Ventura to name new judge

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Oct. 17, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

The immediate future of state Senate District 4 will be decided Tuesday in Brainerd.

Gov. Jesse Ventura will announce the 9th Judicial District's newest judge to be chambered in Brainerd at a 2 p.m. ceremony at the city's Mississippi Horizons Middle School.

One of the finalists is state Sen. David Ten Eyck, DFL-East Gull Lake, elected to represent the Senate 4 district that includes Bemidji.

The governor's judicial appointments coordinator, John Hultquist, said Ventura will make the announcement in a ceremony prior to speaking about the third installment, entitled "Service not Systems," of his Big Plan.

Due to space limitations, however, Hultquist said the announcement will be open only to invited media guests and will not include the public.

Ten Eyck, who is joined as a finalist by Crow Wing County Attorney Donald Ryan of Brainerd and former Assistant Crow Wing County Attorney Bobbie Sarff of Baxter, said Thursday he does not know who will be appointed.

He said the winning candidate will be notified sometime Monday night or Tuesday morning prior to the ceremony.

He added that his interview with Ventura for the position was amicable.

Should Ten Eyck be picked for the position, a special election would be needed to fill his senate seat, which is up for election in November 2000.

Ten Eyck recently formed a new law firm in Brainerd. He also has been an administrative law judge since 1998, and has done work for Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota, Anishinabe Legal Services in Cass Lake and as a solo practitioner.

Ryan has been Crow Wing County attorney since 1995 and has been an assistant part-time public defender and solo practitioner.

Sarff is an attorney in private practice since 1991, and has been an assistant Crow Wing County attorney.

This is the second of 13 additional district court judgeships created by the 1999 Legislature and the first of two set aside for the 9th Judicial District, the second coming in July 2000.