West Lafayette unveils ‘Lori Stein Sabol Way’ to honor longtime city judge
Signs go up along one block of North Chauncey Avenue, outside city hall. Plus, gauging the next round in a faculty beef with Purdue’s provost.
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WEST LAFAYETTE UNVEILS ‘LORI STEIN SABOL WAY’ TO HONOR LONGTIME CITY JUDGE
Friends, family and colleagues from the city and the legal community celebrated Lori Stein Sabol, the late, longtime West Lafayette city judge whose name was unveiled Sunday afternoon dedicating a one-block stretch of North Chauncey Avenue in her honor.
And maybe it was fitting that midway through the ceremony that a motorcyclist with a suspect muffler came tooling through the four-way stop at Chauncey Avenue and Columbia Street, momentarily drowning out a handful of speeches.
“That’s a noise violation,” Alex Sabol, the judge’s son, laughed as the motorcyclist gunned it up Columbia Street.
It’s the kind of city code violation that dominated Stein Sabol’s court, where she’d been elected six times and served until her death in March 2025. She held the role of city judge while also maintaining a legal practice that focused on family law.
Signs displaying her name were placed on either end of the 200 block of North Chauncey Avenue, between city hall and the West Lafayette Public Library. It’s the secondary honorary dedication in that block in recent years, following the renaming of West Lafayette City Hall in 2021 to celebrate Sonya Margerum, who was West Lafayette mayor for 24 years.
When the idea surfaced to mark the block outside city hall to honor Stein Sabol, Mayor Erin Easter had mentioned the judge’s “caring and compassionate way, especially for those individuals who might be experiencing a parking ticket through the city for the first time in their lives.”
“She listened to what they had to say, because she cared,” Sana Booker, city clerk, said during Sunday’s dedication. “She cared about this city.”
Alex Sabol remembered his mother’s fairness in the courtroom, finding creative ways to work with people but laying down the law for those not willing to own their mistakes.
“I’m so thankful that my mom’s story gets to be a part of the fabric and history in this community,” Alex Sabol said.
“I guess I hope that each of you, when you drive by here – Hon. Lori Stein Sabol Way – on a random day on a random week, that you also think about what she meant to you, and I hope it brings you a smile to your face,” he said. “I’ll leave you with this one piece of advice, if you do come here that day and that week to come check out the street, that you do park in a legal spot. But if don’t, I’m sure the judge will deal with you humanely and compassionately as my mom did.”
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WATCHING TODAY AT PURDUE: FACULTY BEEFS WITH THE PROVOST: The faculty-led University Senate is expected to consider a measure Monday afternoon that would start a closer look into claims tied to a recent call for a vote of no confidence for Provost Patrick Wolfe, the top academic officer at the university. Today is the first chance for the University Senate to consider a proposal presented in February asking to “assess the validity” of 16 points raised by the Purdue chapter of the American Association of University Professors, including accusations about “unilateral decision-making” and heavy-handed treatment in hiring, admissions and campus policies.
