Courts

WHO IS Judge Frederica Massiah-Jackson kidding? Does she think anyone cares about "parameters of the rules of professional conduct and the code of civility"? We all know most lawyers don't care. What I and columnist Michael Smerconish and most normal citizens in Philadelphia care about is whether or not we have idiots serving on our benches. Thanks to Michael, we know we have at least one. Lisa Rau should let this thug and felon live in her house. Tom Schmidt, Philadelphia The father of Shannon Schieber has intimated that his daughter would still be alive if the police had broken down her door after they were called to her apartment by the call reporting a "woman screaming.

Union workers at the Bellevue Stratford got moral support from a sympathetic City Council yesterday in their fight to keep the landmark hotel open. But the final determination on whether the Bellevue remains open past the scheduled closing on Sunday was expected to come from the courts today. Local 274 of the Hotel & Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union has petitioned both federal and Common Pleas courts for injunctions that would force the hotel to keep operating.

The past and present owners of Philadelphia's John Wanamaker department- store chain are trading lawsuits, showing that when it comes to the final selling price, the two can't meet under the Eagle. In fact, they're $57 million apart. Woodward & Lothrop, a department-store company based in Washington, D.C., bought Wanamaker's in December for $183 million, with the final selling price was to be adjusted according to the company's book value as of the closing date, Dec. 31. In April, according to documents filed in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia, Woodward & Lothrop received a report from its accountant, Touche Ross & Co., on Wanamaker's book value, saying that Carter Hawley Hale, Wanamaker's former owner, had overstated the book value by $57.1 million.

Cyril Sagan is a short, powerfully built man with the beard of an Old Testament prophet and the enduring anger of a father scorned. Thirteen years ago, Sagan was divorced by his wife, and the couple got involved in a bitter and protracted fight over the custody of their five children. His ex-wife won the custody battle and moved to New York. The dispute left Sagan, now 58 and a chemistry teacher at Slippery Rock State University, with a deep and enduring hatred of lawyers and judges.

When Gov. McGreevey signed an executive order July 9 gutting the two-day-old Open Public Records Act, many New Jerseyans were taken aback. How, they wondered, could someone who sounded populist themes in last year's gubernatorial race impose, by fiat, more than 400 exceptions to a law that was supposed to expose government to greater public scrutiny? Supporters of the act hope McGreevey will reconsider. But I wouldn't count on it. The executive order - motivated in part, he said, by his fear that government records could fall into terrorist hands - is the latest example of a disturbing trend since Sept.

In Hawaii, the problem was control of island water rights. In Warrenton, Va., residents were up in arms over a proposed townhouse development. Although the issues were markedly different - and about 5,000 miles apart - the solution was the same: mediation. As the courts and legislatures are increasingly bogged down in complex land-use and environmental disputes, alternative ways of solving these conflicts appear to be growing in appeal. In the forefront is "dispute resolution," a term that encompasses mediation, negotiation and "policy dialogues" among opposing parties.

Drawing attention on North Catholic's basketball team is not an easy task for Ryan Bonner. He's the lesser light in a three-guard alignment. Bonner, a 6-foot senior, is not Joe Harvey's equal as a ballhandler. Nor is he Matt Comey's equal as a jump shooter. The kid can play, however. Yesterday, Bonner showed that early and often as the visiting Falcons dumped Father Judge, 78-65, in a Catholic North showdown witnessed by a standing-room-only crowd. Bonner shot 6-for-12 from the field and 7-for-9 from the line for 19 points, grabbed seven rebounds and collected seven assists as North seized first place at 9-2. Idle Archbishop Ryan (8-2)

He was so big that he seemed to overflow the witness stand. Barry Denker's breath could be heard yesterday in every corner of the carpeted federal courtroom, where he was the government's star witness against Common Pleas Court Judge Kenneth S. Harris. On his first trip to the stand in Harris' extortion trial, Barry Howard Denker, once a fur-coated Philadelphia lawyer who handled up to 500 cases a year, wore a rumpled gray corduroy jacket, scuffed cowboy boots and a fuzzy blue sweater with a jagged red stripe.

The photograph - 9 inches wide - dominates the first page of the special "Bicentennial Edition" of Delaware County's annual judicial report. The glossy 60-page booklet celebrates the founding of the county courts and is chock-full of facts recounting how the courts have changed since 1790, what with new courthouses, new technology and an ever-increasing caseload. Largely unchanged in 200 years, however, is the composition of the bench. It is still mostly white and male. The photograph provides the evidence.

The Jenkintown Board of Education has hired Edward Regan to monitor activities at the high school basketball and tennis courts. Regan, who is retired and lives in Jenkintown, will work between four and six nights a week, making sure that non-Jenkintown residents do not monopolize the courts. "He has been instructed to use his head," said Judy Reider, the school district's business manager. "If it is a rainy night and no one else is on the court, he doesn't have to kick a nonresident off. " Regan was hired Tuesday, several months after the board and the Jenkintown Borough Council heard complaints that the courts were being monopolized by nonresidents, limiting playing time for residents.