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E. E. In Omagh County, the chosen spot of all the earth as far as nature is concerned, According to the famed plant wizard Luther Burbank Diverse County, with 1,010,000 acres of land on 1574 miles of scenic roadways,

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Cinema County is rightfully famed for its agriculture did a culture, industry and recreation, as well as for the amazingly successful ethnic and economic mixture of its more than 340,000 residents on for the forward looking philosophy of its local governing bodies. Now we invite you to take

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a closer look at Sonoma County in the eighties with your host, Rich McGlinchy. We're going to be talking about two segments of Ah, yes, you'd say local government or local government and the judicial system, which it is primarily, we're gonna be talking to Judge Gail going

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up on the left of your screen nespoh court judge and Dennis Beam in the municipal court commissioner who has been doing with the traffic matters at the county for the last year or so. I guess it's nice to have your dentist. You never been over here

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before before. It is it for see already? I blew it. Four years. He just doesn't seem that long. Hi. Nice to have you back. Nice to be here. Have a cookie for ages of ages. Uh, Gail, you were appointed, uh, almost about seven years ago, I

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guess. To the bench. And? And I remember the appointment remember you're addressing are pressed of afterwards and talking about a lot of different interesting things. But one of the things that I remember mentioning introducing you was you were the first women ever appointed two dimensions. Sonoma

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County. That's correct. That's correct. Yeah. And now you have a cool court touch. Long judge. Will Sarita work? Yeah, that was quite a quite a milestone for the county, wasn't it? Wasn't long before that, you know, that they had elected there for woman supervisor a few

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years before. Yeah, And then, Mrs I, Gail, when you visited with us a timer to be for I remember you talked about the function to the municipal court on the limits for suits and that sort of thing and the backlog and much of what was going

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on. And I think we kind of covered that. But since that time, perhaps you can tell us that the changes that that have occurred since then and certainly in the seven years you've been on the bench, why would thinking back over the years? To me, the

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biggest difference now is the volume that the judges that handle misdemeanors. There's a couple days a week where they here over 200 cases, sometimes up to 300 cases a day, and the average judge handles 500 matters a week. Fortunately, part of that's traffic that dentists covers

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that takes a load off us. But it's a credible volume, and there is almost no time spent off the bench now on TV. Judges sit around their chambers and do research. And I thought it was real under things, and it's much more, um, a lot of

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quick thinking, case after case. The in terms of the nature of the case is the biggest change I see of the number of serious child molestation cases that were filed. I don't know if it's the increase in that type of offense or the fact that they're

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vigorously prosecuted in terms of the substantive crimes. That's been the biggest differences over the last several years and you. When you go to law school, you go there to learn law and being a judge, you wouldn't see yourself as administrator yet. I would say over the

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years, we've had to become so much more concerned with how to expeditiously here that many matters how to get funds for various programs and the administration of justice has become a more important role is a judge. This is one of the key changes in the time,

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even on a batch, right? Yes. Yeah. Uh, in light of what you just said about those changes and what it was really important that we have changed. How are you and your compatriots on the bench responding to these changes? Well, about 2.5 years ago, we establish

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a new calendar ring system where the same judge keeps a case. So there's no forum shopping, and a judge will already be familiar with the facts. And the defendant is called a federal system. Where did your judge receives every third case and keeps it indefinitely? Additionally,

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the state has responded with state trial court funding which this counties opted into, which is, ah, process whereby we turn over our revenues for the most part to the state, and they give us a block grant. Um, so it takes less of the pressure from year

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to year away from the board, and it equalizes the benefits from one county to another. Is you? You know, I'd imagine a case such a cell. Cedo could bankrupt a small county, and I think it will greatly benefit us in the long run and take away

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some of the political concerns away from criminal justice. Additionally, were, I think, within the next year, so we will have required delay reduction, which now we have seen through pilot programs. And that's a requirement whereby cases have to be brought to trial within a certain number

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of months. I mean, often citizens concern that justice delayed is justice denied. And this the process both in civil and criminal cases where certain motions will have to be heard within X days in the trial within a few months and you won't end up waiting years

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for cases to be tried. You're talking about some requirements you have there. Any other requirements have been placed on you and your phylum and female members of the bench? Well, one of the changes. I think of asses of interest of the public has been around the

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AIDS issue in the community, for instance, any first time drug offender. Even it's if it's for smoking. Marijuana will have to go through age training if there's been a criminal case where there's been some loss of blood or exchange of body fluids, for instance, an assault

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case, a rape case, the court or the defendant to submit Teoh testing to protect the victim on every county employee has to go through mandatory age training. So there definitely is a heightened awareness, and their new requirements assist the effect. Basically, that you feel that age

