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Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Ind. Courts - Randolph County Courthouse group meets with judges and lawyers from a seven-county area
"Legal group examines courthouse controversy" is the headline to a story today by Cynthia Aukermam in the Winchester News-Gazette. Some quotes:
The Save Our Courthouse Committee members presented their case to a gathering of judges and lawyers from a seven-county area [last] Wednesday [10/26/05] in Muncie.See also the ILB entry from last Friday, 10/28/05, which discusses the authority of the Randolph County judiciary in matters impacting the County Courthouse. The entry quotes from Indiana Supreme Court rulings on the authority of a county's judges with respect to the county courthouse, including this: "The 'courthouse,' as the term implies, is chiefly for the use of the court, the remaining uses being subordinate, and to a great extent, incidental."Randolph County Superior Court Judge Pete Haviza said the group, called Ratliff and Cox Inns of Court, was seeking information from both sides of the controversy over the fate of the historic Randolph County Courthouse. "We don't take sides, and we're not a policy-making group," [Judge] Haviza said.
The Courthouse Calendar Girls were special guests at the gathering, which was held at Vera Mae's Bistro in downtown Muncie. Haviza said the Courthouse Calendar Girls got a nice round of applause and congratulations on their willingness to take a stand.
The Ratliff and Cox Inns of Court is part of a nation-wide program to mentor new lawyers and to provide an educational exchange in a social setting, outside the adversarial situation in courtrooms. The idea came from England. * * *
Judge Joel Roberts of Jay County [had] asked [Judge] Haviza to come up with a program about the Randolph County Courthouse controversy.
In addition to the Courthouse Calendar Girls, Wayne Goodman, of Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, and Larry Francer, of Historic Farmland USA, spoke, as did Randolph County Commissioner David Lenkensdofer, who has consistently voted against demolition.
In an effort to provide as balanced a view as possible, Commissioners Drew Wright and Ron Chalfant, who have voted for demolition, were invited to speak. Both men declined, so [Judge] Haviza presented his interpretation of their stand.
Also speaking was Bill Wolfred, an aide to Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard. He is producing a virtual tour of the state's courthouses, and he began his work with Randolph County's because of its endangered status.
In his remarks, Francer said, "This is no longer just a story about tearing down, as two of our commissioners call it, an 'old' building. It is a story about saving the small town."
Francer lauded the efforts of the Courthouse Calendar Girls. He said, "They are not just our mascots or our poster girls. They are our matriarchs, our role models, our heroines. They are the essence of everything good, pure and solid about our small towns."
Francer said the women who took a creative stand for saving the courthouse are the "foundation of our small towns, rock-solid, as solid as is the foundation of our Randolph County Courthouse, which must not be demolished."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 1, 2005 06:06 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts