Talk of the Town: Retirement— it’s all about family

It’s always a pleasure to hear from folks you haven’t talked to for a while. Earlier this week I spoke with Green Valley resident Frank Newell, former publisher of the Green Valley News.

He filled me in on his retirement and how he and his wife Susanne are now enjoying their children and grandchildren.

The Newells were recently invited to attend the graduation ceremony and dinner honoring their son-in-law, Archie Blake, a retired district court judge who served Churchill County, Nev. for many years and who earned his Ph.D. in judicial studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, this past spring.

Blake, 65, is the first Nevadan to do so and only the second judge in the U.S. to achieve this goal, according to the story in the Fallon Star Press.

The evening was hosted by Dr. James Richardson, director of judicial studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, and other faculty members.

Richardson announced that Blake’s dissertation will be published for use as a text and a reference source on establishing drug courts.

Richardson, Blake’s dissertation supervisor, described the paper as “a very impressive piece of work.”

“Two things make it a valuable contribution to the judicial system,” Richardson said. “It describes in detail how to effectively set up and operate rural drug courts and how to gather data to make them effective and therefore keep the funding resources coming in.”

Richardson added that Blake’s dissertation has application to drug courts worldwide and can be used as a model to duplicate elsewhere.

According to Fallon Star Press, Blake’s passion for “helping those in rural communities stay away from drugs and a penchant for helping those who go down the path of drugs get their lives back on track” were the reason the retired Nevada senior state judge earned his Ph.D.

Blake was a district court judge for 18 years in Yerington and Fallon, Nev. before retiring and is the father of the Rural Western Regional Drug Court, which includes Churchill, Lyon, Storey, Mineral and Douglas counties as well as Carson City, Nev.

Although he is retired, Blake shares a judgeship with the Honorable Peter Breen in Reno, Nev., working in drug court three months on and three months off. He and his wife Georgi Sue (the Newells’ daughter), a retired school teacher and children’s book author, go back and forth living in Ashland, Ore., Reno, Nev. and part of the winter in Green Valley.

The Newels’ granddaughter Jessica Blake Dugan (former golf pro at Canoa Ranch Golf Course and Vistoso) and her husband Rob Dugan (former pro at Loews Ventana) are now living in San Francisco. Jessica is a PGA tournament director at the prestigious private Olympic Club and Rob is PGA managing professional at the historic Presidio Golf Club.

It was the La Posada residents who recently received an appreciation award from the Green Valley Lions Club for their dedicated efforts in faithfully depositing their newspapers, catalogs and magazines into their recycling barrels.

Lion President Wally Leibengood made the presentation during a regular residents’ council meeting emphasizing that “it is the residents we want to expressly thank because recycling begins with them.”

La Posada management provides for the collection of these recycling barrels and delivers them to the recycling bin several times a week.

The recycling bin manager, Joel Keyte, explained that more than 100 tons of paper are contributed by La Posada to the Lions’ recycle efforts each year. He added that the net proceeds from paper sales are contributed several times a year to local charities and to several Lions state and national organizations for the prevention and the treatment of blindness,

Contributions to a new program this year was recently announced. The Green Valley Lions will be the first service club to “Sponsor a Median” to be landscaped by the Mediangreen organization dedicated to making Green Valley medians green again. The Lions would like to show how recycling newspapers can help to provide that green. The objective is to demonstrate how recycling can give something back to the community for all to enjoy.

There will be no Talk of the Town Sunday, July 27, oh, loyal readers. I’m taking a few days off to rest and relax, but look for more Talk on Wednesday, July 30, when I’ll be back for more fun.

rford@gvnews.com