Justice Schostok honored by ICC

Justice Mary Schostok of the 2nd District Appellate Court in Elgin has been named the 2010 recipient of the Illinois Crime Commission's Award of Excellence in the Judiciary.

The Libertyville jurist, appointed to the appellate court in 2008 and winner of last week's Republican nomination to retain the seat, will receive the award at a banquet in June.

"This award is handed out yearly in recognition of those in our community who inspire our young people to be the best they can be," said commission Director Jerry Elsner. "Justice Schostok continues to go as far as her dreams and hopes will take her and is the type of person our young people should emulate."

Schostok joined the 2nd Appellate Court, which hears cases from 13 counties, from the Lake County bench where she had been a judge since 1998.

She served as an assistant state's attorney in Lake County trying felony cases and serving as the chief of the juvenile and special prosecution divisions.

The Illinois Crime Commission was formed in 1994 and is the state's largest nonprofit organization committed to public safety and law enforcement.

Law day: Boy Scouts from five districts throughout the area took part in the annual Law Day course at the Waukegan courthouse on Jan. 30.The 79 attendees took part in a tour of the Lake County jail and coroner's facility and heard lectures on the history of law and recent developments in the law.The afternoon session featured a mock trial presided over by Judge Brian Hughes, who also gave the Scouts a lecture on legal education.The daylong session earned the scouts the law merit badge, and more than 525 individuals have earned the award since the Lake County program began in 1998.Heard in the hallway:Congratulations to Assistant Public Defender Mora Mercure and her husband, Waukegan attorney Jason Mercure, on the Jan. 23 birth of their daughter, Elizabeth Gale.