Kingfisher County’s voters to be judges Tuesday at the polls

Voters in Kingfisher County will have to decide among three candidates Tuesday when they vote for an associate judge for Judicial District 4.

Retired Assistant District Attorney E.A. “Ard” Gates and attorney Dan Stake are seeking to unseat incumbent Associate District Judge Susie Pritchett. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes, a runoff will be Aug. 22.

E.A. ‘Ard’ Gates

Gates retired July 1 after serving 18 years with Kingfisher County. He spent 21 years in the Army in the judge advocate general’s corps. He served in Vietnam, earning a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, and also was a defense attorney, prosecutor and a trial judge for eight years while in the service.

“I thought when I left the district attorney’s office there were some things that needed to be changed,” Gates said.

He said he wants the court to begin monitoring the collection of restitution for victims like it does for court costs.

“They could be done at the same time,” Gates said. “We should be equally concerned.”

Punctuality and availability are two things Gates said he can offer as a judge.

“I would start court proceedings on time,” he said. “I would be available to law enforcement day and night.”

Gates said defendants could expect a “fair and speedy” case, and he would work to eliminate what he called a “backlogged docket.”

“There’s no reason for it,” he said. “Judges ought to aggressively move to make sure cases are litigated.

“If it’s not going to be legislated then judges need to do that personally.”

Gates said the judgeship is a position in which he can serve the people of Kingfisher County.

“I just think the people of Kingfisher County are very special, and they deserve the absolute best,” he said. “And that’s what I’ll give them.”

Susie Pritchett

Pritchett said she quit her job writing textbooks to go to law school.

“When I went to law school, there were very few female lawyers,” she said.

Pritchett said the 12 years she has spent as associate judge makes her more qualified than her opponents.

“I’m the only person with experience as an associate district judge or experience as a district judge,” she said.

Pritchett said she’s spent the past 35 years involved in law, which includes milestones such as becoming the first female public defender and spending 11 years as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District.

She also has worked with two private Oklahoma City firms and was an administrative law judge before being elected to her current judgeship in Kingfisher County.

Pritchett also serves as a delegate for judges for Oklahoma Bar Association and is on the Judicial Board for Judicial Conference.

Pritchett said she’d been honored twice by Oklaho-ma’s governor, once in 1994 and again in 1999, for writing major legislation for collecting child support and for clearing the backlog of cases of Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, of which she was one of many judges.

“I’ve always had an open-door policy,” Pritchett said, asking why her opponents never inquired about changing docket scheduling. “The lawyers have always known they can come to me with suggestions.”

Pritchett’s said Gates’ suggestion of enforcing payment of victim restitution isn’t within the court’s power.

“You can’t lawfully do what the Department of Corrections and the district attorney’s office do,” she said. “Unfortunately, he’d (Gates) learn it’s not possible to do what he wants to do.”

Pritchett said her civil docket is not “clogged” or “backlogged.”

“Since 1995, there have been 2,901 civil cases filed. There are 121 pending,” she said. “That is not a backlogged court. We’re moving expeditiously.”

Pritchett said she is “dedicated to the process” and “not necessarily the results.”

“I follow the Constitution and the laws of Oklahoma,” she said. “It’s a great responsibility, and one I take seriously.”

Dan Stake

Stake said he’s practiced law in Kingfisher County a number of years.

“I’m a hometown boy,” he said.

He received his undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University and his law degree from the University of Oklahoma, “always with an eye to come back to Kingfisher.”

Stake served as general counsel for Tinker Federal Credit Union for about seven years before he went into a private practice.

Stake said he will make some changes to the court’s docket scheduling, specifically concerning probate cases.

“About 80 probate cases are filed a year. There is a probate docket a week,” he said. “There are about 1,600 civil cases filed a year. There is one docket scheduled a month.”

Stake said if elected, he will be more efficient when it came to processing cases.

He also said he’d like to introduce ideas that have not been tried in Kingfisher County, such as drug court and community sentencing.

“It’s never been tried,” Stake said. “I’ve been to drug courts in other counties across the state for years.”

Stake said most of his inspiration comes from other courts.

“Most of my ideas are things I’ve seen other judges do that would be better,” Stake said.

Stake said he doesn’t have any problems with the incumbent, Pritchett.

“My issues aren’t with Judge Pritchett,” he said. “We do see differently in the administrative issues.”

His other opponent, Gates, doesn’t have experience with civil cases, Stake said.

“He’s just never done any of that stuff,” Stake said. “It’s just something that bothers me.”

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.