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Thursday, January 25, 2007

Ind. Courts - More on: Proposal filed to require all St. Joseph Superior Court judges to be elected by voters

South Bend WSBT 2 TV's Troy Kehoe reports:

A local state lawmaker introduced a bill Wednesday to stop juvenile cases from being heard in St. Joseph County's probate court system.

State Representative Craig Fry (D, Mishawaka) says the probate system doesn't adequately address the needs of young people in trouble. He says that's because it's run by a man who is too concerned about -- what he calls "building an empire with a fancy palace, at the expense of county taxpayers." * * *

Representative Fry says House Speaker Pat Bauer (D, South Bend) hasn't assigned the bill to a committee yet. And because of that, he doesn't expect it to move to the full House floor for a vote.

He says his broader goal is to simply draw attention to a system he says is failing the citizens of St. Joseph County.

Fry says St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak and County Commissioner Steve Ross support the election of Superior Court judges, although he wouldn't go so far as to say they support a change in the probate court system.

See yesterday's entry on HB 1571 here. BTW, HB 1571 isnt available via the General Assembly site; the reason may be that which is pointed out in today's story -- it hasn't been assigned to a committee.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 25, 2007 06:54 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts