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Kristie Hoffman

All God’s Judges Got Robes

October 27, 2017 by Peg Leave a Comment

Each fall for the past several years I have helped teach an Internet course on continuing education to judges. The National Judicial College located in Reno, Nevada organizes the six-week curriculum and selects members of the NJC faculty to teach judges from across America and even some foreign countries. Each weekly segment is led by one faculty member who is assisted by five others. My assigned area is Court Management. The course is supervised by two full-time staff members of the college who operate the complexities of the technology required by the participation of judges by computer and telephone from numerous far-flung locations. Joseph Sawyer and Danielle Harris of the NJC are in charge of the course and tasked with the “cat-herding” job of running both those judges who take the classes and we judges who teach it.

When I think about continuing education for judges I get an image of mothers from New York to Hawaii sending off their little judges dressed in black robes and equipped with new gavels embossed with the admonition: “Don’t Hit Anyone”. Before I was an attorney and had to deal with judges and before I became a judge and had to deal with other judges I never gave a thought as to how judges learn to be judges. Until reality struck me, I just assumed judges knew what they were doing the moment they began to decide the fates of those who were brought to court by law and life. Oh, if that were so!

However, since that is definitely not so, we need places to teach judges how to judge the same as we need to teach electricians not to touch a hot 220 line. The National Judicial College where judges who have already made numerous errors can teach other judges how to avoid them is one such place. The NJC states its mission as “Pursuing education | innovation | advancing justice with the support of individuals and organizations dedicated to preserving and improving the rule of law”.

In the teaching of Court Management I suggest a judge first think about what purposes she/he wants their court to accomplish; what is the desired mission? If a pioneer were going from St. Louis to Colorado he might paint a slogan (mission statement) on his wagon, “Pike’s Peak or Bust!”. He really does not plan to live on Pike’s Peak but the mantra can help him stay focused when a wagon wheel comes off in Kansas.

About thirty years ago members of my staff gave a great deal of thought to our purposes as a court. We were not unhappy with the court’s direction back then but we wondered if there were better ways to manage the Posey Circuit Court. So my long-time Court Reporter, Katrina Mann, my Chief Probation Officer, Rodney Fetcher, another long-time Court Reporter, Kristie Hoffman, another long-time Probation Officer, Mark Funkhouser, my then Court Administrator, Sam Blankenship, and I brainstormed for weeks about what our goals should be and how we could accomplish them.

Short-term, mid-range and long-term elements of planning, strategy, operation, record keeping and innovation were considered. We sought and received important input from the attorneys and other office holders. What we concluded we wanted the Posey Circuit Court to do was to help make Posey County, Indiana a better place to live by helping to resolve instead of exacerbating problems between and among our citizens who needed the court’s services.

We slowly and incrementally instituted a system of resolving conflicts in which the most important actors are the people who are in conflict; say a divorcing couple with children. Our Mission Statement guides us but it is only a guide, not an immutable law. For now I will set forth the Mission Statement then in future columns discuss the “Devil in the Details” of how we actually strive to attain our goals. 

Mission Statement of the Posey Circuit Court

The mission of the Posey Circuit Court is to help create a community in which individuals, families, and entities are encouraged and facilitated to resolve legal problems among themselves and to provide a forum in which legal issues that are not privately disposed of are fairly and efficiently decided according to applicable law in an atmosphere of mutual respect and positive innovation.

Over the years there has been a great deal of tweaking of our approach as new staff members have supported the main goals of conflict resolution and helping Posey County citizens repair their relationships. You are already aware this is a work in progress. Perhaps next week we can begin to flesh out the bones of our theory.

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Filed Under: Circuit Court, Gavel Gamut, Internet class, Judicial, National Judicial College, Posey County Tagged With: "Don't Hit Anyone", All God's Judges Got Robes, Court Management, gavel, James M. Redwine, Jim Redwine, judicial continuing education, Katrina Mann, Kristie Hoffman, make Posey County Indiana a better place to live, Mark Funkhouser, Mission Statement, National Judicial College, Posey Circuit Court, Rodney Fetcher, Sam Blankenship, short-term mid-range long-term elements of planning strategy operation record keeping innovation

Ponce de Leon Meet Kristie

August 11, 2016 by Peg Leave a Comment

Kristie Hoffman claims to have worked for the Posey Circuit Court and me for thirty years. She says she started in June 1986 as a Bailiff and transcriptionist then matriculated through most of the court reporter positions. Today, if one needs help with civil suits, adoptions, mental health cases or juvenile delinquency matters, they should call for Kristie. As for me, I find it hard to accept Kristie has accumulated thirty years of knowledge and expertise in numerous court matters when she herself has not gotten a year older. It is only when I compare my photographs from 1986 to my image in the mirror that I am able to accept that Kristie did not just arrive from St. Philip, Indiana not knowing where the courthouse was.

Of course, the fact that she and Andy have been married for twenty-eight years (I went to their wedding) and have two adult sons does militate in favor of the falling sands of time. Although Andy also looks like he just graduated from high school. Perhaps Kristie should pay Posey County for the privilege of working in a position which apparently affects her as would have Ponce de Leon’s frantically sought after Fountain of Youth. I have noticed however she and Andy tend to look more like normally aging people when Notre Dame loses.

Ah, well, the rest of us can take consolation from the knowledge that Kristie will never experience the joys of aging. Is not there much to be said for the character building vicissitudes of changing visages and aching limbs? Okay, I guess not. Still, what will Kristie do if she ever does get old? The shock may be too much for her. As the rest of us gradually become habituated to the inevitable we can take solace that the Kristies of the world may go to sleep some day and awake eight hours later with some stranger living in their skin. On the other hand so may we, it will just be a much older looking stranger.

Okay, enough grousing about the unfairness of it all. What else does the public need to know about Kristie? One important distinction between Kristie and the rest of the court staff is she gets to work at 7:00 a.m. Therefore, if you need to contact the court before normal hours you can call 812-838-1302 and select option 3. Kristie will answer and efficiently direct you to the proper department of the legal system to address your questions. Of course, the court staff is prohibited by Indiana law from giving legal advice. However, Kristie and her three fellow court reporters are quite knowledgeable and helpful when general legal system guidance is needed.

All four Posey Circuit Court court reporters work at the north end of the second floor of the courthouse. Their doors are always open to the public. Sometimes they are involved in matters the law requires be kept confidential. In those cases the public is excluded. Otherwise feel free to call or drop by. The courts are always “open pursuant to adjournment” as the Indiana Constitution requires.

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Filed Under: Football, Gavel Gamut, Posey County Tagged With: Andy Hoffman, court reporter, Fountain of Youth, Kristie Hoffman, Notre Dame, Ponce de Leon, Posey Circuit Court

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