Flag Flap

While I was walking the Saturday morning when I grabbed my copy of the newspaper and noticed that for the first time in my life the words, "Solicitor General" were in the banner headline. For all he has done in the community, David Cannon, Jr. has never made the top new. Not for the drunk drivers he gets off the streets, not for the closure he brings to the families of vehicular homicides, not for his work starting a accountablity court for drunk driving and drug offenders. He never makes the papers for improving the efficiencey of government, cutting costs or saving money for taxpayers. He didn't grab a headline when the Supreme Court gave him an award for community service nor a single photograph for the countless hours he spends performing thankless menial tasks for the citizens of this county.
No, my friend made the headlines for the most ridiculous news flap of 2011. David asked his community service workers to remove some three thousand flags that were scattered about square in Downtown Canton. While the task proved to be bigger that expected and storing all those flags posed a logistical nightmare, the publicity stunt that followed from the so-called patriots who are outraged has blown this incident way out of proportion. It is safe to say that this flap has gotten more press, air time and bandwidth than the original tribute and certainly more than the "retirement ceremony" that was canceled.

It is real easy to wrap yourself in the flag, post one on your Facebook page and call yourself a patriot. It takes no courage to use a pseudonym to snipe at a public figure that had a bad day. It takes real courage to walk out in front of a television camera or to grant an interview with a critical press, admit you made a mistake and applogize for taking action in hopes to serve the community. This is why David Cannon is a leader in the community and why I am proud to call him my friend

Parental Alienation

This week I became involved in a case that involves one of the saddest situations I see as a family lawyer, Parental Alienation. This is where one parent uses their privilege and duties as a custodial parent to manipulate children's relationship with the other parent. Over the years I have handled several cases with varying degrees of manipulation. The manipulation varies in each case from as little as denying communication between visits to full on denial of child's time with the other parent. The reasons given by the custodial parents vary as well. Some just lack the ability to cooperate with their former spouse while others feel that they are protecting the children from some perceived wrong done by the non-custodial parent. The one thing that is consistent in all of these cases is that the purpose of the custodial parent in the alienation is to alter how the children feel about the other parent. In other words, they hate their ex more than they love their children.

Psychologists have recognized this behavior and have categorized it as Parental Alienation Syndrome and it has devastating effects on the entire family. The custodial parent that is alienating obviously has unresolved issues from the divorce that prevents them from co-parenting with their ex-spouse. Younger children suffer in that they have to cope with the loss of a parent while older children have to walk through an emotional minefield trying to hide their feelings for one parent from the parent they live with. The non-custodial parent has to deal with the anger, frustration and even depression that results from watching the relationship with their child. While counseling can help, it usually requires Court intervention.

In recent years, the Courts have been very responsive to dealing with Parental Alienation. After years of hearing testimony from parents, psychologists and even children as well as specialized training, today's judge can spot alienation and have taken some drastic measures to put an end to it. These measures include jailing for contempt, expanded parenting time for non-custodial parents and even changing custody temporarily or permanently. With the help of a skilled lawyer, an alienated parent can get help and the tools they need to restore and maintain a relationship with their children.

ballingerlaw.com

Jury Duty

About a month back I got the dreaded jury summons in my mail box at home. As a citizen, I recognize jury duty for what it is. A civic duty that allows me to participate in government balanced by the inconvenience of being pulled out of work. As a lawyer, I recognize jury duty for what it is, an exercise in futility. I rest quite certain that I will not be selected to sit on on an actual jury. I made a conscience decision I would go into jury duty with a positive attitude. After all, it's something everybody has to do and since I am going to spend a week or so with about eighty of my fellow Cherokee County residents, I am going to make it a pleasant experience.

When I arrived, the room was packed. I have been trying cases to Cherokee County juries for eighteen years but I never really had an idea of just how many are called for jury duty on a Superior Court trial week. The Jury Assembly Room is full, but I managed to get a seat on the back row. Most everybody has brought a laptop computer and is trying to get as much work done as they possibly can while being away from work. Still more are getting to know their neighbors that are while others are just settled in with good old fashioned paperback.

Patti Baker, out Clerk of Court, gave us an orientation for the week and Judge Jackson Harris was gave his welcoming remarks and swore us in. I am on panel four. With WiFi service, coffee, vending machines and such, the folks at the Clerk's office have done a great job making this a comfortable experience. We watched the State Bar of Georgia Jury service video. I saw this before at Board of Governors meetings, but message take on a new significance as I sit here waiting to be called to a court room. It's lunch time and I still have yet to make it to a courtroom.

ballingerlaw.com

Professionalism

My son's soccer game this past Sunday had a huge breakout of sportsmanship. The kids played their hearts out for twenty-five minutes of a thirty minute game. With about five minutes left in the game, my son and his coaches daughter decided they had enough and were going to sit down in their own goal. Now this is four year old soccer, by the end of the game we are at the end of these kid's attention span. As soon as the coach figured out the kids were sitting out in the goal, he went to get our kids out of the game and back in play. He met with very little success.

No sooner that he evicted our wayward kids out of the goal, other kids started to sit in the goal. Within a matter of seconds, both teams, in their entirety, were sitting in the same goal together having a great time. As the parents rushed the field to photograph this incredibly cute display of sportsmanship, we all determined just who the real winners of the game were.

In the practice of law, we call this professionalism. While it is the duty of each lawyer to zealously represent their client, we owe a duty to the courts, our colleagues and our clients to fight hard for out clients but not be so hard that we are ashamed to meet them face to face at the grocery store.

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