Attorney James Johnson at base camp with Mount Kilimanjaro in the distance.

Attorney James Johnson at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Advertising in the New Hampshire Bar News was most instrumental because your paper allowed me to communicate the value of polygraph testing to lawyers, who were skeptical about using this tool, since the results of polygraph tests are inadmissible in a trial in New Hampshire.

Importantly, advertising in the New Hampshire Bar News resulted in polygraph tests which corroborated the truthfulness of many persons, who were falsely accused of crimes to include arson, rape, incest, and drug trafficking. Prior to trial, charges were dropped or not initiated against many truthful defendants.

Polygraph tests which determined that defendants were lying allowed their lawyers to better prepare a defense.

As I prepared for a second time to hike Mount Kilimanjaro, I decided to have a banner made at a local Kinko’s store in Bedford, New Hampshire about how “Criminal Defense Lawyers protect Constitutional Rights” to express my appreciation.

This idea occurred to me after hearing a presentation in the fall of 2005 by Reinhold Messner, a famous mountaineer, who commented on how important it was for him to obtain photographs of the products of his sponsors while on a summit.

I hope you will publish the enclosed photograph with a short article in the New Hampshire Bar News.

Why did I climb Mount Kilimanjaro?

I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro during a nine- day climb for the following reasons:

• First, I had previously attempted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in July 2005 but had to turn back when I hallucinated at about 18,700 feet (which was about two football fields in distance from the summit).
• Mount Kilimanjaro represented “unfinished business.”
• Second, I wanted to experience the inherent joy and challenge of a climb to the summit of the highest mountain in Africa.
• At age 65, I have had a pacemaker for eight years, glaucoma for about four years and bone marrow failure syndrome.
• Also, in January 2006, I had a hernia operation.
• Third, very few African Americans climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
• Also, the climb and trip would allow me to learn about Africa, the home of my ancestors.
• Fourth, I am in the early stages of establishing an outreach program for the children of single women to introduce the children to hiking in New Hampshire.

I am hoping that this program will motivate the children to gain independence, an interest in the outdoors, and be a healthy counterbalance against the attraction of children to drugs and crime.

Sincerely,

James A. Johnson, Jr.

Lieutenant Colonel,
USAF, Retired Attorney at Law

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