Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 150, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 30, 2015 Page: 5 of 28
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NATIONAL
5A
Denton Record-Chronicle
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Cleveland case far from over
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By Mark Gillispie
and John Seewer
Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Despite the
grand jury decision not to
charge a white patrolman in the
killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice,
the case is far from over for the
city of Cleveland, the officers in-
volved in the shooting, or the
black boy’s grief-stricken family.
The family is suing the city,
federal prosecutors are looking
into possible civil rights charges
against Timothy Loehmann and
his partner, and the two officers
face a departmental investiga-
tion that could result in disci-
plinary action, including firing.
Tamir was carrying what
turned out to be a pellet gun
when Loehmann shot and killed
the boy within two seconds of
emerging from his police cruiser
in November 2014. On Monday,
prosecutors said a grand jury
concluded that Loehmann rea-
sonably believed that it was a
real gun and that his life was in
danger.
The case has stirred racial
tensions and added Cleveland to
the list of U.S. cities — Ferguson,
Missouri; Baltimore; North
Charleston, South Carolina; and
New York City, among them —
where blacks have died in the
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Jeff Roberson/AP
A holiday wreath hangs from a light post surrounded by flood-
water from the Bourbeuse River on Tuesday in Union, Mo.
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Flooding threatens
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Alton, Missouri, about 20 miles
north of St. Louis. Mayor Wil-
liam Richter ordered any of the
town’s approximate 520 resi-
dents who had not already evac-
uated to get out of harm’s way.
In another eastern Missouri
town, Union, water from the
normally docile Bourbeuse Riv-
er reached the roofs of a McDo-
nald’s, QuikTrip and several oth-
er businesses. The river reached
an all-time high Tuesday, nearly
20 feet above flood stage.
Interstate 44 was closed near
the central Missouri town of
Rolla, and a 10-mile section of
Interstate 70 was shut down in
southern Illinois before it was
reopened late Tuesday after-
noon. Hundreds of smaller
roads and highways were also
closed across the two states, and
flood warnings were in effect.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon acti-
vated the National Guard to as-
sist with security in evacuated
areas and to help keep road clo-
sure sites clear.
In southern Illinois, the De-
partment of Corrections trans-
ferred an unspecified number of
inmates from a state prison to
other locations because of flood-
ing risks. The facility houses
nearly 3,700 inmates.
By Jim Salter
and Alan Scher Zagier
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — A rare winter
flood pushed swollen rivers and
streams to virtually unheard-of
heights Tuesday, sparking wide-
spread evacuations and the
transfer of inmates from an Illi-
nois state prison as Missouri’s
governor activated the National
Guard to help divert traffic away
from submerged roads.
The U.S. Army Corps of En-
gineers said water from the ris-
ing Mississippi River and its
tributaries threatened to spill
over 19 federal levees, putting
hundreds of homes in jeopardy.
Record flooding was project-
ed in some Mississippi River
towns after several days of tor-
rential rain that caused sewage
to flow unfiltered into water-
Tony Dejak/AP
People march peacefully Tuesday in front of the Cuyahoga County Justice Center in down-
town Cleveland to protest a grand jury’s decision not to indict two white Cleveland police
officers in the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, a black 12-year-old boy who was playing with a
pellet gun.
wept for much of the day after
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor
Tim McGinty’s announcement
that Loehmann and Garmback
wouldn’t be charged.
“She doesn’t know what she
can do,” Chandra said. “And
there are no answers because
the prosecutors have foreclosed
the possibility of criminal ac-
countability.”
Loehmann’s attorney said
the officer bears a heavy burden,
both a legal and public relations
standpoint, Cleveland has con-
siderable exposure from the fed-
eral lawsuit filed by Tamir’s fam-
cause the case will examine not
just the shooting but the circum-
stances surrounding it, Gilbert
said, referring to the way Garm-
back stopped the cruiser so close
to Tamir while responding to a
911 call about someone waving a
gun.
