NORWICH – The Chenango County Bar Association organized the 52nd National Law Day celebration Friday, which honored Leland G. “Gary” Brookins with the 2010 Liberty Bell Award.
Supreme Court Justices Kevin M. Dowd and Elizabeth Garry, along with Chenango County Court Judge W. Howard Sullivan, presided at the county courthouse in Norwich for the event. The Afton Central School’s team was also recognized as this year’s winner of the County Mock Trial tournament and the Bar Association announced this year’s law school scholarship recipients.
Law Day was established by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958 as “A day of national dedication to the principle of government under law.” Commemorated annually since that date, Law Day programs are conducted throughout the country by bar associations, courts, schools, and civic groups.
The annual Liberty Bell Award recognizes distinguished contributions to the community by non-lawyers who have fostered public understanding of the importance of law in our community.
A central part of the official legal proceeding involved Brookins’ friends and family speaking about his lifetime of community service and telling amusing personal stories.
Walt Prindle, a cousin and childhood friend of Brookins, said he was told six words by the honoree before speaking to the crowd: “Start funny. End serious. Five minutes,” he joked.
Prindle recalled the two men’s childhood experiences together in the Norwich area, which included antics such as an emergency room trip following a movie reenactment of walking across a bed of nails and Brookins talking five waterskiing friends, Prindle among them, into trying to break the unofficial record at Chenango Lake for most skiers pulled at once.
“It was all going pretty good. The boys were slowly pulled out of the water and for about 30 seconds it was great moment for all ... then the back of the boat came off,” said a stern Prindle, adjusting his glasses toward his friend as the crowd burst into laughter.
Many of the speakers joked of a young man’s unstoppable imagination and motivation and of his adult inspiration and community impact.
“He cares deeply for people. He’s done more for people than anyone else I’ve met in my life. Service above self, that’s always what I think about that when I think of Gary,” said Prindle.
Chenango County Treasurer Willaim Evans also spoke of his life-long experiences with Brookins, recalling a humorous incident while Evans was serving as a town judge and Brookins a sheriff’s deputy.
“Now when you’re a town judge, you get to doing arraignments at some pretty late hours and often I’d do them at the office right from my home,” said Evans.
