As you know, we have appealed to the Supreme COurt the decision to allow gas drilling in Chief Logan State Park. 

 

The Court does not have to review every case.  First it takes all the cases and sorts them into three piles:

 

1.  Now worth fooling with.  Judge in Circuit Court was obviously right, not interesting issues, whatever.

 

2.  Definitely worth reviewing.

 

3.  Can't decide if it belongs in #1 or #2 so we will let the appellant's lawyer appear and argue that it is worth reviewing.

 

The Court has two dates scheduled for meeting and deciding which pile cases go in--February 11 and March 11.  These are private conferences; no open court, public, etc.

 

This is where you come in.

 

The COurt will go into these meetings with a big pile of cases before it.  Each one does not get a lot of attention.  We need something to get the court's attention, make sure it does not glance at ours, toss it into Pile 1 (not worth fooling with). 

 

To do this, we need LETTERS TO THE EDITOR..  The judges read those.  When the case comes up in conference, they will remember that this is something that hasa been in the paper, somebody cares about, etc.  It helps make sure they pay attention to our case and don't just give it a quick look and toss it into the "not worth fooling with" pile.

 

Our attorney, Tom Rodd, councils subtlety.  He worked up there for several years and knows the score.  He says that the Court does not like raucous  public demonstrations.  They would not agree to review a case if they thought that it would mean a hallway full of people dressed in fish costumes, Big Oil hung in effigy on the lawn, chanting, etc.  If the letters are so outraged that the Court thinks this is a campaign that might result in a big demonstration, street theater, etc.they will just reject the case.

 

The most useful letters are those which convey the message that this is a big deal, one that somebody on the court or in government needs to look at.  Subtle enough so that the COurt does not get the idea that granting this appeal will produce a circus.

 

Letters to the Gazette, the Dominion Post, or any other paper one of the judges might read are helpful.  Writing sooner is best just in case our case comes up Feb. 11.

 

Thank you

 

John McFerrin

John