100-plus people filled the courtroom of the Ovid Courthouse on May 1 - Law Day - to pay tribute to the 20 judges who have presided over Seneca County Supreme Court since the mid-1800s....
In dramatic voices, readers introduced their subjects. A brief biography of Judge David Herron was read by Attorney Steve Getman; followed by Ovid Town Supervisor David Dresser reading that of Judge James K. Richardson; Judge John E. Seeley by Mary Lou Seeley Schwartzberg; and Judge Sterling G. Hadley by John Porter. Ben Franklin offered details of the life of Judge George W. Franklin; Casey McDonald read the biography of Judge Addison Knox; Judge Josiah T. Miller was presented by Seneca County Assistant District Attorney Mark Sinkiewicz; Judge Gilbert Wilcoxen by Peter Wilcoxen; Judge Peter H. VanAuken by Barry Roach; and Judge William C. Hazelton by Romulus Town Supervisor David Kaiser.
As each biography was read, recently retired Seneca County bailiff Webb Rankin drew the audience's attention to the accompanying portraits hanging on the wall. The originals, displayed at the Waterloo courthouse, were borrowed and cleaned, reproduced and framed as permanent additions to the Ovid courtroom.
As one of the participants, I would like to think Dan Motill, President of the Friends of the Three Bears, for his work organizing this ceremony and for his other work on behalf of the historic Ovid complex.
