B.Lewis Avera Jr

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E-mail: lewavera@cox.net
Grand Juries and the Law; Forepersons Workshop; Grand Jury Essentials;
and Local Government Structure, Transparency, and Ethics

Lew Avera; Born in Ithaca, New York; Raised in Decatur, Georgia, and Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; BS degree from The Citadel, Charleston, S.C.; MA in Personnel Management, George Washington University, Washington, D.C; MBA, Kogod College of Business, and JD, Washington College of Law, American University, Washington, D.C

Career Officer, U. S. Marine Corps. Two tours of duty in the Republic of Vietnam. Combat arm of Infantry and non-combat specialties of Manpower and Personnel Management and Training; Five personal decorations; Retired as Lieutenant Colonel with 20 years service.

Law firm and university management experience; Five years as training consultant with leading national training firms in business processes and effective management techniques; Five years as adjunct professor in Business Administration, Redlands University; 18 years as West Region Managing Director of Human Resources for Management Consulting division of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Board of Directors of Savings and Loan Association.  Board of Directors and corporate officer of two homeowner’s associations and two non-profit corporations.

City of San Clemente: Planning Commission, General Plan Advisory Committee, and City Traffic Task Force
Mediator, Orange County Superior Court.
Foreperson of 2004-2005 Orange County Grand Jury.
Current Chairman of Training Committee for California Grand Jurors’ Association.

Marsha Caranci
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E-mail: caranci@aol.com

Grand Jury Interviewing, Grand Jury Investigations,
Grand Jury Final Report Writing,
Group Process, and Grand Jury Essentials

Marsha Caranci grew up in Colorado, graduated from Colorado State University, and moved to California with her husband in 1976. They owned and operated a veterinary hospital in the Bay Area for 25 years, then retired and moved to Redding in 2000.  Marsha has served in various board positions for local community groups in Redding and has been involved in planning fund raisers, festivals, and educational programs for several volunteer organizations. She is also an avid fly fisher and loves gardening, hiking, and reading.

Marsha served on the Shasta County Grand Jury as Pro-Tem in 2001-2002 and as Foreperson in 2002-2003.  She was instrumental in re-writing the Shasta County Grand Jury Procedures Manual and has presented workshops on Grand Jury Organization and Structure, Report Writing, and Interviewing in Shasta County, where she recently served as President of the Shasta County Grand Jurors’ Association and is still a Director. 

Bette Flick
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E-mail: wflick321@ca.rr.com

Grand Jury Final Report Writing

Bette is past chair of the Costa Mesa Human Relations Committee and for many years was a volunteer with both the Greater Long Beach and Orange County Girl Scout Councils. She has been an active member of both her local and national human resources associations.

Ted W. Freeman
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E-mail: twfreeman@ix.netcom.com
Grand Jury Essentials, Grand Jury
 Final Report Writing, and Continuity

 Ted Freeman received a degree in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside. After serving four plus years as a Naval Communications Intelligence Officer at the Taiwan Defense Command and the National Security Agency, he returned to graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. While there, he acquired a Life California General Secondary Teaching Credential and did graduate work in Political Science. He taught high school Social Studies for 32 years, primarily the subjects of United States History and Government and Economics.  He has done extensive curriculum writing and is published in the field of education.

He was a member of the Marin County Grand Juries of 1998-1999 and 1999-2000.  He served as Education Committee Chair on both juries and was Foreman ProTem for the 1999-2000 Grand Jury.  He has been Secretary and President and served on the Board of Directors of the Marin County Chapter of the California Grand Jurors' Association.  Since retiring from teaching and serving the two terms on the Grand Jury, he has been actively involved in local politics in San Anselmo.  In November, 2005 he was elected to a four-year term on the San Anselmo Town Council and during 2008 served as Mayor.

Ray Frisbee
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E-mail: frisaus@hotmail.com

Grand Jury Final Report Writing

Ray Frisbie earned a B.A. in Political Science from UC Santa Barbara. After three years in the US Army, including a year in Vietnam as a counterintelligence agent, he returned to school at Cal State Chico to earn a secondary teaching credential.
 
He taught for 32 years, teaching a wide variety of social science courses, including four different advance placement subjects. He also coached sports and served as an advisor to the school's very successful mock trial team. Ray served eight years as a member of his local elementary school district.
 
Upon his retirement from teaching, Ray fulfilled a long-time goal by applying to the Shasta County Grand Jury. He served two successive terms, the second as vice foreperson, and participated in five different committees during that time.

Robert C. Geiss
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E-mail: bobgeiss@cox.net

 Grand Jury Final Report Writing

Bob Geiss served on the1998-99 Orange County Grand Jury. He chaired the Special Issues and Continuity Committee, was secretary for the Environmental and Transportation Committee, and served on the Editorial Committee.  During his term, he authored five reports that were approved and published by the Grand Jury on a diverse series of topics relevant to county governance.

He is a former director in the California Grand Jurors' Association and he sits on the Legal Committee and the Training Committee.  He is Treasurer of his local Friends of the Library organization and is a member of its executive board.  He is also involved in transportation issues for California and is a director of the Drivers for Highway Safety, an Orange County transportation forum.

Bob is a retired USAF officer and aerospace engineering manager (formerly with McDonnell Douglas now Boeing).  He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from M.I.T., the Air Force Institute of Technology, and California State University.

Karin J. Hern
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E-mail: karin.hern@sbcglobal.net

Grand Juries and the Law

A native Californian, Ms. Hern received her B.A. at UC Berkeley and J.D. at UC Davis, and practiced for 30 years as the General Counsel/Senior Vice President for several integrated health care systems and organizations worldwide. She is currently practicing health care and corporate law on a part-time basis in California and serves on the Boards of Directors of both the Marin County and California Grand Jurors' Associations.

While a member of the Marin County Civil Grand Jury from 2005-2008, Ms. Hern served as an investigative committee Chair, administrative committee Chair, lead author, contributing author and editor, acted as the Foreperson in 2006-07, and was active in legal and continuity issues. She currently provides training to incoming Marin County grand jurors on legal and continuity matters.

Ms. Hern brings to the California grand jury system her energetic commitment to the principles of that statewide system, and a focus on enhancing its effectiveness and membership through direct, concise, and consistent communication to its publics.

In her private time, Ms. Hern performs in a women's vocal jazz octet, volunteers in children's theater, loves to travel, and resides in Tiburon, California with two cats.

Dianne Hoffman
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E-mail: cgjamailbox@yahoo.com

 Grand Jury Investigations and Grand Jury Interviewing

Dianne Hoffman was a member of the Orange County Grand Jury 2000-01 and chaired the Editorial Committee.  Employed by Pacific Bell for 31 years, she retired in June 1996 as a digital electronics technician-a position held for 18 years.  Dianne was an active member of the Communications Workers of America for 16 years, held the position of Election Chair for 14 years, and was chairperson of the Education Committee for about six years.  She trained all new stewards for about six years.  She was liaison between the local and upper level management for about 10 years, handling the grievance procedure both at the local and across the table from management.  Dianne received extensive training in interpersonal development from Pacific Bell and was a coordinator at many seminars.  She was a course developer for both the union and Pacific Bell.  After retiring from Pacific Bell, Dianne was a training manager for 18 months teaching technical skills throughout South Orange County to those who followed into her job title.

After completing her Grand Jury experience, Dianne joined the CA Grand Jurors Assn and is currently on the Board of Directors. She has been training new Grand Jurors for five years. She is a member of the Orange County Grand Jurors Assn.  She worked for the Registrar of Voters in Orange County, developed a training program for precinct workers and presented the training in 2001 and 2002.  She operates a small business called Dianne’s Screen Scene, providing in-home training on computer software applications such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop as well as others.

Dianne is extremely interested in genealogy and spends one week each year doing research at the Salt Lake City Family History Library.  She is a Member of the Orange County California Genealogical Society and the Orange Grove Quilters Guild and is involved with a group that conducts tours of the Superior Courthouse in Santa Ana for 8th and 12th grade students.  A serious quilter who loves football, reading and Nintendo, she loved her grand jury service and hopes to help others enjoy the experience as well.

