Just a personal note

[dtroitlionsfan951]

Monster, not that it's not a tad humiliating, but you guys are my boys, so I will fill you in.

In April of 2013, I was accused by my oldest step daughter of raping her. Let me stop here and say she is very mentally disturbed, so bear that in mind.

Over the last several years, I have been going through an ordeal with CPS, who refused (despite all evidence to the contrary) that I was innocent.

In the process, I was accused of being a drug addict who shot up into my junk in front of my kids. My wife was accused of being an addict as well.

Medical tests were run on my girls, all were returned negative. I passed 13 drug tests, including a hair follicle test that went back over a year, and came back clean.

My daughter posted a video on social media admitting she lied and even went so far as to try to fake medical evidence (and failed) in order to get even with me for grounding her from her cell phone.

In January of last year, I was arrested after being indicted by a Grand Jury on 12 counts of rape. My son (how he came into this I still don't know) was arrested the same day on four counts of rape.

Over the last year, we have both been facing the possibility of life in prison, because in Arizona, even one count can put you away for life. A man recently got 306 years with no possibility of parole for fewer counts.

The Prosecutor decided to look a little deeper. She found out about the video confession from my attorney, because the cops never gave that to her. She found out that during interviews with my daughters, my oldest step-daughter told the girls she would kill them in their sleep if they didn't go along with her story. She found out about the medical exams and drug tests.

She determined that there was no case here, and that my oldest step-daughter was clearly lying. She chose to re-interview her, and by step-daughter told her I was holding a knife to her making her shoot the video confession. However, when the video was made, I was in Louisiana, not Arizona, and had all my travel receipts from work.

The prosecutor knew I was innocent and my daughter was lying. My case has now been dismissed, and my daughter, who is 18 now, is being charged with falsifying information in an investigation.

Long story short, my life has been hell for several years now, and I was due to go to trial for a life sentence (or what amounts to it anyway) tomorrow morning.

Wow, good to hear all is okay now. That's some scary shit!

 

[tbone413]

Monster, not that it's not a tad humiliating, but you guys are my boys, so I will fill you in.

In April of 2013, I was accused by my oldest step daughter of raping her. Let me stop here and say she is very mentally disturbed, so bear that in mind.

Over the last several years, I have been going through an ordeal with CPS, who refused (despite all evidence to the contrary) that I was innocent.

In the process, I was accused of being a drug addict who shot up into my junk in front of my kids. My wife was accused of being an addict as well.

Medical tests were run on my girls, all were returned negative. I passed 13 drug tests, including a hair follicle test that went back over a year, and came back clean.

My daughter posted a video on social media admitting she lied and even went so far as to try to fake medical evidence (and failed) in order to get even with me for grounding her from her cell phone.

In January of last year, I was arrested after being indicted by a Grand Jury on 12 counts of rape. My son (how he came into this I still don't know) was arrested the same day on four counts of rape.

Over the last year, we have both been facing the possibility of life in prison, because in Arizona, even one count can put you away for life. A man recently got 306 years with no possibility of parole for fewer counts.

The Prosecutor decided to look a little deeper. She found out about the video confession from my attorney, because the cops never gave that to her. She found out that during interviews with my daughters, my oldest step-daughter told the girls she would kill them in their sleep if they didn't go along with her story. She found out about the medical exams and drug tests.

She determined that there was no case here, and that my oldest step-daughter was clearly lying. She chose to re-interview her, and by step-daughter told her I was holding a knife to her making her shoot the video confession. However, when the video was made, I was in Louisiana, not Arizona, and had all my travel receipts from work.

The prosecutor knew I was innocent and my daughter was lying. My case has now been dismissed, and my daughter, who is 18 now, is being charged with falsifying information in an investigation.

Long story short, my life has been hell for several years now, and I was due to go to trial for a life sentence (or what amounts to it anyway) tomorrow morning.

Christ man...I am super glad to hear everything worked out. I am not going to speak ill towards your step daughter, as you mentioned she has some mental health issues, but that the fact that anyone could do that (Blatantly try to ruin someones life, and go to the great lengths that she did), especially towards her own step father, is extremely disturbing to me.

