MC KEAN COUNTY
JUDGE
The
Pennsylvania legislature approved a second judge for Mc Kean County. In the
primary there were four candidates for the position. They were Michele Alfieri,
Erik Ross, Chris Howser, and John Yoder. Mrs. Alfieri held the position of
District Attorney for Mc Kean County from 1996 until 2004. Mr. Ross worked as an
attorney in Mt Jewett and Kane. Mr. Howser served as an attorney and District
Magistrate in Bradford. Mr. Yoder had a private law practice and served as
District Magistrate in Smethport. Here are several signs displayed during the campaign.
Mr.
Yoder won the Republican nomination and in the General election was elected
judge.
Yoder sworn in as second judge
First person elected to new
Mc Kean
County
Office
On Friday
January 2, 2004, 32 years after being sworn in as an attorney in the Mc Kean
County Court House, John Yoder of Smethport and native of Clermont was sworn in
as second judge of the
county
Court of Common Pleas
__ the first person elected to the newly created office.
Jack
Yoder, as he is known in Clermont, grew up in Clermont. He is the son of Jack
and Anna Cecchi Yoder. He attended the
Clermont
Elementary School
and graduated from
Smethport
Area
High School
.
Mr.
Yoder addressed the crowd saying, “There are few things sought more than
justice to address a wrong which someone has suffered.” He explained how
justice has evolved through the years to the judicial system, which exists
today. “ Our legal system strives to mete out justice,” he said.” I’m
human; I will make mistakes. I promise you they will be honest mistakes.”
Yoder spoke of his experience three decades ago in the same courtroom,
when Judge William F. Potter appointed him to represent a defendant in criminal
case just minutes after swearing Yoder in as an attorney.
Potter
had left the file for the case on his bench in the courtroom, and asked Yoder to
get it.