National Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Purple Ribbon - DVAM.png

“Domestic violence is an evil that threatens the social fabric of our Nation. It is a widespread attack on the most sacred and intimate of institutions — the American family.” — Proclamation on National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, 2020

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a time set aside to educate, support, and stand up against this pervasive wrong that continues to plague our society, and which has sadly increased during a time when the world is consumed by the continuing effects of the global pandemic that has upended our lives. It is a reminder that the vulnerable still need to be protected and kept safe from harm.

If you need immediate assistance, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE (7233).

To help those who have been a victim of domestic violence or know someone that has, our librarians at the Harris County Law Library have compiled a list of resources and organizations that may be able to assist:

National Domestic Violence Hotline - Available 24/7, the National Domestic Violence Hotline provides much-needed support to survivors of domestic violence through its telephone hotline or its live chat line. You can find information to help you recognize the common signs of abuse and tips for creating a safety plan. The information and resources available on the Hotline’s website are not limited to victims of family violence. There is also useful information for those who are witnesses to domestic violence and abuse and how to provide much-needed support.

Texas Advocacy Project - Through free legal services, access to the justice system, and education and prevention, the Texas Advocacy Project seeks to break the cycle of violence and offer survivors an opportunity to live free from fear of abuse. The Texas Advocacy Project offers virtual legal clinics that can help with a wide range of family law issues, assistance with emergency protective orders, and two toll-free legal help lines.

AVDA (Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse) - Located here in Houston, AVDA has been serving survivors of domestic abuse by providing free legal representation and counseling for 40 years. Programs include victim advocacy, legal advocacy, counseling, and its Battering Intervention and Prevention Program. You can also find a downloadable domestic violence safety plan and a list of local organizations that provide much-needed assistance, such as shelters and organizations that provide employment, rent/utilities, and emergency and support services.

Texas Health and Human Services Commission - Through its Family Violence Program, the Commission provides survivors with supportive services, such as temporary 24-hour shelters, a 24-hour hotline, legal assistance, emergency transportation, assistance in obtaining medical care, and training and help finding employment.

Attorney General of Texas - The Office of the Attorney General of Texas offers assistance to victims of family violence through several different initiatives such as the Crime Victims’ Compensation Program, the Address Confidentiality Program, the Statewide Automated Victim Notification System, and child support help. Survivors of family violence can also have their names removed from public files and records relating to the offense by completing the Pseudonym Form for Victims of Family Violence.

DomesticShelters.org - DomesticShelters.org has created a list of domestic violence services that are available in cities throughout Texas. Resources range from emergency services to community education services. Simply click on a city near you to see which services are available in your area.

Are You Registered?

LawDay 2020.jpg

If you intend to vote in November’s general election and have not yet registered to vote, don’t miss out on your opportunity! Today, October 5, is the final day to register, but we at the Harris County Law Library have got you covered with a list of resources that can help you get that done.

Harris County Tax Assessor - If you are a Harris County resident, visit the website of the Harris County Tax Assessor. There, you will find information about eligibility requirements, ways to confirm your registration status, and ways to obtain a voter registration application.

VoteTexas.gov - Texas residents can confirm their voter registration status and learn how to register to vote, if they haven’t already done so on the VoteTexas.gov website from the Texas Secretary of State.

Vote411.org - The League of Women Voters Education Fund has created Vote411.org, a website that provides personalized voting information and voting information by state. It even has checklists for first-time voters.

Don't miss out on the chance to exercise your right to vote in the November 3rd election. Take part in democracy because #votingmatters. Register today!

National Taco Day: Let's Taco 'Bout Tacos

How your Harris County Law librarians spend their weekends.

How your Harris County Law librarians spend their weekends.

This Sunday, October 4, Americans will set aside their differences and join together in honor of the humble but mighty taco. We owe this annual celebration to a Texan, Roberto L. Gomez.

Gomez, a San Antonian, was a force in the 1960 “Viva Kennedy!” JFK campaign movement in the southwest. Once Kennedy was in office, Gomez used his connection to the President’s brand to promote various Mexican foods familiar to the San Antonio community, starting in 1961 when he sent President Kennedy a 48 pound tamale, guarded by a motorcade, as a birthday gift. Gomez continued to build on this idea, and in 1965 he sent President Johnson, a dedicated Texan, a 55 pound taco. Shortly thereafter, Gomez helped found the National Taco Council. In 1968, San Antonio’s Congressman Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez stood on the floor of Congress and called for the first National Taco Day to occur that year on May 3. After some hopping around, in 2004 National Taco Day landed on October 4.

