Thursday, June 11, 2009
Fifth-graders surprise judge with gift of gavel
Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs got a new gavel from the class at Price's Fork Elementary School.
Photos by ALAN KIM The Roanoke Times
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs acts surprised as he enters Jenna Swann's (left) fifth-grade class at Price's Fork Elementary School on Wednesday morning. To the right is Montgomery County Sherriff's Office Master Deputy Chris Lucas, who takes fifth-graders to the Montgomery County Courthouse to watch what goes on in the courtroom.
Carter MacDonald (left) and Katie Haubner were the ones who decided Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs should have a gavel. The students and their classmates visited Grubbs' courtroom during a field trip.
ALAN KIM The Roanoke Times
The gavel that fifth-graders presented to Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs reads: "To Judge Grubbs, From the Class of 2009, Price's Fork Elementary School."
And every year, at least one of the students has asked why Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs doesn't have a gavel.
They won't have to ask anymore.
Wednesday morning at the school, this year's fifth-graders presented Grubbs with his very own wooden gavel, a brass band around the middle engraved with the words "To Judge Grubbs, From the Class of 2009, Price's Fork Elementary School."
"That is absolutely handsome," Grubbs told the class. "I cannot tell you how much this means to me."
He called the gavel "one of the most treasured gifts I've ever received."
Grubbs then lightly tapped students Katie Haubner and Carter MacDonald on the head and asked them for a hug.
The two 11-year-olds were the ones who decided Grubbs should have a gavel.
They were part of the class that watched him hear court the morning of May 8. They watched as a jury was selected and the prosecution presented its case against a man charged with malicious wounding, burglary and destruction of property. They saw inmates in jail jumpsuits, handcuffs and shackles.
"It was a little bit scary because we saw all those people doing things wrong," Carter said.
"You can see things that you shouldn't do and stuff," Katie said.
"It's not like the cartoons. It's actually pretty serious and stuff," Carter added.
That's exactly why Lucas, of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, takes students to court each spring. As the school's DARE officer, he spends one day a week for 10 weeks teaching about the risks of alcohol, tobacco and drug use and ways to say no when faced with peer pressure.
He takes each class on a field trip to watch Grubbs' court, meet Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Brad Finch, see the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office dispatch center and tactical team and visit the Montgomery County Jail.
"The feedback I get from teachers is that it's the best field trip they do all year long," Lucas said.
For court, he said, he tries to pick days when the students will see people charged with drug or alcohol violations. He also tries to make sure no one from the Prices Fork community is on the docket so students don't see anyone they know.
"I want them to see, hey, here's what happens to you" if they get in trouble with the law, he said. "My hope with all of that is that it sticks with them, and later they'll think about watching those people go to jail" and be less likely to make decisions that could get them into legal trouble.
After they watched court last month, the students met with Grubbs.
Alan Kim | The Roanoke Times
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs gives a playful tap on the head to Brandon Hopson with the gavel that fifth-graders had just given to him at Prices Fork Elementary School on Wednesday.
He said Wednesday he was impressed with the fifth-graders' intelligent questions.
"Every question they asked was based upon what they observed, and that meant they were paying attention," he said.
When they asked about the gavel, he told them: "I'm the only judge, I think, in the whole commonwealth of Virginia who doesn't have a gavel."
Katie and Carter started talking about that as they hung out at the school, where both their mothers teach, the afternoon after their field trip.
"We thought we should get him a gavel to thank him for what he did," Carter said.
"Just for the experience going there," Katie said. "I don't think a lot of schools get to do that."
They asked for Internet access so they could search for a gavel.
"There was a lot of gavels," Carter said.
When they finally found the perfect one, a school employee paid for it with her credit card. Then the girls made slips of paper, asking each member of the fifth-grade class to pitch in a dollar to pay her back.
Katie and Carter were going to present the gavel to Grubbs in his courtroom Wednesday, but his secretary, Lyndall Cole, thought the whole class should take part. She said she would find a way to get Grubbs to the elementary school Wednesday morning.
Cole told Grubbs that he was needed at the school to complete the class's DARE graduation, something he always attends.
"That's called false pretenses," Grubbs joked with the class when told Cole hadn't been upfront with him.
But he didn't seem to mind.
"He seemed pretty happy," Carter said.
As he left the school, Grubbs said, "This has been a very special day indeed."
