Two weeks ago, this column featured the power and problems of protection from abuse orders that were taking up enormous amounts of time from the Sheriff’s office. Sheriff Lusk was back again at the Lycoming County Commissioners’ meeting on Thursday, February 15th, along with three Lycoming County magistrate judges. They came to advocate for a line item in the agenda for the Sheriff’s Office to add five new full-time deputies specifically to protect the six Magisterial District offices, especially the judges.

Under normal circumstances, I would not have given these judges a prayer in getting the commissioners to hire five new personnel to add to the county’s budget. If there has been one common denominator in the former commissioner board and this one, it is the concern to guard the budget. Especially with the prospects of a lower population in the future, it is no time to pad the payroll higher. But in this case, it was not for padding but for protection.

Magisterial district courts are called “courts of limited jurisdiction” because their jurisdiction is restricted to certain matters. Magisterial district courts are involved in non-jury trials in both the civil and criminal arenas with the amount of any fine not to exceed $12,000. Disputes between families, neighbors, citations, etc., are standard fare.

In a perfect world, these would be cases on the lower edge of the judicial branch conducted somewhat quickly and because the judicial aspect of these cases is relatively cut and dry. The magistrate district judges at the meeting told me that they generally go through twenty to thirty hearings in a day. However, in these days of rage, some of those who receive a negative decision in a case will not take it kindly, and sometimes things get ugly.

Denise Dieter, a district magistrate in Jersey Shore, stated to the commissioners, “It is not a matter of if, but when something happens to one of us.” She told a story of a thirty-something female who did not look very strong when she came in to talk about a traffic citation, but when things did not go her way, she charged the bench and tried to pull the file away from the judge. Dieter did not know at the time that she also had ripped up the traffic citation from the state trooper who gave it to her. Another time, a tenant went after the lawyer who was representing a landlord. She had to make a 911 call for help.

Kristen Gardner, district magistrate in Muncy, commented that it is common for homeless people to come into her office building to use the bathrooms carrying large backpacks that could be concealing God knows what. She also had an irate woman who angrily tore the soap container off the wall in the ladies’ room (and it wasn’t to wash her hands!) Gary Whiteman, district magistrate in Montoursville, also took the podium and added his horror stories as well.

In the discussion that followed after the three magistrates spoke, Sheriff Lusk noted that yes, they could call 911 for help, but he noted that given the distance of these offices, it could take as long as thirty minutes to arrive. Obviously, this could be too little too late. Commissioner Board President Scott Metzger and Sheriff Lusk noted that this has been in the works for almost four years now. It took time to do the research, estimate the need, budget the new deputies, and now — finally — provide the necessary protection that these district magistrates needed to accomplish their duties without fear of reprisal.

In county government, it seems that nothing happens quickly. But as Abraham Lincoln said so wisely, “I might walk slow, but I don’t walk back.”