This week is the week candidates for judgeships (other than the probate court) are expected to qualify. Anyone who thinks any of the incumbents ought not to get a free pass should act now or forever keep his peace (or at least for the next four years anyway).

While I was in law school, my classmates and I were encouraged to run for public office later on in life. Our teachers told us how our training in the law would add immensely to our ability to contribute to the government of our country at all levels.

As of July 1, 2007, our Georgia law has pretty much scrapped living wills and durable powers of attorney for health care by offering us a modern comprehensive form that replaces all the old forms.

Fayette residents who still read newspapers -–there should be a few left-- must have seen ads and announcements for a 5-week course, on Wednesday nights, on the law. These courses are to be held at the LaFayette Educational Center (next to Fayette County High School) from February 7 to March 7, between 7:30 pm and 9:30 pm.

Once people get close to retirement age, they start receiving invitations to FREE investment seminars with a meal thrown in.

Here’s a little friendly advice for people confronted with the task of selecting a Medicare drug plan, either for themselves or for their parents or friends.

This reminder that county property taxes for 2006 are due this Wednesday, Nov. 15, may be helpful to some.

The penalt

The State Bar of Georgia, which many mistakenly still call the state bar association, has come up with some sort of study which shows, so they say, that our judges are underpaid by at least 20%.

(1) You may find it helpful to look at a sample ballot. A Fayette voter can go to the Fayette local government website (www.admin.co.fayette.ga.us), then click on Departments, then click on Elections & Voter Registration, then click on November 7, 2006 Election Information, and then click on Sample Ballot. This will yield a useful sample ballot, though the characters are small and hard to read. They can be expanded on your screen to be more readable. If printed in the original format, you’ll get small print that’s fairly hard to read.