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Clean Up The System

With my love for litigators, I read Jim's editorial with a great deal of interest (“The Importance Of Quality Relationships,” March 2005). Brilliant! I always appreciate a great word craftsman. Congress is finally talking about reigning in these predators with class action and tort limit laws.

We need to eliminate the abusive term of “joint and several.”

I'm an HVAC controls wholesaler. I buy a boiler control from Honeywell and put it on the shelf. A contractor buys it and installs it. I didn't make it or put it in. We never opened the box. But let something blow up and we get dragged into a “cattle call” lawsuit where everybody gets named.

Things started to go south when lawyers were first allowed to advertise. I have a friend who was taking Vioxx and happened to have a heart attack. He got no less that six solicitation calls from law firms. I typed the word “Vioxx” into the Google search bar and the first result was from a legal search site to find a lawyer in your area.

Keep up the good work. Litigation is draining the economy.
W. Kerk Farrell
National Energy Control Corp.
Havertown, Pa.

You Can't Win

I read Jim's editorial on reverse auctions (“How To Win At Reverse Auctions,” February 2005). I think they are the worst thing to ever come down the pike. It seems like illegal price fixing to tell people what the price is to start. I have a small business in Arizona and have been impacted by this by my largest customer.
Patricia Bewley
Air Energy Systems & Services
Phoenix, Ariz.

Plumbing Poetry Corner

My name is Ryan Harvey. I am poet, who at one time was involved in the building industry. I have had poems published on behalf of the American International Poet's Society, and am in the running to place in three different poetry contests.

Most of my poems do not revolve around construction. However, I recently wrote a poem for a friend who is a plumber. He found it to his liking, so I have decided to share it with you.
Ryan Harvey
Durand, Mich.

Snake'n The Line

White mice.
How nice.
This drain's sufficed
to mice.

Flush 'em down
in to the ground.
Where they're found
wound in a mound
in holes of round.
Whoosh. The sound.
Flush 'em down.

The snake they shall find
deep in the line
where it winds
every time.
To dine
fine.
The snake in the line.