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Show 2 - BORROWED TIMES . MAY 1994 A Tale from Another Ru ral Town A story is told about a village in England where a local constable walked the beat for many years. This constable knew all the town-folk well and could sense when problems were might be and what kind of professional training we would need before we could offer that service. We all felt strongly that the service would be completely optional and voluntary-— that is, we would only mediate conflicts in which we were invited by all involved parties, and our services would be free of charge. We see mediation as a way to avoid the arising or trouble was brewing. Whenever tensions rose he would get escalation which eventually leads to the people involved to talk with each violence and/or litigation. When a conflict gets resolved in court some- other and work out their problems before anyone got hurt As a result there was virtually no crime in the village. Well, one day the Central Government noticed that there was no crime in the town, and reasoned, “If \\ \J\\.\.\\\\\_\l\i\r is a skill that can be learned. I also body wins and somebody loses, but everybody is put through the wririger. I think that those participating in mediation team meetings believe that believe that if many people in Castle Valley honed that skill and made themselves available to their neighbors, this town would be a better place to live for everybody. That is why I have been attending the mediation team meetings. once the constable was gone the “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” We’ve all heard stories about outrageous town ordinances passed simply because two individuals could not work out a problem without citizens of the village no longer had resorting tothe force of law. For anyone working actively to diffuse the example, one town has a cat leash law in Santa Fe who left the practice of law tensions which arose as a part of their everyday living. As the conflicts escalated, so did crime. Within a few years the Central Government noticed because a person’s cat kept peeing on the neighbor‘s lawn! No one in Castle Valley wants to be ordinanced to death—many of us have moved here to because the legal system is based on controlling information, whereas mediation is based on sharing informa— that the crime rate in the village was escape the madness and restrictions of inordinately high, and so they sent in a city life. whole police force to deal-with the crime, and many of the town-folk went to jail and prison. Wouldn’t it be nice if all the residents of Castle Valley could work out their problems respectfully, person- there‘s no crime, why do we need a constable?” So they reassigned the constable to a nearby city. Of course, I am also excited about these meetings because my family friend Reese Fullerton is excited about the idea of a rural community mediations team. Reese was a successful attorney to—person, and neighbor-to-neighbor? tion, which develops trust and helps to create sustainable solutions. He has recently worked on a conference to promote forgiveness and reconciliation among Christians and Muslims in Lebanon. He also was a facilitator at Castle Valley has no constable, but we sometimes have tensions between neighbors. As people continue to move here, the amount of friction is likely to increase unless we do what we can to promote something better. The story was told at the last meeting of the CV mediation team on Wouldn’t it be great if all the people in the recent national summit of BLM leaders, and has helped ranchers, this beautiful valley could fully enjoy its peace and solitude without being embroiled in a quarrel with the person on the next lot? Does anyone really like sheepherders, and environmentalists work out solutions on the animal damage control issue in New Mexico. April 16. Although the eight of us who not. So what’s the moral of the story? attended came from different backgrounds and brought different outlooks on life and levels of experience, we shared a common desire to learn more about mediation and positive ways to resolve conflicts. We basically agreed small potatoes next to these, Reese is of anger, bittemess, or resentment excited about what we are trying to do here. He doesn’t know of another small towards his or her neighbors? I think I personally would like to live in a community where people can be define the areas of that disagreement, genuinely friendly toward one another because they have dealt with their disputes and no longer need to avoid each other or cast aspersions behind each other’s backs. But I also know from personal experience that I’m not very good at working out wise solu- express their concerns and needs to tions in times of turmoil, and that many each other, then work toward a solution of my Castle Valley neighbors are in the same boat I believe that the ability that mediation might help valley citizens who have disagreements to agreeable to all parties. We brought up questions about what the purpose of a mediation team Though CV’s issues might seem like living day-in and day—out with feelings town anywhere that is doing the same. He has volunteered to meet with us and guide us as we begin training in what we hope will be a top-notch service to our community. The Castle Valley mediation team meets on the third Saturday of each month at 8 a.m., and anyone interested is invited to participate. The next meeting will be on Saturday, May 21st, at 8 am. in the home of Donovan Roberts, 182 Shafer Lane. —Damian Baumgardner to ease friction between people and work out viable solutions to problems s, ((iii‘l/i(((tll{L\(/(\i\llli\rli|lilii iii/l/il/li i |