Some have speculated that the taco, in its perfect simplicty, must have come to us from deep in the past. In reality, it’s a modern miracle; an early example of fast food, born of industrialization and the need for a quick lunch break.

The taco’s origins are in 18th century Mexico, where silver miners toiled in caves. To extract silver, they would wrap a bit of gun powder in a piece of paper, then slide that into a crack in the rock face. They referred to the gun powder and paper wrap as a “taco.”

Then at some point in the 19th century, a genius Mexican mind, now anonymous due to the fog of history, decided to mimic this by wrapping meat inside a tortilla, and called their culinary innovation a “miner’s taco.”

Fast forward to San Antonio in 1905, where historians have found the first recorded mention of this food taco in the United States. The taco, a true and authentic Mexican food, likely came to San Antonio with Mexican migrants coming for work. It was one of the exotic examples of Mexican cuisine served by so-called “Chili Queens,” whose pushcarts provided Americans with an opportunity to sample culinary life south of the border.

If you travel to Mexico, don’t expect to find a hardshell taco. The crunchy, u-shaped taco shell was an innovation of United States entrepreneur Glen Bell in the 1950s, as he came up with the idea to sell gringo-friendly “Mexican food” to the masses through a franchise business he called Taco Bell.

Another American franchise operation, Subway, made international news yesterday when an Irish court ruled its baked loaves are too confectionery to legally be called “bread.” Is there a similar legal defintion in the United States of a taco?

The answer is that while lawmakers here have yet to define what a taco is, a Worcester County Superior Court in Massachusetts ruled in 2006 that a taco is NOT a sandwich. Thus the taco continues to reign supreme in its own right.

Further Exploration:

Celebrating the 105th Anniversary of the Harris County Law Library

This day, October 1, 2020, marks the 105th Anniversary of the founding of the Harris County Law Library. Every day, we are committed to promoting open and equal access to justice for all, including self-represented litigants and the local legal community.

Since the celebration of our Centennial in 2015, the Law Library has continued to grow and evolve. We are especially proud of our ability to adapt our services during this unprecedented public health crisis and to continue responding to the legal needs of Harris County residents. We aim to serve individuals whose legal concerns are just as pressing as ever, despite interruptions in the judicial system. We are also working diligently to support the reference and research needs of local attorneys who are working remotely but still need access to all the library has to offer.

Virtual Reference Desk

The Law Library’s Virtual Reference Desk is here to help with your legal research needs during this time of public health concern. Our law librarians are available via email and voicemail to assist with access to legal research materials. The Law Library has worked with vendors like Westlaw, Lexis Advance, Lexis eBooks, HeinOnline, and State Bar of Texas Practice Manuals to make documents available to you remotely. Email the Law Library reference staff or give us a call. We answer nearly 250 reference questions each month from self-represented litigants, attorneys, paralegals, and librarians, and we’re happy to help you, too!

Live Chat Reference

The Texas State Law Library and the Harris County Law Library have teamed up to provide online chat reference assistance Monday through Friday from 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. During this three-hour block of real-time interaction with law librarians from both institutions, we receive a steady stream of questions on everything from agriculture to zoning. If you would like to communicate with a member of the reference team directly, find us five days a week in Chat!

Remote-Access Digital Resources

The Law Library provides a one-stop landing page for different library patrons based on their unique information needs. To learn about accessing our electronic resources remotely, visit the Digital Resources page. Here you will find links assembled for various patron groups including Self-Represented Litigants, Legal Researchers, Educators, and the Courts.

With so much growth in recent years, we are excited to see what the future holds. We are eager to implement even more new ideas as we begin our next year of service to the Harris County community. We will continue to embrace and be responsive to the changes taking place in society at large. On the occasion of our anniversary, we are renewing our commitment to serving Harris County residents and the local legal community, no matter how changes brought about by the ongoing public health crisis may shape our methods of delivering the best legal reference service possible.