ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702240050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY considered three candidates to replace Judge G.O. Clemens.
Jonathan Apgar, who has practiced law for 20 years as a prosecutor, public defender and defense attorney, was appointed Friday to a Circuit Court judgeship.
Apgar was one of three candidates considered by the General Assembly for the 23rd Judicial Circuit, which includes Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem. He replaces Judge G.O. Clemens, who retired last year after 17 years on the bench.
The appointment was made as legislators went into a night session of negotiating and political skirmishing over the filling of a vacancy on the Virginia Supreme Court. But Apgar encountered no resistance in the House of Delegates, where his appointment was approved 84-0.
Later in the night, the Senate concurred in appointing Apgar to an eight-year term that will begin April1.
Last week, sources who asked not to be identified raised concerns about comments made from the bench by Roanoke Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge Joseph Bounds, one of two other candidates for the Circuit judgeship.
Seven people - who were either in the courtroom when the comments were made or knew of complaints about the comments - said that Bounds made what some people would consider sexist remarks. Among them was the statement that "Women are like cats"; they'll rub up against you one minute and scratch you the next, the sources said.
Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, said the remarks were not so much a factor in the vote as was the fact that Bounds did not receive the endorsement of a local bar association. Apgar was backed by the Salem-Roanoke County Bar association; a third candidate, Roanoke lawyer Jane Glenn, was endorsed by the Roanoke Bar Association.
"Certainly if [Bounds] had been the first choice, it could have been a factor," Griffith said of the remarks.
Because Clemens presided in Salem and Roanoke County, Griffith said he was pleased that legislators gave deference to the candidate backed by that area's bar association.
Apgar, 45, practices law from a Campbell Avenue office and has served as a substitute judge in the General District and Juvenile and Domestic Relations courts since 1986. He has also worked as an assistant public defender and assistant commonwealth's attorney for Roanoke.
He could not be reached for comment Friday night.
Also on Friday, the General Assembly appointed attorney Robert Viar of Christiansburg to a judgeship on the area's Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. Viar fills a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge J. Patrick Graybeal.
Earlier in the session, the General Assembly appointed or reappointed six judges from the Roanoke area who were not contested:
* Phillip Wallace, who has served in Bedford County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court since 1991, was reappointed to a six-year term - despite complaints from the manager of a home for battered women. In January, Jack Mills told a legislative committee that Wallace made poor decisions that hurt women and children, including awarding custody to an accused child molester. But more than a dozen lawyers and court officials supported Wallace at the hearing.
* Diane Strickland, who has served as a Roanoke Circuit Court judge since 1989, was reappointed to an eight-year term.
* Jacqueline Talevi, who was appointed last May by the Roanoke Valley's Circuit Court judges to fill a vacancy on the bench of Roanoke General District Court, was appointed to a six-year term.
* George Harris, who has served in Roanoke County General District Court since 1985, was reappointed to a six-year term.
* Philip Trompeter, who was served in Roanoke and Roanoke County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court since 1985, was reappointed to a six-year term.
* John Buck, who has served in Radford Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court since April, was appointed to a six-year term.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB