Commentary: Thanks for the tip Sybyl

The process is simple. If you have a problem with someone (a neighbor, for example) you can call the Community Dispute Resolution Center of Genesee County Inc. and explain the dispute to a volunteer case developer.

If the parties to the dispute agree, the volunteer sets up a mediation session with the people involved.

If the mediator is able to broker a mutually acceptable solution to the problem at the session, the people involved in the dispute sign a written agreement. Within 60 days the mediator checks with the people involved to see if the agreement is working. If not, the people involved can try to find another way to resolve the dispute.

The whole process is free and confidential. The people involved do not have to hire attorneys or face the distasteful possibility of seeing their names in a newspaper report about court proceedings to resolve their conflict.

They do not have to take a lot of time off from work to appear in small claims court or at judicial hearings at which they are subjected to hostile interrogation by attorneys working for the other people involved in the dispute.

According to John Robertson, program administrator, in the beginning the agency will handle disputes between neighbors, businessmen and customers and between family members. He said that he would like to expand the service to include disputes referred to the agency by district and circuit court judges, but that judges are not now allowed to refer cases to the mediation agency. (See Page 4.)

I like everything I know about the program. It provides a way to relieve the constipated court system. It allows people to resolve disputes without having to hire an attorney or resort to violence to solve personal disputes.

It is a great idea that should get the support it needs to expand its scope.

For example, why not deal with disputes between
•Religious denominations who claim that following their divinely inspired interpretation of religious scriptures is the only way to avoid spending eternity in the depths of hell. (How about a agreement to participate in a weekly community access channel "Preach-Off" on our local cable service? There might not be any viewers, but it would probably keep the fanatics too busy to try to censor public library books or to prevent adult males from enjoying the sight of a moving female belly button in a topless bar.)

•Topless bar owners and religious fanatics. (Maybe the bar owners could agree not to go into their opponent's churches or homes and the religious fanatics would agree not to go into topless bars or pontificate at Flint Planning Commission meetings when the owners are seeking permits to operate.)

•Doctors and patients. (The cost of health care might drop enough to make it possible for at least the upper middle class to afford minimum health care by making attorneys unnecessary in the health care process.)

•Candidates for political office who disagree over words in political ads. (Maybe they would refrain from wasting the time of an overworked criminal justice system in order to bolster the morale of their political supporters and get a 10-second sound-bite on local television "news" shows.)

•Car dealers who claim that they sell the best cars for the lowest price available in the entire universe. (How can every car dealer claim that they have the lowest prices in town? Since there can only be one dealer with the "lowest prices in town" there has to be a lot of lying car dealers in Flint. Why not let a mediator compare the prices and determine who is telling the truth?)

•People who have an idea for using AutoWorld. (This is the ultimate dispute mediation. Gambling casino, museum, university facility, theme park, sports arena or what have you, everyone has a strong opinion about the function this white elephant should perform. The mediation agency should get everyone with an opinion in the AutoWorld theater and lock the doors. No one should be allowed to leave until everyone agreed on the future of the facility.)

•Mayor Woodrow Stanley and the city trash collectors. (Maybe they could agree to stop trashing each other long enough to see that the trash in residential neighborhoods gets picked up once a week.)

•Me, who likes classical, rock and country music played at a reasonable volume, and my tacky neighbors in the apartment building on the corner of Second and Crapo streets who prefer "rap". (In advance, I will agree not to play my favorite recordings of "Tosca," Janet Joplin or George Jones at a volume audible outside my apartment if they will agree not to torture my sensibilities with their monotonous, juvenile gangster rap recordings.)

Of course, the only ones who would not benefit from the mediation service are attorneys. If everyone solved their problems through mediation, who would make it possible for attorneys to send their kids to college?

GPC