Get out the vote! Make sure you go to the polls Tuesday. But before you do, get to know the candidates. Heres Luke Shorts story on the district court judge race. Three seeking district judge seat By Luke Short MESSENGER STAFF WRITER lshort@the-messenger May 18, 2014 Three Hopkins County Division 1 District Judge candidates will face off during the countys primary election Tuesday. As the judicial race is non-partisan, all registered voters in the county will be able to vote for a candidate of their choosing from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday. The two candidates with the most votes will go on to square off during the Nov. 4 general election. With the primaries coming up in just two days, each of the divisions district judge candidates have taken the opportunity to share their views with Messenger readers. An Owensboro native, 30-year Hopkins County resident and practicing attorney, judicial candidate Randall Hardesty claims more than 30 years of district and circuit court experience. Hardesty also holds a bachelors degree from the University of Kentucky and a law degree from UKs College of Law. Hardesty has been married for 28 years and has two daughters. Hardesty said his balanced approach, as well as his experience in the legal field, stand among his qualifications for the position. I think Im probably the most balanced as far as the candidates in the race, he said. Both of the other candidates, fine people though they are, have spent their practice as prosecutors. I go by the old saying, ‘If all youve got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, and I dont know that we need another prosecutor in the judges position. Hardesty said the best candidate for the position would not carry any preconceived ideas or notions into the courtroom. In addition to increasing the use of community service as a punishment for non-violent offenders, Hardesty said he would like to streamline the district courts approach to scheduling. One of the things that Im interested in looking at is trying to make the court a little more user friendly, and, in that respect, one of the things Im thinking about is maybe having court appearances set for a specific time, he said. The way its set up now, everything is set at 9 a.m. or 1:30 p.m., everybody shows up at the same time and everyone sits around and waits until their time gets called. I think it might be nice to set things for a more specific time. Hardesty also said he would like to look into setting up a monthly Saturday session for those unable to attend court during the week. In one of the other counties in western Kentucky, they have a Saturday court once a month maybe, he said. Something like that might be useful for people who have difficulty in trying to get to court during the week because of their work schedule. It would take a lot of different people to make that happen, but if something like that would be possible, I would be interested in looking into it. As district court deals with mostly lower-level offenses, Hardesty said county citizens should cast their votes wisely. This is the court that most people in the community will be involved with, because its a lower level court, he said. I think, because of that, the people have a stake and an interest in the outcome of the election. Its going to impact their lives. Madisonville resident, district judge candidate and fourth-term Commonwealths Attorney David G. Massamore is a native of Dawson Springs, a graduate of both Dawson Springs High School and Murray State University, an alumni of Samford Universitys Cumberland School of Law and a military veteran who actively served as second and first lieutenant with the third infantry division overseas. Massamore is married and has three children and five grandchildren. After serving as an assistant county attorney for several years, Massamore obtained his law degree in 1985, worked alongside former Commonwealths Attorney Albert Spenard as the assistant commonwealths attorney for a total of nine years, formed a private practice where he offered civil and criminal defense services and was elected to the position of commonwealths attorney in 1993 following Spenards retirement. Now in his 21st year as commonwealths attorney, Massamore said he holds 30 years of experience as a prosecutor, eight years as a criminal defense lawyer and has represented people on civil cases in district and circuit court for 24 years. Its an extensive and very long legal history, he said. I have represented people in every county in western Kentucky and Ive handled every type of case a lawyer can handle, including prosecution and defense. Considering Ive been doing this for 38 years, I cant really remember for sure, but Ive also handled either three or five death penalty cases. If elected, Massamore said he would like to make the court accessible to the general public, while also enforcing corrective, situation-specific penalties to prevent an offenders charges from becoming worse over time. If a person is charged with a drug offense, it used to be that our only remedy was to lock them up and throw them away, he said. Over time, we learned that taking an addict and locking them away without dealing with the fact that they were already an addict when they walked through the courthouse door is doomed to fail. You cant keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result — thats insanity. In circuit court, were dealing with this, he continued. We want to stop them from coming back repeatedly. We want to stop them before they screw up bad enough to end up in circuit court where they could go to prison, because thats $40,000 a year in costs for the taxpayers. While Massamore said he would also like to work with area law enforcement and rehabilitation centers to improve the district courts daily schedule, he admitted that nailing down specific priorities is difficult without firsthand experience of the position. Ultimately, I dont plan to make any changes at all until Ive had a moment to sit down there and walk in those shoes, he said. When I was a young commander in the army, I wanted to come in and put my stamp on that company. I had a sergeant who came in and said, ‘Sir, you need to walk in the boots first. A wife and mother of one, district judge candidate Shaun McEntire was born in Berea, where she obtained a high school diploma from Berea High School and a bachelors degree in philosophy from Berea College. McEntire is a 14-year resident of Hopkins County and also holds a law degree from the University of Louisville. In addition to performing collections work in district court for a private practice alongside late attorney Bob Moore and serving as a judicial staff attorney for former Circuit Judge Charles Boteler and Christian County Circuit Judges Edwin White and John Adkins, McEntire is currently employed as a prosecutor with the Hopkins County Attorneys Office. McEntire says she deals mostly with family court proceedings, including child support, dependency neglect abuse and youthful offender cases, but said she also works in district court when the need arises. Im in court every week protecting families, and thats the kind of leadership I would bring to being a judge in district court, she said. If elected to the position, McEntire said her biggest priority would be to remain unbiased. I think the biggest thing is being fair, she said. Im certainly not trying to imply that its not fair now, but I do think I have a different perspective than others. Im not from here and, to some extent, I think thats an advantage, because I dont have any preconceived biases — I didnt grow up with your dad, I dont think this or that person is ‘bad, I dont have some bias towards citizens I grew up with here. McEntire said a district judge has the ability to potentially redirect an offender before their charges become more serious, which she said would be among her main objectives if voted into the office. For instance, with domestic violence, we could order counseling, or if we have a misdemeanor drug offense, we can intervene at that stage before it gets to be a bigger problem than it already is, she said. I think there should be more intervention and more consequences or actions instead of having someone reoffend over and over and over again. McEntire said running the courtroom in an efficient manner would be another one of her priorities. Again, Im not saying the courtroom isnt run efficiently the way it is, I just feel like I might have a different perspective on the courts, she said. I would certainly try to make it so that people arent sitting in court all day. Overall, McEntire said every position in the legal field, be it a prosecutor or judge, is critical to the community at large. As a prosecutor, I feel like Im playing an important role, she said. My biggest goal is to protect families, and I do that every week. In a judges role, its just a different perspective on the same problems. Because Ive dealt with those types of situations in my practice, I feel like I could do a good job with that as a judge as well. The Division 1 district judge candidate winning the general election in November will fill the seat of retiring District Judge Logan Calvert. Candidates who will run in the general election for Hopkins County 4th Judicial District, Division 2, are incumbent District Judge William R. Whitledge and Hopkins County Attorneys Office Assistant Prosecutor Karey Roy Deardorff. For additional voting information, such as polling locations and precinct affiliation, contact the Hopkins County Clerks Office at 821-7361.
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 17:55:41 +0000
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