Karen Keating Jahr
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E-mail: karen.jahr@sbcglobal.net

Local Government Structure, Transparency, and Ethics;
Grand Juries and the Law; and Legal Advisors

 Karen received her law degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, in 1978. In 1980, after
two years of private practice in Los Angeles, she moved to Redding and joined the Shasta County Counsel's Office. She was appointed County Counsel by the Board of Supervisors in 1991 and retired in 2008. As Shasta County Counsel, Karen was the legal advisor to and represented the Board of Supervisors, elected and appointed county officers, commissioners and employees, the governing boards of several special districts, and the grand jury.

From 1991 to 2008, Karen provided most of the legal assistance, including formal opinion letters, required by the Shasta County Grand Jury. She wrote and (with the input of the grand jury) annually revised the grand jury's procedures manual. She assisted the Superior Court in upgrading its recruitment and selection procedures for grand juror applicants. She developed a formal orientation program for incoming jurors. She has been a trainer with CGJA since 2006 and is an honorary lifetime member of the Shasta County Grand Jurors' Association.

In addition to training and orienting grand jurors, Karen (and her staff attorneys) provided annual seminars to Shasta County officers and employees on legal topics such as civil rights, labor relations, and tort litigation. For several years, she provided training in northern California counties on child dependency law, as an instructor for UC Davis Extension. In 2006, she developed and co-taught an ethics and government transparency class for County, city, and special district officials and administrators.

Judi Lazenby
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E-mail: judilazenby@aol.com

Grand Jury Interviewing

Judi is a past President of CGJA, has served as a Director since November 2005, and a Trainer since 2003 in the techniques of Grand Jury Interviewing.

Judi served on the 2000-01 and 2005-06 Santa Cruz County Grand Jury. A member of the American Association of University Women, Judi has a B.A. in Mathematics from Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia; a Teaching Certificate from the State of Georgia; and a Law Degree from Peninsula University School of Law, Mountain View, California.

Retired after 23 years as an attorney, Judi currently mediates dissolutions of marriage for those persons in the entertainment industry.

Previously she served as Trust Representative for Union Bank of Maryland,  responsible for estate analysis and Will and Trust preparation. Prior to that, Judi was Assistant Vice President of Benefacts of  Baltimore, a division of Alexander & Alexander,  responsible for preparing individual estate analyses for key executives of major corporations.

Jerry Lewi
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E-mail: cgjaprguy@roadrunner.com

Grand Jury Essentials, Grand Jury Final Report Writing,
Grand Jury Investigations, and Continuity

Jerry is a retired aerospace engineering and marketing executive. He served on the Ventura County Grand Jury in 1998-1999 where he chaired several committees, including the one that managed continuity.

He joined CGJA in 1998 and was appointed to the Board of Directors in 2001 and elected in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008.  He served as Vice-President, Chair of the Operations Committee, Webmaster and chaired the 2003 and 2009 Annual Conferences. Jerry served as President of CGJA from 2004-2006.  Currently he is Chair, Public Relations and Editor of the Grand Jurors’ Journal.

Jerry has served on several other boards of volunteer organizations and on citizen advisory committees in his hometown of Thousand Oaks. As Chair of the Community Budget Task Force, he led the committee in analyzing the city budget using Grand Jury disciplines and procedures.

Duane J. Mason
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E-mail: VenDwight@aol.com

Grand Jury Investigations, Grand Jury Essentials,
Group Process, and Forepersons Workshop

Duane served as Foreman of the 2001/2002 Shasta County Grand Jury and two years as a Director of CGJA.  His background includes four years in the U.S. Navy during which he spent hundreds of hours as an air-crewman flying the original early warning route between Midway Island and Adak, Alaska.  Following his Navy tour, he went to work for the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) in 1960 as an electronics technician and began working towards a college degree. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado in 1974.

During his career with the FAA he spent four years in Venezuela working with their Ministry of Transportation & Communications as an advisor on navigation aides and communications for civil aviation. In addition, while stationed in Washington, DC, he managed the FAA’s technical training program for design, installation, and maintenance of air traffic control facilities.

