The Fear Ends Here (Domestic Violence Advocation)

From domestic violence to illegal landlord operations, there are free legal services here in our backyard!

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Our goal of our program is to gain independence and however that looks.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

If you're gonna watch a shell, this one's the watch.

SPEAKER_03 0:07

We're a nonprofit law firm and our our mission is to provide free civil legal services to people who can't otherwise afford them.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

I told this person they, you know, they they strangled me till I couldn't breathe and I passed them out and now they love me, no thank you.

SPEAKER_03 0:21

We don't charge anyone for the services that they get. Um everything is completely free.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

No reason why someone should have to live in a very violent situation because they don't have the money for representation.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Tennessee roll call!

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Welcome back to Tennessee Roll Call, and today we've got the Legal Aid Society with us that gonna talk to us about a lot of the services that they offer, and it's just great to have both of you. I have Miss Cara Hartnett, who is an attorney here with the uh legal aid, and then Miss Jessica Jernigan, and I don't think I ever got your title.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Advocate.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

You're an advocate. What are you an advocate for?

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Well, I mostly what I do specifically is domestic violence work, and then I also work on the health and benefits um team, uh, for lack of a better word.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

I say you're probably like a Swiss army knife, if I had to guess. I mean, you probably do just like you got your hand in a little bit of air.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Probably, yeah, yeah. If anything needs to be done, it's yeah, it's very accurate. She's a go-to for everything.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Well, Miss Arnett, let's talk about you. What do you what do you do with here at the place? Is that obviously you're an attorney?

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Yeah, I I focus specifically on housing and domestic violence work. So um, I do a lot of eviction defense. Um, I work in uh like public housing issues, uh federally subsidized housing, or just general um private landlord tenant um disputes. Um, on our domestic violence side, we do a lot of representing people in order of protection cases, um, divorce cases where there's domestic violence. And Jessica has really shaped our domestic violence program here, but it focuses a lot on just um helping the victims of domestic violence gain independence and um you know be able to move forward from from where they were at.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

I don't want to plug my own program on my own program, but if the if you're gonna watch a show, this one's to watch, I think, because this is gonna give you a lot of information because I know that if if you have to go out and get an attorney commercially, you're talking about hundreds of dollars an hour for this representation. I don't think it's fair that people cannot have that proper representation um without spending those big bucks, and y'all have made that possible. So hats off and kudos to y'all for having this program here where people can get the help that they need because they deserve it too, even though they don't have the pocketbooks, you know. So thank you for what you do. Thank you for what so let's uh let's get into a little bit of uh you talked about domestic violence, and that is a huge problem here in everywhere in Tennessee. Uh what are some of the services that y'all are able to provide for domestic violence victims?

SPEAKER_02 3:11

Well, for starters, um, our goal of our program is to gain independence and however that looks, um, most of the time we start with an order of protection if that's what somebody needs. But oftentimes, you know, it might be an order of protection. But when we're working with them, they might have a housing problem. They might help uh the health and benefits section might help them get benefit, public benefits like SNAP benefits, families first, disability, social security, they might have other problems. Most of the time, when you get somebody who comes in here with a domestic violence program or problem, they're going to need a whole myriad of services. And so we used to all um do everything. And so we've kind of broke off into groups where we have like our um our managing attorney does employment law and she does um expungements and she does the health and benefits as well. Um, and so everybody's kind of got a specialty, and so we might have mutual clients, we might like have one client that has like seven cases up in our office because most of the time when somebody comes in, they don't just have one legal problem and they might come in for a housing problem, and then we realize, and Kara finds this all the time, where there's uh somebody who's got a housing problem, but we realize there's domestic violence, and so we start working with them and they get an order of protection or they get a divorce or something like that. But I think legal aid traditionally years ago had been kind of known unfairly as like a place to get divorces, and that's very little of what we do. Um, if that divorce can help you gain independence, then that's something we're gonna be working on. But it's it's a small portion of what we do at legal aid.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Right. It it kind of just kind of marries what's needed to be done to make you more independent. Right. And would you would you say that with domestic violence, a lot of the issues is people are afraid to report it because this is gonna completely change their lives?

SPEAKER_02 5:04

Is that absolutely?

