Free Child Support / Divorce Help From Concerned Community Organizations

by Friends of Cushingberry


       During a divorce,  the symptom of "Baby Mama Drama" with a spouse reaches an all time high with two people dogging each other out and, children are caught in the middle of it. Often times a spouse feels that there is no one to turn to that will listen to their issue.  The good news is that there are many places in Detroit that provide legal help to citizens who are going through a divorce with the children. All of them are free of charge and just takes a few moments of your time to utilize their services. If you have any questions on these programs please contact the coordinator of each program. From August until the end of the year, organizations like the United Auto Workers and others are assisting people in need legal services regarding their children.  These dates are not just for August 2016 because the hyperlinks and information are good all year round. If you have any questions, we recommend that you call the agency directly.

	Free Child Support Help Dates:
Fri, Aug 5, 2016:	UAW Region 1A Center 15140 Livernois Detroit MI  48238	9am-3pm
Fri, Aug 12, 2016:	ACCESS 6450 Maple Street Dearborn MI 48216	9am-3pm
Tue, Aug 16, 2016:	Resource Network 11816 Jos Campau Hamtramck MI 48212	10a,-3pm
Wed, Aug 24, 2016:	Focus Hope  1200 Oakman Boulevard  Detroit MI 48238	9am-3pm
Thu, Aug 25, 2016:	Wayne County Legal Resources Consortium  645 Griswold, Detroit MI 48226	12pm-3pm
Thu, Sep 15, 2016:	Wayne County Community College District
Sat, Oct 22, 2016:	Wayne County Child Support Help Program 5201 Woodward Ave, Detroit MI 48202	1pm-4pm
	MONTHLY MEETINGS - CHILD SUPPORT HELP
1st Thusday of Month:	William Booth Legal Aid Clinic 2 Woodward Ave Room 1901 Detroit, MI 48226   Default Divorce Judgment	10am
2nd and 3rd Thursday of the month:	William Booth Legal Aid Clinic 2 Woodward Ave Room 1901 Detroit, MI 48226   Legal Aid Clinic	12pm-2pm
4th Thursday of the Month	Wayne County Legal Resources Consortium  645 Griswold, Detroit MI 48226	12pm-3pm
	Michigan Legal Help Self-Help Centers
Monday through Thursday	Penobscot Building SMART Detroit 13th Floor 645 Griswold, Suite 1300 Detroit, MI 48226	9a-4p
Mondays and Wed.	Southwest Detroit Family Alliance for Change (Spanish/English) 3627 W. Vernor Detroit, MI 48216	9a-3p

Civil Asset Forfeiture Revenue and Marijuana Legalization by the Detroit Police Department

By Richard C. Clement

    In light of the recent raids on Medical Marijuana facilities in the City of Detroit this week, we asked Detroit Police Chief James Craig how much money does the Department make from Asset Forfeiture.  The Chief responded with a chart that shows over a 3 year period, the Department made $7.3 million dollars from taking assets under the Civil Forfeiture programs. The breakdown is as follows:

Year	Federal	State	Local	Total
2012	$   451,542.05	$   7,394.00	$2,224,477.40	$2,683,413.45
2013	$   410,168.87	$           -	$1,938,511.05	$2,348,679.92
2014	$   348,461.79	$ 36,254.07	$1,882,748.57	$2,267,464.43
Totals	$1,210,172.71	$ 43,648.07	$6,045,737.02	$7,299,557.80

The figure shows that there needs to be a redirection of assets so that Marijuana based businesses and, the policy on Civil Asset forfeiture needs some serious re-direction of funds toward expenses like retiree pensions and healthcare.  This is a large amount of money to make from taking someone’s money and property for Marijuana possession and, never charging the person for the crime in a court of law.

People on the receiving end of this lose everything seized to the agency who made the initial contact if; the person does not contest the seizure in 10 days. After 10 days, the money or asset(s) that was taken from a home or person during a police raid is kept by the arresting agency and sold for profit. The raid on the facility at Puritan and Hubbell on July 14th, 2015 is a prime example of this type of asset forfeiture abuse by law enforcement.  On Puritan there are 7 churches that are within 3000 feet of the school.  City wide, there are numerous hair shops and churches that are across the street from each other.

