City Court

Judge Ann P. Likens 1443 - 119th Street Whiting, IN 46394 Phone #: (219) 659-4688 Fax #: (219) 473-4452

Judge Ann Patricia Likens, also known as Pat, was appointed by then-Governor Kernan in August of 2004 as Judge of our City Court to complete Judge Bill Ciesar's unexpired term of office. Besides being the Whiting Judge, Pat also works as Court-Administrator/Referee in the Superior Court of Lake County, County Division-Room 4 in Hammond, a position she has held since January, 2001. Prior to that, the Judge was employed for over 18 years as a Lake County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, where she worked in the Whiting and East Chicago City Courts. During some of that time, she also served as a member of the Adjunct faculty at Calumet College of St. Joseph where she taught classes in criminal justice, theology, and philosophy. Before attending law school, the Judge was a junior high and high school teacher.

Judge Likens earned her law degree from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, and is admitted to the practice of law in Indiana and Illinois. In addition, she holds a B.A. from Marquette University in Milwaukee and Master's degrees from Valparaiso University and the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Pat is a graduate of Bishop Noll High School and St. John the Baptist grade school.

The Judge is the daughter of the late Steve and Anne Curosh Kolina, and the sister of Jerry, also deceased, and Jack Kolina. She is the widow of Ben Likens, and the mother of a grown son, also named Ben. Pat is a parishioner at St. John the Baptist Church in Whiting.

The Judge's staff includes:

Judith Fehrman
Court Clerk

Wanda Unate
Court Secretary

Bruce Stewart
Probation Investigator

Art Okerstrom
Bailiff

John Strabavy
Bailiff

Walt Biser
Bailiff


Services and Programs provided by the City Court:

The City Court maintains a strong presence in Whiting and in the community. Our probationers provide hundreds of hours of community service throughout the year, especially during Pierogi Fest and the various holidays. The Court sponsors a Christmas project and, with the help of donations from the City, local merchants, organizations, and individual citizens, provides holiday meals and gifts to Whiting's families in need. The Whiting Court also works with our youth. We sponsor a Safe Prom Program, an evening of pizza, pop, and a prom bid raffle, which nevertheless has the serious purpose of educating against drinking and driving. We encourage perfect attendance in our middle school by raffling prizes each year to a qualifying boy and girl. In addition, we are planning a project focusing on our junior and senior high school girls, dealing with the issue of violence against women. For this project, we will be working with Haven House, a local battered women's shelter.