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All of the chatter about Ortiz's purported use of steroids while a player of the Red Sox, reminds me of an incident which happened to me;it has nothing to do with Ortiz but does show why one has to be careful with evidence, facts and proof before convicting someone.
I realize it is lengthy and most may not be interested and I understand-anyways I deem it to be important and hopefully at least a few of you will gain something from it.
Anyways, the story goes back to 1983 when I purchased a small condominium-except for a few townhouses, these are all attached units on one floor(they were converted air force barracks).
Anyways, these were all newly converted units, meaning there were no previous owners and that I purchased it directly from the folks who built them.
They had salepeople selling the units for them.
Well, before I purchased the unit I read over the bylaws of the condominium complex and everything seemed ok except for the fact that it said that pets were not allowed because they could cause damage to someone else's property.
Well, I had a cat at the time(I have always had one, and the few I have had in my life have always been of the indoor variety).
To get rid of the cat was out of the question for me;there was no way I would live anywhere if I couldn't keep my cat.
While I was being shown the condominium I was interested in, I asked the salesman whether it would be ok to have a STRICTLY indoor cat which thus wouldn't cause any damage to anyone's property.
Well, the salesman person laughed gave me a wink and simply said "Lets just say I didn't hear that." I interpreted that to mean that it was ok but don't tell anyone, and if it doesn't do any damage to anyone else's property, no one cares.
The cat stayed inside as I promised, and was not an issue until 1987.
During that year or before apparently some other folks had not obeyed the rules, moved in and had brought some dogs into the Complex and which had gone outside and done damage to other people's property and received complaints.
At the point the lady who developed the Condominium Complex(a real tyrant) and the Association sent out stern letters to everyone stating that NO pets were permitted under any conditions and that anyone owning a pet would have to get rid of them immediately or be fined monthly(I think it was around $50 a month).
Anyways, in early October of that year someone must have seen my cat perched in a window and reported me.
I received a notice informing me of this and to get rid of the cat or face the consequences, meaning I would be fined if I continued to keep the cat.
I did have the right of appeal to the Association.
Now keep in mind that besides the ruthless lady who was at the head of the Association (she was very wealthy and loved the feeling of power-you know what they say-after you have all the money you have, power is next), there were a group of flunkies who comprised the latter who just sucked up to her and did anything she wanted them to).
These appeals were held at the end of the month and usually consisted of trying to fine people for leaving their garage doors open(the garages were detached from the units), not securing trash bags, putting the latter too far out in the middle of the road and other mindless nonsense.
From what I had heard, the person makeing the appeal ALWAYS lost(like the Washington Generals against the Harlem Globetrotters) and were humiliated and raked under the coals by the lady and the Association.
Anyways and of course I filed an appeal because I thought I had a solid case considering that one of their salespeople had not answered my question directly about having the cat(To this day I believe it is because the lady told the salesfolks to say/allow anything in order to sell all of the condos), implying it was ok.
To make sure I had a chance here I brought along a very good friend, who was an attorney-that pissed them off bigtime because they claimed that I should have informed them so that they could be represented also(apparently no one else had had ever brought an attorney to one of these "hearings").
Anyways the proceedings went on, I presented my side of it, saying that rules didn't apply to me because of what the salesperson had said(actually not said), that I had the cat four years with no one ever complaining and that the cat never went outside.
My attorney argued that since the cat never was seen outside, it should be considered part of my property,etc.
He also threatened to "sue their asses off" if I was ever fined.
Things got pretty heated, and the tyranical lady threatenerd to report my friend to the Licensing Board of Massachusetts.
Well, my attorney and I stormed out of there at that point.
It seems that we won as I stayed in the Condo for another six years, kept the cat and NEVER received a fine or more warnings;I guess the bitch and her kiss ass buddies on the Association realized that the case wasn't as strong as they thought and that perhaps I did have some "facts" which they didn't consider.
The morale of the story is that in all walks of life, not just whether someone used steroids or not, get all of the facts and NOT just the ones you want to hear about.
