Jun 26, 2008

Turn off the TV, get a dose of reality

By Bil Paul

So many of us are regular viewers of TV shows such as "Law and Order," ABC TV's "20/20," and NBC's "Dateline." Here we watch sensational stories spun by scriptwriters or slices of crime reality. What if I told you that you could see some of this in real life right here in the county - with no commercials - and still feel safe and protected in the process?

If you're retired or between jobs, you can always drop by the San Mateo County Courthouse in Redwood City any weekday except Friday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., go past the checkpoint and in the long hallway that ensues, check out listings of that day's court cases. Or do as I did late last Monday, going from courtroom entryway to courtroom entryway, peering through the door windows to see which courts were in session with a sitting judge. I entered the first courtroom that was occupied, and happened to walk in on a double-murder case with a full jury. Joseph Cua, represented by two private defenders, is accused of killing his elderly husband-and-wife employers in Millbrae in 2006 after allegedly embezzling money from them.

I can't say the trial at this point was TV script material - they were talking about tax returns and other money matters - but what was most interesting was the conduct of the defense lawyers and the prosecutor - and the expert witness they questioned. I'm sure there were other days when more gruesome, bloodstained evidence was presented. Still, I was surprised that at a high-profile case such as this, there were only three visitors in the audience.

Of course, if you have to serve as a juror on a long case like this, you may wish you were back home or at your job, but if you're a legal gadabout (or newspaper court reporter), you have the option of visiting a number of court cases in a day if one turns mundane.

Here you'll get to see the defendant up close and personal, see how impartial the judge is and watch for jurors nodding off or being kicked off for discussing the case.

Beyond the sometimes sensational nature of many courtroom dramas and machinations, there are many, many other government proceedings worth checking out. If you enjoy reading about your local city council and planning commission meetings in the newspaper, there's a good chance you'd enjoy attending them in person as well (maybe not the really late ones that run until near midnight).

Before I became a part-time Daily News reporter five years ago, I had never attended a city council or planning commission meeting. For starters, I was often assigned to cover Belmont's civic meetings. Other than the fact that I had to come up with an article about each meeting I attended, I soon found myself fascinated by the goings-on - friction among council or commission members, and sometimes friction between council or commission members and members of the community. Observing members' personalities and voting tendencies, and learning about their pet projects and hot buttons was absorbing.

You might think that council meetings are more interesting than planning commission meetings, but the reverse is often true. Land-use decisions are some of the more controversial ones, and listening to homeowners pleading their case before a planning commission - or having whole neighborhoods come in passionately praising or protesting a project - can provide high drama.

In many communities you can watch city council meetings live on the Web or via cable TV public access channels, or you can watch archives of past meetings via the Web. In southern San Mateo County, every large city but Burlingame and Half Moon Bay offered live or archived meetings via the Web. For example, on Monday night I watched on my computer as open space activists addressed the Redwood City council describing their campaign to change the city charter. They were asking for the council's endorsement of their drive. In addition, some neighbors of Sequoia High School were protesting the school's rerouting of outgoing traffic through their streets.

The county Board of Supervisors' meetings are in the same building as the county courts. Last Monday afternoon, they were listening to budget hearing presentations from the various county departments - especially interesting this year because of state and county budget cutbacks. I happened to walk in toward the end of the final one, from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the agency the county contracts with for fire services in unincorporated areas. The agency has also recently contracted to run fire services for several coastside communities, and Supervisor Jerry Hill was asking the fire chief if it had enough fire personnel and trucks to handle big challenges such as those posed by the recent multiple fires in the Bay Area. Things were getting a bit testy between the two for a few minutes, as the chief seemed to resent any hint that they were spread too thin.

Beyond these more usual meetings, you can also attend meetings of the Sequoia Healthcare District, school and community college districts, the Caltrain and SamTrans boards, and San Mateo County's CCAG (City/County Association of Governments).

Who knows, by attending some of these meetings you may wish to become more civically involved yourself. Or be the next John Grisham by writing courtroom dramas populated with people you've seen live and up close.



Bil Paul's column appears Thursdays in the Daily News. Reach him at natural_born_writer@yahoo.com.