This un-even enforcement of the Marijuana Laws creates an incentive for police agencies to conduct raids as a profit center for the Department instead of the protection of the citizens.

The only way this will stop is if you show up to vote and elect people who want to make this type of change.   You can also direct change through a ballot initiative that will take 2000 signatures from registered voters in the City of Detroit.  Or you can force change by signing the legalization petition hosted by www.milegalize.com to fully decriminalize and stop the War on Weed.  The revenue from legal Marijuana sales will make more money than the Water and Sewage system maintained by the Great Lakes Water Authority.

We have more people in new jails with no pot holes in their walls and, at the same time we have horrible roads, declining education opportunities and, retirees that have dwindling pension benefits. Participation in the MI Legalize www.milegalize.com  effort will address these problems.  We are expecting much better out of our elected leadership because, the War on Weed in the City of Detroit and the State of Michigan is a complete failure and, a waste of law enforcement resources. 

Finally if the Detroit Branch and the Michigan State Conference of the NAACP can honor Kid Rock, then they are morally obligated to support decriminalization of Marijuana use because of the impact on the community especially citizens of color. 

Michigan Attorney Discipline Board Dismisses Charges against Attorney George Cushingberry Jr.

by The Friends of George Cushingberry Jr.

    In a unanimous ruling on June 15, the Michigan Attorney Discipline board has administratively dismissed the charges against Attorney George Cushingberry Jr. for practicing law without a license. The hearing date was arbitrarily cancelled by the board. The panel ruled that the charges brought by M.L. Elrick lacked merit, was frivolous and not worthy of further discipline or discussion. This ruling dismisses the allegations made by Fox 2 Detroit reporter M.L. Elrick and Michigan Chronicle Editor Bankole Thompson.

Quoting University of Detroit Law Professor Larry Durbin and the Michigan Chronicle's Bankole Thompson:

LARRY DUBIN: You can't put yourself in a position where you can meet potential clients, which means have a telephone that lists you as a lawyer where people can call you; be on a website where people can fill out a form and indicate that they want your services as a lawyer; all of that is prohibited completely. Anything on a computer that would hold that suspended lawyer as a lawyer, or as a practicing lawyer or invite potential clients to contact that suspended lawyer would be improper. 'Michigan Chronicle' Editor Bankole Thompson says Cushingberry's apparent disregard for the rules sends the wrong message.

( Watch The full Fox 2 Detroit News Story)

Larry Dubin’s statement of fact was ruled irrelevant and did not fit the case by the Attorney Grievance Commission because Mr. Cushingberry had evidence that he never practiced law during the suspension.  The panel also found that Attorney Cushingberry did not own the domain name and was not responsible for its content. It is a given fact that 98% of legal professionals are not tech savvy and, rely on assistance from Technology experts who are highly skilled in the tools of the trade. C-systems Technology Group www.csystemstechgroup.com is solely responsible for the maintenance, development and content of the site.

The owner of the domain www.cushingberrylaw.com was able to demonstrate that Attorney Cushingberry is not taking any clients during the suspension and, his databases cannot produce any evidence of ANY client or potential client interaction requesting his legal services. As far as the Michigan Chronicle goes, the last thing we need is an African American newspaper supporting and reporting news events that are later proven to be intentionally false and misleading bits of information.

It is also a fact that this is a troubling pattern by media outlets to usurp the will of the voters by attempting to remove elected African American officials from office by promoting false and misleading news stories. The Councilman is demanding that ML Elrick and Bankole Thompson issue an immediate retraction of this “story”. The councilman suggest that these two would be better off investigating the contractors who poured the concrete on the Highways and Roads in Michigan for the past 10 years with shoddy concrete and construction materials.  

Until this happens, the No Elrick-Thompson zone will remain in full effect until further notice.