On Tuesday, our governor appointed attorney Howard McClain, of Adel, Superior Court Judge for the Alapaha Circuit. This appointment comes after more than two years of a federal investigation into the judicial practices in the circuit.

“The residents of the Alapaha Judicial Circuit have suffered, knowingly and unknowingly, through what appears to have been gross abuses of judicial power,” the governor said. “I believe this appointment is a step in the right direction for the Circuit; Mr. McClain has the trust of the community and the integrity to institute the necessary, culture-changing reforms.”

I understand the governor was under pressure to give the judgeship to a person outside the circuit. Federal authorities saw too much corruption within the courts for anyone inside the circuit to make a real clean up or new start possible. The governor disagreed. “… I am further concerned that it took a Judicial Qualification Commission investigation and federal law enforcement efforts to out the alleged wrong-doings. Judges wield awesome power … Times like these, however, highlight the duty of members of the bar and, perhaps more appropriately the judiciary, to demand that their peers on either side of the bench never betray the public’s trust.”

Judge McClain had already stepped up and announced he would seek the judgeship even before the current judge resigned. The governor said “this was very important to me.”

From reading the governor’s statements, I understand better his thoughts behind the appointment but I wondered to myself how do you judge a judge? As voters we do not do it based on some sort of legal understanding. Most of us lack expertise in legal rulings. I suggest some people who have either a good or bad outcome before a judge might base their opinions of the judge on their court case.

I find it quite easy to agree with the governor of his appointment of Howard McClain. I have fished for and caught Spanish and King Mackerel in the Gulf near Mexico Beach with Howard in his boat and used his bait and tackle. That’s a pretty good reference in my book. Howard comes from a family that would skip eating all week just to enjoy fried fish on the weekend … my kind of people.

Howard was married to my first cousin, now deceased. They had two daughters. When he married Carolyn, she had one daughter. A main ingredient to this successful marriage was that as they brought together families of mine and yours … all three girls immediately became ours. The melding of their families is now even more solidified with the introduction of 6 (four boys and two girls) grandchildren.

Howard and I worked together for a while backed in the ’70s before he went to law school to become an attorney. Already an engineering graduate of Georgia Tech (I guess we could hold that against him), he took that background to the Bluebird bus company in Fort Valley in the day time while he went to law school at night. Howard has never come up short on the work ethic or determination side. When I look at Howard I see, one, a family man in the truest sense; two, I see a man who is not afraid of hard work, one who will make sure the job gets done and done right; and three, a man who will not betray the trust the governor has placed in him. Howard McClain is the best choice to look after our judicial business and as the governor said, “(the person who) will exercise the judicial integrity the community deserves.”