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Saturday, September 06, 2008

Ind. Courts - "The town court judge in Yorktown doesn't take her job lightly"

John Carlson of the Muncie Star-Press reports today in a long story that begins:

The town court judge in Yorktown doesn't taker her job lightly

Pat Zeabart remembers well the day that, having encountered Kaye Whitehead downtown, the GOP county chairman asked her to recommend a candidate to run for Yorktown Town Court judge.

By the way, Whitehead told the longtime dietitian and civic activist, a law degree was not a prerequisite.

"And I thought, really?" Zeabart recalled, of her surprised reaction.

As she spoke, she was seated at a table overlooking her verdant back yard, an expansive lawn sweeping down to the White River. But a few days later, black-robed and confident, she was in what is now an equally familiar setting, mounting the judge's bench in the town's municipal building and bringing the court to order.

Obviously, Zeabart decided that she could handle the judge's job, which she assumed in 2004, and is now in her second four-year term.

"I just felt like this is maybe where I'm being called to serve," said the mother of two grown daughters, whose husband of 32 years, Leonard, is a gastroenterologist with Medical Consultants.

A 56-year-old Michigan native whose father was a Navy captain and whose mother served in the Navy's WAVES, Zeabart grew up with a well-defined sense of right and wrong, one that has stood her in good stead as a judge.

"I care a lot about fairness, and integrity, and being part of a judicial system with a court that's well run," she said, contemplatively, between sips of sweet tea. "We've been able to accomplish a lot with the court."

Improvements have included electronically interfacing all its records with the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and microfilming all the old court records to meet a state-mandated schedule.

"It's really important to me that we comply with the state policies and procedures," Zeabart said.

However, the human side of the court operation -- which deals with about 8,500 infractions and criminal misdemeanors a year -- is a priority to her, with defendants treated respectfully, efficiently and fairly.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 6, 2008 11:00 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts