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Saturday, January 28, 2006

Ind. Law - Lafayette lawyer dies in house fire; fire strikes Terre Haute law office

The obituary in the Lafayette Journal & Courier begins: "Charles R. Deets III, 62, of rural Battle Ground, died early Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006, in a fire at his home." A related story: "Friends recall vibrant, young attorney."

"Investigation into fire at Ellis Law offices ongoing" is the headline to this story in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. Some quotes:

Terre Haute firefighters responded to a blaze Thursday evening at the five-story building at 518 Wabash Ave. The fire was mostly contained to the law firm’s second floor. * * *

Ellis stood in the street Friday morning as staff members of the law firm gathered to look at damage. He directed some staff members to rearrange court hearings for next week.

“234-9000 still works,” he said in reference to his heavily advertised law office telephone number. Calls to that number are being routed to an answering service, and then to staff members’ cell phones, Ellis said.

“We’re operating, but we don’t have a place yet,” Ellis said. “It may be an overzealous attempt, but I hope to be operating some place by Monday.” * * *

The fire also affected Ellis’ campaign headquarters, located in the building. Ellis is running on the Democratic ticket for prosecutor in the May primary election.

“I just recently made arrangements to have another staff member brought in to help Ellis Law continue to function to allow me to have more free time to get out and campaign,” Ellis said.

“We had set the campaign headquarters up and was preparing for a [campaign] kickoff. Certainly, I need to devote my time to getting Ellis Law back operating, not that I am going to neglect the campaign. Not that I am Superman, but I am going to attempt it all,” he said.

Ellis' announcement for prosecutor was reported here in the ILB earlier this week.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 28, 2006 12:36 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts | Indiana Law