A civil right is an enforceable right or privilege, which if interfered with by another gives rise to an action for injury. Examples of civil rights are freedom of speech, press, and assembly; the right to vote; freedom from involuntary servitude; and the right to equality in public places. Discrimination occurs when the civil rights of an individual are denied or interfered with because of their membership in a particular group or class. Statutes have been enacted to prevent discrimination based on race, sex, religion, age, previous condition of servitude, physical limitation, national origin, and in some instances sexual preference. Civil rights attorneys handle cases involving the rights of individuals to be free from unequal treatment (or discrimination) based on legally-protected characteristics such as race, gender, disability, national origin, age, sexual orientation, and religion. Civil rights cases can arise in a number of settings -- including employment, housing, lending, and education.
Vernon is a city in Wilbarger County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 11,660; it was 11,077 in the 2005 census estimate. Vernon is the county seat of Wilbarger County. Vernon is the birthplace of rock and roll singer/musician Roy Orbison and jazz trombonist Jack Teagarden. It is the hometown of fiddle player Eck Robertson and country singer Kaye Adams. Lawyer Kenneth Starr was born in 1946 in the Lockett community, six miles southwest of Vernon. Some seven million head of cattle passed through Vernon on the Great Western Trail between 1873 and the 1890s. The trail was located some ninety miles west and parallel to the better-known Chisholm Trail. On April 10, 1979, Vernon and surrounding Wilbarger County were hit by an F4 tornado. The storm, part of the 1979 Red River Valley tornado outbreak, damaged or destroyed a large part of the city and killed 11 people as it passed through Foard County and Wilbarger County before finally dissipating in rural Tillman County, Oklahoma. That same day, tornadoes also devastated the larger, nearby cities of Wichita Falls, Texas and Lawton, Oklahoma.