Cleveland’s reputation has
suffered because of some well-
publicized police shootings, in-
cluding the killings of two un-
armed black people in a 137-shot
barrage of police gunfire at the
end of a 2012 car chase.
The city settled a lawsuit
brought by the victims’ families
for a total of $3 million in 2014,
months before a criminal case
involving one of the officers
went to trial.
A judge ultimately acquitted
the patrolman of manslaughter.
Attorney Terry Gilbert re-
presented the family of one of
the victims and earlier this year
won a $5.5 million verdict
against the city over the killing of
a man by an off-duty Cleveland
officer. The Rice family has a
“good case,” Gilbert said.
The city is vulnerable be-
past two years at the hands of
police.
“A reasonable officer would
position themselves where they
would have some space between
themselves and the potential
threat where they could have
some time and cover,” Gilbert
said.
On Tuesday, about 50 people
marched peacefully in front of
the county courthouse in down-
town Cleveland to protest the
grand jury decision. Demonstra-
tors chanted, “Justice for Ta-
mir!”
too.
“Everybody has this vision of
a cold, callous person who shot a
12-year-old,” Henry Hilow said.
“Both officers have to live with
this the rest of their lives. That
memory will never go away.”
While the U.S. Attorney’s Of-
fice in Cleveland has said it will
review the circumstances of the
shooting, the legal hurdles to
prosecuting a civil rights case are
considered especially high.
A law professor as well as a
prominent Cleveland civil rights
attorney said Tuesday that from
Case Western Reserve Uni-
versity law professor Lewis Katz
said the city would be vulnerable
at trial because of the failure of
the 911 call taker to pass on key
information — namely, that the
caller said the gunman was
probably a juvenile and the gun
probably wasn’t real.
Katz said the city officials
might want to cut their losses
and settle with the Rice family.
“They run a big risk if they
don’t,” Katz said.
In addition to the potential
legal and financial consequenc-
es is the human cost. Tamir’s
ways.
The Meramec River near St.
mother, Samaria, must live
without her baby boy, a happy-
go-lucky kid in a man-sized
body.
Louis was expected to get to
more than 3 feet above the pre-
vious record by late this week.
At least 18 deaths in Missouri
and Illinois were blamed on
flooding, mostly involving vehi-
cles that drove onto swamped
roadways.
The river on Tuesday spilled
over the top of the levee at West
Loehmann, Garmback and
other officers were surprised to
learn after the shooting that Ta-
mir was just 12.
Family attorney Subodh
Chandra said Samaria Rice
DuPont
moves
ahead on
job cuts
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Representing Yourself in a Family Law Case: Think Twice!
After years of practicing family law, I
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When a family law case is filed, the law
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in several ways. Once a person is served
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of days to “answer” the case or the other
person can obtain a final order without
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default judgment. A default judgment can
also occur if a person files an answer to
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with the order or file a lawsuit to ask the
court to set aside the order. Lawsuits to
are not signed at the time of the divorce
and the other spouse will not sign the
documents after the divorce, then the
spouse receiving the property may have to
return to court to obtain the other party’s
signature on the required documents.
Most pro se litigants are not aware of the
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retirement.
Many family law orders contain
provisions regarding children. These orders
consist of certain rights to the children,
child support, medical support, and
possession of the children. Most orders
with regard to a child can be modified up
until the child is 18, graduates from high
school or is emancipated, depending on
the type of family law case. However, to
modify an order, certain conditions must
be met. The rights to children must be set
out in clear detail or disagreements may
ensue. This is true whether the case is a
divorce case, grandparent case, aunt and
uncle case, etc. The most important and
fought over right is the right to decide a
property. Texas is a community property
state and all property that is considered
community property is divided by the
court. Once a decree of divorce is agreed
upon or the court makes an order with
both spouses participating, the property
division is final. One of the problematic
areas is the division of private, federal
or state retirement, or employee benefits
such as pensions, 401 k’s, stock options,
etc. The valuation and division of these
benefits is extremely complex.
