Summer Courthouse Tour Comes To Antelope County

The Antelope County courthouse saw some special guests Thursday, as part of Chief Justice Mike Heavican’s annual summer tour.

Each summer, Chief Justice Heavican dedicates several days to traveling to courts outside of the Lincoln area to meet with judicial branch staff, tour courtrooms and learn about special projects. This year, five associate judges joined him on the tour.

The group toured 15 courthouses and had two educational sessions in South Sioux City within the five-day tour. This year, the group came to northeast Nebraska.

“We use this week in the summertime to always go around and visit courthouses and bar associations and other associated parts of the legal profession and folks who support the courts around the state,” Heavican said. “Part of that is to thank all of you folks from the clerk’s office and so forth who support the courts, and most especially, to thank the county commissioners because we know the courts are the responsibility of both the state and each of our local counties.”

“We can’t do our court system without you,” he said. “You provide the courthouses, the courtrooms, security for our courts and the supplies for our local judges and for the probation offices. We are very appreciative of what you do for us.”

Traveling with the Chief Justice were Nebraska Supreme Court Justices Stephanie Stacy, William Cassel, Jonathan Papik, Jeffrey Funke and John Freudenberg.

“This is part of my judicial district as a supreme court judge,” said Hon. William Cassel. “I’m very happy to be out here in greater Nebraska. My colleagues have heard me say this many times, not only today but previously, ‘I’m stationed in Lincoln, but my heart is in greater Nebraska,’ so I really enjoy being out here again.”

Three of the Antelope County commissioners were also in attendance during the tour: LeRoy Kerkman, Eli Jacob and Ed Schindler, all of who said they were very appreciative of the Chief Justice and associate judges for coming to tour the courthouse.

“It’s good for people to come out and put a face to what we work with. It’s something that I had no idea what you did or who you are or anything, but it’s just good to communicate with the people you work for,” Commissioner Schindler said.

Judge Donna Taylor was also in attendance. “We just appreciate you coming out to our community and giving our commissioners and other people…a chance to meet you so that everyone isn’t a faceless name that’s mentioned in the newspaper when they read about the Supreme Court making some kind of decision. Now they can associate those decisions with at least six faces, so thank you,” she said.

Heavican spoke highly of Judge Taylor, saying, “She is one of our favorite judges because Judge Taylor does not shy away from work. She volunteers to do all kinds of extra things, and we are really appreciative of that.”

The Chief Justice explained that the principle responsibility of the Nebraska Supreme Court is to be the court of last resort for the state. Another responsibility is for supervising the administrative leadership for the entire court system in the state.

“That leads to why we are on this particular tour,” Heavican said. “We like to come out during one week of the summer, meet as many people as we can who work in the courthouses and in our courts and support our courts. That’s why we love to see the county commissioners here, because we know it’s a joint project in Nebraska between state government and local governments to make sure that the courts run and run well.”

“We want to thank the people in the clerks’ offices, thank the local probation officers, thank the sheriffs and the people who provide security for the courts, and again thank those county commissioners for their help in funding the courts,” he said.

Heavican also had nothing but good things to say about the Antelope County courthouse.

“Almost every community sees the courthouse as a point of pride for the community, and you can see that here in Antelope County, the way the lawn is kept up and so forth,” he said. “This is a wonderful courtroom with a lot of space, and you can tell that the county wants to make sure that there is adequate space and attention given to the justice system.”