Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
William Faubion, who is retiring after serving 38 years as Wahkiakum County district court judge, had a first time experience Tuesday.
"I've been judge a long time here and I've sworn a lot of public officials in," he told an audience of two dozen people gathered for a ceremonial hearing. "This will be the first opportunity I've had to swear in a district court judge.
"I'm very pleased to have that opportunity."
Faubion, who is retiring with 16 months left in his term of office, swore in his replacement, Skamokawa attorney Heidi Heywood.
'You may not realize it, but your life is going to change a lot now," he commented to Heywood's husband, Duncan Cruickshank.
Faubion and Heywood signed the document to make the appointment official. Then Faubion took off his black judge's robe and gave it to Cruickshank, who then helped his wife put it on.
Addressing the audience, Heywood said she is humbled and honored to hold the office of judge.
"We have a fantastic little community that works well because of the fantastic level of cooperation we have among all the people who make the system work," she said.
"I really appreciate the lessons from all of you about what it means to be a good community servant."
She addressed special comments to Faubion.
"More seriously, through the years, I've had the opportunity to observe you on the bench many, many, many times," she said.
"My take away from your extensive, wonderful service to this community is to really try to understand where individual people are and to craft sentences that are creative, that are designed to meet their needs and are narrowly tailored to try to interrupt whatever the cycle of problems it is that they're encountering so that . . . if we do see them again, we see them in better circumstances, and to always treat them with respect, and taking the time and the care to do what's right for each individual case.
"I really, really appreciate that lesson."
Heywood formally assumes the office this Friday. The position will be on the 2018 election ballots.
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