"One step over the line sweet Jesus, one foot over the line"

"....waitin' on the train to go home sweet Jesus, one foot over the line."

Many, many thanks to all of you who write, called, or otherwise expressed your thoughts on Mikie. We still have more to do before we can finally lay him to rest, (actually scatter his ashes over the Gulf of Mexico). Being in this legal world we all live in let me tell youit's a pain in the butt!!. I've finally tracked down the attorney who handled Mikie's brother's estate about four years ago, and he is looking through the old files to get Mikie's sister's telephone number for me. She is legally the next of kin.
Mikie's roommate and three of our friends went through his "stuff" Sunday, and even in death Mikie get's the last laugh. He has succeeded in leaving no papertrail whatsoever amongst his "stuff". No bank account, no actual address (always used a post office box), if it wasn't a check it got trashed. We did find a birth certificate. He did know before they could bury you the dumb bureaucracy will indeed make absolutely sure you were born, ergo a birth certificate. Thanks Mikie.
Tracking his sister down has been an experiment in patience, and an enlightening experiance in knowing you can run, but you can't hide, on the Internet! But depite all the "bullshit" privacy rules and all that legal crap it's nice to know human beings still have compassion. And boy did I get good at working that today!
From the Police department 500 miles away that insisted they couldn't tell me anything, as the clerk sat in front of the computer screen with the complete police report on it about Mikie's brothers tragic death (Hit the back end of a parked bus at 60 mph.), back in 2003. BUT if I would send them a cashiers check for fifty cents they would be glad to mail me a copy, but they could not give out any information over the phone!
With an Academy Award performance of a whimpering fuss I was able to ply the full name of his brother from here and promised to get the check out today.
Next I went to the Registry of Records and found three documents for his brother, a death certificate, a homestead form, and a transfer deed. (Mikies brother was a special forces "he did'nt exist" dude so paperwork was also non existant. When Mikie went down to bury him in '03 and get a military burial he found his military service file and the majority of it was "blacked out" with security blocks on it. Mikie was proud of him, no matter where he had been or what he had done!) Back to the chase. As I sought each one I was confronted with a block indicating that the information was governed by the privacy act and could not be viewed on line, but that a written inquiry could be made. So again go find the humans and try and do the John Barrymore performance for them.
After a twelve button "automated menu" I got a human being. I explained my dilemma to the deaf ears of another County employee.
"Look mam, I don't want any of the information in the documents, trust me it's perfectly safe, I promise. All I want is the name of the attorney who filed them, and in advance I'm not going to sue him, simply ask him for my friends sister's telephone number."
"Well if you send us a cashiers check for one dollar and twenty-five cents we will be glad to send you a copy of the documents, sir."
"Mam, please let me explain this to you very slowly, and simply so you can understand my situation. Would you please allow me to do that, and I guarantee you it will take less than one minute of your time, in fact you can hang up on me if I'm lieing. May I?"
From the other end of the phne I heard a, "hmmph", so i continued.
"Mam, by buddy died, we didn't find him until two days after he died, the state required an autopsy to be performed, and they won;t release his body to anyone who is not next of kin. I'm trying to find his sister to let her know and if I can't get to her and let her know the probability is that his body will be thrown into "potter's field" and that's the end of it. We are his friends and we don't want that to happen, but if we can't find the attorney who has her name and number that's exactly what's oing to happen! How alone can you die, particularly when you have friends that want to take care of you, but legally have thier hands tied! Can you help?"
Another long pause and then, "The attorney who file these documents was "--------- and his telephone number is --------, I hope that helps you, it;s the best i can do."
"Thank you mam, you've been a big help,...and thank you very much from all Mikie's firends."
From there it got a little easier and after talking to the attorneys office they are now looking up the info and will get back to me tomorrow.
Now I've got to figure out how to deal with the sister and then take care of Mikie as well. I guess it's time to get an attorney involved.
Boy life was simpler in the old days!!
-30-