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Robert Enochs and Angela Foster both led first-term Guilford County District Court Judge Linda Falls in the May primary, ending the incumbent's bid for re-election. It was an unusual display of apparent voter dissatisfaction with a sitting judge.

The best bet to avoid a similar occurrence again is for voters to elect Enochs, 44, over Foster, 45. He's an assistant district attorney with 13 years' experience as a prosecutor who does a good job preparing and trying cases. He's more familiar with criminal law than civil, but if he works hard he should be able to gain the skills needed to preside in every court.

Enochs' wife, Wendy, has been a District Court judge for 14 years. A courthouse rumor has it that she'll resign if he's elected. She says that's absolutely not true. Nor is there any reason why a husband and wife can't both serve on the bench.

Foster's record is puzzling. A former public defender who now represents indigent clients in private practice, she's given credit for doing good work in juvenile court and in many other cases. But she was disciplined this summer by the Committee on Indigent Appointments, a board of 13 local lawyers, and removed from all criminal appointment lists for instances when she did not adequately represent her clients. The committee chairman, Greensboro attorney Charles A. Lloyd, noted in a letter to Foster that she had been counseled and warned by the committee in the past for other failures.

Foster blames her problems on overcrowded dockets and poor scheduling of cases by the courts, and suggests her critics have political motivations. The excuses are not convincing. Enochs seems more reliable and a much better choice for election to the District Court bench.