|
|
MAR
~ MAY 2003
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CCRA RAMBLINGS & www.ccra.info |
OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ let's give it all we've got. Jeniffer Aloysius ~ Editor Sylvia Noneff ~ Assistant Editor Please submit articles via e-mail to editor@ccra.info or email Judi at admin@ccra.info. Reprints granted to all NCRA - affiliated publications; all others by written permission of CCRA. |
President:
Susan DeWitt
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ad
Size |
Dimensions |
Rate |
|
Full
Page |
7
½" X 10" |
$125.00 |
|
Half
Page |
7
½" X 5" |
$
75.00 |
|
Half
Page |
3
5/8" X 10" |
$
75.00 |
|
One-Third
Page |
3
5/8" X 7 ½" |
$ 60.00 |
|
One-Fourth
Page |
3
5/8" X 5" |
$ 50.00 |
|
One-Sixth
Page |
3
5/8" X 3 5/16" |
$ 40.00 |
|
Business
Card |
3
½" X 2" |
$ 20.00 |
|
Classified
ads (Members) |
9
lines max |
$ 10.00 |
|
Classified
ads (Non-Members) |
9
lines max |
$ 20.00 |
|
Please submit ad, with payment, to CCRA. |
||
Incoming President’s Message
by Susie DeWitt
As
I sit here today, trying to write my first President’s address, I
realize that I should have paid more attention in Sunday school when I
was growing up. Had I done
that, I may have been able to quote a scripture or psalm that would make
everyone feel very spiritual, confident, and comfortable about what is
happening not only within our profession but within our world.
I would like to say,
however, from the bottom of my heart, I am truly saddened for each and
every Reporter and their families that have been directly affected by
these cuts. Reporters were
not the only employees to be affected; the Judicial Branch is expected
to have cut 160 full-time employees throughout the State. For every single family impacted, I hope and pray that you will
emerge with great strength and success.
There are many doors that have opened through this
crisis with several opportunities to choose from and whatever path you take, I
wish you happiness and prosperity.
Our very own Ramblings will be taking on a new look, inside and out. Jeniffer, our new Ramblings editor, is transforming Ramblings to fit our needs and expectations. Please email Jeniffer or myself and let us know what you expect from your magazine and your web site. This is your opportunity to let us know what you’re interested in. We hope to tailor Ramblings and our web site to meet our members’ needs and wants and the only way to do that is with input.
Our goal is to grow stronger and put CCRA on the map
as the most powerful state association there is. One of our first moves is to increase our circulation and
deliver Ramblings to City, State, and
Government offices. We also will be
delivering a copy of Ramblings to many law offices throughout the state.
What we hope to accomplish through these efforts is to put Colorado Court Reporters Association into circulation and to let everyone know that the members of CCRA and the services provided are the best in the field. To accomplish that, we will need help from all of our members. Please submit your comments and suggestions and let’s build up our Association. The professionalism, integrity, style, and skill will certainly be one we can all be proud of and one that other businesses and professionals can and will expect from us.
Colorado Court Reporters AssociationVision StatementCCRA's Vision is a community in which only the highest quality and utmost professional integrity prevail and where justice is available to all. To achieve that level of community, it is CCRA's goal to provide the educational and informational tools necessary to enable its members, employed in both private and public sectors, to continue to serve all levels of the legal community with the assurance of the highest quality and the utmost integrity. Quality court reporting can only be accomplished by the individual manifestation of knowledge, skill, and experience to accurately memorialize the spoken word. CCRA aims to set the standard of excellence in providing its members a supportive environment they can rely upon to receive continuing professional educational-advancement opportunities, to be presented with current information regarding our profession, and to provide a platform to address legislative matters by sponsoring just and equitable laws governing our profession. CCRA will continue to do so in a manner that encourages only the highest esteem for our profession. CCRA is mindful of the requirements of the court reporting profession and holds itself accountable to its members and the profession in general in an ethical, fiscally responsible, and professional manner. CCRA is aware that many individuals are in need of its members' services but are without adequate financial resources to afford those services. In that light, CCRA avers its obligation to those individuals by coordinating with others in the legal community to make court-reporting services available to all.
|
Susan
Becker (con’t
from page 1)
After
spending her formative reporting years with Jim Ford, she moved onto Denver
District Court as one of three floaters. Proving her skills yet once again, she
was retained as a full-time reporter for Judge Flowers once Otto Ulrich retired.
