April 23, 1998
High school seniors attend hearings
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
Even though the high school students were on a field trip, they were remarkably quiet Wednesday. However, the atmosphere called for sobriety.
The students were seniors from around the county participating in Government Day. They were treated to a rare look at the judicial system when the seven members of the Ohio Supreme Court heard four cases at the Seneca County Courthouse.
Although the state's high court has traveled to different counties around the state since 1987, this was the first visit it has made to Seneca County. The justices offered a chance for local students and attorneys to see the state's highest court hear arguments before them.
David Shine, secondary schools curriculum director for the North Central Ohio Educational Service Center, said that he had heard of the program two years ago. He subsequently received the information about the program and was put on a waiting list.
''Six county schools are involved, as well as an AP class at Columbian asked to be involved, and we had the room to take them in.'' Shine said. Ninety students were seated in each session, which consisted of an actual case hearing followe by a debriefing with area attorneys.
Held at the Ritz Theatre, the follow-up allowed the students to ask questions about the hearings they had just seen. And several of the attorneys who had argued the case also fielded questions from the students.
This day was the culmination of several months' work that involved the Seneca County Bar Association and Seneca County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Kelbley as well as Shine. Twenty seven attorneys volunteered their time and expertise to visit the students classrooms twice to prepare them for their experience.
''Two attorneys were assigned to each section. They discussed the Supreme Court in general and the specifics of the cases that they would be hearing,'' said Shine.
The county office provided the case briefs that the students were to read to prepare for their case.
''The printing bill was about $2,800,'' Shine said. ''We received donations from the community to pay for most of the costs involved.''
Following the hearings, each group of seniors walked to the Ritz for their debriefing, where they spent about a half an hour discussing what they had seen and asking questions of their assigned attorneys and, several times, the attorneys who represented both sides in the hearing.
Yesterday began early for the teens, with student reporters meeting with the justices for a press conference. Then, as the justices robed to prepare for their day, the first group of students were seated in Kelbley's courtroom. Each hearing was to last half an hour.
The second hearing featured a case in which a pre- or antenuptial agreement was made between two elderly, previously widowed people. An IRA account had been listed as property on the husband's side of the agreement. He had set up the account several years before meeting and marrying his most recent spouse. He died suddenly, within several months of his marriage.
His wife received the funds from the IRA upon his death, as the surviving spouse, since he had not previously named a beneficiary.
James Blair, the attorney for the defendant, Mary Kinkle, stated that since the contract read that it would revert to the surviving spouse upon his death, that (MORE) SL: NETJUDGE PAGE: 2wording superceded the antenuptial agreement. The plaintiff's attorney, Brad Roush, claimed that the antenuptial agreement made the contract's language void.
Roush and Blair fielded questions from the justices in the courtroom and from the students at the Ritz afterward. Following the sessions, the justices lunched in the Great Hall at Heidelberg College with area attorneys, elected officials, selected students with an interest in government and their teachers.
Hopewell-Loudon senior Laura Wisebaker, who plans to attend Capitol University to study law, attended the third session. Her hearing involved a divorce case in which a business ownership was being challenged.
''I think both of the attorneys did a very good job,'' Wisebaker said. ''With the preparation that we had, I felt that it was easy to follow. I was surprised at how much the attorneys were interrupted by the justices, but they kept right on talking.''
Wisebaker said that she felt that the justices asked well-informed questions; it was apparent that they studied the cases thoroughly before the hearing. Kristen Lee of Old Fort High School attended the first session and also felt that they were well informed of the case before attending.
''The lawyers did a good job preparing us,'' she said.
Her government teacher, Todd Cortelletti, agreed.
''They did a terrific job,'' he said. ''They spent an hour with the kids each time that they came in and broke case law down for them. They walked it through, so that they knew the terms and definitions.''
Chief Justice Thomas Moyer said the program has been hugely successful and plans are to continue it indefinitely.
''Our visit to Seneca County is the 35th visit to an outside county since 1987,'' he said. ''It's been a good learning experience for the 22,000 students and the 35 counties that have experienced it.
''I believe strongly that one way we can help young people understand the law is to let them have the experience of reading the briefs and attending a debriefing so that they can ask questions of the lawyers after the case. We found that the students are then very engaged in the process, not only in the issues.
''Evaluations that we have received from the students is that they learn better by seeing what they do,'' the chief justice said. ''I think that we all take the viability of the court system for granted, but it is what really holds us together as a civilized society. It is a process that takes disputes and helps them reach a resolution that is based on the merits of the facts.''