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The first meeting of the Oregon Council on Civil Rights is in July 2009:

The mission of the OCCR is:

· To study and monitor the causes, effects and solutions of unlawful discrimination in Oregon;
· To consider legislative and agency proposals and actions;
· To foster communication, goodwill, cooperation and conciliation among groups interested in civil rights across the state, and between these groups and the state; and
· To advise the commissioner, and other interested state agencies or officials, on policies and procedures related to the education and enforcement of civil rights.

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If you get your marriage license in one Oregon county and get married in another, where can you get a certified copy of your marriage license 30 years later?

This is a slightly different question from the one I answered a little while ago: How do I find out if someone in Oregon or Washington is married? But the research is similar – and the following information also applies to Domestic Partnership records.

1) Check the Oregon county where you got your marriage license (the issuing county), not the one where the ceremony was held. Or, preferably (assuming a certain passage of time), contact the Oregon Center for Health Statistics, where you will find the Oregon’s vital records office, the resting place for Oregon birth, marriage, divorce, and death records.

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If recent heartbreaking events in Portland, Oregon haven’t sent those of literary or legal mind to the library or online to refresh your memory of the story of Medea (and other filicide tragedies), then you haven’t been paying attention:

1) Libraries will have multiple versions of the original tale.
2) Online ones include these (a tiny sample):
Greek myth (wikipedia)
Euripides Medea (wikipedia)
MIT Classics
Lord Byron translation
Google Books (medea)

Other articles about maternal filicide: here (search NCJRS: filicide) and here – all the more heartbreaking if you know about Broken Hearts Still Beating.

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In Oregon, SHIBA, for Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance, assists Medicare beneficiaries and those going into Medicare through all the hoops of Medicare and the options that can lower out of pocket expenses for health care. Staffed by highly trained volunteers supported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as well as State Department of Human Services, they are available for one on one consultation, group presentations and classes to help people make informed decisions.

To find a SHIBA volunteer in your area, call the Oregon State SHIBA Office: 1-800-772-4134.

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See recent update (2/10/11), but also click on the Home Alone label at the bottom of this post.

In addition to my new Kids Home Alone in Oregon legal research guide and my rather lengthy previous post, from January 13, 2009, I add these:

1) A corrected link to the “What is the legal age for leaving a child home alone?” information at the Clackamas County Juvenile Department FAQ. This deep link changes periodically so don’t despair. Just hunt around a bit or leave a Comment here and I’ll look for the new link.

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Liz alerts me to the Oregonlive Track a Bill service. For the average Jo(e), it sure is easier to use (though not more comprehensive) than the Legislature’s (official) bill tracking webpages, though the Oregonlive service will be around only as long as Oregonlive is around, which is why librarians want governments to preserve and protect government information on government websites. This too is an imperfect system, but for different reasons – elections!

In any event, take a look at the website, OregonLive Your Government and the Track a Bill slice. Interesting and educational.

You can read more about tracking Oregon legislation from this OLR post.

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The Oregonian’s Test Drive blog on Commuting had this article, “How to escape the scourge of the tailgater,” posted by Joseph Rose, The Oregonian June 08, 2009.

The actual statistics also match with my impressions from a while ago, when I looked at jury verdicts and rear-enders.

Those of us in front of tailgaters will recognize everyone, and all self-defense actions, described in the blog post. There is an interesting suggestion on how to cope safely with tailgaters, ones who are bad drivers and those with anger management problems:

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If you haven’t heard about this iPhone Scam Alert, in the newspaper, online, from the Oregon AG’s office, and beyond, then you need to think about ratcheting up your news tracking. This scam is not the worst out there, but if you’re not hearing daily about some food or product recall or scam, then you can’t complaint about the world going to hell in a handbasket. It takes two to be scammed, and to tango. So put on your crap-detectors, slow down, and think before you play or pay.

In other words, let’s have a little more caveating out there. See FBI, Snopes, beware urban legends, and check out Recalls dot gov. But you’re on the front line so Caveat Emptor.

I’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use the very funny line of Tom McCarthy’s from his review of the Clancy Martin book, “How to Sell.” McCarthy’s line in his article, Art of the Deal (from the 5/17/09 NYT Book Review): “To bastardize the Latin, emptors need to sober up and exercise a little caveating over that one….” Yes, McCarthy said it in a completely different context! But the sentiment works amongst us legal types, doesn’t it?

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Non-attorney Oregon legal researchers frequently overlook Oregon attorney-general opinions. Not every legal problem will require a search of attorney general opinions, but you don’t want to miss this research resource when it is relevant. (Other states also have AG opinions, and so does the U.S.)

There are a number of ways to find relevant AG opinions, using the Annotation volume of the ORS, an online legal research database that has the AG opinions, a citator, or by looking at the Oregon Attorney General (AG) Opinions website, which has opinions from 1997 to the present:

“The opinions fall into two broad categories, formal and informal opinions. Formal opinions are signed by the Attorney General as chief legal officer of the State and typically respond to questions concerning constitutional issues and other matters of statewide concern. Informal opinions are issued on matters less likely to impact those other than the requestor and are signed by the Chief Counsel of the Department of Justice General Counsel Division. The informal opinions can be distinguished from the formal opinions through their designation. Informal opinions appear in the subject index as, for example, 1997-1. Formal opinions appear as, for example, 8246.” (link to AG website)

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An excellent, and fast, tutorial on free and low cost legal research tools is available from the Duke University law librarians: The Unexploded Cow’s Guide to Legal Research.

My previous posts on free and low-cost legal research are here and here (with additional imbedded links).

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