#WeekInJustice: Week 144
Congratulations to Javier Gherna for being selected for the Arizona Public Lawyer 2023 Rising Star Award!! Thank you for your hard work to help the people of Pima County it’s well deserved. This is also a wonderful honor from APAAC who also shared the recognition with the public.
We want to give a special thank you to Jeff Amlee, Victoria Chavarria, Javier Gherna and Shelley Bunting. They recently represented PCAO at the University of Arizona’s Student-Athlete Career Night.
We were looking for undergraduate students (juniors and above); however, all student-athletes were able to join. The PCAO team spoke to students from a variety of majors who had an interest in networking and learning about internships, volunteer opportunities, and jobs. Thank you to Sofia, Gaby, and Emmanuelle for providing the swag and fliers to get the word out on what PCAO has to offer.
Rescuing the birds!
Kudos to Darlene Cortina for her victory in a contentious PACC animal forfeiture case involving 22 live and 57 dead parrots, mostly macaws and African greys. Her hearing at Justice Court was continued several times while the pet owner moved for a change of judge for cause based on her denial of his motion to continue and his attorney moved to withdraw. The owner was keeping the birds in unsanitary conditions in makeshift aviaries without access to food or water, and without a cooling system in the heat of summer when they were rescued and impounded back in July. All of the surviving birds are currently at a parrot rescue in Tucson and doing well.
Today Laura stopped by a couple of radio shows to get people caught-up on what’s happening at The People’s Office. The first was the Bill Buckmaster Show and the second was Fresh Start with Dr. Da’Mond Holt.
Buckmaster talked about everything from our new Restorative Justice Program (RJP) to the Remington case and current crime trends in the county. Meanwhile, Dr. Holt invited me to sit in as a guest alongside Laura to share some thoughts about this year’s Fresh Start Expo set for 10/21, RJP and restoring our connections in the community.
Fresh Start will also be honored at the Tucson City Council meeting on 10/17 we have a press conference with the organization beforehand on the same day.
AND finally, I was selected to be an Honorary Commander at Davis-Monthan Airforce Base this week. 😊 The two-year assignment will give me the opportunity to help connect with and mentor young servicemen and women, attend events and immerse myself in what’s going on at the base so I can share it with others. I’m honored and excited to work with Col. Casey Bartholomew and his team.
That’s all for now…until next week.
Be Well!
Shawndrea
