Editorials - 10/10/02

Hang the pictures in the lobby where all can enjoy them

Prior to her Oct. 7 ruling, Judge Hyatt sent a letter to county Manager Ken Westmoreland suggesting a portrait gallery be established in the Justice Center's second-floor lobby. When commissioners decided to go ahead and hang the pictures in the courtroom, Judge Hyatt laid down the law.

Good for her. Here at The Herald, we're all for preserving our county's past and honoring its history. But the Justice Center lobby is a much more appropriate place to hang the pictures that once graced the courtroom in our old county courthouse.

We appreciate the efforts of Linda Hughes Collins and Chris Matheson to bring their fathers' (longtime Register of Deeds Glenn Hughes and legendary Solicitor Marcellus Buchanan, respectively) images out of the past and into the present. We're excited about the idea of a portrait gallery where all Justice Center visitors can see them and where there would be room to include information about the contributions Hughes, Buchanan, Congressman David Hall, state Rep. Dan Allison and downtown attorney E.P. Stillwell made to Jackson County during their distinguished careers.

We like the idea of these historic portraits infusing a bit of the past into the somewhat sterile halls of the Justice Center, and, now that the pictures cannot go in the courtroom, we would be happy to see them in the lobby.

If the commissioners choose to create a portrait gallery in the Justice Center, they need to listen to the good advice they got from their attorney, Raymond Large, and Commissioner Roberta Crawford. Both indicated that if the portraits are hung, there will be requests to honor other individuals in a similar way. Board members need to heed their words and develop a policy to clarify the criteria necessary for an individual's inclusion.

Judge Hyatt's ruling may be a bit unorthodox, but hanging the old portraits in the new lobby makes sense. We hope commissioners follow her advice.

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