forget that we ought to be healers of conflicts. For many claims, trials by adversarial contests must in time go the way of the ancient trial by battle and blood. Our system is too costly, too painful, too destructive, and too inefficient for a truly civilized people." -Chief Justice Warren E. Burger

Don't get me wrong, litigation does have its place and time. Mediation is not always preferable to litigation. Litigation is a good place for those who won't listen and need to be held accountable. Further, through our adversarial system there is some degree of predictability through stare decisis or precedent which establishes some fariness. It also tends to level the playing field where a party may be unreasonable. This is why we have the black robes. My point is this: Litiagtion should be a last resort. Learn to listen.

Mediation is Wise

Several months ago I ran across a great article in the Wyoming Lawyer, called Negotiating With Native American Wisdom. I've never met the author, Joe Epstein, but I know literally and figuratively what he means by travelling the "red road." I recommend this article to anyone interested in mediation and the art of listening. Here's a link to the article: https://www.wyomingbar.org/bar_journal/article.html?id=109

A red road in Monument Valley, Utah--Navajoland within the four mountains

Some of What I do

When I mentioned I was knee deep in e-coli, this is an article from the Deseret News that explains why:

Originally posted on August 13, 2006

'Probable source' is iceberg lettuce at N. Ogden eatery
By Lois M. CollinsDeseret Morning News
Wendy's restaurant chain is being sued by a Weber County family after the Weber-Morgan Health Department identified a North Ogden Wendy's as the probable link in four confirmed E. coli infections in June.
Seattle law firm Marler Clark and Salt Lake attorney Todd Gardner filed the lawsuit Friday in Weber County District Court on behalf of William and J. Corey Cohron and their two sons.
According to William Marler, the complaint seeks "compensation for the family's significant medical-related expenses, economic losses, pain and suffering and emotional distress."
On Aug. 7 the Weber Morgan Health Department said that four people had contracted E. coli, three of them developing the more severe hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Health officials said the "probable source" was iceberg lettuce served between June 27 and June 30 by the Wendy's restaurant at 2500 N. 400 East in North Ogden. One of the four cases was determined to be a secondary transmission from someone who reported being infected during a conference in which two of the confirmed cases may have gotten the infection. The Wendy's restaurant was a caterer for the conference.The complaint filed by Marler Clark says that Corey Cohron ate a Wendy's salad at the conference and later became ill with symptoms of E. coli infection, including diarrhea. Other family members subsequently developed symptoms as well, most of them not requiring medical treatment. But Wil Cohron, 7, suffered severe infection and was taken to an emergency room July 12. He was in the hospital for two days. He later was rehospitalized and tested positive for E. coli.Three of the four confirmed cases developed HUS, according to Weber-Morgan health officials.No spokesman for Wendy's corporate office returned calls from the Deseret Morning News Friday and Wendy's attorney was not available to comment.E-mail: lois@desnews.com

Here's a CNN article as well: http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/22/news/spinach/index.htm

Welcome to my Blog

Bill said you must blog.  That was a year ago.  I've never been one to move fast into new technology.  I prefer holding a paper or a book to reading it online.  It means more if all of your senses are employed.  I am not a traditional lawyer.  I choose to be solo but also understand I'm connected.  I started out as a criminal defense attorney handling everything from shoplifting to murder.  I was a professor for a few years in the world of academia.  I now find myself knee deep in e-coli, a potentially deadly bacteria that comes from the intestines of animals.  But its not primarily the e-coli that harms or kills, actually it's the decisions that people of governments, corporations and other entities make that eventually domino and affect a father, a mother, a child, a grandmother.   The victims have names, jobs, feelings, goals, dreams, baggage, regrets, hopes and friends.  We are all connected.  They are all us.  They are all you.  

I play jazz drum professionally in the JD Moffat Trio and find improvization a key asset.  Being in the moment, riding the edge of the wave, conceptual blockbusting and finding ways to resolve rather than spar have always meant more to me.   I hope this blog will help someone.  I will endeavor to write and post articles that will contribute to the body of law, mediation and music.