ragtime kid

8/14/2019 Ragtime Kid

1/17

Here is a true story about the people who bring us the News and of mebringing it to them. I will let my pictures tell most of the tale. While all thereporters were investigating something to report I was trying to reportsomething worth investigating all the while I was investigating them and now

I have something to report. Hows that for a statement? I took some photosof my endeavors and saved the phone logs and their names. I am sure if they jog their memories and see my own photo that the light will dawn on theirmarble heads. The first thing I did was give them some clues and showedthem some of what was about to be placed in confidence behind the closeddoors of the Board of Bar Overseers. I left it all before Good Friday withmy phone number.Here is a copy of it:Mar.29, 2002

This will stand as my statement. I am not talking. I am doingsomething. This is no joke. I need a witness to verify it was doneand to print my statement about it in full. This is it. At theproper time I will prove to you who I am. I will insert my name inthe proper locations. I will show you that the documents I haveshown you go into the correspondence before I seal it in front of

you. I will expect someone to accompany me to the Overseers

office and verify for me in writing that it was done. This is notnews until I make it news by doing it. You will not know I did itunless you witness it. These are my words and you should notprint any of them until I say ok. If you agree in writing thenplease follow me.

To prove my point that I do what I say but not always say whatI do, I will present to you my two most recent letters to the BarCouncil and The Board of Bar Overseers. You judge me for

yourself.I know they are well respected Members of the Bar but they

are employed in an office to serve the public. As a Member of thePublic I have found their services lacking. It is a big read andsomewhat boring but I did my best to inject some entertainment


2/17

into a serious matter. Nonetheless it ought to give the Membersof the Bar lots to chew on this weekend. Upon delivering the first letter contained here and calling theother office about my concerns I waited almost one week for aresponse from them before going forward with my matter. I knowthey dont love me but they should have called or written to me toeffect some sort of amends. I am not an unreasonable man and Ican understand a mistake or a misunderstanding. I did not set outto torture them but merely to seek justice. Apparently they thinkI am bluffing so the cards must fall where they may. I am callingthem out with the second letter.

Mar. 19,2002 John W. MarshalAssistant Bar Council75 Federal StreetBoston, MA 02110

Mr. Marshal please do not permit yourself to think of this as any sort ofpersonal attack. I believe that as The Assistant Bar Council you are actingunder this rule:Section 7. The Bar Counsel(7) may delegate any duties or functions to a duly appointed assistant acting under his or her generalsupervision.

I assume that you are fulfilling his desires therefore I must take up thematter with him.

Section 2.2 Contents of Grievance Each grievance relating to alleged misconduct of a lawyer shall be in writing and signed by the complainantand shall contain a brief statement of the facts upon which the grievance is based. Verifications of thegrievance shall not be required. If necessary, Bar Counsel will assist the complainant in reducing thegrievance to writing.Section 2.3 Distribution of Grievance Forms Bar Counsel shall furnish forms to each person who requests one. Such forms also may be made availableto the public through the offices of the clerks of court in each county and through such other offices as may

be designated by the Board.

It has been over two months since I first notified the Bar Council of mydesire to file a complaint. As of yet I have not even seen the form.


3/17

The OBC serves the public in the following ways: investigates and responds to complaints of unethical conduct by attorneys prosecutes attorney misconduct cases before the Board of Bar Overseers and the SupremeJudicial Court provides information on the bar disciplinary process and alternative remedies

Am I not part of the public?Is not the Bar Council at the public service?

I am attempting to make this letter as brief as possible to aid you in fittingit in your schedule. I do not want to be redundant so perhaps after readingthis you may choose to review all of my other correspondence with thisoffice.

Clearly you can see that I composed this letter to you prior to our meeting.Obviously I was wary of what you were going to say to me with regard to thepolicy of the Office of the Bar Council to await a decree of a court beforetaking action. I have found no such statement of policy or of any otherpolicy. Should not an office in service of the public have their policies in thepublic view? How am I to become informed of them if they are not found inwriting? I did however find this rule:Section 11. Matters Involving Related Pending Civil, Criminal, or Administrative Proceedings. The investigation or prosecution of grievances or complaints involving material allegations which aresubstantially similar to the material allegations of pending criminal, civil, administrative, or bar disciplinary

proceedings in this or another jurisdiction shall not be deferred unless the Board or a single member designated by the chair, in its discretion, or the court, for good cause shown, shall authorize suchdeferment, as to which either the court or the Board may impose conditions.

