James Harvey Brown (April 26, 1906 – July 10, 1995) was a City Council member in Los Angeles, California, between 1959 and 1964 and then municipal court judge in that city from 1964 to 1985.
Biography
Brown was born on April 26, 1906, in
Jamestown, North Dakota
Jamestown is a city in Stutsman County, North Dakota, United States. It is the county seat of Stutsman County. The population was 15,849 at the 2020 census, making it the ninth largest city in North Dakota. Jamestown was founded in 1883 and i ...
.
[Political Graveyard]
/ref> After graduating from high school, he went to sea as a chief radio operator and later worked as a disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
at radio stations KFOX and KGER. He earned a degree in engineering from UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
and was chief engineer at KFAC and KGER. In 1937 he became master control supervisor for NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
. During World War II he was a Navy lieutenant assigned to airborne radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
design, working at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
and other laboratories. After earning a degree from Southwestern University School of Law
Southwestern Law School is a private law school in Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and enrolls nearly 1,000 students. Its campus includes the Bullocks Wilshire building, an art deco National Register o ...
, he was both president of and attorney for the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians
The National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET-CWA) is a labor union representing employees in television, radio, film, and media production. A division of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), NABET represents abou ...
.[
He was vice chair of the ]California Democratic Party
The California Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in Sacramento.
With 43.5% of the state's registered voters as of 2018, the Democratic Party has the highest number of r ...
, 1948–58. He was a Congregationalist.[
Brown died July 10, 1995, at the age of 89][ in ]Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...
. Cause of death was given as heart failure. Interment was at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California. It is the original and current flagship location of Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries, a chain of six cemeteries and four additional mortuaries in Southern Cal ...
. Survivors were his wife, Margaret; a daughter, Dorothy O'Leary; a son, James Harvey Brown, Jr.; and two sisters, Blanche Tibbot and Betty Dykstra.[Los Angeles Public Library reference file]
/ref>
Public service
A "conservative Democrat," Brown ran unsuccessfully for seats in the State Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives.[
]
City Council
In 1959 Brown ran for the Los Angeles City Council District 13
Los Angeles City Council District 13 is one of the 15 districts of the Los Angeles City Council, in Central Los Angeles. Hugo Soto-Martinez is the current council member.
Geography Present district
The district flanks the 101 freeway as it pas ...
seat to fill the two years left in Ernest E. Debs's term when Debs was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States.
History
On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Sessions as their first ...
. Brown took office immediately after his victory over Charles Bigler in May of that year. He was reelected in 1961 to a four-year term, which he did not complete because of his appointment to a municipal court judgeship.
In 1960 the 13th District included most of Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
. It extended from the Alhambra city limits to Fairfax Avenue
Fairfax Avenue is a street in the north central area of the city of Los Angeles, California. It runs from La Cienega Boulevard in Culver City at its southern end to Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood on its northern end. From La Cienega Boulevard ( ...
.
Brown "helped develop Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium is a baseball stadium in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a cost of ( ...
and Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...
," according to the ''Los Angeles Times.''[
]
Municipal judge
In 1964, Governor Edmund G. (Pat) Brown appointed Councilman Brown as a municipal court City court or municipal court is a court of law with jurisdiction limited to a city or other municipality. It typically addresses "violations of city ordinances and may also have jurisdiction over minor criminal cases...and over certain civil cases ...
judge. He was sworn in on December 28, with his wife, Ruth Brown, as a witness. His pay was to be $23,000 a year, compared with the $12,000 he was receiving as a councilman.[ "James Harvey Brown Sworn In as Judge," ''Los Angeles Times,'' December 29, 1964, page A-8]
/ref>
Brown was the first judge to be assigned to Los Angeles's first night traffic court in 1965. In 1966 he headed a committee of judges that agreed to set up a central, computerized file of all outstanding warrants in the county.
Brown presided over the preliminary hearing
Within some criminal justice, criminal justice systems, a preliminary hearing, preliminary examination, preliminary inquiry, evidentiary hearing or probable cause hearing is a proceeding, after a criminal complaint has been filed by the prosecuto ...
for eleven members of the Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...
who were charged with taking part in a four-hour gun battle with police officers from their Central Avenue headquarters in December 1969. He termed their activities "armed anarchy" and bound them over for trial in Superior Court
In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...
.
In 1971 Brown was a leading proponent of a plan to reduce the number of jurors required in a misdemeanor
A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...
trial from twelve to six. The idea was rejected by the State Senate.
Brown was on the municipal court bench for a decade before retiring in 1985.[
]
Ham radio
He was also a ham-radio (amateur radio
Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...
) operator, with the call letters W6VH, and he was a charter member of the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters, the Society of Wireless Pioneers and the Radio Club of America.[
In 1973 he returned to the City Hall to fight a request by ]Santa Monica Mountains
The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. Because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in ...
homeowners to curb "unsightly aerials" of amateur radio operators on hillside rooftops that interfered with the view from expensive lots. Brown said that ham operators had provided valuable communication links in disasters like the Sylmar earthquake
The 1971 San Fernando earthquake (also known as the 1971 Sylmar earthquake) occurred in the early morning of February 9 in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California. The unanticipated thrust earthquake had a magnitude of ...
and floods. A city council committee rejected any further control.Irv Burleigh, "Judge Protests Move to Restrict High Antennas," ''Los Angeles Times,'' August 10, 1973, page C-4
/ref>
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, James Harvey
1906 births
1995 deaths
Los Angeles City Council members
People from Jamestown, North Dakota
Municipal judges in the United States
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
20th-century American politicians
20th-century American judges
UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni
Amateur radio people