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The call: 'Short and sweet'

Kurt Hitzemann says he is "looking forward to the challenge" of being a new county judge.

By MICHAEL KRUSE
Published October 8, 2005

BROOKSVILLE - Kurt Hitzemann understood the process. He was going to get a call from Gov. Jeb Bush if he was selected as Hernando's new county judge. He knew that.

"But it didn't make it any less shocking to actually hear him on the phone," Hitzemann said late Friday afternoon. "There was Gov. Bush."

Time to celebrate.

The governor picked Hitzemann over fellow finalists Steve Toner and Daniel Merritt Jr. to be the second county judge along with current County Judge Don Scaglione. The new position was created during the 2005 legislative session to help with the increasing caseload in growing Hernando.

Hitzemann is supposed to start the first week of next month.

"I guess I don't know exactly what to expect," Hitzemann said, "but certainly I'm looking forward to the challenge."

Hitzemann, 43, lives in Spring Hill but grew up in Markesan, Wis., a small farming town with a population of just under 1,400.

He graduated from Markesan High School in 1980 with a rank of fifth in his class of 99.

He comes from a family of hard workers. His dad worked at a bank and then started a business making Styrofoam in which to box TVs and stereos and other things. His mother still works there as a bookkeeper.

He graduated from the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse with a degree in biology, and his first job out of school was doing breast cancer research in Rochester, Minn., at the Mayo Clinic. His second job was at a sewage treatment plant in Rochester. Then he went to law school at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

In Florida, where he's lived since late 1997, he's been in private law practice in Fort Myers, he's been an assistant state attorney in Punta Gorda, and his job now is as senior assistant county attorney. He moved to Hernando County four years ago this month.

"I think that my background and my experiences will make me empathetic," Hitzemann said. "It will make it easier to understand where folks are coming from. At the same time I understand that there are basic rules we all have to live by.

"There won't be any surprises with me," he added.

Unlike the call from the governor.

It came at about 3:30 Friday afternoon.

Hitzemann said Bush told him three things: Stay true to your beliefs. Work hard. Do a good job.

"Short and sweet," Hitzemann said.

Friday was his son's birthday. Max Hitzemann turned 14. So it was going to be a special night to begin with in the Hitzemann household.

"We were planning on doing some celebrating anyway," Hernando's new county judge said, "but now we're going to have a little more fun than I thought we were going to have."

[Last modified October 8, 2005, 01:26:19]