Thus the policy you have stated to me does not seem to adhere to thisrule. You may have noticed I did not allow you to talk too long about such apolicy by word of mouth. Just such policies not in script without anyfoundation in the rules are simply words from the mouth to me. Once theyare in the wind they are part of the wind and just like the wind they are:

Easily forgottenThey change direction and strength from day to day.Sometimes there is none at all.Being understandably dubious of anything else you may wish to tell me I

elected to write this letter. If I fail to make myself understood I willpresent it to you as my best effort to have the Bar Council agree with myposition in this matter.


4/17

Within our phone conversation on Mar. 19/02 I asked about the responseof the respondent . You did not go into detail about what he said. I would like

to have a copy of his response. What I gathered from what you said heclaimed to be acting under the direction of the trustee. Even if that were tobe true he should be aware of such things as stated in a recent article bytwo of The Assistant Bar Councils Susan Strauss Weisberg and Roger GellerI quote:Rule 3.3(a)(2) requires a lawyer to disclose a client's fraud to the extent necessary to avoid "assisting" thefraud, even if the information is otherwise protected by Rule 1.6. Comment [2A] to Rule 3.3 establishes aspecial meaning of "assistance" that goes beyond the conduct associated with an aider or abettor or a jointtortfeasor. Under that special definition, a lawyer's mere failure to disclose an unrectified client fraud of itself constitutes assisting in the fraud

These members of the Bar knew full well that all interested parties did not

sign off on the First and Final Account. And even if not then they certainlydo now and yet are working very hard to cover up that fraud. They are usingtheir licenses as Members of the Bar right now to aid the trustee in his bidto escape justice. This is not fair for my wife and I to be forced to competewith them pro se while they employ every trick in the book afforded by thelicenses they hold that should be revoked over this very matter.

I state this plainly. These men are thieves and liars. I want themdisbarred. I want them investigated under criminal laws. I want all Offices inthe service of the public to simply do their jobs. If it were I that had done

their deeds I would have been crucified years ago. The fact that they areMembers of the Bar should not help them escape the simple truth of thematter.

I am here today to try to make this matter come quickly to a head. Enoughtime has passed. Some of these men are quite old. If this goes on for toolong they may go to their graves with honors they do not deserve. All theirwrongs maybe swept under the carpet and none of it will matter to themanymore anyway, That offends my sensibilities.

I am providing you with even more evidence to support my reasoning. All of

it is in the public record. I invite your office to study it all. I welcome anyargument you may have against my opinions. I will respond to them quicklyI have no fear of bringing it all to the publics attention. I would invite

these members of the bar to file suit against me over it. I would defend myposition with glee before a jury of my peers not theirs. I strongly believethat once the public becomes aware of these men and their deeds I willbecome merely first in line of a long line of people who wish to complain of


5/17

them as well. Therefore it is imperative to me to file my civil lawsuits first.I will decide when and if it is prudent for me to disclose this matter to thepublic. So I must remind you of this rule:Section 9. Immunity. (1) Complaints submitted to the Board or to the bar counsel shall be confidential and absolutely privileged.

The complainant shall be immune from civil liability based upon his or her complaint; provided, however,that such immunity from suit shall apply only to communications to the Board or the bar counsel and shallnot apply to public disclosure of information contained in or relating to the complaint.(2) The complainant and each witness giving sworn testimony or otherwise communicating with the Boardor the bar counsel during the course of any investigation or proceedings under this rule shall be immunefrom civil liability based on any such testimony or communications; provided, however, that suchimmunity from suit shall apply only to testimony given or communications made to the Board or the bar counsel and shall not apply to public disclosure of information attested to or communicated during thecourse of the investigation or proceedings.

Frankly I was amazed that I was compelled to point out to you the reasonsfor my complaint against these members of the Bar. The reasons werecomplete and fully explained within the documents that I gave to you on Mar19. I was astonished by your dispute of those reasons. I was appalled that

you did not do me the courtesy of listening to the tape you requested.Particularly after I went to effort and expense to provide it to you asquickly as possible. I do not think that you intended to be rude but weremerely acting on the wishes of your superior. So I wanted us to meetimmediately so that we would waste no more of each others time.

What I think you fail to understand is that you are employed to deal withpeople such as I. I am talking to you at your place and time of work.However I am on my own precious time and am not being paid for it. All ofthe time I have spent on this matter with the Office of the Bar Council Ihave felt that I am being deliberately stalled and set aside for no reason Ican accept. The time of Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. did not go unnoticed byme. Why not Monday morning at 9 a.m.?

I am willing to wager we dont start talking till well after two and I will beushered out the door before four. Not nearly enough time to discuss a

matter that warrants a serious investigation.I have a good reason to think that your office has already discussed mycomplaint with other offices in the service of the public. The fact that twoletters arrived from different offices on the same day saying essentiallythe same thing appears to be no coincidence. Plus the choice of words in theletter from the other office were similar to my words in my letter to youroffice not theirs. This leads me to believe that these two offices have


6/17

agreed to pacify me but to handle me in a way that suits their ends not mine.Who is it you are working for you or me?

