children bring the Royal ruckuses to court

[Texane]

Once upon a time in a courtroom in the not-so-far-away kingdom of Farmington Hills, two beautiful young princesses -- Snow White and Cinderella -- came before the fair court and pleaded their cases.

Snow White, who had left the seven dwarfs and married the prince whose kiss woke her from sleep, had not been forgotten by the wicked queen. She claimed Snow White stole her trademark slogan, "The fairest one of all."

And Cinderella -- the owner of some really cool glass slippers -- who escaped her evil stepmother and stepsisters and was thought to be living happily-ever-after with her Prince Charming, sued her former captors, claiming she was owed back wages for sweeping up all those cinders.

The fairy-tale trial, played out by local third-graders, took place a week ago in the real 47th District Courthouse in Farmington Hills. The students, from Farmington's Forest Elementary School, played every key courtroom role: the well-known characters, including the Princes Charming, briefcase-toting attorneys, serious-looking judges, happy-go-lucky bailiffs and attentive jurors. The plays are adapted from scripts handed out by the American Bar Association to help students better understand
the judicial system. In the process, the students learned about the court system, debated the issues and lost their fears of public speaking.

Three classes played out the two cases: Wicked Queen vs. Snow White and Cinderella vs. Estate of Padre Mio House of Tremaine.

One of the key witnesses in the Snow White case was the queen. Dressed in a long black dress and wearing blood-red lipstick and a gold crown, she told the jury that Snow White was a thief and should be punished for stealing the slogan.

Her attorney, Jon Benoit, asked her to elaborate about what happened on April 17, 2004, when the queen conducted her daily ritual of consulting the magic mirror on the wall.

"Well, the foul thing said that Snow White was the fairest one of all. At first, I thought it must be a technical glitch -- you know, something in the software," she explained, as onlookers erupted in laughter. "So, I banged on it a little. It's like the Coke machine in the palace basement: Sometimes you have to give it a good whack to get it to cough up."

But despite all her efforts, the mirror wouldn't change its assessment of the beautiful dark-haired girl with the red headband and blue-and-white dress.

That's why the queen plotted to have her killed, the queen's huntsmen, Ralph (Chauncey Bridges) and George (Jack Kelman), testified.

Prince Charming testified that he agreed with the mirror that Snow White was "the fairest one of all."

"Well, she's a babe, just look at her!" he said, pointing to Snow White as she blew him a kiss.

After the verdict, handed down because the jury believed that the magic mirror wasn't bound by the "Fairy-tale Nations Trade Agreement," Snow White and the seven dwarfs, all donning colored hats and T-shirts to match, cheered.

[b]In the Cinderella case, the verdict wasn't as joyous.[/b ]

Prince Charming, played by Rahul Chamarthi, testified about his shock at seeing Cinderella, also known as Rae'ven Turner, go from beautiful princess to a peasant girl after the clock struck midnight.

"When I finally found her after our one night of dancing, she seemed to have lost her beautiful coach, her footmen and even her dress. She had nothing. I was almost ready to dump ..." he said, before the prosecution objected.

The jury, comprised of adults in the audience, found that household chores don't require payment.

The students said the adults ruled against Cinderella because parents don't like paying an allowance. They said when the case was tried previously before a jury of their peers, Cinderella was the victor.

"One of the things we wanted them to understand is the whole concept of our justice system, that people are innocent until proven guilty and that everyone gets a fair chance to tell their side," said Theresa Walsh, one of the teachers who helped prepare the students.

Parents showered the children with praise, presents and flowers after the trials and then the children toured the courthouse, even visiting the lockup and talking with Judge Marla Parker, whose courtroom they borrowed for the day. Parker, who conducts hundreds of trials a year, called these latest mock trials phenomenal.

As for some of the students, it was the big acting debut they've been waiting for. "She wants to be on Broadway," Michael Harvey of Farmington Hills said of his 8-year-old daughter, Rachel, who convincingly played the wicked queen.

So everyone, except perhaps the losing Cinderella, lived happily ever after.

:rolly2: