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Court of Appeals of Georgia election update

More from David:

The seven candidates for the open seat on the Court of Appeals participated in a debate on Monday organized by the Atlanta Press Club, which Daily Report wrote about.  The whole article is worth reading, but one of the topics the candidates disagreed on was the importance of the poll of Georgia lawyers conducted by the State Bar of Georgia.

In the poll, members of the Georgia bar were asked to rate each of the candidates on the scale “Well Qualified”, “Qualified”, “Not Qualified” and “Lack of Sufficient Knowledge to Express Opinion”.

The highest rated candidate was Bruce Edenfield, who got the most “Well Qualified” and “Qualified” votes, and the fewest “Not Qualified” votes.

The lowest-rated candidates were Perry McGuire and Tamela Adkins.  McGuire was deemed “Not Qualified” by 446 lawyers, and Daily Report reported that McGuire “said he didn’t even know 400 lawyers in the state, and they didn’t know him.”  Adkins dismissed the poll as a “popularity contest” and pointed out that “only about 10 percent of the state’s lawyers responded to the poll.”  (The response rate was about 11.5%, but she might have a point.)

Court of Appeals of Georgia election

And David (http://viparyaya.wordpress.com) chimes in on the election here in Georgia:

We’re electing 3 judges to the Court of Appeals of Georgia on November 4, 2008.  2 of the judges are incumbents running unopposed.  However, Judge John H. Ruffin is retiring at the end of his current term, and there are seven candidates running for his seat on the Court of Appeals.  None of the seven are household names (at least not in this household), and I don’t like going into the voting booth completely uninformed, so I spent some time this week trying to find out something about each of them.

Here’s a summary of what I found, together with links to the sources of the information: 

The candidates are (in the order they’re listed on the sample ballot):

Tamela L Adkins:  A divorce lawyer in Lawrenceville.  She advertised $499 uncontested divorces on billboards.  According to Daily Report Online she had some financial problems a few years ago (the owner of the billboards sued her law firm in 2005, claiming it was owed $16,000), and is not listed in Westlaw as counsel on any appellate decisions.  She is also one of 3 candidates who refused to sign a pledge that they wouldn’t announce their positions on matters that might come before the court.  Here’s a picture of Adkins’ billboard in Gwinnett County.

Sara Doyle:  Partner at Holland & Knight in Atlanta.  Works in civil litigation and education law in Atlanta.  Daily Report says she is connected to the Republican establishment in Georgia.  She has worked on 16 appeals court cases.

Bruce M. Edenfield: Trial lawyer from Dahlonega.  Daily Report says he was listed as counsel on 62 appellate decisions, which is the second most of any of the candidates.  He says he is backed by both former Governor Roy Barnes (D) and former Attorney General Michael Bowers (R), and hasn’t been affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican party.  He claimed to have collected the most campaign contributions of any of the candidates. 

Christopher J McFadden:  Appeals lawyer from Decatur.  Has the most appeals court experience of any of the candidates: 78 cases.  Wrote the book “Georgia Appellate Practice,” and is considered an expert on the appeals process.

Perry J. McGuire: Republican nominee for State Attorney General in 2006.  Former State Senator for Douglas county and former corporate lawyer for Chick-fil-A.  Relatively little litigation experience and no appeals court experience, so he touts his “business sense”.   Advertised his support for the old state flag when he ran for State Senate in 1993, but now says he’s glad the flag has been changed.  Endorsed by Georgia Right to Life, he’s one of 3 candidates who refused to sign a pledge that they wouldn’t announce their positions on matters that might come before the court.

Michael S. Meyer von Bremen: Democratic state senator from Albany — chair of Senate Special Judiciary Committee and former Senate minority leader.  Introduced an indigent defense bill in 2003 that became law, and opposed 2005 legislation designed to make it harder for plaintiffs to win tort suits.  Has a large and varied amount of litigation experience, and 12 appeals cases to his name.

Mike Sheffield: Criminal defense attorney in Lawrenceville.  Ran for the Court of Appeals in 2004, but lost to Debra Bernes.  Estimates he’s appealed about 60 cases to the Court of Appeals or the State Supreme Court.  One of 3 candidates who refused to sign a pledge that they wouldn’t announce their positions on matters that might come before the court.

There are interviews with 6 of the candidates on the website for the legal affairs radio show What is Goin’ On?.  (Perry McGuire apparently wouldn’t return the host’s phone calls.  But that’s okay, because I know all I need to about him…)

Unfortunately, there’s no telling how voters will select between these candidates, given the low profile of this race and the limited information available.  Jim Wooten pointed out that 4 of the 12 judges currently on the court got there by being elected (instead of first being appointed by the governor), and all 4 have names that begin with “A” or “B”, so a lot of voters seem to pick the first name on the ballot.  Most of this year’s candidates seem to have the appropriate experience and temperament to be on the Court of Appeals, but I’m not sure that’s true of the candidate who’s listed first…

A trip to the Indian Grocery Store – Ghee

Pure Ghee, originally uploaded by teeveeolantern.

This batch of ghee is called “Pure Ghee” and comes in pretty tins.

For these brands, they felt the need to be more specific about where their ghee came from.

So imagine my shock when I saw “Desi Ghee”. Is that ghee made from the milk of desis? (Desi is another term for a non-resident Indian or an Indian who lives abroad.)

Shell House, Decatur GA

Shell House, Decatur GA, originally uploaded by teeveeolantern.

