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Ramsey Clark

Dear Editor,

I was sued for $2 million by a teamster lawyer that was representing the Oneida County, N.Y., deputy sheriff’s union. (I had said “I don’t like the cops reporting to the robbers.”) They sued for two million, instead of one, because the county only carried one million in defamation insurance on the county executive.

Since I was potentially on the hook for a million dollars, I needed to find a lawyer to defend me, so I trotted down to Manhattan and sought to retain Ramsey Clark as my personal attorney.

I was enthralled with Ramsey’s civil rights work and opposition to the Vietnam War when he was attorney general of the United States.

Ramsey immediately agreed to represent me and offered me a cookie from the package he was eating from. (I declined the cookie.)

To cut to the chase, thanks to Ramsey the lawsuit against me was dropped.

I had the pleasure of spending an evening with him and found him to be the most intelligent human being I had ever met. He had degrees in law and history from the University of Chicago.

Some are saying Ramsey was defender of lost causes. I would vehemently disagree with that view. He saw war and wanted to end it; he saw injustice and wanted to stop it; he saw inequality and wanted to fix it.

He was a major spokesperson for America’s most cherished values. The New York Times called him “a rebel with a cause.”

Ramsey said that a citizen’s highest obligation was to speak up when his government had violated its own principles and not point the finger at someone else.”

In 2008, the United Nations General Assembly awarded Mr. Clark its prize in the field of human rights, which it gives every five years to human rights defenders. Past recipients included Eleanor Roosevelt, Nelson Mandela and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I am glad I had the privilege of knowing Ramsey Clark.. Ramsey Clark died at age 93 on April 9, 2021.

Bill Bryant

St. Clairsville

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