I was glad to see in the paper earlier this week that Richard Savage had picked to fill a judgeship vacancy.

While I don’t know him well,

I’ve never heard an ill word uttered about him. Plus, I’m confident in saying he’s among the funniest people in Suffolk.

The bench could certainly use a dose of wit and humor. I’ve never met a funny judge. Not that there aren’t any. I’m sure that in private, among friends, there are some who would have given Richard Pryor a run for his money. But in public, they are almost anything but.

I attended an event last fall at which a couple judges were present. I shot loads of photos and someone advised me to be careful because &uot;judges don’t like to have their pictures taken.&uot;

How’s that? They may be Saddam Hussein-like dictators in their courtroom, but when they venture out among the rest of us great unwashed, they are fair game.

I had never heard anything so ridiculous. I can only imagine that they fear that people might find out they don’t have souls when their images don’t appear on the film. Who knows?

Anyway, back to Savage. He was program chairman of the Rotary Club for a month last year and kept the club in stitches.

At one meeting, we had a speaker from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. He was talking about deer over population and said part of the reason hunting had not been effective in reducing the population was that hunters typically go after big bucks. If the goal is to reduce the population, hunters should be going after the does. It seems they are quite promiscuous and will go with any buck that will have them.

Savage quipped that if they wanted the does to stop having sex, they should find a way to get them to married.