Sophia Voravong, reporting for the Lafayette Journal & Courier, has a story on Norris Wang’s planned retirement from his position as Tippecanoe County’s magistrate. I’ve come to appreciate Norris as a friend over the years, and he’ll be missed.
The story is absolutely correct about his unfailing politeness. The cases I had with him, as a general rule, were pretty routine; but they involved people – often times – with sub-optimal social graces who were unhappy to be where they were. If these folks were plain unreasonable, the Magistrate would lay down the law; but, barring that, he treated them with patience and respect. Those are awfully good lubricants for the machinery of our legal system.
Norris is a great example of a hard-working and fair-minded judicial officer, who is largely not seen by most of the public. I would love the local newspaper (J&C) to follow him around for a day so that readers can see what Norris and others do day in and day out — it’s not easy or pretty — but it is a vital and under-appreciated part of our justice system.