Then she spent the bulk of her time with Judge John Coughlin and was the
managing reporter for many years. Now she is reporting with Judge Martinez and
shares the managing reporter position. She received the Confidential Employee of
the Year award in 1994.
Quoting the nomination form: “At a
time when our state is facing severe budget cuts and the jobs of our official
reporters are once again threatened, I think it is only appropriate to award one
of our preeminent official reporters this honor.” We, on the DSA committee
couldn’t agree more.
Susan Becker has worked in Denver
District Court for over 20 years. She handles the pressures and transcript load
of her own courtroom, and she has helped coordinate the schedules of other
reporters so that backlogs are minimized and courtrooms are covered. Susan has
also been instrumental in working with the State Court Administrator’s Office
and the appellate courts to reduce transcript backlog of court reporters to help
further the cause of justice. This includes her personally transcribing the
notes of reporters who are no longer available to fulfill their own
responsibilities. She has always been there to say “yes” to serving CCRA and
the courts of Colorado.
In talking with Judge Coughlin, who is
with us today to honor Susan, he couldn’t praise her enough. He states, “As
president, she worked extremely hard for the Association; as chair of the
Legislative Committee, she was at the capitol all the time, working for the
Association, the reporters. She attended every function. Susan cares not only for the profession, but it’s the
People
she cares most about.”
He told me about a redistricting case
he heard around Christmas time and how Susan completed the record during the
Christmas holidays, (before it was even ordered) not knowing whether she would
be paid or not, but making darned sure they would receive the record on time.
Judge Coughlin states, “Susan is an amazing person (and a great court
reporter) with an incredible amount of integrity.”
Susan has chaired and been instrumental
in the Officials Committee and most recently the Legislative Committee. She has
held all of the executive CCRA offices, including the office of President. She
holds the CSR, RPR, and two legs of her Merit.
Susan
has helped set the standard for excellence in the field of court reporting by
her hard work, dedication, and professionalism and deserves to be recognized by
CCRA. At this important crossroads of our profession, her recognition by CCRA
could not be more timely.
Susan has a large family, ranging from a sister, half-sisters, half-brother, stepchildren, and ever three grandchildren. Please join us in congratulating this year’s DSA recipient, Susan Becker.
Editor’s Comments: “I have nothing to say. And I'll only say it once.” Floyd Smith
This is my
first edition as editor of Ramblings.
I want to thank Sylvia and the Board for your trust and confidence in me.
Thank you, Sylvia, for staying on as Assistant Editor for the upcoming
year.
I am very
excited about Ramblings and www.ccra.info. These are two wonderful
vehicles to achieve our goals as stated in our Mission and Vision statements.
Only with the help of all of our members will we be able to maximize the
potential of both to be successful in our mission and to achieve our vision. I
truly invite your comments, ideas, criticism, and suggestions as to how we
can together make Ramblings informative and entertaining.
This and
subsequent issues will be circulated to many city, state, and government
offices, in addition to major law firms, and we will be working with other
businesses as well. As this issue goes to press, we have been successful in
linking up with Enterprise Leasing as a corporate sponsor. Every CCRA member
will now get a special corporate discount with Enterprise. I will strive to
increase the benefits and perks for CCRA members which, hopefully, will
ultimately increase our membership, and thereby achieve CCRA’s mission: an
association united in its efforts for the advancement of the court reporting
profession.
Advertisers:
Take out a full-page ad for one year (prepaid) and get your ad refreshed with
each edition at no extra charge! Great way to keep your ad current! Provide
camera-ready artwork and see it in the next edition. Your ad will also be on the
Internet (with Ramblings). Want greater exposure for your business on the
Internet?? Email your ad to webmaster@ccra.info.
We are working
on getting a national speaker. Look out for news about the next spring seminar
2004. We will have a speaker par excellence.
We hope to
bring you useful nuggets of advice from other court reporters and associations,
not just for court reporting but life in general. Ramblings is both
educational and entertaining. It is certainly fun to comb through magazines,
books, and the Internet. This gives me a wonderful opportunity to grasp useful
and amusing information. And as you do the same, please share with your fellow
members your experiences, anecdotes, etc. In the words of Peter Wacht, “This
is your magazine. Please take a roll in shaping it.”
Please tell me what’s on your mind … email me
at webmaster@ccra.info
“It's kind of fun to do the impossible.” ~ Walt Disney
Colorado Court Reporters Association
Mission Statement
The Mission of the Colorado Court Reporters Association is to unify efforts in the advancement of the court reporting profession, through legislative advocacy and professional education of its members and non-members alike.
CCRA is firmly committed to providing leadership and direction for our profession by continuing to develop, promote, and embrace the highest ethical standards, and by fostering good will among its members and the community in which they so proudly serve.
CCRA strives to preserve our profession by cultivating an awareness of technological developments that are intended to displace the court reporter and by diligence in defending our profession from those who would interpose that technology without regard to maintaining the high standards our legal community has come to rightfully expect.
To dream anything that you want to dream, that is the
beauty of the human mind.
To do anything that you want to do, that is the strength of the human
will.
To trust yourself, to test your limits, that is the courage to succeed.
Bernard Edmonds
Don't believe what your eyes are telling you.
All they show is limitation.
Look within your understanding,
Find out what you already know,
And you'll see the way to fly.
Richard Bach: Jonathan Livingstone Seagull
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things you didn't do
than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the
safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain
If you want to take your mission in life to the next
level,
If you're stuck and you don't know how to rise,
Don't look outside yourself.
Look inside.
Don't let your fears keep you mired in the crowd.
Abolish your fears and raise your commitment level to the point of no
return,
And I guarantee you that the Champion Within
Will burst forth to propel you toward victory.
Bruce Jenner
Eclipse offers many ways to insert, change, and modify punctuation in a transcript while editing. The basic method is to place the cursor on the word immediately following the target punctuation mark. To insert a mark, simply press the applicable key on your computer keyboard. To change an existing mark into another, use the same procedure. It’s not necessary to delete a punctuation mark to replace it with another. As an example, to change a comma into a period, place your cursor on the word after the comma and hit the period key. The rules of spacing and capitalization will automatically be followed. To delete a punctuation mark, you may either hit the backspace key or hit the key for the existing punctuation mark. To delete a period, for example, place your cursor on the word following the existing period and hit the period or backspace key on the keyboard. The period will disappear, and so will the extra space and the capital letter associated with it.
To insert unintelligent punctuation marks (marks which do not follow the rules of spacing or capitalization) place the cursor between the words at the target. For example, to insert an "unintelligent" colon in the sentence "There was only one reason she didn’t come: her illness," using Standard Keys, hit Control Left or Control Right arrow (depending on the location of the cursor) to move one character at a time till you land between the words "come" and "her," then hit the colon key. (If you’re using Hyperkeys, use Shift J or L to move one character left or right, then insert the colon.) You will have inserted a colon which is followed by a single space and will not capitalize the next word.
To insert punctuation marks which come in pairs (commas, quotes, single quotes, braces, brackets, parentheses), use the Mark key (F7 Standard Keys, m Hyperkeys) to mark the words which will be surrounded by the desired mark, then hit the mark. For example if in the sentence "They weren’t coming I believe till Tuesday," if you want to place commas around the words "I believe," you would move your cursor to the word "I," hit F7 or m twice, then hit a comma. The sentence would then read "They weren’t coming, I believe, till Tuesday."
Eclipse trick: Sometimes quotes surround long passages which make marking with F7 or m impracticable. Insert the opening quote by placing the cursor on the first word of the quote. Move the cursor to the end of the quote and place the cursor on the word just following the last word (or punctuation mark) of the quote. Hold down the shift key and hit the " (Shift ‘) key. Each time you hit the " key while holding down shift, the quotation mark will toggle its position. This makes it easy to get the quotation mark inside colons and semicolons, for example.
Finally, Eclipse offers "remote control" over punctuation marks. To change the existing punctuation mark at the end of the sentence in which your cursor is currently placed, Hit Alt P for a period, Alt Q for a question mark, or Alt D for a dash. Eclipse will find the end of the sentence and change the punctuation mark. This method works for any sentence but is particularly useful for the last sentence in a paragraph, since there is no "next word" to place your cursor on to change the last punctuation mark at the end of a paragraph.
