The City Attorney for Big Piney, Marbleton and Pinedale is Van Graham. His responsibilities include advising the town governments on any legal matters and prosecuting violations of town ordinances. If a person gets a ticket and pleads not guilty, Van presents evidence and prosecutes for the town at the trial. He would also defend the towns if someone brought suit unless it was covered by liability insurance in which case the insurance company would provide the defense. He comes to the town meetings by invitation, when the council feels in need of legal advice. Usually this is done by phone with the mayor and clerk, such as to help draft ordinances. Van has a pleasant working relationship with the people in all three towns.

Van was born in San Diego in 1941 while his dad was working in the shipyards. He grew up in California and went to school at Ashbury College in Kentucky, which is a small private Methodist college. He met Martha at Yale in 1960 and married her within six weeks, which he says was the smartest thing he ever did. He was a math teacher and also taught Chinese at the Defense Language Institute in Monteray and then attended Law school at Baylor in Waco, Texas. They remained in Texas and had two children, Erin now 35, and Nathan who is 20. They used to visit Pinedale in the summers and finally moved here in 1984. During Martha's long illness and treatment they went back to Texas. She passed away January of 1996. Van had the good fortune to meet Patricia Susong and they were married February 1, 1997. They relocated again to Pinedale, which was our good fortune.