Colorado Business Litigation Lawyer Blog

Hearty congratulations to the Boulder campus of C.U. for being the number one school in 2011 in providing the Peace Corps with 117 undergraduate alumni currently serving overseas in the Peace Corps. C.U. has been in the top three providers of volunteers since 2004. And for the first time this year, both C.U. and Colorado State University in Fort Collins made the top 10.

C.U.-Boulder is the number 5 all-time school for volunteers, having sent 2,269 volunteers into Peace Corps service since it was established by President Kennedy in 1961. Currently, the Peace Corps has 8,655 American volunteers working in 77 countries.

The Peace Corps is just one of 12 campus programs overseen by CU-Boulder's Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement. Congratulations to the institute for its excellent performance.

For more information about the Peace Corps click here.

National Public Radio reports September 27, 2010, that the owner of Segway, a personal transport device, apparently drove one of his products off of a cliff and into a river, causing his death.

Jimi Heselden, the company’s owner, grew up poor in London. He quit school to work in the mines at age 15. He made most of his money after he founded Hesco Bastion, a company that makes concertina barriers that are used to protect military bases and secure areas. The protection devices can withstand a car bomb and are in use all over Iraq and Afghanistan.

Heselden was a philanthropist who gave away 23 million pounds to various charities.

The unique Segway was marketed as a safe and simple form of personal transportation. It is ironic that the very person who owned the company apparently wasn’t using the device as safely as he should have been.

The recent 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck the impoverished nation of Haiti has killed well in excess of 50,000 and injured an unknown number.

Numerous nations, led by the U.S., have begun delivering badly needed food, water, medical supplies and treatment, rescue workers, cleanup and demolition crews and security personnel. One major problem is that the Port Au Prince airport is so crowded that many planes with urgently needed supplies are unable to land and often are delayed for at least one day.

As I’ve written before, when donating to a charitable organization, you should select one or more whose contributions are reasonably sure to get to those in need and are not severely diluted by high administrative expenses, graft and pay-offs.

The internet website charitywatch.org (The American Institute of Philanthropy) has compiled a top-rated list of charities involved in the Haiti earthquake relief efforts. Each charity is given an “A” to “F” rating, based on the portion of their budget going to program services and their fundraising efficiency. You should carefully read the information on the charitywatch.org website in order to diminish the chance of having your credit card number stolen.

In these troubled economic times here in the U.S., many people are financially unable to donate at this time. But if you are able to donate, give an amount you are comfortable with, given your own financial situation. Remember, however, that the need is critical and will be for quit some time to come. I’m sure that all donations will be appreciated sincerely.