Judge Jim Gray - It's A Gray Area

Uncle Jim is more than a namesake - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 21:14:00 +0000

As my father told the story, when he asked my mother to marry him, the only condition was that if they had a son they would name him after his younger brother Jim. I guess mom agreed, because that is what happened.

My uncle, James L Gray, was a special and unique man. He was a natural gymnast, golfer, skier and windsurfer, and also a natural leader. After graduation from UC Berkeley, and flying fighter airplanes out of Pensacola, Fla., during the Korean War, he returned to his native Southern California, bought a small house on Lido Island and sold heavy construction equipment for Hal Anawalt.

But one day he met a restaurateur named John McIntosh, the owner of the Snackshop and Coco's Restaurants, who wanted to open a steak house. Because of Jim's people and entrepreneurial skills, McIntosh asked him if he would be interested in being his partner. McIntosh already was highly knowledgeable in the food part of the business, so it became Jim's responsibility to learn and then oversee the bar and entertainment facets.

One evening as these plans were progressing, Jim was having dinner at our home in La Cañada and talking about what they were going to name their new restaurant. We had a great time discussing the possibilities. But eventually they settled upon John McIntosh's middle name, which was Reuben. And so the restaurant became known as Reuben's.

I went to the grand opening of the original Reuben's, which was on Coast Highway in Newport Beach at the present location of the Sol Restaurant. It became so successful that, with time, they opened more. So I also went to the grand opening of the Reuben's in Santa Ana, which became popular with many people in the area, including attorneys who worked at the courthouse.

Later they opened a Chinese restaurant next to the original Reuben's, which was called Wu Ben's. Unfortunately, even though the restaurant was successful, Jim said that the labor in providing quality Chinese food was disproportionate to their ability to get a proper return on their invested capital.

So they closed Wu Ben's and opened the first real nightclub in the area, which they called Isadora's. It was so successful that there was always a line of people waiting to get in. When I was in law school in 1971, Jim invited me to take a date to the Reuben E. Lee, and after dinner to go to Isadora's. But to avoid the line, Jim told me to go to the back door and tell them that I was his guest. So that is what we did. Of course, the manager didn't believe me when I said my name was Jim Gray, but after showing him my driver's license and him making a phone call, they put another table out for us. We had a great time.

The band, the Road Home, played there for years, and it was so good that people went crazy. Even so, when they announced their last number and asked people not to dance on the tables, I thought they were exaggerating. But they weren't because, but for that request, I probably would have been dancing on the tables along with most everyone else!

McIntosh and my uncle also opened the Gorda Liz on Bayside Drive, where the Bayside Restaurant now sits. This was a Portuguese-themed restaurant, and it was the most authentic, non-authentic restaurant I have even seen. One day Jim took us there for dinner, and requested we help him by ordering and trying every appetizer on the menu to see if each was satisfactory. It was my pleasure to help him out.

Eventually, Reuben's had restaurants nationwide, and they were so successful that they caught the attention of the Grace Lines Corp., which bought them out. Unfortunately, Grace Lines was too large an operation to devote the special care necessary for the continued success of a restaurant chain. So as the restaurants failed to keep up with the changing times, they slowly went out of business.

When things were going well, Jim traveled in some pretty big social circles, hanging out with George Argyros, Jim Gianulias and other highly successful people. But after he sold his stock to Grace Lines, Jim faced a weaker economy which caused him some problems in his later business ventures. Nevertheless, when he died in 2004, just shy of his 80th birthday, he still had a large turnout of friends and admirers at his memorial service. Fittingly the reception was one of the last functions at the Reuben E. Lee, which was then serving as the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum, before it was dismantled.

Why was Jim still so popular? Because to have friends, one must be a friend. And that is what Uncle Jim was all his life. One of his traits was that he treated everyone the same.

As just one example, he treated his stepchildren exactly the same as his biological children, even in his inheritance. During his life Jim had two wives, and after those marriages ended in a divorce, he also had two girlfriends. And each of those four women was actually present at his memorial service. Who else that you have ever known could make such a claim? Only my Uncle Jim, and I salute him.

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the composer of the musical revue "Americans All," which will be performed in September and October at Vanguard University, and can be reached atJimPGray@sbcglobal.net.

It's A Gray Area: Trip to the 'Promised Land' has a profound effect - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 05:30:00 +0000

My wife, Grace, and I just returned from a two-week tour of Jordan and Israel sponsored by Saint Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church in Corona del Mar.

What a great trip, and what a privilege to visit places I have read about in the Bible and elsewhere since childhood. It was truly sobering to think that we were standing in the places where so many important things happened throughout history!

As one of my best friends says, the Holy Land is a powerful place filled with confusion, but brings clarity to pilgrims seeking to know God. I agree and, first and foremost, this was a humbling religious experience. But it was so intensely personal that I don't feel I can share it with you, other than to ask you to pray for me, as I will pray for you.

Otherwise, as St. Augustine said, "Life is a book, and people who don't travel read only one page."

In that regard, there were many things I had not realized before this trip, such as how small Israel is. For example, the distance from Jerusalem to Bethlehem is about five miles, to Jericho about 40 miles, and to Nazareth about 70.

Furthermore, and I don't think this is sacrilegious, often throughout our time in the Holy Land I kept wondering why God would have ever designated this place as the "Promised Land," where it is hot, dry and rocky. Why not Maui, Pacific Palisades or Newport Beach instead?

We started in Petra, Jordan, one of the great historic and archeological sites. The elaborate tombs of kings and nobles were sculpted straight out of the sandstone cliffs. And I am happy to tell you that Petra was not destroyed by Indiana Jones in his "Last Crusade" movie.

We also visited the Sea of Galilee, which is really a freshwater lake, and swam in the Dead Sea, which is the lowest point on Earth's surface at 1,400 feet below sea level, and is so salty that it probably is impossible to drown. In fact, I couldn't even sit down in 18 inches of water because my legs kept popping up.

The ruins of the synagogue at Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee were truly moving. This was where Jesus spent most of his time teaching, where he gathered disciples, and also performed some of his miracles.

We also learned that as best as can be determined, actual history does not match some of the stories we have heard all of our lives. For example, Jesus was probably born in 4 B.C. around harvest time, which would have been in April instead of December.

And there probably weren't any "inns" as we think of them in Bethlehem. Instead there were numerous caves, some of which were reserved for people living communally, and others were left for the animals. So actually the innkeeper in the Christmas story has probably been wrongly disparaged throughout history, because by providing the space in a cave with the animals he was giving Mary some privacy during childbirth, which she otherwise would not have had.

And because they had little wood in the area, what we call the manger was probably a stone watering trough for the animals. But although these variances are interesting intellectually, they certainly do not make any difference in the religious significance of the stories.

Another place that really had an impact on me was the fairly new Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, which was built near the site where the Archangel Gabriel informed Mary that she had been chosen to bear the son of God. Within the basilica are large and deeply impressive murals from many countries of the world depicting the impact of that wonderful story from their perspective. My favorite murals were from South Africa, Japan and the United States.

But the most overwhelming experience was being inside the Old City in Jerusalem where we followed the Stations of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa, and went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Being in the places where Jesus bore the cross, and was crucified, died, placed in a tomb and resurrected was beyond deeply moving and sobering. It really cannot be explained, but only experienced.

Although I am not Jewish, the Western Wall was also a place of deep impact. Their belief is that God is actually always present at this the nearest point to the destroyed Temple. And the people praying at this wall with such sincere devotion is something worthy of the utmost respect.

Throughout our trip all of us felt safe and even welcomed. But this certainly is a deeply troubled land where the Palestinians are obviously being occupied, and the evidence of past and present conflict is never far away. Throughout Israel are young men and women in the police or army, both Israeli and Palestinian, armed with machine guns. At the River Jordan we saw portable bridges that could be used by the army immediately in the event the bridges were destroyed.

And, of course, the tilt-up, 25-foot high cement wall in Jerusalem separating the Palestinian from the Israeli land, along with the armed checkpoints through it, were omnipresent scars. As a professional mediator of disputes, it continually went through my mind that all of this should be unnecessary.

If people would begin by understanding that there are no "solutions" to these problems that go back for hundreds and even thousands of years, that would be a good start. Instead there are only "resolutions," which will not be perfect, but the best that can be achieved under difficult circumstances.

Israelis should be ensured of their right to exist safely in their own land; Palestinians should have a designated country of their own, and be able to control their own water, power and movements; and all religious sites should be respected and as much as possible be under the control of the group that is affected by them.

Fortunately, the Palestinians now seem to be closer to having a responsible government with whom the Israelis and others can negotiate. The U.S. should step forward and exert some neutral and principled leadership to help bring a lasting peace to this confused place. Probably no one else could do it but us, and it is long since time for us to take that role.

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the author of "A Voter's Handbook: Effective Solutions to America's Problems" (The Forum Press, 2010), and can be contacted at JimPGray@sbcglobal.net.

It's A Gray Area: A chance to support regulating marijuana - Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 05:29:00 +0000

On Sept. 1 you will have a chance to help us make history. On this date there will be an event to support the Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Initiative that will be on the November 2012 ballot. Please join us.

The event will be hosted by Richard Moriarty at his Newport Beach Vineyards and Winery, 2128 Mesa Drive, Newport Beach, which overlooks the Back Bay from behind the Newport Beach Golf Course. This truly interesting winery isn't open to the public, and doesn't give public tastings, but Richard is opening his doors for us because he believes in this cause.

The honorary host for the reception will be Assemblyman Chris Norby, and Steve Downing, the former deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, will be joining me as a co-host. The reception will be in the Wine Cave from 6 to 8 p.m. But it will be preceded by a VIP tour led by Richard. This will consist of not only the grounds of the winery, but he will also show us the Lamborghini that he has hanging from the wall of his living room. In addition, he will be "firing up" the Lamborghini's engine, which he has turned into a coffee table in his garage.

And marijuana is also the largest source of revenue for juvenile street gangs, Mexican drug cartels and lots of other thugs. By passing Regulate Marijuana Like Wine, we can take much of that money away from these violent groups. Of course, the additional benefit of being able to tax the sale of marijuana is not the reason to vote for this initiative, but the extra tax revenue won't hurt either.

Of course regulating marijuana like wine will not eliminate these criminal organizations, but today Mexican drug cartels are not planting illegal vineyards in our national forests in competition with Robert Mondavi. In addition, teenagers are not selling Jim Beam to each other on their high school campuses, but they are selling marijuana to each other all the time.

Why? Because it is illegal!

But this new initiative actually will make marijuana less for children than it is now. How is that? Because today under Marijuana Prohibition it is easier for young people to obtain marijuana, if they want to, than it is alcohol, because illegal marijuana sellers today don't ask for ID.

For the exact language of the initiative, visit http://www.RegulateMarijuanaLikeWine.com. You will see that the initiative expressly addresses what were perceived to be the defects of Proposition 19, which was on the ballot in November 2010. Thus, it expressly does not change any laws or regulations about driving a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana, people using or being impaired by marijuana in public or in the workplace, furnishing marijuana to anyone younger than 21, or allowing anyone younger than 21 to buy, possess, sell or use marijuana.

In addition, the initiative expressly prohibits any advertising of recreational marijuana. And instead of allowing each of California's cities to establish a regulatory system, it mandates the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control establish a workable system, with the wine industry being used as a model.

Yes, even under this new initiative marijuana will still be illegal under federal law for anyone to buy, use or possess. But does anyone honestly believe that the federal government has all of the answers? To the contrary, don't you agree with me that we in California are adult enough to decide how best to control our health, safety and welfare regarding marijuana and hemp?

Recently the Drug Enforcement Administration released a statement that marijuana has absolutely no accepted medical uses. Note that this pronouncement did not come from the U.S. surgeon general or any other medical professionals. Instead it came from police officers, who are literally attempting to practice medicine without a license, and who are purporting to be more of an authority than either the voters of California who passed Proposition 215, or the hundreds of medical doctors in our state who recommend the use of marijuana to their patients.

As you are probably aware, last June the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which includes a former United Nations secretary general and United States secretary of state under President Reagan, as well as former presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, labeled the world's War on Drugs a complete failure, and called for its repeal. This action has already been called for by the United States Conference of Mayors, and just last week the NAACP made the same recommendation.

You and I now have a large opportunity to put those recommendations into practice. Personally I believe that the most effective and patriotic thing I can do for the country I love is to help us repeal the failed policy of Drug Prohibition. But you do not have to go nearly that far to believe that there must be a better way, particularly regarding marijuana.

If you want to help us find that better way, I invite you to support the Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Initiative on Sept. 1. Tickets are $150 and $1,500 for the VIP tour. For tickets, contact my friend Jason Pitkin at (949) 232-8882. If you attend, introduce yourself to me as a supporter because I will want personally to shake your hand.

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the author of "Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed And What We Can Do About It: A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs" (Temple University Press, 2011), and can be contacted at JimPGray@sbcglobal.net.

It's A Gray Area: Hall of Famers give back to younger players - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 06:59:00 +0000

Thanks to Ron Yary, a former Outland Trophy winner at USC and Minnesota Vikings all-pro tackle, and Dr. Casey Cooper, a noted sports psychologist, the NFL and the Pro Football Hall of Fame have established the Legacy Leadership Program here in Orange County. Through this program, Hall of Fame members mentor and establish a one-on-one relationship with deserving high school football players, which lasts a year or more.

The program goals are to help motivate and inspire high school players to make better choices on the field and, even more importantly, in the classroom and the community.

But this isn't just a feel-good program. Each Hall of Famer participates in a two-hour training session that provides insights for their mentoring. Then they sign a participation agreement whereby they promise to uphold the program's policies and guidelines.

Each Orange County high school can nominate one football player. The applicants and their parents will go through a brief orientation that spells out the benefits, guidelines and responsibilities required by their participation. Among other things, confidentiality and child abuse issues are discussed. Unfortunately, only two applicants can be selected, so the competition is fierce.

To qualify as a mentee, the football player must be entering his senior season, be a leader on his team, be highly regarded by his coach and have the ability to play football in college or professionally. The candidate may need some special focus and guidance to improve his classroom performance, and may also face adversity at home.

It is more than an honor to be nominated, because during the selection process applicants can attend several sessions dealing with athletic life skills training. Last year two of the presenters were former UCLA star running back from Tustin, DeShaun Foster, and former Long Beach Poly and USC linebacker and Super Bowl great Willie McGinist. Among other things, the presentations emphasized the importance of an education, and how it affects both their football careers and also their lives after their playing days are over.

The program coordinator monitors the mentees and Hall of Famers through personal contact and phone calls to ensure that both sides are satisfied.

Last year the committee selected Victor Silva of Godinez High School and Trey Madden from Mission Viejo High School as mentees. Victor has been mentored by Yary, and Trey's mentor has been Michael Haynes of the Patriots and Raiders.

These two young men also were invited as guests at last summer's Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton, Ohio. They were even able to be on the sidelines during the 2010 Hall of Fame game between Dallas and Cincinnati, where they had the opportunity to meet all the players and have private conversations with the other Hall of Famers.

After their Canton experiences, both young men were hosted at the Newport Sports Museum (and if you haven't visited that museum, you are really missing out!), and those in attendance said that it was really noticeable how the experience had changed them — for the better. Both appeared to have more confidence, and had developed more of a leadership attitude of helping their teammates and others both on and off the field.

This year's winners were just announced. They are Alipa Peters from Estancia High School and Alfonso Cacciatore from El Modena High School. So it will be interesting to see how they progress.

In addition to a great experience for all of the applicants and the two selected athletes, the program also provides an ongoing relationship with community partners, such as sports psychologists and sports museums, in an effort to provide mentoring and leadership to a larger number of young athletes.

As has been discussed several times in this column, someone will mentor our children. And if it is not their parents, coaches, scout or religious leaders or teachers, it will be drug dealers, members of juvenile gangs or other thugs. Because, say what you will, Charles Manson was really effective in finding and "mentoring" the lost souls that made up his "family."

So please join me in applauding Yary, Dr. Cooper, the NFL and the many other forces behind the Legacy Leadership Program in mentoring some of our young athletes. And maybe their action will stimulate all of us to redouble our efforts in establishing and maintaining mentoring other programs of our own.

It's A Gray Area: Making peace, even while in prison - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 06:57:00 +0000

A few years ago, a woman named Susan Russo, who was serving a life sentence without possibility of parole at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, Calif., sent a letter to attorney Laurel Kaufer, saying that their prison environment was filled with conflict and violence, and there was a dire need and desire for change.

Could Ms. Kaufer help?

The answer was yes.

In response, Ms. Kaufer and her colleague, attorney Douglas E. Noll, established a peace mediation program at that prison, initially with 15 inmates as students, and it has been successful.

But it wasn't easy. These two mediation professionals soon found out that Ms. Russo was right. Confrontation and violence were a standard and routine part of almost everyone's existence at the prison.

Nevertheless, they established a program through using simple communication skills based upon listening — really listening. That means that the students were taught to listen to what other people were saying and then to acknowledge what the speakers said by repeating it back. The benefit is that this shows other people they are being heard, which is a huge ratification of their humanity — and also a proven way to reduce tensions.

By using this simple skill, the 15 female inmates were slowly able to reduce conflict and violence and bring some amount of peace to the prison. For example, rather than using pepper spray to break up potentially violent situations, prison guards started to call in Ms. Kaufer's students to mediate them. It often worked.

Of course, no one can avoid conflict. But the secret is for people in conflicts to understand that they have choices about how they will respond and react to them. Conflicts become destructive when people give in to anger, which then thwarts their ability to make good choices about how best to respond.

But choosing to listen, understand and confirm the other side's views and feelings often results in addressing the problems peacefully on their merits, instead of having them escalate to violence.

Teaching these lessons and skills to our children would be a wonderful gift.

So instruct the children close to you that the next time they become angry, frustrated or feel disrespected, to literally stop and take a moment to list as many choices as they can think of about how to respond. Then show them how if they stay focused upon their feelings and those of the other people involved, they will more than be able to arrive at a peaceful and beneficial outcome.

Life skills like these will bring permanent beneficial result into their lives.

Included in this approach is staying away from blaming, judging or criticizing others, because this is almost always counterproductive. When people take ownership of their own actions instead of blaming or criticizing others, they will most likely realize that they are captains of their own ship, that they are in control of their own destiny.

That has been the result at Valley State Prison. So far, none of the 75 inmates who have been certified as "Peacemakers" has even been reported to be involved with violence. In addition, since 30 inmates have been certified as mediators and another 20 as instructors, mentors and coaches, the program is now self-sustaining — maybe even transferable to other correctional facilities.

Furthermore, the participants hope that by the end of 2011, at least 20% of all of the inmates at Valley State Prison will have been certified as Peacemakers, which will go far in bringing peace into the entire facility. With results like these, it is not surprising that the program has been endorsed, even lauded, by the acting warden and the chief deputy warden.

Another tribute to the program is seen by the fact that the inmates themselves have donated more than $1,300 to pay for needed written materials. Because all of these contributions come from their wages of 21 cents per hour, of which 14 cents are automatically transferred to the California Victim Compensation Fund, this represents their earnings from more than 9,280 work hours!

In today's world, the Department of Corrections is not appropriately named, because it mostly has become a Department of Incarceration and Warehousing.

But we all must understand that most of those incarcerated will someday be released back into society. Wouldn't it be better if they had learned some coping and peacemaking skills before that occurs?

You can help this occur by making a contribution to the Fresno Regional Foundation for Prison of Peace, 5250 N. Palm Avenue, Suite 424, Fresno, CA 93704. People who are incarcerated really can use our help. For more information, visit http://www.prisonofpeace.org.

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the author of "Wearing the Robe: the Art and Responsibilities of Judging in Today's Courts" (Square One Publishers, 2009), and can be contacted at JimPGray@sbcglobal.net or http://www.JudgeJimGray.com.

It's A Gray Area: Fundamentals are the answer to the recession - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 06:56:00 +0000

The fledgling program TAP America is trying to strengthen the U.S. economy by encouraging people to buy more American products as a matter of patriotism; however, like so many other political proposals, it sounds like a nice idea, but it won't work.

Just like Communism's mantra of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" sounded good to many people, it simply will not work. A more apt slogan is, "You can't fool Mother Nature."

Why? Because the "invisible hand" of economics is always present. Practical reality regarding Communism means that if people have no incentive to work by receiving the benefit of their labors, they won't work. Similarly, if people are able to choose between a good quality shirt selling for $12 that is made in another country, or a similar good quality shirt that is selling for $20 that is made in the United States, some may be patriotic for a while and pay more for the domestic shirt, but not enough to matter, and not for long.

That is the reason all of the talk about preventing the "outsourcing" of jobs is nothing but talk. If a company overall can make a much better return, or just stay in business, by having its manufacturing or other services performed elsewhere, it is economically inescapable that this will occur, as long as the quality of the work is acceptable. And putting artificial barriers in their way will not only be unsuccessful, they will mostly be counterproductive.

So how do we put America back on the road to prosperity? Not by the government activity of passing laws or installing more programs. But instead by going back to our roots, which means we must out-work and out-compete everyone else.

How can this be done? We must focus upon our strengths by emphasizing the areas in which we compete best, and also go on to develop more of them.

What are some of these areas? Fortunately there are many in which our country excels, such as in Internet technology with companies like Facebook and Google; computer technology with companies like Intel, Apple, IBM and Dell; agricultural and construction equipment with companies like John Deere and Caterpillar; the entertainment industry with companies like Disney and Six Flags; large-scale retail sales with companies like Costco, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Best Buy; soft drinks and other beverages like Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola; aerospace companies like Lockheed and Northrop Grumman; and niche companies like Coach and Tiffany. And that is not even addressing all forms of agriculture, as well as heart valve, knee and hip replacement products and our system of higher education, all of which are still the best in the world.

In short, we can compete with anybody, and we can pay good wages and maintain safety in the workplace and the environment along the way. All we need is to get away from our general state of pessimism and a dependence upon government to do it for us.

Most people do not understand that government does not create wealth. Instead, government takes other people's wealth, keeps a lot of it for itself, and then mostly distributes the rest to those for whom there is a political benefit. Such a system not only engenders a demeaning and initiative-sapping welfare system that traps the poor, it also engenders an enormously lucrative welfare system for the wealthy.

But if our tax money is spent by the government, that spending should be concentrated upon "shovel-ready" projects, such as issuing contracts to private companies for maintaining and upgrading our physical plants like bridges, parks, and water pipelines and sewers. This spending will actually provide good jobs to our workers and spur the economy. But otherwise government incentives like tax breaks, even for necessary things like research and development, mostly evolve into nothing but politics. Thus they should be avoided.

The other critically important thing we must do is to reform our income tax system. Not only are the tens of billions of dollars that are spent annually in record-keeping for taxes and preparing tax returns not contributing to our general welfare, people now are actually being punished under the present system for saving and investing money. Reversing that would result in a huge stimulus for our economy — and enormous savings for almost everyone.

Unfortunately, the biggest opponents of tax reform, surprisingly enough, are not accountants and tax attorneys, they are members of Congress. Why? Imagine how much political power members of Congress presently have by controlling who will and will not receive tax breaks that can be worth millions and even billions of dollars. So people who stand to benefit from those tax breaks logically spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to support politicians who will pass legislation that will save them millions.

In sports, successful coaches always concentrate on fundamentals, and that is the winning strategy we should go back to as well. Hard work, education, industriousness, creativity, less government involvement in the economy, and incentives and rewards for achieving success are the things that made our country great. We will once again be prosperous when we elect politicians who will help us to bring those qualities back.

Remember the four Cs when making friends - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 06:40:00 +0000

Within the first three to five minutes of meeting someone new, that person will have formed a strong feeling about who you are, how much they will like, trust and have confidence in you, and whether they will want to form a relationship with you. And you will reach the same conclusions about them.

This is the message of "Contact: The First Four Minutes: A Practical Approach to Meeting the Right Person" (Ballantine Books, 1994).

The verbal and non-verbal messages we send can be important in both our personal and professional lives, no matter who we are. This is true in interviewing for a job, soliciting business, greeting a new potential customer, meeting people at social functions or in potential dating relationships.

Thus it would not only help each of us to focus upon these critical first four minutes, we should also teach our children, grandchildren, employees, students and anyone else we care about to focus on them as well. My wife has included a summary of "The First Four Minutes" in her training manual at Walker Physical Therapy for years to guide her employees on ways better to greet and serve her patients, and she says it has worked famously well.

The four factors that are most effective in initial verbal contacts are confidence, creativity, caring and consideration — otherwise known as the Four Cs. Any successful initial encounter must convey at least a threshold amount of self-confidence. Being timid, apologetic or self-deprecating does not inspire confidence and, when seen as a first impression, make a meaningful relationship problematic.

Showing creativity not only displays innovation and problem-solving, it also implies sensitivity to the feelings of others. People are attracted to others who show that they can take a large amount of diverse information, make sense of it, and come up with creative ways of getting the job done.

People are seen as being caring if they give complete attention to their new acquaintance.

Dale Carnegie said it best: "You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."

Being considerate is shown by the absence of criticism and by not doing things to imply that you are superior and others are inadequate. One way of showing this is by gently helping your new acquaintances to clarify or expound upon their thoughts as they are expressing them.

