Judge McCarthy Honored by Magistrates Association

Windham town justice Maureen McCarthy has been awarded a “Certificate of Honorable Service” for her more than 20 years on the bench. On hand for the recent presentation were (left to right) Greene County Magistrates Association president William Jacobs, Judge McCarthy, court  clerk Karen Matteo, accounts clerk Jessica Leto and town clerk Bonnie Poehmel.

WINDHAM - A meander down Memory Lane was taken, last week, when Windham town justice Maureen McCarthy received a “Certificate of Honorable Service.”

Greene County Magistrates Association president William Jacobs made the presentation, given for Judge McCarthy’s more than 20 years of service to the town, the New York State Judiciary and Magistrates Association.

“This has been a wonderful experience for me,” Judge McCarthy said, officially commenting about her 23-plus years on the Bench.

“I am here, most importantly, trying to communicate with people. I’m not here wanting to put people away. I want to be compassionate.”

Judge McCarthy recalled how she joined the judiciary, visiting Windham in the early 1980’s on skiing trips, crossing paths with her future husband, Jack McCarthy, a ski instructor at the local slopes.

Jack McCarthy’s parents were among the founders of what is now the Windham Mountain Club. He found his niche as a tugboat captain.

Still a civilian after marrying and settling in Windham, Judge McCarthy got her start as a court clerk with the late Judge Robert Murphy, an ardent equestrian and her mentor.

Appointed to the Bench by the late town Supervisor T. Patrick Meehan to fill a vacancy, Judge McCarthy has earned the trust and respect of the community, since then winning five elections.

She broke ground as the first female judge in Windham and has served as vice-president of the Greene County Magistrates Association, previously receiving a “Certificate of Recognition” from the New York State Magistrates Association.

Once the formalities ended, last Wednesday afternoon, Judge McCarthy, in her familiar, small town courtroom, sat and reminisced with Jacobs, similarly a judge in the town of Catskill.

“I can’t drive through Windham without thinking about my childhood,” Judge Jacbos said, telling how his grandparents lived along Route 296, shouting distance from the courthouse in the hamlet of Hensonville.

He spent a portion of his youth there, attending Windham-Ashland-Jewett school thru the 8th grade, known as Rick, working for a buck-sixty-five an hour at the bygone Hensonville Market, owned by his grandmother.

Judge Jacob’s introduction to the judiciary also came in Windham, way earlier than Judge McCarthy’s and under mischievous circumstances.

He’d pulled some boyish monkeyshines with his buddies, got pulled by the ear into court by his mother and “sentenced” to riding around with legendary police chief James Scarey II.

“I give Chief Scarey the credit for launching my career,” said Judge Jacobs, a firm-but-fair police officer in Windham, Hunter and the village of Catskill before donning the robes. “He sent me in that direction.”

Chief Scarey likewise influenced Judge McCarthy’s common sense judicial style. “He treated people like human beings, like it should be,” she says. 

The two judges swapped stories for a while, their eyes smiling and voices softening, remembering such-and-such person and this or that day.

And then there was the night -  a night her husband wasn’t home - when it was Judge McCarthy’s turn to have the cops come a’ knocking.

“I called them,” Judge McCarthy recounted, laughing, getting veteran Windham PD officer Greg Thorp on the line for a fast response.

“He came up the driveway with his siren blaring and lights flashing. There was a dead mouse in the house. I wasn’t touching it,” the Judge said, otherwise pardoning the wayward, tiny trespasser.