House Bill 9487
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HR 9487
By Representative Meek
1 House Resolution
2 A resolution honoring Judge Thomas K. Petersen
3 of the Dade County Circuit Court upon the
4 occasion of his retirement.
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6 WHEREAS, in March 1998, Judge Thomas K. Petersen, of
7 the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Dade County, will retire,
8 bringing to a close a long and distinguished career, and
9 WHEREAS, born on September 17, 1941, Thomas K. Petersen
10 began his career of service to the citizens of Dade County in
11 1966, when he organized and administered the Dade County VISTA
12 Criminal Court pretrial release program while living in the
13 Liberty City area, where he worked as a community organizer,
14 and
15 WHEREAS, Thomas K. Petersen served as an Assistant
16 Public Defender, a court attorney for the Dade County Juvenile
17 Court, and then as Director of Pretrial Services for the
18 Eleventh Judicial Circuit and Administrator of Dade County's
19 Pretrial Intervention Program, and
20 WHEREAS, from 1978 to 1985, Thomas K. Petersen served
21 as Chief Assistant State Attorney to then-State Attorney Janet
22 Reno, and
23 WHEREAS, in July 1985, Thomas K. Petersen took a leave
24 of absence from his position as Chief Assistant State Attorney
25 to serve as Coordinator of the Dade Schools and Neighborhoods
26 Consortium, a joint effort by the Dade County State Attorney,
27 the Dade County School Board, and Metropolitan Dade County to
28 design programs which would have an impact on crime,
29 delinquency, and declining standardized test scores in
30 low-income inner-city communities, and
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HR 9487
572-148-98
1 WHEREAS, Judge Petersen also founded Teaching and
2 Rehabilitation of our Youth (TROY), Inc., a juvenile justice
3 advocacy organization, and the TROY Academy, an alternative
4 school and entrepreneurial program for youths at risk in the
5 educational and juvenile delinquency systems, and
6 WHEREAS, the TROY Academy was selected as one of eleven
7 national correctional educational model programs funded by the
8 U.S. Department of Education, and
9 WHEREAS, in March 1989, Thomas K. Petersen was
10 appointed to the bench by Governor Bob Martinez, and was
11 reelected to a six-year term without opposition in 1990, and
12 WHEREAS, among the numerous awards and honors bestowed
13 upon Judge Petersen are the 1988 Miami Herald Spirit of
14 Excellence Award, the Sargent Shriver Award for 1990, the
15 Gerald Kogan Judicial Distinction Award for 1993, the Hannah
16 G. Solomon Award for 1993, the 1994 Champion of Children
17 Award, the 1989 Marge Pearlson Award for Dade County Public
18 Schools, the 1985 National Member of the Year Award of the
19 National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies, the Five
20 Year Award of the Dade Big Brothers and Big Sisters in 1976,
21 the Ronald MacDonald House Twelve Good Men Award for 1994, the
22 Citizen of the Year Award for 1994 from the King of Clubs of
23 Greater Miami, Inc., and the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority
24 Citizenship of the Year Award for 1993, and
25 WHEREAS, Judge Petersen was also a cofounder and a
26 board member from 1984 to 1991 of the Dade Women's Welfare
27 Coalition, a Dade Partner of Martin Luther King Elementary
28 School from 1987 to the present, a board member of the South
29 Florida Perinatal Network from 1985 to 1990, a Planning
30 Committee Member of the Greater Miami Urban League Partners in
31 Education Program in 1987, a board member of Transition, Inc.,
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Florida House of Representatives - 1998 HR 9487
572-148-98
1 from 1982 to 1986, a board member of the Coconut Grove
2 Community Health Clinic from 1981 to 1983, a board member of
3 Passageways, Inc., from 1981 to 1984, a committee member of
4 the Metro-Miami Action Plan Criminal Justice and Housing
5 Committee from 1983 to 1986, and cofounder and member from
6 1980 to 1983 of the Dade County Child Abuse Task Force, and
7 WHEREAS, it is fitting and appropriate that the Florida
8 House of Representatives recognize and honor Judge Thomas K.
9 Petersen for his many accomplishments and his years of service
10 to the citizens of the State of Florida and Dade County, NOW,
11 THEREFORE,
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13 Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of
14 Florida:
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16 That the House of Representatives of the State of
17 Florida hereby recognizes and honors Judge Thomas K. Petersen
18 on the occasion of his retirement from the bench.
19 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution
20 be presented to Judge Thomas K. Petersen as a tangible token
21 of the sentiments expressed herein.
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