Date: Fri 24-Apr-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Law-Day-Galbo

Full Text:

Law Day Will Bring A Focus To Freedom

(with cut)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

Law Day this year has something to offer for everyone, according to Newtown

attorney Dale Susan Galbo, who is chairman of the May 1 event for the Greater

Danbury Bar Association.

"This year's theme is Celebrate Your Freedom," she said. "It is an opportunity

for everyone to learn something about the protection provided by the law."

Envisioned by then American Bar Association President Charles S. Rhyne in

1957, Law Day USA was established the following year by President Dwight D.

Eisenhower. It was predicated on the premise that the strength of the American

legal system depends upon the vigor with which Americans pursue the rights and

duties of citizenship.

Part of the Law Day celebration will be the awarding of the American Dream

Achievement Award to a naturalized American citizen who has made a significant

contribution in the greater Danbury area after immigrating here. This award,

and the annual Liberty Bell Award, will be presented at the Danbury courthouse

in ceremonies that begin at 10 am on May 1. The Rev Frank Hoffman, pastor of

St Mary's Church in Bethel, will say the invocation. Students from the Roberts

Avenue Elementary School in Danbury will lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

After remarks by attorney Eva DeFranco, president of the Danbury Bar

Association, and Danbury Mayor Gene Eriquez, awards will be presented to the

winners of the Law Day poster contest and the recent mock trial demonstrations

held by the bar association. Deborah L. Grover, a Danbury attorney who lives

in Sandy Hook, is in charge of the courthouse ceremony.

The Law Day luncheon, organized by Newtown attorney Joy Previdi, will be held

at Ridgewood Country Club. Reservations ($19) may be made until April 28 by

calling Ms Previdi's office, 426-8000.

Attorney Galbo arranged for the luncheon speaker, Norman D. Message, a highly

decorated Vietnam veteran who will speak about the American Disabilities Act

(ADA). Mr Message, who lives in Fairfield, became a police officer for the

town of Fairfield after completing his military service in 1970. He received

the police department's Heroism Medal in 1980 and 1985. The following year he

was injured and permanently disabled while on duty. He accepted a medical

retirement and currently serves on the State Rehabilitation Advisory Committee

and the ADA Coalition of Connecticut.

"There has been a great deal of publicity recently about the professional

golfer (Casey Martin) who has to use a motorized cart during competitions and

my husband suggested that this year's speaker might address ADA issues,"

Attorney Galbo said. "It's a topic that people, even attorneys, aren't that

familiar with."

"Mr Messenger doesn't view himself as a victim. He says his injury has made

him stronger and he continues to move forward," Mrs Galbo said. "But it was

incredible that he came back from Vietnam only to be injured by a group of

youths who deliberately taunted him to give chase. He didn't realize they had

spread oil on the sidewalk to make him fall. He broke his back and became a

paraplegic."

Attorney Galbo's husband, Damian Galbo, himself a military veteran and a

golfer, is a dentist in Bethel. The couple moved to Bethel from Baltimore,

Md., after Dr Galbo got out of the Navy and wanted to set up his own dental

practice. In 1973 they moved to Brookwood Drive in Newtown.

Before moving to Connecticut, Dale Susan Galbo had an assistantship at the

University of Maryland where she was in a doctoral program in Afro-Asian

studies. After the birth of her two children, Deidra, now 27, and Tara, 24,

she became a substitute teacher, then entered law school at the University of

Bridgeport, eventually graduating magna cum laude in 1983. Deidra, married to

former Newtown resident Michael Sarosky, now is in her final year of

veterinary medicine at Purdue; Tara is in her second year of law school at

Quinnipiac College.

Although many of the Law Day activities will take place on May 1, Attorney

Galbo said ongoing programs are being done in area schools, senior centers,

and other locations by attorneys and by probate court judges. Booklets on such

topics as estate planning, buying on credit, workmen's compensation, domestic

violence, landlord-tenant relationships, buying and selling a house, have been

printed in both English and Spanish through the auspices of the bar

association and will be available at various locations including the Probate

Court office in Edmond Town Hall in Newtown.