My faith in the justice system has been shaken a bit as of late, due to all of the negative news out there and some of the documentaries highlighting the flaws in the system (Making a Murder highlights that list) - but Im extremely glad that you were dealing with what appears to be a sane, professional group of people, who have morals and are in their line of work for the RIGHT reasons (as in putting guilty people behind bars, and keeping the innocent free) the fact that the prosecuting attorney seemed to go out of his/her way to find the documents which essentially proved your innocence, is DAMN impressive/commendable, and gives me hope that there are still some good, honest people out there!

 

[inkfreq]

Inkfreq, I did not know about this. What a horrible ordeal you have had to go through all this time. Thank God the truth came out and justice prevailed.
Where do you go from here with this stepdaughter? Wait until she is 18 and put her out on her own? Send her away to school for that duration of time?
What does your wife think of all this and her daughter? Just terrible, all because of disciplining her by taking her cell phone away. That's messed up.
In some ways, being here on the Lions board saved you, helped get your mind off this made up yet serious accusation. Congratulations.

Well brother, this is where the story doesn't end so happy.

I have five children. MY son is 22. My daughters are 18, 14, 13, and 10.

In Arizona, once a CPS case has been opened and children removed from the home, the parents have 15 months to complete a case plan for re-unification of the family or the state will adopt the children out.

CPS was damned and determined that I was guilty. They put together a case plan that required certain things to be met as part of a civil trial. I had to take parenting classes for 6 months. I did that. Then I had ot submit to a psychological evaluation to determine abusive traits. I did that and passed. I had to submit to a psychosexual evaluation. I passed that (and let me tell you, that is ultimate humiliation to go through). I had to submit to all the drug tests. Passed them all.

Their last two requirements were that my wife had to admit to the court that I was a an abuser, and beat her often... and that I had to plead guilty to raping kids. That guilty plea would lock me (and apparently my son) away for life.

If it meant getting my kids home, I was willing to spend life in prison wrongly. But i couldn't do that to my son. I couldn't wreck his life, and my attorney guaranteed me that even if I did, they would just add more conditions to the case plan anyway.

The cops sat on the key pieces of evidence long enough to help CPS out, and my girls were adopted out by the state in October.

Long and short, innocent or not, I lost custody of my girls for failure to complete the case plan within the 15 months window... basically I didn't plead guilty in a civil trial, so they took them from me anyway.

So, that is no longer a factor for me. And that is the hardest part to dela with.

 

[tomdalton22]

Well brother, this is where the story doesn't end so happy.

I have five children. MY son is 22. My daughters are 18, 14, 13, and 10.

In Arizona, once a CPS case has been opened and children removed from the home, the parents have 15 months to complete a case plan for re-unification of the family or the state will adopt the children out.

CPS was damned and determined that I was guilty. They put together a case plan that required certain things to be met as part of a civil trial. I had to take parenting classes for 6 months. I did that. Then I had ot submit to a psychological evaluation to determine abusive traits. I did that and passed. I had to submit to a psychosexual evaluation. I passed that (and let me tell you, that is ultimate humiliation to go through). I had to submit to all the drug tests. Passed them all.

Their last two requirements were that my wife had to admit to the court that I was a an abuser, and beat her often... and that I had to plead guilty to raping kids. That guilty plea would lock me (and apparently my son) away for life.

If it meant getting my kids home, I was willing to spend life in prison wrongly. But i couldn't do that to my son. I couldn't wreck his life, and my attorney guaranteed me that even if I did, they would just add more conditions to the case plan anyway.

The cops sat on the key pieces of evidence long enough to help CPS out, and my girls were adopted out by the state in October.

Long and short, innocent or not, I lost custody of my girls for failure to complete the case plan within the 15 months window... basically I didn't plead guilty in a civil trial, so they took them from me anyway.

So, that is no longer a factor for me. And that is the hardest part to dela with.

that is totally fucked up! You must have some legal recourse at this point.

 

[tbone413]

Well brother, this is where the story doesn't end so happy.

I have five children. MY son is 22. My daughters are 18, 14, 13, and 10.

In Arizona, once a CPS case has been opened and children removed from the home, the parents have 15 months to complete a case plan for re-unification of the family or the state will adopt the children out.

CPS was damned and determined that I was guilty. They put together a case plan that required certain things to be met as part of a civil trial. I had to take parenting classes for 6 months. I did that. Then I had ot submit to a psychological evaluation to determine abusive traits. I did that and passed. I had to submit to a psychosexual evaluation. I passed that (and let me tell you, that is ultimate humiliation to go through). I had to submit to all the drug tests. Passed them all.