In 1995, he retired from the FAA and the Senior Executive Service and finally settled in northern California to relax and enjoy life.  He keeps busy with woodworking, gardening, reading, raising two standard poodles, and doing grand jury work.

Catherine D. McKown
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E-mail: cdmac1@aol.com

Grand Jury Final Report Writing, Grand Jury Essentials,
and Forepersons Workshop

Catherine served on the Marin County Grand Jury from 2004-2006, 05-06 as foreperson. She is a former director of CGJA and is currently serving as president of the Marin Chapter of CGJA.

She attended UC Berkeley where she majored in art history and also studied psychology and classical music. While working in the education field, Catherine returned to school and received a Certificate in Counseling from UC Santa Cruz.

Catherine retired as a special educator and currently serves as a Personnel Commissioner for the Marin County Office of Education; in addition, she serves on a 3-person panel that evaluates sexual harassment cases throughout the state.

Catherine is experienced as a writer and editor and was instrumental in the startup of Focus magazine which is distributed to 220,000 union members in California. She is also the recipient of the Golden Pen, the top editing award at the state level, for her local union newsletter.

As a CGJA presenter, Catherine enjoys meeting jurors throughout the state. She has been a member of the CGJA Training Committee for several years and enjoys working with that dedicated group. Her interests include writing, editing, her book club (with former grand jurors), movies, and nature photography.

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Ron Miguel
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E-mail: rm@well.com

 Grand Jury Investigations, Grand Jury Interviewing,
and Grand Jury Final Report Writing

Born in 1931, Ron is a 3rd-generation San Franciscan; married 57 years; 3 children, 7 grandchildren, 1 great-grandchild. His home is in the Potrero Hill neighborhood. He attended Lowell High School and the University of San Francisco, has owned two small businesses in San Francisco, and retired in 1991.

Ron serves as President of the San Francisco Planning Commission and is a current or past Board member of the Planning Association for the Richmond (past-president), Neighborhood Associations for Presidio Planning (past-president), California Grand Jurors’ Association, Golden Gate Park Music Concourse Authority (past-president), Menorah Park Senior Housing (President), Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, Community Learning Center at St. James, and the San Francisco Art Commission.

He has served on Coro Foundation panels, regarding Urban Design and Housing in San Francisco; was a panelist on Urban Renewal at Stanford Law School’s “Shaking the Foundations” conference, and at the Bay Area Social Equity Caucus on Equity Impacts of SB375. He was a guest lecturer for the Yolo County Superior Court on the history and process of the California Grand Jury System. The SF Housing Action Coalition awarded him their 2009 Housing Hero Award.

Ron is a former SF high school debate and forensics coach, religious school teacher, and has written and taught management schools for a national trade association in communication psychology and interview techniques. During the past 13 years he has instructed over 5,000 incoming California Grand Jurors from 50 counties.

Service includes the Central Freeway/Octavia Blvd. CAC, SF Open Space & Recreation CAC (past-president), San Francisco Grand Jury (foreperson), SF Housing Action Coalition (founder), Golden Gate Park Master Plan Task Force, SF Tour Bus Task Force, Fine Arts Museums of SF CAC, California Academy of Sciences CAC, Kaiser-Permanente Community Group, Richmond Hills Family Center, Richmond Police Forum, Project Open Hand and SF School Volunteers. At one time, Ron was a trade association lobbyist in Sacramento.

He is a member of San Francisco Planning & Urban Research, American Planning Association, Starr King Masonic Lodge (Past Master), Potrero Hill Democratic Club, Potrero Hill Boosters, Dogpatch Neighborhood Association, and the International Association for General Semantics.

John Sitton
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E-mail: sitton_john@yahoo.com

 Grand Jury Interviewing

John served four terms with the San Benito County Grand Jury. During the ‘05/06 term he served as Foreperson. He is a graduate of Grinnell College in Iowa with a BA degree in theater and speech.

