PERRYSBURG COURT EXPLORER POST PLACES FIRST AND SECOND IN MOCK TRIAL COMPETITION

Perrysburg, Ohio – February 23, 2004 – Perrysburg Municipal Court’s Explorer Post #2306 placed first and second against the four other teams of Archbold and Penta Career in the district mock trial competition held on February 20, 2004, at Wood County Court of Common Pleas.  More than 3,000 students representing over 250 teams competed at 29 district sites across the state.  The top 48 teams will advance to the state finals in Columbus on March 11-13, 2004.  The final championship round will be played at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus.

Team members spent weeks preparing their cases, working with Perrysburg Municipal Court Judge S. Dwight Osterud and local attorney John P. Donahue.  The participants were scored for creativity and persuasiveness.

Jenna Anderson, Kaitlin Burhans, Michael O’Brien, and Kevin Swiatek gave testimony as witnesses for Team Blue.  Nick Bade was the bailiff.  JoJo Ginn and David Prephan were attorneys and presented the prosecution side, and Lindsay Kilpatrick and Alex Zavala were the attorneys who argued the defense for Team Blue.

Thomas Belazis, Jenna Borton, Paul Delaney, and Maria Dicke gave testimony as witnesses for Team Red.  Ross Buchanan was the bailiff.  Nick Gozza and Karl Meyer presented the defense side as attorneys, and Olivia Twu and Sara Walker presented the prosecution as attorneys for Team Red.  Keri Campbell and Kelsey Campbell served as backup witnesses.

JoJo Ginn, Nick Gozza, Olivia Twu, and Alex Zavala received outstanding attorney award recognition.  Paul Delaney won the outstanding witness award.  Team Blue will be traveling to Columbus for the state final competition on March 11-13, 2004.  Team Red will join them to scrimmage and support Team Blue.

Judge Osterud said, “Most of the team members are also members of the Perrysburg High School Speech and Debate Team.  I think this shows the value of the speech and debate activities of Perrysburg High School.”

Joe Mehling supplied vans through Ed Schmidt Pontiac GMC Inc. to transport the teams to the competition in Bowling Green for which the Explorer Post is truly thankful.  The Wood County Bar Association sponsored the Wood County mock trial site.

Exploring is part of Learning for Life’s career education program.  The Perrysburg Municipal Court launched this Explorer post in October 2001.  The purpose is to give community youth the opportunity to look into the world of law and government as a career choice and to participate in law and government activities.  New members are always welcome.

Visit the national Exploring website at http://www.learning-for-life.org/ for additional information and call 419-872-7915 for Perrysburg Court Explorer Post meeting schedule.  Visit http://www.oclre.org/MT/ for additional information about the mock trial competition.

TEAM BLUE - David Prephan, Kaitlin Burhans, Nick Bade, Jenna Anderson, Lindsay Kilpatrick, Kevin Swiatek, Alex Zavala, JoJo Ginn, Mike O'Brien

TEAM RED - Jenna Borton, Kelsey Campbell, Kari Campbell, Olivia Twu, Karl Meyer, Maria Dicke, Thomas Belazis, Sara Walker, Nick Gozza (Paul Delaney not photographed)

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