Their last two requirements were that my wife had to admit to the court that I was a an abuser, and beat her often... and that I had to plead guilty to raping kids. That guilty plea would lock me (and apparently my son) away for life.

If it meant getting my kids home, I was willing to spend life in prison wrongly. But i couldn't do that to my son. I couldn't wreck his life, and my attorney guaranteed me that even if I did, they would just add more conditions to the case plan anyway.

The cops sat on the key pieces of evidence long enough to help CPS out, and my girls were adopted out by the state in October.

Long and short, innocent or not, I lost custody of my girls for failure to complete the case plan within the 15 months window... basically I didn't plead guilty in a civil trial, so they took them from me anyway.

So, that is no longer a factor for me. And that is the hardest part to dela with.

God damn man...scratch everything I just said about the Justice system 'working' correctly in this case.

It seems to me (from reading your brief synopsis) that the sole person with the ability to read through the Bullshit and do her job correct was the Prosecutor? She is the one who seems to have really 'saved the day' by doing her due diligence and forcing the state to realize who the real victim was.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Holy shit, INK. The girls were adopted? Can't that be undone? From what I thought I understood adoption can't be complete for a year. Sorry to hear that.

 

[inkfreq]

that is totally fucked up! You must have some legal recourse at this point.

Unfortunately, I have been assured by every attorney that I do not.

CPS is a civil organization, not a legal one. A civil trial has a much lower burden of proof, which really is to say, it's whatever they say it is.

I have been told that here in Arizona the law demands that a judge in all CPS cases work to protect the children above all else, and the law actually says "If we don't believe the claims, we cannot protect the children".

So as long as CPS continues to say I did these horrible things, the judge is required to believe them, and they can pretty much do whatever they want. In April of 2014, they had police serve a search warrant on my home, and take "any device capable of storing digital data"... which included my cell phons, cameras, and computers.

Police has since admitted in the criminal trial no evidence of any wrongdoing was found on any of my devices. CPS claims I was taking nude pictures of children. To date, I have not received any of those items back due to the ongoing legal case.

Without those devices, I did not have a copy of the video my daughter posted and later deleted, I did not have access to my travel receipts, I had almost no evidence I could use in a court that had already decided I was guilty.

As a result, my girls were adopted out, and now that is considered irreversible under Arizona law.

 

[tbone413]

Also, God your 18 year old....I mean, its just unfathomable to me how she could do this. She essentially ruined the lives of BOTH her parents, and ALL of her siblings, over what - not being able to use her cell phone for a few days?

Mental illness is not to be taken lightly, but that is just...man its tough. I feel for you Bro.


I would hope there is an appeal process you can go through and get your kids back?

 

[inkfreq]

Holy shit, INK. The girls were adopted? Can't that be undone? From what I thought I understood adoption can't be complete for a year. Sorry to hear that.

It's been over a year now. My girls were adopted out in October of 2014. I was arrested in January of 2015. The case was dismissed in January of 2016.

The system worked just about perfectly to screw me, other than not putting me in prison for life for something I didn't do and never happened at all.

 

[tbone413]

It's been over a year now. My girls were adopted out in October of 2014. I was arrested in January of 2015. The case was dismissed in January of 2016.

The system worked just about perfectly to screw me, other than not putting me in prison for life for something I didn't do and never happened at all.

Are you allowed to contact them? Do they know you're innocent? Dude - my heart honestly hearts over this for you....it really puts things into perspective. I wish there was something I could do personally to help.

 

[inkfreq]

God damn man...scratch everything I just said about the Justice system 'working' correctly in this case.

It seems to me (from reading your brief synopsis) that the sole person with the ability to read through the Bullshit and do her job correct was the Prosecutor? She is the one who seems to have really 'saved the day' by doing her due diligence and forcing the state to realize who the real victim was.

That is exactly correct. The prosecutor is the only person who actually did her job, and even then, it wasn't for the right reasons.

The brand new DA we have in the county wants to take high profile cases to court to bolster his bid for re-election. So he took my case to a grand jury. It was in and out in 10 minutes, and he got the indictment.

She knew she wouldn't win the case. She flatly said so in court to the judge. However, he wouldn't let her dismiss until she came up with valid reasons as to why.

