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Attorney Everett Davidson Takes the Stand – Part 2By BOB COTLEUR
Staff Writer
A. "I married Phyllis Neuman back in 1942. Her folks had the Neuman dairy farm at the corner of Meister and Oberlin Roads and they were comfortable, more than what I’d call wealthy. We have four children, Denise, 14, Brian, 13, Tracy, 12 and Deidre, 11. They’re all in California now.”
Q. Are the children in school out there exclusively?
A. “Oh no. They start here at Admiral King and Masson Elementary in the fall, then transfer to schools in California when my wife goes out in December. They’ve been doing it for 12 years and Denise is on the National Honor Society here and head of her class in California. I get out for two weeks every month or so. They like it. We have a swimming pool in the middle of the house which is about 1,000 square feet on a one-floor plan. I like it because two of the world’s finest golf courses are there. El Dorado and Thunderbird.”
Q. You’ve been quite successful making money. How did you do it?
A. “Oh, lots of good friends, working real hard. My accounting knowledge was helpful. I made investments, bought stocks, bonds, real estate. For example I got the original 35 acres where I live on Meister Road for something under $500 an acre. Recently sold 10 acres for $50,000. And 25 years ago I bought stock in Moto-Truck of Cleveland. I was an officer of the corporation, along with others. Gradually they died off and for 10 years I was president of that firm.
“We recently sold to Otis Elevator for $8 million. You can say I made a very substantial profit.”
Q. Have you been as successful in the practice of law?
A. “In law, you win some, you lose some. It’s hard work. Perhaps the most tedious and hard-working case was the Thomas case on income tax. When Joseph Thomas died on the SS Noronic after it caught fire near Toronto, a considerable amount of money was found in a safety deposit box. The federal government alleged he and his brothers, Anthony, who died not long ago, and George, who runs Broadway Lanes, owed $250,000 in income tax.
“They had to pay first and then we filed suit. It was ten years in the courts during which I lost most of the cases until the appeals court sent it back to the U. S. Tax Court the second time. Then I won all the way.
“That time the court wrote a very excellent opinion finding this Syrian family was hard-working, industrious, and they held there was no evidence whatsoever in the government’s contention they defrauded the government (tax bureau) one bit. The government paid back the $250,000 and considerable interest, about $70,000.”
Q. Did you ever establish law in winning?
A. “Yes. Many of the present anti-pollution laws on sanitation came from the local septic tank case. That’s where a local developer wanted to build a number of homes, run the sewage though a covered pipe, through a leach bed and into an open creek. The contention was made by a Lorain County public official the resulting effluent would be drinking water.
“During a deposition hearing I brought him a glass of it filled with a murky effluent in which things were swimming around and asked him to drink it, if he believed his contention.
“He refused, resigned and moved away shortly after.
“The opinion on that case by the court ultimately resulted in changing the law on pollution of open streams, creeks, rivers and even the lake.”
Q. How do you view yourself as an attorney and as a bank attorney?
A. “I’m just a country lawyer because I prefer to be that way. As for being a bank attorney, I think you mean how do you run a good bank. I think the secret is to be most helpful to people. I’ve studied banking, enjoy it very much. I’ve been with Central Security for about 35 years where we’re dealing with other people’s money and where we keep that fact in mind at all times.
“When a loan comes up at the bank I have a very simple rule which guides my vote. I ask myself, ‘Would I make the same loan with my own money?’”
Q. Do you think banks should lead urban redevelopment in downtown Lorain, for example?
A. “I don’t think our local banks can. Investments are governed by laws and our banks can’t invest in slum areas because they must be able to get a return for their investment. Large Cleveland banks can possibly locate a substantial building to aid an area but only within the confines of banking laws.
“What downtown needs is people, merchants primarily, but people of all kinds. I think this will happen, but whether or not downtown Lorain ever comes back is questionable. And I’m interested. I have two business properties in downtown which have depreciate in value.”
Q. What’s your greatest kick out of life? Law, business, profit, family?
A. “I’m getting the biggest kick out of my family and their interests. They raise show horses, you know, but that’s only part of it. The kids broadened our thinking. They ask a myriad of questions which neither my wife nor I am able to answer.
“We have to confer on the questions. They’re good kids, their associates are good kids and a lot of that is inherited. There is a definite responsibility on the part of parents to live with their children, not apart from them. So many parents think they know so much more than their children.
“They might in certain subjects, but kids today are smart. They see the same things on television that I do, they hear the same things on radio I hear.
“My children are all individuals. I don’t care if they become smarter than dad. Phyllis feels the same way. And being older I think I enjoy kids more. I deliberately take a few weeks off a month through winter to be with my children.
“The answer to youth and drugs today is not in the law. You can only do so much with laws. I think the answer is to maintain a good healthy home and let your children be part of that home."
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