LINDEN — At the Oct. 8 meeting, Woodward Township Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeffrey Stroehmann invited Magistrate Denise Dieter to speak to the board and public about issues with the magisterial office in Jersey Shore.

“I received a number of inquiries from some of the municipalities in this district after they had read the newspaper about the new building that the counties were proposing to construct,” Dieter began. “And so I just thought it might not be a bad idea to come visit the municipalities and fill everybody in on what’s going on.”

She first explained that “we’re going to get a new building at some point here.”

Dieter mentioned that after an exhaustive search they were able to find two acres. Those two

acres are by Ecks Agway which is on, according to Google Maps, Hill Alley, with the Pine Creek Rail Trail directly behind it.

She expects the building to be about “4,600 square feet… that is significantly larger than the existing building that we’re in.” The overall larger size is important after being in our building on Market Street (in Jersey Shore.) The current courtroom has no more than 10 chairs for individuals to be present, the public, or whoever… because it’s so small.

The new structure will have “room for (about) 27 people to be in, to sit and watch, in addition to the tables for the parties and the attorneys,” she said.

Dieter mentioned that individuals don’t seem to come alone to their hearings, and when her court has “maybe eight to 10 preliminary hearings, like we did this morning, you would think it would be the defendant and maybe a family member,” she said.

In many cases the defendants will bring a close family, a significant other with a friend, as well as extended members of the family.

“At one point about a month ago, we had 101 people come through in three hours. And it was so crowded that we needed to have people wait outside until we could get people through,” Dieter said.

Another issue with the small size can take place during more intense hearings, Dieter said.

“Because one of the other things that happens when plaintiffs and defendants, are ex-boyfriends and girlfriends, both parties.. .have to (be) together (in the same room), sometimes things get hot, “especially with issues of orders of protection against the other individual,” she said.

The new building will likely offer a separation for these instances.

“We will be able to have the waiting room divided. When you go through the foyer, there will be a waiting area to the right and one to the left, which will enable the deputy to keep people separated and keep the temperature down,” Dieter said.

Dieter also explained that prisoners will have what is called a “sallyport” area where the prisoners are transferred from the prisons to the courthouse and that the prison vehicles will have their own garage. (The new courthouse) will have actual holding cells for males and females and an area for the attorney.

Dieter said she expects construction to begin in 2026 along with “some additional safety measures, and overall, it would be larger, safer and well laid out, well planned.”

On a different subject, Dieter updated a diversionary program she implemented for troubled students in school. She had been working with the Jersey Shore Area School District to help at-risk young people.

Dieter created the new program for first time juvenile offenders in this district and I called it her “diversionary program.” Her goal was to bring in first time offenders and put together a program individualized for that student or a young person. If the student completed the tasks or components that they were assigned and agreed to, “then their charges would be dismissed.”

After just a little over two years from the completion of the first individual that started in the program and Deiter shared there were nearly 50 students (or persons under 18) that have gone through. “And I have a 94% completion rate, which is just wonderful,” she said.

Even the one student who didn’t complete it for whatever reason, was allowed to go through the community service component of the program. And, as a result, she is now in high school and in a nursing program. “So it’s working,” Dieter said.

Dieter offered an example of a task she used in the program.

“I had two young men that were seniors who had been in a fist fight in the cafeteria. I brought them in at the same time, but didn’t bring them in the courtroom at the same time. I talked to each of them individually with their parents, and what I learned was that they really didn’t understand the differences between them. They didn’t appreciate their differences,” she explained.

Dieter said she contacted the school to ensure its cooperation and, with school staff monitoring, she had the pair sit together for lunch for an entire semester.

Dieter said the two young men ended “the best of friends. So we’re trying to do restorative justice in a way.”

She continued with other positive outcomes that occurred because of the program.

She was met with applause by the crowd.