She didn't really dig at all until she was trying to make sure she didn't lose the case in public fashion. THEN she started looking at the video, and asking questions... just in an effort to cover her own ass more than anything.

 

[Mitchrapp]

That rough. I'm about to get sick. I'm so sorry.

 

[inkfreq]

Are you allowed to contact them? Do they know you're innocent? Dude - my heart honestly hearts over this for you....it really puts things into perspective. I wish there was something I could do personally to help.

No, I have no contact with them any more. I know my girls, and I am sure two of them will reach out when they turn 18. One I am not sure of.

My oldest step-daughter... well, this may seem really bad, but I honestly don't ever want to see her again. I have been asked to consider testifying in her case where she is being charged for falsifying statements, and I am not even sure I can handle looking at her from a witness stand at this point.

I know, that sounds horrible. But the damage done to my family is so immense... I just don't know if I can handle it.

 

[tbone413]

No, I have no contact with them any more. I know my girls, and I am sure two of them will reach out when they turn 18. One I am not sure of.

My oldest step-daughter... well, this may seem really bad, but I honestly don't ever want to see her again. I have been asked to consider testifying in her case where she is being charged for falsifying statements, and I am not even sure I can handle looking at her from a witness stand at this point.

I know, that sounds horrible. But the damage done to my family is so immense... I just don't know if I can handle it.

Uh, I do not think that is 'horrible' at all...I mean Jesus, look what she put you and everyone you love through.

I understand that laws are in place for a reason, and when it comes to CPS, and cases like that, its can be a slippery slope. I'm sure 95% of the time, the victim is telling the truth, and Im sure they have dealt with some sick, sick individuals who deserve to be locked away for life. For that reason, I cannot 'blame' them for taking every matter seriously, and even for 'assuming guilt until proven otherwise'.

That being said, when there is evidence - REAL evidence - which proves that the claims have no merit, and it is purposely overlooked or 'sat on' in order to ensure that the accused suffers, THAT is inexcusable. That is where the justice system is fucked up. I dont know how that can be fixed, but its really, really sickening to think it can happen to anyone.

 

[inkfreq]

Uh, I do not think that is 'horrible' at all...I mean Jesus, look what she put you and everyone you love through.

I understand that laws are in place for a reason, and when it comes to CPS, and cases like that, its can be a slippery slope. I'm sure 95% of the time, the victim is telling the truth, and Im sure they have dealt with some sick, sick individuals who deserve to be locked away for life. For that reason, I cannot 'blame' them for taking every matter seriously, and even for 'assuming guilt until proven otherwise'.

That being said, when there is evidence - REAL evidence - which proves that the claims have no merit, and it is purposely overlooked or 'sat on' in order to ensure that the accused suffers, THAT is inexcusable. That is where the justice system is fucked up. I dont know how that can be fixed, but its really, really sickening to think it can happen to anyone.

I think your statement at the end is 100% correct. This literally can happen to anyone. It happened to me because it really was as simple as pissing off a step-daughter.

When I say she has mental issues, she was partially diagnosed as bipolar. I say partially because the doctor was unwilling to give a firm diagnosis. He said that normally these issues don't present in people until their 20's, so giving a written diagnosis now could throw off a better diagnosis later. His official diagnosis was "behavioral issues".

She started this with a baseless accusation. All the girls were removed from my home for their own protection. At that point, the foster home she was placed in started to treat her differently that the other girls. If she claimed she was sad, they bought her a Playstation. If she claimed she was down in the dumps about it all, they would let her stay home from school.

I don't think it takes much to know how that impression landed on the younger girls. My daughter who is now 13 (younger when this started) wanted the goodies too. So suddenly she claimed she was also molested, and got an X-Box. She claimed my son molested her, and they arranged a trip to Disneyland... literally.

By the time it was done, she accused me, my wife, my son, my nephew, three of my co-workers, a teacher at school, and one of her foster parents (they moved her to a new home), and some guy named Joe who she said I was bringing over to the house to rape her. I don't even know a guy named Joe.

And as far as CPS was concerned, all of these claims were valid, and they had a witness that corroborated the oldest daughter's claims.

It really can happen to anyone the way the system is set up. They literally, in my mind, paid my daughter off to make accusations and act as a witness.

But, as bitter as I am, I don't really have time to dwell on the bullshit. Defending myself has just about financially killed me. Lawyers are a huge expense. I have a $1,000 bill due to the gas company in a week, and if I can't get that paid, my gas gets shut off... and the legal beagles took everything I had to keep me out of prison.

So even with the case over, it's not really over for me yet. Four years ago I was a guy with a good family, a promising career, and all the trimmings. Today, I am just fighting to get my life back on track, in whatever shape my world is still in.

I made it this far, I'll keep going. But you are right... the system is designed to break people, even if they are innocent. And being found to be innocent doesn't mean it all stops there.

 

[zyxt9]

Congrats! ??? I guess??? Great news on the charges being dropped, but so immoral for them to take away your daughters and not reverse the adoption. That is unfathomably wrong.

Were there news stories done about the case? I imagine some beat writer from back when it happened pounced on it and negative press toward you flowed pretty well. You should contact them and have them tell the REAL story, now that you are free and clear. I'm sure their desire to bash the police these days would make this a front page story. Not that you want the world to know about all this, but it is important that society realize a rush to judgment and current laws regarding the adoption and time window for appeal is unrealistic at best considering the judicial system is notoriously slow coupled with police purposefully sitting on evidence proving innocence.

At a minimum, maybe your girls will read about your story or watch it on the news, they will know you still love them and want to see them. Maybe it will help them make it through their own ordeal as being forced into adoption is not easy and can result in PTSD that goes undiagnosed because "it was the right thing to do, therefore how can they be traumatized?"

Your wife is an amazing woman. I'm guessing she had many people tell her she needed to file for divorce immediately. The fact she stayed with you, quite remarkable in its own right and I'm happy that she is probably feeling vindicated too.

 

[zyxt9]

I think your statement at the end is 100% correct. This literally can happen to anyone. It happened to me because it really was as simple as pissing off a step-daughter.

When I say she has mental issues, she was partially diagnosed as bipolar. I say partially because the doctor was unwilling to give a firm diagnosis. He said that normally these issues don't present in people until their 20's, so giving a written diagnosis now could throw off a better diagnosis later. His official diagnosis was "behavioral issues".

She started this with a baseless accusation. All the girls were removed from my home for their own protection. At that point, the foster home she was placed in started to treat her differently that the other girls. If she claimed she was sad, they bought her a Playstation. If she claimed she was down in the dumps about it all, they would let her stay home from school.

I don't think it takes much to know how that impression landed on the younger girls. My daughter who is now 13 (younger when this started) wanted the goodies too. So suddenly she claimed she was also molested, and got an X-Box. She claimed my son molested her, and they arranged a trip to Disneyland... literally.

By the time it was done, she accused me, my wife, my son, my nephew, three of my co-workers, a teacher at school, and one of her foster parents (they moved her to a new home), and some guy named Joe who she said I was bringing over to the house to rape her. I don't even know a guy named Joe.

And as far as CPS was concerned, all of these claims were valid, and they had a witness that corroborated the oldest daughter's claims.

It really can happen to anyone the way the system is set up. They literally, in my mind, paid my daughter off to make accusations and act as a witness.

But, as bitter as I am, I don't really have time to dwell on the bullshit. Defending myself has just about financially killed me. Lawyers are a huge expense. I have a $1,000 bill due to the gas company in a week, and if I can't get that paid, my gas gets shut off... and the legal beagles took everything I had to keep me out of prison.

So even with the case over, it's not really over for me yet. Four years ago I was a guy with a good family, a promising career, and all the trimmings. Today, I am just fighting to get my life back on track, in whatever shape my world is still in.

I made it this far, I'll keep going. But you are right... the system is designed to break people, even if they are innocent. And being found to be innocent doesn't mean it all stops there.

Hey DSF family! Anyone here familiar with crowdfunding campaigns? Might be worth creating one to help get ink back on his financial feet, or at least help with some bills. I know they often take a long time to get funded, but it seems worth a shot.

Anyone think they can tackle this? I could try, but if someone else has actual experience, they would be a better option, IMO.

That is, with your permission ink. Sorry, don't mean to step on your toes or potentially create undue stress or anything. Some people feel funny about getting money through crowdfunding, so it is your call, but I think I speak on behalf of many that you deserve it after going through all that.