A Few Members of Our Team
Schedule a Deposition
from the Web
www.attorneysservice.com
Myers Legal Video Services
Depositions, Editing, Duplicating
24-Hour Service
I try to distract my students so that they'll loosen up a little. They say it helps them get over their nerves. Sometimes I try and loosen my students up by being a little crazy. I tell them to sway like a tree. Lift your arms in the air and sway back and forth. Now, one will do it, and the others will look at me like I'm crazy. But that one person and I who do it, we laugh at ourselves, and laughter helps to loosen us up. If you have to think of a funny joke or something funny your boyfriend did last night to get your mind off a test, do it! Laughing a little before taking the test just might loosen you up!
When you're about to take a test, don't get all freaked out that "I gotta get this or I'll die!" You'll tend to get yourself all worked up and blow it. Do some relaxation techniques to calm yourself before the test. Pick a spot to focus on and don't move your eyes from that spot. Or take several deep, calming breaths and try to eliminate your shakes. Shake your hands out to get yourself loose and calm.
Visualization Vestibule
Visualize yourself saving the test before taking it; gives you that confidence that you'll need to get through the test. Visualize and repeat to yourself, I'm going to get this one. Visualize yourself typing it. Visualize yourself grading it. Visualize yourself passing it! Visualize finishing school. Visualize yourself becoming a working reporter! They say visualization helps! It helped me with my RPR, after taking the darned thing three times! I passed three legs in one shot, it was my lit that dragged me down. My last and final time I took it I visualized myself getting it and being happy and triumphant that I did it all by myself, no help from no one, I did it.
And tell yourself every day, "I'm going to get a test today. I'm going to be a reporter very soon!" Positive attitude and positive visualization does the trick for some people! You've got a little time left, visualize yourself at the end of that time being finished and walking away exploding with happiness because you did it! That'll get ya there! :o)
Tiptoeing Through the Terrible Two Two’s
The temperamental 225's. My students have been struggling lately, as they all do at this speed, myself included. They've been using theory reinforcement drills and small word lists. I give them sentences that focus on beginnings, endings, shall, shun, ation endings, etc. Stenospeed.com has some great speedbuilding takes on their site and you can even speed them up. Live dictation in higher speeds is always good to use when trying to finish up school. You can do it! I know you can! Keep practicing, keep a positive outlook, and don't give up. Practice those tapes at 260! That'll help you a lot!! I know my students like that 260 as a push! Practice to where it's almost too fast, because then when you slow down to that 225, it sounds sweet! Also, endurance is the key.
If you sit and write for an hour solid, no stopping, no breaks, just keep writing, maybe Court TV or whatever, write commercials and everything. So, when you go to do a five-minute take, it's a breeze, because you've been writing in hour increments vs. five minutes. That'll make a difference also! My students who intern have a better passing rate because they're writing for hours at a time. Makes five minutes seem like nothing. Or sit and write 30 minutes of takes without stopping. Then do one take at five minutes. You'll be blown away at the difference!
Again, www.stenospeed.com has actual speed dictation. We've been working on NCRA speed tapes for the RPR, as well as the RMR. They like the RMR speeds because it is such a push doing Q & A at 260, then when we do a 225 take after the 260, they seem to have more control and are able to stay with it. If you're having trouble with accuracy, then work off straight copy, read back, and correct your errors. Then rewrite trying to make no errors.
If you're having trouble with speed, work with tapes and theory reinforcement. Also, get a small tape recorder and dictate a take. It doesn't have to be fast or slow. Read at a level that you can be comfortable with. Then write the take once off of hard copy. Then play the tape and write. Then rewind the tape and play back while reading your notes. Then record that take a little faster, out of your comfort zone. Write off hard copy first, then write from tape. Read back with or without tape. I've notice part of the problem the students are having, at high speed, they tend not to read their notes as much. This is then giving them difficulties at test-typing time when they're trying to decipher what that word is.
Read back helps you figure out what your misstroke was. If the word is glue, and you have gru (in steno), you've left out one letter. So, try to visualize what that should be. I always tell them in read back -- got a g? got an L? Then they go -- oh, glue! I had grew! So, it's just figuring it out by moving a letter over or in a spot or taking a letter out to try and figure out what that word is. Make sense?
