Clamme's term winds down

He never intended to stay on the job this long.
“At the time, it was assumed that it was a one-term type thing, maybe two,” Jay County Prosecutor Robert Clamme said recently.
Back in 1974, when he first ran for the office, Clamme could not have imagined that he’d be talking about his retirement.
But as 2010 draws to a close, he’ll be completing 24 years as prosecutor and eight as chief deputy, a record that may well be unmatched in local history.
Clamme came to the job almost by accident.
A 1963 Dunkirk High School graduate, his undergraduate studies at Ball State University were interrupted by a 1966 to 1968 stint in the U.S. Navy. Upon graduation, he entered the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis, completing his studies and passing the bar in 1973.
He and his wife, Rosalie, then returned to Clamme’s hometown with hopes of establishing a law office.
It was 1974, and another young man from Dunkirk, Ardee Helm Jr., was the incumbent prosecutor. Helm, a Republican, faced no opposition on the ballot until then Democratic county chairman John Moody approached Clamme about making a run.
Helm was serving full-time as prosecutor. “I said I was going to be part-time,” Clamme recalled.
Caught up in a strong Democratic year — the same election saw the Watergate scandal sweep dozens of new faces into Congress — Clamme soon found himself elected.
He was suddenly at the deep end of the pool.
“I really had been practicing just one year when I took office,” he said. “And I was 29.”
Clamme soon found himself in his first jury trial as prosecutor, taking on a case that had been filed by Helm. He lost.
But he didn’t lose many that followed.
He would go on to serve 20 years as prosecutor, then eight as deputy prosecutor under his successor George Lopez. He’s been serving full-time in his final term the past four years.
“Things have drastically changed since 1975. … As far as crime is concerned, it’s probably not much different today,” said Clamme. “The number of overall cases is higher than it was then. … The domestic battery thing has changed dramatically. I don’t know whether we even knew the phrase back then.”
In 1975, it wasn’t uncommon for police to handle a domestic violence case informally.
“I don’t remember how many trials I’ve had,” said Clamme. “Jury trials, it has to be over a hundred.”
He has prosecuted cases before four different Jay Circuit Court judges: Keith Fraser, Dale Hunt, Tom Diller, and Brian Hutchison.
And he’s had five different investigators: Scott Shockley, now an attorney in Muncie; John T. Phillips, now in real estate in Washington state; retired Indiana State Police trooper Dick Hart; Bob Daniels, now in business in Indianapolis; and Curt Compton, who has been with the office since 1987.
“You always remember the murder cases,” Clamme said. The most memorable? “Loy-Grimes obviously, and that was two. And then I suppose the most recent murder.”
Steve Loy and Chuck Grimes were convicted in separate trials dominated by circumstantial evidence in the slaying of Bruce Lykins in the late 1970s. The murder of Shawn Buckner in 2008 led to convictions and long sentences for several people.
“There were probably others that were more satisfying from a professional standpoint,” he said. “And there are a couple that I would have handled differently. … The older I get the more I’ve tuned to the foibles people have and their shortcomings. … The older I get, there are more shades (of gray).”
As to retirement plans, “The honest answer is, I don’t know.”[[In-content Ad]]