Wednesday, June 24, 2015

[San Joaquin County] Swearing-in the new; thanking the old


STOCKTON — Connie Stephens has always wanted to be part of a civil grand jury. Now that she is retired, she has the time.
Stephens was one of 19 people chosen and sworn in by Judge George Abdallah on Monday to serve on the 2015-16 San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury, a team charged with investigating citizens' complaints about the operations of local government entities.
"It's an opportunity to be able to serve the community," Stephens, 60, said. "I think that some of these agencies need to be looked into.
"It keeps them on the up and up."
The group includes three members of the previous year's grand jury who decided to take part one more year: Eric Grunder, a retired editor from The Record; Betty Hollars, a retired accounting manager from Tracy; and Howard Seligman, a semi-retired attorney.
The 2014-15 grand jury, which was discharged Monday, released a number of reports recently on the state of South Stockton, Tracy airport, for-profit donation bins and other operations.
"It was a real challenge," said Seligman, who was selected to be foreman of the 2015-16 grand jury. "We had great subjects to investigate."
The investigation into South Stockton was one of the more signigicant ones to Seligman.
"It's a neglected area. It's got a population of over 30,000," Seligman said. "It needs a lot of help.
"Hopefully the city will step to the plate, along with the community."
June 22, 2015
Stockton Record
By the Record

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