The Social Security Administration keeps track of the names of applicants, and has released information about the popularity of first names for different time periods, on the web.



The Global Positioning System is run by the U.S. military and controlled by the government. It is the only functioning network system of its type, and is used by other governments. It is managed by a multi-agency board, and run by the Department of Defense. A number of other governments see the American standard that this system brings as an American monopoly, and are working hard to develop systems of their own.



The American Bar Association has published a stance on judicial vacancies, and they would like to see those filled as quickly as possible. They begin this position statement with the following paragraph:

Protracted delays in the judicial nomination and/or confirmation process weaken the federal judiciary by depriving it of the judges needed to resolve disputes expeditiously. Protracted delays also contribute to dangerously crowded dockets, suspended civil case dockets, overburdened judges, and understaffed courts.

Message Boards and Libel

There are many people who write messages in forums and message boards on the internet, and often those messages are opinions rather than published facts or news articles meant for dissemination to the world at large. But sometimes the topics discussed become statements about people or companies that may be untrue, or cast the subject of the conversation in a negative manner.

Large corporations have taken to visiting message boards, and to using software that allows them to find online statements about their companies. Sometimes the statements can appear to be so harmful as to threaten the company's reputation. Sometimes the statements might impact negatively on the corporation's value in the stock market. The 'Lectric Law Library's definition of libel is:

Published material meeting three conditions: The material is defamatory either on its face or indirectly; The defamatory statement is about someone who is identifiable to one or more persons; and, The material must be distributed to someone other than the offended party; i.e. published; distinguished from slander.

In California, a court of appeals has just issued a ruling regarding statements made in message boards about a public company. The court decided that that the message board was a "public forum," the statements of the people posting were opinions of shareholders and not competitors, and that the matters discussed were an "issue of public interest." This means that a California statute protected the statements from action against the company.

Be warned, this ruling is limited to certain types of statements and to California. A court in another state, or with somewhat different facts might make a completely different ruling. This matter will probably be appealed to the California Supreme Court, so this isn't the last word on postings in message boards in California.
-William Slawski

Court Ordered Home Video Cameras

Privacy concerns can be seen in many places on the internet. There are watchdog groups online like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Electronic Privacy Information Center which provide a great amount of information about pending legal actions and concerns centering on privacy. Protecting your identity, your online habits, your credit, and credit card information are all valid considerations, and these groups are working hard to try and find safeguards for that type of information.

But what about our privacy offline? How about a map of Manhattan that can help you plan a trip through the streets along a route with the least amount of surveillance cameras? There is one online:

"iSee is a web-based application charting the locations of closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras in urban environments. With iSee, users can find routes that avoid these cameras -­ paths of least surveillance -­ allowing them to walk around their cities without fear of being 'caught on tape' by unregulated security monitors."

Then again, how do you avoid cameras if a judge orders them placed within your house? A divorced couple in New Jersey, involved in a visitation dispute, with allegations of abuse, have had a Family Court Judge order that video cameras be placed in every room of their homes, except the bathrooms. The request was made by one of the parties asking that the other have video installed. The other party agreed on the condition that both houses get wired for video. The Judge agreed to the request, and then when the original party tried to back out of the agreement, the Judge refused to let them. The cameras have not been installed yet.

Is this an invasion of privacy? Or is it a legitimate method of insuring that a child doesn't get harmed? The answer will come from a New Jersey appellate court judge.
-William Slawski

Lost and Found

Most people don't think about a state running a lost and found department. However, in a good number of instances, the Legislature of the State of Delaware have passed bills into law that have had the State holding on to property unclaimed by others. The Delaware State Escheator (at the Delaware Division of Revenue) is responsible for maintaining and safeguarding property that has been abandoned by its owner for an extended period of time. You may ask what types of abandoned property, and what do you mean by escheator?

Here are some examples that can be found on the Unclaimed Property page of the Division of Revenue.

• Dormant Bank Accounts


• Lost or Forgotten Uncashed Checks


• Stock or Bonds, Dividends & Bond Interest


• Insurance Proceeds


• Utility Refunds


• Safe Deposit Box Contents

With some of these examples, it's easy to see how some property might go without being missed and remain unclaimed.

The word escheat comes from the time of feudalism, when a person was granted a hold, or lease on land by the owner of the land in exchange for the return of future "knightly" duties or occasional payment. The granting of the property was known as the giving of a fief, or hold on the property for the life of the person receiving it, and was often transferred to the heirs of the property holder. The word escheat means that the fief is returned to the lord when the property holder has no heir.

