(article is
from the news section)
4/18/2004 - By TRACY RZEPKA
John Sember flips through the pages of an American Bar Association publication,
stopping on the page that recognizes communities for their efforts to honor
the rule of the land.
His dream is for Jamestown to make the list that highlights outstanding Law
Day activities throughout the nation as the Robert H. Jackson Center education
committee and Jamestown Bar Association add more, each year, to a long-observed
event.
''This is the expectation - that it will grow. It's a resource that hasn't been
tapped. We are just at the beginning stages of this,'' said the Law Day 2004
chairman. ''Places throughout the country have a Law Day where entire communities
get involved.''
Locally, Law Day has primarily been celebrated through schools. The Jamestown
Bar Association has observed the day - nationally proclaimed as May 1 since
1958 but modified by each community - by sending lawyers to speak in classrooms.
The tradition will continue this year for Jamestown's Law Day on April 22, and
the Jackson Center education committee will continue with another tradition
started last year.
Rather than an ABA mock trial as was performed one year ago, a group of students
will present two full performances of an original play, What Daddy Says, written
by Matthew J. Kraft.
Not only will elementary and middle school pupils' visit to the Robert H. Jackson
Center feature a play, but the pupils will gain other insights into this year's
theme of ''To Win Equality by Law: Brown v. Board at 50.''
Robert Terreberry will disguise himself as Jackson, borrowing the former Supreme
Court justice's words to convey his thoughts on the Constitution and the rights
of man. Joseph Gerace, a retired New York State Supreme Court Justice, will
make a return appearance to reflect on the judicial branch.
A slide show featuring images from the South during the time of segregation,
produced by Cole Peterson of Teen TV, will serve as a preview to the play.
''We don't have to preach. We don't have to do all these other things to get
ideas across,'' Sember said. ''It lets the kids make up their own mind because
the images will give them an idea and they'll be able to interpret it.''
''Fifty years after the fact, it's easy to forget the very rough road that was
traveled in order to achieve what we have today,'' said Gregory Peterson, president
of the Jackson Center.
He said it is important for children to understand that what occurred then ''is
not merely history revisited, but relevant in aspects of life beyond just integration
of the schools issue - other areas of civil rights, relationships, interrelationships
with parents, teachers, children in the classroom, the understanding of fundamental
justice and fairness - which are all aspects of what the Robert H. Jackson Center
is trying to promote through various activities.''
Lyle Hajdu, vice president of the JBA, has visited schools for Law Day over
the last few years. For his audience this year - Panama High School students
studying psychology - he will tailor his presentation to ''how psychology is
an important facet of the law, specifically in trial practice.''
The group he usually visits is composed of middle schoolers, to which he explains
the necessary steps to becoming an attorney and tries to pique interest in the
proverb, ''There's always two sides to every point.''
''I would be very satisfied if a student can walk away with a better appreciation
for the adversarial process,'' Hajdu said. ''It's one thing to have conviction
and to have strong beliefs, but you have to temper it with the realization that
we don't always understand or have full perspective on a situation and sometimes
we're dead wrong.''
Communities across the country have celebrated Law Day over a week's period
of time with various activities. Locally, the observance has been extended to
include the week of April 26 with the visit of the Brown sisters. Linda Brown
Thompson and Cheryl Brown Henderson are the women of Brown v. Board of Education,
the case that ruled segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.
As momentum grows with the Jackson Center, Sember is intent on expanding the
reach of the day's, and center's, efforts.
''The mission of the Jackson Center is to become an educational resource for
all. I'd like to see eventually that we'd become a center for mock trials''
and a host of state contests, Sember said. ''I'd like to see teachers involved
down here and using some of the time they've been here to cover the criteria
where they have to go out for public service or staff development ... All of
these things are coming together, where we could be a very viable educational
resource.''