There are other important documents
that accompany finalizing a divorce
besides the decree itself. We call these
closing documents, and without these
documents the spouse receiving property
may have a hard time actually obtaining
the property. For example, if real estate
is being awarded to a spouse, then deeds
will need to be signed so the land is
actually transferred. If retirement is being
transferred, there are documents that must
be provided to the retirement plan in order
to actually transfer the retirement to the
non-employee spouse. If such documents
child’s “primary residence” also known as
custody. All orders containing the right to
decide a child’s primary residence should
state within what area the child’s residence
must be established. If not, the person
deciding the primary residence may
establish the child’s residence anywhere
they choose which could be devastating
for the child’s family. In addition, the
possession schedule with regard to the
children should be specific or problems
will arise.
Likewise, child support is often
addressed in orders regarding children. It
can be quite disappointing for the person
receiving child support to find out the order
is not enforceable. A child support order
that is not correctly written to provide
for enforcement by “contempt,” which
means the paying parent can go to jail for
nonpayment, is not much of an order. The
law is very clear that an order must be
specific in certain respects for the order
to be enforceable by contempt. If a parent
wants to collect child support through the
paying parent’s employer, the court must
sign a wage withholding order,
which must also be presented to
the court.
Most family law cases require
a “prove-up” where the court
must hear certain evidence
in order to sign the family law
order. I have rarely seen a prove-
up done correctly by a person
without attorney representation.
Further, if the prove-up is not
done correctly, the judge cannot
sign the family law order. The
goal for a “do it yourself” family
law case is to save money and
stay out of court; however,
doing it yourself may cost you
more money in the long run
and you could end up in court.
I think Mark Twain said it best:
“Good decisions come from
experience. Experience comes
from making bad decisions.”
By Sarah Skidmore Set
AP Business Writer
DuPont will cut 1,700 jobs in
its home state of Delaware and
thousands more globally as it
prepares for its merger with
Dow Chemical.
Dow and DuPont
nounced earlier this month that
they would join to create a giant
chemical producer that will
eventually be split into three in-
dependent companies.
At that time, DuPont an-
nounced a $700 million cost
savings and restructuring pro-
gram but did not specify how
many jobs would be impacted or
where. DuPont CEO Ed Breen
sent a letter to employees Tues-
day informing them that ap-
proximately 1,700 Delaware po-
sitions would be eliminated in
the beginning of the year.
DuPont, which has been
based in Delaware for 213 years,
said it would have preferred to
let affected employees know of
the news first.
But it made the announce-
ment now, amid the holidays,
because it is legally required to
inform the state by the end of the
year of the local job cuts.
The company has approxi-
mately 54,000 employees
worldwide and the restructur-
ing program will ultimately af-
fect about 10 percent of that
workforce.
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell
said the announcement of the
job cuts is “deeply disappoint-
an-
set aside final orders can be expensive
and such suits are extremely technical and
require certain evidence to succeed.
Lack
of
attorney
representation does not
justify or result in special help
from the courts. A person
representing themselves is
referred to as a “pro se” party
and they must follow the same
laws and technical rules as
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themselves. When people j
represent themselves and they I
are not educated to know the J
law or the ropes of the court I
system, such usually results in I
a final order that they dislike.
Divorce cases are a I
common area where we see I
final orders that people dislike. I
A final order in a divorce case I
is called a “decree of divorce” I
and should contain a division I
of the spouses’ community
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(From left to right) Brook Stuntebeck, Sean Abeyta, Charla H. Bradshaw, James Logue, and Sarah Darnell
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mg.
“DuPont’s number one asset
is its people, and the innovations
that the company has produced
during its storied history are a
testament to the quality of those
people,” Markell said in a state-
ment.
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Parks, Scott K. Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 150, Ed. 1 Wednesday, December 30, 2015, newspaper, December 30, 2015; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1124954/m1/5/: accessed June 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .