From The Press-Democrat. 

Ken Gnoss, the former police office and criminal prosecutor who in 2005 became a Sonoma County judge, is what I’ve long considered to be an exceptionally good guy.

Members of the state Chief Probation Officers of California heartily agree.

They’ve just named Gnoss the state’s Judicial Officer of the Year for all he does to help ensure the success of young people who break the law, pay a price for it and then are given a chance through probation to demonstrate that they can be trusted to do right.

In honoring Gnoss, currently presiding judge of the juvenile court, the state’s chief probation officers noted that in recent years “Sonoma County has been plagued by multiple disasters.”

Most recently, the Glass fire forced the evacuation of the Juvenile Justice Center at Los Guilicos. Early in 2017, severe flooding along the Russian River brought the rescue by boat of 14 teens and two adult staffers of the county probation camp near Forestville.

“Even when our youth are spread across multiple counties due to evacuations,” the award citation observes, “Judge Gnoss vigorously ensures each youth gets their day in court, even if it is virtual.”

Probation chiefs noted also that among the judge’s most notable successes “is the humanizing connection he makes with youth who appear in his court, and the genuine interest he takes in each youth’s journey along the path of rehabilitation.”

“I’m very blessed,“ Gnoss told me Wednesday. He said he received the statewide honor because of the work done by an entire team of people committed to Sonoma County’s juvenile justice system.

Read the full column here.