[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 15 (Wednesday, February 25, 1998)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages E229-E230] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] A SPECIAL SALUTE TO JUDGE WILLIAM K. THOMAS ______ HON. LOUIS STOKES of ohio in the house of representatives Wednesday, February 25, 1998 Mr. STOKES. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to salute an outstanding member of the judicial system, United States District Judge William K. Thomas. Judge Thomas recently retired after nearly 32 years on the federal bench. I take special pride in recognizing him at this time. President Lyndon Johnson in 1966 appointed Judge Thomas to the U.S. District Court in Cleveland. In an article which appeared on January 30, 1988, the Plain Dealer newspaper paid tribute to Judge Thomas, highlighting his distinguished career. The article is entitled, ``A Fair Piece of Work,'' and recognizes an individual who earned a reputation as a thorough, hard-working and dedicated judge. His reputation for fairness earned him the respect of his colleagues and peers. Mr. Speaker, during my career as a practicing attorney, I tried cases in Judge Thomas' court. In my opinion, he is one of the finest trial judges in the nation. He is also a gentleman whom I respect and greatly admire. For this reason, I want to share the Plain Dealer article with my colleagues and others around the nation. I extend my personal congratulations to Judge Thomas and wish him the very best in his retirement years. A Fair Piece of Work (By Mark Rollenhagen) When William K. Thomas was sworn in as a federal judge, one of the speakers at his swearing-in ceremony invoked the words of a former law partner who had long ago said Thomas could never be a good lawyer. ``The trouble with Bill Thomas is he wants to be fair to both sides,'' the partner had said. Thomas, who retires today after nearly 32 years on the federal court bench in Cleveland, flashed a contented smile earlier this week when he recalled those words. At 86 years old, he leaves what he sometimes refers to as ``the judging business'' with a reputation as a meticulous, hard-working jurist who treated lawyers, criminals and parties to civil lawsuits with respect and fairness. ``He's one of the best I've ever tried a case in front of,'' said James R. Willis, a veteran criminal defense lawyer who represented Cleveland Mafia boss James T. Licavoli when Licavoli was convicted in 1982 of racketeering. ``He was patient, he listened to what you were saying and the ruled decisively. That's the whole package.'' The Licavoli case, in which the mob figure and others were convicted of conspiring to kill mobster Daniel J. Greene, was perhaps the highest profile criminal case of Thomas' career. Greene, killed by a bomb in 1977, was in competition for control of organized crime in the Cleveland area. But Thomas also presided over a trial in which porn king Reuben Sturman and several associates were found not guilty of obscenity charges, and he helped negotiate an end to a police standoff in 1975 with bank robber Eddie Watkins, who was holding hostages at a bank in Cleveland. Watkins was sentenced to prison in 1967 by Thomas, but escaped. Watkins had asked for Thomas. As for civil lawsuits, Thomas also shepherded a settlement of lawsuits brought by students injured when Ohio National Guardsmen fired on a crowd of demonstrators at Kent State University. With the jury deliberating, Thomas met with the lawyers in his chambers and pounded out a carefully worded agreement in 1979 in which the state of Ohio agreed to pay the plaintiffs $675,000. Thomas said it would be difficult to pick out any of his cases as being bigger or more difficult than any of the others. He said he had never been one to look back. What he has enjoyed the most, the judge said, is the view of life he had from the bench. ``I think the contact with individuals that comes to a trial judge is a great reward,'' Thomas said. ``You have a chance to see the ebb and flow of humanity.'' Thomas said his judicial temperament was formed in part by the experience of being dressed down in front of a client by a federal judge when he was a lawyer. ``I vowed that I would never do that if I became a judge,'' Thomas said. Thomas became a judge in 1950 when his friend, then-Gov. Frank Lausche, appointed [[Page E230]] him to the bench in Geauga County. He was credited with closing the Pettibone Club, a gambling club in Chardon. He later moved to Chagrin Falls and was appointed to the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas bench by Lausche in 1953. He was the judge who released Sam Sheppard on $50,000 bond in 1954 after Sheppard was arrested and charged with murdering his wife, Marilyn. Thomas served on the Common Pleas bench until 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson appointed him to the U.S. District Court in Cleveland. He earned a reputation as a hard-working, thorough judge who worked through most federal holidays. He was careful and deliberate in what he said, preferring to issue his decisions in writing and avoiding rash decisions from the bench. His approach to the courtroom was simple, he said: ``Keep your head. Don't sound off until you've really had an opportunity to think things through.'' Retired U.S. District Judge Thomas D. Lambros--who was appointed by Johnson in 1967--said he first met Thomas when they were both Common Pleas judges and Thomas was serving as president of a statewide association of judges. Lambros said Thomas worked hard at improving both the court operations and dealing with the flood of civil rights law that was made in 1960s and 1970s. ``We had to deal with some very important constitutional issues which touched the lives of millions of people,'' Lambros said. ``It was truly one of the highlights of my judicial career to have had the opportunity to serve with Bill Thomas.'' Thomas has been a senior judge since 1981, handling a small docket of cases and occasionally handling trials to help out other judges. He said he was not certain what he would do in complete retirement. His wife, Dorothy, passed away in 1992. He remains close to his four children and plans to do some writing--``nothing fancy, just a few notes for my children,'' he said. ``I've learned over the years to never look backwards and be thinking in terms of I'm missing what I was doing,'' he said. ``I just try to find new things to do.'' ____________________