 

[inkfreq]

Congrats! ??? I guess??? Great news on the charges being dropped, but so immoral for them to take away your daughters and not reverse the adoption. That is unfathomably wrong.

Were there news stories done about the case? I imagine some beat writer from back when it happened pounced on it and negative press toward you flowed pretty well. You should contact them and have them tell the REAL story, now that you are free and clear. I'm sure their desire to bash the police these days would make this a front page story. Not that you want the world to know about all this, but it is important that society realize a rush to judgment and current laws regarding the adoption and time window for appeal is unrealistic at best considering the judicial system is notoriously slow coupled with police purposefully sitting on evidence proving innocence.

At a minimum, maybe your girls will read about your story or watch it on the news, they will know you still love them and want to see them. Maybe it will help them make it through their own ordeal as being forced into adoption is not easy and can result in PTSD that goes undiagnosed because "it was the right thing to do, therefore how can they be traumatized?"

Your wife is an amazing woman. I'm guessing she had many people tell her she needed to file for divorce immediately. The fact she stayed with you, quite remarkable in its own right and I'm happy that she is probably feeling vindicated too.

There was no news story run. The local paper, which I work for, doesn't run stories like these until trial. That's normal. Too many times these turn out to be BS accusations, and they refuse to ruin someone's name over false allegations.

I was told by my boss that if any other news outlet ran the story, they would have to to protect their reputation as a news source. Can't have it appear as though they are protecting an employee and all. But no one else ran it, so we never did either.

My wife is an amazing woman. She stood by me from the beginning, and new the charges were a lie. To be fair... she also had every reason to know it was a lie.

My daughter had made some comments and threats against me... veiled stuff, before the actual charges happened. We took the step of protecting me from whatever she might do by making sure I was never alone with her. My wife delivers newspapers... so when she delivered, the step-daughter went with her and slept in the back seat. When the wife went to the store, the step-daughter went with her.

Having a little bit of insight that something might be coming allowed us to protect ourselves (or so we thought) from any dangerous allegations. As it turns out, CPS didn't care that I was never in a room with her without another adult present, let alone in the house without adult witnesses. Their statement was "family is willing to lie for each other".

So while it didn't help in their civil case, my wife did know how impossible these charges really were from jump. Still, I am more amazed than anyone that my wife was right there with me through thick and thin. Like you, I expected divorce papers.

At one point a CPS worker even told her "if you just lie, and say he did it, we can make all of this go away" and she refused to send an innocent man to prison, no matter what. I can't say I agree with her... but I can say I am blown away by the strength of her conviction.

 

[inkfreq]

Hey DSF family! Anyone here familiar with crowdfunding campaigns? Might be worth creating one to help get ink back on his financial feet, or at least help with some bills. I know they often take a long time to get funded, but it seems worth a shot.

Anyone think they can tackle this? I could try, but if someone else has actual experience, they would be a better option, IMO.

That is, with your permission ink. Sorry, don't mean to step on your toes or potentially create undue stress or anything. Some people feel funny about getting money through crowdfunding, so it is your call, but I think I speak on behalf of many that you deserve it after going through all that.

Um, I'm touched that you even thought of something like that man. Seriously.

I didn't post any of this looking for charity, I hope everyone understands that. But I'm also a logical and semi-intelligent person, and I know for fact I can't let any pride get in the way when I've been kicked this far down.

I certainly couldn't expect help from anyone, but any help would be welcome. Hard for me to say that, but I'd be a stone cold idiot to say otherwise.

 

[zyxt9]

Um, I'm touched that you even thought of something like that man. Seriously.

I didn't post any of this looking for charity, I hope everyone understands that. But I'm also a logical and semi-intelligent person, and I know for fact I can't let any pride get in the way when I've been kicked this far down.

I certainly couldn't expect help from anyone, but any help would be welcome. Hard for me to say that, but I'd be a stone cold idiot to say otherwise.

And that's why it is deserved man. You are a standup guy who just needs a little help. It would potentially involve having some personal things come out in the general public, but I think it is a very worthy cause.

As long as you understand it could put a bit of a spotlight on you for a little while. That's the tricky part, trying to not have it become a negative intrusion when all we would be trying to do is help you regain some financial footing.

I'm hopeful someone on here has some crowdfunding background. There are so many campaigns, getting noticed is the hard part...but worth the effort, IMO.