'Great Faith' In Burgoyne

Editor, The Néwsí ' ? ' ' I have great faith in Shirley Burgoyne, her potentials, and her qualifications to be a district judge. She is enormously bright, insightful, kind, and creative. She has a zest for living and is almost impossible to knock down in situations that would shatter other people. She is a top-notch debater. This combination has contributed toward her impressive record in the family and the criminal courts. And she has almost visionary views of what a humane and rehabilitative courtroom should be like. I know, too, the hearsay and negative comments about Shirley, largely based on an outworn confusión of her politics and philosophies with those of her former husband. Attacks upon Shirley do not recognize her dramatic personal growth since that time and are rarely related to her legal capabilities. Some women say she is not a good enough feminist. She certainly outstrips I her opponent in the district judge race in that department. As public defender. G eorge Aiexanüer was iessniaTreagCrinjr long ago to defend the hiring of women as investig'ators in nis department. . . For someone who's not enough of a feminist, Shirley Burgoyne stuck her neck out pretty f ar to try to. help git a women's clinic started in 1973. The Bar Association's poll is an expected but cruel vilification of Shirley, preying on the prejudices of established lawyers to label her with an undefined title unquálified, not dependent, The News said, on her abilities as a lawyer. Unqualified how? She has had far more courtroom experience than her rival - capable courtroom experience. " can picture the affectionate taces oí i the enormous number of young people I whom she had kept out of jail, who threw a party for her before the election two years aso. I can hear the enthusiastic good wishes of the enthusiastic townspeople in Manchester and South Lyon who appreciated Shirley's sincerity during that election and were eagerly supporting her. I can see the elderly Black woman tearfully shaking Shirley's hand and thanking her for rushing to her assistance when she and her husband needed help and other lawyers could not find the time. Shirley is religious. She feels that being a judge is her life's calling, and she has been studiously preparing herself to step into that role for over two years. She marches to a slightly different drummer, but that makes her a unique individual. She will be a uniquely able iudee.