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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Ind. Courts - Carroll County Comet reports resolution of judges' issues today

The Carroll County Comet is a weekly paper that comes out every Wednesday. Today it has several interesting front-page stories, plus this editorial thanking the attorney who helped negotiate an agreement between the County Ciouncil and the county's two judges:

Thank you, Mr. Huffer: In the spirit of cooperation, great things can happen. All it takes is a willingness to work toward a solution with the idea that some compromising might be necessary along the way.

The agreement reached last week between the Carroll County Council and Carroll Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Smith and Circuit Court Judge Donald Currie may not be what either side really wanted, but it was deemed doable by both sides and it alleviated a mandate by the judges.

The agreement would never have happened without the intervention of Delphi attorney James Huffer. Representing the council, he negotiated the agreement with the judges. He did that at no charge to county taxpayers. He believed he could help facilitate change, and he did.

A willingness to chip in and help out and not want anything in return except the satisfaction of helping
out your county and fellow citizens is what it’s going to take to get this county moving in the right direction.

Mr. Huffer’s desire to step forward and offer his personal and professional assistance should be an example to all of us to look for ways we, too, can help make Carroll County a better place.

This ILB entry from May 23rd, reported that an agreement had been reached. The Comet has the story in today's edition, written by Jenna Buehler, staff writer intern,. It begins:
Carroll County Council met in executive session May 22 for approximately one hour to discuss potential litigation and then for ten minutes to approve an agreement with Carroll County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Smith and Circuit Court Judge Donald Currie, to avoid a mandate. The agreement, proposed last week and adopted with minor wording changes Thursday night, was to restore in part budget reductions made by the council in April to both courts and the joint courts line items. The agreement was negotiated for the council by local attorney James Huffer.

Council members approved a resolution to thank Huffer for his effort, which resulted in no litigation with the judges and came at no legal expenses to the county for his services.

A second matter affecting the Carroll County judiciary was reported on here yesterday in the ILB, under the heading "Judicial Commission Admonishes Carroll Circuit Court Judge Currie." Today's Comet report, headed "Judge Currie receives public admonition," quotes the text of the admonition itself.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 28, 2008 09:31 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts