JUDGES: MUELLER RETIRES; HOPKINS TO BE PROSECUTOR

Two Southeast Missouri judges saw their careers on the bench come to a close with the passing of the old year.

For Marybelle Mueller, Cape Girardeau County associate circuit judge, the new year brings retirement and the satisfaction of a distinguished record in the courtroom. Because she was unable to serve a full four-year term before she reached the mandatory judicial retirement age of 70, Mueller decided not to seek re-election at the end of 1994.

Judge Mueller became a pioneer among women in the legal profession after graduation from the University of Missouri-Columbia Law School in 1950. She was one of only two women to graduate that year, and in 1956 she became the state's first woman lawyer elected to a judicial post.

Her judicial career actually began in 1955, however, when then-Gov. Phil Donnelly appointed her to fill a vacancy for magistrate judge. The sitting judge had died, and although she was home with two children, Mueller agreed to accept the post. She was elected to the remainder of the term in 1956, and won another term in 1958. Mueller didn't seek re-election in 1962, choosing instead to raise her five children. She was elected an associate circuit judge in 1974, a post she held for 20 years. Through the decades, Mueller was known as a quietly competent and consistently fair judge.

Now the playful giggle of grandchildren and leisurely rounds of golf will supplant the bang of the gavel and the stiff formality of courtroom proceedings. Congratulations, Judge Mueller, on a job well done.

Although he didn't plan for it as Mueller did, Bollinger County Circuit Judge Bill Hopkins also saw his 20-year judicial career end in 1994. Hopkins, 48, lost his re-election bid to Republican Scott Thomsen by 84 votes. But thanks to Gov. Mel Carnahan, he began a new career in 1995 as that county's prosecuting attorney.

The prosecuting attorney's office was to become vacant Jan. 1, because no one filed for the job after the former prosecutor didn't seek re-election.

Soon after Hopkins lost the election for judge, he went before Bollinger County's Democratic Central Committee seeking its nomination as prosecutor. The judge appeared to be the only qualified candidate for the position in Bollinger County, so it came as a shock when the committee instead recommended that the governor appoint Cape Girardeau lawyer Scott Reynolds.

Hopkins and his advocates lobbied Carnahan, urging him to spurn the committee's recommendation. In doing so, the governor made a wise decision. Hopkins' reputation as a conservative law-and-order judge in Bollinger County is a good indicator of his qualifications for the county prosecutor's seat.