Clifford Yorks often has the opportunity to affect lives.

One common incident involves a local homeless person, who was occasionally brought in on criminal trespassing charges. This man was once offered a rent-free home by the people pressing charges against him -- but the man refused the assistance.

Cases like that can often be one of the most frustrating parts of the district justice's job.

"It's like stirring mud. When it settles, it's still mud," Yorks said.

And the only thing Yorks can do for those people is to determine that they are not able to stand trial. He then sends them to the Centre County Jail for food and shelter for a couple of days before they go back to the streets.

While this side of the justice's personality may be seldom seen and he may intimidate some of the people who come before him in court, many will be sad to see District Justice Yorks retire next year.

As a rule during his service, Yorks has tried not to punish people but to help them.

One of the reasons he ran for the district justice position was because of an incident that occurred while he was a police officer. Yorks arrested a teen-ager and brought him to a district justice who did not give the adolescent a fair chance.

Once given a fair chance, Yorks said the opportunity for people to turn their lives around exists. Seeing that transformation process happen is what he enjoys most about his job, he said.

Yorks said he has seen individuals come before him again and again, and then "one day, the light bulb comes on and they get married, get a job" and settle down.

One man appeared in Yorks' courtroom many times between the ages of 17 and 32. He came in the other day and congratulated Yorks on his retirement and wished him well in Florida --where Yorks plans on retiring.

Lynda Yorks, the district justice's wife and office supervisor, said her husband receives letters of thanks from people whom he has sentenced. They often write that they have changed their lifestyles because of their sentences, she said.

Besides sentencing criminals, Yorks has performed unusual tasks as a district justice -- such as marrying people at a local correctional institution.

One of the strangest experiences he had was getting a call to marry two people at the State Correctional Institution at Rockview, along state Route 26 near Bellefonte.

"All I could think was 'who are the two guys who want to get married?' "

Beyond the light-hearted job of performing a marriage, Yorks' other duties include presiding over civil cases involving amounts of money less than $8,000, landlord and tenant disputes, preliminary hearings and arraignments. He also sets bail in criminal cases and deals with cases where someone needs protection from abuse.

Although his job consumes much of his time, Justice Yorks said he still has spare time for some of his hobbies -- hunting, golfing and fishing.

"I hunt as often as possible," he said.

Along with his hobbies, the district justice still finds time to spend with his family. Justice York's immediate family includes his wife, Lynda, and his 23-year-old stepson, Michael.

Michael Yorks recalled some fond memories of his stepfather, such as one Labor Day weekend when he went fishing with his stepfather and some friends. One of the district justice's friends put his pole down for a second to light a pipe and the fish stole the pole.

"Cliff was picking on him unmercifully about it," Michael Yorks remembered.

But later when they returned to the water, the same thing happened to the district justice, he said.

Yorks also is finishing his criminal justice degree. He said he still needs three credits of a physical science to graduate from the University.

He said he found it difficult to complete his degree that he started in 1962 since he was balancing a 60- to 70-hours-per-week work schedule.

Yorks worked as a police officer prior to becoming district justice in 1972.

But after the district justice retires, shorter hours are not the only change he will endure.

One thing that Michael Yorks thinks might change is the justice's bedtime.

"Retirement will keep him up later, he goes to bed pretty early now," he said.

Attorney Edward S. Blanarik, who hopes to replace Yorks when his term ends, said he thinks Yorks is doing an excellent job dealing with the "astronomical" case load that Yorks deals with on a day-to-day basis.

Along with the job the district justice has done in the courtroom, Yorks' colleagues are confident he will do an equally good job with the transition period before his retirement.

"There's going to be a smooth transition," Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar said. "I don't expect any problem at all."

Lynda Yorks said her husband has been on the bench for 23 years and is retiring because he is tired of the work load associated with his job.

"He really loves his job," his wife said, but after doing such a "thankless" job for so long, he feels burned out.

She said he is a great boss and is up-front with his staff.

"He's very hands-on with paper work and filing," she said. "He's not like a baby-sitter, he won't dictate every little detail."

Other office workers -- including Tammy, Justice Yorks' assistant office supervisor and personal secretary -- said the office atmosphere is relaxed even though the high case load makes the office busy.

"He's so easygoing. I don't know what we'll do without him," said Billy, the office bookkeeper, regarding the district justice's retirement.

But through all this work, the district justice still wants to continue in the field of justice after his retirement. After retiring Lynda Yorks said she and her husband will be moving to Spruce Creek, Fla., where he hopes to work as an arbitrator or in a private business.

"He's too hyper to just stop," she said.