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has had on the criminal justice system are is arm, or I think that's a very small part of it. Unfortunately, it's the county's identify 10,000 intravenous drug users, and we know that AIDS is, um passed easily through dirty needles. And the fact that the virus already

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is is well known and is a great tragedy to this community and then knowing that we have inordinate number of drug users, we're regularly seeing, um, people in the community coming in with women that are carrying baby that have the virus. I think it would be

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an incredible burden to Cinema County Gail. The federal government is involved in a drug prevention program. I guess you call it broke Control. Not sure object exactly what the the correct terminology is. But one effect in your mind will let federal drug program or control program

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have on the court, the county, the courts, the date, whatever. Well, they're probably be grants available in special programs that snow mechanic and often to eventually. But I do think it will have a media impact of focus on substance abuse that now we can debate whether

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law enforcement's use primarily for product protecting property or violent crime. I'll think I think we'll see a greater emphasis on, um, drug enforcement. I think that will also see a second look at the recreational drug use, right. I do believe the president's program is getting the

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point across that Well, someone may think they're substance abuse is harmless to them, but they're really supporting, you know, killing and death in, You know, South American Central American countries, by perpetuating such use it. So I think it will have ah, mark impact. That's Tigress just

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a little bit. What other activities are you? You're a judgment. It's the court judge have been for seven years. Now. What other activities are you involved in? Other than your, uh, servers on the bench? Well, one of my, um, interests this I've been involved with for

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several years is working with, um, home for severely retarded Children and helping with their legal problems and with their government programs. And most recently, for whatever reason, I've been, um I guess shocked by some of the young Children I've met that are carrying the AIDS virus

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and how that's impacting their lives. And so I really made a personal commitment to try to free up time and find ways of trying to help in terms of education, of youngsters, to prevent the spread of the disease and to try to help these Children. You

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received appropriate medical care, and unfortunately, there's very few people in the community. They're gonna be out there to really help these drug users when the virus hits them. And there's no doubt that if that's going to the next wave of people suffering from a deadly disease,

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And so I'm hoping that through my work both on the bench, in the community. I can try to get some resource is and some education to a group that really is out of the mainstream of our community. But if the virus spreads is that it's predicted

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to in that group, it'll have a dire effect on our own government and its financing. And the resource is, I'd rather see spent somewhere else. And I attended a A. An annual meeting about a year ago border with the County Supervisor Association in California. One of

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the speakers was from Washington and apparently was a highly respected individual, and he cited the fact that the age epidemic from it, from a standpoint of it being a medical problem as well as a problem for the court, would be costing this country $20 billion a

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year by the year 2000. Yes, I doesn't. Atlantic. It sounds accurate by it will become the most lethal epidemic and history of civilization. And the Sonoma County is in one of the most highly infected areas in the world. Yeah, we're What was the figure 10,000 years

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to well ago? Uh, I V drug users is visitor high risk for, you know, the AIDS virus. Uh, just recently the the tax crusader propaganda of age, which transmitted to him through a apparently through a blood transfusion. What? He had open heart surgery. I see. It

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is that that gave me the willies pretty good. I've had a couple of those open heart surgery. Good eyes is going to say that, you know, apart from the legal issues and government responsibility, I really see it is the the rule test in our lifetime of

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our compassion and of our humanity and how we can best utilize our own resource is, um it's my understanding. And I think you mentioned this earlier briefly. That municipal court responsibility. Or has the authority Teoh overseeing the handling of traffic cases? I think if I was

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talking to you recently, I said I thought sometimes on the way back, just pass that there. They used to be actually handled in municipal court. But that's not the case anymore, is it? No. Actually, traffic. While most of us don't hear traffic matters on a daily

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basis, Thanks Toa Dennis or commissioner, It really is a backbone. Invisible court. Many ways because it generates Dennis generates most of the fees that hold the court together and keep us out of disfavor with the board. So then that the if I may paraphrase it, perceptible

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blessing for the miss My court judges to have me record commissioner or a traffic judge isn't very much. So that's not you. We're gonna talk to you just a minute apart. Just for a moment, ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna pause right here and not the station

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bringing you an important public service announcement. We come back, we're gonna talk to Dennis beaming about the traffic matters in Sonoma County traffic court, your rights and also the problems you'll run into if you violate the law. But first, these important messages This is Raymond Burr.

