Law – Page 20 – Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics

Learning by Watching: Board of Adjustments

May 26, 2022, Morgan Robertson

Although it is summer, the LEAP Ambassadors look for ways to learn. Thus, when Ken Holland, Chairman of the Board of Adjustments (and HISD Trustee), invited us to attend a board meeting to see how the City works, we jumped at the chance.

Mr. Holland prepped us for the meeting by supplying the agenda ahead of time and explained to Yvette and me what a Board of Adjustments does. He told us that the board is made up of citizens who wish to serve their community (much like City Council, which is also a board). The seven members of the board meet when there are cases to be discussed, and they do not get paid for their time.

Before the start of the meeting, we spoke with Aron Kulhavy, City Manager, for a while and I was also able to introduce Yvette to Kevin Byal, Director of Development Services for the city.

The meeting began, just like City Council, with the pledges and an invocation. The next item on the agenda was a Public Hearing for a variance request.

A public hearing consists of three parts: (1) a description of the variance, (2) comments in favor and (3) comments against. Public hearings for a variance are a time in the meeting in which a representative from the city will explain the issue and why the citizen is requesting a variance. Once the representative from the city explained the facts of the variance, the Chairman, Mr. Holland, opened the floor up for comments from the public.

The second part in the public hearing calls for comments in favor of the variance, and a representative for the citizen gave a detailed description in favor of the variance, which involved property on a setback line for the construction of a new structure. Previously, on the land in which the new structure was to be built, there was a structurally unsound shed that has since been removed. The owners of the property are looking to build a pool house on the site of the previously existing structure. However, due to the layout of the property and usage of the land, the structure would encroach on the setback line by 4 feet.

The property owner then spoke in favor of the variance, as did a neighbor who believed it to be in the best interest of her property as well.

The third part of a public hearing calls for comments against approval of the variance, and at this meeting there were none.

Mr. Holland closed the Public Hearing, and then began the 6^th item on the agenda; for members of the board to discuss and decide on approval or denial of the variance.

After some deliberation and discussion, the Board of Adjustment decided to approve the variance with the staff recommendation of a four-foot setback with a 1-hour fire-rated wall assembly required.

The meeting was interesting from start to finish, and I am grateful we were invited to watch our community at work!

The LEAP Ambassadors would like to thank Chairman Holland and the City of Huntsville for inviting and welcoming us to learn!

Learning in a Time of Pandemics and Misinformation

By Bella Urbani

As our first day came to an end, we attended another fantastic Houston World Affairs Council event at the Amegy Tower featuring Joel Simon, who discussed topics from his book Infodemic regarding censorship associated with COVID-19. As a nice bonus, we also had a chance to meet former LEAP Ambassador Esme Mata, who after graduating from SHSU, went to the Bush School at TAMU, and is now working for Harris County. And we had a chance to see Amegy Tower for the first time!

As we know, COVID-19 is still a very controversial and confusing topic, but Simon–with skillful moderating by Ronan O’Malley–was able to articulate how the COVID-19 pandemic led to various types of censorship across the globe.

The most fascinating subject Simon talked about was how some countries installed tracking apps on their subjects’ phones, so that they could see where they travel, whom they interact with, and whether they have potentially been exposed to COVID. If a person has interacted with a COVID patient, that individual is given mandates to stay at home or go to quarantine, and if they don’t, they can be fined or otherwise penalized. In some cases–as in Russa–individuals were given notifications in the middle of the night, and if they did not respond in time, they were assumed to have broken quarantine, and fined.

It was interesting to learn more about how other nations responded to the pandemic and how censorship policies, in most cases, hurt their country.

One item of particular interest was the importance of local news and leadership. National news figures and media have the “reach,” but they lack the trust, the sense of shared identification with locals. Local newspapers, local reporters, and local leaders share that identity, but almost thirty years after the advent of the internet, they no longer exist in many communities. They lack the reach. So, citizens were not getting information from people they trusted in many cases, and they also lacked information that the national media could not give: such as where to go locally for vaccines, or where medical supplies could be purchased, and the like.

The whole experience was very informative and easy to understand and Simon’s answers to our questions were very knowledgeable regarding censorship, which I appreciated.

After Simon spoke, we were able to get a signed copy of his book, followed by a picture! It was a great opportunity to see old friends (LEAP students and WAC staff), learn something new (from Joel Simon), and make new friends (Esme Mata).

