Voters will choose a new judge for municipal court

The person chosen for the post will help guide the county's conversion to a new court system.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Voters will be choosing which of two experienced jurists will serve on a newly reorganized Columbiana County area court.
Judges K. Bret Apple and Mark Frost are seeking the Jan. 1 term for the court.
Judge Robert Roberts, Northwest Area Court judge, a Republican, is running unopposed for the Jan. 2 term.
Judge Apple, a Democrat, serves as Southwest Area Court judge in Lisbon. Judge Frost, a Republican, presides over Eastern Area Court in East Palestine.
All three area courts will be dismantled at the end of this year as the county converts to a centralized municipal court system that will rely on two full-time judgeships. Area court judges currently are part-time jurists.
The county is converting to the municipal system because officials believe it will better enable the courts to handle an increasing caseload.
The new judgeship will be a six-year term paying nearly $97,000 annually. Right now, area court judges serve six-year terms and are paid about $58,000 annually.
The municipal court will handle the same cases as heard by the area court. Those include traffic offenses and all nonfelony criminal matters.
The candidates: Judge Apple said he's running for municipal court judge because he wants to continue serving county residents.
He added that he also wants to help oversee the transition from the area court to municipal court system.
Qualifying him for the post, he said, is nearly a decade of experience as a judge. Before that he was magistrate for Salem and also worked in the county prosecutor's office.
Judge Frost said he's running because he believes he's done a good job as area court judge.
His qualifications include the nearly 13 years he has served as judge, he said. Frost has been an attorney for 27 years.