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	Durbin Wanted to Make a Difference in County By John Ford Neosho Daily News [Missouri] December 31, 2006 http://www.neoshodailynews.com/articles/2006/12/31/news/03prosecutor.txt Noel - Rural Anderson native Janice Durbin knew she always wanted to help people. Early in life, she achieved one aspect of that goal by becoming a registered nurse, working 14 years in several hospitals in Missouri, Texas and Florida in that capacity. “I decided I liked school, so I got a couple of graduate degrees in history before I went to law school." After earning her history degrees from the former Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Durbin taught for a few years before deciding to pursue a law degree at the University of Missouri's school of law. Now, another chapter is about to be added to Durbin's varied r?sum?, that of county prosecutor. In her first bid for public office, Durbin was elected to the post in the November general election, garnering 3,189 ballots and defeating long-time prosecutor Steve Geeding. "I wanted to do something that made a real difference," she said. "I have nieces and nephews, friends and neighbors that have kids, and I wanted to make a difference for them." Durbin will likely hit the ground running in her new position, as there are several high profile cases coming up. The first of these is the Levi King capital murder case. King, 24, is accused in the Sept. 29, 2005, shooting deaths of 70-year-old former restaurateur Orlie McCool and his 47-year-old daughter-in-law, Dawn Burr McCool. Their bodies were discovered the following day by a relative who had grown concerned about their well-being. A preliminary hearing is set for Thursday. "Since the election, I've been able to discuss the case with the special prosecutor (Tim Finnical) and with the staff in the prosecutor's office," Durbin said. Another major case facing the new prosecutor soon is the church sex abuse case. Raymond Lambert, 51, pastor of Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church; his wife, Patty, 49; her brother, Paul Epling, 53; and her sister-in-law, Laura Epling, age not available, face a variety of child sexual abuse charges. Raymond Lambert's uncle, George Otis Johnston, pastors a spin-off church in Granby, the Grandview Valley Baptist Church. He has been charged with child molestation in McDonald County, and 17 child sexual abuse charges in neighboring Newton County. The first of the proceedings, an arraignment for Laura Epling, who faces a charge of second degree sodomy, is set for Jan. 9. Pre-trial conferences for the Lamberts and Johnston are set for Jan. 16, while a preliminary hearing for Paul Epling - who faces an unclassified felony rape charge - has been set for Jan. 29. The case has drawn the attention of the national media, including National Public Radio. NPR reporter Doualy Xaykaothao and senior producer Art Silverman visited the area in October for a series of stories aired on "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered." "Any time you have a case that has received national media attention like this one has, it definitely has to have significance," Durbin said. "Not only in dealing with the five defendants, but also in dealing with the victims across the spectrum. The important thing is to help the victims find some way of coping. That is true of any sexual abuse case. Thinking about what happened to those little kids, I don't think you ever get even anything like that, like normalcy, but helping them get closure through a successful prosecution is helpful to them. "It's an interesting case on so many levels. It takes on so many different things. In some ways, it's like the Catholic Church scandals, the priest scandals. Some part of us can't figure out how something like this happened. Most of us were raised in church or the synagogue, and know a religious figure is not supposed to do that. When the adults in life, who are supposed to be the kids' caretakers and protectors, cause pain, they don't know who to turn to, who to trust. That can be very scary." Another case coming up which has charges pending is that of Bill and William Barnes, a father and son from Arkansas accused of robbing Hometown Bank in Jane in October and again in November. "I haven't torn into the cases yet, but I will on Jan. 1," she said. I'll be carefully looking at the statutes and doing my homework. "One of my goals is to restructure the office, and that's not an overnight thing. I'll be looking at caseloads, what roles people are filling now." Durbin said her main focus will to work on the office's relationships with law enforcement agencies. "The prosecutor's job isn't to rubber stamp what law enforcement does, but we can't perform our job without good law enforcement," Durbin said. Durbin currently serves as the city attorney for Noel, Southwest City and her hometown of Anderson. She also is the legal representative for the public administrator's office, and has a private law practice. Durbin said all of her careers have boiled down to one thing: Helping others. Nursing, she said, was about helping the sick. Teaching helped people to better themselves. And the law practice helped people fix problems. "It may be different jobs, but they all share some of the same characteristics," she said.
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