A good way to display each of these important traits is to ask questions about your new acquaintance's nationality, occupation, marital status and even the derivation of their name, and then listen to and follow up upon their answers.

You can also ask questions about their attitudes about timely subjects, such as sports, movies or current events in the outside world, as well as their opinions about them. Through this approach you can quickly find things you have in common, such as growing up in the same city, rooting for the same ball team, having young children, etc.

Common bonds can create relationships.

Often you can get a response from people who are more shy or reticent to offer information by offering an insight about yourself that is not too personal or embarrassing, such as "I was always shy when I was a child," or "I would really love to learn to play the guitar, (or travel to Hawaii)," and then ask if they had similar experiences or desires.

Another way of bonding is to offer a compliment to someone. By doing that you are really saying to that person, "I like you," or "You seem to be a special person," or even "I would like to get to know you better." But the compliment must always be sincere, or it will (appropriately) have a negative effect.

Using humor or humorous situations in the first four minutes can also be an effective way to bring new acquaintances into your circle of friends, as long as your comments are in good taste, and they really are humorous. It works, but be careful in this area.

Other successful approaches are asking for advice and listening carefully and appreciatively as your new acquaintance offers assistance. Or you can also suggest that this person reminds you of someone you know, and then provide some exotic details that will show how interesting that other person is.

Finally, courtesy to others is always noticed and appreciated.

Non-verbal contacts are equally important in making a good first impression. These include good eye contact, nodding your head in agreement or encouragement, giving your new acquaintances enough space by not physically crowding them, giving a warm and firm handshake, personal cleanliness and dressing in the way that would attract the type of person you want to attract.

By no means do you want to be or come off as being a phony or a hypocrite by adopting any of these approaches. But being aware of these tips and using them to display your natural warmth and friendship can be a win-win for you and everyone else. So give them some thought and put them into practice, and help others do the same. They will help you and other people that are important to you to have a more gratifying and successful life.

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the author of "A Voter's Handbook: Effective Solutions for America's Problems" (The Forum Press, 2010) and can be contacted at jimpgray@sbcglobal.net.

Time to privatize out government work - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:55:00 +0000

When former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger first took office he promised to address the out-of-control worker's compensation system, and he did.

Unfortunately, after making progress on about 15% of the difficulties — the ones that were the easiest and least controversial — he basically declared victory, and sailed off to do other good deeds.

Recently I read that Gov. Jerry Brown said he would reduce the size and expense of state government by eliminating 37 state panels, advisory boards and agencies. Some of these are part-time, and pay their members $100 per meeting.

But others are supposed to be full-time and pay their members up to $128,000 per year, even though many of them, on average, meet only once per month. The savings to eliminate just these 37 agencies is estimated to be more than $10 million per year!

Well, how many state agencies do we have? I looked on the Internet and found that there are more than 500! You can see the list at http://www.CaliforniaPatriotPost.com.

How many of these agencies are duplicative or even totally unnecessary? Surely many more than 37 can be consolidated or eliminated! Our state has a budget deficit, and all of the people on these agencies get salaries at taxpayers' expense, many get medical coverage and pensions as well, and all of the agencies have overhead expenses.

But even as importantly, it would be far more effective and much less expensive in many cases for many of these agencies to contract out the work they do to private companies.

Why? Because in the business world, much more than in government, incentives matter!

For example, a good friend of mine, Richard Esgate, has a company based in San Diego called Esgil Corporation. Here is his story.

Richard is an engineer, and during the 1970s he worked for San Diego County, supervising its Building Inspection Department. At that time, Richard had serious challenges staffing for all engineering plan checks due to large fluctuations based upon the time of year, government policies and the state of the economy.

The obvious answer was to have a private-sector firm available for overflow during the busy periods and staff absences, so requests for service proposals were sent out. But all of the private firms that submitted proposals were determined by County Counsel to have conflicts of interest, because they would be checking their own plans, potential clients or competitors.

Fortunately, where there is a need, an entrepreneur will fill it. So Richard left the county and set up a firm that works exclusively for governments, which means he does no private design work at all, and thus he avoids all conflicts.

That was 31 years ago, and now Esgil Corp. has 25 employees, including 12 licensed engineers, and does all of the permit work for seven cities and much of the overflow work for many other cities, counties, state and federal agencies, Indian tribes in California and 18 other states. And, literally, everybody is happy.

Why is everyone happy? Because the governments no longer have to hire, pay and supervise so many workers. In fact, all the seven governments have to do is collect the fees, keep about 25% for themselves, and forward the remaining fees to Esgil Corp.

Esgil's employees are deputized to staff the counters at the city building departments and they do all the rest of the work as well, including keeping current on all applicable building codes and regulations, receiving, analyzing, giving recommendations for changes, and approving the plans for construction, and performing all of the on-site building inspections.

For their part, the private contractors are happy because they are dealing with knowledgeable engineers who have an incentive to have the plans submitted as correctly as possible. Why? Because not only do delay, revisions and change orders cost the contractors lots of money, they also require more work from Esgil.

This unity of interest has resulted in Esgil setting up and encouraging preliminary meetings with contractors to plan for large developments like shopping centers and high-rise buildings so that everyone can face the important and complicated requirements that must be met. And this saves time and expense for everyone.

As a practical matter, government agencies simply do not have these same incentives. This is shown by the fact that the average time from the submission of plans to Esgil for complicated building projects until final approval is usually about 90 days, including about two plan re-checks, while the average for government agencies is about a year, with five to six plan re-checks.

Throughout these 31 years, Esgil has only been sued twice, and neither suit was successful. And, although Esgil does not itself handle any money, its reviews of the fee charges assessed by the governments to the developers have found that government employees have mistakenly billed the developers less than they should about 25% of the time.

So that is what is happening with the governmental building departments that contract with Esgil.

Imagine the benefits that would accrue if other state agencies, like Caltrans, for example, were to contract out their work to similar private companies! This issue cries out to be probed, because we shouldn't just manage our budget deficits, we must reverse them!

If you want to help bring California back to fiscal stability, make it a point to contact your legislator on this issue. This time let's not allow anyone to declare victory after just addressing the easy issues and then moving on. The bureaucracy at times seems all powerful and ready to crush us, so how about privatizing the bureaucracy!

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the author of "Wearing the Robe: the Art and Responsibility of Judging in Today's Courts" (Square One Publishers, 2010), Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It, A Voter's Handbook, Effective Solutions To America's Problems and can be reached at jimpgray@sbcglobal.net or http://www.judgejimgray.com. Judge Jim Gray is also currently offering his 25 years of experience on the bench to ADR Services in Orange County for Arbitration and Mediation services.

So much fun, history on Balboa Island - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 03:44:00 +0000

A few weeks ago at a book signing at Martha's Bookstore on Balboa Island, I met and began talking to Sharon and Bob Lambert, who live on the island.

They told me about the existence of two things I didn't know about, which I now pass along to you. The first is the annual Balboa Island Parade, and the second is the Balboa Island Museum and Historical Society.

Since 1993, on the first Sunday in June, there has been a parade on Balboa Island's Marine Avenue. Participants include drill teams and bands, decorated golf carts and floats, interesting people and "island dogs" in costumes, children on bicycles, vintage cars and lots of other "craziness."

This year, the theme of the parade is "Balboa Island — the Spirit of America," and it will be held at 11 a.m. June 5. The bridge to the island will be closed at 10:30 a.m., so plan accordingly. You can see pictures of past parades at http://www.balboa-island.com and http://www.balboa-island.net.

The Balboa Island Museum and Historical Society was founded in 2000, and the museum itself opened in 2002 at 502 S. Bay Front, Unit A, which is on the second floor and right next to the ferry dock. In fact, they are still collecting memorabilia reflecting life on the island, including pictures and stories. So if you have any, please consider providing them to the museum.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and you can call them at (949) 675-3952.

From the Historical Society's website, I learned that Balboa Island came into existence in 1906 when W.S. Collins, an early land developer, began dredging up sand to build up the island so that it would not be under water at high tide. Then, beginning in 1907, waterfront lots were sold to the public for $600, while the ones not on the water went for $300. Collins built a concrete "castle" on Collins Island for his wife.

For many years, the houses or cottages on Balboa Island were only used during the summertime and were boarded up the rest of the year. Until natural gas was brought to the island in 1920, all cooking was done on gasoline stoves, and the only lighting came from coal oil lanterns or candles. In addition, for many years, the residents used outhouses because there were no sewers.

The first seawall was built of wood in 1909, but it was replaced in many places by cement in 1914. The first bridge to the main island was a 12-foot wooden structure that was built in 1912, but in the first two years it was not strong enough to handle anything but foot traffic and a few horses. It was replaced with a cement bridge in 1929, and the original wood from the bridge was then used to build the Jolly Roger Restaurant (now Wilma's). This landmark was where our family bought ice cream cones before our nightly walks around the island during my childhood vacations. So it has always been a special place for me. The entire bridge was expanded in 1981 to include the present 9-foot walkways on each side.

The Grand Canal separating the Little Island from the main island was dug in 1913, and the dredging of sand and the build-up of the both islands were completed at the same time. During the 1920s and '30s, many movies were filmed there. James Cagney owned Collins Island for 10 years beginning in 1938, and it was used by the U.S. Coast Guard during most of World War II.

Collins operated the original ferry between Balboa Peninsula and the island from 1909 until 1914, but the service was irregular. Then in 1919, Joseph Allen Beek procured the contract. His original ferry was a large rowboat, "The Ark," and it was powered by a small engine.

Three years later, that boat was replaced by the "Fat Ferry," which carried up to 20 passengers. Not long after that Beek added a one-car barge that was pushed by his ferry and charged 10 cents for each car that he pushed across the bay.

The ferry service contract is still held by the same Beek family, so they are now getting close to their 100th anniversary. The present three 64-foot ferry boats, the "Captain," "Commodore," and "Admiral," began in operation in the 1950s. Their top speed is 4 mph, and it is estimated that these boats have made this 1,000-foot crossing about 22,500 times every year since then. That means that each of these ferry boats has traveled far enough to have gone around the world more than seven times.

So lots of things of interest have occurred on Balboa Island, and many of them are celebrated at the museum. Make plans to be a part of that history, and attend the parade with your children and grandchildren June 5. And while you are at it, also visit the museum, which will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. on the day of the parade.

It will be a slice of Americana at its best.

Take in a bit of history with your theater - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 03:35:00 +0000

Do you want to treat yourself to great theater for a truly modest price? Get tickets for the upcoming production of "The Hiding Place," based upon Tim Gregory's original adaptation of the autobiography by Corrie ten Boom.

The show will be performed at Vanguard University's Lyceum Theatre in Costa Mesa at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays June 10 through 25, by the American Coast Theater Company, a resident professional theater group that performs at Vanguard during the summer season.

The play is set in Holland, and tells the story of ten Boom and her family of Christian watchmakers. The story begins in 1937 with the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the family's watch shop, and goes on to describe what happened in their small town after the Nazi invasion of Holland. Several of the family members joined the Dutch Resistance movement, and all of them helped build a secret room onto their small family house where Jews and political prisoners hide from the Nazis.

So yes, this is a "Diary of Anne Frank"-type of story with the central figure naturally being ten Boom, while she and her family quietly shelter Jewish refugees in their small house during World War II. And we follow the story after a Dutch Nazi collaborator betrayed them, and also follow how their subsequent experiences affected them and so many other people after the war ended.

But there is more because the play also shows us much of ten Boom's human side as this heroic lady shares her doubts and frustrations about her faith, and how as the story progresses she increasingly turns to her religion for strength and comfort — and is richly rewarded for that decision. So, in essence, this becomes a beautiful story about how ten Boom's faith ripens and grows.

Finally, this story is even more meaningful because ten Boom died in 1983 on her 91st birthday here in Orange County, where she had been living with friends.

The second presentation of the summer season is the classic "Godspell," and it will run at the same time Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays July 15 to Aug. 21.

As you probably know, this is a refreshing yet powerful musical that is fun for the entire family. Taking elements from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, this contemporary adaptation tells the story of Jesus while also spreading a message of kindness, tolerance and love through engaging characters, wacky story reenactments and truly memorable songs. In short, if you are looking for really good and uplifting theater, the Lyceum Theater at Vanguard University is the place to be.

But to me that is not a surprise, because they have also shown great insight and wisdom by including my musical revue "Americans All" as their first show of their regular season for the three weekends beginning Sept. 16.

Thereafter their season will include "To Kill a Mockingbird," based upon Harper Lee's great novel about racial tensions and civil rights; "A Child's Christmas in Wales," a musical tale from the traditional old-fashioned Christmas classic by Dylan Thomas; "The Servant of Two Masters," a farcical comedy from 18th century classic Italian art comedy; and Harry Connick Jr.'s classic musical comedy "The Pajama Game."