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Yeah, because it it changes everything, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:08

And and a lot of um, especially women who are in domestic violence situations often have been out of the workforce for a period of time. And so getting back into the workforce and making an income, childcare is a huge problem. And like right now, DHS is kind of um slow walking uh those applications for child care, and there's a there's a budget issues there, and so I think that's a that's an issue for people when you're on Families First, you can apply for help with child care, and that's huge, but like it takes a minute. And so you need the money now, and you don't have a job, you don't have a car, you don't have the resources, you don't have all the things you need, housing, and and it's just hard to go out there and start over with really not any idea of how to do it, and that's kind of where we come in.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

Yeah, I mean I think domestic violence is a really complicated issue because it does involve those interpersonal relationships of it's happening to you from someone that you love and that you trust or did trust. Um, and you're interconnected in those resources, like maybe you rely on them financially, maybe you have a child together, maybe you live together and you don't have a plan for like where you're gonna live if you do try to get out of it or if you do try to report the violence. Um, I think that's where our program is really well rounded and set up to best serve these victims, and especially having Jessica be like an advocate for these people. I mean, she's a trained social worker, so she can help them with um just those sort of like cognitive and emotional issues related to getting out of the violence. But we also serve and do work in these other issues of okay, well, you need to get away from this person. Let's get you some income by um signing you up for SNAP benefits or you know, getting you on um SSDI if you have a disability. Um, let's find you a job, let's find you new housing, let's address this housing issue that's come up because you're a victim of domestic violence. So it's more than just them reporting the issue, them getting away from the person. It's all of those other life issues that go with having to get away from a person that you've connected your life to.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

There's emotional roller coasters, financial roller coasters, and the biggest as a police officer, one of the biggest things is this I don't know what I'm going to do. And I tell you, the services y'all offer is just absolutely amazing. It gives us as officers on the field some way of giving them some hope. And y'all provide that, y'all are that missing piece. So it's incredible. Um, you mentioned order protections earlier because I know a lot of people get confused when it comes to restraining orders versus order protections. Can y'all tell us uh the difference between the two? Like a stay, like a no contact versus an order protection?

SPEAKER_02 7:55

Me? Okay. Your trainer. So there's six major differences between a no contact order and an order protection. And we're talking about a final order protection. So the first thing is that um an order protection is for a finite period of time. You know, no contact orders, they're kind of out there like until the criminal issues are resolved. If you have that in a criminal matter, um, and I and I and the biggest, I think the misconception that I hear all the time is people will say, Well, there's a criminal matter, so I don't need an order protection. That is absolutely false. The legislature legislatures, when they made this this law and the order protection statute, they really specifically um kind of put extra enhanced protections for order protection. And the first thing is it's only in effect for one year. Now, the other thing though is if there are violations of a final order of protection, that order protection can get extended for up to 10 years if there are proven violations. And so that enhanced protection can go on for longer if it it's found that that's needed. The second thing is that typically if you have a restraining order or excuse me, no contact order or things like that, they're gonna come back and say, Look, you need to get into private attorney and you need to go, you know, deal with that, or you have to get the DA's office and you're trying to get you kind of have it to advocate for yourself. With an order of protection, if though there's a violation, then the DA's office prosecutes that. And our DA's office is really good about prosecuting those.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

And it gives police a little bit extra ammunition to be able to help you as well. Because we, you know, if you don't have that order protection, it can make it a little bit more difficult to keep them away from you from different, especially if you're married.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

And so that can, you know, that can cause inhindrance. Anyway, go ahead. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

And we definitely see a partnership with the law enforcement because the uh legislature legislature has said, look, in these order protection cases, there's an automatic arrest provision. So officers don't have to sit, because what used to happen when we had these mutual no-contact orders and restraint orders and things, it was like, well, she invited me over, and and you know, he she told me I could come and all this thing. So they don't have a like you can't negotiate with this order. It's an order of the court and it has to be followed. And so the officer doesn't have to sit and try to figure out who did what. The order protection is in place, and so there's an automatic arrest provision that's in an order of protection again with that enhanced protection. The fourth thing is that during the pendency of an order protection, and during the pendency of an order protection only, they're they're not allowed to have, possess, or transport firearms or ammunition. And so, again, that's that enhanced protection because obviously the court has had a hearing and ruled that these this person needs a cool down period for whatever reason, they're not safe at this moment.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

And I think that's one of the biggest reasons why uh order protection is a whole lot more involved, is because it does actually take away that constitutional guarantee um uh of that. So you have to have some evidence. There has to be some, there has to be some um minimal evidence there to be to get an order protection granted. You don't just get it because you don't want to be around somebody, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:58

