Exit interview: Stormy Langston says goodbye

After a century of operation, the Eureka Justice Court is being dissolved and its operations moved to the Libby Justice Court.

As part of that change, Justices of the Peace Stormy Langston and Jay Sheffield faced each other in the November election.

Langston was defeated in the election and will be leaving office as of Dec. 31. Judge Langston spoke with The Western News’ Bob Henline to discuss her time on the bench, her thoughts about the dissolution of the court and her plans for the future.

What do you think will be your legacy?

My legacy, I think I’ll be remembered for being fair and impartial and treating everyone as individuals, and for being caring and compassionate.

What would you like to be remembered for?

I would like to be remembered for all of those things. I want people to look back and say “she was a good judge.”

How do you feel about your time in office coming to an end?

I guess it’s bittersweet. Obviously I wanted to continue to be a Justice of the Peace, so, I have mixed feelings. I’m excited, but at the same time it’s disheartening. I guess it’s disheartening how the whole thing came about.

What do you mean, how it came about?

I guess it’s disheartening because I think the people up here need the services, they need somebody. They expressed their desire to keep the court and the Justice of the Peace up here to the commissioners and the board didn’t really listen to them, so that’s disheartening.

Let’s back up a little bit, what challenges did you face as a judge up there?

I don’t know, that’s a good question. Can we come back to it?

OK, let’s talk about the positive, what was your favorite part about the job?

The people. I like working with the people. I like the people and the challenge. It’s always something new, something different every day.

And what did you like the least?

I like least the civil part of it, the civil cases. Most civil cases are either he said/she said and I have to determine who I think is telling the truth, so you’re going to make somebody mad. Or, it’s collection cases where it’s not that people don’t want to pay their bills, it’s that, financially, they’re unable to pay them. I just don’t like the civil end of it.

Looking back on the eight years, to pick one case that you’re exceptionally proud of, what case was that?

The case that ended up getting the definition of partner/family member assault changed. I declared the definition of partner unconstitutional. The legislature had to rewrite the law to remove “of the opposite sex” in intimate relationships.

Least favorite or biggest regret?

I don’t have any regrets from my time in office.

As Justice Court gets moved to Libby, what happens?

I’ve not been involved in the planning, but from what I understand they’re going to leave the video conference equipment in the courtroom and that’s how Judge Sheffield will do initial appearances.

As far as civil cases, our paper reports that he will come up for those, but it’s my understanding that all of the hearings will be held in Libby.

Do you have any advice for Judge Sheffield?

I would suggest that he listen to the people and take into account what they tell him. That he honestly listen to them and really hear what they’re saying.

Obviously strong feelings about dissolution of the Eureka court, why is it so important?

First of all, the court has been here since the creation of Lincoln County, so, for 100 years. That’s one thing. The other thing is that it’s minimum 70 miles one-way for people up here to go to court. That takes time and financial resources.

It’s more productive for the citizens to have one closer than 70 miles. If they’re coming from Trego it’s a good 120 miles, one way.

The other fact is Eureka is growing, our population is growing. We have insane traffic in the summertime with all the Canadians and their summer homes here. This is the part of the county that’s the busiest and is growing the fastest. They need a court here to keep up with all of that.

What’s next for Stormy?

Stormy is going to take some time off and relax.

You also function as a city court judge in Eureka, right?

I do, I’ll be in city court 12 hours a week, but that’s it.

Are you thinking about the future at all or taking time to breathe?

I’m just taking time to breathe and enjoy my son’s senior year of high school.

Parting words to Lincoln County, the people, not the government?

I’m glad you specified that!

I just want to thank all the people of the county for letting me serve as Justice of the Peace for eight years and wish them all the best. Who knows, maybe some day I can return as Justice of the Peace.

Is that a hint of future plans?

Maybe. A lot can change in four years.

This is true, I hear Judge Wheelis is retiring, thoughts?

So he says, we’ll see.

Back to challenges?

I can’t really think of anything I really want to make public.

I think the whole job is challenging, and that’s what I’m going to miss the most. How the laws change and how every case is different.

One last quote from Stormy, message to anyone:

No, I think I’m OK. Merry Christmas.