Why Fayette should get its own judicial circuit

In our state judicial system, Fayette County is one of four counties forming the Griffin Judicial Circuit. Commissioner Eric Maxwell is reported as having recently publicly wondered if the time is not ripe for carving a Fayette Judicial Circuit out of the present Griffin Judicial Circuit.

A circuit is a circular journey, or one beginning and ending at the same place. In the horse and buggy days of this country, when populations were sparse and scattered, a judge would ride from one county seat to the next on a regular schedule to hear cases. That was his circuit.

Well before 1970, at a time when the population of Fayette County was under 10,000, the state put the counties of Upson, Pike, Spalding and Fayette into what became known as the Griffin Judicial Circuit. Spalding was the dominant county then, and the Superior Court judge operated out of its county seat, Griffin, driving to Thomaston, Zebulon and Fayetteville on a regular schedule.

As populations grew, even if unevenly so between the counties, the business got to be too much for one judge and we eventually got to the point today of having four judges. Three of them (English, Caldwell, Hankinson) live in Upson County, and one (Edwards) in Fayette County.

As in the horse and buggy days, these judges travel to the different courthouses of their circuit to hold court on a schedule known as “terms of court,” which are a bit like school semesters. In Fayette County, our terms of court officially begin on the first Monday in March and the second Monday in September. The other counties in the circuit have different dates, reflecting the horse and buggy approach of riding the circuit.

Now that Fayette has grown to a population of over 100,000, Commissioner Maxwell is wondering publicly whether Fayette County shouldn’t be split up from these other three counties to form its own circuit.

If we were to have a Fayette Judicial Circuit with just Fayette County in it, it is obvious our judges would not have to travel anywhere. Since the state reimburses judges for their business mileage, that expense would become zero. Our judges would also waste no time driving from one place to another.

Right now, we, the people of Fayette, Spalding, Pike and Upson counties, collectively elect these Superior Court judges every four years. A Fayette Judicial Circuit would mean that our judges would have to live in Fayette and would be elected solely by Fayette County voters. The same would be true of the district attorney, our chief prosecutor.

It is unwise to base decisions such as establishing our own judicial circuit on just money. Quality of life counts for a lot. But it is fair to look at the financial aspects of all this.

If you have an organization of 50 people, which may include judges, law clerks, secretaries, court reporters, a district attorney and assistant district attorneys, and investigators, and you split it in half, you have roughly 25 people going one way, and 25 going the other way. If the annual payroll before the split was $3 million, the payroll after the split won’t be any different. It will simply be allocated differently, with $1.5 million for one group and $1.5 million for the other.

We have some people saying that the new Fayette Judicial Circuit might cost the state a lot of money. But they are not looking at the decrease in cost for the newly shrunken Griffin Judicial Circuit. The overall cost might not be all that different, except that one of the assistant district attorneys will have to be promoted to district attorney in one of the circuits.

Having judges and prosecutors who don’t have to travel so much between counties will certainly save some money. Our Fayette judges and prosecutors will, in fact, not travel at all, thus costing the state nothing for mileage (and saving precious fuel). They can also use what could have been travel time to do their primary job, and if time is money there will be a savings there too.

There is something to be said for having judges from our own county, instead of visiting judges. We have a community of interest with local judges because they attend the same churches we do, belong to the same civic clubs we do, have children in the same schools we do, pay the same local taxes we do, and deal with the same local officials. We know them better and they know us better. At election time, we have a better chance of knowing what we’re doing and of electing someone suited for us. The same goes for the district attorney we elect.

Fayette County demographics are different from those of Spalding, Pike and Upson. These three counties have had little industry beyond mills and timberland operations, while Fayette’s economy is now closely tied to Atlanta and its airport. The income and educational levels of the two groups are far different. Fayette’s population could be described as more recent and transient than can be found in South Georgia. This is not meant to disparage anybody. It’s simply an acknowledgment that we’re different.

I personally have observed far more involvement with the local community from the one judge (Hon. Chris Edwards) who is from Fayette County than from the others. Judge Edwards has held continuing legal education classes for local lawyers and is known for visiting our local schools and encouraging our youth to stay in school. Having one or two more judges who do what he does would serve the community well.

Chief Judge Paschal English has made known that he disfavors a split, at least “at this time.” As much as I respect his opinion and acknowledge his superior judicial experience, there comes a time in a child’s life when he has grown and is ready to leave home. A doting mother may resist this call of nature and dangle arguments that the food is better at home and it is cheaper to live there too, but children don’t remain children forever.

So when Commissioner Maxwell asks publicly, “Isn’t it time we consider having our own Fayette Judicial Circuit?” he is asking a very sensible question.

Shocking!

Submitted by loanarranger707 on Thu, 09/06/2007 - 12:17pm.

I am no electrician, but the way this is explained I think Fayette would end up having a short circuit.

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Griffin Circuit Split

Submitted by Git Real on Wed, 09/05/2007 - 7:40pm.

This issue is so transparent. Here you've got a bunch of lawyers pushing for the split so they can further their political careers. The clowns, I mean the Superior Court Judges from the other counties want out so they can protect their pensions, I mean their judicial seats. And the lawyers from Fayette County are foaming at the mouth to get appointed / elected to a judicial seat.

Heck, these guys are already in the process of cutting their backroom stinky political deals. Johnny Caldwell is desperate to see this split take place so he doesn't have to run against Fletcher Sams who desperately wants to be a Superior Court Judge. Johnny would sacrifice both his current wife and his ex if this split would take place. Eric's desire is then to become the State Court Judge or the Superior Court Judge. Mr. Softy... I mean our current District Attorney is believed to have dibs on Fletcher's old seat. I'm not sure which hack wants the DA's seat.

Man, there are so many characters and positions in play with a potential split of the circuit, and the only ones that will benefit from the split will be the added judges as they work their way to their desired lucrative judicial pensions.

What do WE the taxpayers get? A big ole fat tax bill to pay for the multitudes of salaries, support, and other expenditures that will be necessary to support these self serving positions. I will say though, that this is a darned good idea and deal for those that wind up with these gravy positions.

**** GIT REAL TOUGH ON CRIME ****

"That man was Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Scott Ballard".

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