Just because you're mad or they're cheated on you, or there's some, you know, like you you just don't like each other. It's it's more than that. And so because there's that fear or threat of harm there, they get that enhanced protection. And so, and then if the person is still afraid after that period of time, that year has gone, they can ask for extension. We always tell people like you got your order protection June of 2025, around May of 2026, you want to start reapplying if there's still the fear or if there's things that have happened. Again, if there have been violations proven during the final order protection, then you'd want to look at getting that extended for you know two, five, or ten years, depending on what the violations are. Um so the the enhanced protection involves again, kind of walking through those again, is number one, it's for a specific period of time, it's not forever. The gun provision, you don't have you're not allowed to have or possess or transport firearms or ammunition. And then you're also the DA's office prosecutes those violations so that there's that enhanced protection, the automatic arrest provision. Um am I forgetting one? I feel like I'm forgetting one. I can't think I got all the things. So but there's but the point is that a restraining order is an order from the court. It's it's I mean, any order that the court puts down is important. But this order is like extra, like, hey, you you need to follow this order. It's it's given that enhanced protection so that you know if there's if there's a violation, we don't have to sit and try to figure it out. There's not a lot of things that have to go on. It's like, look, there's five texts, and then you know, he's calling, and the officer hears a call, then that's gonna show you like okay, there's a violation. This person gets automatically arrested, and then there's a hold on them for that 12 hours.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

And I think a lot of people also don't understand about these order protections, you cannot uh do third-party contacts on these. No, and a lot of people don't understand that because they're like, hey, will you tell Sally I need to come pick up my stuff, or will you tell Sally I love her, or something like that? That is a no-no as well. And I think that gets uh overlooked in order protections.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

And and the and and the the other thing, there's a kind of a stalking component that often happens with domestic violence, and anything feels like a threat. Saying I love you, you know, it oh that seems like okay, but like I told this person they you know, they they strangled me till I couldn't breathe and I passed out, and now they love me, no thank you. Oh, yeah. So it's so and and uh we've seen an increase of using social media to violate orders of protection, Facebook, um, Instagram, um, like Facebook friending, like, and I had that one this morning that I heard about that was a Spotify. They did it, they sent a song through Spotify. Yeah, and it's like, you know, and and we really, really rely on law enforcement to partner with us and commissioners because they take these things very seriously, and it's like, I don't care if you said I love you. Because what happens is the misconception is like, oh, well, it was very benign, it was just an I love you. But what happens is the the respondent in these situations are often looking for an out. Like if they get away with that, they're like just in the waters. And if they get away with an I love you, then it's gonna be something different. They're gonna show up at their house.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

They're taking liberties, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:06

And so it's an order, it it it's not, you know, there's no wiggle room. You can't tell your mom to tell her that you love her, you can't tell your best friend, you can't post it on Facebook, you can't contact her because it's been put down.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

I once uh I arrested a guy not too long ago, as a matter of fact, and hit the way he violated his order protection was sending money to through Venmo. And uh that that was kind of you know, on the outside looking in, that was strange. You're like, I'm just sending her money.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

No, you it's you're not just sending her money. Let's go ahead and let's keep it real here. You know what you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

Right. And and and again, you know, on the outside, it's like, oh, it's money, but it's it's a way to contact. And if they can find any way to find that contact to get away with it, then they're gonna keep going and it becomes more dangerous. And if we don't enforce it, what I found, you know, the one situation where I had a fatality years ago um with a domestic violence, it was a stalking case. He had never hit her. And but it wasn't it wasn't her that it ended up happening to because we kept prosecuting and prosecuting and getting order protection. But his next victim did not like not that there was any reason for that, but it just if they don't have consequences, if there's not, if it's not enforced, it's you know, I I tell my clients if you can't, if you're not gonna call law enforcement every time, it's not a self-enforcing order, you don't get this barrier, you know, it's only as good as you make it. And so you do have to call the police every time. And it's hard to pick up the phone and have to call. And you know, and and we love our police officers, but it feels as a you know, personally, it feels very embarrassing to have to call the police and need the police. Um, and but it's very needed, and it, you know, and plus when you have a positive experience with law enforcement and you see they're gonna come every time and they're gonna take it seriously, and then the and the respondents sees they're gonna take it seriously, and then you go to court and they take it seriously. Her safety shoots the you know, her safety is is is exponential.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

