Newspaper Page Text
The Lee County Ledger, Thursday, July 5,2001 - Page 5A
Thurman Serves As NeW LaWS Take
President Of Georgia
Council Of Magistrate
Court Judges
Effect July 1st
Judge Jim Thurman assumed
the office of President for the
Georgia Council of Magistrate
Court Judges on July 1, 2001.
Judge Thurman has held the of
fice of Chief Magistrate in Lee
County since January 1,1997. He
is married to Kathy Jo Thurman,
a teacher at Lee County High
School. They have four children:
Sgt. Bo Thurman, Fort Rucker,
Alabama; Jamie Self (who is the
wife of the Reverend Dan Self,)
Lawrenceville, Georgia; Josh and
Davis Thurman of Leesburg,
Georgia.
The Georgia Council of Mag
istrate Court Judges is composed
of the chief magistrates, magis
trates and senior magistrates of
the magistrate courts of this state.
The officers of the Council of
Magistrate Court Judges consist
of a president, president-elect, a
first vice president, a secretary,
and a treasurer. The executive
committee is composed of two
representatives from each of the
ten judicial administrative dis
tricts.
It is the purpose of the council
to effectuate the constitutional
and statutory responsibilities con
ferred upon it by law, to further
the improvement of the magis
trate courts and the administration
of justice, to assist the chief mag
istrates. magistrates, and senior
magistrates throughout the state
in the execution of their duties
and to promote and assist in the
training of chief magistrates,
magistrates and senior magis
trates.
Judge Thurman is very humbled
by the trust that has been be
stowed upon him by the magis
trates of Georgia in electing him
Judge Jim Thurman
to serve as their president. He is
very excited to be allowed to
work with all of Georgia’s mag
istrates and to better serve the citi
zens of Lee County by bringing
the best of other courts to Lee
County. In the past several years,
great gains have been made in
training for Georgia's magis
trates. Judge Thurman hopes to
build on that success so that Geor
gia will have the best-trained and
most contentious magistrates in
the country. He is anxious for the
completion of a video publication
that was begun by Judge Barrett
Whittemore, the Past President of
the Georgia Council of Magis
trate Court Judges. This video
will provide assistance to pro se
litigants in preparing and present
ing their cases in the magistrate
courts. With the advancement of
computer technology and the in
ternet, Judge Thurman believes
the magistrate court is easier to
use today than ever before, but
there is always room for improve
ment.
Several measures approved dur
ing the 2001 Georgia General
Assembly and signed by Gover
nor Roy Barnes strengthen Geor
gia traffic laws.
The toughest changes will come
from the Governor's legislative
package of highway safety re
forms. House Bill 385 *lowers
the level of blood alcohol for an
automatic DUI. * adds more li
cense suspension time for repeat
DUI offenders *expands the open
container law and *creates a new
crime called aggressive driving.
Here are the details:
Effective July 1st, 2001,
Georgia's alcohol concentration
limit becomes 0.08 grams for an
automatic charge of DUI. This
lowers the previously recognized
limit of 0.10 grams for drivers 21
or older in non-commercial ve
hicles. "This change in DUI law
is long overdue in Georgia," says
Commissioner Robert Hightower
of the Department of Public
Safety.
"There is no doubt that a 0.08
blood alcohol concentration is
proof of intoxication." says
Hightower. "It's the DUI standard
across the country now, and any
one who's driving 0.08 is driving
impaired." According to the DPS
Commissioner, "Beginning July
1st, repeat DUI offenders will
face longer mandatory jail time,
driver license suspensions, and
placement of ignition interlocks
and surrender of license plates for
their vehicles."
Second DUI convictions within
a five-year period will result in a
three (3) year license suspension.
Offenders must wait 18 months
to apply for reinstatement. (Un
der the old law, offenders could
apply after ten months.)
Under revisions to Georgia
Code 40-6-253, passengers may
Lee County participants of the Kingdom Visions Summer Reading Program take
part in activities designed to develop academic, spiritual, recreational, and social
skills.
not possess an open container of
alcohol in the passenger area of
the vehicle. If the driver is the
only occupant of the vehicle, the
driver is presumed to be wrong
fully in possession of any open
container. Otherwise, the passen
ger in possession of the open con
tainer may be charged. EXEMP
TION: (This section is NOT ap
plicable to vehicles transporting
passengers for compensation or
passengers in living areas of mo
tor homes or house trailers).