Ed Arnold of KOCE's "Real Orange" told me that he believes the performing arts students at Vanguard are as accomplished as any other college students he has ever seen, whether they are from UCLA, Berkeley, UC Irvine, or anywhere else. I have been a season ticketholder for several years now, and I completely agree with him. Come and find out for yourself, because I know you will be truly pleased with what you see.

Tickets for the summer productions can be bought at http://www.ACTCtickets.com or (714) 610-6424, and for the regular season, including "Americans All," at http://www.Vanguardtickets.com or (714) 668-6145. The Lyceum is on the Vanguard University campus, 55 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa.

And don't forget to come to the Heritage Museum's Music Festival from noon to 7 p.m. to hear some great bluegrass music and provide great experiences for your children and grandchildren! The museum is at 3101 W. Harvard St., Santa Ana.

You will have a great time. And when you do, track me down and say hi!

Live and preserve your heritage - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Mon, 16 May 2011 06:20:00 +0000

At this point in my life, I have lost my grandparents and parents and all of their siblings. So as far as who the "elder statesmen" are on my side of the family, my sister and I are now the ones.

Fortunately, before they died, I was able to tape record my mother and her siblings singing the songs that I heard her and them sing when I was a child, and also my father telling some of the stories and poems he had recited during my childhood. So their voices and some of our heritage have been preserved.

In addition, my father also took the initiative during the later years of his life to prepare what he called his "letter to his grandchildren." This consisted of about 12 volumes of photo albums and scrapbooks with his written explanations tracing the history of many of the ancestors on both sides of our family, providing some of their letters and mementos, telling some of their stories, and identifying their pictures that had been kept in shoeboxes for years.

I strongly suggest that you take similar actions to preserve your heritage. While there is still time, interview your grandparents, if you are still fortunate enough to have them with you, as well as your parents, their siblings, and other important people in your lives. And record the interviews in audio, or even visual form, while they tell about your family's history, noteworthy stories, songs, or whatever they and you feel would be interesting. I guarantee that you and your family will always be grateful to have those recorded memories and conversations!What a gift, because once my parents and their siblings were gone, the bare pictures and effects would have meant almost nothing to us. But with my father providing their names, dates and backgrounds, an important part of our heritage was preserved. This was so important that we caused the letter to be transferred onto CDs, with each of our children receiving a copy. (The original "letter" was donated to the Bancroft Library at the University of California, as they are interested in preserving California history of all kinds.)

Upcoming Heritage Festival

And speaking of living your heritage, remember my Feb. 6 column in which we discussed the upcoming Heritage Music Festival? Well, that event will be held from noon to 7 p.m. May 22 at the Heritage Museum of Orange County. Please be sure to join us and be a part of a truly wonderful and bonding family occasion that will increase your family's heritage.

Three excellent bluegrass bands, as well as one big band, will perform.

Stephanie and Luke, who are unbelievable on the fiddle, guitar, banjo and mandolin, will stage a children's concert at 1:15 p.m. The big band A Wing and a Prayer will then perform at 2:20 p.m., followed by Stephanie and Luke again at 3:25 p.m. with their bluegrass music, the Dennis Roger Reed Band at 4:30 p.m. with great cowboy blues music, and then Folding Mr. Lincoln will perform at 5:35 with their fiddle-driven folk music.

Before the concert, Chief David from the native tribes of Orange County has kindly agreed to give his ritual blessings upon the festival. In addition, there will also be a delicious barbecue of tri-tip steak sandwiches and more, plus a great craft brew beer and wine garden, as well as community tables for other nonprofit organizations to show you some of the good things that are continuing to happen here in Orange County.

And now comes the extra special family part, because all through the afternoon we will have fun and educational events and demonstrations for children. Among them is a demonstration at the Heritage Museum's working blacksmith shop, storytellers, hands-on adobe brickmaking, mounted officers from the Santa Ana Police Department, a vintage 1921 fire engine, native tribal exhibits, a caricature artist, children's art classes and more.

The Heritage Museum is next to the Godinez High School in Southern Santa Ana, which is on Harvard Street just off Fairview Road between Edinger Street and Warner Avenue and between the San Diego (405) and Garden Grove (22) freeways. You can get more information by calling (714) 540-0404, or visiting http://www.HeritageMuseumOC.org.

As a disclosure, I have joined the museum's board of directors, because this is a gem of a place that has not yet come close to reaching its full potential to serve our community. But with this annual family event we are getting closer. And we are also grateful that this heritage event is scheduled to be recorded in documentary form by some film school students at Chapman University.

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the author of "Wearing the Robe: the Art and Responsibility of Judging in Today's Courts" (Square One Publishers, 2010), Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It, A Voter's Handbook, Effective Solutions To America's Problems and can be reached at jimpgray@sbcglobal.net or http://www.judgejimgray.com. Judge Jim Gray is also currently offering his 25 years of experience on the bench to ADR Services in Orange County for Arbitration and Mediation services.

Let parents make best school choices - Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Mon, 02 May 2011 07:42:00 +0000

One simple question should resolve the "school choice" issue for most thoughtful people: "Who is in a better position to decide how and where children can best be educated: their parents or the government?"

The answer should be transparent, so why not actually allow parents to make those important decisions?

Recently there were headlines that the Los Angeles Unified School District has (finally) agreed to measure a school's success at raising its students' performance. But if parents could choose the school that their children could attend, no other rating system would be required.

Simply stated, if parents felt that their child's school was not doing as effective a job as another school within their area, they would move their child to the better performing school.

Then, systemically, if many parents withdrew their children from a particular school, soon one of two things would happen: That school would either begin to compete by improving its services, or go out of service, or be sold to others who would do a better job. This is what happens routinely in the private sector as a result of competition, and it consistently produces good results.

Thus we would not only have better schools for college preparation, but also for almost any trade imaginable, because flexibility and innovation are the hallmarks of a competitive system. Not every child wants to or should become a Ph.D., or even go to college at all.

Many will be hugely happy and productive as computer programmers, airplane mechanics, beauticians, performers in the arts, or in countless other trades. And if there is a demand for students to learn those trades and skills, schools will be created to teach them.

So how could such a program work? The government would send a payment slip to the parents for each child that could be "spent" for that child's tuition at a school chosen by the parents, as long as the school satisfied some basic criteria set forth by the government. Whether the payment slip is called a voucher, scholarship, tax credit, educational savings account or something else, it would allow parents at all economic levels to enroll their children at the school that would best fit their needs.

Today such programs exist in various forms in the states of Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and that list is expanding. California should join them. And along the way these programs also re-insert equity and fairness back into the system, so that parents who want good schools are not forced to pay both for the failing government schools and also tuition at a private school.

Of course, no system is perfect, and there might be some parents who would not care enough to seek out the best school for their child. But when they saw other parents in the neighborhood moving their children to better-performing schools, the odds are good that they would follow along.

In this discussion it is critically important to realize that our schools do not suffer from a lack of funding.

During the last 40 years, spending per student throughout our country has literally tripled in real dollars. In 1970, the government spent $50,000 (in 2009 dollars) to educate one student for the 13 years from kindergarten through high school, and in 2009 it spent $149,000 for those same 13 years.

Only Switzerland spends more money per child than we do in educating our children. But you don't need me to tell you where we rank in education around the world, and the results are continuing to get worse.

So we have an institutional problem, or as Joe Klein, the former chancellor of New York City's Department of Education put it, "We have a 19th Century classroom model in the 21st Century."

Furthermore, the only real remedy that is being discussed is requiring teachers to focus upon a high-stakes end-of-the-year test. But even this test is not working, and never will, because it really does not measure learning. Only parents really can do that, and we should let them.

Frequently the question arises, would a school-choice system allow parents to "spend" their vouchers at religious schools? The answer is, yes.

Would this be a violation of the separation of church and state? Not any more than the G.I. Bill's college program by which veterans have for decades been able to choose to "spend" their V.A. eligibility at Notre Dame, Holy Cross, Southern Methodist University or any other religious school that they wish. School choice for K-12 grades would present the same situation, because it is the parents' choice where the money would be spent, not the government's.

So who is against this new and innovative system?

Poorly performing teachers and schools, as well as large numbers of non-teaching bureaucrats, and many of them (naturally) want to protect their vested interests. Currently they feel threatened enough by the prospect of change, that they are placing advertisements on the radio about how we must spend even more money on education, because "it's for the kids."

But it's really not for the kids — it's for the bureaucrats. As responsible and caring people and voters, it is time that we see this approach for what it is: More funding for a system that has been failing our children for years.

So help us move into the 21st century and bring back quality, innovation and excellence into our schools by re-inserting incentives and entrepreneurship.

As consumers, we decide what kind of automobiles and clothing to purchase and use from a wide variety of choices furnished by market incentives, and we will be able to obtain a good education for our children by employing the same system of incentives in our schools.

Are we watching? Do we care? - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 23:39:00 +0000

In the April 18 edition of Newsweek, columnist Philip K. Howard published a "Dear Congress" letter setting forth several national policies that are broken, and demanding that they be addressed and fixed. This is similar to the open letter that was published in this space on April 3 that "gently but firmly" demanded strong leadership from Rep. John Campbell to address and resolve the problems with illegal immigration.

As a practical matter, with all of the political polarization and other problems facing our great country, mostly there is no one left but "We the People" to take action. Are we watching? Do we care? If so, we need to persuade our public leaders that getting and staying elected is not the same thing as governing.

In addition to illegal immigration, some of those areas that must be addressed are sunset provisions for all federal agencies, the reduction of the welfare system for both the poor and the wealthy, requiring new public employees to invest in 401(k) programs for their retirement, just like workers in the private sector, and the failed and hopeless policy of drug prohibition. All of these have an enormous negative impact upon our federal budget deficit, and there appears to be no good faith effort by Congress even to address, much less resolve them.

Two additional areas that simply must be addressed are the entitlements of Social Security and Medicare. Painful as it could be, we must understand that if Congress had indexed the retirement age of 65 to increases of life expectancy when it implemented these programs in 1935, people would not be eligible today for these entitlements until they reached their middle 70s. So since the national government simply cannot remain solvent by paying entitlements at this rate, we simply must increase the ages of eligibility.

But when addressing our budget deficits, there remains a huge issue that is almost never even mentioned that will go a long way in helping us regain fiscal solvency, and that is the federal ownership of land. Most people do not realize this, but today the federal government owns about 650 million acres of land, almost 30% of our country! This property is held as national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, Indian reservations and military reservations, and for the good of the country's economic health, this landowning should be reassessed.

Of course, no one is proposing to sell Yellowstone, Yosemite or any of our other national treasures or military reservations that are necessary for our security. But the federal government also owns huge tracts of forests, deserts, meadows, mountains and shore lands. It would be better for everyone if that ownership were significantly reduced. (And if it is Native American land, give it back to them and let them run it!)

What would happen if some of this land were to be sold to the private sector? In addition to the monies received from the sales, the privately held land would also generate property, sales and income taxes, all of which would reduce the government's financial deficits.

But the benefits would be much more than financial. Not only is the federal government the largest polluter of land in the country, it virtually never manages property nearly as well as people do in the private sector. Why? Today the Bureau of Land Management, for example, leases out public grazing lands at artificially low rates to politically powerful people, who, in turn, have no incentive to keep from overgrazing it.

Put yourself in their place. If you had a lease to graze your cattle on government land for five years, you would want to maximize your short-term revenues as much as you could, without consideration of what it might do to the land. So you would tend to overgraze it. But if you were the owner, you would have incentives to husband the land, because if you didn't, it would decrease in utility and value.

As another example, in England many trout streams have been privatized, which means that, among other things, the owners can sue anyone who pollutes them upstream. As a result, the property is carefully husbanded, because a clean, beautiful and natural stream full of trout is more valuable for bringing in visitors and people who fish than one that is less so. Other examples are abundant, particularly in Africa with their wild animals.

That is not at all to say that the government should not have laws regarding things like pollution. The biggest example of that would be drilling for oil. It should mostly be allowed, but anyone drilling anywhere should first be required to post a significant bond with a financially strong and stable company that will be forced to pay for the cleanup and other ramifications of every drop of oil that is spilled. That way the bonding company will rigorously supervise all of the drilling, because its own money would be at stake.

So there is a better way. Are we watching? Do we care? If so, please join me in writing a letter to your member of Congress demanding that he or she take steps that will actually fix these problems. As we have said before, it is our government, and if it isn't working, it is nobody's fault but our own.

Political correctness pulls us apart - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 04:10:00 +0000

It's A Gray Area: Political correctness pulls us apart - by Judge Jim Gray

A feeling of resentment by many minority groups smolders beneath the surface of some of our country's laws.

