FIVE YEARS!
For those who are new here:
If you haven’t yet read the full initial filing of the civil rights lawsuit that we filed against the State (in Federal Court, in August of 2019) you can read that at the link below. [It’s is quite an interesting and engaging read-through, actually!]
Five years ago, mid-August (2016)…is when I was illegally “fired” from the non-profit I founded, Lead Safe America Foundation — without the knowledge of, let alone a vote of – the Board of Directors!
Once Board Members found out I had been been “fired” (after I sent them an email in protest!), many of them went so far as to write letters to recuse themselves from the decision to fire me [a decision that had been prompted and carried out by Lawyers I had hired and paid for – to help the Foundation – Lawyers who were then (in essence) threatened and intimidated by members of the Oregon DOJ, convinced to fire me based on unfounded false accusations that came through a fraudulent anonymous complaint to the DOJ.]
With this action (removing me from the non-profit I founded and volunteered with for so many years to help thousands of families everywhere), the dominoes were set in place to kill a multiple- award-winning – primarily volunteer-run – efficient nonprofit providing no-cost childhood Lead poisoning prevention education and direct assistance to parents and communities, as well as accurate, up-to-date and completely uncensored, science-based information about childhood Lead-poisoning prevention.
“Just Keep Swimming”
Early on in all this, another mother of a Lead-poisoned child sent me a gift – a necklace with the words, “Just Keep Swimming” engraved on it — that’s been my motto ever since! Baby steps…move forward…take things one step at a time to continue expose the lies (& hold those accountable responsible) while continuing to help families protect their children from being exposed to Lead in their homes and environment (including finding creative new ways to help fund this work as well given it is no longer associated with a 501(c)3 nonprofit).
I have since done everything I can to help continue the work of the Lead Safe America Foundation without the support network or benefits of being associated with a nonprofit.
Today I need your help in holding the bad actors at the Oregon Department of Justice [& at the agencies “downstream” of the DOJ outlined in the complaint linked below] accountable for deliberately destroying Lead Safe America Foundation – and eliminating the resources it would have been able to continue to provide to families everywhere over these past five years (& long into the future). We need to send a clear, unequivocal message to these bad actors with the State of Oregon that they cannot perpetrate this level of unfounded harassment against any nonprofit or activist or individual in Oregon ever again. In turn, this might even hopefully set a precedent for protecting the work of activists and advocates across the United States for decades into the future.
Not for me – but for Justice
This lawsuit is not for me — it is for The People, as in We The People — and it is for uncensored and free access to the facts about the true/actual demographics, scope, causes and costs of childhood Lead poisoning — and what is required for its prevention. It is for Justice. We need to see justice served and we need to see the cessation of publicly-funded acts of injustice against activists.
The current state of the lawsuit
Earlier this year – in March of 2021 (after returning home from Maine with a broken leg!) I hired a new attorney (Zack Duffly) to help me mediate with the State of Oregon. Over the past 8 months, the State has refused to mediate or otherwise participate in reasonable settlement negotiations (in spite of them being the party that invited the mediation in the first place) and decided they wanted to go ahead with the jury trial.
Thankfully, my current Civil Rights attorney agreed to take on the next phase of the case – “Preparing for Jury Trial”- which includes depositions, discovery, etc. Zack agreed to do this for a very reasonable starting retainer of just $6,000. (Amazing!)
At the time of drafting this post I have paid $3,250 towards this new $6,000 retainer and am currently working as hard as I can to raise the remaining $2,750 I need. Fundraising is underway (and to everyone who has helped get us this far… thank you!) — but it is going really slowly (perhaps because so many folks are away in August?)
Please let me know if you can help
I don’t want to risk having my attorney lose enthusiasm for seeing justice served in my case because I took so long to come up with $ for him; timing is critical. Donations are awesome, always – but hiring me for an event or home consultation to be scheduled for this year or next (and paying your deposit now) or making a short-term loan (1,000? $2,000) to Lead Safe Mama, LLC towards the remainder of his retainer fee at this juncture would be magical Again, as of writing this post we have sent the attorney $3,250 and need to come up with at least $2,750 more to fill the gap. Anything we can drum up in the form of deposits for future work (or a loan) will help make it possible for me to use other funds I earn to continue to be able to feed my family during these otherwise challenging times.
Here are some relevant links:
- Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit link:
- How you can help link:
- Subscribe to the paid Facebook Group link:
- Send in items for testing (Last chance!) link:
- Hire me in October 2021 or January 2022 link:
If not work, a loan?
If there is anyone here who wants to help in a bigger way with a short-term loan to Lead Safe Mama, LLC to help pay the remainder to the lawyer, I would be incredibly thankful. With a small short-term loan I can repay someone by the end of 2021 out of September/October #LeadSafeMama earnings [or possibly even sooner — with the settlement of the lawsuit, if that happens sooner; or funds from the sale of my family farm, if that happens sooner].
Funds could also be loaned with a direct payment to the attorney (just let me know and I will get you his information to send a check or PayPal or Venmo!), and I can ask him to send you written confirmation that your loan will be repaid with the conclusion of the lawsuit.
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