Archive for September, 2006
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
Broken Benches in New York State
I was waiting until the last article in the recent New York Times 3-part series “Broken Bench” to run today before making any comments about it. As a blogger, a law student, and an adult under the jurisdiction of NY justice courts, it is a perfect storm; I have a moral obligation to think about this information and determine what the significance might be.
As a teenager in Upstate New York, the Town Justice was the father of a classmate. I never had any legal interaction with my classmate’s father, but from what I’ve heard he was an excellent Justice. For many years I never gave any thought to the assumption that her father was a lawyer; he was a judge, after all. When I did eventually learn that justices don’t have to have a legal education, I assumed that they must have other qualifications for the position. Now I see that even a high school education isn’t a required qualification.
Here is an excerpt from part 1 to of 3:
Some of the courtrooms are not even courtrooms: tiny offices or basement rooms without a judge’s bench or jury box. Sometimes the public is not admitted, witnesses are not sworn to tell the truth, and there is no word-for-word record of the proceedings.
Nearly three-quarters of the judges are not lawyers, and many — truck drivers, sewer workers or laborers — have scant grasp of the most basic legal principles. Some never got through high school, and at least one went no further than grade school.
For the nearly 75 percent of justices who are not lawyers, the only initial training is six days of state-administered classes, followed by a true-or-false test so rudimentary that the official who runs it said only one candidate since 1999 had failed. A sample question for the justices: “Town and village justices must maintain dignity, order and decorum in their courtrooms” — true or false?
For decades, the agency has asked justices to fill out modest biographical questionnaires, then filed away the answers. Under freedom of information law, The Times obtained questionnaires completed by more than 1,800 current justices; they portray a group that is often poorly educated and poorly paid, even though the law they are dealing with is increasingly complex.
Of those who are not lawyers, about a third — more than 400 — had no formal education beyond high school. At least 40 did not complete high school, though several went on to earn equivalency degrees.
The article then goes on to give a number of examples of misconduct by NY justices. For me personally, the biggest revelation in this article was the incredibly short training that justices-to-be are given. Justices are responsible for administering the laws of our State while protecting those rights guaranteed by both the New York State and United States Constitutions. To ensure this, the State requires six days of training followed by a true-or-false test with a 99% passage rate.
Part 2 of the series uses the problems encountered in Franklin County (much of which is contained within the Adirondack Park and is, as the article points out, “bigger than Rhode Island”) as a model for the problems with the system. Despite the enormous size of the county, it has only a single higher court judge and thus the town justices wield an enormous amount of power. Often these justices have abused that power, either purposefully or negligently. As one justice in that county points out, “You learn by mistakes.”
Part 3 of the series describes that criticism that justice system has received in the last 100 years, and the many attempts that have been made to reform it.
I have to admit that prior to this article I had no idea all of the problems that the New York State justice system encountered. I find it to be rather alarming that someone with so little knowledge of the law can have the power to take away my rights or to incarcerate me.
So what is the solution? As I see it, there are two possible solutions that would ameliorate the situation (naturally there will always be people in positions of power who shouldn’t be there, regardless of their level of education). The first solution would be to require all justices to have a legal education (we can argue the validity of having to be licensed in this state). In this instance, as current justices’ terms ended, anyone wishing to replace them must have a law degree (lots of debatable topics there, as well). Naturally this raises a number of concerns. Most law school graduates are practicing attorneys, many of whom don’t have the time or inclination for poorly-paid public service. And in many areas (such as where I grew up), there aren’t any law school graduates to fill the position. Enticing people to fill these spots will require a significant pay increase, which will greatly tax (no pun intended) the state. Perhaps the less drastic and more inexpensive solution might be to screen candidates and greatly increase the amount of training. For example, the article points out that in Delaware candidates undergo academic and psychological testing before starting 11 weeks of training. This solution also has inherent problems – it will greatly reduce the candidate pool (for finding individuals with 11 weeks to spare could be difficult) and would also require more funding for the administration of tests and training.
Part 3 pointed out that throughout the last century the New York State justice system has received a great deal of criticism and survived multiple attempts at reform. In an age when the rights of the individual are more highly regarded than ever before, it is surely time to re-evaluate the system and find ways to protect everyone’s rights.
1 Comment » - Posted in Life by blaine_5
Wednesday, September 20th, 2006
Just another weekend at the Cape…
Ok, it’s not like I’ve ever been to Cape Cod before. But I thought the title of this post sounded nice. My family all attended a wedding on Cape Cod this weekend, the first time most of us had ever been there. The weather was astonishingly warm and sunny for mid-September, a lot of the family was able to attend (although we certainly missed those who couldn’t make it - congrat to my cousin for her beautiful baby girl), and we were given an amazing place to stay that was right on the ocean. An enormous home that sat right on the beach. What a great way to wake up in the morning! I later looked up the value of the home (using Zillow, a great resource for home buyers) and to my not-so-great surprise, it was valued at over $3 milliion! It was a beautiful home in a beautiful location, and we were so thankful to the owners for letting us stay there.
Needless to say, we had a great time, and the drive wasn’t too terrible (about 7 hours with stops and meals). We rented a minivan, the first time I’d ever really used one. It had a built-in DVD player, which REALLY kept the E-man happy! I can’t tell you how sad I was to drop that van off. My brother even told me I was officially an old man when I announced how much I would love to own a minivan. Let’s see how he feels when he has to cart around everything he owns (a consequence of having children, as you all know)! Well, here are just a few pictures of our time there.