Until recent years, "road rage"
didn't have a name. Now, "Ag
gressive Driving" is a new crimi
nal offense in Georgia. Georgia
law 40-6-397 makes operating a
motor vehicle with intent to an
noy, harass, molest, intimidate,
injure or obstruct another person
a "high and aggravated misde
meanor." (An accompanying
change in state driver licensing
laws assesses six (6) points to
ward a license suspension for
Aggressive Driving. A driver's
license is suspended when 15
points are assessed within a 24-
month period.)
Says Colonel George Ellis of
the Georgia State Patrol, "We
hope this new law will help make
drivers more conscious of the
kind of aggressive driving that
creates "road rage" on Georgia
highways. State Troopers will
also continue to focus on offenses
like speed, illegal lane changes
and following-too-close that lead
to aggressive driving."
New Georgia law also includes
mandatory lifesaving changes
designed to better protect child
passengers. Georgia's revised
Child Safety Seat law raised the
age for mandatory child safety
seats. Children age four and un
der must now be secured in an
approved child safety seat or
booster seat while riding in a pas
senger car. van or truck.
The new Child Safety Seat law
applies to child care providers and
schools which transport children
age four and younger. (Public
school buses are exempt unless
equipped with seatbelts).
(Existing law requires all chil
dren, age five through seventeen,
to use safety belts while riding in
any passenger vehicle, including
cars, pickups, S-U-V's and vans.
Research shows most children,
from four to eight, are safest when
riding in a booster seat, properly
secured with safety belts in the
rear vehicle seat.)
Another new traffic law pro
vides that the State D.O. T. may
designate specific interstate lanes
for trucks. Under House Bill 345,
the D.O. T. may prohibit trucks
from driving in specific lanes on
interstate highways with four or
more lanes moving in the same
direction. (On highways where
D.O.T. has erected signs identi
fying specific truck lanes, 40-6-
52 makes it unlawful to operate
trucks anywhere but those desig
nated lanes.)
House Bill 678 allows cameras
to be used at heavily traveled in
tersections. Sponsors of HB 678
intended this legislation to set
uniform statewide camera stan
dards; (These new provisions add
to existing laws permitting the use
of cameras to record the tag num
bers of violators.)
Photographed violators will re
ceive their ticket in the mail. Vio
lations will be treated as a civil
matter with no points against li
censes and no reports to insurance
companies. The measure also at
tempts to standardize fines for
speeders caught on cameras and
sets a five-hundred-dollar cap for
first-time offenders.
The Kingdom Visions Summer
Reading Program
By Juilie Barnett
The Kingdom Visions Sum
mer Reading Program received
FOCUS Funds from
LeeFOCUS in support of their
outreach efforts. The program
serves over 60 children in the
Lee County area. Students
spend time focusing on reading,
setting goals, and recreation.
On June 28, the students re
ceived a visit from Shalonda
Water. Ms. Water stated she
comes from “Katz Alley’" and
has an understanding of some
of the challenges faced by
today’s students. She stressed
the importance of realizing that
reading skills are necessary for
success in life.
Andrea Adams, 9, hears
about the importance of
reading from Lee County
Jail employee Shalonda
Water.
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Local Resident Receives Degree From The
University of Phoenix Online
Robert J Arnold of Leesburg re
ceived a BSB/M degree when the
University of Phoenix Online held
their graduation ceremony on June
30 at the Pointe Hilton Squaw
Peak Resort in Phoenix. The
graduation was an opportunity for
students who had been working
together online - sometimes for as
long as several years - to meet
each other and faculty members
for the first time. In front of the
1,200 friends, spouses, children
and relatives looking on, more
than 500 graduates from around
the country and world received
degrees in 16 graduate and under
graduate areas, including Business
Management and Administration,
Computer Technology and Nurs
ing. United States Secretary of
Education Roderick R. Paige de
livered the commencement ad
dress via video, with Senator John
McCain also making videotaped
remarks. University of Phoenix
Online is the nation's largest pri
vate institution, with a student
population of mostly working and
professional adults.
To submit articles and pictures to
The Lee County Ledger, you may
e-mail them to leeledger@aol.com or
mail items of interest to
P.O. Box 715, Leesburg Georgia.
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