These minorities feel relegated into second-class citizenship. Why?

Because some of our laws appear to make some groups more important or worthy of protection than others.

For example, it is certainly true that a nation's laws are a statement of its values and what it holds dear. So when we pass laws about "hate crimes," we are dictating values that, not only do we not condone assaults based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or otherwise, but that we will prosecute them.

It is the "otherwise" part that gets us into trouble. What people do not focus on is that this approach also divides us and pulls us apart. Why?

Because when one minority group gets recognized as being so "special" that it warrants a law expressly for its protection, that means that it is frequently and almost inescapably seen as denigrating other minority groups that have not been so designated.

Thus, although it may be counter-intuitive, we should repeal all "hate crime" laws. Our laws should not put one group into competition with another on the issue of who is more special, important or vulnerable.

Simply stated, things like an assault and battery should be crimes regardless of the identity of the victim, and those crimes should be prosecuted. Then only after the perpetrator has been convicted, the particular circumstances in that individual case — including possible situations of hate and prejudice — should be explored and argued to the judge for an appropriate sentence.

All cases are unique in some fashion, and basically this approach is designed to deal well and appropriately with each of them.

Yes, to assault a person who is black, Hispanic, gay, elderly, or a fan of the San Francisco Giants simply because of that condition is reprehensible, and the perpetrator should be punished. But is that assault necessarily worse than if the victim were to be Asian, Italian, straight, young, or a fan of the Boston Red Sox? I hope the answer to that question is plain. Besides, we can't continue to address every bad situation by simply passing another law.

Fundamentally we must understand that we will never run out of minority groups that could be victimized, so why should we go down that road at all? This approach simply pulls us apart at the exact time that we so badly need to be drawn together.

This situation is similar to the voters passing initiatives to fund specific good causes like research into stem cells or the causes of cancer or AIDS. Of course, those causes are noble, but are they inherently more so than Parkinson's Disease, sickle cell anemia or alcoholism?

To the degree reasonably possible all that should be funded, but if breast cancer — which usually afflicts women — is publicly funded, that often alienates many men who are fearful of testicular cancer. And since, as I understand it, sickle cell anemia more often affects the African-American community, not publicly funding research into its cause can be seen as an affront to those people. Is that what we want to do?

We run into the same problem with our state holidays. Yes, Martin Luther King Jr. was a great man who was pivotal to the history of our country and the world. To have a holiday to honor him and what he represents is certainly a good thing. But that was almost immediately seen as a slight to Hispanics, who obviously also have great men and women equally worthy of being honored with a holiday.

So since the Hispanic community is expanding in political power, it did not take too long for the California Legislature to address that problem by making Cesar Chavez's birthday a public holiday. Personally I agree with honoring Cesar Chavez, and actually met and did some work for him when I was at USC Law School.

But where will it end? There certainly are also heroes from other minority groups that are seen as equally worthy, so why should those groups be slighted?

Nowadays California courts close for 12 state holidays in the calendar year. While I was a sitting judge, I certainly appreciated the time off, but I always saw it as a situation that short-changed people in the private sector.

Today, our paid state holidays include the birthdays of Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, as well as the day of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas.

But since having paid holidays is expensive and in many ways divisive, maybe our holidays should be more generic. We could still have paid public holidays for things like Presidents' Day, Veteran's Day, Independence Day and Thanksgiving, and then leave the celebration of the many worthy individual heroes in our society to the private world.

Without a doubt all of these are certainly sensitive areas, but we must understand that we will never run out of worthy victim groups to protect, noble causes to research and heroic people to celebrate. And the problem is that each time we pick one person or group, we divide ourselves that much more from each other.

Judge works to legalize marijuana - by DAVID WHITING

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 04:04:00 +0000

There are times when our convictions take us places we never wanted to go.

With the smell of marijuana wafting into the Anaheim Convention Center during last year's Know Your Rights Expo, an unlikely speaker walks past bongs, pipes and buxom women dressed as nurses.

Judge Jim Gray's office reveals a busy man, in spite of his having retired as a judge. Gray is a leader in the fight to legalize marijuana, has written a book, is an avid speaker, and now is heading the fight for the proposition on the next ballot. www.judgejimgray.com

ANA VENEGAS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Nearly everyone in the crowd wears T-shirts and jeans. The "nurses" hawk bargain-basement prices for medicinal marijuana cards.

The speaker, retired Superior Court Judge Jim Gray wears a blue blazer, light slacks and a button-down shirt as he takes the stage. He is there to advocate legalizing marijuana, or as he puts it, "ending prohibition on illicit drugs."

I expect wild applause. After all, Gray once sentenced dozens to prison for selling drugs.

Instead, the retired judge is met with criticism for supporting legalization, particularly from underground marijuana growers interested in protecting their incomes. Gray's unfazed. He's suffered worse.

Nearly 20 years ago, Gray stood on the steps of the Orange County Courthouse and called for an end to the war on drugs. It was a bold and brave move. Gray's family, even his father – a venerable federal judge who died shortly before his son's speech – strongly advised against taking a public stand.

But Gray decided to move forward with what he believes to be his duty. As he saw it, billions of tax dollars and tens of thousands of lives were at stake.

Now, as the 2012 election less than 18 months away, Gray smells victory.

•••

Let's clear the air about one thing. Does the judge inhale?

Gray says he's never taken an illicit drug. I believe him. After asking the question different ways, I got a taste of the judge's tone with repeat offenders.

Steely impatience.

Gray says his drug of choice is a glass of wine at dinner. Alcohol, he says, is far worse than marijuana.

But the retired judge, now a private mediator for ADR Services, softens as his dog, Devon, a golden lab, wags his tail.

Recalling his first public statements against the drug war, Gray offers, "Dad didn't want me to hurt myself."

Gray knew his public stance meant he would never receive an appointment above superior court judge, that he would be ostracized, that he might face recall, that he could receive death threats.

But, sworn to uphold the law, Gray concluded that he and thousands of other judges were sending people to prison for no good reason.

"I felt then as I do now, that drug prohibition is the biggest failed policy in the United States, second only to slavery."

•••

When discussing the war on drugs, Gray has the bearing of a military man. At one point, he tells me he wrote to President Obama offering his services, stating, "I know how to give orders and I know how to take orders."

After living in a fraternity and graduating UCLA in 1966, Gray served two years in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica. Then he joined the Navy. He is careful to acknowledge that he volunteered, in part, to control his destiny during a draft.

Such frankness is typical. So is an ability to exist and even thrive in seemingly contradictory worlds.

In 1970, a month before being sent to Vietnam where he patrolled rivers, the former ROTC officer let his superiors know he was planning to march in an anti-war rally. They told him not to wear his uniform.

The warning was unnecessary. Gray would never dream of such a thing. He's a by-the-book guy.

In the Navy, Gray served in JAG Corps. He went on to become a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles and, in 1983, was appointed to the bench by Republican Gov. George Deukmejian. As a municipal judge, he was exposed to the broader legal and social problems of alcoholics. It was an awakening.

Before taking the courthouse steps in 1992, Gray read legal briefs to ensure that condemning drug laws wouldn't affect his cases. He talked to the chief superior court judge and conferred with the state judicial ethics panel (it split).

Since then, Gray says, the war on drugs has accomplished nothing. In fact, he believes we're worse off today than, say, five years ago.

At the Anaheim Convention Center last August, he spoke publicly in favor of Proposition 19, the state initiative to legalize marijuana that was defeated in November. But, typically, Gray also was blunt about the proposal's inadequacies.

Working with others, particularly Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, he is crafting an improved proposal for the 2012 November election.

•••

Politics is nothing new for Gray. In 1998, he ran as a Republican for Congress. In 2004, he ran for the U.S. Senate as a Libertarian, mostly to have his point of view heard.

In his battle to end the drug war, Gray has cataloged more than 400 television and radio shows and public forums. And he's written a book, "Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It."

But he also has other passions. First is family. He and his wife have four children, including a son, Ky, who Gray adopted as a 13-month old in Vietnam. Gray also continues his work with Peer Court, a teen diversion program he helped establish.

He's also a serious musician. In September, Vanguard University students will perform Gray's compositions, a show called "Americans All." And he just finished organizing the May 22 Heritage Music Festival to bring bluegrass and folk music to Orange County.

But his fight with drug laws is never far. If California legalizes marijuana, he believes other states will follow. He predicts that the multi-billion dollar bureaucracy that fights the drug war will implode.

If so, he says illicit drugs will be treated like alcohol. Dealers will disappear, the prison population will plummet and there will be tax dollars available for substance abuse treatment.

It may not be the future his father foresaw. But Gray moves forward with love. When Gray first became a judge, his father was the man who swore him in.

To his dying day, the aging federal judge said it was his proudest moment.

David Whiting's column appears four days a week; dwhiting@ocregister.com.

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the author of "Wearing the Robe: the Art and Responsibility of Judging in Today's Courts" (Square One Publishers, 2010), Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It, A Voter's Handbook, Effective Solutions To America's Problems and can be reached at jimpgray@sbcglobal.net or http://www.judgejimgray.com. Judge Jim Gray is also currently offering his 25 years of experience on the bench to ADR Services in Orange County for Arbitration and Mediation services.

Regulate marijuana like wine - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 03:07:00 +0000

In my public discussions about our nation's failed and hopeless policy of marijuana prohibition, I often say that Proposition 19 actually won the election last November, but we will simply be delaying implementation for two years.

I say that for two reasons. First, Proposition 19 was so successful in legitimizing the discussion about the failure of marijuana prohibition both statewide and nationwide, and even worldwide, that people for the first time have actually started to think seriously about the issue. And that is really all we need, because what we are doing today simply doesn't make sense.

Second, in some of my debates on Proposition 19, numbers of people, including several chiefs of police, stated publicly that they had no problem treating marijuana like alcohol, but they did not like some specific provisions of Proposition 19 and therefore opposed it. Many voters felt exactly the same way.

So since November, quite a few people involved in marijuana drug law reform have been working to craft a new initiative, the Regulate Marijuana like Wine Act of 2012, and its basic provisions are as follows:

All California laws that prohibit marijuana possession, use, sales, distribution, cultivation, etc. by people who are 21 and older would be repealed, except for those pertaining to driving a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana; using or being impaired by marijuana in public or in the workplace; the use, possession, sales, etc. of marijuana by people younger than 21; providing, transferring or selling marijuana to a person younger than 21; or any laws or regulations regarding medical marijuana as set forth by Proposition 215 and its related statutes. All of those laws and regulations would expressly remain in effect.

The proposal then breaks down what we now call marijuana into two classifications. The first is marijuana with a THC or "potency" level of 3% or higher, which would be governed by regulations, taxes and fees that use the wine industry as a model. But, importantly enough, the act would not permit state, county or city governments to use their taxing, zoning or licensing authority as a means to thwart the provisions of the initiative, unless those regulations would also be applicable to the wine industry.

Marijuana with a THC level of less than 3%. would be classified as hemp, and would be governed by the same regulations, taxes and fees that use the cotton industry as a model. Of course the hemp industry goes back thousands of years, such that in ancient Greek the word for "canvas" was the same word as "cannabis," or marijuana. Similarly, the plantations owned by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and many other planters grew large crops of hemp, which were used for things like rope, gunny sacks and coarse cloth.

Since the colonial period the uses of hemp have been greatly expanded. For example, today manufacturers can get four times the amount of paper pulp from an acre of hemp as they can from an acre of trees. Furthermore, the hemp crop can be raised in one season of about eight months, while it takes about 20 years to grow the trees. This means that the paper pulp industry in the northwest United States could be reclaimed, along with all of the jobs, revenues and taxes that this would entail.

The proposal would also prohibit all commercial advertising of the sales, distribution and use of marijuana, except for medical marijuana and products made from industrial hemp. This would go a long way in taking the glamour out of marijuana, especially for children.

After Holland decriminalized marijuana back in the 1970s, its minister of health stated that they had only half the marijuana usage per capita in their country as we do in ours — for both adults and for teenagers! And he went on to explain why by saying that "we have succeeded in making pot boring." A system in which marijuana is no longer sold illegally and also is not advertised commercially will achieve the same results.

Another main purpose of the initiative would be to deprive Mexican drug cartels, juvenile street gangs and other thugs of large amounts of money, while at the same time providing significant amounts of tax revenues to city, county and state governments to use for things like fixing potholes and educating children.

In addition, many medical and legal professionals believe that in many ways marijuana is actually less harmful than my drug of choice, alcohol. So if adults choose to use marijuana instead of alcohol, the governments, as a matter of freedom and liberty, should not be able to prohibit them from doing so.

