Pocono News Section

23-Year-Old Seeks Judge's Seat

23-Year-Old Seeks Judge's Seat - Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 11:10PM EST

Bloomsburg, Columbia County-

From Bloomsburg University student one year, to district judge the next? That’s the goal for a young man in Bloomsburg, who hopes to replace retiring District Justice Donna Coombe.

If he looks like your average college student, that’s because he just graduated from B. U. about 8 months ago. We caught up with him as he was moving into his new apartment in town.

23-year-old Joshua O’Brien has been head of the B. U. student government, a town hall intern, state constable, and helped on the mayor’s campaign, among other accomplishments.

Political science and legal studies were O’Brien’s focus during his time in college.

He explained, “I’ve done a lot in the little bit of time that I’ve had here. You can’t always judge the level of experience and readiness by how old someone is.”

With 23-year-old Mayor Dan Knorr currently handling the duties at Town Hall, it seems Bloomsburg is experiencing quite a youth movement.

Doris Miller, of Bloomsburg, said, “I don’t think age is a factor. He’s got the experience; he’s got the education to do it. He needs to get experience from someplace so, starting at the ground level, I don’t have a problem with that.”

And while District Justice Donna Coombe has served more time on the bench than Joshua O’Brien has on Earth, he says he can bring new insight and experience to the position.

He added, “One of the things I do bring to the table is that I bring new ideas and new ways of doing things, (along) with knowing the lessons of the past, knowing that the people that had this position were the ones that trained me.”

O’Brien says two of his goals, if elected, would be to improve the effectiveness of the state constable system, and upgrade the technology used by the district justice’s office.

O’Brien noted he intends to complete all the necessary training courses and pass a certification test before the November election.