Dec. 4, 2008

Rotary Report By Byron Ward and Sid Riley

November 26, 2008 meeting at Jim’s Buffet This week an informative two part program was introduced by Judge Bill Wright. The first portion of the program was presented by Jan Shadburn, who described the duties of the Court Administrator for the 14th circuit. He stated that the 14th judiciary circuit covers six counties, and involves providing administrative scheduling and support to twenty judges.
The administrative staff includes five law clerks and six court reporters, and a total staff of 85 to 90 people. Six people work in the Jackson County Court House that are part of this staff. He stated that when he first began his new duties he was amazed at the volume of work that had to be accomplished to support this amount of judicial activity. "The proficiency and dedication of this staff is amazing", he stated. He also described how technological innovations have aided in accomplishing the needed tasks.
With the state of the art video networking systems we have in use, a judge can now do first appearances from his office, with the suspects being on camera at the county jail. This greatly reduces costs and time requirements since the accused no longer has to be transported to the court house for appearance in a formal court room sitting.
The second half of the program was presented by Sherry Johnson, with the Jackson County School Board administration. She is responsible for the new truancy program within the school system, and the coordination with the court system through the Jackson County Truancy Court.
She described in detail how the system is designed, why it was needed, and the results it is creating. Judge Wright described how two students and one parent in our area have already been jailed due to the actions of this court and the new system. For more information see the story titled "School Time or Jail Time – Your Choice".
David Carrel won the football pool this week.