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Lewiston judge declined politics -- so he could tick off the criminals instead of everybody By
Curtis McInelly
LEWISTON -- Evan Hall enjoyed teaching school for 31 years. But now as Lewiston's justice of the peace, he sits in the courtroom two nights a week as people wander in to pay fines for traffic tickets and simple misdemeanors. Hall, 58, has spent his whole life in Lewiston. He married his next-door neighbor, and lived between his mother and his wife's mother for a time. He has four sons, and says his family is afraid to leave the area. He owns 150 acres and milks 180 cows three times a day. Hall was a schoolteacher at a junior high school for 16 years, and taught business at Skyview High School for 15 years. He has also been an adviser of student government and coached for 22 years. He has been retired for three years. He was a bishop in his ward for a while, and when he got released the mayor approached him and asked him to either be on the City Council or be the judge. "I knew that if you're on the City Council everyone hates you, and if you're the judge, just the criminals hate you. So I chose to be the judge," said Hall. Hall misses being at school, and says he doesn't know any of the kids who are around now. He said that the hardest part is when people come into court, and he has been their bishop or teacher, and he has to render judgment against them. Sometimes they get upset, but he has to uphold the law. Judge Hall spends about four hours a month making and receiving phone calls, and he holds court twice a month from 7 to 9 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays. He mostly sits alone in the courtroom and people come in on their own and plea guilty to the simple charges, and pay their fines. The judge also holds a small claims court on occasion. Hall said that he has seen an increase in domestic assaults, but wondered if it was actually happening more or if they were just getting better at finding them. But mostly the person will plead guilty and there is no trial. Hall has been the judge in Lewiston for 10 years and has only had to have a bailiff twice for protection from a possible angry person, but both situations passed without incident. He has also had many people fail to appear in court and has issued warrants for their arrest, and they pay the fines.
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