The stenospeed site the students are really digging, and I'm really getting some good feedback from them. Also, courtreportinghelp.com has some stuff, but the speed drills you have to purchase, not on stenospeed. But on the courtreportinghelp.com site, there are lists of little words and stuff to work on. That's a good start. As I always say, little words will kill you. Meaning, you miss the little words that make you miss a test. You had this instead of these, wouldn't instead of won't, things like that. Focus on one error you're making a week and work on that error that week until you get it right. Then move on to the next word until you stroke it right. Keep it up! I know you can do it! :o) GOOD LUCK!
by
Sylvia NoneffWe had beautiful weather for our RPR testing on Saturday, May 3, which was a good thing for all the people who got there early and lined up outside waiting for the doors to open!
For the Written Knowledge Test, there were 16 RPR, 2 Merit and 5 CLVS candidates. For the Skills Tests, there were 17 candidates for the Realtime. In addition, there were 2 candidates who took and transcribed the Merit. And last, but certainly not least, there were 47 candidates for the RPR literary, of which 16 transcribed; 36 candidates for the RPR jury charge, of which 20 transcribed; and 44 candidates for the RPR testimony, of which 13 transcribed.
Colorado’s RPR Chief Examiner, Kara Spitler, was out of town during the testing, so I agreed, somewhat nervously, to step in for her. What a relief that the equipment worked perfectly, and there were no problems during any of the testing. Thank you so much, Kara, for all your helpful hints – you were a big help!
Of course, this testing cannot be accomplished without the wonderful volunteers who give up a Saturday to help out. I would like to personally thank all of you. Because of you, we had a flawless test day! To the left are pictures of our hardworking volunteers, except for Jason Meadors, who helped move tables and proctor the Realtime test; and Lori Stenstrom, who proctored one of the transcription rooms.
I had attended DACR graduation ceremonies before and knew that one day I would be the one in the front of the room looking out into the audience. That one day finally came on March 6, 2003. I was already employed at a freelance firm here in Denver and had my very first job just three days before graduation. The transition from school to work had already begun, but inside I was still a student. I couldn't wait to see my name on the diploma. Then it would be official.
What made the ceremony special was my friend Jeniffer sitting next to me. We started night school the same quarter a little more than three and a half years ago. From day one, she was my friend and mentor. If I didn't feel like going to school one night, I went anyway because I knew Jeniffer would be worried if I wasn't there. When I needed to vent about how I was three errors over the error-limit for the third time that week, Jeniffer was all ears. I was secretly competitive with her. If she got a test, I had to get one. In fact, when she got her final 225 test, I passed mine the next day. We were meant to graduate together.Looking out in the audience, I saw peers, faculty, friends, and family, who in so many ways helped me get to where I am today. It brought tears to my eyes. School was a long journey, but well worth all the work and dedication I put into it. On that sunny March afternoon, I felt a sense of accomplishment that I'd never felt before. I was truly happy.
Two months later, I'm amazed how much I love this career. Every job is a learning experience; and although I've learned more about dog bites than I ever thought I would know, I love every minute of it. I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.
Thank you to DACR, the faculty, and all the students, past and present. I would do it all again.
Denver Academy of Court Reporting - Graduation - March 6, 2003
Denver Academy of Court Reporting
Congratulations are in order for Sara Stueve, May 2003 Day Student of the Month and to Natalie Thompson, May 2003 Night Student of the Month.
|
Sara Stueve |
Natalie Thompson |
Cheryl Robinson – April 2003
Cheryl worked while attending DACR, including working for Caption Colorado. She said that the most difficult obstacle was passing tests and that she overcame that with lots of practice. She advises other students to do dailies every day. Cheryl plans to take a trip after graduation and then find work.
Beth Chase – June 5, 2003
Beth said despite working full-time while attending DACR, she somehow managed to maintain some sort of sanity. Her biggest obstacle?? Getting enough sleep! She needs 8 hours of sleep and said, "Self talk got me through times when I was exhausted." Her advice to students is to not skip reading back notes at home when practicing. She says it’s very important. After graduation, she plans to take her first vacation in 2 years and visit her girlfriend in Wisconsin. After?? Beth plans to be a freelancer.
Rebecca Edwardson – June 5, 2003
Rebecca, in addition to being a DACR student, is a wife, mother, Realtor, nurse, chauffer, and --- a biker babe. She said getting the 180s was the most difficult obstacle as a student. But, she didn’t quit and advises other students, "Don’t quit!" Rebecca offers another suggestion – read everything you can get your hands on. After graduation, Rebecca looks forward to "selling houses and moving to another state with sanity intact.
Colorado Court Reporters Association
2003 – 2004 Board
- Richard Matt, Vice President
First I'll share with you a little bit of my reporting background. I graduated from Mile Hi College in Lakewood in April of 1985. I worked for about four months in Phoenix, Arizona, then moved back to the Denver area. I worked as a legal secretary for about two and a half years, and in February of 1988 I joined the freelance reporting firm of Park, Spangler & Wedgwood (which changed names to Park, Spangler, Hunter & Geist, and then to Hunter & Geist). I left Hunter & Geist in September of 1999 to work outside the reporting profession. In September of 2001 I became an official reporter with Boulder District Court, transferring to Denver District Court in January of 2002. I left Denver District Court the end of December of 2002 to rejoin the firm of Hunter & Geist, where I am presently working.
On the personal side, I have a wonderful daughter, Cristin, who is 11 years old; a terrific husband, Jim; and my furry companion, Buddy (a Cocker Spaniel).
My interest on being on the board stems from a desire to educate all about the profession we are in. I want to try to build relationships between all of the facets of the reporting profession; judicial, freelance, CART and captioning. My goal is to promote this wonderful profession and to provide encouragement and help to students and working reporters alike to continue to build and broaden their skills.
- Elaine K. Javernick
I am an owner of Javernick & Stenstrom, LLC, a firm that has been in the metro area under one name or another since the ‘80s, and have been a freelance reporter for ten years. I am a Colorado native (even though I hate cold weather), growing up with a large family in Southern Colorado. I moved to Denver to go to college in the early ‘90s and stayed after graduation. I enjoy being a part of the elite field of court reporting, its challenges, and rewards. I work a lot with new/student reporters. Summertime is my favorite time of year. I enjoy outdoor sports. Golf is my favorite, but I also play softball and enjoy traveling with my husband.
I would like to get more involvement and more support for CCRA and the court reporting profession. I would also like to work on securing our place in the legal field by educating people about what it is we do, why we're needed, and how valuable we are to the record and legal arena.
- Lisa Wagner, Director
- Tammy Knoepfle
Hello. My name is Tammy Knoepfle, and this is my second year being a board member, and it really is a privilege and an honor to be on the board, and around such wonderful people, that really do care about our profession. My goal this year, is to be as helpful in any way possible for our future in the reporting profession, and to try to be there for any students or fellow court reporters. Thanks again, for letting me be representative on the CCRA Board.
- Christine Thomas
My name is Christine Thomas. I have two children, Alex, 9, and Victoria, 6. I have been a reporter for three years. I worked in Jefferson County for most of those three years with the Honorable Jane Tidball. I am now working with Attorneys Service Center. I look forward to being on the Board and learning a lot in the next two years.
2003-2004 Colorado Court Reporters Association Board Members
(left to right) Anne Hansen, Susie DeWitt, Elaine
Javernick, Lisa Wagner, Richard Matt,
Tammy Knoepfle, Carol Bazzanella, Mary Smith, and Christine Thomas
(picture by Jason Meadors)
I would like to thank everyone for the donations at our Silent
Auction at the Spring Symposium.
We had some great stuff!
- Hunter & Geist donated a case of wine with a high bid of $200.
- The 20th Judicial District donated a Fun-in-the-Sun Basket, high bid $110.
- The 18th Judicial District donated a Pamper Yourself Basket, high bid $105.
- The 19th Judicial District donated a Spa Bag, high bid $100.
- Attorneys Service Center donated a Brunch for four at the Broker, high bid $96.
- Eileen Hyatt donated her mediation and consultation services.
Everybody comes up with such wonderful ideas and it's a lot of fun bidding on everything.
I am hopeful I can come up with some fundraising ideas that CCRA
hasn't used before that will be beneficial to the association.
If anyone has any thoughts on fundraising activities, please let me know.
I'm open to any suggestions!
Lisa Wagner
Fundraising Chair
by Carmelita Lee
I had been raised all over the world, an Army brat who had lived in Japan, France, Israel, and all over the United States. I was sure there would be no culture shock, and I looked forward to coming to the Ireland of the Irish Spring television commercials, or the Ireland of the movie "Waking Ned Devine." And of course, you can understand the commercials, the movies – after all, can’t you all understand Pierse Brosnan when he’s playing 007? Yup, there won’t be a problem reporting in Ireland; after all, English is English.
Or maybe it’s not.
