When I started traveling with a carnival in the summer while I was in high school, I worked as a penny arcade change-maker and a trouble-shooter, a bear-pitch barker ("step right up, if your nickel lands and stays on the plate, you win a teddy bear") and a horse-derby race announcer ("comin’ around the far turn, it’s Bettlebomb by a length followed by Man-0’-War").

In addition to public speaking skills for future clients, judges, and juries, there were other lessons to be learned. I soon discovered that there were special rules among carnival people. If you let carnival ride guys play your game of skill (read "chance") for free, they let you and a guest ride for free on the tilt-a-whirl or the ferris wheel. A very civil arrangement for the fairgrounds. The amicable trade made it much easier to sit down with the scruffy ride guys in the morning at the only open greasy grill joint that cooked warm food for breakfast before the gates opened and the public came in.

The most interesting rule was that if a carnival worker was in trouble, he yelled "Hey, Rube!" Other carnies paid attention and came running. The ultimate extension of the battle cry occurred at times when playing a small fair, on a vacant lot where the city limits ended. At least one young resident believed he or his girlfriend had been cheated or insulted while wandering the midway that day. A group got together to raid the carnival grounds and wreak some havoc. This usually happened after shutdown, around 11:00 p.m. Everything would be dark and cars would start coming up the roads toward the carnival with teenagers (or some in their early twenties) piling out and courageously walking toward the carnival grounds in a bunch. "Hey, Rube!"

Not only did the carnies gather to face this group, but they performed a ritual. I learned that, at the entrance to the carnival midway, there was a popcorn/cotton candy wagon, operated by the spouse of the owner. Prior to video cameras, it was the eyes of the carnival midway; placed strategically at the entrance to see all and know all. It was also the carnival bank. If under attack, you could take your valuables and money kept in your tent, pitch it through the popcorn wagon window, which would be locked and defended at all costs. The first time I did this, I hoped I wasn’t the only one doing it and that everyone else wasn’t in on a complex practical joke, which would end up in me never seeing my money again. I always got it back.

We stood in front of the popcorn wagon, opposite twenty young adults whose spokesperson stated that Jimmy had been taken for a ride, no pun intended, and the game he had been playing all night to win a kewpie doll had been rigged. It is very difficult to knock over those three weighted bottles when the weights are placed on the outside of the triangle on the bottom two bottles. A game worker with no mercy may never place the bottles strategically to the advantage of the townie spending the money he saved all year to win a prize for his date.

At the standoff, the owner of the carnival, with many rough rowdies standing around him, spoke words of wisdom: "Why don’t you all go home?" The townie replied, "I’m not going home until I get my money back or get me one of these stuffed animals."

The owner of the carnival acted as mayor, chief of police, and chief judicial officer with no juries or appeals courts. He came up with a solution: "Why don’t you come back tomorrow, and we’ll give you a couple free throws and see if you can win that girlfriend of yours a great big teddy bear?" The townies, now staring at a bunch of workers who appeared tougher than nails, accepted this gracious way out and said: "We’ll be back and take you up on that." The carnival opened the next day as usual and, perhaps, the pitchman running the bottle throw graciously set the base bottles with the weights toward the center where one ball could potentially knock all three down, creating an instant winner. A few extra stuffed animals left my concession the next day. It was the right thing to do.

What does this have to do with pro bono work? Well, it seems that when we start discussing pro bono work, we feel threatened, especially when the word "mandatory" is used. We pitch our collective opposition into the popcorn wagon and defend our time, our freedom to decide what we are going to do and when we are going to do it, and our ability to manage our own practices. That’s normal, but when someone yells "Hey Rube," you still have to take defensive action. You still have to solve the problem.

It is human nature to protect what is your own, but then we must remember the next day that it may come down to a few "free turns" to keep things on an even keel, especially for those who need it. We are blessed by giving to those who have less. This is more true when what is at stake is civil justice and not just a coveted teddy bear. It’s the right thing to do.

The Colorado Bar Association formulates its policy primarily through its Board of Governors. The Board of Governors includes approximately 150 attorneys representing individual local bar associations, substantive law sections, specialty and minority bar associations, courts of specific jurisdiction, and political entities. A list of this year’s Board of Governors members follows this article. If you peruse it, you’ll know at least one person on the Board, and more than likely a dozen or two.

The first Board meeting of the fiscal year 2003–04 will be held November 8, 2003, in Colorado Springs at the Broadmoor Hotel. Important issues that will be addressed and debated include a report of amicus brief activity, the status of proposed amendments to C.R.C.P. 16, a pro bono report, the updated strategic plan of the CBA to benefit its members, recommendations of the Legislative Policy Committee about legislation for next year’s session of the General Assembly, and the bar association’s preliminary formulation of its response to the state judicial budget crisis.

Board of Governors members are at their best at these meetings. They adeptly analyze and make counterpoint presentations. It is refreshing and stimulating to come together with well informed, committed people who are focused on improving the justice system. In anticipation of the November 8 Board meeting, please contact one or more of the appropriate representatives and share your interests with them. Then the Board’s discussion will be even more reflective of all of our members across the state, as we work together as a community of lawyers to better our profession and our state.

CBA BOARD OF GOVERNORS