Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-08-25
Ketcham to Reshift
Court Workload
Disappointed
Over Fate of
I'd Judge Bill

I'd Judge Bill
District Juvenile Court Judge
Orm w. Ketcham today an
nounced plans to revamp his
court procedure to tailor our
workload to the available
staff"
Alone on the bench for at
least another year. Judge
Ketcham said he was shocked
and disappointed" at House
failure to pass the bill for a
second Judge.
He had been postponing any
drastic shakeup in his case
burdened court because of his
belief that Congress would pass
legislation.
Il plan to confer at length
with my staff during the next
few weeks to see if we can't
work something out to improve
the situation with the limited
available" he said.
9th Year Of Discussion
Failure of the House to act
on the bill marks the ninth
year that Congress has been
discussing the need for a second
Judge without passing legisla-
ton. During this period the
of the court has more
than doubled.
Legislation to relieve Judge
Ketcham was killed in the
waning hours of Congress by
its original sponsor, Represent
alive Davis, Democrat Of
Georgia.
Mr.. Davis was reported
against his own bill as soon as
speculation reached him that
a Negro might be named to the
bench.
He was unmovable after the
Senate passed an amended ver-
sion of the measure. After
fruitless attempts to
set a Senate-House conference
TO iron out differences in the
bills, conferees finally met last
week. Mr.. Davis did not attend
the meeting.
Senate conferees gave up all
three amendments and re-
ported out proposal identical
TO the original Davis bill that
cleared the House first. It was
passed by the Senate with no
Bill Left on Table
On the last day of Congress,
House District Com mittee
Chairman Mcmillan, Democrat
Of South Carolina, assured
Speaker Rayburn that he was
agreeable to having Represent
alive O'Hara, House conferee,
call up the bill for House floor
action.
Mr.. O'Hara, Republican Of
Minnesota, asked the Speaker
20 recognize him, but was put
off. Representative Abernethy,
Democrat of Mississippi, chief
House conferee, said he would
not attempt to call for action.
AS House members sang on
the floor and recessed three
times waiting for the Senate to
quit Saturday night, the juve-
nile court bill lay on the
Speakers table.
Discouraged by the Speaker,
Mr.. O'Hara never did stand up
On the House floor to seek rec
ignition for the bill.
Davis Won't Comment
After midnight Saturday, Mr..
Davis agreed that the bill was
dead. But he would make no
comment or explanation for the
record.
The Speaker complied with
wishes of Mr.. Davis on the
bill because the Georgia Con-
gresham was its sponsor.
Judge Ketcham said he has
already made some efforts to
speed up the work of his court.
He is taking up in chambers
about so matters weekly that
were formerly handled in
court.
But he still must hold be-
tween los and 125 court hear
ings each week. On the average,
he must spend less than Ia
minutes on each case. He also
must hold 10 trials which take
up about an hour each.
Greater Speed Needed
Even greater speed, however
is needed. Jury trials put on
the calendar today can't be
heard before December" the
Judge said. land trials without
a jury cannot be heard before
November"
The need for a second Judge
had been strongly urged by the
District Commissioners, tn &
District Law Enforcement
Council, the District Bar Asso-
citation, the Washington Grim.
inal Association, the Metropolis
tan Washington Chapter of the
National Association of Social
Workers. the Police Depart
ment, and the judge himself.
Shortly before the Judge bill
was passed by the Senate in
April, Senator Clark, Democrat
Of Pennsylvania, pointed out
that Il think it is a perfectly
outrageous thing that we did
not bring in this bill five years
ago. Our failure TO provide
two judges is a great dereliction
in meeting ntfhlic raenot,ef.