If I could afford any house in Decatur, and the staff to care for it, this one would be it. It’s gorgeous, on a reasonable sized lot, close to everything, and did I mention that it’s gorgeous? I love its garden, but I’d tear out even more of the lawn and replace it with an English cottage garden. But that’s just me – always wanting more.

Decatur Book Festival, Aug 29-31, 2008

Decatur Book Festival, originally uploaded by teeveeolantern.

Yes, this book fair was taking place south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

The Decatur Book Festival is only 3 years old, but has grown to be one of the 10 biggest in the country. There’s more info on the 2008 festival here, including the list of authors who were appearing to speak, read from their work, etc.

We actually made it to the Fest this year for the first time, but missed all the talks, including the keynote address by Billy Collins. I’ll be kicking myself about that for a long while.

Maybe next year…
Inside the Antiquarian building

I love books, but am trying to cut down on collecting anything – especially things that are heavy and take up space and are hard to move. I rarely read books twice, and most info I need I can look up online. That being said, these old books with fore-edge paintings fascinated me. I got to look at some of the non-erotic ones, but the erotic ones are a bit of a laugh. Just the idea of some old bachelor having one of these paintings commissioned for his friend’s Christmas present makes me smile. (The paintings don’t show when you look at the side of the book until you turn back the page edges – as they would be if you left an open book on a table.)

DragonCon 2008 Parade

Living Jaye Cobb Hat, originally uploaded by teeveeolantern.

We decided to do the Atlanta nerdy tourist thing this weekend and go to the DragonCon parade in the morning and to the Decatur Book Festival this afternoon. The parade was amazing, and this was my favorite costume. It’s a Living Jayne Cobb hat, from an obscure episode of Firefly, a Joss Wedon series from a few years back that spawned a film, but not the trilogy that fans are desperate for.

I have knit three of these hats myself, but to actually *be* the hat is genius. Or masochism. It was really hot today.

I’ll just post a few pix here. For more, see teeveeolantern on Flickr.

Note the Ear Flaps that she’s holding up – then look at the guy in the upper left corner who’s sporting his own Jayne Cobb Hat. Look for them in the photos below. There are bunches.

Best Injection Molded Hair

The Parade opens with a Piper

Kitteh??

Best Family Costumes (there was a girl dragon, too)

Many Dr. Whos and Companions

Cassandra’s Caretakers

Misc. Browncoats with the Living Jayne Cobb Hat (and smaller versions)

Maybe I’m confused but I thought Pirates wanted Booty….

Sometimes Brevity Muddies Your Message

A sign celebrating the goddess at a North Caroline Barbeque spot?

No – this sign is celebrating the fact that one of the restaurant’s waitresses, Amber Pennell, was found alive in her pickup truck 5 days after she ran off a mountain road and underneath a field of kudzu. She was only 150 feet from the road, but the vines completely covered her truck. She was pinned in, unable to reach food or water (or, I assume, a working cellphone) for the entire time.

Here’s the rest of the story.

The Methane Poster Show at Alcove Gallery

The Methane Poster Show at Alcove Gallery, originally uploaded by teeveeolantern.

So, let’s go back to August…

The Methane Show was up at Alcove and the opening party was August 23rd. We dropped in after yoga class to check it out. We love Robert and company’s band posters. They do really lovely silkscreens. We scored a Sharon Kings and the Dap Kings poster from a show we attended back in January.

We ran into our old friends Lee Anne and Chris Miller. Chris and Robert used to be in a band together, King Lear Jet, and one of their other bandmates (Christopher?) was the front man for the band at the show, Warm in the Wake. They were good, but man, I miss KLJ.


Then we wandered over to Bart Webb Studios – a metal artist around the corner from Alcove. They were open late and had some fun stuff.

Other Recent Film Screenings (Mini Reviews)

Last week, we saw a preview of the new Luke Wilson film “Henry Poole is Here.” Unless your idea of a great time is reading one of those “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books, avoid at all costs. The preview looked like it might be a little hokey, but I thought “Luke Wilson – surely he’s too edgy to do corn pone”. I was wrong. The premise is that Henry Poole (the Wilson character) has the rarest of diseases. In fact, it only exists in films written by people with no imagination. It’s called “Plot Device #112″. It can be determined through a blood test, but it’s incurable, and there are *no symptoms* EXCEPT
a) the patient suddenly become too stupid to ask for a 2nd opinion and
b) the patient becomes a little bit depressed.
Add to this a mysterious stain that appears in Henry Poole’s stucco, and is determined by his grieving neighbor to be “the face of God” (which later weeps blood…), a young girl who quit talking after her father left her, and a near-sighted grocery store cashier named “Patience” and you get….a big mess.

Stephen Holden says it better than I do in the NYT.

Last night, we went to see “Hamlet 2″ – another free preview screening. It’s also a mess, but a happier one than Henry Poole. The previews looked pretty sketchy, but we like Steven Coogan a lot, and, well – it was free. It had its moments – a few things made me cackle, but…

I wouldn’t pay to go see it unless you’re really running short on things to make you laugh. Steve Coogan is wasted in this earnest, bumbling role. Catherine Keener – also wasted (in more ways than one). The big musical set-piece “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” is pretty funny, though. And Elizabeth Shue has a nice part playing herself, sorta. (She must have a great sense of humor.)

The review in today’s NYT is fairly accurate, but it’s full of spoilers, so don’t read it if you’re still planning on seeing this mishmash. (Most of the funny stuff, and a lot of the less funny stuff, ended up in the trailer, which you can also reach via this link.)
The Rest Was Silence, But Then Came the Sequel