And so it begins...

I promised you'd be the first to know...

Life takes a strange twist or two, doesn't it. I was unemployed for exactly one week. (Actually, not at all - see end of this paragraph.) Today, I started a new job - but it's not one I would've expected, and it also is temporary. I'm the interim kids' ministry director at our church. The hiring was made retroactive to 1/1/09 -the very next day after my judgeship ended - because I'd been meeting and working with our children's minister and others both before the end of 2008 and between 1/1 and today, in anticipation of the possibility of being hired. God is good!

It's not such a stretch for me - I've been a volunteer in ministry for years and actually did something similar to this twice before, when I lived in Huntington. So I'm grateful for the chance to serve and of course, for the additional income it will provide my family. It definitely has a couple of nice practical features - very flexible, allowing time for me to do some other things on the side (read on...) - and also "no strings attached" meaning that if the church finds a full-time person, my assignment is over, and if I find a full-time legal position, my assignment is over. (That sounds a bit abrupt - one way or the other, I'd expect to be a part of the transition. I'm into paving the way for successors these days :)

Also today, I got my first court appointment, to represent the interests of a kid in a guardianship case. And, a call from someone I may accept as a client on a rather simple paperwork matter. I anticipate more court appointments and also assignments as mediator in Family Court. My bar membership officially changed today from "judicially inactive" to "active" and my malpractice insurance is in process.

There remain some interesting opportunities on the horizon and I intend to keep this blog updated. But for now...even though this turn was not expected, I'm very grateful.

Happy New Year

Last Wed. Dec. 31 was my last day on the bench. Beginning Dec. 27, Sat., I worked every day between then and the end of the year, finishing things up, cleaning things out, etc. But on Dec. 31, I did 8 weddings, and they were fun - all very interesting, all very different. Channel 12, WBOY-TV, covered them, and I not only made the news that evening, I made West Virginia Media's statewide newscast. Last night, I watched West Virginia Media's "week in review" which features one story of note around the state for each day of the previous week - and guess what? Yup, my weddings were the feature for Wednesday! It was a nice way to go out.

My staff took me out to lunch, which was wonderful but bittersweet, and then I headed back to the office about 3:00 to finish clean-out. My wife and youngest came about 4:15 and helped me finish - we left about 5:00 p.m. Busy since then! We had a party New Year's Eve here at home that started about 6:30 and ended just after midnight - a lot of fun and nice to have something to occupy my time and mind that evening. New Year's Day, I lazed around and watched football. Then Friday - had a nice dinner and movie date with my wife! Saturday, we had a visit from some dear friends, but also had some family matters to attend to. And leading us to today - this is the first day the Court House has been open since I left my job. Yes, I did call my staff today - they're there, waiting for my successor judges to actually start. The judges are in Charleston all week this week for training.

I'm trying to keep myself occupied, active and productive! Today, I've worked out, paid bills, made arrangements to get my bar membership reactivated, talked to my new malpractice insurance carrier, and taken care of umpteen other things. Working off a long list on a legal pad! It'll take me several days to make a dent. I haven't yet started cleaning out my boxes from the office or setting up the new office space for me we're planning for our attic.

Hopeful that we'll have more clarification of what's really going on here soon!

Christmas

It's Christmas Day, everyone, and hope it's been a merry one for you. We've had a good one - traditional morning with gifts, then this afternoon we headed for Pittsburgh where we had a nice dinner and enjoyed some of the city lights. Now we are at the Hyatt Hotel at the airport which is NICE. My daughter is flying out for Japan early in the a.m. from here - she's spending three weeks there to meet the requirements for her January-term class for her university. She'll be living with a missionary family and recording their life and work on film. I'm proud of her!

Still lots of Family Court work to do through the 31st - I didn't work yesterday or today, of course, and also don't plan to work tomorrow. But I'm working Saturday (no doubt with the Meineke Car Care Bowl on in the background - yes, there's a TV in my courtroom (sometimes needed for video exhibits) - and Sunday. Monday is my last day of hearings and it should be a booger - about 40 domestic violence. Tuesday is my final paperwork, etc., day, and Wednesday morning I have 10 weddings scheduled. My staff is taking me out for a nice lunch and then in the afternoon and evening I'll finish cleaning out my court room and office. No doubt I'll write more of my thoughts before all that is done - goodnight for now and once again, Merry Christmas to all.

One week 'til Christmas

Man! Cannot believe time has gone this fast, and that Christmas is one week away. I haven't had my head around Christmas this year like I normally do - no surprise maybe.

Took my staff to Deer Park Inn near Buckhannon for a nice dinner, last Saturday evening. It was for Christmas, it was to say thank you for all your hard work on my campaign, and also to say thank you for being great co-workers and good friends these past many years. Judy has been with me almost 14 years and Kellee, almost 10. My current bailiff, Chad, who's been with me over a year was there too. Deer Park is a beautiful place - my wife kidnapped me there for an anniversary getaway several years ago and we've been back twice before last week, once for a romantic Valentine's Day dinner and once for a Christmas Day buffet with family and friends.

Our tree is beautiful and I got a special early gift - an automatic tree-watering device cleverly disguised as a beautiful package. There's a big tag on it, "To Dad, from Your Family." No more squatting under the tree and getting everything wet! :) It's working great as long as I keep the "package" filled which I have to do about once a week.

We're having a lot of our Christmas celebration this weekend. My oldest and his wife are coming in from Tennessee - they are spending Christmas Eve and Christmas with her family in the Nashville area this year. #2 son and his wife usually have still spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with us but this year, will be with her family in Wheeling. #3 son is on duty from early Christmas Eve till 3:00 p.m. on the 26th at the residential home for troubled youth where he works! And so...on Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning, it'll be my wife, my daughter, our youngest son and me. Very, very different - but we'll have some semblance of a traditional celebration by going to church Christmas Eve and opening some gifts Christmas morning. Then, that afternoon, we head for Pittsburgh, since my daughter is flying out for Japan about 6:30 on the 26th. She'll spend three weeks there with a missionary family, documenting their life and work in photographs and film, as part of her Independent Study/"J-term" class with her college.

I had domestic violence hearings on Monday of this week and have a "rocket docket" today. We opened the day to the local bar to bring us cases which really can get in and out quickly. After today, I have one day of hearings set - December 29 - and it should be a doozy! It'll be a domestic violence day and from what we can tell, there will be a bunch.

On the 31st, my last day, the Court House closes at noon but I'll be here afterwards, still cleaning out, etc. During the morning, I'm opening my Court Room for weddings and so far nine have been scheduled. The press has done a nice job of giving us publicity on this and also the TV and print news have told me they plan to be here some that day to get some coverage. It's a nice way to say "thank you" to the community and also a nice way to "go out," doing weddings which definitely are one of the more fun and positive things I get to do in this job. I'm glad I'll still be able to do weddings after 12/31 since I have a ministry license - hey, I could even get paid for them in that capacity!

Oh, you're wondering about my job after 1/1? ME TOO! There have continued to be things come up even after 12/6, when I last posted - and I may have something firm though temporary. Not sure yet at all though - I am planning to try and do some mediations, and court-appointed guardian ad litem work, and things of that nature to keep busy and earn a little income. There are four or five things I am very, very interested in, but none of them will be open till after the first of the year. Many of them won't be available until summer or early fall at the earliest.

To all of you, have a blessed Christmas and a wonderful 2009.

Snow!

A very, very Christmasy day. Got the tree yesterday and I wrestled it into yet another new stand last night. And belatedly ordered myself a Christmas gift! You say - how could it be belated since Christmas is almost three weeks away? Well...it's a "Quench-a-Tree" tree watering system which I meant to order right after Christmas last year, to have it ready to go. But...it's being shipped from California, 2nd day air on Monday. Looks like a Christmas package and holds more than 5 gallons of water - so if it works as hoped, I'll be watering the tree here for a couple of days and not again :)

Judge Staker

It's Friday morning early and yesterday was consumed by the trip to and from Huntington, for Judge Staker's funeral. I dropped my youngest off at school and just kept on going.

Judge Staker was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of West Virginia and took the bench in late September 1979. Before that, he had been a Circuit Judge in his native Mingo County for 10 years and before that, a private lawyer for several years in Williamson, Mingo County. When he became a Federal judge, he was just about the age I am right now. I, on the other hand, was a 23-year-old brand new lawyer, and as they say "I didn't know nuthin about nuthin."

I was blessed to be one of his first three law clerks. One of the others was a woman from Huntington who had "gone back" to school and had just finished - she was in her mid-thirties with a lawyer-husband and two small daughters. The other was a fellow from Buffalo, N.Y., who had sought out a clerkship by sending resumes to newly-appointed judges throughout the country. In some ways, we were an unlikely team, but it was fortuitous (at least for we three clerks) that we all were brought together. This was a dream job, the type of job that many told me "you will never get because you have no connections." Well....let me give credit where credit is due and say that God opened up a door for me there, no doubt -

Clerking for a United States District Judge was a wonderful entree into the profession of law. Clerking for this man, Judge Staker, in particular was an unbelievably wonderful experience. He was almost paternal but never patronizing in his desire to "bring us along" for the ride of establishing his new court. He was interested in us personally as well as professionally. It was the type of first job all of us can only hope to have - the type you would want your child to experience after all the dreaming, all the planning, all the hard work, all the expense of preparing yourself for "what you want to do when you grow up."

