Christopher C. Edwards officially assumed his elected position as a Superior Court judge of the Griffin Judicial Circuit Jan. 1. Since taking office, Edwards has conducted 14 trails during eight weeks of jury trials, and has heard over 500 non-jury cases.

The Griffin Judicial Circuit encompasses a four-county area: Fayette, Spalding, Pike and Upson. Superior Court is the highest level of trial court. It has jurisdiction of all felonies, civil cases, equity cases including injunctions, divorces and cases deciding title to land, and serves as an appellate court from lower courts.

Edwards' chambers are at the Fayette County Administrative Complex, 140 Stonewall Avenue, Suite 211, Fayetteville 30214. His telephone number is 770-460-5730, extension 590.

Edwards' staff include secretary Kaye Mrozinski, legal transcriber Leah Griffith, and court reporter Allen McClung. The judge expressed thanks to Connie Bokhnke and Jenny Garcia of the Fayette County Personnel Department, and Fred Roney, District Court administrator for their aid in selecting his staff. Applicants were acquired from employment ads placed in newspapers in all four counties within the circuit.

"I hope the public finds it refreshing that I did not know any of my staff before their job interviews. I have not hired friends, former employees or campaign supporters," said Edwards. "I trust this may reinforce the perception of independence of the judiciary from 'politics as usual.' I would like to especially thank Chief Judge Ben Miller, Judge Paschal English, and Judge Johnnie Caldwell for their wisdom, guidance and graciousness in my early days on the bench," he added.

Kaye Mrozinski, Edwards' Secretary, was previously employed for over 12 years as a litigation secretary in a major Atlanta law firm. She holds a bachelor of science degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She and her husband live in Fayetteville.

Leah Griffith, legal transcriber, previously employed by the Fulton County District Attorney's office, holds a paralegal certificate from Clayton State University. Griffith also has worked as a paralegal for two lawyers in private practice. She has one daughter who is a junior at West Georgia College. Griffith and her husband live in Woodbury.

Allen McClung, court reporter, serves as president-elect of the National Verbatim Reporters Association. McClung has served as an official reporter to Federal District Court. He is married and lives in Peachtree City.

Edwards closed his private practice Nov. 1, two months before taking office, in order to fulfill his campaign promises to deter juvenile crime by speaking on crime and its consequences in schools. To date, Edwards has spoken to 24 schools in his circuit, speaking to 12,000 - 15,000 students. He is currently scheduled to speak to eight schools before the end of the 1998-99 school year.

His message to school children is: "No Bad Friends = No Jail," avoidance of drugs and alcohol, and graduation from school. Sixty-one percent of Georgia's prison inmates are high school dropouts.