The word "escheator" is meant to refer to the person holding the property when there seems to be no one to claim the property, and the original owner cannot be reached. In many instances the original owner is known. The Division of Revenue page includes an index to pages where property owners' names are listed. You might want to take a peak and see if you or someone you know is on one of those lists. The State needs help in keeping its lost and find department to a minimum size.

There is also a link on the Delaware page to a States' National Database. Good luck.
- William Slawski

One of the best articles I've come across on unsolicited commercial email (aka spam) is from the pages of the United Kingdom based Journal of Information Law, and Technology. Spam Law for the Internet is written by W K Khong (a lecturer at the Multimedia University in Malaysia), and is in-depth, informative, and up-to-date. The abstract from the article reads as follows:

"This paper briefly surveys the movement to regulate spam or unsolicited commercial emails on the Internet. It discusses the history of spam, definition of spam, and identifies parties fighting spam. Also, it examines legislative efforts in the European Union and the United States to regulate spam and the various schemes and mechanisms employed."

- William Slawski

Tricks of the Trade
By Private Investigator Michael T. O'Rourke

Question: I am a Paralegal with a Law Firm that specializes in Plaintiff’s Personal Injury. Recently a Client was involved in an accident with an independent trucker on I-95. We are having difficulty in effecting Service of Process. Do you have any suggestions?

Answer: Yes, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration sponsors a website. This web site offers information regarding license plates, insurance coverage, addresses, insurance policy numbers, DOT, and Motor Carrier numbers, and “SafeStat” results. "SafeStat" is information on previous accidents and roadside inspections. Contact the Insurance Carrier for additional information regarding the driver. The defendants can then be served via DE Title X, ss 3112 by serving the Secretary of State in Dover. Don't forget to contact the Division of Corporations to see if the trucking company is incorporated in DE. Most of them are…..

Question: Our client feels he is under surveillance. What should he do?

Answer: First and foremost, the client should cease any behaviors that might cause adverse momentum to his case. Investigators conduct surveillance in an effort to document the activities of an individual during a specific time frame. Most lawyers will advise a client of the most probable time for surveillance. During that time period, stay alert. Exit, and enter, the shopping center, place of employment, and your residence differently each time. If you spot someone tailing you, call the police. Inform the dispatcher you are experiencing fear, and alarm, and request contact from a Police Officer. Insist on a Police Report. Report all suspicious vehicles you observe in close proximity to your residence as well. Although Title 24, ss 1302, allows a Private Investigator to conduct surveillance on you, Police Contact really puts a hamper on the assignment. It is even more insulting when you have to advise your client you’ve been "burned”.

Question: I work for a Law Firm that does a large part of their business in the Insurance Subrogation field. Occasionally I receive calls from Defendants stating they have filed for Bankruptcy. I hear so many stories, is their any way to verify this?

Answer: Utilize the internet. Try this to access the District of Delaware’s United States Bankruptcy Court. Use the Web Pacer to locate the individual's name. You can also search by Case Number. Your other option is to go to the Court. It is located at 824 N. Market Street on the 5th floor. The Court provides three computer systems for your use. The Clerks are especially helpful. All information, including Docket Sheets can be downloaded, and printed. Be sure to stop by my office for a cup of coffee. I’m on the 4th floor!

Det. Michael T. O'Rourke is a Member of the National Association of Investigative Specialists, The National Association of Professional Process Servers, and Sustaining member of the Delaware Paralegal Association. A Court Certified Special Process Server, and a Licensed Private Investigator, Michael specializes in Insurance Defense.

He invites your questions to

Loss Solutions, Inc.
824 N. Market Street, Suite 425,
P.O. Box 368,
Wilmington DE 19899-0368.
(302) 427-3600.

Or you may e-mail him at DEIrish5@aol.com.

In preparing for this article, I was unable to find any internet hits for the phrase "Delaware tort reform". I guess that's because there isn't any. The Pennsylvania Civil Justice Coalition states that every state except Delaware, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Arkansas, and West Virginia have taken some action in the furtherance of tort reform. Is that because our civil justice system in Delaware is running perfectly? For whom?

Our court system is not working smoothly, it is swamped. And like many swamps, there are murky waters and reptiles. The courts do the best that they can to process the cases before them in a proper manner, but they are continually understaffed. This is the murky waters. Where is the effort to keep frivolous cases from getting into the system in the first place? Where is the effort to give parties incentives to settle in a timely fashion?