Yes, the use, possession, growing and sale of marijuana and hemp would still be illegal under federal law, and the proposal recognizes that fact. But if the federal government still wants to enforce its laws of marijuana prohibition it will be forced to do so alone, because the proposal would prohibit anyone working for or contracting with any of our state, county or city governments from cooperating with any such investigations, prosecutions, punishments or forfeitures, as long as the subjects were acting within the provisions of the proposal.

So what are your thoughts? This proposal is still only in draft form, so give it some consideration. We would both appreciate and benefit from your suggestions and comments.

An open letter to Rep. John Campbell - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:08:00 +0000

As was discussed in this column on March 20, the immigration system in our country is not hard to repair, but the problem is that neither many Republicans nor Democrats actually want to do so. Why is that? Because many powerful Republicans want the continuing source of cheap labor, and many powerful Democrats want people to continue to come here illegally with the expectation that eventually they will vote for Democrats.

Of course this dysfunctional system has caused such frustration that states like Utah and Arizona have been forced to take measures into their own hands — and who can really blame them? Thus it is the purpose of this letter to motivate you, as the member of Congress in this area, to help to install a workable system. I know this is an emotionally sensitive and complex area, to say the least, and that there are political risks for even discussing it, so I am going to assist you by proposing a program which can serve as a model.

The first thing to do, as set forth more fully in the prior column, is to establish a fool-proof identification card for guest workers — call it an "Orange Card" — and then prosecute any employer who hires or continues to employ anyone who does not have proper identification showing they are here legally. This, along with disqualifying people who are here illegally from receiving such things as welfare payments, should go a long way effectively to closing our borders.

Why? Because most people come to this country to work, and if they cannot find or maintain employment, they will probably go elsewhere.

But secondly, and fully as critically, we must at the same time publish guidelines about a fair and equitable course of action that will be followed for people already in our country illegally. With some justification, many people see even a discussion of this issue as a direct attack upon them personally.

Why? Because this is not just a "close to home" issue, it actually is home!

Of course drawing up fair and effective guidelines is not easily done, but here is my attempt.

First, the burden should be on the federal government to show why people who can prove they have been in this country illegally but continuously for 15 or more years should not be offered citizenship. In this regard, their employment history, criminal record, if any, and general citizenship, etc., should all be considered.

Second, the burden should be on the federal government to show why all people who have been in this country illegally but continuously for 10 to 15 years should not be given a green card, or resident alien status, using the same criteria.

And finally those people who have been here illegally for less than five years should be deported, but given the opportunity to apply for an "Orange" or Green card.

A further requirement would be that all people who are here illegally must register with the federal government within the next six months, and anyone who does not so register will both be deported and permanently barred from becoming a citizen.

A final part of this program would be for Congress to interpret the clause of the 14th Amendment stating that one must be "subject to the jurisdiction" of our country, such that at least one parent of a child must be a citizen before that child can become a citizen simply by virtue of birth. But if a child is born to a parent who is here legally, that child shall automatically become a citizen if that parent becomes a citizen within five years after that birth.

Fundamentally the decision of who comes to our country, and how long they stay, should be made by our country. It should not be made by others who are either violating our laws, or, through some coincidence, happen to give birth to a child while within our borders. Of course, sometimes it is not a coincidence, as witnessed by a recent news story about numbers of pregnant Chinese women who came illegally into our country expressly so that their babies could become citizens. Allowing this situation to continue is simply crazy.

The supposed system that is in effect today is inflicting needless hardship and even danger upon hundreds of thousands of good people, and it should have been fixed decades ago. Of course, as stated above, the new program must both be fairly and equitably conceived and administered, such that people be willing to trust the government and come forward to register and apply for the benefits of citizenship or resident alien status.

But at the same time, the law must state that we will never again have a similar program unless passed by Congress with a two-thirds majority vote. That way, everyone will realize that this opportunity will probably never be repeated.

Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach), this issue is important enough for us to say to you, gently but firmly, that if you don't show strong leadership and help us resolve this longstanding problem, we will fine and elect someone else who will.

Governments need to outsource services - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 07:49:00 +0000

My Aug. 12, 2007, column recommended that all governments pass sunset laws requiring each of their agencies to receive a positive vote every six or seven years from their legislatures in order to be funded again. The government would abolish the agency if it did not receive a favorable vote.

Sunset laws would allow everyone to see more clearly what each governmental agency had accomplished since its last review period, and what its plans would be for the future. We could see if we were getting sufficient "bang" for our tax buck.

Private companies continually follow these basic Libertarian principles, although less formally, as they monitor their own activities in trying to maximize revenues and reduce expenses. Governments should be forced to do the same, and sunset laws would help significantly.

Much of the work done by these agencies simply should not be done by governments at all. Instead it should be done by competent companies as successful low-bid contractors with those governments.

The city of Costa Mesa should be applauded for moving in that direction — if somewhat tardily. This is the fiscally responsible thing to do, and other governments should follow Costa Mesa's lead.

Of course, Costa Mesa's actions have had an impact on some good and faithful city employees who have received layoff notices. Our hearts should go out to them, and they should be treated fairly under the law.

But that also happens in the private sector, and most of those employees were doing work that never should have been done by the city in the first place. Why? Because private companies can virtually always do the job as well but for much cheaper.

For example, why should the state have an agency like the California Department of Transportation? Fundamentally, it is silly for the state to own and maintain all those dump trucks, bulldozers and other heavy equipment, and pay the salaries and other benefits of all of those workers. Instead the state should employ a few people to enter into low-bid contracts with qualified private companies, and then supervise the work those companies do.

As another example, a friend of mine owns a private company in San Diego that contracts with cities to issue each city's building permits, and then inspects the jobs when the work is completed. And the results have been great for everybody. The permit and approval work is done well and with integrity, but the cities have not had to employ and pay for all of those workers; the client builders are happy because each city's rules are applied fairly, but the waiting time has been seriously reduced; and my friend's company is making good money. There is simply no reason that this approach cannot be replicated in other areas as well. In fact, it is financially foolish not to do so.

And can this apply to the federal government? Absolutely.

The first thing to do would be to abolish the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Every time I have asked Native Americans what they think about the BIA, they have said they hate it. And when you discover what is happening, you would agree with them.

Just put yourself in the place of Native Americans. According to http://www.bia.gov, it is the mission of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to be involved in the "prudent management of the federal dollars we are entrusted with as we work to strengthen Tribal Nations."

In other words, the federal government, even after keeping the Native Americans under its "protection" for more than 200 years, still does not think that they can effectively manage their own lives.

What would you think if the federal government had an agency to "protect" you because it was so concerned that you as a people were not smart, wise or sophisticated enough to take care of yourselves? Is that not the definition of arrogance? But why stop there? Why do we not have a Bureau of Scottish American Affairs to "protect" me and my family? It would be much better for the Native Americans to be forced to take responsibility for their own decisions, just like everyone else.

Of course, the additional fact that historically the BIA was the policeman that broke their treaties, deprived them of their lands and put them on reservations is difficult for the Native Americans to forget. And to that history we also can add that the BIA has been sued on four separate occasions in class actions for tens of millions of dollars of damages by the Federation of Indian Service Employees for various grievances, as well as for "misplacing" hundreds of millions of dollars of Native American assets gained from the leasing of their lands. So it is not surprising that the Native Americans have no sense of humor about these federal agencies.

And neither should we, if only as taxpayers. The 2012 budget has dedicated $2.5 billion to provide education and health care services for Native Americans and oversee their lands. If you were a member of Congress, how would you vote on whether or not the Bureau of Indian Affairs should be continued or abolished? I'll bet you would vote just like I would.

How many more federal, state, county and city agencies should be abolished and/or their work referred to private companies like has been done by the city of Costa Mesa? None of us know, but it is time to find out.

Interpreting the 14th Amendment - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 08:09:00 +0000

Why are Arizona and an increasingly large number of other states taking their own action regarding illegal immigration? It results from the frustration of the federal government's inactivity. As was discussed in this column from July 22, 2007, Congress could resolve this problem fairly easily and quickly if it wanted to, but the reality is that it has no such desire.

Why? Because many powerful Republicans want continued access to cheap labor, and many powerful Democrats want people to continue to come here illegally with the hope that eventually they will vote for Democrats. In the meantime, countless numbers of good people are being seriously injured.

Thus, I never get mad at illegal immigrants. They are simply doing what the system so strongly encourages them to do, which is to pursue a better life for themselves and their children. Of course, this is why our ancestors came here as well!

Besides, it is often dangerous and expensive now to come into this country illegally, so there is a strong self-selection process that usually excludes all but the most hearty and dedicated. So mostly I admire them.

The solution is a simple three-step process.

First, we decide how many people we need to enter our country to perform different types of labor and how long they should stay.

Second, we issue counterfeit-proof identification cards, probably based upon fingerprints or cornea images to people from other countries who legally apply for those positions.

Third, anyone who employs workers who do not have a passport or this card would be prosecuted.

The cards would allow people to come into our country and work for a prescribed period of time, and then require them to leave. The migrant workers would have reduced benefits and tax obligations while they were here, and probably could not bring their families.

But within the specified time they could cross the border without a problem, and could have driver's licenses and access to our courts because they would be here legally. Of course, people who did not have this card would increasingly find it difficult to secure or maintain a job, so they would soon be inclined to go elsewhere.

Our present, untenable situation is also being allowed to continue because, although it has all the power, the federal government doesn't have to pay for the costs of illegal immigration. Thus, it has no particular incentive to do anything about it.

Instead, most of the costs are paid by state and local governments, and the school systems. So the incentives to resolve the problems will only be present when the federal government is required to pay for things such as the health care, education and incarceration of illegal immigrants.

Arizona is attempting to enforce the federal immigration laws. Not only is there nothing wrong with that, Arizona should be applauded for doing so! Furthermore, if the federal government does not agree with Arizona's actions, it has the absolute ability to stop them cold.

How? Simply change the federal law.

And then there is the question about whether the 14th Amendment should confer automatic citizenship upon all babies born within our borders. The applicable language cited for that result is: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States … "

Up until now, this provision has been interpreted to stand for automatic citizenship. But the interpretation should be re-examined.

As you will recall from your history classes, the 14th Amendment was passed in July 1868 after the Civil War, and intended to confer citizenship upon former slaves. But the framers of the amendment simply could not stop with the words "all persons," because when the Constitution was ratified, slaves were officially recognized only to be 3/5 of a person. Thus, additional language was needed to address those people.

Nevertheless, if the framers were here today and asked whether that amendment would confer automatic citizenship upon a baby who, for example, was on an airplane flying from Mexico City to Toronto, but was born while the plane was refueling in St. Louis, they would give you a four-word response, which would be: "What, are you crazy?" And they would also give you the same answer if asked about children born in our country to parents who were here illegally.

Then, after pondering the situation a bit further, the framers would say: "Wait a minute, we already addressed these issues in the amendment itself by inserting the clause 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof.' If we had meant literally anyone born here would become a citizen, we would have left that clause out!"

And that is the answer. If a citizen of Japan is arrested here while on vacation, he doesn't call our embassy; he calls the Japanese embassy because he is still subject to the jurisdiction of Japan even though his physical presence is here. Thus the 14th Amendment does not need to be amended, just correctly interpreted.

Re-interpretation is certainly not something to be done lightly, but it has happened before. For example, in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the 1896 precedent of Plessy v. Ferguson by holding that "separate but equal" public schools were not equal and were therefore unconstitutional. In a similar fashion the Supreme Court should re-examine the 14th Amendment.

Finally, only after we regain control of our borders by implementing this new program and interpretation should we address the truly emotional issues of "amnesty." There truly are some special equitable considerations that must be taken into account for people who have been in this country for so long that they really have no other country to which to return. So special allowances should be made for those people.

But first things first.

Justice must come before peace - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:06:00 +0000

Probably the biggest tinderbox in the world today is the Holy Land, with the problems between Israel and Palestine continuing to deteriorate. But before I say more, I want to affirm as forcefully as I can that I completely support Israel and its right to exist, live peacefully, and thrive.

Some people will misunderstand my suggestions, and some may even do so intentionally. But having said that, the best way for peace in Israel to be obtained is to provide justice to the Palestinians!

How would you feel if you had a friend whose house was bulldozed by the Israeli government because one of their family members was suspected of harboring a terrorist? Often, according to the Palestinians, this happens with no notice, hearing, charges or redress!

How would you feel if you were born in a "temporary relocation camp" 30 years ago and are still living there?

How would you feel if you had lost your job because it was on one side of the security wall and you lived on the other, and it takes hours to get from one side to the other? And how would you feel if your loved one was injured, but soldiers would not allow her ambulance to cross through a security checkpoint to get to a hospital?

