Schuylkill judges seek retention, discuss drug issue

Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas President Judge William E. Baldwin and Judge Jacqueline L. Russell are seeking retention for additional 10-year terms.

For voters, it will be a simple yes-or-no decision on Nov. 7.

When first campaigning for a seat on the bench, candidates run in partisan races.

But after their initial terms end, they seek retention. They are not campaigning against other candidates, so instead of considering political affiliation, voters simply give a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

Both judges are supported by the county Republican and Democratic parties.

In a recent interview, both judges cited the tsunami of drug addiction as one of the biggest challenges facing them.

“There’s been a complete disintegration of the family unit. The cases involving children are on the rise, dramatically, and the drugs contribute to that,” Baldwin said.

“The parents are on drugs, sometimes the children are born addicted, and the parents are not there to care for them,” he said.

The drug epidemic has triggered a cascade of burdens for the courts, for law enforcement and for child protective agencies.

It has led to overcrowding at the county jail, Baldwin said.

“The damage in the wake of the drug epidemic is amazing,” Russell said.

“(Addicted) people do not care about their own well-being, or that of their children. And unfortunately, people have so many children out of wedlock and they don’t support them.

The stories we hear about children are unbelievably sad,” she said.

Children are being exposed to inappropriate conduct by their parents, which leads to inappropriate conduct with their peers, sometimes resulting in contact with juvenile court.

As they grow up, without intervention, they tend to repeat the same mistakes their parents made, Russell said.

Authorities do the best they can with what they have.

“We’ve come to the realization that we don’t have enough resources to turn everyone around,” Baldwin said. “There’s just not enough money to go around, there’s not enough counselors,” he said.

The county’s drug court, which began in January, may help, he said, but it’s too early to tell.

“We want to try to help anyone who wants help; but if they’re not showing us that they want that help, then we’re not justified in continuing to expend those resources,” he said.

“We’re going to be focusing more in identifying who really wants to change their lives, and try to help those people,” Baldwin said.

Both judges are worried about the damage being done to children growing up with addicted parents, damage that ripples through generations and resonates in communities.

“What I wish is that the people who don’t understand the problem could come in with one of our judges during Children & Youth court proceedings and sit through an entire day,” Russell said.

“The citizens of Schuylkill County most likely would be stunned,” she said.