11261996 - News Article - Lightfoot breaks silence on ties to court

Lightfoot breaks silence on ties to court
NWI Times
Nov 26, 1996
http://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/lightfoot-breaks-silence-on-ties-to-court/article_8bf8eb47-16f7-5c86-a488-ea18bf24fa9b.html
BURNS HARBOR - Guardian ad litem Beatrice Lightfoot of Burns Harbor responded Monday to news articles that chronicled her relationship to the courts that appoint her.

In a letter to the editor submitted to The Times and other area newspapers, Lightfoot departed from the silence she has maintained since complaints of her performance surfaced at a February meeting of the Porter County Council. Prior to stories beginning Nov. 10 in The Times, Lightfoot and Porter Superior Court Judge Thomas Webber did not respond to repeated requests for individual and/or joint interviews, including a certified letter to Lightfoot on Oct. 23.

Webber ultimately agreed to respond to written questions provided by The Times. His response, printed in full, appeared Nov. 10.

"Personally, I still have no idea where this campaign against me, and members of the court, originated," Lightfoot wrote Monday. "No doubt there is some political agenda behind it of which I am not aware, and I may be the target only in an attempt to discredit others."

Lightfoot briefly discusses her significant political contributions to the court as following "no political lines, nor (having) any political agenda. They were, and always will be, directed to those whom I believe will best serve the needs of the children of our county."

The criticisms of Lightfoot by a citizens' group of child advocates and parents and the discovery of Lightfoot's significant contributions to the courts as well as her co-founding a children's visitation center with a judge who approved her placements led to the Porter County judiciary adopting a new court rule, its first since 1989.

The court rule establishes guidelines for the appointment and qualifications of guardians ad litem in divorce cases.

As a result, several of the attorneys active as guardians ad litem withdrew from providing the service.

Lightfoot's letter discusses a training program for guardians ad litem arranged by the Children/Parent Center, the children's visitation center she co-founded with Porter Superior Court Judge Thomas Webber.