Old bench to have new life in court

By D.a. Wilkinson

LISBON — An old bench in the Columbiana County Courthouse has been restored to accommodate a visit from the Ohio Supreme Court.

The top court will meet in the courtroom of Judge David Tobin, which was designed for just one judge.

The seven court members — Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer and Justices Paul E. Pfeifer, Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, Maureen O’Connor, Terrence O’Donnell, Judith Ann Lanzinger and Robert R. Cupp — will have to be seated.

The court will hear four cases starting at 9 a.m. April 22 as part of its off-site court program. Local high school and home-schooled students will attend the hearing to get a perspective of how a court of last resort deliberates.

Justice Moyer started the off-site program in 1987 as a model for education about the state’s judicial branch of government, according to a Supreme Court press releases.

Amy Ondrejko, the operations officer for the county common pleas courts, said she was told by the administrative staff at the state’s top court that the justices like to sit on the same level.

The county’s solution was found in the hallway of the courthouse basement: a long bench made of hickory.

“We revamped it for the justices’ visit,” Ondrejko said. “We wanted to work with something we had.”

The age of the bench isn’t known. It may date to a 1934 addition to the courthouse.

The bench had been in the courthouse’s small probate court. One end had an armrest, but the other did not.

Terri Roberts, an administrative assistant in Judge Tobin’s court, said the bench was missing an armrest because it ended at a wall.

The county hired David Smith of Lisbon, who divided the bench. He finished the ends with pieces of oak. The piece with the armrest is 85 inches long. The other piece is 83 inches long.

Each bench will accommodate three justices and will be placed alongside the area normally reserved for Judge Tobin.

Roberts said Smith also made repairs to the underside of the benches to strengthen them.

Roberts took over on the restoration. “I scrapped off gum and pounded some nails,” she said.

She used Old English Furniture Polish to cover the scrapes and scratches of time and then polished it with a stain.

After the Supreme Court visit, the benches may remain in the back of Judge Tobin’s court or go back to the basement.

Ondrejko said the county will use office chairs and tables for the justices’ books and papers.

wilkinson@vindy.com