The restraining order against former Starke County Treasurer Linda Belork was removed Wednesday in Jasper Circuit Court after attorney Martin Lucas requested it. Lucas told Judge John Potter that the purpose of the temporary restraining order in the first place was only to prevent any destruction or alteration of public records in the immediate aftermath of the executive order to remove her from the Treasurer’s office.
Belork’s attorney, Ethan Lowe, did not object and the 15 minute court appearance ended. Although a discrepancy of thousands of dollars was initially reported, all funds were eventually accounted for.
This does not mean that Belork will return to office any time soon. Attorney Martin Lucas said a June court date has been set to argue the delinquency issue.
“The delinquency issue is an issue of fact that requires evidence to support. While we came here prepared to provide the evidence, this was not the correct venue for a determination on the merits because it was really only a motion on extending the temporary restraining order which frankly long ago ceased to have any purpose,” stated Lucus.
Belork’s attorney Ethan Lowe refused a request for comment on the proceedings yesterday, or the upcoming June court case. Lucas, did though, talk about the June 6 appearance.
“The court set the cross motions for summary judgment for June 6th 2012 at 9:00 a.m. and that’s the point we’re shooting for right now,” said Lucas. “Initially there’s a 90 day discovery period for us to exchange exhibits and conduct any other discovery like depositions and requests for admissions and that sort of thing that are normally conducted in courts of civil litigation.”
In between now and February 10th, Linda Belork will need to decide whether to run for another term in office that has currently been cut short by her removal from office.
