Taylor new VW Probate-Juvenile judge

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert County now has a full complement of judges, with Ohio Governor John Kasich’s appointment of local attorney Kevin Taylor to replace Rex Fortney as Juvenile-Probate Court judge.

“It’s a tremendous honor and a great responsibility to be asked to serve in this capacity,” Taylor said Thursday afternoon. He noted he was informed of his appointment on Thursday morning.

Juvenile-Probate Court is an area that Taylor, whose first name rhymes with “Steven”, is familiar with. He handled some Juvenile Court cases when he was an assistant prosecutor for then-County Prosecutor Don Johnson in the late 1970s and also did extensive probate work when he joined what was then the local law firm of Young & Walters (now Young, Taylor & Yarger), with colleague Charles D. Steele, now the Common Pleas Court judge.

“I’ve been doing probate work ever since 1980, when Chuck Steele and I joined Bob Young and Sam (Sumner E.) Walters,” Taylor said, noting that his judicial appointment gives him a chance to return to an area where he has worked in the past, only in a different capacity.

Since 1989, Taylor has also been an assistant to County Prosecutor Charles F. Kennedy III, but his work there is mostly with adult offenders in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court.

The new judge said he would be meeting with Governor Kasich at 10:30 Monday morning in Columbus and also has meetings scheduled that day in the Ohio Secretary of State’s office and at the Supreme Court of Ohio to take care of paperwork related to his new position.

The other candidate for the position, Assistant County Prosecutor Eva Yarger, also had extensive experience in Juvenile Court, as she handles most of those cases for the County Prosecutor’s Office.

Taylor complimented Fortney, who retired at the end of 2011 after 27 years on the Probate-Juvenile bench. Fortney’s predecessor, Cathryn Harrington, also spent 27 years as Probate-Juvenile Court judge.

“Judge Fortney provided tremendous leadership in the community, and the way he treated people sets a high standard by which I can measure my ability to serve people in the county,” he said.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t also see his new position as an opportunity to look at new ideas.

“When you move into a position like this it gives you a chance to take a fresh look at things,” Taylor said. “Many of the things that Judge Fortney has done have been extremely successful and we want to build upon that, and we can look and see if there are new things we can look at as well.”

The new judge earned his bachelor’s degree in 1973 from Bowling Green State University and his law degree from the University of Toledo College of Law.  He is a member of the Van Wert County and Ohio bar associations, and was also an instructor at the Vantage Police Academy.

According to information provided earlier by local Republican chairman Martin Burchfield, Taylor would need to run for election in November for the unexpired portion of Judge Fortney’s term, which runs through early 2015, and also run for re-election in 2014 for a new term.

Taylor said his tentative swearing in date would be March 26, noting that he and his wife, Kathy, would be out of town next week to see their newest grandchild.

“I didn’t want to be sworn in and then take a couple of days off,” he noted.

Local attorney Shane Lee has been hired to replace Taylor as an assistant prosecutor and provide a smooth transition. Taylor said he thought Lee had already met with Yarger and Burchfield, the other two assistants, to discuss his new duties.