Taylor, Yarger candidates for judgeship

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The Van Wert County Republican Central Committee nominated local attorneys Kevin Taylor and Eva Yarger to replace retiring Van Wert County Probate-Juvenile Court Judge Rex Fortney during a meeting held Thursday evening.

Committee Chair Martin Burchfield noted that nomination packets for both Taylor and Yarger will be forwarded to Ohio Governor John Kasich, who will make a selection, likely within the next six to eight weeks.

Both candidates are veteran attorneys, with Taylor having 34 years of experience and Yarger 22 years. They are also partners in the same law firm — Young, Taylor & Yarger — while both also serve as assistant county prosecutors under Prosecutor Charles Kennedy, and are fixtures in Juvenile Court, where both have handled a number of cases over the past several years.

The candidate who is appointed to Judge Fortney’s position would need to commit to running for election in 2012 for the judge’s unexpired term of office, which runs through 2014, and also run for re-election in 2014, according to Burchfield.

In the meantime, Burchfield said, the duties of the court will be the responsibility of Common Pleas Judge Charles D. Steele, since the Probate and Juvenile courts fall under the aegis of the Common Pleas Court.

Burchfield said most of Judge Fortney’s duties could likely be handled by Magistrate Joseph Quatman, who Steele is expected to reappoint to that position January 1, 2012.

However, sentencing and similar duties would either need to be done by Judge Steele or by other judges under assignment from the Supreme Court of Ohio.

If past history is any indication, whoever is selected could serve as judge for a long time, since both Judge Fortney and his predecessor, Cathryn Harrington, retired after 27 years in office.