The view from the deck:
Our “little pearl”, as Grandma said:
2 Comments » - Posted in Life by blaine_5
Wednesday, September 13th, 2006
Spend a dollar at Sketch-It for your own work of art
I happened across Sketch-It a few weeks ago (I don’t remember how). I thought it was an intruiging idea, paying $1 to get your own personalized sketch. So I tried it out by sending them a picture of my wife and the E-man when he was just a few months old. I think it came out really great and I highly recommend spending a dollar to try it out!
2 Comments » - Posted in Life by blaine_5
Sunday, September 10th, 2006
Scott Martin McGovern and The 2,996 Project
A little while ago I read a post by The Zero Boss about The 2,996 Project. The Project was set up to assign each of the victims of September 11, 2001 to bloggers who would post an entry about the life of that honoree. I thought it sounded like a worthwhile project and signed up. I have to admit that when I joined the project I hadn’t imagined the rollercoaster ride I was about to step onto.
The 2,996 Project gave me the task of writing about the life Scott Martin McGovern. (Please Note: Meagan of Reads and Writes is also writing about the life of Scott Martin McGovern.)
At the time of the attacks, Scott Martin McGovern, of Wyckoff, New Jersey, was only 35 years old. Scott had previously worked for Cantor Fitzgerald in One World Trade Center, but in the summer of 2001 began to work at Euro Brokers on the 84th floor of the Two World Trade Center. On September 11th, after the first plane hit One World Trade Center at 8:46AM, Scott called his wife to let her know that he was okay and the he was leaving the building. He then called his sister and his mother. And finally he called his former offices at Cantor Fitzgerald, perhaps to check on his former workmates. Only minutes later, the second plane hit Two World Trade Center at 9:03AM. Unfortunately, although more than 200 employees of Euro Brokers made it out of the building safely, Scott did not. He was one of 61 employees that Euro Brokers lost on September 11th.
But who was Scott Martin McGovern?
Scott was born in Brooklyn and was raised in Tottenville. He was a graduate of Monsignor Farrell High School in Oakwood and obtained a degree (cum laude) in business from SUNY Albany School of Business (one of 19 alums who died in the attacks).
Scott was a husband to wife Jill and the father of two girls, Alana (then age 4), and Nicole (who turned 2 three days after the tragedy). He was obviously a true family man and was jokingly known as “Dad of the Year” by his co-workers. He would wrap Alana, his 4-year-old daughter, in a blanket and carry her to the driveway where they would look into the starry sky and make a wish before going to sleep. Scott’s daughters also enjoyed “Date Night with Daddy” on Tuesday nights when he took one of them out to the playground, to music class, or to dinner. For the previous two years Scott had been studying for brokering exams on a card table in the garage using a coat and a portable heater to stay warm. He had just completed Levels 1 and 2 of the CFA exam.
Shortly after 9/11, Scott’s mother made the following comments in an article commemorating his life; “He was truly an altruistic individual. Never asked, always gave without anybody knowing. It sounds so trite coming from a mother, but he was a good boy. When he was in college and he didn’t have two nickels to rub together, he adopted a child overseas without saying anything. He had his silent charities. He knew a young woman with a toddler. On Christmas Eve, he left a snowsuit and toy train on her doorstep without a card. When she called to ask if he did it, he said, no, it wasn’t him.”
One person who read that story was Susan Trainor, the young woman with a toddler who Scott had helped on Christmas morning in 1989. Susan was a single mother and struggling waitress who found a set of Matchbox cars and a snowsuit on her doorstep that morning. She tried to find whoever was responsible for the deed, but until she happened to read that comment she’d never known who did it.
After spending a few hours doing some research and trying to write a summary of the results, I can see that I know so little about Scott Martin McGovern. He was obviously a very caring and loving person, earning the respect and love of everyone he know. He was someone to admire and a life to honor. I hope that I can be the father and husband that Scott McGovern was for his own family.
For more information about Scott Martin McGovern
1 Comment » - Posted in Life by blaine_5
Friday, September 8th, 2006
A true woman of the 21st century
A conversation in our house tonight as I considered celebrating the end of another week:
Me: “I think I’m gonna make some brownies tonight.”
My wife: “But we don’t have any brownie mix.”
Comments Off - Posted in Life by blaine_5
Monday, September 4th, 2006
How things can change
My wife and I learned with dismay that Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, died in a terrible accident this morning doing what he loved to do. Although we rarely saw his work, we both found him to be very entertaining. While reading some of the news stories today, all of them mentioned that Steve leaves behind his wife and two small children, Bindi (age 8 ) and Robert (age 2).
A few years ago, Steve’s death wouldn’t have bothered me as much as it has. But perhaps not surprisingly, the words “leaves behind two small children” have taken on a completely new and heart-wrenching meaning.
1 Comment » - Posted in Life by blaine_5
Sunday, September 3rd, 2006
The E-man’s first apple
The E-man loves apples, but we’ve never just given him a whole apple to eat. This morning we were getting things together for breakfast and he grabbed an apple from a bag of NY apples we were keeping on the bottom shelf of the fridge. We thought, “why not?”, and he dove into it. He loved it! We watched him closely because we weren’t sure how dangerous it would be, but it turns out he had a great time and no worries for Mom and Dad.
