Police nab bank robbery suspect

By PARRY TEASDALE

PAUL CZAJKA, who served this county as district attorney and county judge for many years, was honored by colleagues and friends last week. (See Diane Valden’s story “Officials and friends laud DA Czajka….” December 14.) I missed this local event. He will leave office at the end of this month and who knows whether our paths will cross. So I would like to add my name to his admirers here.

But you wouldn’t know it from our first encounter. It was a phone call during the campaign for county judge. He was a candidate. But not so much “a” candidate as THE candidate. I didn’t know that until I picked up the phone.

“Mr. Teasdale?” Without pause or lowering his voice, he continued, “You’ve cost me the election!”

At the time I was the new editor of The Independent, the twice-weekly newspaper in Columbia County. Before that I was editor of Woodstock Times. We called people by their first names in Woodstock. How could I influence his election?

To demonstrate my skills, I used a Latin phrase, probably from a crossword puzzle. That was a very bad choice.

Trust me.

“You don’t even know what those terms mean,” he told me.

I apologized. But it wasn’t enough.

I had just enough air to escape. Paul Czajka, on the other hand, had something else in mind. His tone was now cordial. He asked whether I wanted to read the text of the law – a public document – which was a subject of debate in that current election campaign, as I recall.

What I took away from this and other encounters over the years is evidence that Columbia County is a safer place to live, a more fair and just community during his time as judge and district attorney.

It’s an extraordinary legacy and we are honored to have benefited from it

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We share this reminder

WE’LL BE TAKING our annual winter holiday next week. So this is the last issue of the year. There will be no separate issue on December 28.

The next issue of The Columbia Paper is scheduled for publication January 4, 2024.

We here at The Columbia Paper wish all of our readers and our business partners a very Happy New Year!