Page 12 - Sonoma County Gazette February 2017

Marching for All of US in Santa Rosa
by Tish Levee
Teresa Shook, a grandmother and retired lawyer living in Hawaii, woke up November 9th and posted on Facebook, “I think we should march.” In 75 days that simple statement took hold—becoming the Women’s March on Washington and morphing into 673 “sister marches” worldwide, with over 5 million people.
Sonoma County Stands Together for Women.
Worker’s Rights
Superior Court Workers report serious erosion in public access to legal system
It began with just a thought!
Santa Rosa’s March, organized by Anne McGivern and Anne Kaine with the help of some 200 volunteers, started with a rally at City Hall. The 3,000 people expected became at least 5,000; according to law enforcement, possibly several thousand more.
the Sonoma County Superior Court. But 30 minutes past the time court was to begin, the entire courtroom is still waiting (your attorney’s fees are multiplying) because the court reporter is still in another courtroom. When that trial is over, she will have to pack up her gear and race to your courtroom and set up her gear again.
Long rally—great speakers! Government officials, community leaders, and activists exhorted us to send a message to Congress and the new Administration.
“Oftentimes I am scheduled in multiple courtrooms in a day and packing up my gear and driving over to another courthouse is considered my break,” says Court Reporter Becki Peterson.
• Santa Rosa Councilwomen Julie Combs:“How do we stand?/TOGETHER!”
It was only one example of the serious deterioration in working conditions and the subsequent erosion of public access to the legal system at the Sonoma County Superior Court, as related by the workers themselves. On Saturday, January 14th, the North Bay Workers’ Rights Board convened a hearing on the working conditions of those court workers, which they requested as a result of the administrators’ failure to respond to their multiple requests for redress.
• Former Rep. Lynn Woolsey: “send texts, emails, snail mails, call, and be on the streets...we aren’t going back.”
• Rep. Jared Huffman: “be tough as nails and ready for action...”
• Retired Baptist minister Rev. Ann Gray Byrd, whose parents started the local NAACP: “Grab a board and hold on...grab a piece of hope from the shipwreck...Go in love>”
A court reporter since 1990 and employed at Sonoma Superior Court since 2001, Peterson said, “I respect our Bench...I love my job...that it is so di cult for me to do this [give testimony]...should give you some measure of the horrible atmosphere that we must endure.”
• Enrique Yarce Martinez, a young intern at the North Bay Organizing Project: “Protest is righteous, but more than that Protest is Needed.”
• Alicia Sanchez, KBBF President, speaking to the men: “If you are here,
you are a good man.” “Men are not the enemy,” she added, “The enemy is injustice...inequality...violence...hatred.”
Together! All genders, all ethnicities, all faiths—individuals, couples, families, babies, grandparents and great-grandparents—we were all peacefully there. Thrilled by all the men there—perhaps one-third of the crowd—I asked some I knew to share their experiences:
During Peterson’s time with the Sonoma court, the number of court reporters has dwindled from 22 to 13. She says many have left due to the poor working conditions and management simply fails to hire replacements. Chronic understa ng is a problem in every department and workloads have become unmanageable.
By Bonnie Petty
Let’s say you have been involved in a court case that has nally come before
• Santa Rosa Anesthesiologist Michael Mundell, “I felt...pride in our community for organizing it,...in the civility and enthusiasm of every single person in that massive crowd,...in the message being sent—that citizens are not going to stand for any policies that will serve to diminish the basic rights of any human being in this land, if not the world.”
• Phil Weil, a retired Spanish teacher at Santa Rosa High School, “How impressive to see the women, men, and teens united against turning science and society back (“again”) 100 years...I was particularly proud of my 93 year old mother-in-law, Barbara Boren. Sitting on her walker,...she enthusiastically cheered speakers who exhorted the audience to put their beliefs into action. She’s seen it all and doesn’t want to go back.”
Technology Failures & Poor Working Conditions
• Woody Hastings, the Renewable Energy Implementation Manager for the Center for Climate Protection, “I want to support an overwhelming rising up of women over the next few years that will take both houses of congress in 2018 and the White House in 2020. That is why I made a sign saying, “1920: Women Get the Vote/2020: Women Get the White House/Please!!”
One possible factor in the short sta ng problem could be the millions of dollars the administration has wasted on bad technology decisions.
• Dr. Bill Uriarte, Past President of the Sonoma County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, “Proud to have been a part of Women, men, kids and the elderly in a very Peaceful March.”
Chants, Signs, and Songs.
In 2006, according to testimony of Wendell Phillips, Court Software Analyst, the new V2 CMS statewide computer system was set to replace the county’s aging system. Consultants and extra sta were hired to implement the system; four years later, in 2010 the system was still not operational and the state declared the system dead. Phillips’ testimony detailed a years-long timeline of setbacks and ascos that continues today. Millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on software systems that still have not delivered on the promise of a single, e cient computer system.
• Just a few chants were negative, but mostly I heard, “How Do We Stand— Together!” and “Si se Puede,” meaning “Yes it can be done!”
• Some signs were specifically directed to Donald Trump, but most focused on issues for which we all were standing. Iconic designs, downloaded from the internet, waved next to home-made ones on poster board or cardboard.
Even more troubling, Phillips revealed that a serious security breach happened in 2011, where the tra c ticket payment portal, which included credit card and personal data, was exposed. No one was ever noti ed of the breach.
“Women’s Rights ARE Human Rights,” “Love Not Hate Makes America Great!” and “Feminism Back by Popular Demand,” “A Man for Equality is a Man of Quality,” were popular, as were signs about climate change, “Sea-levels are Rising/Climate Change is Non-Partisan/Ice Melts.”
In 1998, state legislation was passed, allowing the judges in California counties to “unify” their court systems into separate government agencies and by 2001, every county had done so. With that change, Sonoma County court employees became employees of the Superior Court – not the County. The judges employ a CEO to manage everything, while they choose to have no involvement, except to approve the contract, once settled.
• The Wings of Victory Choir, a high point of the Rally, led us all in “This Little Light will Shine,” “If I had a Hammer,” “We Shall Overcome,” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” I was not the only one wiping my eyes.
Taking Me Back. I’ve always felt I missed out on the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, but as I stood there cheering, chanting, and singing with these thousands of people, I realized that this is the new Civil Rights Movement—a movement for ALL people and for the very Earth, herself. Worldwide! For the rest of this story, about worldwide marches, women marching 104 years ago, and more, go to .
In 2009, Jose Guillen was hired as the CEO and has lead a management team that workers portrayed as having no respect for them and the jobs they do, along with a complete disregard for their needs as workers and human beings. One worker related a scene of intense verbal abuse by a manager; others reported a dismaying lack of compassion for workers experiencing life altering events. One worker, who was evacuated from her Lake County home during the
12 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 2/17
WORKERS cont’d on page 13