Tuesday, January 23, 2007

A Month in Wilbur

My law school friends (Alan Steinacher and Joe Vosoba) were just setting up practice in Wilbur and needed cheap help in the way of a legal secretary. I quit my job in Wahoo and spent the month of August in their office before enrolling in law school. It was good experience for me and didn’t cost the firm much money.

I got along fine with the typing for Al and Joe except for the proper names. Wilber was a pure Czech town and the names were horrendous. It also bugged me that Al would write a will for somebody, I would type it and he would let it sit for a couple weeks before he would let me call the parties back to let them know it was done. I subsequently found out the reason for the delay. He wanted to give the people a chance to think about the details before the final draft was typed. That prevented a series of changes, and more work.

Since I did not take shorthand, the partners dictated most of their work on a machine. They talked into a microphone which transmitted impulses to a needle that scratched grooves into a cylinder. I would later insert the needle into the grooves and play back the message into earphones. Because I was not expert in secretarial skill, this gave me an opportunity to play and replay the dictation until I got it right.

Al had only one arm. He had lost the other in a tractor accident at age 12 and he did amazingly well with just one. He could tie his own shoes with one hand by holding down one lace with his foot and looping the other lace around to make a bow. He lit a cigarette by bending the match out of the pack and replacing the cover. He then scratched the match with one hand and lit the cigarette.

When Joe and I got our draft notices while we were still in college, Al decided he would enlist. We knew (but didn’t say anything) that he would be rejected because of having only one arm. Al reasoned that with his law degree, the army could use him regardless of his physical condition.

He went to the recruiting office and was convincing enough that they let him take the required tests. He did fine until he got to the physical and they told him they were sorry but they could not accept him. All recruits are required to go through basic training no matter what there final duty and he would not be able to cope with that.

While Joe was in the army, Al got the law practice going. In order to become known (and to supplement his income if he won) he decided to run for Saline county attorney. He spent the fall campaigning door to door throughout the county.

His ability to speak Czech didn’t hurt and the fact his opposition was the son of a prominent former county attorney, who thought he was a shoo-in, brought about a landslide for Al. He won every precinct but one and tied that one.

Al was not one to overlook the perks of his office. He always carried a John Doe warrant in his car in case he got picked up for speeding. The county attorney would be “on his way to pick up a fugitive” and therefore a law enforcement officer.

Al didn’t keep the elective job for more than the first term. By that time Joe was back from the service and the practice was beginning to flourish. When I asked him why he didn’t run again, Al said the janitor at the courthouse was paid better than the county attorney.

Joe took his turn at making contacts for the firm. He ran for state legislature and served one term, long enough to cultivate some influential friends on a statewide basis.

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