FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
   
July 27, 2009      

Contact: Stephanie Perry
Communications Specialist/Website Editor
206-733-5932; stephaniep@wsba.org

Tulalip Tribal Court Alternative Sentencing Elders Panel Program Receives Local Hero Award

(SEATTLE) — The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) announces that it has presented the Tulalip Tribal Court Elders Panel with its Local Hero Award. The Local Hero Award is presented by the WSBA Board of Governors as it travels around the state to those who have made noteworthy contributions to their communities. The WSBA Board of Governors met in Tulalip on July 24–25. WSBA President Mark Johnson presented the award at a special reception, with members of the Board of Governors, members of the local bench and bar, and other guests in attendance.  Mount Vernon attorney Catherine Brown and Snohomish County Juvenile Court Coordinator Toni Elmendorf also received Local Hero Awards at the reception.

The Tulalip Tribal Court Elders Panel is a diversion program that uses the traditional Tulalip method of drawing on the wisdom and experience of respected elders to teach young defendants how to conduct themselves as members of the tribe. The panel is composed of volunteers who are respected Tulalip elders or seniors; currently, the panel consists of Virginia A. Carpenter, Donald C. Hatch Jr., Katherine M. Monger, Eleanor M. Neilson, William G. Shelton, Lee Topash, and Arthur H. Williams Sr.

Young Native American adults over the age of 18 are referred, at their request, to the Elders Panel by the Tulalip Tribal Court for minor criminal offenses, such as possession of alcohol, possession of marijuana, or criminal mischief. The panel meets with the offender, obtains information about the offense committed, and sets out a plan for the youth to follow, which may include community service, letters of apology, anger-management classes, drug testing, spiritual activity, or interviewing relatives to create a family tree. The defendant is given a deferred prosecution on the criminal charges for a year while the defendant is working with the Elders Panel. Upon successful completion of the program, the charges are dismissed, and the defendant will have reconnected with their tribal elders and values; be less likely to commit future offenses; and will avoid a criminal record.

Tulalip Tribal Court and WSBA member Judge Gary Bass has referred more than 25 youths to the Elder Panel in the past three years. "With the ones who are successful in Elder Court, we don't wind up with them back in criminal court," he said. "You get them to start learning about their culture, their heritage, and you can actually change the way they act in their life."

About the Washington State Bar Association
The WSBA is part of the judicial branch, exercising a governmental function authorized by the Washington State Supreme Court to license the state's 33,200 lawyers. The WSBA both regulates lawyers under the authority of the Court and serves its members as a professional association – all without public funding. As a regulatory agency, the WSBA administers the bar admission process, including the bar exam; provides record-keeping and licensing functions; and administers the lawyer-discipline system. As a professional association, the WSBA provides continuing legal education for attorneys, in addition to numerous other educational and member-service activities.
 
The governance of the WSBA is vested in its Board of Governors. There are three governors from the seventh congressional district; one from each of the other eight districts; and three at-large, one of whom represents the Young Lawyers Division. The president is Mark A. Johnson, of Seattle. 2008-2009 president-elect is Salvador A. Mungia, of Tacoma; 2009-2010 president-elect is Steven G. Toole, of Bellevue; and the immediate past-president is Stanley A. Bastian, of Wenatchee. The Board meets regularly (every six weeks) at various locations around the state, and its meetings are open to the public. Much of the work of the Bar is carried out through its numerous standing committees, 27 sections, and a Young Lawyers Division with its many committees.

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