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There have been important changes in our criminal justice system. Now, crime victims have rights. If you or someone you know is a victim of a crime, a free program is available to help you learn about these rights. Pick up the phone and dial toll free 1

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800 victims. Learn about victims rights and services. Call now 1 800 victims. Five oclock people in a hurry, rushing for trains for buses. Time to go home to family. But for this man and two million like him, there is no hurry. No schedule, no where to

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go for them. The street is home, their only home homeless. Just because you can't help everyone doesn't mean you can't help someone. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to this tradition of Sonoma County in the eighties. We're talking to Judge Gail Gwynn up. And also Dennis Beeman.

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We talked to Judge Gwynn up earlier in the program about her time on the benches last seven years approximately. And we're gonna talk to Dennis Beaman and Dennis's. And incidentally, I think there's one thing that's kind of interesting in the two of you, my understanding of

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both the went same law school where once that it was in the San Fernando Valley, the University of San Fernando. But we didn't know it until we both were up here and both on the bench. Uh, this you didn't It wasn't correspondent courses was actually I

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see dentist frequently in the the county administration center and Judge Glen, if I don't get to see nearly often enough, but enjoy visiting with both of you. Dennis, Let's talk about traffic. Gail said a minute ago. That certainly is a sense of the words of blessing

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that you exist and you deal with all the traffic matters because they would, really, I know how many people you see in a day. I see the holes are there, so that kind of alone would really had to their headaches in trying to be a municipal

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court judge. But what first of all is the traffic court? Tennis? The traffic court is really the division of the municipal court that deals with the traffic matters. All of the vehicle code infractions that would be anything that's not charge is a misdemeanor. That is, any

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traffic violation that you can't be sentenced to jail on is basically an infraction. And that's the type of case that I deal with most of the time. Um, what right does a person have after they received a traffic ticket? Um, when they receive a traffic ticket,

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they're basically charged with a crime. It's acquires I criminal act, that is, it's not criminal in that they could go to jail for it, but it's a violation of the vehicle code, so they basically have all the rights they would have if they were charged with

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a crime, except that they don't have a right to a jury trial and they don't have a right to a court appointed attorney. But they have all the other rights. They have a right to be represented by an attorney if they want to. They have a

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right to a court trial and they have rights such as they have a right against self incrimination and all the other rights. Constitutional rights that no, with being charged of offensive some kind. Dennis, I've heard. I know you must have heard the complaint that the police

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should spend their time pursuing criminals, not bothering these poor on the citizens who incur some minor traffic violation. I don't concur with that thought, but how do you respond to the complaint? When I first started doing traffic court, I heard that frequently and I pondered that

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Are we really are the police? Should they be spending as much of their time enforcing traffic laws as they dio? And after giving it some thought, I came up with some. I did some research and came up with some statistics, and it's my conclusion that the

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average citizen that their greatest chance of losing her life or being hurt is in a traffic accident. We're all fearful that we might be victims of some violent crime, a murderer or something like that. But statistically the chances are that will be killed in an automobile

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accident before we would ever be the victim of a violent crime. And just to give you some figures on that, the latest ones that were available were for 1987 in a 1987 and Sonoma County. There were 15 willful homicides. During that same year, there were 81

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people killed in traffic accidents, and in that year there were approximately 450 victims of violent crime. That would be things like rape or robbery or aggressive aggravated assault. During that same period of time, there were 3500 people in the county hurt, and that was hurt seriously

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enough that they required immediate medical attention at the scene of the accident. So when you compare the statistics, it's easy to see that the real danger is that it makes it more important animal enforcement people to spend a good right. What's the most common type of

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traffic effects. Probably speeding is the most frequent one, and that also happens to be in about 25% of the accidents. That's determined to be the primary collision factor that somebody was driving faster than they should have been for conditions at the time. Uh, traffic court trial.

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You're in there in the morning, I guess. And they determine whether or not they plead guilty to whatever it is they try, and then you will. I allow them just signed them toe, come back for hearing of some sort. What happened to traffic court trial? Basically,

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that the traffic court trial is kind of informal. The defendant, the person it's received, the traffic ticket appears. And the officer who issued the ticket appears. And if there are witnesses, they're called at that time. But basically the officer testifies first, and he tells the court

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what it was that he saw that caused him to issue the citation. And then the defendant comptel their side of the story what they perceived that they did at the time. And, uh, more often than not, the defendant wants a trial because they think they have

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some excuse for doing what they were cited for its. Not that they really have an argument as to whether or not they were doing what they were kids to do. It uh, how you mentioned a little while ago, that the Dennis is important. It is for

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court function by the fines and the collection of fines for traffic violations. But how is the amount of a fine determined There is a basic fine set by the court and that fine is sometimes the vehicle code says what the fine needs to be. Most of

