Sunday, November 12, 2006

2nd Juvenile Court Judge Position Appears Out of Thin Air

Memphis , TN – November 13, 2006 – Last week, the Shelby County Commission “pulled a rabbit out of a hat” and endorsed the creation of another $140,000.00 Juvenile Court Judge position post without any thoughtful deliberation. “If there is public trust to be gained, the new commission is moving in the wrong direction,” says Tom Guleff, founder of JoeCitizens.com. .

“By an 8-5 vote, commissioners decided Monday to create a second division of Juvenile Court with another judge drawing a $140,000-a-year salary to oversee it.” -- Commercial Appeal

“Since the judge typically handles the court's administrative duties, it's difficult to see how a second judge could help the caseload burden. If the commission really wanted to address that problem, it would have made sense to approve funding for two or three more referees.” -- Commercial Appeal

“…according to some commissioners on the winning side of Monday's vote, the court's caseload has been backing up for years and creating a new elected position is the way to fix it. It's an interesting argument because commissioners haven't said much of anything publicly about the court's caseload until this issue surfaced a few days ago.” -- Commercial Appeal

These thoughts shared by the Commercial Appeal spell trouble for the future of our county.

If you feel outraged, or just want to express your opinion, please contact commissioners via e-mail (or call them) to reverse their decision. Citizens must stand up for what is right, we can not depend on our government officials to do so.


Commissioner Mike Carpenter
District 1, Position 3
(901) 545-4301
mike.carpenter@shelbycountytn.gov

Commissioner George S. Flinn, Jr.
District 1, Position 2
(901) 545-4301
george.flinn@shelbycountytn.gov

Commissioner Mike Ritz
District 1, Position 1
(901) 545-4301
mike.ritz@shelbycountytn.gov

Commissioner Henri E. Brooks
District 2, Position 2
(901) 545-4301
henri.brooks@shelbycountytn.gov

Commissioner J. W. Gibson, II
District 2, Position 1
(901) 545-4301
jw.gibson@shelbycountytn.gov

Commissioner Deidre Malone
District 2, Position 3
(901) 545-4301
deidre.malone@shelbycountytn.gov

Commissioner Sidney Chism
District 3, Position 2
(901) 545-4301
sidney.chism@shelbycountytn.gov

Commissioner Joe S. Ford
District 3, Position 3
(901) 545-4301
joe.ford@shelbycountytn.gov

Commissioner James M. Harvey
District 3, Position 1
(901) 545-4301
james.harvey@shelbycountytn.gov

Commissioner Joyce Avery
District 4, Position 1
(901) 545-4301
joyce.avery@shelbycountytn.gov

Commissioner Wyatt Bunker
District 4, Position 2
(901) 545-4301
wyatt.bunker@shelbycountytn.gov

Commissioner David Lillard
District 4, Position 3
Office Phone: (901) 524-5176
Home Phone: (901) 751-3366
dlillard@bpjlaw.com

Commissioner Steven Mulroy
District 5
(901) 545-4301
steven.mulroy@shelbycountytn.gov
(this e-mail may not work)

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