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19 Alaska B. Rag 1 (1995)

handle is hein.barjournals/askabar0019 and id is 1 raw text is: $2.00 VOLUME 19, NO.1I Dignitas semperdlgrNlas JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 1995 A tribute 05W 'J to a great prosecutor Editor's note: Municipal Prosecu- tor Jim Wolf was shot and hilled on December 9, 1994, at his home in Wuasilla. Iis colleague and friend Allen Bailey delivered the following eulogy at the memorial service on l1cember 16. Jim Welfwas a legal intern in the Anchorage D.A.'s office when I first methim; itwasin 1974,1 think. Iwas the last Anchorage borough prosecu- tor then. Jim finished law school and returned. I had been struck by his continued oN pe 20 Carlson may be retired, but he's worldng BY JOvce WEAWRJo..dcw Resigning his Superior Court judgeship didn't mean retiring to a life of idleness for Vic Carlson. One recentlhursday morning,he could be found doing repairs at a heuse he rents out, baking pastry for a dinner party, drafting a position Imlxr on villagejustice, and fielding phone calls -- roughly one every 10 minutes--in connection with his as- tensivo volunteer activities. 1'he overall impression he gives now, as (luring his two decades on the bench, is one ofintensity, energy, and seriousness of purpose. What is he serious mbout these days? The need for a village justice system to handle misdemeanors, child-in-need-of-aid, and delinquency cases. It's the only way I can see that we're going to get people to'buy in' to governing themselves. I want them to take responsibility, to have the sense that they own the system. * The need to shelter, feed com- fort and counsel Alaskans with HIV or AIDS. e The need to keep Maska the kind ofopen, welcoming place that so many ofus were pleased to find when we first came. * The need to provide positive role models for gay and lesbian tenag. ers. As sons and daughters of straights, seeing only straightadults around them, gay teens often feel defective, which may lead them to do crazy things, take undue risks, even commit suicide. If their only concept of how gay people live is to hang out on a downtown street corner waiting for a pickup, then they will be expos- ing themselves to danger. They need to see examples ofsuccessful profes- sionals and just successful people who are gay, Carlson said. In his own case, the lack of role models may have been painful but he survived. Carlson's way of coping was to run away from himself--to Alaska. He said he has only recently figured out that's the answer to the question, Why did you come to Alaska? With its varied ethnic Na- tive population and Cheechakos from all over the nation and the world, Alaska offered breathing room, free- dom from the expectations of folks back home. For away from family, one develops friendships; friends here really depend upon each other, he said. With bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, ROTC and active Navy service (mostly on Adak)behindhim, Carlson was working In Chicago when he had an interview with then- assistant attorney general Avrum Gross at Ann Arbor, Carlson ended up accepting a job offer and came to Alaska to work as an assistant AG in Juneau for Ralph Moody, Gov. Bill Egan's attorney general. The year was 1962. Next, Carlson served as an auis- tant district attorney In Fairbanks; assistant city attorney in Anchorage; borough attorney for the Greater Anchorage Area Borough, holding that post from 1966 to 1969; and public defender for the State of Alaska. In 1970 he was appointed to the Superior Court bench, serving in Sitka, Juneau and Anchorage until he resigned in 1991. For about eightyears of that, dur- ing the 1980s, his caseload was pri- marily family and children's mat- tars, including child-in-need-of-aid; delinquency; and divorce, custody, support and domestic violence, lie volunteered for it. Why? Because of all areas of the law, this one waits challenging. It'swhere people live, or perhaps where they are the moat real, Carlson suggested. When you're dealing with your kids, that's when [you, show who tyoul really are. What he has found most satisfy- ing throughout his career, Carlson said, is where I could help show continued on page I I The Light Side Russlans, and Rag Reform Also Inside Bar news, court security, paralegal pay, an 800-pound gorilla, gender equality, and more. -PA4E 13

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