All of the taxpayers of the State of Delaware pay for this inefficient process. We pay in dollars and we pay by having a slow and overburdened process for our legitimate grievances. I ask myself then, if we are paying, who is cashing in on the current state of affairs? Someone politically powerful must be benefitting, or we would surely have done something to fix the problems. Right?

The following suggested partial cure to this ailment might help you to identify the reptiles. If Delaware instituted a “loser-pay” law, allowing judges to make some law-suit losers pay the legal fees of the prevailing party on clear cut cases, there would be an economic incentive to:

avoid filing frivolous cases;

honor our contracts and obligations; and,

to settle cases reasonably before the legal fees have a chance to get too high. (Yes, here is a lawyer arguing for lower attorney fees)

This would relieve some of the pressure on our legal system and on us. Delaware is a business oriented State. We give businesses, including insurance companies, guidance and suggestions by structuring financial costs for activities that we find harmful to the public. When we have a system that allows unscrupulous contractors to bilk honest citizens of thousands of dollars without a penalty, or one that permits insurance companies to make more money by investing settlement funds while they delay litigation, we have a system that gives an economic incentive to snarl up the system and rip off our citizenry.

Let’s work to reverse that incentive by making it financially advantageous to stay out of court. Contact your state legislators to discuss these ideas.

Second Thanksgiving

This Thursday is the second day of Thanksgiving of 2001. Thanksgiving day in the United States is not like other national holidays, such as Veterans’ Day, or Presidents’ Day. Those are days that have been recognized as national holidays by the power of Congress. Thanksgiving becomes a holiday each year by proclamation of the President.

The first recorded Thanksgiving proclamation known was made in Charlestown, Massachusetts on June 20, 1667. The first Thanksgiving was actually years earlier, when in 1621 the pilgrims at Plymouth celebrated a feast of thanks with Indians who provided food that allowed the Pilgrims to survive through their first winter in the new land.

Thanksgiving proclamations began to become part of the tradition of our country when George Washington made a proclamation for a day of Thanksgiving in his first year as President. It wasn’t uncommon for different states to have their own days of Thanksgiving in the 1800’s, and the idea of Thanksgiving as a national day was revived with Abraham Lincoln in 1863.

It has become a bit of a custom to have our President make a proclamation each year declaring a day of Thanksgiving. This year is a little unusual in that we had our first such proclamation in January, naming January 21, 2001 a day of Prayer and Thanksgiving. Why January, and why a day of Thanksgiving?

Shortly after our new President was officially entered into office, he declared a day of prayer and thanksgiving to recognize the bicentennial of the first transfer of the power of the presidency from one political party to another. That day, almost 200 years earlier on March 4, 1801 was an important day in the history of the United States. It showed the citizens, and the world, that the new nation and its largely untried political system could survive a transfer of power to a party influenced by a different political philosophy than the one that had guided it through its first decade.

Our second Thanksgiving Proclamation this year called forth images of Eisenhower, Lincoln, and Washington – three presidents who had brought our nation through times of strife.

Thanksgiving is a little special because it is a time when our nation’s leader asks us to reflect upon the past, and hope for the future, through a proclamation. Another tradition, brought to us from the days of Lincoln is the pardoning of the turkey. The annual pardoning of the thanksgiving turkey took place in the Rose Garden this afternoon.

May we all have plenty to be thankful for.
- William Slawski

Delaware is the established leader in corporate law. It is the primary site for the incorporation of businesses for a variety of reasons , both financial and legal in nature. It is important to obtain professional advice as to the type of structure that a particular business should utilize, but it is almost always a safe bet to build that structure in Delaware.

Leadership can be a difficult concept to define. Within a society, leaders emerge at a number of different levels, in different areas of a culture. We find leaders in state office buildings, in places of worship, in office buildings, factories, and warehouses, in communities and charitable organizations, and in our federal government.

Some leaders are chosen in formal settings, and others assume responsibility when the need arises. In a representative democracy, the theory is that leaders are chosen by the people, and represent the whims of those who voted on their behalf. In practice, the "whims of the people" often represent a number of contradicting viewpoints and opposing calls for action. Leadership is the ability of a leader to respect these differing views, and to try to gain a consensus of opinion on a subject, and to take appropriate action when necessary. When someone is in a position of authority, they are also in a position of responsibility. It’s a responsibility of leaders to guide by following.

