A man who spent 30 years making decisions, has made his final one at the Drumheller courthouse.
Judge Gordon Clozza had his final day in court on the bench last Friday, October 9. Clozza, has presided over the Drumheller courthouse for more than three decades. His parting words were a tribute to the many he has worked with over the years.
"I enjoyed the work, but more than the law, mostly I will miss the people I work with; the clerks, the counsel, the bar, the Sheriffs the RCMP,” said Clozza. “I think we ran a good, organized court.”
He added the efficiency of the court had a lot to do with the cooperation of the crown and counsel.
Defense counsel Bill Herman, in his last appearance in front of Judge Clozza, thanked him for his service and said Clozza, “should be commended for the administration of justice for more than 30 years.”
Clozza, originally from Drumheller, was called to the bar in June of 1967. He began practice with Bob Ross, and spent 10 years working as a prosecutor and then two years as defense. He applied for the judge's vacancy, and on May 1, 1979, he took the bench. He was just 35 at the time.
He says he feels it was helpful that he was from Drumheller. He had insight into some of the people and where they came from, and it helped him appreciate the problems. He says he rarely disqualified himself due to conflicts.
He originally retired in 2002, but has been working as a supernumerary judge, and continued to preside over the Drumheller courthouse, the Hanna courthouse and help with Calgary circuit court dates when he was needed. This amounted to working half time.
He quipped when entering a reception in his honour put on by court staff and colleagues, “don’t you remember we did this seven years ago?”
While the hours were only half time, he says the keeping up to date with decisions and procedure are important and cannot be dealt with lightly.
After almost 45 years he is outright retiring from law and is not planning to practice privately. Law will still be a part of his life as his wife is a lawyer, and invariably dinner conversation will often include the topic.
“I’ve enjoyed my time here, and now I’ll have more free time to do more, and hopefully let someone else take this on," he said.
Drumheller is a part of the Calgary Regional Court Operations. Without an appointed judge in the community, the court will be serviced as one of the circuit court locations and have a judge come from Calgary to preside.
