1956

In writing this column and in reading the Wab-Hoo-Whisper, it often seems as though we talk about and hear from the same 25 or so classmates all the time. It isn't that Flint and I show favoritism (at least I don't), but those are the guys that communicate with us and provide us with the news that we need as fodder for these reports. Once in a while we hear through other means about men of '56 who are prominent in their field, leaders of their community, and not at all well known to their classmates. As case in point, I quote from a recent issue of the St. Paul PioneerPress. "Judge Bertrand Poristsky who many of his Ramsey (Minn.) County District Court colleagues say is the brightest among them, has decided to hang up his robe early, if not permanently. He will officially retire in August, he said.

"At 63, Poritsky has seven more years to go before he hits the mandatory retirement age for judges. But 27 years on the bench is enough, he says, particularly for someone who has a sailboat waiting on Lake Pepin and who wants to take lessons again on his harpsichord.

"Some of his fellow judges see a darker side to Poritsky's decision to retire early: They fear that judging at the state trial court level in Minnesota has become a high-volume business that will drive out judges such as Poritsky who have an especially thoughtful deliberative style of decisionmaking. '"It's too bad when the system wears down someone like Bert Poritsky,' said Judge Margaret Marrinan 'I think he's a fatality of the system.'

"Poritsky said that one change that has occurred since he became a judge is 'an emphasis on moving cases along. "'There is the shibboleth that justice delayed is justice denied,' he said. 'But if the parties [to a lawsuit] don't get a thoughtful decision, then justice is denied also.'

"Poritsky, a native of Schenectady, N.Y., was in private practice and spent two years in die Ramsey County attorney's office before being appointed to the St. Paul Municipal Court bench in 1971 by Gov. Wendell Anderson. He was appointed a Ramsey County district judge in 1983 by Gov. Rudy Perdich."

John Tamagnisent me notice that Stan Klappper made Forbes Magazine with a report of his explosive meat tenderizing method developed by his Hydrodyne Inc. Stan, we would like a demonstration at the '56 45th Reunion picnic, where we can test the results over a charcoal fire.

Thanksgiving is the time to give thanks for our blessings, and one of our finest is the Dartmouth camaraderie and friendships developed in Hanover and sustained all these years. Through diversity there is strength, for our country, our college, and our class. Dartmouth, in its wisdom, has provided us with that diversity because it was the right and wise thing to do, and not because it was required by law. Let us give thanks, for we are truly blessed.

P.O. Box 1031, Burlington, NC 27216; (336) 227-1153