POTSDAM -- A retired state trooper from Norfolk is running for Potsdam town justice.

Kenneth “Juddy” Plumb will run on the Republican ballot in November.

In a letter to North Country Now, Plumb said if elected, he wants to push for “alternative sentencing” instead of using a court as “another way to collect taxes.”

“I believe ethics, integrity, and equality are the principles of justice. I will be fair, but firm in holding people accountable for their choices and behaviors,” Plumb wrote to North Country Now.

“My platform: Alternative sentencing – A court should not be another way to collect taxes. A motor vehicle violation should not be punishable harsher than a crime against a human being. Minor crimes are the stepping-stones of progressively bad choices. The teenager should be dealt with constructively versus a predicate violent abuser or someone who chooses to violate court orders leading to tragic felonies.

“Accountability – A town justice needs to be available 24 hours a day, not just two days a month, which includes nigh time arraignments. I will work with Town Justice James Mason to make sure we are available at all hours.”

Plumb was born and raised in Norfolk and is a 1984 Norwood-Norfolk Central graduate. He served in the United States Army as a combat military policeman, assigned to XVIII Airborne Corp. in Ft. Bragg, N.C., with deployments to Germany, Egypt, Panama and Honduras. He continued his education at SUNY Canton, earning an associate’s degree in criminal justice.

Plumb lives on Lakeshore Drive in Norwood and has three children. Two are serving in the military and his youngest child is a student at NNCS.

His work experience includes serving with the New York State Police for 20 years as a trooper, canine handler, Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigator, and in-school police officer (sometimes referred to as a “school resource officer”), retiring in 2008. For the past 10 years, he has taught criminal justice at St. Lawrence Lewis BOCES Seaway Career and Technical Education Center.

“Community service is one of my core values,” Plumb said in his letter to North Country Now.

“I am a member of the American Legion Post 925, Potsdam Elks Lodge 2074, and president of the Adopt a Platoon-444 Program. I have and continue to coach youth sports in our community for over 30 years.