Youth served through Milligan's vision

Genius.

Exceptional.

Revolutionary.

David Riker, superintendent of the Multi-County Juvenile Attention System of Carroll, Columbiana, Stark, Tuscarawas, and Wayne Counties, used those adjectives - and several other glowing words - in heaping praise this week on retired Judge John R.

Milligan Jr., whose vision a half-century ago continues to make a difference in the lives of troubled youths across those five counties and beyond.

Milligan and several others in the legal profession were honored in Canton earlier this month for longevity (at least 50 years each) and dedication - in his case, 65 years since earning his law degree from some school up north. He spent many of those years working on behalf of youth, as a juvenile judge for almost two decades and later as a member of the National Advisory Committee for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

What we might now take for granted - a safe, secure education-based facility for young offenders - was far ahead of its time when Milligan proposed the multi-county cooperative in the 1960s. It would become the first facility of its kind in the nation, and in many ways it still sets the standard for others to emulate in its 47th year of operation.

"Judge Milligan was way ahead of his time," Riker said. He said Milligan believed it was government's responsibility to do for troubled kids the same kinds of things parents would do for their own kids - a foreign concept not only in 1970, but also to some extent to this day.

Riker said the multi-county system succeeds for two reasons: the cooperation of its member counties and the system's educational components.

"We offer one of the best, if not the best, (educational) programs in the country," Riker said. "Often youth come to us behind educationally.

They leave us in a better situation than when they came here." And most, when they leave, do not come back. The facility boasts an exceptionally low recidivism rate. Riker called multi-county's success a testament to the staff and to the structure and culture Milligan helped to put in place.

In an article published Tuesday, Milligan told Gate House Ohio Media writer Ed Balint about his motivation for approaching county leaders with his idea for a new way to rehabilitate youngsters who were unruly in or chronically truant from their home schools.

"We (in Stark County) had a detention home, but the other four counties didn't. They were detaining kids in the county jail, or Tuscarawas County had a house they kept kids in.

(The new approach was to) pay attention to the kids, not just retain them." Milligan's novel approach allowed the participating counties to pool resources and provide a continuum of care and services none could afford on its own.

Milligan told Balint, "I guess it's humanity.

I had and still do have a great passion for kids; it's hard to live in society and not have." We congratulate fellow recipients Earl C. Sheehan, Fred J. Haupt, Sean Keenan and Joseph I. Tripodi on the recognition they and Milligan received from the Ohio State Bar Association for their years of legal service, and we offer a special "thank you" to the retired judge for revolutionizing how Stark and surrounding counties successfully work with juveniles.

GATEHOUSE OHIO MEDIA