Fight ‘Em ‘Til We Can’t

Cascade County Justice of the Peace Sam Harris announced his resignation yesterday after a month-long controversy about comments he’d made in on online chat room. Harris’ name will still appear on the ballot in Great Falls next Tuesday for re-election, but he says his last day on the job will be December 31, 2006, regardless of the election’s outcome.

Calls for Harris to step down erupted shortly after the Tribune reported a month ago on comments Harris made in an Internet chatroom with teammates playing a violent video game called “Gore.”

He suggested one friend relax by watching pornography and that another kill a stalker before hiding his body in a coulee. He also referred to coveting thy neighbor’s wife as “that BS in the bible” and to the couples that he married in his courtroom as “fools.”

Apparently, Great Falls bloggers were the first to learn of Harris’ online chatting.

Harris and another Cascade County JotP, Kathleen Jenson, are also being asked by District Court Judge Julie Macek to explain why they are holding people in contempt.

“Contrary to the current and prevailing practices of the justices of the peace in Cascade County, justices of the peace have extremely limited legal authority upon which to punish a person for judicial contempt,” Macek observed in an order issued last week.

Good to know.

Ed. Note: If you learn of a story like this in your county, please let us know here at FETWC.