After a try at the theater, he returned to his childhood home in Denver, Colorado, where he took a management position with a retail organization. Because he was young and single and therefore easy to move, he spent the next few years being transferred all over the western US.  His traveling days ended when he was moved to the company executive offices in San Diego where he became Vice President of the southwest division. He retired from management in 1996 and then spent the next eight years teaching management skill courses. He retired for good in 2004.

Currently John is serving, as a member of San Benito County Juvenile Justice Commission, is on the oversight committee of Gavilan College and the member of two standing committees of CGJA.

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Ray Tjulander
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E-mail: RBTju@aol.com

  Grand Jury Final Report Writing

I was born and raised in southern California. I graduated from the University of Idaho with a degree in Chemical Engineering. I did graduate work in Business Administration at Cal. State Northridge.

My career was with NASA where I managed resident offices at prime contractor locations, overseeing NASA’s contracts. My major activities were at Rocketdyne on the F-1 engine for the Apollo program and then the Space Shuttle main engine. Subsequently, I opened a resident office at TRW to oversee and manage the Chandra X-ray orbiting observatory. After retiring I became active in local volunteer activities in my community. I served on the 2008-2009 Ventura County Grand Jury and the last three months of the 2007-2008 Grand Jury.

On the personal front, I am married to Barbara, and we have two grown daughters and three granddaughters.

William E. Trautman
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E-mail: trautman17@sbcglobal.net

  Grand Jury Interviewing

Bill Trautman: Born in San Francisco; grew up on the San Francisco Peninsula; received a BA degree in Economics from the University of California (Berkeley) and an LLB degree from the University of California (Berkeley) School of Law (Boalt Hall).

Practiced law for 42 years as a partner in the law firms of Chickering and Gregory, 1965-1981;  Brobeck, Phleger and Harrison 1981-2003; Morgan and Lewis 2003-2006; handled major-case litigation at these firms; now retired from the active practice and acts as a mediator and arbitrator.

Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers; past officer of the San Francisco Barristers’ Club; member board of directors of The Bar Association of San Francisco and officer and director of the California Barristers’ Association. Examiner for State Bar Disciplinary Proceedings. Past member of State Bar Committee on Professional Ethics.

Foreperson of the 2007-2008 Napa County Grand Jury, which won the 2007 CGJA’s Excellence in Reporting Award, and whose local newspaper won the CGJA’s 2007 Excellence in Reporting Award for its coverage of the 2007-2008 Napa County Grand Jury. Foreperson of the 2008-2009 Napa County Grand Jury.

Past President of the Oakland Museum Association, the Boalt Hall Alumni Association and the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco. President of the Silverado Property Owners’ Association and the Silverado Country Club. 

Former member of the Napa County General Plan Update Steering Committee; Chair of the Silverado Community Services District Advisory Committee.

Lecturer on various legal subjects and trial-practice for California Continuing Education at the Bar and various other organizations. 

Kathy Wylie
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E-mail: kathy@mcn.org

  Grand Jury Investigations

Since 1995, Kathy Wylie has resided in the beautiful west coast tiny rural town of Albion in Mendocino County. She is completing her 11th year as a Computer Applications instructor at Mendocino High School teaching classes in Desktop Publishing, Graphics & Animation, Multimedia production, Business, and Career Exploration.

She attended Cal Poly, SLO, majoring in Biology and recently completed a Business degree in Strategic Management and Management at Dominican University. She continues to hold a California Real Estate Broker’s License that she earned while running her own brokerage in Paradise, California, and is a Notary Public. Kathy also serves as the elected President of the Mendocino County Schools Employees’ Union, representing 130+ Certificated and Classified members at 16 school locations throughout Mendocino County.

She served on the 2003/04 Mendocino County Grand Jury and was appointed Foreman to the 2004/05 Grand Jury. She is currently Foreman of the 09/10 Mendocino County Grand Jury. Kathy has served as a Director for the California Grand Jury Association for the past few years, chaired the 2007 CGJA Elections committee, is a member of the CGJA Legislative Affairs Committee and was appointed to finish out a vacant term as CGJA’s Vice President in September 2007.

In her spare time, Kathy’s hobbies include downhill skiing, 5-string banjo, knitting, and crocheting.