Embattled ex-judged finds new niche

When Mesquite City Attorney Terrance Marren was feeling the mounting pressures from his previous job as Clark County Family Court judge, he found solace in the wisdom of a fictional bus driver.

In an episode of the 1950s television sitcom "The Honeymooners" titled "Letter to the Boss," Ralph Kramden, thinking he had lost his bus-driving job, ranted about it to his wife, Alice.

"I can't believe it," Ralph said. "Nine years slavin' for them and this is the thanks I get. Humpf, boy, getting up every morning at 5 o'clock ... no holidays, workin' three Sundays out of four, all kinds of weather, blizzards, heat spells, hail storms, takin' all kinds of abuse, old women yelling at me, drunks trying to get on the bus without payin' their fare, cab drivers cuttin' me off. And whenever another bus driver was sick I had to work double time. And this is the thanks I get."

Alice replied: "Don't worry honey, you'll get another job."

To which Ralph declared: "I'll get another job, sure, but never another good one like this one."

Sitting back in his chair in his modest office at Mesquite City Hall, a content Marren is 80 miles north of his long years of service in Las Vegas and a million miles away from the public scrutiny he endured during the last year.

"I guess Ralph Kramden was wrong," Marren, Mesquite's first full-time city attorney, said. "It's not that there is no pressure to this job -- it is just a lot different type of pressure."

Marren, 49, left Las Vegas after the state Judicial Discipline Commission dismissed charges of ethics violations against him, ending a short string of highly publicized incidents that darkened what otherwise was a solid career on the bench.

Now, instead of listening to case after case of bickering spouses and dealing with juvenile delinquents, Marren addresses problems such as redevelopment, quick growth in a small community and citizens angry over zoning issues and lagging infrastructure.

Mesquite, on Interstate 15 at the Arizona border northeast of Las Vegas, is a historic community struggling with growth spurred by its hotel-casinos.

Visitors are greeted at one end of town by a towering McDonald's restaurant sign and the exotic CasaBlanca hotel-casino, but at the other end of Mesquite Boulevard sits The Chalet cafe, one of the town's oldest businesses, dating back to 1938.

While hundreds crowd the casino and McDonald's, fewer than a half-dozen diners at a time enjoy the country-home fixings of Susan and Donald Edwards, who have owned The Chalet for 14 years. They don't know how much longer they can survive against specials such as Casablanca's 24-hour $9.99 steak and lobster tail.

Up the street sits the barn-like shell of Tobler's Meat Packing Co., once a thriving business that employed locals but now just an old warehouse under the thumb of redevelopment. The sprawling dairy farms that less than a decade ago dominated the hillsides have been replaced by neatly trimmed golf courses.

It is this picturesque Virgin Valley village into which Marren stepped three months ago, becoming the town's first full-time city attorney.

"I am definitely getting a bit more appreciation for this job every day," Marren said, noting that he is still feeling his way around.

He has had his share of early challenges.

The first bill he wrote, calling for impact fees on developers that would force them to pay for badly needed roads, was passed 3-2 by the City Council but fell to defeat when Mayor Ken Carter cast a tying vote and then used his veto power to kill it.

While Marren took the defeat in stride, a number of the townsfolk did not. They fear that one day they will have to foot the bill for new roads.

"At this time, we just want to say that we are for impact fees and not speculate on why the mayor chose to use his veto power," Larry Crader said. He is spokesman for Mesquite Taxpayers United for Fairness, a watchdog group.

What Crader did not want to talk about was that Carter works as risk manager for the CasaBlanca, which is owned by a major area developer who stands to pay through the nose with impact fees.

Carter said that although he voted against Marren's first ordinance, he has not lost faith in the need for a full-time city attorney to guide the council.

"Growth is our biggest issue, and we have to deal with the need for more roads and infrastructure," he said. "When we became a city in 1984, we had 1,100 people. Today the population is 10,000.

"We found him (Marren) to be very personable and dynamic -- someone who could help expand municipal government and work well with staff."

Undaunted by the impact-fee setback, Marren got the council to approve the purchase of Abbott Wash Park for $162,500. Then he felt the wrath of the same citizens group that supported him on impact fees. The group says he bought three acres of wasteland.

"We think the city is playing a major role in establishing an artificially high price for land adjacent to a wash -- especially land that has an irrigation ditch running through its center and is adjacent to I-15," Crader said.

Marren says one of the more unusual items to come before the council during his short time in Mesquite is a running-with-the-bulls event similar to that done each year in Pamplona, Spain.

"The council was intrigued with the idea," Marren said, noting that the city must determine the extent of liability and other factors for the event, promoted by Bulls America Inc. The council is expected to vote on the matter Tuesday.

But, generally, Marren's new job has been filled with more conventional civic issues. For example, he is a proponent of the Streetscape redevelopment project that would create a town square, but some citizens have told him they don't need a bunch of fancy trappings, such as antique light poles, at the expense of taxpayers. Other longtime residents welcome redevelopment.

Such issues have come up more frequently in recent years, underscoring the city's need for counsel.

"We needed the legal expertise with so much that is going on here," City Manager Bill DaVee said. "Having a full-time city attorney has been a real plus."

This should be of some comfort for Marren, as was the unanimous favorable ruling by the Judicial Discipline Commission regarding his decision in a Las Vegas child-custody case. The commission's verdict came down just two days before his Family Court job ended.

"My first reaction was to be overjoyed, but then I thought, 'How do I get back the year that this has hung over me?' I don't," Marren said. "The commission found no evidence of wrongdoing to proceed."