I think that both offices may have agreed that my points may be valid, but

that they have chosen to let the matter rest in the hands of the courts, justin case I am wrong. Therefore they will save themselves from any potentialembarrassment by starting an investigation based on the claims of someprivate individual who may be crazy. I also think that they may have agreedto begin their investigations into this matter at the same time so as not toembarrass the other by taking action first.

The fact that you have no time to properly view the information that I

have provided with my complaint supplemented by the fact that you disagreewith the complaint makes you unacceptable to me to investigate it or tospeak about it on my behalf. I ask of you to hand this complaint to someoneelse in your office in the hope that they may be able to afford more time tothis matter with the attention that I know it does merit.

During our first phone conversation I stressed how important it was to mefor us to meet eye to eye. I explained that I thought men of our age shouldhave honed our senses enough to recognize when another man is beingserious and sincere. At least our meeting will have satisfied that request ofmine. Please relay your observation of me to the Bar Council. If you were toask me what to say about not telling, I would have to say that you just met asimple, sincere and serious man who may be capable of raising a little hell butin a legal and fun fashion. I look forward to my impression of you. Right nowI think you have been stroking me while under orders from above to do so.Perhaps you can change that thought but not so if you are reading this.

Lastly I wish to state that if our meeting has been recorded in any waythat I have no objection to it. I do demand a certified copy of that recordas soon as possible. All that I have said is true or to the best of myknowledge.

I have vowedTo my seedAs one who is proudThe promise to proceedTo say all the wayIf there is the need


7/17


8/17

trust. I was determined to be the perfect gentleman my mamatried hard to teach me to be. To first and foremost get theforms and see them filed. Try my level best to be understood. Ifnot give him the letter and walk. And most important of all towatch his eyes and listen very closely to every word from him.Out of his mouth and through a veil of manners may come themeanest wind of all.

I was laughing when I was having my next smoke before 3 p.m..Can you tell I am writing a book. Its a true story. What startedout as a minor spit and chew is getting very interesting. If I lose

it all maybe the book will sell. Losers buy books too. Misery lovescompany.Round Two

Mar. 28, 2002

Board of Bar Overseers75 Federal Street

Boston, MA 02110

Dear Sirs and Madams:

My complaints should be evident within the Office of the Bar Councildocket. There are no grievances whatsoever consented to and signed by mein the BBO File No. B0-00-0000 that bears my name. There are only lettersfrom me trying to assert my right to file a grievance and have it investigatedproperly. If my grievances are disputed I ask the Board of Bar Overseers to

allow me to argue my complaints pro se against the Bar Council and hisAssistant It should be my right to speak for myself in any legal matter thatpertains to me.

I still wish to assert my right to file my grievances against the Membersof the Bar that I first approached the Bar Council about. In view of the factthat I have no faith in the Bar Council to speak for me I ask that I maypursue those matters pro se as well. There will be no need to investigate. I


9/17

already have. I am not a Member of the Bar but I do know my rights. Inthese matters I do not want to remain silent.

I maintain that the Bar Council knew full well how his Assistant was tryingto handle my matter. He must be held accountable for his Assistant's acts.

He must abide the same laws and rules as any the Member of the Bar heinvestigates. I guess I may now be speaking for lawyers in a pro se fashion. Ihope they agree.

My reasoning is this.1. The Bar Council was well aware of me and this matter I had written a

personal letter addressed to him complaining of his staff and assertingmy right to file a grievance around two months ago.

2. The allegations I wished to file in a grievance should have beenconsidered grave by his office in light of the evidence I have presentedto them. The facts should have made him take notice. He must havediscussed the matter with his assistant within that time period.

3. His assistant knew that he was having trouble convincing me of hisstatements if he could not show me the foundation of those statementswithin the rules of his office.

4. His assistant knew that I would have no hesitation to complain to hissupervisor if I thought things were improper.

5. Thus he must have been acting under his supervisors direction.I had an idea of the way that they were attempting to handle my matter.

They wanted to stall and delay my filing any grievance. If no grievanceswere filed then they were not required to act and the matter would rest inthe hands of the courts. All the while they let me think that theyunderstood the nature of the reasons I wanted to file a grievance and thatthey were acting on their own accord.

