From the Kba President

• Publication year: 2024
• Citation: Vol. 93 No. 4 Pg. 5
• Pages: 5

From the KBA President93 J. Kan. Bar Assn 4, 5 (2024)Kansas Bar JournalAugust 2024

Remembering Your Why

By Mark A. Dupree Sr., KBA President 2024-2025

It was the late 1980s in an urban community when a hard-working, middle-class man purchased a used vehicle. Excited to show his wife and children, he rushed home to surprise his family, and surprise them he did. Everyone piled into the car and took several joyous trips around the neighborhood. The car was parked, and the kiddos were sent to bed.

Photo courtesy Jeremy Wangler, Washburn University Alumni Association and Foundation

The following week, he woke up early to do his morning devotion and get his children ready for school. To his shock and confusion, his car was on a tow truck, and a police officer was standing by overlooking the process. He rushed out of the house and approached the officer. He asked the officer to instruct the tow truck driver to put the car down, as he had just purchased it. The officer explained to the man that there was a lien on the car and that the tow company was hired to repossess the car. The man handed the officer the release of lien from the lien holder. This paperwork showed that the lien had been paid in full by the previous owner before the man purchased the car. After reviewing the documents, the officer instructed him that the lien holder had not updated the file and that he must go to court to show the document to a judge later that week. The man was frustrated, confused, and without transportation needed to get to work.

He sent the kids off to school by bus and went to the side of his house. He grabbed one of his six children's bicycles and pedaled nearly 35 miles to work. Three days later, he appeared in court at an overcrowded docket call and a very fast-paced judge. The judge kept his head low, looking down as individuals approached the bench. The only question he asked, one person after another, was, "Can you pay the lien?" When this gentleman approached the bench, he was asked the same question, and his response caused the judge to look up. "It was paid in full," he said. The judge told the man that he would not be in front of him if it was paid in full. The man attempted to speak and hand the judge the paperwork. The judge told the man he was to never interrupt him. The man stood silent as he was "dressed down" for a few more minutes and then was asked to speak. He handed the judge the paperwork, and the judge was surprised that...