First of all let me be clear I have never written anything in my life. Not interested in impressing anyone. My grammar and punction no doubt need some work! Also I am writing from my iPhone have no idea how to do the spacing for paragraphs.! What you will find is I'm passionate that even here in the USA both our political and judicial system need a lot of work. So it is important we work together to fix it! It is worth the effort! For our future and that of our children and grandchildren it is with the effort. I am convinced we can complain about what is wrong or we can work together to fix it. So many reporters have told my story. My dream has been to tell it myself. Professor George Pring wrote a book called getting sued for speaking out (slapp's) he entitled the chapter about my story simply "Brenda Hill." I'm not the superwoman the Seattle press made me out to be. I will be honest in my thoughts about the Columbian newspaper you can get your articles off a.p. and the world will be a better a place! God was my source of strength! Without his help I would never have survived my ordeal! One person can make a difference! In 1987 if you had asked me who the governor or legislators were I would not have been able to answer! Never registered to vote! On July 14 1987 everything changed for me! At 8pm there was a knock at the door "Are you Gary and Brenda Hill you have been served!" I was in shock in my hands was a $100,000 defamation suite! Through tears and shock I continued through the documents at the bottom of the stack was a summons I had 12 hours notice to appear in court at 8 a.m the next morning! No money!! No attorney! For the record the ACLU never played a role of any kind!                           Gary and I were married in in September of 1981. He was raised on a farm near Vancouver WA while I was a city girl from Torrance CA. The truth is we moved so much Dad worked for the rail road. So I grew up both in Seattle and southern Cal.Gary and I had Angela 14 months later. 364 days later we were blessed with Dwight. In 1984 I was 21 and Gary was 24. Gary's boss at Cox cable was Rick Oakley. Gary told him we were interested in buying a home. Rick's wife Jackie was a sales person for Robert John real estate with an office in Vancouver WA the headquarters was Ave of the stars Beverly Hills. Gary and I had no thought of having an Attorney look over our contract. The Real estate company carried the contract! We signed the papers with John Tapio in the Oakley's home. Only adding to the sense that everything was on the up and up! The contract was 5 years 9% and 5 years at 12%. After that there would be a balloon payment. For the record I am Not one to give legal interpatation anything I write her is my opinion only! I am writing to the best of my memory! We signed the papers in October of 1984. This was our dream home all 2088 square feet 4 bedroom 3 bathroom cape cod! In June on 1985 our youngest Lynette was born. When we signed the papers I had no idea I was pregnant. In 1986 the interest rates dropped Gary asked me look into what it would take to refinance our home. At random I chose a mortgage company. Brought my contract with me. The manager approached me and asked if he could help me. I pulled out my contract and placed on his desk. All of the sudden he got a huge smirk on his face making me feel quite uneasy! "Oh! Another one of these!" "Lady if I were you I would start at the court house!" I left with far more question than I started with! Why was he sending me to the court house? Now I found myself standing in line at the assesors office. I wrote down my address and asked why was I being told I needed to start at the court house?? She had no answers.Worse than that she asked me if I had given her the correct address? What?? Wouldn't I know my own address! It is my understand that Washington states excuse or transfer tax is the responsibility of the seller! Because that $1600 had not been paid the contract Gary and I signed with Robert John Real Estate could not be recorded! No went to Robert John Real Estate's office and spoke to James Tapio up till now I had a favorable impression of him. That was about to change!! In a nut she'll he told if you want the contract recorded you can pay the excise paid and have the contract recorded! We are not going to do it!! some it was another year year before I wrote a letter and enclosed a copy of my contract. A short time later I received a letter from The department of Revenue in Olympia! "It would be most helpful if you would get us the names address and phone numbers of the homeowners in your same situation." Ok! My thoughts went back to my conversation with Mr.Tapio how many other people had he told "if you want the contract recorded you can pay that tax." They should have paid the tax!! I didn't want anyone else to be mislead or confused!! At the time I thought there were only 20 of us! I had no idea there were 6 or 7 subdivision with over 300! Each night when Gary got home I had diner on the table and would go out alone and knock on 25 doors. Showing each one the letter from the department of Revenue! I could never have imagined this would become the largest investigation in the history of my state. As I gathered the info I would forward it to the treasures office! If you said I was nieve you would be correct! I was raised in a christian church we were taught to live our neighbors! Care for one another! Treat others as you would want to be treated! if that is nieve than yes! I was!

lisa
6/26/2016 08:21:01 pm

Kudos, warrior! Good for you making a difference! You faced the challenge and rose above & beyond!
Your Christian background of loving your brother as yourself, reinforced thru your example of being/doing! 🙏💞. #ONE💗

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7/15/2017 05:26:10 am

Very fascinating story. It looks like you made a real difference!

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8/18/2017 01:41:27 am

I'm the Teaparty Founder and a Christian and face a even more daunting task. I need representation. My goal are the same as yours to stop corruption by the State. You got a battle of business to State. You were perfectly situated by the actions of the State to challenge the business. My situation is different because the State and Business seats of power has joined forces. In fact almost all seats of power have join forces to silent me. I'm like you, I don't stop when I see injustice. I guess it has to do with our relationship with God. I've always stood up for children being bullied while growing up. Mind you I was a runt until my 7-8 grade year and I shot up a foot in height. It is amazing how our bodies are wonderfully made.

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8/15/2022 01:52:05 pm

It would be most helpful if you would get us the names address and phone numbers of the homeowners in your same situation. I truly appreciate your great post!

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8/15/2022 02:13:29 pm

In a nut she'll he told if you want the contract recorded you can pay the excise paid and have the contract recorded! Thank you for sharing your great post!

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6/27/2023 09:19:15 am

The manager approached me and asked if he could help me. Thank you, amazing post!

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