1992-93 Grand Jurors Are Sworn In

Minutes after the 1991-92 Ventura County grand jury was discharged, a new grand jury was selected and sworn in for a one-year term.

The 19 members, selected by lot from among 30 nominees, include only two minorities--one black and one Asian. Although about a quarter of the county’s population is Latino, the only Hispanic-surnamed nominee withdrew her name before the selection, citing family considerations.

Steven Z. Perren, presiding judge of the Superior Court, said the judges who select the nominees try hard to get a representative cross-section of the community to volunteer for grand jury service. “Sometimes that is difficult,” Perren said.

Grand jurors must be willing to work five days a week for $20 per day. Typically, most members are retirees.

The 30 nominees were selected by Superior Court judges from a pool of about 100 applicants.

The new grand jurors are: Robert Brown, John Meserve, Grace Penko, Woodrow Shumate and Fumi Teshima, all of Oxnard; Charline Combs, Joseph Di Peri, Kenneth Hammond and Harlan Snyder, all of Camarillo; Anita Goldfarb, Richard Green and Edward Schlossman, all of Thousand Oaks; Milene M. Koeberle, Margaret Shinn and Virginia Weber, all of Ventura; Michael Snead and William Stewart Jr., both of Port Hueneme; Irene Watts of Moorpark, and Barbara Barker of Santa Paula.

Perren selected Shumate, a 73-year-old retired computer scientist, as foreman.