Loss for All

The March 14 article by Jenifer Warren on Judge Ed Butler (“A Jury of Peers Finds Judge Butler Has Few”) captured his spirit.

My first experience with Ed occurred in the early ‘70s, when he bade me to join him knee-deep in the bogs north of Torrey Pines Park. He wanted to inspire me to save the Torrey pines in the hills north of the flatlands. I was a morning radio personality then, and he wrapped an arm around me and said, “You can bring the Beatles in, can’t you?” Then, as if answering his own question, he said, “We can throw the concert right in this valley and ask for contributions.” That was Ed then, and it is Ed now.

Warren, in her article, described the reverence with which he is held by his peers. I have kept up with Ed since those early days, and he hasn’t lost a step from home to first. He has an adrenal gland for a heart and his energy is incandescent despite reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. He is a brilliant jurist blessed with an adolescent wonder at things. Give him a problem and he will treat it like an uncut bauble. You can see him turn it over and over and find facets that are invisible to the ordinary mortal. Question: Why are we letting him retire?

Such minds are unique and rare. He is a lateral thinker with a loving heart. Read the papers and find article after article dealing with incapable management and failed projects. Can we really afford to allow such people to retire while they remain at the top of their game?

Knowing Ed, his resilient spirit will enable him to bounce back from his gloom at being retired by a meaningless state rule. But we will be the poorer for not having him and people like him protecting our rights.

HARRY MARTIN

San Diego