If these things were to happen to me, I probably would first try to approach some government officials and request more understanding. If that didn't work, and it most likely would not, then I would probably write some letters and carry some picket signs in protest. If that didn't work, and it most likely would not, my actions might escalate into joining groups of people with similar grievances, maybe even start throwing rocks at soldiers. I believe all of these things would be natural human responses that would evolve from genuine frustration.

I hope I would be sensible enough never to be manipulated into lobbing grenades at civilians or becoming a suicide bomber, but I could see that others could be led into these acts as well. Radical actions can come from people who lose their dignity and hope. In fact, it is a truism that there is no one more dangerous in the world than one who has nothing left to lose. So I can see how this has happened to some Palestinians.

Having said all of that, I truly also share the frustrations of the Israelis as well. For many years, and in many and repeated ways, they have tried to reach agreements with the Palestinians, including several occasions in which they implemented unilateral disengagement plans. But it is virtually impossible for the Israelis to work out disagreements or implement plans for peace when they do not have responsible people to deal with who actually represent the Palestinians. To that effect, I believe that Yasser Arafat, whom I view as almost entirely corrupt, more deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for dying in 2004, than he did for reaching his "agreement" with Yitzhak Rabin in the Oslo Accords in September 1993.

So how can peace come to that truly troubled land? The best way to de-radicalize any area is to implement a system of justice for everyone. This will have a neutralizing effect, and lead to more positive and lasting results. Maybe the Palestinians can form a responsible government that can control their more radical elements and even govern effectively, and maybe not. But regardless of that outcome, that should not keep all people subject to the Israeli government's jurisdiction from being able to have their grievances pursued and resolved in a fair and neutral setting.

For almost the entirety of my time sitting as a judge in Orange County I had a hand-printed sign on my bench that said "There Can Be No Peace in a Land without Justice." I used it to remind myself that each case I had was important to someone, and every decision I made would affect those people and also their views about our government. So I tried to do my best with every ruling under the facts and law of the case, and to explain my conclusions. People actually can accept losing, but what they cannot accept is laws applied in an unbalanced or arbitrary fashion. And what is true regarding the people in our country is also true for people everywhere else.

The American government can help, in fact, it can help where probably no one else can. But for years the perception has been with all Arab countries that our government has ratified the actions of the government of Israel, regardless of its merits. And that has resulted in our government relinquishing its moral authority to be a leader in that area of the world, and with some justification. But just because we have disagreements with the Israeli government on some issues does not at all mean that we do not support Israel's security, any more than when a husband and wife disagree about financial decisions means that they do not love and support each other.

Actually, my wife and I have a trip planned to the Holy Land in July, so maybe I will change my perceptions during my visit, although I doubt it. I will report back to you again on this subject after we return. But in the meantime, I encourage everyone to project themselves into the position of all of the people in the Holy Land: Palestinian and Israeli alike. Justice in our country, coupled with the appearance of justice, has gone a long way in defusing racial strife and violence, and it will do the same thing in the wonderful but deeply troubled land of Israel and Palestine.

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the author of "Wearing the Robe: the Art and Responsibility of Judging in Today's Courts" (Square One Publishers, 2010), Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It, A Voter's Handbook, Effective Solutions To America's Problems and can be reached at jimpgray@sbcglobal.net or http://www.judgejimgray.com. Judge Jim Gray is also currently offering his 25 years of experience on the bench to ADR Services in Orange County for Arbitration and Mediation services.

Could clean water come from coal? 0 by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:23:00 +0000

This column a few years ago discussed nuclear power and how our country was underutilizing it in generating electricity.

A man who works for a company called ConvertCoal, Inc., or CCI, recently contacted me because of that article. The company, founded in 2005, claims to have a process that will enable it to generate petroleum, clean water and cleaner-burning coal fuel from the low-rank coal that is readily available here in the U.S.

There are certainly many subjects about which I have no particular expertise, and the mining and processing of coal are among them. But what this man was saying intrigued me, so I decided to pass along his thoughts to you.

There are basically two types of coal in the world, high-rank coal and low-rank coal. High-rank coal is found deeper in the ground, which means it has been compressed by the weight of the mass of material above it and heated much more fully than low-rank coal. Thus there is less water in high-rank coal and that coal is also more concentrated, which in turn means that it takes less of it to run a power plant generator.

Since strip mining is not feasible because it is so deep, high-rank coal is also more expensive to bring to the surface, because the only practical way to mine high-rank coal is to use deep shafts and tunnels like those that trapped the miners in Chile. Unfortunately, that also makes the deadly "black lung disease" more prevalent due to the miners breathing more of the coal dust inside the mines.

About two-thirds of the Earth's known coal deposits are low-rank coal, and because it is cheaper and more plentiful, that is mostly what is used in the generation of electricity. In fact, about 35% of all the electricity generated in the United States is fueled by low-rank coal. But with the new process, according to CCI's brochures, that same low-rank coal can now be converted into a low-emission coal-char fuel, clean water and synthetic crude oil that can be refined into petroleum. CCI further says it can actually recover between a half to a full barrel of oil from every ton of coal that is run through its process.

That means that, since a standard coal conversion plant would convert about 10,000 tons of coal per day, that coal alone would produce about 500 gallons of clean water each minute, as well as 7,000 barrels of oil each day, along with sufficient upgraded clean-coal char fuel to run a 500 megawatt power plant — and all with fewer emissions! If this is true, and if it could be done economically, this process could spur an economic revolution.

In 2008, the recoverable oil reserves in the U.S. were estimated to be about 21 billion barrels, with an average production of 5.7 million barrels per day. (Since the cost of oil just recently passed $100 per barrel, we are talking about lots of money!) But according to CCI, the potential domestic production of oil from low-rank coal simply using existing power generating plants would be about 1.9 million barrels per day. So just based upon current capacity and using this new technology, we could reduce our oil imports significantly.

Although all of this certainly sounds attractive, I really have no idea whether this process works or not. But the thoughts I am left with are that if this process really does work as well as advertised, why haven't I heard of it before, and why aren't people already making millions of dollars putting it into operation?

When I asked my host these questions, he said the coal conversion process actually was successfully demonstrated in a project run in Gillette, Wyo., between 1992 and 1997. But the reason it was not put into operation at that time is that the process is not economically viable unless oil is priced at more than $60 per barrel. So now that it is priced well above that level, they are optimistically going forward.

Even more fundamentally, though, I am left scratching my head over the federal government's huge and continual subsidizing of corn-based ethanol as a gasoline additive at the rate of a 45-cent per gallon tax credit. The yield in energy from corn does not even approach the yield that could be obtained from the petroleum extracted from coal, if this process would work.

So why is the government doing this — particularly since the government's interference in the market has resulted in substantial increases in the worldwide prices of corn and corn products, such as tortillas, cereals and food for animals like pigs and chickens?

So all of this simply once again brings home the libertarian lesson that governments should put a quick and permanent end to their subsidy programs and leave the market alone! Fundamentally speaking, if there is value in this new coal conversion process, the market will support it, which means that the new technology will be implemented and society will be benefited.

And if there is no value in this process, it would and should fail, but along the way the markets for other products will not be upset, and society would be no worse off. In other words, politicians are not good at choosing what technologies will be successful in the marketplace, and they should leave those issues alone.

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the author of "Wearing the Robe: the Art and Responsibility of Judging in Today's Courts" (Square One Publishers, 2010), Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It, A Voter's Handbook, Effective Solutions To America's Problems and can be reached at jimpgray@sbcglobal.net or http://www.judgejimgray.com. Judge Jim Gray is also currently offering his 25 years of experience on the bench to ADR Services in Orange County for Arbitration and Mediation services.

A worthy celebration of the justice system - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 01:41:00 +0000

I was privileged on Feb. 18 to attend a celebration of how our system works, particularly when good people use it for the right purpose. Sometimes it takes time and patience, but eventually we get it right. The celebration took place at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana, and featured Sylvia Mendez. When she was 8 years old, Sylvia, along with her brothers, Gonzalo and Jerome, was refused admission to an all-white public school here in Orange County.

Sylvia had been born in Santa Ana, and was living there with her family while they rented a farm from a Japanese-American family that had been sent to an internment camp during World War II. But when her aunt took the three children to the all-white school, she was told she could enroll her own children because they were light-skinned, but Sylvia and her brothers would not qualify because they were Mexican.

So Sylvia's parents, Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, joined forces with the Gomez, Palomino, Estrada and Ramirez families. They filed a lawsuit on March 2, 1945, in federal court in Los Angeles against their respective school districts to enjoin them from such discriminatory policies. This act showed fortitude and courage, but throughout this ordeal all of these families were assisted by many of their relatives and friends, and also by lots of lawyers (which is yet another reason why I am proud of our profession!).

On Feb. 18, 1946, Judge Paul J. McCormick ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and enjoined such segregationist practices in the public schools. He stated without equivocation that: "The equal protection of the laws pertaining to the public school system in California is not provided by furnishing in separate schools the same technical facilities, textbooks and courses of instruction to children of Mexican ancestry that are available to the other public school children regardless of their ancestry. A paramount requisite in the American system of public education is social equality. It must be open to all children by unified school associations regardless of lineage."

The original idea for the event came when my colleague, Judge Rick Aguirre of our Superior Court, asked my good friend, Judge Andy Guilford of the federal court, if he would agree to make his courtroom available for a small celebration of the Mendez case on the 65th anniversary, exactly to the day, of Judge McCormick's ruling. Of course, Judge Guilford enthusiastically agreed.

Those two judges were quickly joined by attorney Paul Greenwald and Sandra Robbie of Chapman University, and the four of them began to organize the festivities. But as soon as the word got out about what would be happening, the organizers were forced to move the event to the larger ceremonial courtroom to handle the people who had already responded to the invitation. Then, they also had to use Judge Guilford's courtroom as well as an extra one for a video feed.

By the time the day of the event arrived, three Orange County courtrooms and the jury assembly room, plus additional federal courtrooms in both Los Angeles and Riverside, were all pressed into service to handle the crowds. But this heartfelt celebration of heroics and a steadfast belief in our system of laws and justice was worth all of the efforts. What a day!

Just three days earlier, on Feb. 15, President Obama awarded Sylvia Mendez the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in recognition of those families' contributions to our country. On Feb. 18, she proudly wore that medal at our celebration. In addition, representatives of each of the other four families — one of whom was 99 years old — were also in attendance.

At this point, everyone that counts now agrees that Judge McCormick issued the right ruling. But we should all keep in mind that this was a full eight years before the United States Supreme Court's much more famous ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan. Of course, that was the case that held that "separate but equal" schools for black students were a violation of the Equal Protections Clause of the 14th Amendment. And that case changed history.

But many legal scholars feel that Brown would never have been decided the way it was without Mendez leading the way. While the Mendez case was going through the court system, Earl Warren — who would go on to be the chief justice on the United States Supreme Court when Brown was decided — was still governor of California, and it is a virtual certainty that he followed the arguments while they were being presented to the courts in Mendez, as well as the eventual rulings.

In addition, while he was still a practicing attorney, Justice Thurgood Marshall represented the plaintiffs in Brown, and he used many of the successful legal arguments from the Mendez case when he argued the Brown case. And the final court rulings in each of those cases contain similar language.

In 2007, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating the final appellate court ruling in Mendez v. Westminster, and for good reason. This was a positive national historical event that took place here in Orange County, both because it marked the beginning of the end of racial segregation in our nation's schools, and also because it marked yet another occasion in which good and steadfast people followed an important mantra of good citizenship, which is to "Make our System Work."

Once again our system of justice was put to the test, and it lived up to the challenge — and that is something truly worth celebrating! In fact, it made us all proud!

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the author of "Wearing the Robe: the Art and Responsibility of Judging in Today's Courts" (Square One Publishers, 2010), Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It, A Voter's Handbook, Effective Solutions To America's Problems and can be reached at jimpgray@sbcglobal.net or http://www.judgejimgray.com. Judge Jim Gray is also currently offering his 25 years of experience on the bench to ADR Services in Orange County for Arbitration and Mediation services.

With our help, the brain-injured can thrive - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 23:25:00 +0000

One of the true embarrassments of our times is that there is no facility in the western United States where brain-injured adults can live, receive appropriate medical care, engage in meaningful employment, and thrive up to the limits of their abilities. There are some facilities for mentally disabled people, but their needs are almost always quite different than the brain-injured. This situation is not known by many of us, but it is drastically known by people who have brain-injured family members and friends.

A local nonprofit called Brain Rehabilitation And Injury Network (B.R.A.I.N.) is working to create a campus like this for brain-injured adults. To be successful, it will need to range from five to 10 acres in size, have both male and female sleeping quarters, and facilities for food service, recreation, medical services and relaxation. It will also need to have places where these wonderful but often fragile people can engage in productive employment.