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the time, the vehicle code gives a memo minimum and a maximum and, uh, the maximum for the average traffic offenses $500. But most of finds Air said it. They started about where the basic finest $45. On top of that, the Legislature has added certain penalty assessments

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so that most of the fines with a person with a clean record, no prior traffic offenses Ah, first defense would be from 45 to $67. Now the fines get higher, the worst the person's record so that two people charged with the same thing one with a

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clean record might pay 45 1 who's this is the fifth traffic citation in the last year. They might pay a couple $100 for the same thing. I bet you hear some pretty creative excuses, don't you? That's the most fun part about doing traffic court. If there

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is a fun part, is that the arraignment proceedings? You know, some people who have created I think my all time favourite was an elderly gentleman who was well into his eighties, and he had been cited for doing 75 on the freeway, and he came in and

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readily admitted that I was doing 75. But he said there should be some kind of allowance for people like May, and I kind of wonder and ask him what kind of allowance he had in mind. And he said, What? You know, it's old. Folks don't have

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as much time left as you young fella, so we have to get there a little faster. He was very pleased with a 10 mile an hour allowance. Uh, that's great. Uh, another question that comes to mind. Now you've got the officer and you've got the driver.

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Um, what do you say to the person who who feels that the often word is always believed over the private citizens. Many people contend that I'm sure well, they do. And people have said that in open court that I wasted my time coming in here. I

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knew you take the officer's word, and that's the hardest thing I think for May, because I really when people walk out, I'd like them to feel like they had a fair trial that they were listened to and what they said was carefully weighed. So it's difficult

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for me, but gently, what I tell people is that I don't weigh so much. Who said Who's sane? This, that is. I did try not to give additional weight to the officer's testimony, but rather I try and listen to the substance of what they've said and

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based the decision on the substance of what's been said rather than who said it, and most the time after I explain that people accept it. Uh, what would happen if the person has does not have the ability to pay the fine? We have a community service

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program that's available If they're unable to pay the fine, they can work it off by doing community service. And there are about a tely sta 100 different jobs available in the community that they can perform, and they get credit for $5 for each hour of service.

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That's $5 against the fine. There are things such is the recycling center. There's work a community hospital re stacking books in the library, so there's a lot of worthwhile activities that they could do if they can't pay the fine. Uh, Dennis, I also understand that if

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you either cannot or elect not to to well, a few of you elect not to pay a fine. But if you don't pay a fine that you can actually attend a traffic school in looping. Is that is that correct? That's correct. And in fact, I That's

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one of the best programs I think we have available. The traffic school program is generally available to anyone with a good driving record who has committed a minor of fancy in the traffic school consist of an eight hour course. It costs $42 to attend the course.

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The big advantage to the person with the ticket is that if they can satisfactorily complete the course that the citation is dismissed, doesn't appear on the record. It's a zoo, though they never received the ticket. And I set through the course myself about a year and

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1/2 ago to see what I was sending these people to, and I'm convinced it's very worthwhile course after sitting through it. I think anyone who doesn't put a seat belt on when they drive has toe be crazy. Yeah, very convincing time start to run out. We're

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about a minute and 1/2 I think. What advice would you give to those that driving? I think the best advice is to try and develop some patients. I think the greatest cars of receiving traffic violations and accidents is that people are always in a hurry, and

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they get in such a hurry that they tend to drive faster than they should or take chances that they shouldn't take. So my advice is get a tape that they like music. They like to listen to put it on the tape back and slow down. Yeah,

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patience is probably one of the most needed qualities in this life period, and I could certainly see and I've been guilty as anybody else of being impatient on my way. And I'm sure you have a question about these car telephones. Did they add toe accidents, or

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do they contribute your patients theory? I don't think they contribute to the patients. They probably had two accidents. That's not from my experience in court. It's from my experience on the highway and seen somebody writing, taking notes with one hand and talking on the other. I

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don't think they're watching where they're going. Time has run out using gentlemen, but he knew Dennis. It's real pleasure to have you with us. Thank you, lady and gentleman. We were talking to Judge Gail Went up just court judge for Sonoma County and the first woman

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ever elevated to the bench in Sonoma County. Dennis Human, on a full court commissioner who had a goal of our traffic matters as a result of following the requirements of the job, provided all four of income for the municipal court, for which we thank you. Not

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when I have to pay you, but from the other standpoint. Okay. My name is Richman Frenzy. The program to know McCann in the eighties. Be back with you next week with another member of the county government, family or related agency until end. Good luck. Good night

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and good health to each and everyone, Uh