MEADVILLE — Magisterial District Judge William Chisholm is in line to set a new record by becoming Crawford County’s longest-serving magistrate.

On Feb. 21, he will have served 26 years and 46 days, one day longer than the late Ronald Cole of Titusville. Chisholm’s district includes the City of Meadville and West Mead Township.

Chisholm, 62 and a 1967 graduate of Meadville Area Senior High School, ran for the position for the first time in 1985 because he felt the “need to re-establish norms of acceptable behavior and bring fairness and consistency to landlord-tenant issues and civil cases.” He believes he has achieved that goal.

But he isn’t quitting from that effort — yet. His term doesn’t expire for four more years and “God willing,” he will complete that term, he said. Then, he plans to retire. Chisholm said his plans for retirement are simple. He and his wife, Carla, now have two grandchildren and “I want to be able to go to their soccer games.” (He also hopes he has more grandchildren.)

“I thought I could really make a difference in the quality of life in Meadville and West Mead,” he said about his decision to seek election in 1985. “Looking back, I think I have.”

He bases his conclusion on several factors. The first is that although he was opposed in his first bid for election, he has run four more times and has been unopposed each time. To him, that says the people are satisfied with his work.

The second factor is that he feels completely safe when walking the streets of the community. He said despite all the types of cases he has handled, he has never felt threatened himself or for his family.



Thomas: Judicial mentor

Judge Chisholm attributes his success to a number of things, including his mentors, and particularly his staff. Among his mentors was the late Judge P. Richard Thomas. Chisholm had served as a local drug and alcohol counselor and then was named by Thomas to head the county’s Friends Program. When an opening for a chief adult probation officer in Crawford County opened up in the mid-1970s, Judge Thomas offered it to him.

“I was 24 years old,” said Chisholm, noting he was feeling a little overwhelmed with the responsibility, but Thomas was confident in his abilities, so Chisholm took the job. He said he learned a lot of his management techniques — that he believes have been a key to his success — from Thomas, who would tell Chisholm to make decisions based on all the circumstances. At the same time, Thomas always had an open-door policy to hear of any problems. However, he told Chisholm not to just bring him a problem — but also to bring possible solutions. Chisholm remembered that and uses it with his staff — as with the defendants who come before him.

Chisholm held the probation post for almost 10 years before running for the magistrate position.

As a side note, Chisholm said he doesn’t believe he is in the same class as Judge Thomas, but noted their length of service is similar. Judge Thomas served 26 years, seven months and five days — the longest of any Crawford County judge.



Too young, too old

Chisholm, who was well-known for his dark mustache, laughs as he tells why he grew it. Without the mustache, Chisholm looked very young. He was only 25 as a probation chief, and looked even younger. He said the clients would think he was a “young pup” and wondered how much he really knew. So, he grew the mustache to look older. As time progressed and his mustache started to turn gray, he made another decision. At the age of 55, he shaved it off — “to look younger,” he grinned, noting life has come full circle.

In praising his staff and attributing to his belief he has made a difference, Chisholm also notes that by the end of 2012 he will have heard more than 100,000 cases. In all that time, his office has never had a substantiated complaint with the Judicial Conduct Board nor had any negative findings from the county auditors or the state Auditor General Office regarding the financial matters of the office. The Judicial Conduct Board hears complaints about magisterial district judges.

“A great staff makes it possible for the court to achieve a position of acceptability in the community,” he said. “Constituents, whether plaintiffs or defendants, appreciate being treated fairly and efficiently.”

Over the past nearly three decades, Chisholm has witnessed many changes in society. He has no “most memorable” case but said there’s one he remembers because the outcome involved a domestic relations case involving abuse. Although the couple involved had been in court on numerous occasions, the woman would not leave the man. He eventually killed her and then killed himself.

He believes one thing which is contributing to more crimes is that many people lack respect for others and for the system itself. When hearing cases, Chisholm practices something he learned from a college roommate, who analyzed everything in great detail before making decisions. Chisholm recalled how meticulous the student was, and Chisholm learned to apply that to his life as well.

When hearing cases, Chisholm said he interacts with those involved to help them understand why he is making specific decisions. He wants them to understand who is responsible for what occurred and why he made the ruling he did. He said often the offenders didn’t have the ability to analyze their own behavior. He hoped by helping them, they could understand better.



Change is constant

Asked about the trend in crimes he has seen over the years, Chisholm said when he was on the county jail study committee, a consultant talked about planning for the future and what type of cell space may be needed in the future. Coupled with changes such as mandatory sentencing, expansion of some laws and ever-increasing use of computers and the Internet, Chisholm has witnessed a great difference in crimes presented in his office and in needed space for defendants and convicts.

For example, he said that before 1990 there were few computer-related offenses. In addition, he has seen more assaults and he attributes that to an expansion of laws involving laws against “protected” classes — such as children, elderly, police officers, correctional officers and teachers. “We never needed to protect (with special laws) these people before.” He said the lack of respect is evident in this fact.

In addition, there now are laws involving pornography as well as other computer offenses that were not on the books in the past.

He also sees more domestic abuse cases — many more — and a lot of bad check cases. He attributes those, too, to lack of responsibility.

Although his job is occasionally stressful, “I still learn something every day,” he said.



First election

Looking back, he said he learned a lot during his first election campaign. He recalls his first venture into politics. He had never been involved in politics before, so he wanted to do it “my way.” He formed campaign teams including both Republicans and Democrats and was very successful. He won both party nominations and won every precinct in the district. He recalls standing with the late Frank Costa on Chisholm’s first election night and, after only a few precincts were reported, Costa turned to him and said, “It’s over. You won.” Chisholm couldn’t figure out how Costa could know that simply from the results of a few precincts.

After winning both party nominations, he knew he had to go to a statewide school for magistrates, then pass a test before he could be sworn in. He said he wasn’t too worried, as there would be two opportunities to pass the test before he had to take office. However, he didn’t count on a tornado hitting Crawford County in late spring 1985, just weeks after the election. At the time, he was disaster chairman for the county chapter of the American Red Cross and had lots of responsibilities. He couldn’t take time off to attend the month-long school.

He went to school in November — after the fall election. He had to pass the test or he couldn’t take office. He noted that when he was a college student at Penn State, he didn’t study much; he didn’t have to. But, when it came time for work as a magistrate and he went to Wilson College for the one-month class, “I quickly realized how much I did not know,” he laughed.

He wasn’t quite as confident as he was during the campaign. He said he kept wondering what would happen if he didn’t pass. “Here, I could not take any chances,” he said, noting he would be embarrassed after campaigning about all his legal “experience.”

As a probation officer, Chisholm was familiar with many of the legal matters — but only the information after a conviction, not a lot of the preliminary work. And he had no knowledge of civil law.

He laughs now at how he spent one month staying at a dormitory at Wilson College and studied more in those four weeks than he had in all four years at PSU. His studying paid off. On Dec. 19 — just a few weeks before he was to take office — he received his certificate. He had passed.

He was ready to begin a new career.

He looks back with no regrets and looks forward to continuing for another four years. Then, he will be ready to pass his gavel to his successor.