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Students get taste of law
Friday, April 30, 2004

DARRYL Q. TUCKER - THE SAGINAW NEWS

Roger Henninger says he enjoys seeing the faces of his St. Charles High School students light up during Saginaw County Bar Association mock trial competitions.

"I get to see the kids get excited," said Henninger, 40.

He has served as a mock trial coach for St. Charles students for eight years.

"Law Day is a real good extension of the classroom," said Henninger, who has taught social studies, government and physical education at St. Charles for 10 years. He previously taught for five years at Nouvel Catholic Central High School.

Because of his contributions, Bar Association members Thursday gave Henninger, a 1981 St. Charles High graduate, their Golden Apple Award during the annual Law Day program at the Trillium Banquet Center in Saginaw Township.

Henninger and his wife, Melanie, are parents of triplets, Zachary, Mackenzie and Kaitlyn.

Henninger, who also coaches football, basketball, baseball and track and field, credits Saginaw lawyer William R. "Bill" Cowdry, an attorney adviser in St. Charles, with helping him present a competitive team at mock trial events.

"He does an excellent job," Henninger said.

More than 100 students took part in eight mock trials at the Saginaw County Governmental Center, 111 S. Michigan.

This year's scenario had prosecutors accusing a student of vandalizing high school lockers and spraying the racial epithet "kraut" on them. Prosecutors sought charges of ethnic intimidation and malicious destruction of property against the student, "Jane Smith."

Of the eight trials, six juries acquitted Smith.

Mock Trial Committee and Lawyers Auxiliary members named these outstanding high schools and students:

Hemlock -- attorneys: Alicia Stapleton, Samantha Butcher and Jordan Garske; witnesses: Michelle Wheeler, Bobby Stapleton, Sarah Taylor and Dana Ellison.

Valley Lutheran -- attorneys: Sarah Richardson, Abbi Ott and Tricia Wittig; witnesses: Stephanie Jones, Eric Moquin, Stephen McCray and Marcie Graham.

Michigan Lutheran Seminary -- attorneys: Mike Schottey, Mary Jo Weindorf and Andrew Franzo; witnesses: Erica Keeney, Kyle Burmeister, Valerie Kohler and Kevin Fedewa.

Frankenmuth -- attorneys: Charles Allport and Todd Tambling; witnesses: A.J. Parth, Tony Johnson, Mark Schoenknecht and Alexis Kadolph.

Merrill -- attorneys: Rachel Pelton, Tony Knight and Adam Rohde; witnesses: Kayla Crumbaugh, Michelle Erskine, Josh Hopkins and Jacob Milne.

Carrollton -- attorneys: Stephanie Weiss, Samantha Noah and Whitney Smith; witnesses: Kandra Suhr, Ben Hatheway, Courtney Lagalo and Marcus Baker.

Arthur Hill -- attorneys: Alan Crawford and Brian Moten; witnesses: Nakeyda Randle, Karenia Randle, Jessica Shepherd and Kyle Prinz.

Heritage No. 3 -- attorneys: Jacob Gilbert and Fibronia Gorges; witnesses: Darius Buckley, Tasha Coleman, Dominique Hassell and Johna Nagy.

The association also handed out these awards:

State Court of Appeals Judge Patrick M. Meter won the F.H. Martin Award for his contributions to Law Day. Meter, a former Saginaw County chief assistant prosecutor and circuit judge, has served as Law Day chairman and president of the Bar Association.

"F.H. Martin was a dear friend of mine," Meter said. "I loved the man. He was Mr. Saginaw County Bar Association."

Martin was a Saginaw attorney at the Martin & Martin law firm who devoted much of his spare time to Law Day by writing scripts and videotaping mock trials, then coaching students. He died in December 1996.

Police canines Rookie and Felony won the Liberty Bell Award for giving law enforcement a positive image among school children.

Rookie's handler and partner is Saginaw Police Officer Joaquin Guerrero. Felony's handler and partner is Saginaw Township Police Officer Cari Guerrero, the wife of Joaquin Guerrero.

Joaquin Guerrero credits Rookie with inspiring him to start a nonprofit foundation in 1998 to promote gang and drug resistance to school children. Guerrero named the operation Precinct 131, taking the digits from Rookie's badge number.

Guerrero's presentations to more than 250,000 children have included a puppet version of Rookie and a remote control Rookie robot that rides a motorcycle. School children once collected pennies to buy bullet-proof vests for Rookie and Mohawk, the Saginaw Police K-9 handled by Officer Ruben Vasquez II.

The Saginaw County Lawyers Auxiliary awarded a $500 scholarship to Bethany McDonald, 18, a senior at Birch Run High School. McDonald, the daughter of Larry and Jeanette McDonald, said she will attend Saginaw Valley State University and major in science and minor in criminal justice.

Attorney Paul M. Purcell was co-chairman of Law Day and is president-elect of the County Bar Association.

Jeffrey C. Collison is president, Kelli Scorsone is executive director and Mary Ann Farris is chairwoman of the County Lawyers Auxiliary and co-chairwoman of Law Day.

Darryl Q. Tucker covers courts for The Saginaw News. You may reach him at 776-9686.

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