How do we tell when a person is an effective leader? One way is to create some type of benchmark, and compare that person’s actions to the benchmark. An often convenient method of doing that is to compare the leader with previous leaders. Peggy Noonan, in the Wall Street Journal opinion pages compares George W. Bush to Harry Truman. Businessweek online remarks about Bush’s attempts to emulate Ronald Reagan. The many speeches and press conferences we’ve seen by President Bush on television have some using his name in the same sentence as FDR.

Are comparisons to previous leaders helpful in determining the effectiveness of a present leader? Might they be just as effective as public opinion polls where the actual questions asked in the polls aren’t disclosed to the public. Perhaps some leaders in the media will arise and give us some idea of what types of benchmarks we should be looking for. Until then, maybe the best we will get is that Dubya is a lot like Harry, or Ron, or FDR.
- William Slawski

Friday, the Delaware Supreme Court announced the disbarment of Thomas Capano. His deeds have been a black spot on the reputation of the Delaware Bar. The Wilmington News-Journal has an archive of stories on the controversial capital murder case involving former State Prosecutor Capano.

The American Red Cross has returned the funds! The new CEO, Harold Decker, apologized and returned the hundreds of millions of dollars which had been temporarily misdirected from the Liberty Fund by his predecessor. Now the victims and families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks will receive what was donated to them. Thanks to those of our legislature and public who spoke out and helped the Red Cross to see the light!

Going back a few years in Delaware's history, the following were Delaware's delegates to the Constitutional Convention: Richard Bassett, Gunning Bedford, Jr., Jacob Broom, John Dickinson, and George Read. The National Archives and Records Administration tells us a little about our delegates, and touches upon the parts these gentlemen played in the decisions made during the drafting of the U.S. Consititution.
- William Slawski

134 years ago, New York City firemen raised money to buy Columbia, South Carolina a firetruck (a hose carriage). Columbia had just experienced a fire that destroyed 36 blocks of the city. All this happened shortly after the Civil War, and considerable tensions existed between the north and the south.

"Today, the firemen of Northern New York strike hands with their comrades of Southern Columbia, and in so doing, we call upon our fellow citizens of the two great sections to emulate our example, and thus hasten a restoration ... of our once beautiful and still united national fabric," said Henry Wilson, president of the New York Firemen's Association in a speech to Columbians June 28, 1867.

Columbia leaders made a pledge back then to not forget that gift. And forget it, they haven't, raising enough money to buy New York City a firetruck in return (and then some). White Knoll Middle School started the campaign, and when local firefighters were informed of the fundraiser by the school, their historians brought the civil war era gift from New York into the picture. With the support of the Columbia community, the middle school has raised $447,265.41 in 57 days, surpassing their goal by almost $100,000.00. The historical tie wasn't originally known about by the students and teachers who began this effort.
- William Slawski

The American Redcross has made a decision that all of the money collected into the Liberty Fund will go to people harmed by the September 11th terror attacks.
- William Slawski

You've been accused of a crime. You ask to see your attorney. You expect that you can explain to your lawyer what happened without a fear that the lawyer can be forced to testify against you. As a matter of fact, your attorney tells you that you shouldn't hold anything back, because failure to explain the facts can lead to a weakness in your defense.

Before you are interviewed by your attorney, you're told that the conversation that you are going to have will be monitored to make certain that you aren't passing on terrorist instructions. These others listening in aren't constrained by attorney-client privilege. You don't tell your attorney everything that you should for fear that your conversation will be used against you in court.

You lose your court case. You appeal. If you're lucky, the appellate court buys into your argument that you were denied effective assistance of counsel because you were placed in a situation where you couldn't talk with your attorney.

Lawyer-client privilege allows a defendant to talk freely with his or her attorney. This freedom is a necessary part of the criminal justice system. It permits the person accused to be honest with their legal counsel about the events that lead to their incarceration, and it keeps the attorney from acting as a witness against his or her client. Being unable to be open with the person representing you may be cause for an ineffective assistance of counsel determination. It may make convictions much more likely, even if there is no leaking of the conversation being monitored.

