VENTURA : County Court Holds Lunch Hour Battles

Nearly every sunny day at noon, some of Ventura County’s most strait-laced heavy hitters gather behind the Hall of Justice to play a different kind of hardball.

While other county employees take advantage of the fair spring weather by donning tennis shoes to walk around the picturesque grounds, these managers in the judicial, planning and law enforcement departments whack around a volleyball with the same zeal as they attack their work assignments.

Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath doffs his black robe, puts on shorts and tennis shoes and sets ‘em up under the noses of the very prisoners he sentences. The County Jail overlooks the grass volleyball court.

While the games generate few comments from other county workers, McGrath said, one inmate complained.

“I remember a letter from a prisoner two or three years ago,” McGrath said. “He wanted the district attorney to file a malicious mischief complaint against us because we were, according to him, destroying the grass.

“The funny thing was,” McGrath added, “the inmate was in jail himself for malicious mischief.”

McGrath has been unable to play lately because he is recuperating from a knee injury suffered during a particularly competitive volleyball game. Since undergoing surgery in early February to repair torn knee cartilage, he has watched the games from the sidelines.

The roster of players includes prosecutors from the district attorney’s office, criminologists from the Sheriff’s Department and managers from the planning department.

McGrath says the games originated about eight years ago when a group of county employees that met regularly on a social basis decided to have a court installed behind the Hall of Justice.

The games have evolved from the easygoing, picnic variety to those of a more competitive nature, McGrath said, but anyone who is interested can play.

The lunchtime games are so popular that participants plan their workdays around them, coming in early so they can schedule extra time for a shower after the games before reporting back to their jobs.

One of the regulars recently had a tough time accepting a higher-paying job with the city of Camarillo because it meant having to leave the team.

“I’m a volleyball fanatic,” said Michael Smith, 30, who was an assistant planner for the county.