Superior step

PALMER — Sitting in her office amid packing boxes, in front of bare bookshelves, Beverly Cutler seemed to have a hard time choosing one thing that stands out among the many she will miss about being a judge.

Finally, she settled on the constant reminder of her neighbors’ capacity for good judgment.

“Most people think that if you had to go to court it’s because you’re dysfunctional or you committed a crime,” Cutler said. But, as a judge, “you really learn not to look down on your fellow citizen just because they had the misfortune of having to go to court.”

By this morning, Cutler’s tenure as a judge will have come to an end. Members of the Valley legal community — clerks, lawyers, other judges — can be forgiven if they can’t imagine the courthouse without her. In a lot of ways, there hasn’t been one.

When Cutler was appointed, in 1982, to be the first Superior Court judge in the Valley. At the time, there wasn’t a District Court judge, so she filled that role, too. Court was held in a building with a leaky roof and files kept in the bathtub of an attached apartment, which the court had also converted to court use. Cutler recalled that when she was sent to Palmer she was promised a new courthouse in two years.

Eventually, with a little cajoling, she got it. That courthouse is the one in use today, though it has since been through a number of additions. A District Court was added and another Superior Court judge. Two more Superior Court judges came onboard in 2006. Then, the courthouse expanded, first adding courtrooms, then taking over the old Valley Hospital.

Through it all, Cutler’s been there, hearing cases. When she started, she was giving dictation to her secretary and typing on an old typewriter using carbon paper. By contrast, on Tuesday, a court employee downloaded all the files from her computer onto a jump drive the size of a stick of gum. And it’s only half full.

She said that as her last week came to a close people have been stopping by to bid farewell.

“People are very nice to you when you’re leaving,” she joked.

In a lot of ways, she said, the judge’s job is to bring closure to what is often a very difficult, very trying chapter in someone’s life. Once the judge hands down the sentence, even if it’s not what the defendant was expecting, at least it’s over.

“They can begin to start to piece together what the next thing is going to be,” she said. “You fell like you’ve almost done community therapy.”

Another things she’ll miss? Juries.

“It’s just amazing how much time and energy people put into what they’ve been asked to do,” she said. “We have a system where average people are supposed to come in off the street and have a good attitude. And it works.”

Of course there are some things she won’t miss. She said judges, despite what some may think, are well aware that there are folks whose opinion of the judicial profession is, to say the least, negative. But, she said, she learned a while ago not to let that bother her. She advises other judges to just avoid Internet forums and other places where disgruntled citizens feel encouraged to take potshots.

“You give a ruling and you can’t just keep walking down the street explaining to everyone why you did what you did,” she said. “You might just drive yourself crazy thinking about all the people out there that think you’re an idiot.”

So, what’s next for her?

First off, she doesn’t think she’ll be gone for long. Retired judges are often asked back to hear cases. Sometimes a case involves someone well-known enough at the courthouse that all the judges have a conflict of interest. Sometimes a smaller community with just one judge has that judge out for surgery. Cutler said she plans to accept those invitations. But not, probably, for a few months. She wants to enjoy retirement for a bit.

And, Cutler said, she’s got three projects in mind that don’t involve sitting on the bench. First, she’s going to accept an offer to sit on the board of directors of Alaska’s Girl Scouts Council.

“I enjoy working for an organization that attempts to give confidence to and inspire young women,” she said.

Second, she wants to try to set up some kind of program where children visiting incarcerated parents can have something to do on their visit, rather than spending all the time commiserating over missed birthdays and Christmases.

And third, she wants to set up a pool of volunteers to supervise parental visitation from the very start of divorce proceedings. When one parent is kicked out of the home, it’s important for the child to visit, if only to avoid painting, in the child’s mind, an overly one-sided view of what happened. It’s not something that divorcing parents often consider, Cutler said.

“They’re not focusing on what’s best for the children, they’re focusing on anger and their own personal deprivation,” she said.

Retirement, she said, will give her more time to focus on all of those things. And on some other, smaller concerns. A self-professed news junky, Cutler said she is looking forward to having more time to spend tracking the national debate.

And, she said, she’s not worried about the court system. She’s left it in capable hands — her immediate successor for one. Gregory Heath, until now a Palmer District Court judge, will move a rung up the judicial ladder to take her seat on the bench. She said Heath’s judicial experience and his tenure in the Valley will serve him well.

She said she’s always loved the part of her job that includes helping each successive wave of newly minted lawyers, cops, judges, etc., get their legal system sea legs. Stepping down holds a similar appeal.

“I think it actually thrills me, and it really does, to pass the mantle onto someone else,” she said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.