Mike Hellon Honored for Service to Courts

Mike Hellon with Chief Justice Berch

Rebecca White Berch, Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, last week presented the Chief Justice’s Distinguished Service Award to Mike Hellon for “Outstanding Contributions to the Arizona Judiciary.”

The top award presented annually by the Chief Justice, is given to an individual who has made an “Outstanding Contribution to the Arizona Courts.” Hellon’s award cited his service in “preserving the dignity of the judiciary and for your many years of dedicated service in improving the legal profession.” Hellon is not a lawyer.

In her remarks to the Judicial Conference, Chief Justice Berch cited Hellon’s service of twenty-two years as a small claims hearing officer for the Pima County Justice Court; his service on the Judicial Performance Review Commission, where is the current Chairman; his membership on the Arizona Judicial Council, which is the “board of directors of the court system;” and his service as the only non-lawyer on the faculty of the Judicial College of Arizona.

Hellon is running for District 1 Pima County Board of Supervisors in the upcoming August 28 Primary against three other Republicans including LD 26 Rep. Vic Williams and two newcomers to politics, Ally Miller and Stuart McDaniel. Mike is also divorced from former LD 26 State Senator Toni Hellon.

Here is my previous article about Mike’s candidacy (click here).

I personally know Mike having served over 7 years — also as a part-time Hearing Officer in the Small Claims Division of the Pima County Consolidated Justice Courts, where Mike is one of our trainers. And Mike as a non-lawyer does seem to know more about the law than I do, despite my law degree and several years of practicing.

Congratulations Mike for this award!

Pollitical newcomer Pastor Michael Navarro has pulled papers to run for the Ward 1 Council seat currently occupied by Councilmember Regina Romero (D). Navarro will be running as an Independent–Nomination Other Than by Primary (NOP) according to the Tucson City Clerk’s office and needs to get 405 signatures to qualify for this race.

Michael Navarro

Growing up on the streets of Barrio Hollywood on Tucson, Arizona’s west side, was not easy for Michael, but he decided he wanted something better than to get swallowed into a life of crime and trouble.

When Michael graduated from the University of Phoenix, he decided to attend Trinity Law School in Santa Ana, California. After graduating from law school, he moved back to his native Tucson, and began work with several different law firms as well as the Attorney General’s office.

He then began working for the Pima County Consolidated Justice Court and also acts as pastor at Westside Baptist Church.

He has a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michael-Navarro/163916763669189
and can be reached by mnavarro@q.com. Hope to update tomorrow on Navarro’s voting record once I confirm it with the Pima County Recorder’s Office.

Councilmember Romero is running for re-election for her 2nd term, and is facing a Democratic challenger businessman Joe Flores in the August 30, 2011 primary. The winner of that primary will face off with Navarro, should he get enough signatures to qualify for the General Election on November 8. No Republican is running for this Council seat as yet.

The Mayor of Tucson and Council seats in Wards 1, 2 and 4 are up for election this year.

5/18/11 UPDATE: Navarro has been registered as a Democrat since July 19, 2007, changed to Independent on April 25, 2011, per Chris Roads (Deputy Recorder & Registrar of Voters) at Pima County Recorder’s Office.

Roy Place office then

Roy Place office now

Recognize these photos? It was the location of the former Walgreen’s downtown which closed sometime after 2001, but the facade has now been restored, and the building rented to the University of Arizona as a center for “urban design, planning and policy classes” for graduate students. The College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture will be the new tenant, and Pima County is the lessor/owner. Read more in Arizona Daily star article:

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/education/college/article_623b03b1-baae-51db-85ba-8043e142cbfd.html.

Or in UA News (click here).

It was the office of local architect Roy Place, who also built the Pioneer Hotel, Roskruge Elementary and Mansfeld Middle Schools, the St. Benedictine Monastery.

The dedication for this building will be on Thursday, Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. with UA President Robert Shelton and Fred DuVal, a member of the Arizona Board of Regents. The dedication ceremony will be on the NW corner of N. Stone and E. Pennington Street at Jacome Plaza, although this Roy Place building is at that same intersection on the SE corner, 44 N. Stone Avenue.

I used to shop in there at Walgreen’s when I worked downtown on Pennington Street at the Domestic Violence Commission (now defunct). But it’s wonderful to see the original facade restored, especially as it was Roy Place’s architect office, which looked out upon the lovely Pima County Courthouse, which he built in 1929. It is perhaps his most famous building in Tucson.

For website of Pima County Consolidated Justice Courts/Courthouse, click here.

Incidentally I have held court (Small Claims) in that historic courthouse building for the Pima County Consolidated Justice Courts, although our courtroom is now in the La Placita Village down south on Church Avenue.