Washington Courts: Judicial News Report Detail

Judicial News: A Message from Chief Justice Gerry Alexander

In a typical year, the fall is a busy and a productive time for the courts of our state.  From what I have observed thus far in September and October, I can easily say that the fall of 2002 is no exception to that general rule.  A couple of activities that I have personally been involved in illustrate my point.

One is the Fall Judicial Conference.  The conference, our 45^th annual, was held in Spokane from September 29 to October 2.  It was a huge success.   From what I observed, the 241 judicial officers in attendance took full advantage of a terrific education program.  A highlight of the first day of the conference was a keynote address by Justice Xavier Rodriguez of the Texas Supreme Court.  A presentation by the ever popular Professor Charles Whitebread was the centerpiece of the conference’s final day.  In between these offerings the attendees benefited from a variety of excellent plenary and choice programs that were designed to assist judicial officers gain greater proficiency in job performance.

On the social side, our annual banquet was a wonderful event.  It took place in the ballroom of the historic Davenport Hotel.  This hotel, which was long considered Washington’s most elegant, has been magnificently restored and the results are dazzling.  I heard nothing but oohs and aahs throughout the evening as everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves in the opulent surroundings.

Many thanks are due the Fall Conference Planning Committee and its chair, King County Superior Court Judge Tony Wartnik.  Other committee members were Justice Faith Ireland, Judge Stephen M. Brown, Judge Rosanne Buckner, Judge Thomas C. Warren, Judge Ruth Reukauf, Commissioner James Verellen, Judge Heather K. Van Nuys, and Judge Terry L. Jurado.  Kudos also go to the state court administrator, Mary McQueen, and her excellent judicial education manager, Marna Murray.  Marna was ably assisted by educators Judith Anderson, Natalie Mattson, and Jennifer Scholes, as well as AOC staffers Jude Cryderman, Wendy Ferrell, Janet McLane, Rick Coplen, Gil Austin, Doug Haake, Yvonne Pettus, Gloria Hemmen, Mike O’Malley and Larry Shibler, and JSD-ED staff Karen Allen, Chris Hughes, and Jenn Ward.  The Supreme Court’s bailiff, Steve Englehorn, was aided in providing conference security by the Supreme Court’s facilities specialist, Tyler Williamson, and Sergeant Wendell Prins, Trooper Steven Lueck, and Trooper Donald Bancroft of the Washington State Patrol.  Our local hosts were Judges Kenneth Kato, Christine Cary, and Vance Peterson.

The other activity that I would call to your attention is the Supreme Court’s visit to Washington State University in Pullman.  The visit, which occurred one week prior to the Fall Conference, was for the purpose of holding court on the WSU campus.  Our two-day stay on campus could not have been more pleasant.  Indeed, it got off to a great start when we arrived at the Pullman Airport on Monday morning, September 23.  There we were met by representatives of the university and given a tour of the campus.  This included a stop at “Ferdinand’s,” an on-campus creamery where they make and sell delicious ice cream as well as the famous “Cougar Gold Cheese.”  After the campus tour we had lunch in the Cougar Union Building with a very nice group of students, administrators, and faculty.  In the afternoon, all of the justices “fanned out” and each spoke to a class or student forum.  That evening, the court put on a one-hour CLE on appellate practice at the Union Building for members of the bars of Whitman, Columbia, Garfield, and Asotin Counties.  The CLE was followed by a very nice reception at which we had an opportunity to visit informally with the lawyers who attended the CLE.

Our next stop that evening was at the president’s mansion where we were hosted for dinner by WSU President and Mrs. Lane Rawlins.  President Rawlins and his wife, Mary Jo, are wonderful people and we thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to visit with them and members of the faculty and staff who were also present at the dinner.

Following dinner we checked in at our hotel, the Pullman Holiday Inn Express.  After a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast we were taken back to the Cougar Union Building where we had scheduled a docket of three cases, all from Eastern Washington.  The ballroom of the Union Building served quite nicely as our courtroom as we proceeded to hear arguments in the cases, two in the morning and one in the afternoon.  As we usually do when we go “on the road,” we entertained questions from the audience after arguments.  We, of course, do not take any specific questions about the cases that we have heard that day.  The court sessions were well attended by WSU students and faculty and in the afternoon session we had a large contingent from the University of Idaho Law School in attendance.

When we adjourned the court session, we repaired to a private room and engaged in a closed conference of the cases we had heard that day.  When that was completed we were taken to the Pullman Airport where we boarded our plane for the return flight to Olympia.

All in all it was a wonderful two days.  Many thanks go to Justice Tom Chambers, a WSU alum, for making the arrangements with WSU and the bar associations of the four Southeast Washington counties.  Even though I am a loyal Husky, I have to say that I was mightily impressed by what I saw of WSU and I know my colleagues were as well.  The campus looked great, the students, faculty, and staff were terrific, and the hospitality that was shown to us was outstanding.  Go Cougs.

The Supreme Court continues to enjoy getting out into the state from time to time.  Our next trip will be to King County’s relatively new justice center in Kent.

Speaking of busy, let me close with a word about the very active Washington Judges Foundation.  At the Fall Conference, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Roseanne Buckner, the newly elected president of the foundation, reported on the impressive work of the foundation.  Following her report, I joined King County Superior Court Judge Deborah Fleck in presenting the foundation’s Judge William Nevins Award to Whatcom County Court Commissioner Chuck Snyder.  This award, which goes to a judicial officer who has provided outstanding public service to further public understanding of the law, recognized Commissioner Snyder for his leadership in initiating Whatcom County’s Teen Court program in more than 11 local high schools.  For the past four years, Commissioner Snyder has personally trained student volunteers to serve as jurors, clerks, bailiffs, and advocates.  In addition to serving as a teen court judge, he actively supported legislation this past session to promote youth courts statewide.

As most of you know, the Washington Judges Foundation is a Washington nonprofit corporation with tax exempt status.  It exists to gather funds and make grants for projects that advance the public’s understanding of the law and the role of the judiciary in American society.  Recently, it has awarded grants to several youth education projects.  Membership contributions are, of course, the life blood of the foundation.  In the past, most contributions to the foundation came from the ranks of the retired judges, but in recent years there has been an effort to encourage active judges to contribute to the foundation.  Membership has been growing steadily but not enough to service all of the grant requests and cover budgeted expenses.  Although deficits in spending could be covered by dipping into the “Nevins Trust and Endowed Funds,” funds which came to the Superior Court Judges’ Association many years ago from the estate of Lincoln County Superior Court Judge William Nevins, the WJF Board is loathe to do that.  Understandably, its long-term goal is to let the Nevins endowment gradually increase to a level that will assure the future of the foundation.  Thus, the need for annual contributions to keep up the good work of the WJF.

While it isn’t appropriate for me to directly solicit members of the judiciary for contributions to the WJF, I can tell you that currently only about 17 percent of the total number of active and retired judges have joined the foundation.  We can and should do much better and I hope that each of you will consider joining the foundation, hopefully before the end of the year.  The address of the foundation is: Washington Judges Foundation, PO Box 18275, Spokane, WA  99228-0275.10/23/0210/23/02