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mailmanI write in support of Dick Costello for Lansing Town Justice. He is tough, successful, and will deal fairly with all citizens who come into his courtroom. Dick is not a lawyer, but he has the all-important quality of "life experience," which will serve him far better than the "legal experience" which his opponent claims is indispensable.

After trying cases for over 50 years, I can attest that legal experience is by no means a sole qualification for success as a judicial officer. Town Justice is one of those posts where one's experience in "living" is more important than experience in "lawyering." That is true simply because ground-level community judges must depend upon their ability to understand the defendant, the offense, and the overall facts and circumstances. Dick Costello has that ability in spades.

Mr. Costello is a Navy veteran, a celebrated (i.e., Central New York PGA Hall of Fame Central NY PGA) golf professional, and a golf coach at Cornell and a successful businessman. In two of those roles he worked under such Cornell legends as Frank Rhodes, Bob Kane, Charlie Moore, Hunter Rawlings, Andy Noel, and George L. Hall. In every duty to those eminent personages, Dick earned their respect and commendations ... certainly no easy feat! Those successes speak volumes about his abilities, virtues, and versatility.

Most important of all, Dick Costello is an honorable person. True personal honor is the highest standard required of judicial officers, and it was once perfectly described by Justice Benjamin Cardozo as "not mere honesty alone, but the punctilio of an honor the most sensitive."

There is much good which must be found in any local candidate for office, whether lawyer-trained or not. Mr. Costello has walked our streets, hunted our fields, fished our streams, handed out golf lessons and starting times with equal quality, coached our teams and players, worked with university presidents, while every step of that journey played by the rules and kept his life antiseptically pure.

He is beyond reproach and more than able to firmly and fairly administer our Justice Court. We are indeed fortunate to have such a uniquely qualified citizen-candidate.

Warner Berry
Village of Lansing
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