Letter to the editor: Support Dennis Barr for Canton Municipal Court judge

Stark County will have an opportunity to select a new judge for Canton Municipal Court in November. There can be no debate that Dennis Barr is qualified to be judge, with 34 years in the Stark County Prosecutor’s Office, advancing to chief of the criminal division. I would like to add a personal reference to his established record as a public servant.

My family’s lives were changed on Dec. 11, 2009, when I was called to meet Stark County sheriff's deputies at my sister’s home in Osnaburg Township. We entered the home and found my sister, Linda Van Voorhis, had been brutally murdered. After long years of investigation, it became a cold case.

Dennis Barr met with me in 2014. He was professional and respectful regarding my frustration with the cold case investigation, but he was also honest about the potential of a trial in the future. Dennis Barr continued to work with Sheriff George Maier and Ohio BCI investigators in spite of the difficulties of investigating and prosecuting this case.

My family is eternally grateful to Dennis Barr for his tenacity to bring the evidence to light and finally secure a conviction and life sentence in 2017.

Dennis Barr is respectful, firm, fair and impartial. “Virtue and wisdom are two wheels of a cart.” (Japanese proverb) Dennis Barr has demonstrated these characteristics throughout his career in the justice system, making him an ideal choice to serve as Canton’s Municipal Court judge. Please join me in voting for Dennis Barr.

Will Van Voorhis, Osnaburg Township

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Letter to the editor: Support Barr for Canton Municipal Court judge