Speeches - Wilberding Merle

Merle F. Wilberding
Speeches & Media

• United States House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs. Merle Wilberding testified before this subcommittee in the Oversight Hearings on “Sexual Assault in the Military” on February 24, 2010, in Washington, D.C.

• United States House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs. Mary Lauterbach and Merle Wilberding participated in the Oversight Hearings on “Sexual Assault in the Military” on July 31, 2008, in Washington, D.C.

• State of Ohio House Ways & Means Committee. On January 12, 2006, Merle Wilberding testified before the Ohio House Ways & Means Committee in support of H. B. 390, a bill to impose a statute of limitations on the enforcement of tax assessments in Ohio, now enacted in part as Section 131.02(F)(3) of the Ohio Revised Code.

• Conference on the Legacy of 1968. “The Legacy of the My Lai Massacre & Lt. William L. Calley,” presented at The Legacy of 1968 - - an Inter-Disciplinary Conference held at Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 4, 2008.

• Chancery Club. At its luncheon in the rotunda of the old Dayton Court House on January 20, 2012, Merle Wilberding gave a speech entitled “Controversial Cases in a Controversial War - - The Presidio Mutiny and the My Lai Massacre,” a presentation on two cases he worked on while in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

• 2008 ORALL Conference. “Losing Space and Tightening Budgets: How to Build the 21st Century Law Library,” presented at the 2008 Annual Conference of the Ohio Regional Association of Law Librarians, Dayton, Ohio on October 16, 2008.

• Dayton Walk of Fame. Acceptance speech on the induction of Lewis B. Gunckel into the Dayton Walk of Fame. Lewis B. Gunckel along with Hiram Strong founded what is now known as Coolidge Wall law firm in 1853. Gunckel served as a United States Congressman and is credited for securing the Soldier’s Home in Dayton where is now serves as the V. A. Center.

• Writer to Writer. Merle Wilberding was featured in a forty-five minute interview by Sharon Rab on Channel EATV-24 discussing the history and writing of his book, 150 Years of Coollaw. (This interview is periodically re-aired on Channel EATV-24.)

• WHIO Reports. Merle Wilberding and Doris Pontiz were featured in a thirty-minute interview by Jim Otte on WHIO-TV (Channel #7) on the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Award and celebration event. (October 29, 2006).

• Ohio Super Lawyers. In the 2007 issue of the Ohio Super Lawyers, Merle Wilberding was featured in an article entitled “Memories of My Lai,” focusing on Merle Wilberding’s briefing and arguing on behalf of the Government in the appeal of Lt. William L. Calley’s appeal of his court-martial conviction for his role in the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam on March 16, 1968.

          In the midst of media attention and growing anti-military sentiment,
          Wilberding managed to focus on the task in front of him. Working
          on the case meant sorting through enough trial records and exhibits
          to fill a four-drawer file cabinet. ‘There wasn’t any question of
          evidence.’ he says.

• Barrister of the Month. Merle Wilberding was featured in the DBA Bar Briefs as the Barrister of the Month in February 2008 (reprinted in the DBA book Dayton Barristers (2009)).

• CCH Property Tax Alert. In the February 2007 (Vol. 13, No. 2) issue of CCH Property Tax Alert, Merle Wilberding was interviewed on his argument before the Ohio Supreme Court in Dayton Supply & Tool Co. v. Board of Revision, a case that granted non-lawyer company officers the right to sign and file complaints with a county board of revision on property valuations. Quoting Merle Wilberding, the interview concludes, the ruling means an end to “the way the local boards have been arbitrarily keeping some corporate property owners out of the appeal system.”

• 1st Annual Tax Controversy Forum. “The Legislative History of HB 390,” a presentation on the legislative history of what became the basis for Section 131.02(F)(3) of the Ohio Revised Code, presented at Sinclair Community College on November 3, 2009.

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