I always tell people the the victims of domestic violence, I always tell them, let us be the bad guys, right? Okay, you call us for anything, that's what you pay taxes for. You know, I try to put it back in there, let them know, look, we're here for you, and we are gonna help you. You just gotta let us know and let us be the bad people. You don't even have to tell the guy to stop talking to you or anything like that once you got that order protection. You call us, let us, and I will give him the message, normally with bracelets. So, you know, we have to be um very serious about that. That yeah, order protection is that definitely that that's an awesome thing, but y'all don't just that's just the tip of the iceberg of what y'all help people with. Now, they're gonna have a lot of legal issues, um, obviously, with this. How do y'all handle that as far as like paying for an attorney during this time period?

SPEAKER_03 16:43

Yeah, so we're a nonprofit law firm, and our our mission is to provide free civil legal services to people who can't otherwise afford them. So, like you said at the beginning, we try to fill that gap where people who wouldn't otherwise be able to get an attorney to resolve these legal issues, we step in and we're able to provide free legal services. Um, we're funded through um the Legal Services Corporation and a series of just like donations, um, like most nonprofits. But the the Legal Services Corporation is actually funded by um Congress at the federal level. Um, it was founded in the 60s as part of the war on poverty. So we're one of the programs that was set up to basically help eradicate poverty. Um, so that's like one of our core missions, and it's the core people that we serve as people that experience poverty, that are low income, that wouldn't otherwise be able to get the services that we provide. Um, so we don't charge anyone for the services that they get. Um, everything is completely free, and we just um we survive off of donations and federal funding.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

For some I've been telling people wrong then. I thought um that it was a like they they they take your what your income is and and then do it by that, but it's actually free service.

SPEAKER_03 18:03

Yeah, it's completely free. We can't take we can't and we won't take any money from any of our clients. Um we will ask for attorney's fees in court cases where we can, uh where we win and the opposing party pays us, but um yeah, we won't we won't take any money from our clients.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

And we're gonna take a moment right now to go ahead because this is one of the best causes you can you can get right now to help people. How can they donate?

SPEAKER_03 18:27

Uh we have a website, LAS dot org. Um you can go there and and donate directly. Uh you can send us a check in the mail. Um we uh I think those are the main ones online and then uh sending a check to our office. Yeah, individual donations are huge, especially when federal funding is in flux, like it often is uh these days.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

I can't think of a better reason, I can't think of a better place to donate that money because because I mean this is this is this has to happen. This uh there's no reason why someone should have to live in a very violent situation because they don't have the money for representation and they don't have the money to get that help. Now you mentioned other services uh that y'all offer besides I did I wanted definitely to hit on the domestic violence. Obviously, Tennessee Road Call, that's we try to do a lot of that level, but you mentioned other services. What did what do y'all provide besides domestic violence?

SPEAKER_03 19:23

Yeah, so so like I said, our focus is just on uh helping eradicate poverty, and you know, our aspect of that is providing legal services. Um, so our legal services are centered around how we can help low-income people and the issues that they have. So um, like I said at the beginning, a lot of what I do is housing and domestic violence. So on my housing side, it's a lot of um eviction defense people that are gonna get kicked out of their homes, um, people that are trying to navigate um like low-income housing or issues with that. Um, just because she does benefits, so it's um, you know, helping people access uh certain safety net programs like SNAP or or SSI. Um we have really great attorneys in our office um that work on like consumer issues, like you're getting hit with a big debt, um, how you can manage that.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

Um, and and I think another thing, like and you just about anything you can imagine that that someone who's low income can have. We we do a lot of um senior work. We work with elder abuse um when people are being abused or exploited. Um, there's a specific order of protection just for for people who are seniors who um maybe they're not physically hitting them, but they're taking all their money. And that happens a lot with um you get a neighbor who becomes really friendly with somebody who has a not a lot of money, but a little bit of money saved up. They've worked their whole life for, and somebody starts taking their check, and then they get, and we'll often get them when they're getting kicked out of somewhere and we're like, where's all your money going? We have romance scams that we've gotten, poor seniors have gotten involved in. Um, and then we also like uh lemon law stuff, like people are debate and switch thing with consumer issues. Um, but one of the most common things that I see with seniors is it'll be something like a roofing company comes by and they're putting roofs on everybody's house. Well, they say, hey, give us $5,000 and we'll start on this. They do about three hours of work, they end up putting a hole in the roof, which causes a leak, which causes mold, and then they never come back again, and these people are out $5,000 or something, and then they gotta get something repaired, and then they're it starts this whole chain reaction of events that that just really by the time we get them, they're kind of in a hot mess. And so we try to unravel that and get them somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

