The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Chinook resident Kay Johnson has held the position to Blaine County Clerk of Court since 1984, after 32 years of service to the community she will retire come January 2017.

Johnson first won election in 1984 after the incumbent Eleanor Felton decided not to run for a fourth term. Johnson, along with three other candidates ran for the position and the rest is history.

For seven election cycles Johnson would run unopposed, holding the position for a total of 32 years. Her time in service to Blaine County is the second-longest term by an elected official on the books behind John A. Stephens who served as Blaine County Commissioner for 36 years from 1941-1977.

"When I took over, Eleanor Felton was the clerk and her deputy Ester was not interested in running so it was a wide open field," said Johnson.

After winning the election Johnson got right to work, "Ester stayed on full time for a couple years and came back part time as a deputy."

Those who have stopped in to see Kay in her third floor office have become very familiar with her current assistant, "Gale (Obie) started in January of 1993. It's a hired position and Gale is retiring at the end of the year to," added Johnson.

Over the years the way things are done have changed for sure, but whether one way or the other is better is really just comparing apples and oranges, "The computer has been the biggest change. Since '95 we have used a case management system on the computer, rather than writing it in the big red books you see in the back," stated Johnson.

"It's pretty simple, any case before '95 you have to look in the big red books, after '95 you can look up the case file on the computer," explained Johnson

The computer has certainly changed things and the department still uses paper files but change is good, right?

"Have things changed? Yes. Do things change? Yes. Is change good? Yes."

The way things are done, cases managed may have changed through the years though those doing the job really haven't. In 32 years she's hired two people.

"There use to be two full time people, now there's one full time and one part time deputy. Part of that was because there used to be a resident district judge here, Judge Thomas and they did a lot of secretarial work to," said Johnson.

Johnson went on to say, "There used to be four judges in the county, a Harlem City Judge, a Chinook City Judge, as well as judges from East and West Blaine County and they were all part time, now Perry (Miller) does it all."

Now Judge Millers Justice Court office has three full time people and they certainly have outgrown their office space. "That's part of the remodeling project, getting them to a more functional work space," commented Johnson.

That change is the third floor renovation that the Blaine County Court House is currently undergoing, the biggest to her surroundings during her time in office.

"It will be better for the public because a lot of people don't know the difference between City Court, Justice Court, and District Court," Johnson stated.

District Court who is headed by Judge McKeon who's retiring the end of November, "When I started they had just switched judicial districts. From the 12th Judicial District it was Havre, Blaine County, Hill County and Liberty County. Fort Benton (Chouteau County) was in Great Falls with Cascade County and their workload," explained Johnson.

She went on to say, "They wanted to redistrict so those in charge gave Chouteau County to the 12th Judicial District which now is comprised of Chester (Liberty County), Fort Benton (Chouteau County) and Havre (Hill County). Officials moved Blaine County to the 17th Judicial District with Valley and Phillips Counties."

Judge McKeon's office currently is headquartered in Malta. "When I first started it was Judge Langen and his office was in Glasgow. So this new Judicial Judge can live in Blaine, Phillips or Valley County," said Johnson.

The new District Judge will be appointed by the governor to finish out Judge McKeon's term until the next election cycle in 2018

District Judges are elected to six year terms and so there have been six applicants. The Judicial Nomination Commission will interview four on October 17th and then they will submit the names to the Governor for him to make his selection.

The Governor's appointment must also be approved by the legislature.

During Johnson's 32 years of service she has seen all kinds of cases come through the system from the most heinous to the most peculiar, regardless her job is to see the case through, "We had one case that was very difficult that involved a little girl, every time I handled the photographs I had to immediately wash my hands," said Johnson.

Her court has been filled with media including newspaper and television and has witnessed Death Row cases but there are many things that she enjoyed while serving the public, "Selling marriage licenses is fun. Passports are fun, you know if you think about it. Probate somebody has died, civil stuff somebody is fighting each other, criminal side somebody has done something wrong but marriage licenses and passports are fun," concluded Johnson.

Good Luck Kay in whatever the future may hold for you.