May 2003
Bar News on the Road: Garfield County
"This county in extreme southeast Washington is bounded on the north by Whitman County; on the east by Whitman County; on the south by Asotin and Columbia Counties; and on the west by Columbia County. The southern portion of the county's 714 sq. miles is in Blue Mountains, and mostly within Umatilla National Forest. Much of the northern section is devoted to livestock raising, and to wheat and fruit culture. On November 29, 1881, it was created by legislative action from Columbia County. It was named for James A. Garfield, twentieth president of the United States."
— Robert Hitchman,
Places Names of Washington (Washington State Historical Society, 1985)
2000 Population: 2,397
County Seat: Pomeroy
Lawyers: Two
Senator Sam Ervin used to joke that in his experience any town not big enough to support one lawyer could always support two. That seems borne out by Garfield County, where there are all of two lawyers — the part-time prosecuting attorney, John R. Henry, and Richard D. Burns.
"I went to law school in Idaho intending not to come home," says Burns, a Garfield County native. "One of my professors told me not to. He said everyone would remember me as little Richie Burns, the kid who grew up there. If anything, it's the opposite. Everyone knows everyone here. They trust their own."
So after graduating law school in 1974, Burns returned to Pomeroy, Garfield's only incorporated town (and the only county seat picked by the U.S. Congress). He picked up the law practice of an elderly attorney looking to retire; the firm's origins go back to 1883, when it was formed by Mack F. Gose (1859-1942), variously city attorney, council member, mayor of Pomeroy, state bar president, and justice of the state Supreme Court from 1909 to 1915. In nearly 30 years, Burns has done a little of everything, but tries to stay out of court now. He mainly handles wills, probate matters, taxes and farm leasing in the agricultural county. He gets a steady stream of work out of nearby Asotin and Columbia counties, whose warm climates attract lots of retirees. On the side he acts as superior court commissioner. The county shares a superior court judge with Columbia and Asotin counties; Judge William Acey rides the circuit among the three county seats.
There's no traffic light in Pomeroy, but Burns says there are enough traffic stops along the Lewis & Clark Trail, Highway 12, to keep the criminal docket occupied. "Are you expecting an uptick in tourism for the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial?" I asked. "I'm not sure," Burns said. "A lot of people think there's money to be made on souvenirs" from people retracing the Corps of Discovery's path (on the way home the exploring party took the ancient Nez Perce Trail overland from the Walla Walla to Clearwater rivers, and camped on Pataha Creek the night of May 3, 1806).
Courthouse architecture enthusiasts have been making their way to Pomeroy for decades. The 1901 structure, built after a 1900 fire consumed most of the business district, cost an eye-popping $18,000. Extensively restored, the Queen Anne style, cupolaed structure has wire hat racks installed on the bottom of each seat in the courtroom. Justice, atop the building, is one of about a dozen in America with her eyes open.
Burns misses the old state bar conventions, which fell prey to declining attendance in the early '90s. He gets to Seattle fairly often to visit his son Ryan, a jazz pianist; a second son died of cancer while a student at Evergreen State College five years ago.
"It's a great place to raise kids," Burns says of Pomeroy. "People really do leave their doors unlocked. The retired minister across the street called the other day to tell us our car door was open."
Our conversation wandered off, as talk among lawyers is prone to do, to odd or funny cases we've seen or tried, two small-town kids comparing notes on farm communities in eastern Washington and eastern North Carolina. In one of Shakespeare's plays, two characters agree to "do as adversaries do at law — strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends." Fielding a call from the stranger with a stranger request for an interview, Rich Burns made me right at home.
— Lindsay Thompson
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