On the police side, we see that a lot too, where uh you have a lot of your uh somebody will have somebody that pays their bills for them and they take a few little extra dollars, extra dollars, and it and it actually gets to the point to where uh they're not actually paying anything for the person, they're just they're they're doing. bare minimum on everything and taking all the money. We we see that very often and it's so hard to prove. Correct, correct.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

And that's that's where that order protection, the senior for the for elder abuse comes in. And we can get like a lot of things that they like the restitution, we can get the court to order them. And it's not necessarily a criminal thing, it's civil, but we can actually get some real good relief like go ahead and get them to stop taking, stop the bleeding for starters.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Well that that was a guy not to, you know, a while back unfortunately he's passed away but he was being taken advantage and I saw that and I went up to him I said and I told him like three or four times, listen, you don't have to be letting this person control your assets and all like it. He finally just stopped me and said what I do with my money is my business. I'm a grown man. And it's just hard to it's hard to see that. It's hard to see it because you see it happening and they just not they don't do anything about it and it really ties your hands to I'm assuming it has to tie y'all's hands too to a point.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

But and and if that person has a power of attorney or conservator or if there's a concerned family member they can actually file on behalf of this senior so that seniors aren't getting taken advantage because often it's a relationship issue. It's their child and they don't want little Jimmy to get in trouble and little Jimmy's 55 years old and little Jimmy is a deviant. So we all know a little Jimmy and so it's just important to to like so when we get a senior we see those kind of situations where somebody's being exploited and we can provide some help in it. And then also you know we had this couple that um they had um a mechanic that was taking advantage of them. And so our see our work with seniors is really critical because um I have a client that Lord have mercy she um got they they got her to pay them in gift cards and and and and I talked to her about this and I'm like look no one if you ever been to the electric company and they said hey go get some gift cards and pay us and she's like no that would never happen I'm like let's think about it like that. And so um and I noticed like even our Manchester Walgreens we have a lady there sweetest lady ever and she stops people she'll ask them questions and I've had several clients call me and say this lady at Walgreens I know who she is she's the sweetest thing but she stops people from buying the gift cards because she'll say why are you buying this gift card and it it it really helps people because it's like wait wait wait let's stop and think about this.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

And so yeah it's often I I feel like seniors but also people with disabilities just the most vulnerable uh it's like in our community and and you see that and you kind of talked about to uh you see them go down this cycle of you know it's one thing after another and kind of like what we're talking about with domestic violence victims it's not just the order of protection it's also getting them housing it's also setting up income for them. And I feel like I see that a lot in our exploitation cases or just in across our client base in general like the vicious cycle of poverty is it's it starts with one thing and then it tumbles into the other and all of our programs that we provide kind of um wrap around the client in a way that we can try to resolve all these issues. So it starts with a romance scam and someone's uh you know buying gift cards for this person they met online and that makes it so they can't pay their electric bill and in order to prevent an electricity or utility turnoff they get some you know high interest rate loan from Cash Express that they then turn around and get sued for and get a judgment against them and they get you know whatever income they have garnished and then they can't afford their rent and so at that point they're gonna get evicted because they can't afford their rent and so it's just these compounding issues and they can never pull themselves out and get out of that poverty and get out of that cycle of poverty. And so um I think our programs are designed to sort of cut that off and help them get to a place where they can sustain living and not like keep just kind of yeah you mentioned another thing I want to touch on um real quick before we run out of time you mentioned the landlord we have a lot of those issues and I would love to discuss oh you got a big spot on your face in the name because boy I tell you what's the truth I feel like I'm talking to police here because y'all hit y'all are dealing with the same stuff we do and it just on a different you know different side of it.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

We have a lot of landlords out there and and if you're a good landlord I'm not talking about you so don't get excited. Me too but we do have one too many landlords out there that think that they are God whenever it comes to that property. So can we discuss what some of their rights are as a tenant I know I had one landlord decide that he didn't want to go through the eviction process of this person decided to do something to their roof.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

I've had several uh complaints that um they don't want to get out of the house I'm gonna turn off their utilities or take off the door off the hinges or beat them up or it sounds like you've done this before tell me what some of the victims' rights are in a tenant landlord situation.

