The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1922-11-25
NEED Of
RELIEF
At ONCE:
Judge Norton Suggests Ap-
pOintment of Referee
[sPEcIAL 70 he T1NEs1

Of the Juvenile court yesterday afr
rnoon and saw Judge Miles E. Nor
ton dispose Of more than fifty cases
Of truancy and delinquency. It was
obvious that the work has become
100 heavy for the Circuit court
Judge.
After the adjournment or court
the senators, representatives and
juvenile officers had suppe- together
IN the parlor OF the Presbyterian
church and Representative Glenn
Harris. speaking for his fellow leg
slators, put the following question
to Judge Norton:
What measure Of relief would
you recommend"
Judge Norton made three sugges-
tons First, put tho Jurisdiction in
t-uancy cases back with the Justice
Of the peace and city courts: sec
ond, provide for q referee to hear
all juvenile cases and If possible
settle them before they come before
the Juvenile court; third. establish
another court IN the county for
juvenile work only.
In concluding hts recomnenda
tions, Judge Norton indicated that
the appointment Of a referee would
very probably be the most feasible
Of the three. Ultimately" he said.
you viii have to establish another
court for juvenile work. but for the
present I believe a referee would
solve the porblem with less expense
10 the taxpayers"
Mrs. Carrina Warrington. state
probation officer. who came from
Fort Wayne to be present at the
meeting. told the senators and ~ep-
representative to act upon Judge
Nortons suggestion.
BEST IN STATE
7 consider Judge Norton the best
Juvenile judge in the state" she
said.
The legislators applauded.
Judge Norton thanked Mrs. War
ington. and said. In case a separ-
ate court is established for juventIa
work I would not care 10 act as
juvenile Judge. I viii remain On
the Circuit bench until II becomes
time for me to retire and resume
| the practice Of law
Judge Norton said that a referee
| attached to the Juvenile court
which IS really the circuit court
would b e ar approximately $500
cases a year In addition to his
work in civil matters in the Circuit
court. Judge Norton has heard more
than 500 juvenile cases SO far this
year.
Il has been Judge No4lon's Policy
TO keep children out OF institutions
instead of putting them in. and his
records show that there are only
Ss Lake county children in iastitu-
tions at present as against l59 on
the first OF January. 1918.
TAX soLoMoN's WISDOM
The cases tried terday-the or
dinary run OF juvenile matters
presented problems that would tax
! King Solomon's wisdom They ran
he gamut OF emotions. from the
fright Of a little colored boy. inno-
cent victim OF the pxanks Of a 1uv-
emile Ku klux Khan. to the charges
of q girl against her father. There
was the case OF the boy who was
t-uant from school because the
teacher had said that + he contin-
ued to be tardy from school she
would drop him from the register
and he thought she meant by that
to drop him into the furnace where
be would burn alive. Very natur-
! ally. he played hockey
These cases, actual and anectodal.
we're discussed at the meeting IN the
Presbyterian church. One Of the
| juvenile workers tod the story OF
q coIored woman. hailed into court
with her small son. who was
>ruant
"Youh a no-count brat" she
scolded. "Youh Jest like youh no
count fathah An sure is glad ah
ueveah married that mani"
Judge Norton declared that 1t was
not possible for hina to give each
case the time and consideration that
it should have without neglecting
The civil cases Of the Circuit court.
He said that q referee would dis
pose Of the truancy cases and
great many Of the minor offenses.
leaving only the more serious mat
ters for the court.
Interesting talks on Juvenile work
were made by Mrs. Lucille Myers,
Hammond; Carl Grifen. Hammond.
Miss Katherine E. Lynch Gary.
Thyra J. Edwards. Gary. Albert
Lewis. East Chicago, and Mrs.
Neigh. superintendent OF the Bright
side Training school at Plymouth
MOST IMPORTANT COURT
Emmett White, Democratic coun-
ty chairman. praised the work Of
the Juvenile court
1t is the most important court
we have" he said. 1t deals with
souls. We cannot afford to ham
per it. We must provide all the
facilities that are needed to carry
on this great work. "
Foster Bruce. deputy prosecutor IN
the Juvenile court, discussed the
work from the standpoint OF the
,rosecutor. while Court Reporter
Youke explained the elaoorte sys-
tenn of records by which the court
IS able to have information on all
OF the FIVE thousand cases he has
heard in the past few years.
Judge Norton recommended TO the
LEGISLATORS that bill be intro
duced to give the illigetimate child
the same rights Of inheritance as
the natural child where the pater-
nifty has been established before the
death of the father.
number Of representative oiti-
zens from various cities of the
county We're interested spectators at