B.R.A.I.N. was founded by Sue and Jerry Rueb and their daughter Jana. The Ruebs have a daughter/sister who sustained a brain injury during a forceps birth delivery more than 30 years ago. So over the years they have tried to find a caring facility that would meet the medical needs of their loved one, and simply concluded with much pain that there were none available.

But creating such a facility is a daunting task. So the Ruebs have organized what they call "Think Tank 2011," which will be a symposium to provide awareness and information to families and caregivers of brain-injured adults, as well as to the community at large.

The symposium will be held from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. March 27 at The Grand in Long Beach.

There will be presentations by Dr. Todd Clements, a psychiatrist and medical director of the Clements Clinic in Plano, Texas, on identifying and treating brain injuries; Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist from UC Davis, on the long-term effects of repeated impacts to the head in American athletics; Debbie Edwards, an experienced family caregiver, on practical care for the brain-injured at home; Dr. Earl Henslin, a psychologist, on brain injuries and relationship health; and Angela Mandas, a speech pathologist, on how computers can help to train our brains at home.

If you would like to attend, please contact B.R.A.I.N. at (714) 625-7225, or visit its website at http://www.thebrainsite.org. This will be a truly worthwhile learning experience.

Every 21 seconds, someone in the United States sustains a brain injury. Of the 1.5 million people affected yearly, 50,000 die, but more than a million are treated and released from a hospital. Back in society, they often appear normal on the outside, but on the inside they are living with a whole host of devastating issues. Why? Because when your brain isn't working right, things mostly do not turn out favorably.

So generally how do brain-injured adults live? Not very well. In fact, many of them are living in places where you would not even want to house your pet. Furthermore, lots of these people are merely existing because there is no purposeful work available within their individual competency level.

And, as I have seen throughout my years on the bench, many brain-injured adults also end up in the criminal justice system, either by "losing it" and acting out due to the frustrations of the moment, or by "self-medicating" with illicit drugs. Either way, and as I hope you know, both the Los Angeles and Orange County Jails have become some of the largest "mental health" facilities in the nation. And, unfortunately, in addition to being the most expensive option for the taxpayers to address these situations, being in jail often inflicts untold damage upon these mentally and physically fragile people.

A brain injury can happen to any of us. Recent examples that have received lots of public attention are Bob Woodruff of ABC News, who sustained a brain injury from a bomb explosion while on assignment in Iraq, and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Tucson, Ariz., who was shot in the head at a political gathering. Fortunately, these wonderful people are blessed in having sufficient resources to take care of themselves. But most people are not so blessed, and they need our help.

If you have a family member or friend with a brain injury, please treat the good folks at B.R.A.I.N. as a partner and a resource. And if you are one of those motivated individuals who want to help others who are simply not able to help themselves, please be a resource for B.R.A.I.N.

Our society needs a place where brain-injured adults can be secure and can thrive. There are many people among us who have been brain-injured in their daily lives, and also many of our military veterans who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with brain injuries sustained during their tours of combat. So in addition to affected families, we are also approaching institutions that understand the realities of brain injuries, such as the National Football League, the National Hockey League, college athletics organizations, and medical care facilities to partner with us in this huge project. If you know or have influence with these or any similar organizations, please let us know.

Brain-injured adults will be able to thrive within their limitations if we can provide a facility that will address their needs. And they should have one — not because we have to, but because we want to. So please come help us, and be a part of something truly challenging, gratifying and wonderful!

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court who is affiliated with B.R.A.I.N., the author of "Wearing the Robe: the Art and Responsibility of Judging in Today's Courts" (Square One Publishers, 2010), Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It, A Voter's Handbook, Effective Solutions To America's Problems and can be reached at jimpgray@sbcglobal.net or http://www.judgejimgray.com. Judge Jim Gray is also currently offering his 25 years of experience on the bench to ADR Services in Orange County for Arbitration and Mediation services.

St. Valentine's Day — past and present - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 05:04:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered where the Valentine's Day celebration came from? I did, and so I did a little research, and no, unlike Mother's Day, Valentine's Day is not rumored to have been created by Hallmark Cards.

St. Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is celebrated throughout the world, but it has its roots in Christian and ancient Roman traditions. As best as can be determined, there was a pagan fertility celebration in Roman times called Lupercalia, in honor of Lupa, the she-wolf of Rome, and Faunas, the Roman god of fertility.

On Feb. 14, which was considered to be the first day of spring, two boys would slaughter a goat for fertility and a dog for purity. Then they would dress in animal skins, and gently slap women they would encounter on the streets with strips of the animals' hides dipped in sacrificial blood. All of this was intended to promote fertility.

It is hard to trace the derivation of the actual beginnings of Valentine's Day because in Catholic lore there are actually three St. Valentines, and each one was martyred. One of them lived and died in Africa, and his story is unclear.

The legend of the second says that he was a popular bishop in Rome who was captured by the emperor and imprisoned simply for being a Christian. Many people requested that he be released, but the emperor saw him as a threat because it was rumored that he had cured his jailor's daughter of blindness. Therefore the emperor had him brutally executed on Feb. 14. But on the day of his execution, he sent a note to the daughter professing his love for her, and simply signed it "from your Valentine."

The last legend took place during the time of Roman Emperor Claudius II, when he decided that his soldiers who did not have wives and families were less affected by prolonged periods of absence from home than those who were married. So Claudius decided to forbid any young men from getting married. But Valentine, a Catholic priest in what is now the Italian town of Terni, thinking this to be unjust, defied Claudius and secretly continued to marry these young lovers. When Claudius discovered what was happening, he had the priest executed. He was buried, as a hero to love, on Feb. 14, 270 A.D.

On that date, probably in the year 496 A.D., Pope Galasius, seeing Lupercalia as being both pagan and immoral, did away with it as a day of celebration, but replaced it with St. Valentine's Day, featuring it as a day for lovers. Over time this celebration spread over all of the Roman Empire, where it took root most firmly in England and France, but it was officially deleted from the Catholic Church's calendar by Pope Paul VI in 1969.

During the Middle Ages, it became the custom for English maidens to put a slip of paper with their names upon them into an urn on Feb. 14. Eligible bachelors would pick out a name, and then that selected girl and he would be a pair for the upcoming year. Many marriages resulted from this tradition.

Probably the first so-called Valentine cards were written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture in battle. Many of these poems or rhymed love letters are now on display in the British Museum.

The whole idea of writing similar handwritten notes became quite popular in England in the 17th Century, and by the mid-18th century it was common for friends and lovers to exchange these as well as little gifts. But by the end of the 18th century, both with the advent of the postal service and with changing cultural mores, it was deemed socially inappropriate to communicate personal feelings of affection to those of the opposite sex. Thus printed cards began to replace the handwritten ones.

Unfortunately with the large-scale use of the public mails, large numbers of obscene Valentine's Day cards began to be mailed anonymously to many people who were often and naturally offended by the receipt. This became so prevalent that in late 19th century Chicago, the postal service simply refused to deliver 25,000 Valentine's Day cards because they were deemed "unfit to be carried in the public mail."

Today it is estimated that about 180 million red roses are delivered each year in honor of Valentine's Day, as well as 36 million boxes of candy. In addition, an estimated 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are also delivered, of which an estimated 85% are sent by women. (This makes Valentine's Day the second highest day of the year for cards of celebration, with Christmas being the first with an estimated 2.6 billion cards.) Of course, all of this also makes Valentine's Day an estimated $14 billion per year business.

Although it is wonderful to purchase cards for the occasion, let's also try on this and every Valentine's Day to make the occasion personally special. As an example, on a Valentine's Day quite a few years ago, an elementary school teacher assigned her class to write a Valentine's Day card to each of their other class members, specifying two things that they most admired about the recipients. Some children were so gratified in hearing the positive things that their classmates felt about them that they kept those cards for years with their most cherished possessions. Some even kept them in their wallets.

So this Valentine's Day, let's each in our own way try to add to the gratification of the people in our lives. That will truly make the day special. In that spirit, my Valentine's Day gift to you is a poem by Zora Neale Hurston, who says: "Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place."

May your life be filled with that kind of love. Happy Valentine's Day!

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the author of "Wearing the Robe: the Art and Responsibility of Judging in Today's Courts" (Square One Publishers, 2010), Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It, A Voter's Handbook, Effective Solutions To America's Problems and can be reached at jimpgray@sbcglobal.net or http://www.judgejimgray.com. Judge Jim Gray is also currently offering his 25 years of experience on the bench to ADR Services in Orange County for Arbitration and Mediation services.

Save the date for this year's music festival - by Judge Jim Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Judge Jim Gray) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 08:34:00 +0000

On May 22, there will be a music festival from noon to 7 p.m. at the Heritage Museum of Orange County. Not only will there be bluegrass, folk and Americana music, there will also be a great barbecue and a number of fun and meaningful family activities.

So put that date on your calendar, and make plans to attend. You will be glad you did!

Several years ago, I mentioned to my wife, Grace, that I would like some time to go to Kentucky or Tennessee to see a bluegrass festival. But once I became acquainted with the Heritage Museum of Orange County, I thought that it would be even more fun to have the bluegrass music come to us.

So that is what is going to happen. There will be three outstanding bluegrass and folk bands, and one big band. The first is comprised of Stephanie Bettman and Luke Halpin, Colorado musicians who are magicians on the fiddle, guitar and mandolin. They will perform a children's concert at 1:15 p.m. and then one for us older types at 3:25 p.m. You can hear them as a warm-up to the festival at http://www.stephaniebettman.com.

The second will be the big band "A Wing and a Prayer" that will perform at 2:20 p.m. It is comprised of about 20 talented musicians who gather and perform for the sheer gratification of it. They will play some of your longtime big band favorites, such that when I heard them play I thought to myself on literally four different occasions: "Yes! That one is so good it will be their closing number!" They are amazing, and you will want to come to the festival if only to hear them!

The third scheduled group will be a five-piece, the Dennis Roger Reed Band, which uses a fiddle, guitar, mandolin, "other assorted stringed things," and "exactly the right amount of percussion," to get it highly touted and reviewed throughout the bluegrass world. Hear them at http://www.dennisrogerreed.com.

Our closing band, "Folding Mr. Lincoln will perform at 5:45 p.m. This five-piece, led by a husband and wife, has been playing since 1973, and it shows. One reviewer told people to come and "experience the pure joy of musicians feeding off each other and the audience" as they perform their "sweet jingly pop, fiddle-driven folk music." You can listen to a sampling of their music at http://www.foldingmisterlincoln.com.

Tim DeCinces' Beach Pit BBQ is scheduled to provide their famous tri-tip steaks and other wonderful barbequed fare. Picnic tables will be available, and there will also be a roped-off microbrewery and wine garden area, a traditional popcorn cart, and soft drinks, waters, juices and other food and drink for purchase.

And then there are the family activities. The Heritage Music Festival is planning to have wandering minstrel singers, live demonstrations at the museum's blacksmith shop and in adobe brick-making, pony rides, drawing lessons for "young Rembrandts," an area for storytellers, docent tours of the Kellogg House built in 1898, an exhibit about Orange County's Native American tribes, and photographers who will take pictures of guests in early 1900s apparel. The Santa Ana Police Department has been kind enough to furnish two officers on horseback.

And one more thing! From 1 to 3 p.m. May 21, the day before the music festival, there will be a master's class at Orange Coast College. This class will give an opportunity for some of our most talented high school and collegiate musicians, who will have won a county school district competition, to receive tips from Stephanie Bettman and Luke Halpin. Tickets will be available for the general public, but free admission will be awarded to all students who enter the competition.

So what better thing to do on a nice Saturday and Sunday afternoon in May? Parents, bring your children, and grandparents, bring your grandchildren, and everybody bring your friends! Tickets will be available through the Heritage Museum website, http://www.heritagemuseumoc.org

Admission for children 10 and younger will be free, and suggested donations will be $10 for students and $20 for adults. (But the overall suggested donation for any family will be capped at $50, and no one will be turned away.)

There will also be VIP tickets with prime seating for the music performances, including a lunch with two drinks served at your private table for a $100 donation.

Or if you have a company that would like to sponsor a "family day" for its employees or clients, contact the museum.

But at the moment, just save the date on your calendar. The Heritage Museum of Orange County has about 12 acres at 3101 West Harvard St., Santa Ana, between the Mitchell Elementary School, where there is lots of free parking, and Godinez High School.

The museum plans to have this event every year, so plan to make it an annual family tradition!

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the author of "Wearing the Robe: the Art and Responsibility of Judging in Today's Courts" (Square One Publishers, 2010), Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It, A Voter's Handbook, Effective Solutions To America's Problems and can be reached at jimpgray@sbcglobal.net or http://www.judgejimgray.com. Judge Jim Gray is also currently offering his 25 years of experience on the bench to ADR Services in Orange County for Arbitration and Mediation services.

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