THE COLORADO EXPERIENCE:

                          HIGH ON A BILL 

                     

     Afternoon rains, hail, high winds, blistering  heat--nothing 
could stop us.  "Us" came down to Jim Glennie and I doing a last-
minute  whirlwind petitioning effort around Colorado,  with  able 
assists from local activists, beginning with Jim's wife:      



     Mary  Margaret Glennie worked on arrangements for our  tour, 
published details in the Colorado LP newsletter the  "Clipboard", 
and let me use her furnished cellar as "home basement" over a 10-
day period.  Thank you!



     East or west of the Continental Divide, and  whether working 
with  David Aitkin in Denver, Nancy Putnam in Boulder, Keith  and 
Patricia Hamburger in Colorado Springs, or Kim and Nita Benham in 
Grand Junction,  we enjoyed not only our hosts but ourselves--and 
we learned a lot.



     The  biggest  lesson, learned right away, was  that  it  was 
taking  too  long to gather each signature,  even  gathering  one 
right after another, for us to hope to qualify FIJA for the  1990 
ballot in Colorado.  That was because, unlike other ballot issues 
which  are simple to explain, FIJA requires quite a little  pitch 
per John Henry.



     The  ratio of signers to non-signers was excellent,  though, 
(about 4 or 5 to 1), and we hand-delivered and discussed a lot of 
literature.  It began to feel more like a political Johnny Apple-
seed  adventure than a petitioning chore, and we really got  into 
it.   That means having heavy chats with  the occasional  judges, 
prosecutors, lawyers, court employees, ex-jurors, ex-convicts and 
other "political types" who may turn up in a day's petitioning.



     It also means watching people's faces light up as they, like 
we once did, come to understand the implications of FIJA.   There 
were of course some people who turned cloudy upon  understanding, 
but at least a few of them walked away with their noses buried in 
our literature, going "hmm-m".



     Another  lesson, one that Don Doig and I had  been  learning 
for a few weeks before my July 25 departure for Ft. Collins,  was 
confirmed and resolved by the Colorado Experience:  



     Whereas,  it always takes at least half a minute to  explain 
FIJA to anyone unfamiliar with it; and



     Whereas, there exist lawmaking bodies whose job is to listen 
to such explanations, known as legislatures; and



     Whereas,  major-party legislators, platform committees,  and 
caucuses have already endorsed FIJA in several states; and  


     Whereas, FIJA is an ideological, not a "pocketbook" issue,so
it will never be easy to raise enough money to hire petitioners:      



     Now therefore be it resolved that we go at this project more 
efficiently--by lobbying our respective 1991 state  legislatures. 
If that doesn't pan out, then we can return to the sidewalks!



     Operationally, this can mean that like Glennie in  Colorado, 
FIJA coordinators in ballot-drive states may wish to send "thank-
you"  notes to all petition signers--notes which will  also  urge 
people  to  get back in touch if they wish to participate  in  an 
effort to pass FIJA as a legislative bill for referendum.



     Here  at HQ, it means  that you now know why this  issue  of 
the  FIJActivist  is  replete   with  advice,  ideas,  plans  and 
progress reports on FIJA as a Bill.  What was learned in Colorado 
also  reaffirmed our resolve to sponsor the  first-ever  National 
FIJA  conference,  where  the  object  will  be  to  finalize   a 
sophisticated  package  of legislation we're calling "A  Bill  of 
Jury Rights."



     Should the history of justice  record great leaps forward on 

November 9-11 in St. Louis, Missouri, then, at least some of  the 
blame must go to the Colorado experience! 



     See you in St. Louis?                      Larry Dodge