SPEAKER_03 27:05

Yeah so so your rights vary based off of where you live there's you know private landlord tenant um there's you know um like low-income housing public housing and if you're in some sort of subsidized housing you typically have more protections but as a baseline if you're a tenant your landlord can't remove forcibly remove you from the property without going through the lawful eviction process. And so you see it when you know landlords are you know they either try to make the place so unlivable that you have to move out because they don't want you to live there or they're threatening you with either violence or saying they're gonna shut off their utilities. They change the locks on the house so you can't get in. If they do any of those things without a court order um saying that you know you had to leave and asking the sheriff to show up and and forcibly remove you with that court order um what they're doing is illegal. And it's you know you have a several different claims against them but it basically it's an unlawful eviction. It's a self-help eviction and the bottom line they you have to go to court to forcibly remove a tenant from from a property. They can't just take matters into their own hands. And what what's a normal eviction process like the normal eviction process you have to give um your tenant proper notice typically it's 30 days um it really just depends on your lease where you live what the violation is for if there's a violation things like that of the lease agreement after you give them proper notice you have to file an eviction with the court um and at that point they would set a hearing date and so you have to go in front of a judge have your hearing show that you're entitled to have this eviction judgment and then after that you have to wait typically 10 days um to get the order final and that's when the landlord can go get a writ of possession which is what entitles the sheriff to come out and basically remove the tenant from the property. And without going through that whole process and getting that writ of possession and you know getting the sheriff to come out and and execute the writ of possession you can't forcibly remove someone from the home. If you are renting to someone if you are a landlord um these are just protections that your tenants have and that's part of the business that you've chosen to be a part of and if you want them out you have to go through the right process. If not your tenants are going to have um you know claims and repercussions against you. And so that's a lot of what we do here is just enforcing those rights that tenants have. They own the land.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

But there's a process.

SPEAKER_03 30:01

There's a process and they have to do it right and if they don't for everybody's protection.

SPEAKER_02 30:05

It's not just for the for the the tenant's protection it's for the landlord's protection as well they're they're there to protect everybody.

SPEAKER_03 30:12

Yeah the the eviction process was created and and it's you know as far as you know legal processes go it's a very expedited and quick process uh which is a problem for our clients because you know they can they they can get kicked out in a pretty expeditious manner even going through the court process and it takes a while to find new housing. But it in general it was created that way to prevent these self-help evictions that typically devolve into violence and create unrest and weren't good public policy. And so they created this eviction process to replace all of that. But you still see landlords going forward and doing the self-help evictions and causing you know this violence or this quick displacement of vulnerable families despite this policy. And that's an issue.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

Guys we could talk for another three hours on this and not even touch the surface but y'all offer so much out there that um you give people who don't have that big money in the bank a hope for tomorrow. And it and I and that's just I know it sounds cliche but I you really do. You really give them a hope.

SPEAKER_03 31:31

Okay well our uh we we have a toll-free number um and I can't think of it at this moment the number to our office for it's Olahoma we cover um I think seven different counties so coffee Warren Grundy Franklin Lincoln Bedford Bedford yeah and I think that's all of them and and more and all of our you can contact our front office by dialing 931 4557000.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

And uh Jessica Jernigan thank you so much for uh taking your time we need to do this more off because we never see each me and her are cousins. Yes we are and we never get we never get to see each other because she won't return a phone call but anyway she's busy and miss cara uh thank you so much for what you do and from what I understand we owe you congratulations.

SPEAKER_03 32:21

Yeah thank you if I seemed out of breath it's because I have a baby crushing my lungs.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

So we've actually we've actually had an interview of four people today. Yes baby was happy to attend big legal aid advocate do we know what the baby is he's a boy he's a boy yep and we have a name we not officially it's not announced I'm still waiting for my husband to to sign off on it but he should be we're all really excited to find out we're we're we're really looking forward to having this next new Saturday Saturday this is amazing because you're due Saturday and doing this talk show today we wish you the absolute best and congratulations and this is going to be a good thing for the young fella to be able to watch yeah he'll he'll be out by the time it drops probably so I'll have to show it to him stay side exactly guys thank you all very much and we're going to do a part two most definitely from the sky roll