My first day on the job was one filled with apprehension, hope, a desire to please my new bosses and a need to keep food on the plate. After all, I had just left the best job and best salary I had ever had to leap into the unknown. I had been in Ireland for four weeks, setting up the house, getting the girls set up, the cat into quarantine, receiving our household goods in a container. Work wasn’t officially on at the time, due to the two-month summer break taken in the courts and reporting firms alike. Yes, two-month summer break.
I hadn’t met my colleagues or my bosses until the day I was to first report to work.. In honor of where I was, I chose my best royal blue plaid suit to wear to work, and showed up at the office amid completely blank stares. No one had expected me except my bosses. My shocked co-workers were not at all amused, and I and the other American had not met each other yet. We were, you could gracefully say, met with a deafening silence and a tangible gloom. Only our bosses knew we were there, and with no ceremony, they welcomed us and gave us our assignments. The other American lady was dressed in a black suit and white shirt – as was everyone else – and me??? I reminded myself of a riot in blue. My boss gasped when she saw me. "Oh, no!" she said, "You can’t wear blue to court! You can only wear black to court!"
This was only the beginning of my very first day! I was 30 miles from home, no car, and no change of clothes. If they hadn’t needed me that day, they would have immediately sent me home. With a little shifting of the schedule (shhhedoool, they say) I went to Mr. Justice McCartan’s courtroom, and set up.
I personally was locked into a small area that had been designed for a penwriter, who in days past would have had his back to the court, and who would have faced the audience. The last revision to this courtroom had been in the 1930s, and machine shorthand wasn’t introduced here until 1988. The only way to actually write is to position the machine directly in front of the witness (you can reach out and touch them) and have your back to the Registrar (clerk) and to the court, because there is no room under the low desk in either direction . We’re provided with a regulation high-backed chair, not a comfortable swivel chair, so there’s no chance to swing around for better sound, or to hear the attorneys who are sitting directly below you, and to your back. The ceiling with the skylight is probably 30 feet high, and at the back of the courtroom is an observer’s gallery. The acoustics? Terrible.
When the court came out, because there was no place for me to go, and no room to stand up straight, I committed another faux pas . . . I didn’t stand up. I felt this urgent tugging on my blue plaid jacket, so I turned to face the registrar, who was hissing at me to stand up and show my respect to the judge. With some difficulty I moved my machine an inch forward, and pressed my chair into the Registrar’s side, stood and turned to look directly into the court’s face. Doing what comes naturally to all Americans, and what I had done at the beginning of every court day for the previous 12 years in Los Angeles, I smiled brightly and said, "Good morning, Judge."
There was a collective gasp . . . .A, you never look the court in the face, and B, you never address him!
And the judge, looking a bit astonished, said sourly, "And good morning to you."
Then he bowed. Deeply. From the waist. And everyone in the room bowed as well. And me? I was just standing there, ready to fall over because it took all I could do to actually stand up straight, pressed between my machine, a desk and my chair.
We got through the morning’s "list," what they call their calendar, and started into a trial. It didn’t seem too bad, I was not having any difficulty at all with the accent, or so I supposed, and when I wasn’t sure of something, I stopped the speaker, either the lawyers or the witnesses, to have them clarify or repeat the phrases. Only . . . that’s not done here, and they found it quite annoying.
By our morning break time, the judge had been alerted to the fact that I was new and a foreigner, apologies were given by my firm about the blue suit, and I had phoned my husband to hustle down to the store to purchase a black jacket. I had been instructed by my boss to be certain I had one "by the morrow." I was practically in tears, because I had been soundly admonished by my employers that I was NOT to interrupt ANYONE for clarification, as "it isn’t done here." The judge, it turns out, was new as well, and very kindly invited me back into his tiny chambers to tell me how he loved California, and wanted to run an American-style courtroom, so if I needed to stop people in order to get an excellent transcript, go ahead. Talk about confusing instructions. But just as kindly, he informed the Registrar to stop snivelling about my blue suit and my interruptions, which almost immediately set me and the registrar at odds.
But then . . . at one point the new judge decided that since he had a crackers American court reporter, he could do what they do in America, and when even HE didn’t understand the inner city witness, he asked me to READ BACK. By then I had had my husband bring down my trusty old tape recorder so that I could listen back to everything before producing a transcript.
I had never, ever heard 007 talk like this.
