Today’s letter from Tulare County grand jury foreman Milton Morrison was prompted by comments from two readers on stories published recently in the Times-Delta and Advance-Register. Luis Lopez, a former Visalia Unified School District employee, was arrested for suspicion of child molestation and later charged with multiple counts of child molestation. Morrison wrote to the Times-Delta/Advance-Register to address the comments on those stories.
In the March 26 edition of the Times Delta, in the “Our Readers Respond” section on page 3, one could have found the following — in part: “Since the Grand Jury has been slow on the draw investigating school-child security breaches …” attributed to one Renee Lapin, and “But this dragging by the Grand Jury is very disconcerting.” attributed to a George Liveris. When I came upon those two assertions by presumably well-informed citizens, I immediately repaired to the Tulare County Civil Grand Jury’s Citizen Complaint Log, which we jurors maintain in the grand jury quarters. Alas, my careful research disclosed no citizen complaints about VUSD’s hiring practices, nor, for that matter, any citizen complaints of any subject matter relative to the VUSD. So what to make of this so-called “slow on the draw” and “dragging” on the part of the grand jury? Well, possibly they refer to another grand jury? Well, currently there is no other Grand Jury — neither a criminal grand jury on behalf of the district attorney nor a special grand jury on behalf of the courts. So, what are these citizens unhappy about?
The Tulare County civil grand jury primarily investigates county, city, special district and some related issues on behalf of complaining citizens. The jury will, on occasion, mostly when the need is apparent also initiate its own investigation of some entity here in the county. There has been no recent apparent need to investigate the Visalia Unified School District’s hiring practices. School district hiring is prescribed by law and the Education Code and there has been no cause apparent to the grand jury to initiate an investigation of the school district. Clearly, I struggle with “dragging” and “slow on the draw.” I don’t think that the jury will be investigating any agency’s failure to predict the behavior of every employee under every possible scenario. Whatever else there is about human nature, it is inscrutable in its darkest recesses.
For you readers who are unsure of the process, please know that the grand jury will respond to citizen complaints. It is helpful to include in a complaint the name and contact information for people who may have knowledge of the situation. Also, some suggestions of the action one wishes for the jury to take is helpful. Grand jury complaint forms are available on the grand jury’s website: www. tularecounty.ca.gov/grandjury
Milton Morrison
Foreman, Tulare County Grand Jury
1 comment:
Post a Comment