(Clinton, KY January 28, 2015) - When the Hickman County High School Leadership Class arrived at the Courthouse Annex this past Thursday, we went into the courtroom and waited on the judge. After a few moments, District Judge Whitesell came out from his quarters wearing his court robe. We were asked to rise and then told we were allowed to sit.
Judge Whitesell introduced himself and asked what kind of trials would be held in a district court. We went to name these few: murder, divorce, child custody, felonies, misdemeanors, and abuse trials. He then went on to say that the court has no police power. In his explanation, he said that if he saw Ms. Cinda Yates go through a stop sign he couldn't go get her and put her in a courtroom. Is he did this, he said, that means anyone could just get people they didn't like and get them put in jail off of false accusations. After the judge finished talking to us, Cinda Yates got up to speak to us. She explained that her job as the circuit clerk meant that she was "the hub" of the system. All the paper work is filed here. She went on to tell us the importance of coming to jury duty and how technology has changed her job. She also brought out her deputies who explained their individual jobs: Amy Cunningham - district issues, T.J. Williams - civil issues, and Melanie Dowdy - circuit issues.
After Cinda Yates spoke, the County Attorney, Jason Batts, spoke to us. He told us trials and cases were nothing like what you see on T.V. He said that there were two levels of courts: the district and circuit court. His jobs as an attorney are prosecution, advise the fiscal court, collect bad checks, and collects child support. He had an Internship at Washington, D.C. He was a prosecutor in the Army. He said to run for office you had to be practicing for four years. He said "Law school doesn't prep you for practice."
After Jason spoke, Jailer Chad Barber (shown at left) spoke to us he talked about how his dad used to be jailer, and how he basically lived in the jail when he was 12. He described how the jail was and how inmates wear an orange jump suit and got 3 meals daily, he also said they had a T.V. Until 11:00 p.m. And turns back on at 5:00 a.m.
Then we went to the Courthouse across the street from the Annex building. There we spoke to James "Jimbo" Berry and Amanda Ballantine. After that we went to City Hall and spoke to Laura Poole and she told us how much our importance and our opinion matters for the future of Hickman County was. Then, Chief of Police, Snapper Seaton, spoke and told us what he did as Police Chief.