Thanks to all who took the trouble to read this;I hope at he very least, it gave you a little food for thought.
I realize it is lengthy and most may not be interested and I understand-anyways I deem it to be important and hopefully at least a few of you will gain something from it.
Anyways, the story goes back to 1983 when I purchased a small condominium-except for a few townhouses, these are all attached units on one floor(they were converted air force barracks).
Anyways, these were all newly converted units, meaning there were no previous owners and that I purchased it directly from the folks who built them.
They had salepeople selling the units for them.
Well, before I purchased the unit I read over the bylaws of the condominium complex and everything seemed ok except for the fact that it said that pets were not allowed because they could cause damage to someone else's property.
Well, I had a cat at the time(I have always had one, and the few I have had in my life have always been of the indoor variety).
To get rid of the cat was out of the question for me;there was no way I would live anywhere if I couldn't keep my cat.
While I was being shown the condominium I was interested in, I asked the salesman whether it would be ok to have a STRICTLY indoor cat which thus wouldn't cause any damage to anyone's property.
Well, the salesman person laughed gave me a wink and simply said "Lets just say I didn't hear that." I interpreted that to mean that it was ok but don't tell anyone, and if it doesn't do any damage to anyone else's property, no one cares.
The cat stayed inside as I promised, and was not an issue until 1987.
During that year or before apparently some other folks had not obeyed the rules, moved in and had brought some dogs into the Complex and which had gone outside and done damage to other people's property and received complaints.
At the point the lady who developed the Condominium Complex(a real tyrant) and the Association sent out stern letters to everyone stating that NO pets were permitted under any conditions and that anyone owning a pet would have to get rid of them immediately or be fined monthly(I think it was around $50 a month).
Anyways, in early October of that year someone must have seen my cat perched in a window and reported me.
I received a notice informing me of this and to get rid of the cat or face the consequences, meaning I would be fined if I continued to keep the cat.
I did have the right of appeal to the Association.
Now keep in mind that besides the ruthless lady who was at the head of the Association (she was very wealthy and loved the feeling of power-you know what they say-after you have all the money you have, power is next), there were a group of flunkies who comprised the latter who just sucked up to her and did anything she wanted them to).
These appeals were held at the end of the month and usually consisted of trying to fine people for leaving their garage doors open(the garages were detached from the units), not securing trash bags, putting the latter too far out in the middle of the road and other mindless nonsense.
From what I had heard, the person makeing the appeal ALWAYS lost(like the Washington Generals against the Harlem Globetrotters) and were humiliated and raked under the coals by the lady and the Association.
Anyways and of course I filed an appeal because I thought I had a solid case considering that one of their salespeople had not answered my question directly about having the cat(To this day I believe it is because the lady told the salesfolks to say/allow anything in order to sell all of the condos), implying it was ok.
To make sure I had a chance here I brought along a very good friend, who was an attorney-that pissed them off bigtime because they claimed that I should have informed them so that they could be represented also(apparently no one else had had ever brought an attorney to one of these "hearings").
Anyways the proceedings went on, I presented my side of it, saying that rules didn't apply to me because of what the salesperson had said(actually not said), that I had the cat four years with no one ever complaining and that the cat never went outside.
My attorney argued that since the cat never was seen outside, it should be considered part of my property,etc.
He also threatened to "sue their asses off" if I was ever fined.
Things got pretty heated, and the tyranical lady threatenerd to report my friend to the Licensing Board of Massachusetts.
Well, my attorney and I stormed out of there at that point.
It seems that we won as I stayed in the Condo for another six years, kept the cat and NEVER received a fine or more warnings;I guess the bitch and her kiss ass buddies on the Association realized that the case wasn't as strong as they thought and that perhaps I did have some "facts" which they didn't consider.
The morale of the story is that in all walks of life, not just whether someone used steroids or not, get all of the facts and NOT just the ones you want to hear about.
Thanks to all who took the trouble to read this;I hope at he very least, it gave you a little food for thought.
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