Venezuelan Refugees: A health, economic, and educational crisis

Morgan Robertson

Although summer is often a time for students taking time off, Izabella (Bella) Urbani, Isabel Behm, former LEAP Ambassador Quinn Kobrin, and the LEAP Ambassadors braved the Houston summer traffic to attend The World Affairs Council Event “Combating Venezuela’s Refugee Crisis.”

We were excited to be invited to the Palm Restaurant, a nice steakhouse in downtown Houston. We ventured through the dining room and into a private room that was decorated with murals featuring scenes of Houston.

The room was full of doctors and medical professionals from Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation, Chevron employees, and interested citizens of Houston. Jessica, Saara, and I introduced Bella and Isabel to Sandija Bayot, the Chief Development Officer for WAC, and someone we can always count on for a warm greeting.

Maryanne Maldonado, the Executive Director of the World Affairs Council…

….introduced Dr. Michael Mizwa, who is the Director of Global Health, Texas Children’s Hospital, and the CEO of Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative.

Before actually speaking on the topic, Dr. Mizwa, offered us a friendly greeting of “Go Bearkats,” and then moved to an introduction of our featured speaker: Ana Maria Galvis, the Executive Director of Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation, Colombia.

Galvis began by explaining some of the issues that Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) face. However, Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation Colombia operates somewhat differently than traditional NGOs. The program is run and operated by Colombians and, although the overall program objective is to promote health, they can’t do that without addressing related issues. Thus, they focus on four major issues: health, food, education, and nutrition.

Recently, there has been an influx of Venezuelans migrating to Columbia; many of whom require immediate or long-term medical care. The employment rate in La Guajira (a Department of Colombia0 is 26.1 % and only one-third have visas. To provide aid to the incoming Venezuelans, the current President of Colombia has offered 10-year permits. Galvis said this has helped to reduce the number of undocumented migrants, but there is still work to be done to track their medical needs.

Since the program is an NGO, it is held to a different standard than the privately funded healthcare centers. Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation Colombia offers 25 health certified services, and they have a dedication to “not just treating the illness, [but] treating the human being.”

Since 2014 the program has provided treated 12,400 patients, administered 7,000 vaccinations, and is the only NGO in Colombia authorized to provide the Covid-19 vaccination. The program has done amazing work to provide aid for the current crisis, and their approach is what we, as social science majors, also aim for: the help communities, not just individuals.

The event was enormously educational, and it also moved us out of our comfort zones, prompting us to converse with professionals over lunch, discussing topics with which we aren’t overly familiar.

It is a recipe for growth, and one we enjoyed very much.

Ambassadors Come Together from Across Texas

May 29, 2022, Yvette Mendoza

One of the many wonderful programs offered by the Annette Strauss Institute at the University of Texas at Austin is the Texas Civic Ambassadors program, which I was fortunate to be selected for last year. I was one of approximately 30 such students selected, and this past weekend, many of us descended on Austin to participate in the TCA’s closing ceremonies.

I was able to meet with people from El Paso, the Rio Grande Valley, north Texas, and I, of course, represented SHSU and East Texas.

The Institute brought in public servants to speak to us, including Austin’s Mayor, Steve Adler and Matt Glazer. Both provided insights into civic engagement, from Adler’s discussion of how he tackled a pandemic in Austin, and Glazer discussed how change occurs–by caring, by being present, by stepping up, contributing, being accountable, advocating, and planning.

While we learned from these public servants, we also learned from each other. Each TCA presented their project and what progress they have made thus far. It included creating a Latinx open house, voter registration drives, getting junior high and high schoolers civically involved, and the like.

My project, Beyond Bars, focuses explicitly on civically educating the students at Sam Houston and the citizens of Huntsville on the incarceration process–from arrest, to prosecution, to incarceration and alternatives to incarceration, to rehabilitation and reentry.

Along with listening to one another, we also had the opportunity to network with TCA alumni and other people who have significantly impacted our state with various nonprofit organizations.

To top off our ceremony, we didn’t leave without getting a taste of Austin at Kerbey Lane; this gave us a chance to say our goodbyes but never forgot our love for engagement.

I am incredibly grateful for the various opportunities I have been given in this program, and I will continue to use what I have learned at Annette Strauss Institute on my path of continuing civic engagement.

Civics, History, and Citizenship

Jessica Cuevas

Each Spring the LEAP Center partners with the Huntsville Public Library to provide a free citizenship preparatory course to aid immigrants in their naturalization process. This year, our program covered late March and all of April, and after two years of COVID, we had a smaller sized–but enthusiastic–class, led by Professor Mike Yawn, HPL intern Jocelyn Vazquez (and her supervisor, Mary Kokot), and the LEAP Ambassadors as volunteers.