When he asked me to read back, I was relieved, because I knew I had this section. We were dealing with a murder in the inner city, and the frightened witness was terrified of reprisals by the thugs who had committed the murder. He had witnessed the entire event, and then when the thugs ran off, he and two young girls had gone to the victim and tried to help him get to his feet, but couldn’t. He was describing how he went searching from house to house to get help, but people who had peered from the windows as the crime was committed, wouldn’t open the doors. This is what was in my notes:
Q. What did ye then do, lad?
A. I trout da dares.
Q. And what did ye then do?
A. I was sighing mortar, mortar, swum she held me.
Q. How did ye feel then, lad?
A. I would give fifty dollars American to know da dares.
And that is what I read back to the judge.
He (kindly) said to the attorneys, "Let’s do that again, slower
please."
And this is what actually was said:
Q. What did ye then do, lad?
A. I tried all the doors.
Q. And what did ye then do?
A. I was saying, Murder, murder, someone should help me.
Q. And how did ye feel when no one opened the doors?
A. I knocked 50 doors on Maryland to open one door.
Yup.
And there was this exchange that I had to read back:
Q. How long did this take, for you to get someone’s attention?
A. Jason Miri and Joseph Mesuf was moving like the statutes of ball and spit.
I interrupted and asked him to repeat it. He repeated it exactly the
same. The court asked me to read it to him, and I read it. He was very
kind, but exasperated. He said, "No, no, it’s: Jesus, Mary and
Joseph, meself was moving like the statues of Ballinaspittle."
Eek. And this was only the first day of work.
I’ve been here for four years now. Now all the female court reporters can wear what they want, including pants, to court, and any colour they like. And I have a reputation, not only with the attorneys, but with the judges, that I will interrupt every time I don’t understand. I not only speak directly to the judges, but some of them ask me how things were done in the states. I find it the highest form of compliment when, the next time I’m in their courtroom, I see things done that way. I have been privileged to help two new judges institute some new procedures in their own courtrooms, and I’ve submitted suggestions to their new courtroom revisions committee, which is working hard to bring the Irish court system out of the 19th Century. I don’t even hear the accents anymore, and my stateside family tells me that sometimes I even have a wee accent myself. I no longer write mortar every time someone says mortar but means murder, nor torn for turn, nor torch for church or touch. I did chance my arm . . . that means I put my arm through a locked door but reached around for the key to turn it, and got in.
You can imagine what wide enough for a coach and four means – there are lots of phrases from old-time usage, chivalry and swordsmanship – like thrust and parry. That’s what the attorneys are doing every time they have a heated argument. And a highland coo? It’s a Scots breed of cattle – uh-huh, a coo is a cow . . . .
And slow as the statues of Ballinaspittle? Well, apparently if you
wait long enough at the Shrine to St. Mary in the little village of
Ballinaspittle, the statues move . . . . and that’s pretty darn slow.
Until next time.
From Carmelita Lee, reporter at large in Dublin, Ireland
Editor’s Note: If you enjoyed reading Carmelita’s Irish tale (and true, at that J ), please send an email to editor@ccra.info and we’ll pass it on to her. Thanks, Jeniffer
Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear.
June 5 ~ Graduation Ceremonies ~ Denver Academy of Court Reporting
July 31 – August 3 ~ NCRA’s Annual Seminar in
Reno, NV (John Ascuaga's Nugget Hotel)
September 19-21 ~ CCRA’s Annual Seminar ~ Doubletree Hotel in
Westminster
September 21 ~ CCRA Board Meeting ~ Doubletree Hotel (following Seminar)
November 1 ~ RPR testing ~ Denver Academy of Court Reporting
NEW MEMBER APPLICANTS
|
Ann Barton of Denver – Student Donna Bufmack - Freelance Kellie Clark of Littleton - Student Shannon Henley - Freelance |
Allison Lee of Denver – Student Kari Scambos - Student Erin Valenti of Loveland – Student Marianne Wyller of Arvada - Scopist/Proofreader |
New RPR’s
(November 2002)
Monica J. Blea – Colorado Springs
Claudia Booton – Westminster
Lesley Fujarczyk – Boulder
Kimberley Gauthier - Castle Rock
Sheri L. Little – Highlands Ranch
Robin Osmond – Highlands Ranch
Sophie Siebert – Denver
Cindy Wagner – Highlands Ranch
Shauna T. Weliever – Arvada
Congratulations!!