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Show , ,j nursaay, uecemner 11, ito , Organization :aims at making :.'-- ,- t ; - ' S '1 ' : FORT COLLINS, Colo. To thousands of American Indian children, Lewis Trujillo is the real Santa. Claus. For the last decade, he has tried to make life better on reservations adross the West by delivering tons ofood, clothing and school books. His goal this Christmas is to pfovide one toy and a package of C;!ndy each for 20,000 tribal children. "I'm Indian myself and I've always had the feeling that nothing was going to change unless we had the same foundation as others," he said. And to Trujillo this time of year, that means the same chance around Christmas as any other child. It's an ironic calling for the Indian who in the part-Ut- e early 1970s was forced to retire from his job as a refrigerator repairman because of a disability. Doctors told him he had a bad heart A television documentary on Indian children who spent winters without coats inspired him to buy up surplus clothing from the Salvation Army and donate it to reservations. His work evolved in 1986 into Niht Walker Enterprises, an organisation with a Ute name dedicated to ! providing reservations with "everything that makes a home." .Since then, he and hundreds of , volunteers have distributed 4 12 million pounds of clothing, a half million pounds of school books and tons of food to 25 reservations in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Msxico, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska and the Dakotas. ' t'Trujillo made news twice last year: first for winning an America's Award, which honors people who personify the American character and spirit; and again at Christmas after fire destroyed two trailers containing 30,000 pounds of donated clothing. -r .- V- X ..Jf - j- : . By DEBORAH MENDEZ Associated Press Writer J .zrn. . ' Hives better ; .. . . rvr!i5- - v. V.VV UC:J Bv LINDSEY TANNER Associated Press Writer : Watch what you CHICAGO say' about Rudolph this Christmas. In this politically correct age, he's the"nasally empowered" reindeer. And avoid the word "ghost' as of Christmas Past." It's' "spiritual facilitator," says James Finn Garner, whose best-sclhin TGhost "Politically Correct Holisold more than I million has days" copies since hitting the stories in October. The 99-pa- 1990s version book is a satirical, of "Rudolph the Reindeer" and four d Christmas tales. other Gainej" takes aim at what he coiisiifcrs political correctness run Red-Nos- ed tall-love- ambk.:-- , jlhink we're blinded sometimes u our attempt to be totally Ji "V- 1 A : rage t i Lewis Trujillo, left, unloads candy and toys with students from Walepala School on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota. Since 1986, organization, Night Walker Enterprises, has collected donated items ranging from hospital beds to toys to school textbooks for free distribution to native Americans living on 25 western reservations. 'iff- &.-5v- - 5 's AP Photo Donations poured in from all 50 states and as far away as Iceland, and the Coors Brewing Co. replaced one of the trailers. Now dealing with another Christmas, Trujillo is again scrambling to meet his goal. the despair of reservations, where unemployment is high and income low. Last week, volunteers took toys, candy and food to Navajo chapters in Arizona and New Mexico and a Ute tribe in Colorado. This week, they were in South Dakota and Wyoming. Trujillo's rewards are often measured in the looks on children's faces. One boy had trouble to a bicycle from out trying pick the more than 100 that Night Walker donated to the Sioux tribe of the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota. . "Each of the bikes that he tried were just too big for him," Crow Creek representative Durine Chase wrote to Trujillo. "But he wanted one so bad, he ;" didn't give up. He finally chose a girl's bike." "He was smiling ear to ear, riding all over. ... He did not want to let his bike out of his sight." contributions to the Night Walker Enterprises can be sent to 144 N. College Ave., ' 'Fort Collins, CO 80524. For more Lewis Trujillo . stands in the headquarters of Night Walker Enterprises In Fort Collins, Colo., where toys information, call (970) other items are prepared for distribution. During "I'm Indian myself and I've always had the feeling that nothing was going to 1,700-memb- change unless we had the same foundation as vVlS others." Levis Trujillo "We have enough candy, but we still need about 5,300 toys," he said. " After .struggling himself on Social Security" payments after retiring, he has come to understand equitable;?' he said in an interview ; Monday. ; Since landing on bookstore shelves Oct. 27, the collection of tales has made The New York lists. Times and other best-sellIn his book, Rudolph is not the er Santa sycophant of the well-- , known children's jingle. Instead, he considers himself "an angry young reindeer" whose shining nose will help him overthrow Santa's oppressive tyranny. When "Santa asks, "Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight?" Rudolph responds, "No. Not without concessions." Like no ! work on holidays. Frosty the Snowman is reinvented as Frosty the Persun of Snow, who chides the boy and girl who made him for arguing over his v-- 4H2-779- 7. gender without asking his ; Tiny Tim raises his glass and says, "May a higher ehtity (if there is such a thing) bless us,i every- prefer- ence first. And what he wants to be is gen-derle- one." Garner, 35: is the Chicago-base- d author of two other best sellers, "Politically Correct Bedtiiiw Stories" and "Once