Although I haven't seen the Judge often since I left his employ in the early 1980's -clerkships generally are designed to be short-term positions, and all three of us were gone by about the end of 1982 - and I also haven't seen my two law-clerk colleagues often - we've kept in touch enough to stay connected. Not as much as I would have liked - but we've touched base. The Buffalo native now has three children, and went back to Buffalo where he practices tax law. The Huntington native and her husband raised their daughters and retired from the law and moved to the Charlottesville, Va., area, where he runs a B&B and she works as an editor for a small (non-law related!) publishing company. (They are said to be "recovering lawyers" :) And I am where am I am. I have to admit - sometimes when I'm on the bench, I hear Judge Staker's words coming out of my mouth. I hope that doesn't sound like I'm bragging - I'm a poor imitation of the man, but he did have an impact on me. During this year of career transition in my own life, I've often wanted to talk to Judge Staker, to get his insight and advice; unfortunately, his first stroke occurred shortly after the primary election, and he's been quite ill and mostly unable to communicate well since then. None of the three of us had gotten to see him since he fell ill - he was in a nursing home when he passed - but we got the word that he would prefer not to be seen this way and certainly we wanted to and did honor that.

The last time the four us had been together was September 30, 2005, when we celebrated Judge Staker's retirement. (I have a picture taken of us that day on my computer somewhere but can't find it right now! I will post it here if and when I am able to locate it - some of my friends out there have suggested I need to do a better job of posting pictures on this blog and I will try, promise.) He and his wife could have had dinner with anyone present but they sought the three of us out and invited us to be their guests. It's special to me that my youngest son, who was 8 and had never met the Judge, was with me. (Judge Staker was a wordsmith and my son took great pride in telling him that I had taught him to use the word "accoutrement" with the explanation that that was a favorite word of Judge Staker's! If you catch me in person sometime, ask me what the "accoutrement" was --)

It's poignant to think that the three of us might not be together again at the same place in this lifetime. Unless we just make it happen, considering the geographic distances, our histories of contact and the realities of life, it's hard to imagine how that might occur. But it was special to be together for those early years of our careers with Judge Staker, and it was special and appropriate for us to be together again yesterday to say farewell to this great mean who touched each of our lives so much.

December

Well, it's the last month here. My staff and I were a little melancholy yesterday, but not a whole lot of time for that since it was domestic violence day. Today, no hearings, and so we had a meeting this a.m. to plan out each day for the rest of the month. Tomorrow -- unless there's a surprise on one of the remaining DV days -- will be my final mega-mega hearings day. I start at 8:30 and will feel lucky if I'm done by 8:30 on the other end. Kellee, Judy and Chad (my Bailiff) already know I'm good for dinner in. My problem will be finding five minutes to wolf it down! And - forget lunch!

I'm not complaining. Maybe I am! But in a warped way I will miss days like tomorrow. Hmmm...something wrong there. Ah well!

My first boss, Judge Robert J. Staker, a great man, passed away late Sunday. He had been very ill since this summer. His funeral is Thursday in Huntington and I will be there. I was one of his first Law Clerks and the other two, Christ Gaetanos of Buffalo, N.Y., and Ginna Colburn who now lives in Charlottesville, Va., will join me along with many, many others I'm sure. Christ and Ginna and I had not been back together perhaps in 20 years until we met for Judge Staker's retirement reception September 30, 2005. After it was over, the Judge and his wife took the three of us out to dinner. Incredibly special time - not just then, but also working for him. It was a wonderful privilege to start my career under the tutelage of a mentor so knowledgeable and so caring.

Judge Staker's loss really makes me think back on this year. I have been very, very blessed in my life overall, and one of the particular ways is in my career in the law. While this year has handed me quite a setback - losing the election still smarts like the dickens - I cannot complain about the wonderful jobs I've had. I was told I would never get a clerkship in U.S. District Court and I did - and I have to thank God for it. Oh, I applied - yes, I made the effort - but the people who discouraged me were right to the extent that I shouldn't have had that honor and privilege. But I did. There have been other bumps in my career path beyond the loss of the election - but to have had the chance these past fourteen years to sit on the Family Court bench has been another impossible dream come true. And so, I look forward to the next opportunity, the next challenge, the next chance to serve. I don't mean to sound so noble but I do mean to sound positive.

This month will be devoted to finishing this job. I have several more hearings. I have about 6 files waiting for me to make decisions, some of them rather complex. There are files to clean out and things to take home. And, yes, there will be time devoted this month to the continuing job search. TWO new job possibilities were made known to me just today, and no less than six were presented to me during the month of November alone.

This month also is Advent and we will prepare for the Christmas celebration too, certainly, in our family, in our home, and most importantly in our hearts - our I will do my best to do that personally, anyway. By the way, we just had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my oldest son's (and his wife's) brand new home in Knoxville, Tennessee. The whole family was there, including my best friend and his wife with whom I've spent Thanksgivings since 1978! (Although their kids, my nephew and niece, who are now both old married people, weren't there - but we talked to them which was nice.) It was a great way to christen this home that he designed and did most of the finish construction work on. A lot of friends and family have pitched in and now they have a beautiful and comfortable new home.

Don't know how often I'll be posting this month. It will be busy! I am planning a celebration for my staff, for Christmas, to thank them for their incredible help during the campaign, to thank them for their good and faithful service to me and the Family Court and the public all these years, but most of all to just enjoy spending time with some pretty amazing people.

God bless everyone out there. Have a blessed Christmas season. That reminds me! We need to find the perfect tree - that'll be next on the agenda -