candidates for Tift County Magistrate Judge

By Angie Thompson/senior reporter

TIFTON June 27, 2008 07:34 pm

— The two candidates for Tift County Magistrate Judge spoke to members of the Tifton Kiwanis Club Friday during their noon meeting at Holiday Inn. Both candidates, incumbent Doug Jones and challenger Ray Yelverton, are Republicans with no Democratic opposition and a winner will be decided after the July 15 Primary Election.
Yelverton, of Ty Ty, spoke first and said he was born and raised in Hattiesburg, Miss. and moved here from Louisiana where he worked securing mineral rights on land leased for the Exxon corporation.
“I fell in love with Tifton and I deeply want to affect positive change in Tift County,” Yelverton said. Yelverton said his main interest was “my God and my family.”
“I will never jeopardize my morals or integrity for anyone or anything,” Yelverton said.
Yelverton, who works in marketing at Interstate Nissan, said he believed it was time for a change in the magistrate’s office, which he believes needs a “fresh, positive and energetic attitude.” “I think it’s time for a change,” Yelverton said. He said his goals for the office include bringing it up-to-date with more access to information online and educating citizens on how to use what he deems “the people’s court.”
Jones said that he was proud of how the office he has held for eight years is more efficient.
“It’s run like a business,” Jones said.
Jones said a judge has to be empathetic, “but you can’t be sympathetic,” he said.
“It’s like my Grandma said, when you burn your butt, you’re going to have to sit on a blister,” Jones said.
Jones said he prides himself on making fair decisions based on the evidence presented at hearings and for the professionalism of his staff.
“My staff has the citizens at heart,” Jones said. During a question and answer period, Jones responded to the questions, “How does your office handle the presentations of plaintiffs or defense when you know those individuals as friends or social or business acquaintances?”
“I tell them this, friendship ends at the door when they come before me,” Jones said. Jones said he gives some people the opportunity for him to recuse
himself and call in a magistrate judge from another county to hear a case he believes might be compromised.
Another questions posed to the candidates concerned both candidates’ qualifications since neither had received a formal education in the law. Jones said that those elected as magistrate judges in Georgia are required to take 40 hours of criminal law and 40 hours of civil law and after that, 20 more hours of training in the law each year. “It’s constant study,” Jones said.
Yelverton said that he had been exposed to the law his entire life with seven attorneys and some judges in his family and that his
experience as an “abstract curator” with Exxon also added to his knowledge and experience. Yelverton is married to the former Donna Whittington. He is a member of Victory Baptist Church where he teaches Sunday School and Discipleship Training. He is a past president of the Tifton Exchange
Club and served on the board of directors of Brother Charlie’s Rescue Mission. He currently serves as treasurer of the Mell Baptist Association.
Jones, whose wife Deborah is a nurse at Tift Regional Medical Center, is a member of the American Legion, Masonic Orders, Elks, serves on the Shriners Hospital committee, is a past local Jaycee president and served as a past state Jaycee vice president and as the organization’s national director. In the past, he has been a licensed private investigator in Georgia and Florida.
Magistrate court jurisdiction includes civil claims of $15,000 or less; certain minor criminal offenses; distress warrants and dispossessory writs; county ordinance violations; deposit account fraud (bad checks); preliminary hearings; and summonses, arrest and search warrants. Magistrates may grant bail in cases where the setting of bail is not exclusively reserved to a judge of another court. No jury trials are held in magistrate court.

To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.