After serving as one of Butler County's associate circuit judges for more than 20 years, John Bloodworth will soon hang up his robe for the last time later this month.
Having served as judge since Dec. 15, 1998, Bloodworth chose not to seek re-election to another term. Poplar Bluff Attorney Wade Pierce was elected to succeed Bloodworth and will be sworn in Friday.
"I always wanted to be a judge, and this job, I think, suited me best," said Bloodworth, who previously worked in private practice for 16 years. "It's been a good run."
Bloodworth said one of the wisest decisions he ever made was hiring Cindi Bowman as his clerk. Bowman now serves as the county's elected circuit clerk.
The clerks, according to Bloodworth, are "so pleasant to work with. It just makes every day so much easier."
The clerks, he said, have the judges' backs.
They watch for mistakes and if they see something that might be a mistake, "they bring it to me" to check, Bloodworth said. "It's a wonderful relationship."
While in private practice and during his tenure as judge, Bloodworth said, he has been to "scores of different counties and clerk's offices.
"I've never seen a clerk's office that is run like this one. It's so congenial, so polite and knowledgeable."
Bloodworth said he is unsure where Bowman finds her clerks, but "they are very intelligent, very capable and very special people and that makes my job easy."
The judges, he said, also have a "wonderful relationship" with the bar association.
"The lawyers are respectful of the judges and vice versa," he said. "They have their jobs to do, and they do their jobs ...
"I've worked in counties where all the lawyers hate the judges, and all the judges hate the lawyers. ... I've never felt that way."
Bloodworth recalled a comment made by a retiring Jefferson County judge that stuck with him.
"He said, 'A judge is just as good as the attorneys in front of him.' That is so true," Bloodworth said. "If (the attorneys) don't paint you the right picture, you can't make a good decision.
"If they give you all the facts and all the figures, you can do something pretty intelligent."
Butler County, Bloodworth said, is pretty lucky to have the attorneys who practice here.
Bloodworth said being a judge is "a stressful job ... very stressful job, but when you get to where you can deal with the stressors, it's a wonderful job."
Serving as judge, he said, provided him with a unique opportunity to help people.
"It's not just guilty/not guilty and punishing people," Bloodworth said. "You get a chance to help people too. People get themselves in a bind at times, and they need help."
Bloodworth said there are "good people who come into that courtroom. ... You've got to figure out who they are and who they're not."
A driving while suspended violation, for example, can happen to anyone, but they still have to get to work, Bloodworth explained.
"Then, they get another (DWS ticket); guess what happens, they get suspended for another year," he said.
With all sides working together, Bloodworth said, another option may be found "instead of taking their license. That's the right thing to do."
While on the bench, Bloodworth served 10 years as the drug court judge and also served as juvenile judge, both of which also provided opportunities to help.
"But, more than anything, truancy court is an amazing program" in the juvenile justice system, Bloodworth said. "When a kid quits going to school, there is something wrong in that family, the light on the dashboard is flashing.
"You get in there, you find out what it is pretty quick."
Bloodworth said getting that child back in school, where "he's doing well, making good grades, they turn into a whole different kid."
Bloodworth said he can't count the number of times he has picked up the Daily American Republic, and the pictured student of the month "is one of my truancy court kids.
"I have truancy court kids who are on the A-honor roll now. ... They's so proud when they get back in school, and they're doing well."
Truancy court, according to Bloodworth, is one of the greatest achievements of his judgeship.
The program, he said, was one he learned about in judicial college and worked with Poplar Bluff school officials to establish.
"If you get them back in school, you have saved a life," said Bloodworth.
Truancy court, which has its own truancy officer, is "kind of expensive," said Bloodworth. "I worry (the school) will get in a situation where they don't have the funding" to continue the program.
Thus far, he said, the school has come up with that needed funding.
"What is it worth to save one child, just one child," said Bloodworth, who indicated the annual prison cost for one person is about $36,000.
Bloodworth estimates at least 50 percent of the students in the truancy court program get back in school and start doing well.
"We never see them again," said Bloodworth, who indicated he can't take credit for the success of the program.
"It's all of us; it's the staff," Bloodworth said. "It's everyone working together, doing their job. ... It's our achievement."
Another great achievement, according to Bloodworth, was the establishment of private probation.
Max Clodfelter, Probation & Parole's retired district administrator, approached Bloodworth about the concept. Clodfelter also was president of the Three Rivers Citizens' Advisory Board at the time.
Bloodworth said he told Clodfelter that some misdemeanors offenders, such as those convicted of driving while intoxicated, needed probation because they couldn't get everything done they needed to do related to that conviction.
Someone needed to "help them organize and get those things done," said Bloodworth, who was told Probation & Parole was not an option for help.
"He said, 'Have you ever thought about private probation,'" Bloodworth said. "He got me thinking; we got that started.
"It's a really good program. ... They map (what's required) out for (the offenders)."
For a DWI, he said, that may be attending the Substance Abuse Traffic Offenders Program or completing the needed paperwork to get his/her driver's license back.
"Then, when they get it done, boy, they're proud of themselves," Bloodworth said.
Another achievement, he said, was the creation of the Court Appointed Special Advocate Association.
The CASA program gives a "voice to the child," he said. " ... When we have juvenile cases, (CASA volunteers) go to the child (and ask) what do you want, why do you want this?
"Then, they bring that back to the court."
The children also have a guardian ad litem, but "that's not their job," Bloodworth explained. "Their job is to protect the legal rights of the child.
"This is just for the child. It's very important. The child needs to have their voice heard, and (volunteers/program officials) are good at that."
As Bloodworth prepares to leave office later this month, he will move to "senior judge status."
"I'm hoping they'll assign me to Butler County, so I can be an extra judge and kind of take the load off," said Bloodworth. "(The case load) is getting to be more, more, more ... we need an extra judge. I hope I can do that."
Bloodworth said he also would love to teach criminal justice courses at Three Rivers College, Southeast Missouri State University or Arkansas State University, as well as travel.
While Bloodworth is looking forward to retirement, he said, he will miss the clerks, lawyers and "day-to-day stimulation you get from seeing people."