Upon a More Enlightened Time." He has a degree in English liter- The children and their creation then plan a march on Washington to protest ozone depletion threatening to cause the untimely demise of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" becomes "Twas the Night ature. r Before Solstice," 'ith children He says political correctness" nestled in their beds, dreaming of goes especially overboard at lentils and warm whole-grai- n Christinas, citing a college where bread instead of sugar plums. mistletoe was banned because it "tends to sanctify uninvited In Garner's take on "The Nutcracker," the coveted toy is viewed endearment" and a Chicago princias "an obvious symbol of castrapal who forbade a pupil to wear a tion and emasculation." jingle bell to school because it And in the "A symbolized the religious holiday. "I don't remember Christmas Christmas Carol," Tiny Tim is a being this weird when I was a "vertically challenged named "Diminutive Timon." kid," he said. new-fangl- pre-adul- t" , tr.- . - , , - ' J . 0- .'' - w n- AP Photo Police decoy Goodson, left, and Robert Mueck, tenter, police officers at the University of (Maryland College Park, move the "Illusion" police car decoy with Maryland State Police Spokesman Mike McKelvin. The slice of police car is designed to trick motorists into slowing down. It was designed by Goodson and Mueck and shown at the MSP Waterloo Barrack. t W;. - v , A-i AP Photo this year's holiday season, Trujillo hopes to give one toy and bag of candy to at least 20,000 native Amer-an- d lean children. J Wronged clients turn t on lawyers who lost cases : By JENNIFER BJORHUS Knight-Ridd- Newspapers SEATTLE Troyce Schafer bought she was getting the best legal advice money could buy when she knocked on the door of a prestigious Seattle law firm, Foster Pepper & Shefelman. Instead, she said, die lawyers she hired to settle a land dispute botched the case, refused to lake it to trial and then unfairly charged her and her husband more than $400,000. On Monday, a King County Superior Court jury agreed, awarding Schafer and her husband, Harry, $650,000 in a malpractice case against the firm. After six weeks of trial, jurors concluded the firm had done a poor job defending the Maple Valley. Wash., couple in a civil suit brought against them over a plot of land they had sold. The jury .oncluded further that the firm deceptively raised its hourly rates during the course of its work. "It took a lot of courage to take on a big law firm," Troyce Schafer said from her Maple Valley trucking business. "When you go to an attorney, you don't know what you're getting. It's like going to a doctor, it's a gambl The Schafers are among an increasing number of clients suing their attorneys for what they consider to be slipshod work: bad legal advice, conflicts of interest, blow ing critical deadlines. It is not clear just how frequently lawyers are getting sued for there is no one malpractice such statistics. for clearinghouse But there is agreement in the profession that the number is steadily rising. One sign: Some attorneys are beginning to specialize in suing their own. And in Oregon, where all cases are handled by the Oregon State Bar Professional ce !.!. j."' . Tru-jilio- J Bryam ... iii.kai.u, rrovo, nan - A ifelitieal eorrectness lists Christmas J lain -- 7 hi J . ' ' I - Mfc v ft"' S 1 the state's Liability Fund mandatory insurance company there are hard numbers: So far this year, clients have filed 830 claims against Oregon attorneys. That is up from 684 in 1994. Typical aw ards are about $10,000. Kirk Hall director of the Liability Fund, said that after an explosion of lawsuits a'gainst lawyers nationally in the 1980s, such suit now are showing a slow, stead) v growth. "I guess it's becoming a mature industry, the suing of lawyers." ; Aiming the more notable recen malpractice suits around the coun try: ; In 1993, a Cleveland-base- c law firm. Jones Day Reavis Pogue, was forced to pay $5 mil lion to a savings-and-loa- n bailouj agency for giving bad advice td regulators and helping Charlei Keating plunder the Lincoln Savings & Loan Association. ; In 1994, a jury in Tex?l ordered Vinson & blkins L.L.P.li pay $17.7 million to the grand! daughter or a former client ovel the mishandling of an estate. Two months aco in Soutl Carolina, a client successfully sued his attorney for $7.3 millio after the attorney failed to inform the client he was having an affar with the client's wife. The attorney, who also persuaded the clier t to buy the w ife expensive present? . had been hired to provide the tw with marital advice. One reason lawsuits against lawyers are no longer rare is th: t there are simply more lawyer. Another reason is sav vy and mor : litigious clients who are less likel ' to grumble and go away when the ' do not w in their case. Like the Schafers. They said they could m t believe it when David Utevsk;, Cynthia First and Willard Hatch the Foster Pepper & Shefelmah attorneys who handled their cast forced them to settle five dajs before the case was to go to tri; 1 Jan. 4, 1993. Schafer estimates tii 2 entire process cost her and her husband $1 million. "It's a lawyer and law firm abandoning a client on the eveyf the trial," charged their new attorney, malpractice specialist Robert Gould. 1 now-defun- ct Dennis George, the attorney representing Foster Pepper & Shefelman in the malpractice suit,' declined to comment. Utevsly also said he could not comment, citing his firm's policy. g Phil Winbcrry, managing pawner at Foster Pepper & Shcfelmaji, would say only the trial w as complex and that he is happy it is oyer . i |
