What I am doing on my Summer Vacation

While all of the K-12 students are returning to the classrooms this week, I started my first day of unpaid annual vacation as a substitute teacher at the higher educational level. I got up and watched the national morning news. The coverage of what a woman’s reaction to the news that Former Senator John Edwards had cheated on his wife was beyond sad. The three women were not asked any questions that would give any real understanding of what Elizabeth Edwards is facing at present. No new details were revealed so in short it was a big waste of time.

I took my daughter out for a nice lunch where we had a sit down meal. Then it was off to the district courthouse to see what our local district court judges were up to during their working day. I dropped by Judge Bob Schwartz’s office but his group was in meetings. I spoke briefly with Judge Charles Brown. I asked him what he thought about Mayor Chavez. He calmly replied that there was no big deal. He is assured that he is doing his job to the best of his ability which includes years of experience in the field of law. He has even been asked by other countries to help them set up court systems. I also ask if he had heard that Gail Prosser was attempting to get the votes by the state central committee for the district court position now held by Judge Reed Sheppard. Judge Brown said everyone must have their dreams. Judge Brown won the race for his seat on the bench easily over Ms. Prosser.

I will be visiting Judge Sheppard’s courtroom tomorrow morning to watch him at work here are a few facts about Judge Sheppard:

Former Metropolitan Court Judge
Served on the Domestic Violence Commission as Commissioner 2nd Judicial District since 2002
Adjunct Law Professor, UNM
UNM School of Law Graduate, Top 10
Graduate, National Judicial College
U.S. Navy Veteran
Member and Past President, Civitan
Mock trial judge for law school and high school teams
Holy Child Parish, Lay Minister
Happily Married: 2 children & 2 grandchildren (Very nice wife, easy to talk to and friendly)

Lastly I stopped in to watch one of the civil court judges give a ruling in a case. Judge Clay P. Campbell has been on the bench since 2005. He was chosen by a bipartisan committee and then appointed by the Governor. He then won a partisan ran in November 2006. His understanding of courtroom law is very impressive.

I must admit to a small amount of biases since I would not be here today if it was not for the court system and Judge Campbell. I first met Judge Campbell when I was being stalked by a mentally ill student two years ago last July. With the help of a few very good male friends and an order of protection, I was very lucky no harm came to me. The student is now awaiting trial for aggressive assault with a deadly weapon. I am happy to say it was not me.

What can I say we need judges on the court system who clearly understand the serious of these types of cases and we need to give program support to our current judges. Judge Campbell was running for election in 2006 and shortly after he started to campaign he removed himself from my case because there is no way on earth to avoid running into me during an election year. Just ask anyone that has ever run for election in the last four years. I will agree with Mayor Chavez that we need stronger laws when it comes to mentally ill people in this state but the local court systems can not and should not try to overrule state law. The state senators should be the ones to enact laws to protect individuals from the violently mentally ill who refuse to take their medication. Also more money should be allocated to rehab so that these people do not self medicate with illegal drugs. As a past stalking victim of a mentally ill person I can tell the public that our local judges are doing everything in their power to keep the public safe while still following the laws created by our state and local government. The local courts don’t make the laws but they do enforce them within the system and to do otherwise would only invite the higher courts to overrule their verdicts.