Alpha Brother Gets Libby Case

[RBL]

From the Oct. 29 editions of the Greensburg, Penn., Tribune-Review


Donora native gets Libby case

By Paul Peirce

Donora native Reggie B. Walton, a federal judge in the District of Columbia who has been assigned the obstruction of justice case against Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, might soon get something from his high school history teacher.

"Oh my ... the Scooter Libby case ... I'll have to send Reggie a sympathy card," quipped his former Donora High School teacher, Charles Stacey.

Walton was assigned the much-publicized, five-count indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on Friday. The case has whipped the nation's media into a frenzy.

He was nominated to his position in U.S. District Court in 2001 by President Bush and formerly served as President George H.W. Bush's deputy drug czar between 1989 and 1991.

Stacey, who eventually became Donora's principal and later was superintendent of Ringgold School District, said the high-profile case could not have landed a more level-headed jurist than his former pupil.

"Actually, he's a terrific young man. Very calm, a very bright man, with a very serious demeanor and he doesn't rattle too easy either," Stacey said.

Walton, 56, was born in Donora, on Feb. 8, 1949, and raised in the steel mill town, according to federal records. Walton graduated from the Washington County high school in 1967.

His father, Theodore, worked in the steel mills and after being laid off in the 1960s, went to work as a janitor at the Pittsburgh Gimbels Department Store. He also held a second job in the evenings to support his family, which included Reggie's stay-at-home mother, Ruth.

"It was always a well-respected family here," Stacey said.

According to Stacey, it was Walton's "seriousness" in all endeavors that stood out.

"From the classroom even to football, he was so serious. You know he was undersized at about 5 feet 7 inches and 155 or 160 pounds, but the way he went at it was terrific," Stacey said.

"He might not have had as much ability as far as size, but he just went out and got the job done on sheer determination, which he brings to the bench."

Walton's athletic prowess earned him an athletic scholarship to West Virginia State College, where he flourished, Stacey said. He chose the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity there, rather than an athletic fraternity because of its reputation for turning out black leaders like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall and Adam Clayton Powell, according to a profile of Walton in the Washington, D.C.-based Justice Policy Institute's Web site.

Ervin V. Griffin, president of West Virginia State Community and Technical College, recalled a few speaking engagements in the early 1990s at West Virginia State College featuring Walton, who at the time was serving as deputy drug czar under William Bennett in the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"I was very impressed with the power and delivery of his speeches," said Griffin, of Walton.

Stacey recalled another episode with Walton in 1977 when the judge was serving as an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., and Stacey asked him back to Donora to speak at graduation.

"He told some horrible stories about drug use and crime and urged the students to avoid that kind of life with information that he acquired through his work with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. But even then, Reggie downplayed his abilities and disclosed he didn't think he was a bright scholar," Stacey said.

"But it is obvious through his success and numerous promotions that is he indeed both very bright and scholarly. Everyone who ever meets him comes away so impressed. ... That's the way it always is with him."

Stacey said he has always joked with Walton that one day he is going to appear in Walton's courtroom to visit "and heckle him from the back."

"Reggie jokes that he'll immediately throw me in jail. He has a great sense of humor behind the seriousness. But I know that if you would kick Reggie in the ankle, he wouldn't even say ouch. He's tough," Stacey said.

Walton also previously served as an associate judge of Superior Court of the District of Columbia from 1981-89 and 1991-2001, having been appointed to that post by Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush in 1991. He received his law degree from American University in 1974.

He and his wife have one daughter.