"We're very upset with the governor's office," Magisterial District Judge Larry Pentz of Waynesboro, Pa., said. The county's other six magistrates continue to handle the extra central court and on-call duties since Meminger's death, he said.
"We're all still waiting for the governor to send a name over to us," said Anne Stine of state Sen. Terry Punt's office.
Stine said Punt, R-Pa., came to an understanding with the governor's office last fall "that a name would be forthcoming."
Once a name is submitted to the Senate, the person must be confirmed by a simple majority, according to the state constitution.
Punt had been supporting Meminger's widow, Kindra, who passed the Minor Judiciary Education Board Qualifying School last year, but then withdrew her name from consideration last fall, Pentz said.
The name Punt put forth after she withdrew is Assistant District Attorney T.R. Williams "and here we are four months later still waiting for the governor to nominate him and fill the vacancy," Pentz said.
As an attorney living in the district, Williams said he is qualified. Because the nomination must be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, Williams, a registered Republican, said he is also confirmable.
Attorney Clinton Barkdoll, a county Democratic committeeman, said his party has taken no position on the appointment. The county committee last year "chose not to send a name or endorse anyone," he said.
"I don't pretend to understand the politics of it," Pentz said. "Larry was a Republican, it's a Republican area and it should be a Republican that fills the seat."
Senior Magisterial District Judge Brenda Knepper, who formerly served in Fulton County, is working part-time at the district's Scotland, Pa., office, Pentz said.
If Rendell delays submitting a name to the Senate for another year, Nelson said the seat will be up for election in 2007 and could conceivably remain unfilled until January 2008, almost three years.
District 39-3-04 includes Greene and Southampton townships, the borough of Orrstown and the Franklin County portion of the borough of Shippensburg, Pa.
