Pledge of Allegiance: President Paul Moore
Prayer: Gerri Lewis
Song: Andy Anderson
Brents Card Game Winner: Joan Camire
Sergeants Report: Rick Beck
Raffle Winners: Ken Roche, Joan Camire, Bill O'Shaughnessy
Happy Bucks: Beautiful day!, guests, Gerri was happy she just landed a job - congratulations Gerri!
Announcements:
Next weeks meeting is an evening meeting and is at Penny Lane Pub. 3 menu choices, $25pp. We will be awarding a Paul Harris so please come out for this special evening.
Brent: Our club has an entry in the upcoming 16th Annual ChiliFest sponsored by the OS Chamber of Commerce. JAMSS will make 10 gallons of chili. Volunteers are needed to serve chile. Date: Saturday March 3 from 11am to 3pm. Please contact Brent if you can help. For more information, go to: http://oldsaybrookchamber.com/Events/default.asp
Marty: Wine Tasting money is still coming in. We will probably end up making about $12,000 - our best year ever!
Paul: There will be a 5K road race called the Dislexia Dash in Madison on April 7. See Paul for more details.
Charlie: Foundation Board meeting following the regular meeting
Program: John Donnelly introduced Judge Ronald Holzberg
Judge Holzberg is a Superior Court Judge currently assigned to Middlesex County. The new courthouse in Middletown is a very busy enterprise. There are 13 judicial districts in the state and 55 courthouses. The state budget for the judiciary branch is $500 million. Last year 581,000 cases were heard giving credence to the idea that we are a litigious society. Of those, 50,000 were civil cases (property, personal injury, etc.), 30,000 were family cases (divorce, child custody, etc.), 120,000 criminal cases (including 30,000 juvenile cases), and 200,000 motor vehicle cases which generated $90 million in fines and fees.
Judges are often called on to make unpopular decisions but that goes with the job. Judge Holzberg talked about the process of selecting judges. In Connecticut, unlike most of the other states where judges are appointed injecting politics into the process, judges go through a selection process by a commission. Candidates for judgeships are then appointed by the governor and must be approved by the legislature. The commission consists of 6 lawyers and 6 non-lawyers. Anyone can apply but only 33% are selected as applicants. Judges are subject to review every 8 years. In other states, appointments are for as long as the judge wishes to serve. At 70 years of age, a judge can only serve in a part time capacity.
The probate court system is separate from the state court system. Up until recently, you didn't have to be a lawyer to be a probate judge but that has changed. The probate system has recently gone through some consolidation so there are fewer probate courts now.
There has been an attempt to have judges reflect societal makeup so of the 220 judges, 62 are female and 21 are African American or Hispanic. Judges tend to become judges later in their law careers because it isn't as financially rewarding as being an attorney in private practice. Judge Holzberg talked about jury selection. A new method called "One day one jury" means that if you are called for jury duty and you aren't called to serve that day, you are excused. In the past, due to the lengthy jury selection process, it was conceivable that you would have to go back to the courthouse for as long as it took to get to you for interview which could be several days. After age 70, you will not be called for jury duty.
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