He said it was somewhat unfair that he handled 50,000 cases without incident, yet was scorned for just a few that were made public.

The most recent of those instances resulted from a complaint filed by Chantel Leavitt, who lost custody of her daughter to James Kerr in a case over which Marren presided.

She alleged that Marren had sought the advice of Las Vegas lawyer James Jimmerson, who was representing Kerr, about Marren's own divorce. Marren maintained that his discussions with Jimmerson "never rose to the level of attorney-client."

The Nevada Supreme Court upheld Marren's custody decision.

But the incident, and others like it, took their toll on him.

"To say they were not factors in my decision not to run again and instead take this job in Mesquite would not be entirely true," he said. "The constant criticism in the last year caused my health to suffer. I am a Type 2 diabetic (non-insulin controlled), and stress is the worst thing for that.

"And all of this was happening while I was trying to get the job in Mesquite."

DaVee said that while the City Hall staff, council members and mayor were aware of the complaints, there were many other factors in Marren's favor.

"We did a complete background check and we had clips of every newspaper article about (the incidents)," DaVee said. "I would say those were nonfactors. What was a factor was that he understood the issues we were facing and was a very strong candidate."

DaVee said what put Marren over the top was his decisive answers to questions and his ability to think fast on his feet. The latter trait is ironic, considering that one of the greatest criticisms against Marren as a Family Court judge was that he took too long to make decisions.

Last September, the Discipline Commission fined him $1,000 and issued a public reprimand because he took too long to decide three divorce cases.

Donna Koch, then the wife of Vincent Lombardo, one of those who complained to the commission about the long delays, said she is concerned for the people of Mesquite if Marren doesn't act more quickly.

"It seems that each time it came down to him making a decision, he bailed out," Koch (not related to the reporter of this story) said. "I realize the workload of these judges is too heavy. But we just wanted decisions. Instead we were told he'd decide later."

The commission, which heard the case July 11 in Las Vegas, ruled that Marren had delayed decisions "for unreasonable periods of time" of 11 months to 19 months before granting the divorces.

"Your conduct caused unnecessary harm to the litigants in the cases ... diminished public confidence in the judiciary and is unacceptable for a person who holds judicial office," the commission said.

Marren agreed he should have ruled sooner and said he created a checks-and-balances system within his department to avoid future delays. He is paying the fine on an installment plan.

Prior to that, Marren was publicly criticized for his decision to award guardianship of a 16-year-old girl to the parents of her boyfriend. It generated community outrage, and the Legislature toughened the law as a result.

Sandy Ambrose, the mother of the then-16-year-old, was glad when Marren packed his bags for Mesquite. She said Marren turned a "blind eye" to the evidence in the case involving her daughter.

"I'm extremely concerned (for the residents of Mesquite) because of his lack of willingness to listen and check out the facts -- factors that in my case put my daughter in danger."

Last June, Senate Bill 231 passed 42-0 in the Assembly and was later signed by Gov. Bob Miller. The bill repealed the law that allowed a child 14 or older to petition the court for a change in guardianship.

The bill, introduced at the suggestion of Marren, also tightened other guardianship procedures.

Las Vegas attorney Bob Dickerson, president of the Nevada State Bar, said Marren was unfairly raked over the coals in that incident.

"No, he was not treated fairly," Dickerson, who has represented clients before Marren on numerous occasions, said. "All Terry did in the Ambrose case was correctly apply the law as it existed at that time."

Dickerson called Marren "an excellent judge" who was dedicated to a job in which no decision he made would make both sides happy.

Marren made many other friends in the judicial system. They made no bones about praising him for the good work he did over the years.

"Overall, Terry had a very good career -- he was not afraid to take a stand, no matter what the controversy," District Judge John McGroarty said.

"By taking on controversial issues, he became a target in an area of law that involves tense human emotions that can be ignited at the slightest drop of a hat."

District Judge Jeffrey Sobel agreed.

"As a judge, Terry was patient, compassionate, bright and understanding -- he just shouldn't have kept things under consideration for so long," Sobel said.

Marren offered a partial defense of his actions.

"In the cases that took so long, new issues kept coming up, and they would be complicated ones that took a lot of time," Marren said. "Some would say, 'Just make a decision -- right or wrong.' But I would not be sloppy and do it quick. However, I realized that nine months was too long and I am paying the fine for it.

"Also, people should realize that Family Court judges deal with good people during the darkest part of their lives. Often they have unrealistic expectations."

Marren says the Legislature, which at one time considered dismantling the Family Court system, now should take a look at "the big picture" and meet its needs with adequate staff, better resources and innovative programs.

Marren also said his judicial-discipline case unveiled severe flaws in that system. Such cases are supposed to be confidential until a formal complaint is filed.

But there were extensive leaks to the news media about the complaint and the closed hearing. Marren said he was "beaten to death all year with these leaks" because he could not respond and tell his side of the story.

Marren has written to Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice Miriam Shearing, asking that the state's canons of ethics be modified to let judges respond to "false and misleading charges" when contacted by reporters about ongoing cases.

Marren, a resident of Logandale, said he would have run again had the Mesquite opportunity not presented itself.

Marren maintains -- and Carter agrees -- that the city got him at a fair price, $80,000 a year.

"I have no secretary, and the only thing besides my salary and my retirement (benefits) that I asked for and got was a laptop computer," Marren said.

"I have promised to work hard to keep government efficient and open."

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