Reardon continued
years in Fleet Marine Force Units. When not doing that, he did court martial work, environmental law and employment work. “The usual things that a military lawyer would do,” he said. During his service, Reardon served in a brigade-sized unit in Okinawa and then bounced around between Okinawa, Korea and the Philippines for about 13 months before reporting back and expecting to be stationed as a deputy judge advocate at Camp Pendleton. But the Colonel said they were looking for a judge advocate in the First Marine Division. Reardon said, “Heck, I’ll do that.” He packed up again and headed across the quad and reported for duty, went to a staff meeting and realized they were shipping out in three days. “Not a headquarters element, not a regiment, the whole damned First Marine Division, 10,000 marines,” he said, “airplane load after airplane load, after airplane load.” They landed in Bahrain – then formed up divisions and regiments in Saudi Arabia and moved further and further out into the desert. Reardon joined in a mechanized assault through minefields and burning oil fields, to get to what he called the “ghost town” of Kuwait City. “It was an experience,” he said. “Almost no one was hurt or injured. But there were scary moments.” “I remember sitting out in the desert one night on the edge of my fighting hole, just watching the Air Force and the Navy fly by. Nothing but airplanes from horizon to horizon on bombing missions. Not close, but you could hear the noise and sometimes feel the ground shake,” he said. It was after the war when the Marine Corps was downsizing that Reardon made his move to Montana “by accident,” he said. He had met fellow attorney Jim Shockley in the service and become good friends over a period
of six or seven years. He said they both retired from the service at about the same time and Shockley lured him to the Bitterroot in 1992. “I drove non-stop from Camp Pendleton to Hamilton,” said Reardon. Not only did Shockley help him get set up in the law business in the Bitterroot, he was instrumental in getting him to apply for work at the Ravalli County Attorney’s office where he would end up working for a number of years. “It was Jim who came into the office one day,” said Reardon, “and he could tell that I was bored silly and miserably unhappy in the private practice of law and he said to go down and talk to County Attorney George Corn. He said Corn was looking for someone to serve as a deputy attorney.” “I did and he did, and the rest is history,” said Reardon. He said what followed was interesting. There was the Montana Militia prosecutions plus the usual felony work on routine crimes. “Some of them pretty stomach churning, but that’s the nature of the business,” said Reardon. When he was sued over not returning a watch to the proper owner and a book was published about it in which he was quoted making some “unfortunate remarks,” Reardon decided to try outfitting once again, but this too didn’t pan out when the outfitter got sick and the whole thing shut down. Reardon said he wandered around town for a while and ran into Hamilton City Judge Sanders
Judge continued
the Judicial Nomination Commission in the appointment of district court judges, “which will ensure that the process is fair and objective and that the City can conduct its due diligence in ensuring the Council appoints the most qualified candidate.” Hamilton municipal code requires that to be qualified a candidate must be licensed to practice law in Montana and have at least five years of experience
Wednesday, May 20, 2020 who was thinking of retiring and was looking around for someone to replace her. “I was hired about two weeks later to fill out her term and I’ve been doing it now for 14 years,” he said. “If it weren’t for the under-privileged class of petty offenders I would have had no one to talk to for the last 14 years. I don’t mean to speak disparagingly of them. But the sad fact of the matter is a lot of the offenses I see as a city judge are basically poverty influenced, if not poverty caused.” “It’s been a long study in human nature,” said Reardon. “When I was a felony prosecutor in the Marine Corps prosecutions were easy. We went out and we dealt with the bad guys. As a judge in a small city court, I deal with heartbroken people.” Reardon said now that he doesn’t hunt, fish or ride anymore, he’s “quite content to sit in my easy chair and puzzle through Aristotle, Plato and Thucydides and those great literary artists and try to read it in Greek.” He said he has family on the East Coast he would like to visit, but mainly he wants to retire before falling asleep at his desk in the afternoon or doing something that might be embarrassing or embarrass the court. He has a lot of philosophical studies he wants to pursue. He said he also wants to spend more time with his wife. “Typical old guy stuff,” he said. “But I’ve got a lot of memories.”
in practicing law. Applications for the position will be accepted through May 20, 2020. This would be followed by a public comment period lasting to July 7, 2020. A selection committee established by the Mayor will review the applications and interview applicants and make a recommendation ranking the candidates hopefully by June 16, and the Council could appoint the new judge by July 7, 2020. Anyone with questions about the process can call the City Clerk’s Office at 363-2101 ext. 230 or via email at CityClerk@ CityofHamilton.net.
Bitterroot Star -- Page A3
“The Honor They Deserve” Memorial Day Tribute to Our Veterans & Our Community
Community Potluck!
Memorial Day Monday May 25th • Noon - ? At Canton Ranch Corner of Schearbrook Lane & Hwy 93 Look for the white tents!
In order to keep community tradition alive we will be attempting to provide an all inclusive community parade, with a potluck get together afterwards!
NO FEES WILL BE CHARGED TO ANYONE
Vendors • Live Music
We cordially invite all vendors and we do mean all! From banjo pickers to bankers, come and practice your talents, promote your business and sell their wares.
We will be producing some burgers and Hamilton pack dogs until we runout. All Political Candidates, all special interest groups and all government agencies are heavily encouraged to be here. Thank you for attending last week’s event. We hope to see more of you on Monday! Bringing Community together rather than divided. Showing our community who local food, feed, shelter suppliers are. Let us us as a community connect EV ERY ON W while honoring our Veterans. ELC E For Questions call Penney 552-2316 penneylane214@hotmail.com Check our her facebook for updates facebook.com/penney.howe
NANCY BALLANCE SENATE DISTRICT 44
Let’s set the RECORD Straight Addressing my opponent’s FALSE claims . . . • NO, I have never supported or voted for any bill that increases abortion. • NO, I have never advocated for or voted for a Sales Tax. • NO, I do not vote with the Democrats. • NO, I do not support or vote for Socialist policies.
My actual accomplishments for Montana & Ravalli County . . . • YES, I kept taxes low by shrinking the size and scope of government. • YES, I supported job growth, infrastructure, and agriculture in Ravalli County. • YES, I supported healthcare reform that helps low-income workers, aids small business, and protects Montana’s rural hospitals. • YES, as Budget Chairman, I built the most conservative budget in years with financial reserves that will help weather the economic crisis created by the COVID-19. NRA - A Rated Montana Family Foundation - 100% United Property Owners of MT - 100%
Montana Contractors Assn. - 100% Montana Farm Bureau - 92% Montana Chamber of Commerce - 84%
Paid for by Nancy Ballance for SD44, PO Box 314, Hamilton MT, 59840
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