The California Grand Jurors’ Association has prepared a 60 second recruitment video for Grand Jury Appreciation Month. Click the link below to see the video.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
CalOptima Burns While Majority of Supervisors Fiddle
The 2012-2013 Grand Jury has released their first report: CalOptima Burns While Majority of Supervisors Fiddle. Links to the News Release and full text of the report are below.
News from the December 6th Meeting
photos by Glen Stroud and Ron Harris (click on photos to enlarge)
Business Meeting
At the December meeting each year the Board members are sworn in by a distinguished judge. This year the ceremony was conducted by Superior Court Judge Richard M. King. Shown in the photo above are the newly elected and returning Board members. From left to right: Bill Underwood*, Connie Buenaventura, Carol Duensing, Carol Morales*, Terry Dancey*, Carlos Olvera, Lynn Bonas*, Robin Bowen, Glen Stroud*, Joe Quiros, John Moohr and Cheryl Brothers* with the asterisk indicating a newly elected or re-elected Board member.
A second business item was the passage of bylaw amendments that include modification of the procedures for nominating and electing Directors.
Program
Judge King, pictured at the right, delivered a well received background talk on the history of the death penalty and the three strikes law – both topics of propositions on the recent General Election ballot.
On a more personal note, Judge King noted his appointment to the California Interagency Council on Veterans. The Council was created in 2011 to help coordinate veterans’ services across local, state, and federal lines. Judge King is a U.S. Navy veteran and his first job as an attorney was with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington.
More Photos
On the left is Cheryl Brothers, center, with retiring Board members Viola Stadler and Chuck Holt. On the right members are shown mingling in the festively decorated room while Directors Carol Morales and John Moohr work at the sign in table.
Menu Item Added for By-Laws
The existing 2010 GJAOC By-Laws and the proposed changes are now on the website.
November 2012 Newsletter
Click the link for the current newsletter:
President’s Message
I had the privilege of speaking to the incoming 2012/ 13 Grand Jury panel during their orientation week. They seem like a bright and eager group. Seventeen of the 2011/12 panel who just finished their year will be joining our association with a free six months membership. Let’s welcome them to our group and hear from them about their experience. They certainly served during an interesting time for local governments. They managed to get great press coverage on their reports and seem eager to follow up on implementation of their recommendations. Their members have contacted me regarding the authority af- forded the GJAOC by the county to do follow up work. I suspect we are not done hearing from them. With the help of Joe Quiros, I will be working with the CA Franchise Tax Board to bring the Association into compliance for our tax exempt status. There seems to be some filing that is missing. I have some friendly expert help on this, and hope that the issue can be corrected without penalty. We will be implementing a set of policies and guide- lines to assure that all filing is done in a timely manner in the future. It hardly seems like a year has gone by since we had our election for board members, but, it is that time again. The following members have served a two year term and have agreed to run for re-election: Cheryl Brothers, Terry Dancey, Carol Morales, Glen Stroud. Chuck Holt was appointed to fill a one year term and will be running for the 2013 board.
Viola Sadler has completed a 2 year term and has decided to pursue other endeavors in the future. Among other contributions during her tenure, Viola set up our GJAOC web site. She will be looking for someone in the Association to take over this duty. The web master does not have to be on the board of directors, just someone with the interest and skills to keep the web page up to date.
Lynn Bonas has been a member of the Association since her panel service in 2006/07. She has been nominated to run for the open seat in the upcoming election. We have a full slate of names running for election and will have nominations from the floor at the September luncheon. As promised at our last meeting, WE ARE MOVING OUR LUNCH MEETINGS BACK TO THE PHOENIX CLUB IN ANAHEIM. Please keep the lunch flyer handy so you don’t forget to go to the new location. We will be back in the big ballroom for the September pro- gram and in the Pavilion for December.
I think that we have an interesting and timely program planned for you. See you in September – wasn’t that a love song?
Cheryl Brothers, President
September Program
Assistant Sheriff Mike James has more than 27 years in law enforcement experience with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. He currently serves as the Assistant Sheriff of Custody and Court Operations. During calendar year 2011, the three separate jail divisions within Orange County’s jail system had the ability to house in excess of 7,000 inmates and the Courts dealt with 113,000 inmates and 4.7 million members of the public.
Assistant Sheriff James was also in charge of Field Operations and Investigative Services. He has primary oversight for five divisions responsible for a variety of functions and enforcement activities critical to the safety of the residents of Orange County.
These divisions include Airport Operations, Homeland Security, Investigations, North Operations and South Operations. Within these functions and activities is the patrol of contract cities and unincorporated areas of the county including county parks, beaches, coastline waters, and harbors. He was largely re- sponsible for the Orange County Sheriff ’s Department bringing two major information sharing programs to the law enforcement community.
From 1999-2005 he served as the Chief of Police Services for the City of Lake Forest Police. Mike’s breadth of experience makes him the perfect person to answer all your questions.
September Meeting Flyer
Three members join/rejoin the Board
The Board held a special meeting on March 1st immediately following our general meeting luncheon. Purpose of the meeting was to appoint Board vacancies. There were three nominees for appointment to fill two (2) vacancies on the board for a two-year term each to replace deceased members Ed Wylie and Larry Callahan. Nominees are: Carlos Olvera, Joe Quiros, Mike Harris, An Nguyen, Lynn Bonas. Carlos Olvera and Joe Quiros were selected to fill the two vacant two year terms.
Next, there were four nominees for appointment to fill one (1) vacancy on the board to complete the one year remaining. This appointment will count as a full term according to the bylaws to replace Bob Fauteux, deceased. Nominees are: Chuck Holt, Mike Harris, Lynn Bonas, An Nguyen. Chuck Holt was selected to fill the remaining one year vacancy on the board.
March Luncheon
OC Grand Jury March Luncheon Speaker
Phillip E. Yarbrough, President of the Board of Trustees, Rancho Santiago Community College District, will be the speaker at the March 1, 2012 luncheon meeting
The issues and the solutions needed to deal with the curtailment of public education funding by Sacramento as it affects the community college districts will be reviewed.
Yarbrough has been a District trustee since 1996. He is president of a mortgage and real estate investment company.
He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business and Finance and his Masters of Arts degree in Economic from Cal State University with studies in real estate and finance and macro-economics theory and an emphasis in government budgets.
Active in many community activities, he served as an Executive Board Member with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the Orange County Chapter of the American Lung Association. He served as the Orange County Coordinator for the Concord Coalition, a non-profit federal deficit reduction organization.
The menu—choice of chicken or vegetarian:
Breast of Chicken with wild mushrooms
Fruity Autumn Salad- Field greens, crumbled gorgonzola, candied walnuts, diced apples, mandarin oranges, golden raisins, citrus vinaigrette dressing
Warm rolls with butter
Wild rice
Green beans with almonds
Breast of Chicken with wild mushrooms
Vegetarian:
Pasta Al Fresco with diced tomatoes, Basil, Mushrooms in white sauce or cream sauce
Dessert: assorted homemade cookies and brownies.
All for only $20.
The luncheon meeting is open to the public and starts at 11:30 am. For reservations and meeting information contact Bob Fauteux at 714-998-2868 or Joe Quiros at 949-651-0113, jmquiros@cox.net.