The U.S. Department of Justice instituted a new policy on October 30th, adding a monitoring system, in cases when the charge being considered is one of the ones under the anti-terrorism act. Criticism of this policy is coming from a lot of directions. Here are some articles that go into more detail:

Washington Post - An Affront to Democracy

New York Times (free registration required) - Experts Divided on New Antiterror Policy That Scuttles Lawyer-Client Confidentiality

NewsMax.com - DOJ Defends Lawyer-Client Surveillance

The idea behind this measure is that a person might pass information to an attorney to be passed along to others and allow those others to commit terrorist acts. It seems like this law is telling us that the Department of Justice doesn't trust the attorneys in these situations. While this type of monitoring will only take place in a small number of cases, maybe there are other solutions. The expectation is that this new policy will be challenged in federal court as soon as possible.
- William Slawski

When we talk (or write) about the law, we are discussing a set of rules by which people interact, and by which they are governed. It's not uncommon for people to use the phrase "natural law" in descriptions of the way that we perceive the world to work. But sometimes we just see the tops of things, and not the currents that run underneath. This is true with the legal system, and it is just as true when talking about natural law.

A prime example of this is the way that water moves through the oceans of our world. Believe it or not, a global current was first proposed to exist in the early 1990's that circulates water through a conveyer belt system. Some online articles about the conveyer system:

Climate rides on ocean conveyor belt

Ocean conveyer belt could spur stronger storms

Ocean circulation changes

Understanding what's below the surface can bring some new insights into how the world works. That's most probably true with the law, also.
- William Slawski

Owners of web sites in the United States had something to be concerned about in a case involving Yahoo auctions, Nazi memorabilia, and an order from a French Court. On Wednesday, a federal district court ruled that Yahoo is not required to abide by a French Court ruling barring Yahoo from allowing Nazi memorabilia to be displayed and sold on it's American based website. See U.S. judge says Yahoo not bound by French Nazi ban.

While we don't advocate the buying or selling of nazi memorabilia, having the U.S. Court enforce a $13,000.00 fine per day for an American web site which doesn't find a way to deny access to French citizens of objectionable material would have implications for all U.S. web sites. It would place our web sites at the mercy of more restrictive laws of any nation.

A quote from Yahoo's attorney, Mary Catherine Worth:

"Today the judge basically he said it was not consistent with the laws of the United States for another nation to regulate speech for a U.S. resident within the United States"
- William Slawski

The 250 Million Dollar Sting, and still rising. Many of us donated to what we thought was a fund for the victims of the September 11th attacks. What we are now learning is that the American Red Cross is trying to embezzle more than 250 Million Dollars from this trust fund, and divert the funds to other uses. Regardless as to whether the other uses might be philanthropic, it does not justify the theft. Would it not be a crime if someone broke into your house to steal your belongings just to donate them to the GoodWill? Surely we have always held the Red Cross in high regard and trust. And to a large extent, I am sure that the trust we had in the Red Cross had a lot to do with the generous donations to this particular fund. Unfortunately for those persons who will have future needs for assistance from the Red Cross, that trust has been severely tarnished. The Washington Post announced today that the Red Cross is rethinking its position. I sure hope so. I sure hope our future view of the Red Cross doesn't look like this:

If you create your own artwork, music, or writing, and you're concerned about someone else copying those works, you should look into copyrights. A nice plain english guide to the basics of how to copyright protect something can be found at this article entitled Protecting Your Writing, Art and Music. Even more details can be found at the U.S. Copyright Office, which is part of the Library of Congress.

The Copyright Office contains some interesting internet related material, including the Amicus Curiae brief they filed in the case against Napster. Their what's new page also links to three large pdf files on the subject of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The first file is the study conducted by the Copyright Office, the second is the public comments received on the subject, and the third is the public hearing involving the DMCA. The comments from the Library Associations are definitely worth reading, as are the many comments made from the participants at the public hearing.
- William Slawski

Is it legal to link to a website outside of your own site? Isn't that what the internet is about, to a large degree? Of course, there are some web sites that are available to subscribers only, and passwords are required to enter those pages. Linking to a protected page like that would be akin to trespass. Autozone.com has a page on their site describing the linking agreement that one needs to fill out to get permission to link to the Autozone.com pages. While they do have a password protected ordering section, their linking agreement doesn't make any distinction between protected pages, and pages that are available to the whole world. Maybe we should fill out the paperwork described on their linking agreement page before we link to their site.
- William Slawski

Sometimes the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Case in point, the entry immediately below this one(about trusts), which is the first blog entry to point to a page somewhere else on this site. There's nothing wrong with that in itself, but while Larry was making the entry, I was submitting the Delaware Law Office news page to the Blogdex add-site page. The idea behind Blogdex is that weblogs have a tendency to pick up on news stories as fast, or faster than traditional news sources. The Blogdex site goes out to blogs and looks at the links they have added recently to see which are the most linked stories or pages for a particular day.

