HEARN: A community servant

I enjoyed Jim Michaud’s letter, headed “Guilty of Integrity,” reminding us of yet another reason we are fortunate to have Tom Hearn in our community. Most of us are aware of Tom’s leadership to improve public education, but perhaps fewer are aware of his many years of service in the mental health field. As Jim pointed out, Tom is well respected in judicial and legal circles for his professionalism as a mental health provider. His work has benefited children not only by treatment of abuse victims, but also in providing courts and probation officers with valuable information on sex offenders and other defendants to make their sentencing decisions more effective.

Since his retirement from private practice, Tom has served as a volunteer advocate for neglected and abused children in child protection cases. His commitment to improving lives for our children has been extraordinary. His work has resulted in appointment to several statewide positions by Republican and Democratic governors and attorneys general.

So we are indeed lucky that Tom is willing to serve his community in yet another important way as our state representative. His decades as a local small business owner, social worker, educator and volunteer advocate for children give him a unique perspective to bring to legislating for all of us. That’s why I am excited to support him for District 4B state representative.

PAT COSTELLO

Coeur d’Alene