Overall, we had about a dozen members representing several countries such as Mexico, El Salvador, and Canada! For the first meeting, Professor Yawn had everyone introduce themselves before he discussed the process of becoming a citizen and gave a rundown of the course–as well as the Naturalization interview and exam.

The course runs for five weeks, with each week covering a different era or topic addressed by the Civics portion of the Naturalization Exam. Professor Yawn spends about 20 minutes going over an era or a topic, and then we, as volunteers, break into groups and work directly with the immigrants.

There are 100 questions that can be asked as part of the civics exam, and the USCIS officer will ask up to ten of them (randomly selected), with the immigrant needing to get six of them correct to pass. These questions can range from questions about US History, to questions about holidays, to questions about governmental structure or even geographic features of the country (e.g. “What is one of the two longest rivers in the United States?”).

This year, we had a couple of special guests. On Week Four, we had Rosa Martinez from USCIS come in on Zoom and answer questions.

And, on Week 5, we had immigration Robert Cates join us, and he proved to be a favorite of the class. He went through the nuances of the process, some pitfalls, and some tips for going through that process. The night was also pleasant, in that we had some catering done, including desserts by Sam’s Table.

We concluded this evening, and the formal portion of the course, with group photos.

But, additional work continues. Jessica and Morgan, for example, assisted one of the students on some last minute questions, and Roxana Woychesin earned her citizenship!

In addition, one of our volunteers and LEAP Ambassadors, Saara Maknojia, got the call for her interview shortly after our course ended.

In addition to being a morale boost for our volunteerism, it was also a good reminder that a lot of work goes into citizenship for those not born here, and that our rights and obligations should not be taken for granted!

Candidate Forum: (May) Runoff Version

Jessica Cuevas

With the primary run-off elections around the corner, the Walker County Republican Party hosted a Candidate Forum for residents on May 10^th at the H.E.A.R.T.S. Veteran Museum of Texas, allowing the residents of Walker County to hear from the candidates one last time. And, if residents weren’t able to attend in person, the Huntsville Item lived streamed it so that almost everyone could be informed.

LEAP Ambassadors Morgan, Heather Erin, and I helped with check-in, while candidates also manned tables highlighting their candidacies. Ms. Mckenzie introduced things.

Despite being the quietest of the group–or, in fact, any group–I was asked by Ms. Mckenzie to say the pledges.

The questions for the forum were submitted by members of the community, out of which only seven were selected by a committee for each office: County Judge and District 12 State Representative.

Judge Tracy Sorensen was the moderator for both, which was nice, because we always enjoy the opportunity to see and spend time with her. In fact, she recently spoke at our Pre-Law Society and hooded our graduating members.

In this forum, each candidate had two minutes to respond to the questions. These questions varied from state and county-specific issues, depending on the race, to why they thought they were the best candidate for the position they were running for which they had three minutes to answer.

Morgan assisted in keeping time and informing the candidates how much time they had left.

The first to go were the candidates for state representative of District 12, Kyle Kacal and Ben Bius, followed by Colt Christian and a representative for Mr. Frank Olivares (Olivares was ill not able to attend personally)

Election day is on May 24^th, however, why wait? Early voting opened yesterday, May 16th, and closes on Friday, May 20^th. Be sure to get your vote in!

Freshmen Develop Leadership Skills in “Mock City Council”

Huntsville Item

If you have 30 promising freshmen together in one place, it’s a good bet that the Freshmen Leadership Program (FLP) is involved. If those freshmen are involved in a civic engagement exercise, the LEAP Center may be part of the proceedings. The collaboration of these two offices, under the stewardship of Lindsay Lauher and Mike Yawn, led to a Mock City Council in Council Chambers on a Wednesday afternoon late in the spring semester.

“We are always looking to push students’ leadership skills,” noted Lauher, “and civic leadership is a key component of our program.”

The Council meeting involved students adopting various roles: angry citizens, media officials, city council, and city staff—all of which involved a deep dive into public policy. In particular, the council members of Mockville, Texas, explored the possibility of “legalizing cannabis” and “implementing an extensive wellness program” for City staff. Both, as one might imagine, were controversial.

In addressing the legalization of cannabis, for example, students had to assess the health ramifications (Public Health Director), the impact such a policy would have on crime (Chief Public Safety Officer), the legality of a city moving against a state law (City Attorney) as well as the political implications (Council members) of the ordinance.

