Dave Clark
The number of crimes reported in Anderson County dropped again last year, continuing a six-year trend, District Attorney General Dave Clark announced Monday.
Crime was down 10.5 percent in Anderson County in 2012, Clark said.
“That is a remarkable result in a single year,” he said. [Read more…]
Dave Clark
The most recent proposal to redraw judicial districts in Tennessee did not include Anderson County, but the battle isn’t over yet, an official said Wednesday.
Roane County also would not be affected under the proposal, announced Monday by Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, a Blountville Republican. The proposal could affect 22 of the state’s 95 counties, said Dave Clark, Anderson County district attorney general.
Still, there is a month or more left in the legislative session in the Tennessee General Assembly in Nashville, and the proposals—there are more than a dozen—are subject to amendment, Clark said during a Wednesday morning presentation to the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club.
Dave Clark
Proposals to redistrict Tennessee’s 31 judicial districts may cost Anderson County its full-time judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and their staffs. Proponents want to jumble 15 of Tennessee’s 31 judicial districts containing the state’s 95 counties. The pending proposal would eliminate the 7th Judicial District consisting of Anderson County and combine Anderson, Scott, Union, Campbell, Claiborne, and Fentress counties into a single district. If the move is approved in Nashville, local officials and their offices may be relocated, and many other programs may be terminated.
Currently, Anderson County has a single circuit judge, chancellor, district attorney general, and public defender. All of these offices are located in the county seat in Clinton on a full-time basis. The other counties that are part of the proposed new super-district are headquartered in Scott County in the city of Huntsville, Tenn. It is unclear if redistricting would result in all of Anderson’s current officials relocating to Huntsville. However, what is clear is that under the proposal, Anderson County officials would have duties in other counties, some of them an hour or more away, such as Jamestown, the county seat of Fentress County, located on the Cumberland Plateau bordering Kentucky.
Paul Phillips
Paul Phillips, retired district attorney general for the 8th Judicial District, has been named executive director of the Roane State Foundation, a press release said.
The foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides financial support for Roane State Community College students and programs. As executive director, Phillips will serves as chief administrative officer for the foundation’s board of trustees and direct the foundation’s programs.
Phillips succeeds Melinda Hillman, the college’s vice president for advancement and community relations. Hillman had served as the foundation’s executive director in addition to her responsibilities as leader for Roane State’s Oak Ridge campus and seven more satellite centers. Hillman will continue to lead the Oak Ridge campus and satellite centers.
