Greetings Courts Journal readers:
Our top story this month is GA Supreme Court Chief Justice Melton delivering the State of the Judiciary to the Georgia Legislature which happened on February 19. A Judicial Council meeting also took place on February 15 and is video archived on our YouTube channel.
Aimee Maxwell of the Communications, Children, Families and the Courts division conducted interviews recently of Senior Judge Loring Gray and new JC/AOC employee Darron Enns.
| JC/AOC writer Siarra Carr talked with Committee on Justice for Children (J4C) member and Department of Education Deputy Commissioner Dr. Garry McGiboney about trauma services being provided to students in south Georgia as a result of Hurricane Michael. Siarra also spent time with Judge Leslie Abernathy-Maddox when she held a civics lesson for a local elementary school. Michelle Barclay spent some time in Jackson County over a few months to make a video profile of Judge Booth and has been adding profiles to our video series titled: “Meet the Members of the Judicial Council of Georgia”. |
Judge Jane Barwick visited our staff meeting with a message about better communication. An Access to Justice (A2J) meeting took place on February 12, where the “Self-Help Toolkit, Georgia Legal Assistance: A Guide for Judges” was presented and an A2J grant to UGA’s School of Law was highlighted. The Councils of Magistrate, Probate and Municipal Court Judges all had successful “Day at the Capitol” events. We learned of drug and parental accountability court graduations in Paulding, Douglas, Polk, and Gwinnett. Portrait unveiling ceremonies took place for Judge Collier and Judge Grubbs.
Congrats to Justice Boggs for being appointed to the JNC and as Chair of the national Advisory Board on Criminal Justice Reform for the Council of State Governments. We learned UGA School of Law set up a Be Kind fund. Judge Miller endowed a scholarship at Mercer School of Law.
A 50K grant was made to the J4C committee to help GA CASA buildout some components to CPRS and J4C hosted a Multi-Disciplinary Child Abuse and Neglect Institute in Fulton and Dekalb counties. Former J4C committee member Betsy Imes interviewed a Gordon County DFCS supervisor. Finally, we learned that Georgia now has 45 Parental Accountability Courts, with the Atlantic Judicial Circuit being the latest to cut their opening ribbon.
Talk to you in March
Your JC/AOC Courts Journal newsletter team: Michelle Barclay, Patricia Buonodono, Siarra Carr, Aimee Maxwell and Bruce Shaw