Rob
Sherman Advocacy
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Rob
Sherman Advocacy
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"Fighting injustice, one victory at a time."
They were very nice. In the end, they decided that they would do things my way. The Buffalo Grove Park District has agreed to enroll any member of my family in any of their programs without requiring that I sign a waiver waiving my rights to any and all claims against the Park District.
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As first reported in the December 15th edition of Liberal News & Commentary, I challenged a requirement by the Buffalo Grove Park District that I sign a waiver and release of all claims as a condition for registering my daughter in a park district program.
The waiver was written by the Park District attorney for the benefit of the Park District, not for the benefit of program participants. At the top of the waiver form, it says, "Waiver and Release of All Claims -- Must Be Signed." Oh, yeah? Says who?
One of the most important principles that Madalyn O'Hair ever taught me was: "Question Authority." When the attorney for one party writes a contract for two parties and doesn't get permission from the other party to include certain terms in the deal, that's an indication, right there, that this is going to be a bad deal for the other party.
I certainly recognize that there are inherent risks involved in participation in a park district program. The risk of getting injured during the course of normal athletic activity exists, and I certainly accept that particular risk. The Park District, however, wanted to parlay the acceptance of that particular risk into a waiver of "any and all claims against the Park District," even if those claims have nothing to do with the normal risks associated with participation in an activity. I told the Park District and their attorney that it was improper and unacceptable to incorporate a waiver for claims regarding non-program-related things, such as negligence or discrimination, into a waiver of claims for injury that might result from normal program participation.
Yesterday, the attorney for the park district informed me that he would direct the Buffalo Grove Park District to enroll any member of my family in any park district program without me first having to sign the waiver. The waiver requirement by the Buffalo Grove Park District now becomes like the requirement of the Illinois School Code that my children recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It becomes a suggestion rather than a requirement.
The Illinois Pledge of Allegiance law states that the Pledge shall be recited daily by public elementary and public high school students. However, since that law violates the constitutional rights of students, students are permitted to ignore the law.
Since the provisions of the Buffalo Grove Park District waiver violate my constitutional right to take a dispute with government to court, the demand by the Park District that I sign their waiver now becomes a suggestion rather than a requirement, just like Illinois' Pledge of Allegiance law.
While the Park District dispute is now settled, the resolution has a corrosive effect on respect for the law. Government in Illinois has a propensity, it seems, for enacting laws that are merely suggestions, rather than requirements. Such a practice tells citizens that the government is not serious when it enacts laws. They're just kidding.
Anytime somebody demands that you sign a contract which provides that they retain all of their rights, but you agree to forfeit all of your rights, you don't want to sign that one. You certainly don't want to sign a contract when all five of the following conditions are present:
the contract is between you and the government,
the contract is written for you by the government,
you are not permitted a role in writing the contract,
the contract provides that the government shall have unlimited rights in dealing with you, and
the contract provides that you shall have no rights in dealing with them, not even rights that are guaranteed to you under the Constitution.
Don't sign that kind of contract under any circumstances.
If I don't have to sign that kind of waiver, you don't have to, either. Just because the government thinks that a clever way to save money is to grant themselves unlimited rights and cancel all of your civil rights, that doesn't mean that you have to go along with their demands.
Just say, "No!" Then, call me. That's what I'm here for: to protect supporters of Rob Sherman Advocacy from these kinds of scams.
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Rob Sherman P. O. Box
7410
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089-7410
A post office box is used
because
the street address uses a curb mail box,
which is not secure.
Telephone: (847) 870-0700
Fax: (847) 870-1156
E-mail: rob followed by the at symbol followed by robsherman dot com