Voters Add Names to Petition for District Justice Albert Augustine's Re-Election

Friends and supporters of Magisterial District Justice Albert J. Augustine filed in to the , Wednesday, to sign a nomination petitions for the upcoming May 17 primary election. He is seeking re-election to his post in Magisterial District Court 38-1-24.

Candidates are required to obtain 200 signatures--100 from Democratic voters and 100 from Republican voters--Augustine said, noting that it's wise to get more than that to safeguard against errors and disqualified signatures. "At this stage we have more than 500 already; not counting petitions circulated by other supporters," Augustine said.

In addition to signing the petitions, voters had "meet-and-greets" with Augustine, and chance to mingle with each other while enjoying the refreshments laid out on several tables. Augustine's wife, Laurie, who serves as the tax collector, was on hand to assist with the petitions and also speak to voters.

A lifelong Perkiomen Valley-area resident, Augustine knew some of the voters, or their relatives, schools or neighborhoods. He prides himself on remembering  names "even middle names," he said. "I grew up here. I know every street, road. I know all the municipalities, all the high schools. I have three school districts in my area--Methacton, and Souderton. I think it's important to know all those variables of your community."

For Augustine, the rewarding part of his job is the ability to "affect people's lives; you protect everyday citizens. You can help people who need help."

Conversely, his challenge, he says is that, "You can get it right about 90 percent of the time. There are times you wish you could do more to help people or affect people's behavior--especially young people. They're the most perplexing to deal with. There's factors like, if your parents don't want to enforce actions against you, it's even harder for me to do it. A lot of times people look for me to solve problems that they should be solving on their own." Even schools, he said, in a post-Columbine world, "Kids are getting arrested for things that when I was in high school, the disciplinarian handled."

Skippack resident and retired Towamencin Township police officer Gerald Brock is challenging Augustine in the primary. When asked why voters should support him, Augustine responded, "Because I've done a good job. I work really hard at my job, and I do it better than most other people that do it."

"Secondly, it takes a while to get up to speed. There's a learning curve. Not just learning about the law, but learning how to do the job, and how to interact with people and how to deal with them. You deal with the public every day.  Most people are very nice; there are some that are very harsh criminals. Knowing the difference between the two is important."