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Bickerton takes oath as county’s first female Pleas Court judge

Morning Journal/Katie White Megan Bickerton gets her first robe as county Common Pleas Court Judge on Friday. She is helped by her husband, David Bickerton, whom she married in 2016. The ceremony was attended by many family and friends and other judges and political leaders.

LISBON — For the first time in its history, a female judge will now preside over the Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.

Megan Bickerton of East Liverpool was sworn in to her new seat on the bench on Friday by retired Common Pleas Court Judge David Tobin.

“I am so very grateful for this opportunity. I promise I will work for this county and be the best I can be to make you proud,” Bickerton said.

Bickerton graduated from Beaver Local High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh before going on to earn her juris doctorate from Ohio Northern University.

She was serving as an assistant prosecutor with the Columbiana County Prosecutor’s Office in Lisbon and as the solicitor for the village of Lisbon when she decided to file her candidacy for the judge seat in January of this year.

She also served as assistant law director for East Liverpool.

Bickerton replaces longtime Judge C. Ashley Pike, who was originally elected in 2000 to the general trial division of the court and was re-elected without opposition in 2006 and 2012.

Bickerton’s goal as a judge is to establish a specialty docket, specifically drug court, in the Common Pleas Court.

During her swearing in ceremony, Bickerton specifically praised the work of the faith-based, non-profit organization Family Care Ministries for its work with regards to drug problems. The East Liverpool organization was represented at the ceremony by vice-president Josh Lytle, who provided the invocation and benediction.

“He not only changes lives but he saves lives,” Bickerton said of Lytle’s work through the organization.

A former drug addict, Lytle devotes his time and work to helping others struggling with drugs and other addictions.

Lytle prayed during the ceremony that Bickerton would serve as judge with wisdom, justice and equality.

Bickerton became emotional during the ceremony, and thanked those who have helped her along the way, including her parents, who she pointed out were missing from the ceremony.

“I would not be here today. I would not be the person I am today if it were not for my parents,” she said.

Her father, Dann J. Forsythe, passed away in 2016, and her mother, Janice Forsythe, is currently in an assisted living facility.

Several other relatives and friends of the family attended as well as her husband, David Bickerton, and their young son.

“He believed in me before I believed in myself,” she said of her husband.

Bickerton also said she has enjoyed working alongside Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam, and is looking forward to the future.

Washam said that over the years Bickerton served as an assistant prosecuting attorney, he has seen first-hand her “compassion, her integrity, and her steadfast commitment to seeking justice while applying and following the rule of law.”

Bickerton also thanked the prosecutor’s office, attorney Andy Beech and many others she has worked with over the years.

The ceremony was also attended by current Seventh District Court of Appeals Judge Carol Ann Robb, who served as a judge with the Columbiana County Municipal Court before being elected to the Court of Appeals.

In 2015, Robb and two other women became the first all-female three-judge panel on the Court of Appeals to hear arguments.

kwhite@mojonews.com

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