Students initially thought that a wellness program might be less controversial, but questions of privacy slowed down the proceedings. The ordinance involved “free” Fitbits provided to all City of Mockville employees, with the hope that this recourse might offer helpful reminders to stay healthy. But devices such as Fitbits also collect a lot of information about the wearer: exercise habits, sleep habits, location, and, in some cases, both dietary routines and sexual health. Putting that information in the hands of employers met with resistance among the council members.

Apart from the policy issues, however, perhaps what most impressed the students was the difference between their perceptions and the reality of a council-manager form of government. Tristen Anderson, a freshman Criminal Justice major and “Mayor” during the proceedings, was surprised at how little power the mayor had: “On television, you see these super powerful mayors, but that’s just not the case in most cities.” This realization, he noted, “changed my entire perspective on that type of politics, perhaps even to the point of seeking out such an office later in life.”

Jared Scott, a freshman Accounting major, agreed. “I enjoyed the whole experience, and although I am an Accounting major, I hope to run for City Council in whichever city I settle down in.” For one of the sessions, Scott did serve as a “Council member,” while serving as “City Manager” in the other session. Both impressed him, and, in fact, Scott was so struck by the experience, he actually attended the next City of Huntsville Council meeting, just to compare it to his experience. “All in all,” he continued, “I learned a lot from this activity, and I’m glad that both the LEAP Center and FLP are open to students of all majors.”

“It’s a pleasure to work with high-achieving students,” said Yawn, “and I think good things happen when offices on the academic side of things (LEAP) collaborate with offices on the student affairs side of things (FLP). We all have the same broad mission.”

The FLP offers rich learning opportunities to test, refine, and further develop the leadership abilities of first-year students. For information, contact Lindsay Lauher at lindsay@shsu.edu or 294-2347. The Center for Law, Engagement, And Politics offers students unique activities that promote the public good. For information, contact Mike Yawn at mike.yawn@shsu.edu or 294-1456.

A Legal Education with Judge Sorensen

By Jordan Long, Historian, Pre-Law Society

For our last meeting of the semester, we had a guest speaker, Judge Tracy Sorensen from Walker County Court at Law. In addition to presenting, Judge Sorensen also provided all of our graduating students with their stoles, and was our official lottery master for various prizes.

To start the conversation, Judge Sorensen spoke about the 10th court of appeals trials that were held here at Sam Houston last week. People were able to ask her questions about the cases and her thoughts on them, and she gave her honest, thoughtful opinion.

Judge Tracy went to South Texas College of Law, and she talked of when she began her practice. She knew she wanted to come back to Huntsville after law school. She was particularly interested in family law, so that is what she focused on. Her first contested hearing, which was in family law, made her pretty nervous, primarily because her opposing counsel was a veteran attorney who was about 6’6″, more than a foot taller than Judge Sorensen! That attorney, Don Kramer, however, ended up mentoring her and being a great friend and, later, a District Judge.

Professor Yawn served as moderator asked, “How do you have the conversation with your clients on how to dress in court?”

She tells her clients to wear their “Sunday Best,” but that does not always work… She told a story about how in a jury trial her client wore a Houston Rockets outfit and said that was what he wears to church. The court coordinator continued the case because he just could not be seen before the judge in shorts. She started telling her clients to bring what they are going to wear a week before the trial to combat this issue.

Professor Yawn then inquired, “Tell us about the times when your client has lied to you and how you dealt with it.”

This is a major problem for defense attorneys, and she has dealt with it on matters of child custody, divorce, as well as criminal matters. In some cases, you just have to have a backup plan to prepare for the worst in case they aren’t fully honest.

Richard Tran, following up on Judge Sorensen’s admission that she hadn’t been the best student, asked: “How did you move from ‘not the greatest student’ to a judge”?

Her response was a lesson in not digging a hole for yourself. She had a poor first semester, got some bad advising, and then spent the rest of her time in education digging herself out. Despite this rough start, she was offered a great job with an energy company when she graduated, but then the energy market collapsed (following the Enron debacle), and the job offer was withdrawn. And this, as it turns out, was what led her to law school.

Following her wonderful presentation, Judge Sorensen did something we’ve never done before: she “hooded” our graduates.

And this included our President, Heather Barodi, who very successfully led the organization her final year.

Another thing we haven’t done–at least not recently–is take a group photo. So, we did, and got our first photo since 2016!

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