Tuesday, March 10, 2015

August 1, 1869

Amiville.

A couple of days later I looked into the window of the hotel and saw Judge Clifton Islay sitting in a chair by the fire. I knew that he would provide good advice and information for me so I went inside. 

“Clifton! Good, I found you! You mind if I join you for a few minutes?” 

“Good morning, Miss Trin. Please, join me.” 

I sat in the chair across from him and asked him how he was doing, then he asked how he could help. “Well, sir, I have a question for you. And I figured since you’re law ya might know the answer...” 

“I might,” he smiled. 

“I um... need to ask you something for the paper...” I was suddenly nervous, not really sure if I was doing the right thing by asking this man for information. 

“You look nervous, Miss Trin,” he observed. 

“It's one of those things where I ain't sure it's my business, but seems I need to know the answer to show the context of the article.” 

“About a case, I presume?” 

“Do you remember last week when there was the standoff in front of the saloon... with Bill and Buu and some others from the rebel gang?”

“Mmhmm,” he nodded. 

“And Kale came in and told Bill that they could go out and have a dual and whoever walked away would win? Well... I was only there for the beginning but I spoke with Bill and he said it was 'cause they didn't want Buu to go to court...” 

“Ah yes, the Duel,” he remembered. 

“Why was Buu goin' to court? I figure it's public record now since it's been in the trial and everythin'. And it gives context to the reason why a man had to stand up for the town against Bill...” 

Clifton pulled out his notebook from his vest and looked down for his notes as I continued. “But Bill didn't want to tell me why Buu was goin' to court, and Buu surely wasn't tellin' me anything. He said it was none of my business,” I said, referring to a conversation I had tried to have with him last night that hadn’t gone well. “But I said it's my business when a member of the town gets shot at for somethin' ya were involved with.” 

“Ah, here we are,” Clif said, holding the notebook open to a specific page. 

“I knew you were the right man to come to, Clifton.” 

“Well, the initial charge was shooting. Disturbing the peace and other such nonsense.” 

“Ah ha! The one that Aurora said she had done first? I was there for that too but wasn't sure if that was the reason... See 'cause some man had been calling Aurora names and Buu got all protective of her and went out to find him but he'd run off. So then he'd started firing off in the air and the law go involved.” 

“Ah here we are, it seems this fellow in the saloon was at a table in the saloon,” he said and I nodded. 
“Allegedly, Buu was picking on this fellow. Now that in and of itself wouldn't be a major charge.” 

“Was he...? The fellow callin’ Aurora names?” 

“Well, that's the question I'd hoped Buu would have come to answer.” 

“I sure wish I'd been at that trial...” 

“As do I, he may have very well simply done a little jail time and gone on his way.” 

“I heard he was doing community service with Stacie the other day...” 

“Well, the state hasn't set that up yet. I usually send what we generate to Denver.”

“Oh,” I looked disappointed. 

“Since we've just become a state only 4 years ago, the government records are a bit slim. Only a state since ’65.” 

I remembered something then and said, “But Clifton... Back when I was researching the whole Dutch Solo thing... Stacie said all court reports were available to the public in the library.” 

“Hmmm, I'll have to check on that. I've always sent them to denver.” 

“She could've just been telling me that cause she didn't want me to know anythin’... Partially why I didn't go to her for this...”

“I can certainly get you a copy of the complaint and warrants. Those are public record.” 

“That'd be mighty helpful, Clifton. Thank you so much!” 

“I'll have to get to my records, I usually don't access them much.” 

“Yes, I understand... I'm not sure when I'm going to set the deadline for of the paper... Might not be for a few weeks as I sort everything out.” 

“But you'll have it by the end of the day. Would that be acceptable?” 

“That'd be perfect. How could I ever repay you?” 

“Outstanding. Simply report the truth, my dear lady.” 

“Oh I will, you can bet on that,” I promised. 

“If I may ask, why the story?” 

“Well... Kale risked his life, sir. People need to see that he was a hero. Not only that... but the law also did an outstanding job at quelling the situation. It could have ended a lot worse.” 

“Aye, it could have been much, much worse.” 

“Plus... I was almost caught in the crossfire when I arrived.” 

“I also have one other thing i'd like you to print, if you would.” 

“Oh? What's that?” 

“It's a document I've adopted for our Judges and Judicial personnel.” 

“Okay..” 

“It's been printed before, but I like to remind folks what they should expect of my folks.” 

I nodded and he handed me a sheet of paper. I took the paper and read it over: 

Federal Court for the districts of Amiville,Georgetown, Colorado Springs, and Kansas: 

Order Adopting the Code of Judicial Conduct
The Code of Judicial Conduct is hereby accepted to read as follows:

Preamble
An independent and honorable judiciary is indispensable to justice in our society, and to this end and in furtherance thereof, this Code of Judicial Conduct is hereby established. A violation of this Code of Judicial Conduct may be deemed conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute, or willful misconduct in office,or otherwise as grounds for disciplinary proceedings pursuant to Law. No other code or proposed code of judicial conduct shall be relied upon in the interpretation and application of this Code of Judicial Conduct.

Canon 1: A judge should uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary.
Canon 2: A judge should avoid impropriety in all the judge’s activities.
Canon 3:A judge should perform the duties of the judge’s office impartially and diligently.
Canon 4: A judge may participate in cultural or historical activities or engage in activities concerning the legal, economic, educational, or governmental system, or the administration of justice.
Canon 5: A judge should regulate the judge’s extra-judicial activities to ensure that they do not prevent the judge from carrying out the judge’s judicial duties.
Canon 6: A judge may engage in political activity consistent with the judge’s status as a public official.

Adopted unanimously by the Court in Conference this the 1st day of March 1869. This document shall be promulgated by publication in the Amiville Observer.
___________________________
For the Court
Witness my hand and the Seal of the Federal Court for the districts of Amiville, Georgetown, Colorado East, and Kansas,
this the 2nd day of March 1869.
___________________________
Clifton Islay
Senior Judge
Federal Court 
for the districts of Amiville, Georgetown, Colorado East, and Kansas.

I take this seriously. and I hold myself to a very high standard,” he said when I was finished reading. 

“I admire that, Sir,” I nodded. 

“I want the people of the tenth Judicial District, to trust us in the courts, which is one reason that I have no issue speaking with the press.” 

“I’m glad to hear that,” I smiled. “I'll be coming to you first more often for information, I'm sure. You've been extremely helpful.” 

“Feel free. If I can give you information, without damaging the due process, I'll do so.” 
I smiled and reached to shake his hand. “Thank you Clifton. It means a lot.” 

“My pleasure, Miss Trin,” he shook my hand. “I'll have a messenger bring you those documents.” 


That evening I was dancing on stage in the saloon while commotion began between Bravo and Mr. Blackwell. Bravo was going on about a debt that James seemed to have against him and James didn’t seem to know anything of what he was talking about. Before long punches started and Rosa tried to get in the middle of it but Bravo punched her when he went for a swing on James. The most amazing thing to me was that the deputy Peep was just sitting on the bench, letting it all happen. More people joined in the fight and more fists were thrown, with more chairs turned over and bottles knocked to the ground. When it was all over, James lay on the floor in pain and Foxy came in, mad as anything that they had created such a ruckus in the saloon and destroyed some of her chairs. She ordered that they both pay for damages and I paid more attention on getting medical help for James. Fritha came to take care of him and we got him outside to the clinic.

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