By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — Republican precinct committee members will have a choice when they meet Tuesday night to select a new at-large Kosciusko County council person to replace Delynn Geiger.
Warsaw attorney John Barrett, 59, formally announced on New Year’s Day.
Former county commissioner Brad Jackson quickly threw his hat into the ring hours after Geiger unexpectedly resigned in December, and had been the only announced caucus candidate until Thursday.
Barrett has been an attorney for 22 years and has an office in downtown Warsaw.
He’s a criminal defense attorney and also does family law. He’s been a judge pro tem, a public defender, served as a vice president of the Kosciusko County Bar Association, and as a judge in the county’s teen court program.
Barrett said he’s watched with interest in recent court openings but told News Now Warsaw that the current vacancy was especially appealing because it would allow him to continue his law practice.
“I just believe that some of my experiences, kind of behind the scenes, and my background as a litigator – those two things combined – make me uniquely qualified for this position,” Barrett said in a phone call with News Now Warsaw.
Barrett worked more than a dozen for about 15 years in the radio industry, with stints in Illinois, Nebraska, and Albuquerque, New Mexico
But everything changed when he was overseeing a soundboard and picked up a copy of author Jan Schlitchtmann’s ‘A Civil Action,’ a true recounting of a lawsuit involving the case of ground poisoning.
“I read that book and was just hooked,” Barrett said. “From that moment, I knew what I had to do.”
“Kosciusko County continues to grow, and I really just want to be a fresh voice in working through some of that for the future,” Barrett said.
Deadline to declare a candidacy is 6 p.m. Saturday.
Tuesday’s county-wide caucus will start at 6 p.m. in the old courtroom in the county courthouse.