While at almost the same time that Larry was creating his entry, I was reading the following from the blogdex page:

"what sorts of sites should not be added?

sites that have static content, or focus only on internal documents will be of little use to the system. blogdex looks only at the difference in content of a website over time; if your website is static, then nothing will ever be added to our database. furthermore, we only consider outward links, or links that point to sites outside your own. if you only link to content inside your own website, then your website will not affect our statistics here. if you are unsure in any case, please submit it and we will help you make that decision."

Hopefully they will overlook our first interior link on the blog, and include us in their data. Interested in seeing the most popular places linked to by weblogs registered with Blogdex? Here's their top 25 recent links in the weblog community
- William Slawski

Privacy concerns and retirement/estate planning goals frequently point to the use of certain kinds of Trusts in Delaware. Trusts can be very useful tools to manage your assets and channel them to your intended beneficiaries when you die. In addition, Trusts can provide your heirs with privacy as to the inner workings and values of your finances, as opposed to the open public record of probate. There are many kinds of Trusts, and certainly one should use thorough planning and expert advice to choose the Trust that is appropriate for you.

An interesting article from former Delaware governor Pete du Pont on a social security reform plan. Of particular impact was a comparison of what benefit someone getting ready to retire now gets out of social security versus what someone just entering the workforce will receive. A baby-boomer-aged male will probably see a $71,000 profit from social security. A twenty-year-old male entering the workforce will pay "$312,000 more in taxes over his lifetime than he will receive in benefits."
- William Slawski

How frequently do we read of a home burglary or home invasion in which the perpetrators walk in through an unlocked door? Just like making sure that our doors are locked, it is effective against most interlopers for us to take simple and basic computer security precautions.

There are a number of simple tools and that we can use to secure our computer information, just as there are methods to secure our homes. Computer Privacy and Security efforts are more and more important as the interlopers become more sophisticated, but there are a few basics that will protect most of us against most of them. SecurityPointer provides a handy list of software and application tools. It's certainly going on my "favorites" list.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Fact Sheets are extremely informative and cover many different aspects about protecting your privacy. While the site includes references to California law, many of the suggestions they make on various topics are often very good ones. Here are some of the subjects that they consider:

• Wireless Communications: Cordless/Cellular Phones and Pagers


• Telemarketing: Whatever Happened to a Quiet Evening at Home?


• How Private Is My Medical Information?


• How Private Is My Credit Report?


• From Cradle to Grave: Government Records and Your Privacy


• Coping with Identity Theft: What to Do When an Imposter Strikes


• Privacy in Cyberspace: Rules of the Road for the Information Superhighway


• Children in Cyberspace


• Online Shopping Tips

- William Slawski

New Public Safety Laws. Stay informed! This link at the DSP website lists new legislation, and laws regarding public safety.

The Delaware State Trooper's Association. Who are they? Why are they calling to sell products? Are they legitimate? Yes, the Delaware State's Trooper's Association is a legitimate organization for the support of our State Troopers. When they call you, they are not calling as a police officer and they cannot force you to listen to them or purchase items, but they are legitimate and they represent a good and worthy cause. The DSTA sports a slogan, "In God We Trust, All Others We Run NCIC". See also a related organization, the Association of Retired Delaware State Police.

Want Ads. The Delaware State Police have a different kind of Want Ads for us to review. Check out Delaware's Most Wanted. Maybe you have seen one of these wanted persons.

Uniformed, but off duty State Police patrols of the Motiva plant suffered a brief interruption as the Office of the Attorney General advised the police to discontinue for fear of creating a perception of a conflict of interest. Police are investigating the major acid spill that occurred on July 17. The Governor, Ruth Ann Minner, reversed the decision to halt privately paid patrols in the interest of security. The State Police, and other police agencies within the State of Delaware, hire out off duty patrol officers and patrol vehicles for $45 per hour. The Delaware State Police have defended the safety and peace in Delaware since 1923.

Delaware Facts Contest #2. This is kind of a trick question, so beware. What is Delaware's Motto (slogan or brand)? Send your contest entries to info@delawoffice.com by Nov. 15. See previous entries or contact LDS for contest rules.

Did you form the wrong kind of company? Don't give up all hope, maybe you can convert your entity into a Delaware LLC. One of the flexible and comprehensive features of Delaware Corporate Law is portrayed in 6 Del.C 18-214, the provision that allows many types of corporations, trusts, partnerships and other entities to convert into a Delaware LLC. Check the statute out at Lexis, and search for "convert limited liability company 18-214", then scroll down.