Transmenu powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club

George Lim Teong Jin, 53ST. ANTHONY -- In a county that seems to have a lot of neighbor complaints about roaming cats and dogs, Fremont County Prosecutor Joette Lookabaugh has become a big fan of mediation.

No stranger to the art of settling disputes through mediation efforts, Lookabaugh has mediated a variety of different parties to a resolution of problems.

When sexually explicit text messages were a problem at South Fremont High School, she set up meetings of the teens who were sexting, their parents, school and other officials to resolve the problem without charges being filed.

One of the founders of the Rocky Mountain Mediation Association, she also has called upon trained mediators to work out other problems.

Late last month, mediators from that organization sat down with parties to potential small claims actions, resolving four of the four cases before they could go to a judge.

In a recent letter to a couple of Chester area neighbors involved in a cat dispute, Lookabaugh refused to file criminal charges and instead suggested mediation.

Although mediation is a tried-and-true way to resolve issues, issues resolved there never make News of Record and seldom get reported on the crime pages or the nightly news.

That's because mediation is often the private resolution of problems by a nameless volunteer mediator.

Lila Gold of St. Anthony donates her time to the 7th Judicial District as a mediator, mostly to help resolve small claims when a judge mandates an attempt at mediation before the case can be heard in court. Gold says she personally mediates about three or four cases a week in Bonneville, Jefferson and Fremont counties.

"It is by far one of the most rewarding things I have ever been involved with," she says about her work.

"Mediation isn't just for people who find themselves in the legal system, but it is especially useful in small claims and juvenile probation cases," she says.

She got her basic mediation training at Brigham Young University Law School in Provo, Utah, several years ago and since then has been a judicial district volunteer.

She also has helped mediate contract settlements between school boards and teacher associations.

"I mediate parent-teen cases involving teenagers who are either on diversion or probation in Bonneville, Bingham, Jefferson, Fremont, and Teton counties," she says.

"Many times parents and teens are reluctant to seek help for fear of being judged and for that and other reasons, they sometimes resist professional counseling," she says. "I've had many cases where they agreed to continue with mediation sessions until they either resolved their conflicts themselves or were willing to seek professional counseling for additional help."  

She also works in victim-offender cases that "often involve teens who are in the legal system because of some offense against society such as shoplifting, vandalism, bullying others and that sort of thing," she says.

Other mediations involve adults in conflict, including helping reach settlements for homeowners in foreclosure.

"We're just on the ground floor of that project and seeing great results," she says. And other mediators are skilled and experienced in settlements between contractors.

Gold says once mediation is successful and the problems settled, the people often walk out of the mediation room with a better understanding of each other's point of view.

"The claims are withdrawn or settled, and apologies are sincerely offered," she says. "That is the payoff to mediation. People can walk away with a mediated resolution without carrying the conflict grudge with them."

Gold says she enjoys being a mediator and wishes she had known about such a useful tool years ago. "

Do I recommend mediation? Absolutely! Does mediation work? Absolutely, but it does not work by itself," she said. "Those who choose to use mediation should be prepared to do some 'heavy lifting' themselves, but the end result is almost always worth the effort."