Letter: Reimbursement from Hicks should be pursued

Dear Editor:

I saw that the Montana Supreme Court has removed Gary Hicks from the justice of the peace bench for inappropriate behavior.

The Supreme Court stated, “We conclude that the overwhelming bulk of the allegations against Gary Hicks were proven by clear convincing evidence.” In the same article Lincoln County Commisisioner John Konzen is quoted as saying that “It’s unfortunate that that happened but I think we’re moving forward … and we’ll move on.”

As a tax-paying constituent of Lincoln County, I believe that part of the “moving forward” process should include pursuing the retrieval of monies paid for Mr. Hicks’ legal fees, which according to Mr. Konzen is “over $50,000” and whether or not the county can retrieve the salary paid to Mr. Hicks while he was not on the bench.

In the economic situation that is presently going on, I don’t believe that we as a community can afford to just overlook these past expenditures without pursuing reimbursement.

We read every day about public and other officials absconding with large sums of money and “shady” behavior with no accountabilty for their actions. Maybe action on this would send a message that the citizens of Lincoln County want to hold people accountable for their actions.

Ron Morris

Troy