Thursday, March 29, 2001

By Terry Boyd, Turkey bureau

Terry Boyd / Stars and Stripes Capt. David Cluxton and Sgt. Amber Couch hope their no-holds-barred law week forums will help Izmir students avoid legal traps later in life.

IZMIR, Turkey — Natalie Carder and her sister, Sydney, have an unusual interest for a couple of high-schoolers. Cloning. Cloning humans.

"Yeah, we’re into the cloning stuff," says 15-year-old Sydney, a sophomore at Izmir American School. Ever since they read about the University of Manoa in Hawaii cloning mice, they’ve been working on their own school project, and would like to know the legal implications, said Natalie, a 17-year-old junior.

Got a question about something like ethics? Hey, anything goes, say U.S. Army Capt. David Cluxton and Sgt. Amber Couch.

Cluxton, command judge-advocate for the U.S. Army NATO Joint Command South East at Izmir’s subregional headquarters, and Couch, an Army paralegal, will visit Izmir American School from April 30 through May 4, lecturing and listening.

Which does not mean that Couch and Cluxton will lull students to sleep by reciting the finer points of tort reform and eminent domain.

"Good God, no! That bores me to death," Couch says. Instead, Couch and Cluxton will, among other things, focus on real-life legal traps awaiting young people outside the sheltering military community where they’ve grown up.

For instance, if you break a law of a host country, you’re pretty much toast.

Couch uses the example of the three American teens in Darmstadt, Germany, who were convicted last year of killing two motorists by throwing rocks onto their cars from a pedestrian overpass.

"There is nothing the U.S. government or military can do to get them out of jail," Couch says. "Their families may have tried to extend [their assignments] to stay close the kids. But it’s likely the families will PCS," leaving behind their imprisoned teens.

Cluxton and Couch hope the planned law week will reach all the Izmir students. Discussions will range from talking to kindergartners about disputes with bullies to high-schoolers about Napster and accessing forbidden Web sites on school computers.

Teen-agers "are at the point in life when they’re starting to talk about their rights," Couch says. In a pre-forum survey, Couch says, the majority of students wanted to talk about privacy issues, "a lot of questions about … what processes can they use to fight against something the school is doing that they don’t like."

A big part of their message will be telling students: "Yes, you have rights, but with those rights come responsibilities, and they have no concept about that when they’re 15 or 16," Couch says. "They say they can do whatever they like. Sure you can, but here’s what happens."

Couch and Cluxton have asked students to submit questions — any questions — to teachers before the meetings so the pair can prepare. Teachers will not sit in on the forums, Couch says, so students won’t feel inhibited.

Couch, 29, says she remembers her teen-age years well enough to know that lectures won’t work — instead she wants to just try to connect with them.

Half the mini-forums will focus on making kids savvy to the legal world awaiting them. The other half will teach kids how to find sources, especially on the Internet, so they don’t become victims.

The legal duo also plans to tell students that American legal life has a huge built-in contradiction. As the law becomes more pervasive in life, the trend toward using informal mediation will grow as an attractive alternative to getting into the clogged civil courts, Couch says.

Cluxton, 40, says computers and the Internet make that prospect of essentially being your own legal consultant less daunting.

"I remember as a teen in the 1970s, growing up in a information vacuum," he said. No Internet. No worldwide Web. No instant references. Now, with Web sites such as the new Army law site (www.Jagcnet.army.mil/legal), people "no longer need an attorney for about 90 percent of what they need to know," Cluxton says.

The site has links to First Gov, a Web portal with access to the entire federal government, as well as general legal sites.

"If you’re operating in an information vacuum in the 21st century, it’s your own fault," Cluxton says.

The inspiration for law week was the Washington State Bar Association’s Web site, which encourages members to talk to students during National Law Week, says Cluxton, a Washington bar member.

"I said, ‘Here, Sgt. Couch. What do you think we should do about this?’ " Cluxton says. "And she took off with it. I love it when I’m the idea guy."

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