In mid-December, I was in a fender-bender with an older gentleman in a parking lot. The accident put a small hole in his bumper. Well, he’s calling me now at work saying that I owe him $500 (his deductible) or he’ll sue me for it.

What makes this so bad is that in Michigan, we have what I thought was “no-fault” insurance. In truth, it isn’t. As it turns out, there is something called “Mini-tort”. Under no-fault, a driver can only be sued under certain circumstances, such as:

• If he or she causes an accident in which someone is killed or seriously injured, or
• If he or she in involved in an accident in Michigan with a non-resident who is an occupant of a motor vehicle not registered in Michigan, or
• If he or she is involved in an accident in another state where lawsuits are permitted.

The limited property damage liability, or “mini-tort”, provision of the no-fault law creates another situation in which you can sue or be sued. If you are 50% or more at fault in an accident, and damages to the other driver’s car are not completely covered by his or her insurance, you may be sued and my have to pay up to $500 in damages. This also means that you may sue the other driver for damages to your car which are not covered by your insurance if the other driver is 50% or more at fault.

Insurance companies usually offer this coverage as an optional coverage which you may purchase for an extra cost. They don’t like to tell you about it because it costs them more than they make on it. For example, it would have only cost $7.00 more to have that coverage on my policy. As you can tell, this means I didn’t have the coverage.

I don’t know what I’m going to do. When it rains, it pours…

I co-hosted a District meeting with 6 other District Deputies last night at Msgr Hunt Council #3312. (Thanks again for the “fraternalism” after the meeting, guys!) I was forced to stand up while individually, each of my councils were “called on the carpet” for the lack of membership recruitment. It was totally unexpected, and a couple of my councils really didn’t get the point of what was going on. It was tough, and I felt really beat up while it was going on. Then Stanley Brescoll Jr, Grand Knight of Fr. Patrick O’Kelley Council #3860, stood up and gave a report on how they are going to use the Round Table program at the churches in their area to recruit members. Then, they called upon Anacleto Rodriguez Council #8697, my Brother Knights in the ‘hood of Southwest Detroit. David Belian, the Financial Secretary, went into a detailed explanation of how they are recruiting members, and since they are ALREADY AT THEIR MEMBERSHIP QUOTA after almost getting closed down a year ago, he also had some great words of advice for the other councils in attendence.

I just wanted to thank my Brother Knights at Fr. Patrick O’Kelley Council #3860 and Anacleto Rodriguez Council #8697 for backing me up. The “higher ups” may not have been proud of what you are accomplishing, but I SURE AM!!!

Hope everyone has a safe and Happy 2005!

According to MSNBC.com, ‘Law & Order’ star Jerry Orbach dies due to prostate cancer. I loved him as an actor, and thought that he was the best ‘NY-style’ cop on TV. He left ‘Law & Order’ to begin a two day workweek with a supporting role on a new ‘Law & Order’ spinoff, ‘Law & Order: Trial by Jury’.

He would usually have a wisecrack comment, so in his honor…

…I guess his next role will be an angel!

Thanks to Bruce Elgort for pointing out once again why we should READ VERY CAREFULLY BEFORE SPENDING OUR MONEY!

What kills me the most is that someone fell for it…

I have a picture of a new car if anyone is interested…

BBC News is reporting that Lisa Marie Presley has sold 85% of her father’s estate. She’s keeping ownership of Graceland, but has sold the management of it. She also sold her father’s name and likeness, rights to his photographs, plus his movie and song revenues. (With Lisa Marie selling her father’s likeness, does that mean she has to get plastic surgery on her face?)

I don’t know why this bothers me so much, but it does…

It looks like I’ll be out of the office from Wednesday, December 22nd until Sunday, January 2nd, 2005, thanks to a couple of days given to me by my boss, plus some unused vacation days! I’ll try to keep up my blog while I’m gone. I hope that I can use this time to recharge my batteries, so I can come back January 3rd…just in time to be depressed again about not attending Lotusphere!

I never thought that I would say that about being a District Deputy (or anything in the Knights of Columbus)…

A District Deputy in the Knights of Columbus is sort of like being a regional director of something. I have 5 local K of C councils that I’m working with. One that was given to me was “brain dead” when I got it. (To give you an idea, the Grand Knight transferred to another council.) I have another council that has officers that are willing to quit at a moment’s notice. I have 2 good councils, then I have mine. It really is a good council, but the officers have given up hope. They are concerned more about keeping a building afloat than the good members and the work that the Knights of Columbus do. It also has a problem with young guys trying, but getting shot down by an older, more established group. The older members don’t want to give up what they do, partly because they are afraid the young members will screw it up, and partly because they don’t want to give up the power.

Why am i bringing this up? I just received an email from a former District Deputy (and Past Grand Knight of my council) saying that he and the State Membership Director want to have a meeting with me on a Wednesday as soon as possible, probably about the lack of membership recruitment in my council (and the fact that I will probably have to suspend 10% of the existing members because of non-payment of dues). Now, I respect this former DD a lot, but honestly, he hasn’t been an ACTIVE part of our council for many, many years. Both live on the east side of the Detroit regional area. None of them have a clue as to what’s going on in the inner city of Detroit (aka The Pridelands). I’m willing to take any advice to help bring in more membership to my home council. I think they have the wrong people in their crosshairs, though. When I was Grand Knight, I made my membership quota…it can be done. My council has no respect for me whatsoever. I wonder if there is some magic words that will get the council off its butt.

Bring on the yelling and the criticism…er, I mean, the advice and instruction….

Thanks to everyone that showed up at the Detroit Notes Professionals Users Group Fall DominoFest 2004. Thanks also go out to my employer, Data Planners, Inc. for supplying the refreshments. Thanks and congratulations go out to my fellow speakers, Michael Sobczak and Joe Wichowski, for speaking on some great topics. Click here to get a copy of my presentation.

I can’t say THANK YOU enough to Greyhawk68, Stephan H. Wissel and Duffbert for their words of advise and encouragement. I have a doctor’s appointment at the end of this month.

You’ll never really know how much I needed your responses. This is another example of the power of the blogging community (or dare I say, family)…