When I tried to add a second lawyer from the same law firm to thedocket I realized something was amiss. Finally I was allowed to darken theirdoor to address any misunderstanding and hopefully start the process.I was very surprised to see the Office of the Bar Council ignore the rules

of their office and laws of the state to deny me my rights. His assistantgave me the response from the respondent. In that response is my name butno mention of a grievance and the respondent admitting that he knew whatwas in the docket in my name. All correspondence to the Office of the BarCouncil and were to remain confidential. Only a grievance consented to and


10/17

signed by me should have been disclosed to the respondent. If they wantedto act on a grievance it should have been in the Bar Councils name not minewithout my consent and signature. I asked to see my so called grievance. Heclaimed that the letter to the Bar Council in which I was demanding to

assert my rights to file a complaint stood as my grievance. I say nay not so.He would not affirm anything he said in writing nor would he show me in mycopy of The Board of Bar Overseers rules proof what he stated.

I noticed in the response where the respondent lied to the Bar Council.What is also interesting is respondent is starting to abandon his own clientto get himself off the hook in case his firm loses in a pending matter. Nohonor there.

In the course of our discussion he only wanted to discuss whether or notmy reasons to file against the first lawyer were valid. He did not want to

talk about my right to file a grievance and his obligation to assist me inwriting it. He definitely did not want to discuss a second complaint at all. Headmitted that he had not even reviewed all of what he asked me to providehim with and yet he stated I had no basis to file a complaint.

He offered unsolicited legal advice in the sense that he questioned as towhy we would not settle and he stated that he thought I would lose in court.

He said he thought my thoughts were scattered. My state of mind is mybusiness. I did not ask his opinion of it. I did think that this might be a caseof the pot calling the kettle black.

When he asked me to prove to him that there were legal grounds to bebefore the court on a pending matter, I pointed to one line on one page ofmany that showed that his question was ridiculous. I then demanded thegrievance forms. He agreed to give them to me but not to provide assistancein writing them and that I must agree to leave the office after receivingthem. I agreed immediately. Little did he know that I now required theforms to complain about him and his superior. I presented him with theletter I composed earlier and left. We shall see who is the scatterbrain.

I consider this to be an open letter to the Board of Bar Overseers and tothe public as I declared I would do in the letter to Mr. Marshal. These aremy words and I swear they are true and to the best of my recollection. Howand when I bring them into the public view will be my decision.

I consider this to be a very serious matter and do not address it lightly.I hate the thought that this may be standard operating procedure of theBar Council. Just think how many decent people with valid grievances mayhave been intimidated and turned away by this office in the past.


11/17

I have discussed this matter with many Members of the Bar and manyoffices in service of the public including the court, the District AttorneysOffice and the Attorney Generals Office. All said essentially the samething, and that is its not my job and passed the buck to The Board of Bar

Overseers. Perhaps since the buck stops here we shall see what it is worththese days.

If you read it all I thank you. I am sorry about the length but Icouldnt figure another way to do it. Before you dismiss me as a

nut you should ask yourself two questions.Why would such Members of the Bar not let me write my

grievances as per the rules of their office?Why would a family man go out on a limb to file a grievance

against the Bar Council, bring it to public attention and be opento a lawsuit if it were not true?

If you reached the same conclusion I did and have read therules of the Board of Bar Overseers. Then you will understandwhy I have to go public.

Please dont bug me or mine about it. This is a public letter butI am a private person. We do have our rights in common thoughso this should be of some interest to you. They picked this fightnot me. I saw no other option but to go public or give up and walkaway. Methinks they are banking on me walking. I would be madat myself the rest of my days if I chose that path. It is me Ifear the most and I cant escape myself.

I am not talking but I may sell the words I choose to write. If you are curious as to who the other fellas are you will have to digthrough the public records which is your right to do. While youare there you would be wise to look into your own affairs in casesomeone claimed you signed something you didnt.


12/17

If one had called they could have seen and copied it all and witnessed medeliver it. In my opinion it was a pretty good scoop. No one called so I did iton the best day any fool would. To verify that I did it I took an exact copy

to these folks because it should be right up their alley:


13/17

The next Day I went back I got the documents and checked to see thatthey were all there. Then I showed the man at the desk my drivers licenseto verify that I was the one in the documents and the man listed on thecheck attached to this challenge for a formal debate behind closed doors. I

had him make photocopy of it and watch me cross the street to hand deliverit to these folks:


14/17

I then walked across the park and up this hill:


15/17

I was willing to show any reporter or GOP guy an exact copy of what I had just left behind at the Massachusetts Bar Association. All were to busywith the affairs of the day to bother with the likes of me. A couple of thetech guys had a look though likely cause I didnt fit in with the crowd and I

was interested in their jobs. Likely they were just giving me the simplecourtesy of showing some interest in my affairs. They wished me luck.Does anyone remember me? I was the one the one grinning like the fool oldYorick was. Alas I never knew him at all nor did you care to know me.


16/17


17/17

Can ya tell I get around.Methinks some may think me worth knowing.Look for part two the next week.

ragtime kid

Documents