Back to School, Tuesday
I am sooooo tired this morning! Got about 50 minutes of sleep last night; my head was still full of court stuff and the long drive from Sacto-to-Shasta-to-Sacto (380+ miles); that just does me in. I'm coughing out tons of weird-looking crap today, too. Eew. But maybe that means this cold thingy is finally on its way out. We'll see...
I actually did pretty well in school today, Rebecca (Duct Tape) was actually feeling miserable, and could hardly concentrate, so I didn't have anything to complain about. I aced my test in Civil Lit 2, and the teacher now refers to me as "Mare", which I think is so cute. He actually had some of my classmates look at a project I was completing for the class as a sort of guide for their own projects (which they hadn't started yet and which are due on Thursday!), so that made me feel good too.
In my Legal Office Management class, Mrs. Hill had me share my news about the indictment of Darrin and his cohirts, and the class applauded me. Awwww, so sweet! And I was able to help classmates in that class set up billing schedules in Excel, look up "caps" on contingency fees (as dictated by the State Bar), and get in touch with the FBI through the FBI's "tip" website, so I felt useful there too.
EDD Stuff: As you know I've been fighting with the EDD since October (!) of 2009, demanding that they pay me benefits they've been refusing to me because, they said, I was n't eligible for benefits unless I quit school. Well, I appealed the EDD decision twice, and lost the first appeal so I appealed AGAIN and at the same time sent letters to Governor Schwartzenegger telling him how ridiculous the EDD was being. In response to the governor's letter to the EDD on my first letter of complaint, the EDD said I could get benefits now but ONLY if I drop all of my day time classes and take only nighttime classes. I told them that was, again, ridiculous and, again, wrote the governor telling him how stupid the EDD was being. Well, guess what I got in the mail today? The EDD's Board Panel (which oversees the Appeals Board) GRANTED ME BENEFITS saying there was NO LEGAL REASON why benefits should be denied to me!!! Yay! The tough old cookie wins again! (Oh, and thank you, Arnold.) Now, let's see if the EDD actually issues me all of those checks back to October 11, 2009 that they owe me! [[The ruling actually made me feel so good, I 've read it over about ten times already. Hah! Y'know, I think this legal class stuff is actually paying off! I can write a pretty damn good demand letter now!]]
The latest on the bad guys: SACRAMENTO - Three Redding residents indicted last week by a federal grand jury on mail fraud, money laundering and other charges pleaded not guilty Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Darrin Arthur Johnston, 45, and Todd Allen Smith, 47, were released from Sacramento County jail custody on $75,000 bond each, while Cheryl Ann Hitomi Peterson, 47, was released on a $50,000 bond, the spokeswoman said. Their next court date in Sacramento is June 22. The trio, as well as a San Antonio, Texas, man were indicted last week in what prosecutors described as a “foreclosure recovery” scheme in which homeowners in financial distress signed over the deeds to their homes. In exchange, homeowners were allegedly told they could lease their homes and buy them back in two years. But, prosecutors said, Johnston and Smith, as well as Jeremiah Andrew Martin, 32, of San Antonio, allegedly pocketed the lease-rental payments instead of paying off the loan. Meanwhile, Peterson, an escrow officer, used her notary status to give the appearance of legitimacy to the scheme, the indictment claims. Many homeowners lost their homes in the course of the alleged fraud, and lenders suffered losses in excess of $1 million, prosecutors said.
I got a copy of the indictment on-line so I could read it, and it was gratifying and a little weird to see the Gold Rush house listed there on a Federal court document! (It looks like Darrin and his crew of unholies took out over $500,000 on the house -- which was only worth about $190,000 when the market was good; it sold recently for $115,000; and yet the bad guys think they "did nothing wrong". Delusion is an interesting thing, isn't it?)
I actually did pretty well in school today, Rebecca (Duct Tape) was actually feeling miserable, and could hardly concentrate, so I didn't have anything to complain about. I aced my test in Civil Lit 2, and the teacher now refers to me as "Mare", which I think is so cute. He actually had some of my classmates look at a project I was completing for the class as a sort of guide for their own projects (which they hadn't started yet and which are due on Thursday!), so that made me feel good too.
In my Legal Office Management class, Mrs. Hill had me share my news about the indictment of Darrin and his cohirts, and the class applauded me. Awwww, so sweet! And I was able to help classmates in that class set up billing schedules in Excel, look up "caps" on contingency fees (as dictated by the State Bar), and get in touch with the FBI through the FBI's "tip" website, so I felt useful there too.
EDD Stuff: As you know I've been fighting with the EDD since October (!) of 2009, demanding that they pay me benefits they've been refusing to me because, they said, I was n't eligible for benefits unless I quit school. Well, I appealed the EDD decision twice, and lost the first appeal so I appealed AGAIN and at the same time sent letters to Governor Schwartzenegger telling him how ridiculous the EDD was being. In response to the governor's letter to the EDD on my first letter of complaint, the EDD said I could get benefits now but ONLY if I drop all of my day time classes and take only nighttime classes. I told them that was, again, ridiculous and, again, wrote the governor telling him how stupid the EDD was being. Well, guess what I got in the mail today? The EDD's Board Panel (which oversees the Appeals Board) GRANTED ME BENEFITS saying there was NO LEGAL REASON why benefits should be denied to me!!! Yay! The tough old cookie wins again! (Oh, and thank you, Arnold.) Now, let's see if the EDD actually issues me all of those checks back to October 11, 2009 that they owe me! [[The ruling actually made me feel so good, I 've read it over about ten times already. Hah! Y'know, I think this legal class stuff is actually paying off! I can write a pretty damn good demand letter now!]]
The latest on the bad guys: SACRAMENTO - Three Redding residents indicted last week by a federal grand jury on mail fraud, money laundering and other charges pleaded not guilty Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Darrin Arthur Johnston, 45, and Todd Allen Smith, 47, were released from Sacramento County jail custody on $75,000 bond each, while Cheryl Ann Hitomi Peterson, 47, was released on a $50,000 bond, the spokeswoman said. Their next court date in Sacramento is June 22. The trio, as well as a San Antonio, Texas, man were indicted last week in what prosecutors described as a “foreclosure recovery” scheme in which homeowners in financial distress signed over the deeds to their homes. In exchange, homeowners were allegedly told they could lease their homes and buy them back in two years. But, prosecutors said, Johnston and Smith, as well as Jeremiah Andrew Martin, 32, of San Antonio, allegedly pocketed the lease-rental payments instead of paying off the loan. Meanwhile, Peterson, an escrow officer, used her notary status to give the appearance of legitimacy to the scheme, the indictment claims. Many homeowners lost their homes in the course of the alleged fraud, and lenders suffered losses in excess of $1 million, prosecutors said.
I got a copy of the indictment on-line so I could read it, and it was gratifying and a little weird to see the Gold Rush house listed there on a Federal court document! (It looks like Darrin and his crew of unholies took out over $500,000 on the house -- which was only worth about $190,000 when the market was good; it sold recently for $115,000; and yet the bad guys think they "did nothing wrong". Delusion is an interesting thing, isn't it?)