ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 9, 1997 TAG: 9701100059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
Jack Mills will tell you that it is his personal mission to uncover corruption in Bedford County's family court.
"You've got a lot of scumbags in Bedford County," he said. "They're abusing women and children, and I'm going to stop it."
Since he moved to Thaxton a decade ago, the retired Navy man has operated a nonprofit shelter for battered women in Bedford County and become a spokesman for a knot of families seething over the outcome of court cases involving divorce, custody and family violence.
Wednesday, the executive director of Honor Quest focused his wrath on Phillip Wallace, who has served as judge in the county's Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court since 1991.
Wallace is up for reappointment, and more than a dozen Bedford County lawyers drove to Richmond Wednesday to praise his temperament and patience.
But Mills, 65, drew a drastically different portrait at a public hearing of the Senate Courts of Justice Committee.
In a rambling presentation that included references to pirated satellite dishes and bootleg whiskey, Mills said Wallace represents a social services system that coddles victimizers of women and children. Mills claims Wallace has made many poor decisions that have hurt children and parents, including allowing visitation rights to accused child molesters.
"Over and over, I've heard from women who are afraid of Judge Wallace and the government in Bedford County," he told the committee.
Mills has often targeted Wallace in a newsletter, "The Mills Turn," that he uses to criticize a variety of government officials including social services workers, judges and prosecutors in Bedford and Bedford County.
Mills' tactics have so outraged many leaders in the Bedford community that several - including the sheriff and the mayor - have organized a letter-writing campaign to their local legislators and the members of the Senate committee on the judge's behalf.
Mills' arguments did not appear to impress members of the committee, who open reappointment hearings to the public.
"I'm somewhat sorry [Judge Wallace] has to go through this," said Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg, who urged the panel to recommend Wallace's reappointment.
Wallace spoke briefly, but did not respond to Mills' allegations.
The judge said he had lived up to his duty to treat people with fairness and courtesy. He asked for a second six-year term.
The General Assembly will vote on reappointing Wallace next month.
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