In the dark on dismissal

It's not the money - a mere $35 a month more than he would make if he retired - that John Stokes will miss by no longer being a magistrate. It's the camaraderie of his co-workers in the Orange County Magistrate's Office and the ride-alongs with the Chapel Hill police officers that cause him to get misty.

Stokes, a magistrate for the past 14 years, was not reappointed to the office and said he was "blindsided" by the decision.

"I don't have the foggiest idea," he said Monday when I asked why he was given his walking papers.

Chief District Court Judge "Joe Buckner called me into a conference room and said, 'Sit down.' He asked me, 'Do you know what your problem is?'

"When I said I didn't, he said, 'That may be your biggest problem.' "

Buckner, Stokes said, accused him of being "arrogant, impatient and completely lacking in humility."

When I reached Buckner, he said only that Stokes was one of four magistrates -- two in Chatham County, two in Orange -- who were not reappointed.

"The way we evaluate magistrates in North Carolina, Carl Fox makes the decision" on whether to reappoint magistrates for Chatham and Orange counties.

Superior Court Judge Fox said, "I can't discuss it because it's a personnel matter. ... Being reappointed is never automatic." He did say he follows Buckner's recommendation in such matters.

For those of you lucky enough to have never stood before a magistrate, here's what one does: He or she presides over small claims court, or after you've been arrested, the magistrate determines if there was probable cause for the arrest, sets bail, issues search and arrest warrants and can have you involuntarily committed to the Hoo Hoo Hotel if he determines you're a threat to the public's safety or your own.

Stokes, 71, said he is struggling to find something he enjoys as much as being a magistrate.

"I don't fish, I don't hunt, and there's only so much grass you can cut," he said. "Nobody becomes a magistrate to retire rich. I really enjoyed being a magistrate because it kept me off the street, out of trouble and gave me an opportunity to feel that I was making a contribution."

Chapel Hill police feel that he made a contribution, too. When Chapel Hill's Halloween night celebration started attracting thousands of revelers, the department set up a temporary courtroom of convenience at the Franklin Street post office.

"The idea was," Stokes said, "that if we put a magistrate there, the officers wouldn't have to battle through all of that traffic to get to a magistrate at the police station" after arresting someone. "They could just walk them down" to the post office.

Stokes said he was the only magistrate to work the Halloween court, something for which the police department thanked him by presenting him with an Outstanding Citizens Award in 2007.

Sgt. Jason McIntire, a Chapel Hill cop, said, "I've been with the department 20 years, and he's been a magistrate for 14. From a professional standpoint, you couldn't ask for a better magistrate."

So good was the relationship that Stokes, while off-duty, at times went out with cops on ride-alongs as they cruised their beats.

Judge Buckner said ride-alongs are "appropriate for a judge as a training issue, but not something you want to make a practice of."

Now that he's no longer a magistrate, there's nothing stopping Stokes from riding with the cops for fun.

Me, though, I'd rather cut grass.