Judge Ron Sylvester to retire from 30th Judicial District

TOPEKA—District Magistrate Judge Ron Sylvester will retire April 30 after serving five years in the 30th Judicial District.
 
The 30th Judicial District is composed of Barber, Harper, Kingman, Pratt, and Sumner counties. Sylvester was appointed in 2019.
 
Before becoming a judge, Sylvester was a journalist for 40 years, 12 of which were covering the courts and legal system for the Wichita Eagle. Later he was the editor of the Hutchinson News. Sylvester said these experiences are what inspired him to seek a position in the legal system.
 
“The judges I covered as a journalist in both state and federal district courts while in the newspaper business were inspirations, especially those who showed patience and a deliberate approach to justice,” he said. “Judges and journalists have a lot in common, really. We look at both sides of a situation and try to effectively seek answers to problems.”
 
Sylvester said the most rewarding part of being a district magistrate judge was also the most frustrating—presiding over child in need of care cases.
 
“These are tough and emotionally draining cases,” he said. “But the main goal is to try to keep families together and young people safe. Sometimes, we can even help improve their lives and situations.”
 
But he added that performing marriages and approving adoptions are also among the most rewarding work as a judge.
 
“Those are the only times people come to see you when they’re having a good day,” he said.
 
Sylvester said his perspective first as a reporter and then as a judge highlight a disconnect between public perception of the courts and reality.
 
“Most people only know what they read online or see on television about what judges do, and that tends to only involve the cases that make the news and are some of the rarest,” he said. “What makes the news are the few airplanes that crash, not the thousands that land safely every day. It can lead you to believe the world is a much more dangerous place than it really is.”
 
Sylvester said it’s the daily small problems judges face that can expose bigger issues in a community.
 
“I would say nine out of 10 cases I’ve heard, especially in criminal and domestic matters, are the result of two causes: addiction and mental health,” he said. “As judges, one of our jobs is to try to get people the help they need.”
 
Sylvester said he had many people in his courtroom plead for help to change their lives, especially in the rural areas where he worked.
 
“Resources are often thin,” he said. “I’ll tell anyone who will listen that my experience taught me that if you want to be ‘tough on crime,’ you should work to properly fund community mental health and addiction treatments in every Kansas town. By doing that, you could significantly cut crime, especially in rural areas.”
 
For those aspiring to become a judge, Sylvester recommends reading “Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth” by Sarah Smarsh. He invited Smarsh to present at a Kansas District Magistrate Judges Association continuing education event and gave everyone there a copy of her book.
 
“She wrote about her life growing up in Kingman, where I sat on the bench, and the ways in which the justice system affected real people’s lives,” he said. “She showed how something as simple as a traffic ticket could take away someone’s ability to drive to work and hold a job, and how a high bond could keep someone from making a living to support their family.”
 
Sylvester credits the book with informing how he did his job as a judge and helped him see the humanity of those who came to the courthouse.
 
“People often ask me what it’s like to be a judge,” he said. “I tell them, ‘You’re sitting in a courtroom and there’s silence, until you realize that everyone is waiting to hear what you have to say. And the next words you say are going to change someone’s life, maybe forever.’”