The LuLac Edition #662, Dec. 9th, 2008

PHOTO INDEX: JUDGE LOKUTA AND THE COURTHOUSE.

JUDGE OUT

Well the final shoe dropped today in the Ann Lokuta case before the Judicial Review Board. By a vote of 6 to 1, the board stripped the first elected female Judge in Luzerne County of her seat on the Court of Common Pleas. As I wrote earlier in the day, this was not unexpected. Lokuta biggest crime it seems was not playing nice with the puffed up lawyers she faced and various members of the Courthouse staff who apparently have very brittle feelings. Well, I guess all that time on the public dole gives you the sense that everybody has to be nice to you. Now Lokuta did some strange things that I disagreed with like having staff clean her house. That was wrong and she should have been sanctioned for that but expulsion from the bench? This punishment does not fit the crime or percieved crimes. I watched with interest a very busy Andy Mehalshick on WBRE tonight and he interviewed one of the people who testified against the Judge. Said the judge was brilliant, but not very nice. Then the reporter said he talked to many people under the dome who hated Lokuta but they of course declined to come on camera. COWARDS! Lokuta is gone because all of her fellow Judges (two who have some worries ahead of them I've heard) complained about her behavior. The staff on the third floor was angry because the Judge, a working class daughter of coal miner parents didn't think anyone born on third base was entitled to say they hit a triple. So they got even. And they won. Good for them. They brought down a somewhat moody and cantankerous Judge who sometimes was impatient, scolded attorneys for not being prepared and was not one of "them". She came to the Judgeship by winning the votes of those who could relate to the struggles of someone working hard to become a professional. The sons and daughters of working class Luzerne County residents embraced Lokuta because they knew how tough it was for one of "those" to prevail. And never mind the fact that Lokuta was the first female Judge. Let's face it folks, she didn't have the look and didn't care about such things. Lokuta plans to appeal and we wish her luck in that endeavor. But we're not optimistic. The "in crowd" won another over the regular people at the Courthouse. I know you're enjoying your victory but wondering to myself just how the hell you sleep at night!

PETRILLA TRYING

Maryanne Petrilla, another strong female leader in Luzerne County government is trying to get a budget passed. And she is getting some cooperation from county departments who are trying to cut here and there and make the budget next week a reality. She is of course being opposed by the Courts who say they can't possibley give up any money because the system of criminal justice will suffer in the county. That's all they said, nowhere is there an explanation for what that means. Why don't they try this? How about working an extra hour or two to get the job done? Why not combine some positions? Others in similar situations are doing that. The Court system responds to Petrilla's requests with what they do best: we'll sue. Yep, tie up the county court system, calling staff as witnesses in a lawsuit against your coworkers while people are murdered on South Hancock Street in Wilkes Barre and old women's purses are stolen in Kingston. I better stop now because I might be hurting the feelings of the Judiciary in Luzerne County and as Ann Lokuta can attest, that's a dangerous thing to do. In the meantime, kudos to Commissioner Petrilla who is doing an impossible job with equally impossible people.