GOP candidates meet in Fairview for forum

Published 4:30 am Saturday, April 28, 2018

FAIRVIEW — One of the questions posed to the candidates for Circuit Judge, Place 2 dealt with the backlog of cases in the circuit court system and any methods for streamlining the process.

Incumbent Martha Williams said the circuit court doesn’t have a lot of extra resources to help the judges with their cases, so efficiency is key, and she believes the circuit court is already more streamlined from the past, due to her and Circuit Judge Greg Nicholas’ installation of a system to split civil and criminal cases.

“We are handling many more cases than have ever been handled in Cullman County,” she said. “We must be more efficient in what we do, and we’ve certainly done that.”

Melvin Hasting, who is challenging Williams, said there were a lot of criminal cases pending, but the number of jury weeks has stayed the same, and the system of splitting criminal and civil cases means there is only one judge trying criminal cases.

“I think we need to look at that and see if the system is working,” he said. “It’s the rest of the criminal dockets that we can take care of.”

Jury weeks are also wasted by the court when a jury is called in but no case is ready to try, Hasting said.

“We don’t need to be doing that,” he said. “We can get these cases moving.”

Hasting and Williams also spoke about prison overcrowding and any changes that can be made in sentencing to help.

Hasting said there have been some changes in sentencing for drug possession, and there are more programs in place to help people with addictions, but addiction can also not be used as an excuse for people to commit crimes.

“You can never let drug addiction become an excuse for breaking into houses, for violating your rights, stealing your vehicles, killing you or whatever else,” he said. “At some point, you’ve got to make sure that who we can help we can help, who we need to send to prison goes to prison and who’s in prison stays in prison if they need to be.”

Williams said prison overcrowding has meant that some people who should go to prison have not gone or have been paroled, but the county’s diversion and probation and nonprofit organizations work together to help people who need it.

“We have to be more inventive, more imaginative about how we handle things,” she said. 

Williams said people elect legislators who decide the sentencing for crimes, but even if a person is sentenced and sent to prison, sometimes she gets a letter saying that person is being paroled. 

The state suffers from a lack of truth in sentencing, and that can be frustrating when someone deserves to go to prison but gets out, she said. 

“I want to be able to put someone away from you all when they pose a threat to you, and that is very frustrating indeed,” she said. 

Cullman County Commission East Side

For Cullman County Commission, East Side candidates, roads remained the main topic of discussion. 

Incumbent Garry Marchman said the main issue with the county’s roads is a lack of funding. 

“We keep getting behind with our roads,” he said. “We don’t put enough money in our roads, bottom line.”

To make sure the roads get the proper amount of funding, some more frivolous projects will likely need to be cut, Marchman said. 

“My vote next year is going to go totally to fund roads,” he said.

Andy Coffey, who is running against Marchman, spent 27 years in the County Road Department, and said he would use that experience as a commissioner to help eliminate some of the waste in the department. 

Consistent maintenance and base preparation are important and should be a priority to make sure roads last as long as they should, he said.

“I don’t think any money’s wasted on purpose,” he said. “Let’s do it right the first time and save money so we don’t have to go back and do it again.”

A 2-cent gas tax that would help fund road maintenance has been picking up steam in the community, and both candidates gave their opinions on it.

Marchman said any issues like raising taxes should be decided by the people, and even though he personally would not like to see the gas tax, he support it if the people want it —but only if the money generated went specifically to building and maintaining roads. 

“If you supported that, I would be happy to vote for it,” he said.

Coffey said he could also get behind the tax if the people of Cullman County voted for it, but the county’s tax money needs to be used wisely and go to the places its supposed to go.

“Let’s make sure every penny of that goes to road building,” he said. 

Cullman County School Board – Fairview, Parkside

The three candidates for Fairview and Parkside’s seat on the Cullman County School Board — Shane Rusk, Bill Ballew and Mike Knop — shared a few of their goals for the county’s education system.

Rusk said he would place a priority on safety, technology and technical education, to make sure students are safe in the classroom and have the right educations to let them succeed in Cullman County.

Along with the technical education that could help students get jobs with one of the industries that is in the area, there also needs to be an added emphasis on farming to make sure more young people stay in the area to work the farms after the current generation retires.

For the system’s budget, Rusk said he would like to see a top-to-bottom audit that would figure out exactly where the money is going and figure out ways to generate money for the students.

“Our kids are falling further and further behind,” he said. 

Ballew said he would be a fighter for the students and parents who he represented, and would place an emphasis on safety to make sure the students are secure in the classroom.

“The only thing that trumps learning is the safety of our kids,” he said. “And I want to make sure that we are doing everything that we can do as a school system and as school board members to return your kid back to you the same way that you dropped them off or sent them to school.”

He said he would also make sure that the county’s budgets are student-centered and are distributed equally among the schools to make sure Fairview and Parkside get their fair shares.

Knop said he has experience in government as the assistant engineer of Marshall County and the county’s safety coordinator, so he has already dealt with safety issues at the Marshall County Courthouse and could use that experience for the schools.

For the budget, he said he would make sure that all of the money in the county school system is going directly to the students and schools, and would make sure that the county is not overspending in any areas. 

“We want to make sure we stay in the black,” he said. “It’s all about the dollars going to the students.”