Published: August 13, 2008 11:33 am            

Bad judgement, memory

Special Judge Bill Layden added to the huge abyss between the public’s trust of the local justice system and their near certainty that who you know makes all the difference as to whether Madame Justice is totally blind or maybe just a little near-sighted.

Local message board operator Harold King sought relief from Layden’s court in the form of an emergency protective order to keep Wayne Stipe away from him following what King calls an unprovoked assault on him by Stipe at a local grocery store. Both men ended up at McAlester Regional Health Center, according to police.

King’s Web site, www.mccooler.net , also known as the “McAlester Watercooler,” has been highly critical of the Stipe family, including Wayne Stipe’s father, Francis Stipe who died last month.

King says he was given the judicial system shuffle when he sought his protective order — going from judge to judge until Layden let King come into his chambers and plead his case.

It did King no good, because Layden brushed aside King’s complaint saying his hands were tied because the state’s protective order system is only for folks related to one another. King and Stipe are not related, and that, the judge decreed, meant there was nothing he could do. Of course he could have mentioned a restraining order or an junction, but that might have been too helpful.

“There is no relationship at all,” Layden said. “It’s a regular assault and battery,” Layden told News-Capital Senior Editor James Beaty. When the reporter pressed his honor, asking if the law does not allow for protective orders if repeated harassment has been noted, Layden said “This seemed like an isolated incident.”

What planet has the judge been living on? This feud has been going on for years and he has to know this.

From his office inside the recently named “Gene and Agnes Stipe Office Complex,” Layden ignored the fact that the feud has now come to alleged acts of physical violence.

When asked why he had previously ordered a protective order against King asked for by convicted felon, former state senator, brother of Francis Stipe and uncle of Wayne Stipe, Gene Stipe, the judge seemed to be struck with a loss of memory. “I don’t recall what the terms were,” Layden said.

That statement is incredulous. One of the seminal figures in Pittsburg County and the entire state asks for and is granted an emergency protective order against one of the city’s most vocal citizens and Layden can’t recall the terms?

Layden’s decision in this matter smacks of favoritism and the district judge needs to step in and take a hard look at this matter.

In fact, I hope the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office, the Oklahoma Sate Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma and the FBI all give this one a cold, hard look.

Matt Lane is the editor of the McAlester News-Capital. Send him hate mail or encouragement to: Editor, P.O. Box 987, McAlester, OK, 74501. Call him at 421-2022 or e-mail to editor@mcalesternews.com.

        

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