County judge is hanging up his robe

HARTINGTON — County Court Judge Douglas Luebe is hanging up his black robe and neckties for a more casual, laid-back lifestyle.

Luebe, who served the citizens of Burt, Cedar, Dakota, Dixon, Dodge, Thurston and Washington counties (Sixth Judicial District), officially retired June 2, after nearly 20 years on the bench.

“It has been a great privilege and opportunity to serve the great people of the state of Nebraska,” Luebe said.

He said waking up Monday morning and not having anywhere to be was different. Retirement hasn’t quite sunk in yet.

“My wife (Christina) and I want to do some things together,” Luebe said from his Ponca home. “We don’t have a bucket list, but we want to do some things.”

Reconnecting with family and friends is at the top of his retirement to-do list, but he’s also looking forward to spending more time doing activities he enjoys, such as riding his horses, hunting and fishing.

Luebe is a Pierce native, graduating high school in 1971. He was involved in work for the state health department for a number of years before he took a real estate course and became interested in property law.

He worked as a sole practitioner from 1995 to 2003 and for five years at Rager Law Office, Lincoln before that. He served as the Dakota County deputy county attorney from 1984-91.

He took the oath of office for the Sixth Judicial District and feels grateful for all of the support received from the court clerks, court magistrates and other staff in those county court offices for the last 20 years.

“There’s certain times I have to be elsewhere and they’re in charge,” he said. “I was never concerned. There have always been very good people in those offices.” Adoption and juvenile cases were his favorite on the docket — ones that he felt he could make the most impact.

While adoptions were generally heart-warming, juvenile cases tended to be more challenging.

“They were the ones that made you want to make sure you thought through thoroughly what was best for each individual child,” Luebe said.

Many different individuals and agencies work together on juvenile cases, from the county attorney’s office to probation, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and more.

“We did at times not agree and we had our struggles, but I always thought everybody was trying to do what’s best for the child,” he said. “The thing I thought of most was how fortunate I was to have the home and circumstances I grew up in. Lots of young children have difficult circumstances.”

Now that Luebe is retired, visiting judges will handle Cedar County Court’s caseload, said Clerk Magistrate Diane Sudbeck.

A more permanent solution will take some time. The first step is deciding whether Luebe’s judicial position needs to be filled. This is done by the Judicial Resources Commission with a public hearing set for 10 a.m., Friday, June 16, at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln. The commission determines whether, based on judicial workload statistics, his resignation creates a judicial vacancy in the district.

Luebe said there’s been a trend of moving judicial resources to more urban areas.

“I’m concerned when that happens. I understand we need to marshal resources accordingly, but what matters are pending makes no difference where you live,” he said. “We need to look at things other than just what the case numbers show us.”

If his judicial vacancy is not filled, there will be a lack of reasonable access and the time between hearings will be lengthened which can be difficult for residents going through the process, he said.

“There is a push to go more to video conferencing. While I think that could be useful and helpful, I think there’s certain times when the judge should be in the room with the people he’s dealing with so he can look him straight in the eye and the judge being able to return that,” Luebe said.

While Luebe understands the need to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, he thinks cuts should be made in areas where taxpayers’ constitutional rights are not affected.

“I would encourage people to be involved in every aspect of our government,” Luebe said. “I think the rural counties as much as any are under more heightened scrutiny and our voices aren’t as loud.”

Those wanting to present testimony during the public hearing may appear in person and sign in as a witness or provide written testimony in advance of the meeting by emailing it to dawn.mussmann@nebraska. gov. All written testimony must be received by Friday, June 9. All testimony is made available to the public.

The public hearing will be available to view through webinar at nebraska. gov.

If a vacancy is determined, the Judicial Nominating Commission is responsible to put forth their best efforts in finding the most qualified individuals to accept nomination for judicial office.