Court of Appeals of Georgia

Court Centennial Committee Meeting

10:00 a.m. September 12, 2006

Third Floor Conference Room

Judicial Building

Atlanta, Georgia

Attendees:

Chief Judge John H. Ruffin, Jr., Chair

Judge Yvette Miller	Judge John J. Ellington

Judge Marion T. Pope	Mr. Lendon Gibbs
Professor Marjorie Girth	Mr. Scott Henwood

Ms. Jane Martin	Mr. Jeff Milsteen

Mr. William L. Martin, III, Clerk	Ms. Dianne Joy, COA

Mr. Bob McAteer, COA	Ms. Holly Sparrow, COA

1.	The Chairperson called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. Minutes of the last
meeting were read. A motion to adopt the minutes was made by Judge Pope,
seconded by Judge Miller, and the motion carried.

2.	At the request of the Chair, Ms. Sparrow made a report about the Oratorical
Contest which had been held Saturday, September 9, 2006 at the State Bar
Center. Ms. Sparrow stated that the contest was a great success. There
were 28 contestants and the presentations overall were excellent.

She remarked that Roberta Earnhardt, Assistant District Attorney in Rockdale
Judicial Circuit, and her parents, who are involved with the American Legion
High School Speech Contest, had assisted Ms. Pryor to organize and conduct
the contest. Further, there were quite a number of private attorneys and Court
of Appeals' staff attorneys who contributed their time to be judges,
timekeepers, tabulators and other assistants during the contest. Justice Carley
from the Supreme Court, Chief Judge Rufffin, Judges Barnes and Miller of the
Court of Appeals and Judge Nation from the Superior Court of Rockdale
County were the judges for the final round.

Next, Ms. Sparrow read the names and hometowns of the first through fourth
place winners and the quarter finalists.

Judges Ruffin and Miller commented on their enjoyment of the contest and the
quality of the contestants. Chief Judge Ruffin recognized the contributions of
Ms. Pryor and the Earnhardt family to the contest and thanked Justice Served,
Inc. for the scholarship funds and the opportunity to hold the contest.

3.	Following Ms. Sparrow's report, Mr. Gibbs was asked to report on the progress	of registration and ticketing for the Centennial Dinner. Mr. Gibbs stated that
Justice Served, Inc. had sold approximately 450 tickets. Judge Miller
suggested that the Court and Justice Served try to make sure all the seats at the
dinner are filled.

The draft of the dinner program was distributed to the committee members.
Judge Miller made a motion that an Honor Guard be added to the Program.
Judge Pope seconded the motion, and it carried unanimously. Mr. Gibbs
volunteered to contact David Poythress, Adjutant General of the Georgia
National Guard about an Honor Guard.

After Mr. Gibbs report, Dianne Joy announced the status of the registration of
employees and honorary guests. She said there are about 200 tickets
committed to employees and honorary guests. She indicated that the Court had
not received a response from a number of honorary guests, and asked if there
should be follow-up calls. It was determined that the Court should identify the	non-	respondents and then determine whether telephone calls to some
individuals	such as bar leadership, legislators, constitutional officers and some	members of the judiciary would be prudent. Mr. Milsteen promised to check
with Attorney General Baker on his invitation, and Judge Miller stated she
would contact the Dean of Mercer University Law School.

Judge Pope mentioned that it may be necessary for the Court of Appeal Judges
to contact some of the state officials to persuade them to attend. He explained
that he had success with private law firms only after contacting them in person.

Ms. Joy proposed eliminating the on-line registration this week. It was
determined since there are tickets remaining and the invitation deadline is not
until Friday, September 15, 2006, the on-line registration will remain up
until all tickets are taken or until the end of Friday, September 15th whichever
occurs first.

Ms. Joy also reported that she was working on an email which would be sent
to all the persons purchasing tickets for which payment has not yet been
received. This email would remind them that the invitation will not admit them	to the dinner. The message will state that tickets are necessary for entry to the
dinner, and ticket packets will be mailed only if payment is received by
September 22, 2006.

After Ms. Joy's report, the Chair called upon Mr. McAteer to add his comments	about the dinner. Mr. McAteer reported that the video screens in the ballroom
would display the court history video footage, the speakers, and a clip of the
Oratorical Contest.

4.	At this point, the Chair gave a report on the Panel Discussions. Chief Judge
Ruffin pointed out that there had been a number of sessions with various law
firms on the same topic as the Oratorical Contest. He remarked that the
exchange of ideas	during these sessions has been good. Another session is
tentatively scheduled for September 20th. There has also been some discussion	about extending these sessions into 2007, but the Court will make that decision
at a later date.

5.	Mr. Gibbs was then asked to make the report of the Finance Committee. He
explained that everything was in order and that there were sufficient funds for
the Centennial activities. An escrow account for the scholarship money was
being opened.

6.	The Chair asked Judge Pope to report on the status of the Court History Book.	Judge Pope stated that he had spoken to Mr. Adams who had written to Tom
Watson Brown about sponsoring the book's publication. Currently, that
proposal is still pending. Judge Pope said that he would soon be following
up on the proposal. He also stated that there would be an announcement at the
dinner that copies of the Court History Book would be made available to the
dinner guests once it is published.

7.	Judge Ellington offered comments on the off-site arguments. He said that
the most recent off-site argument was held in Statesboro, and it was educational	for the audience and enjoyable to the judges. He noted that there are several
off -site arguments scheduled for the remainder of September.

8.	After all the reports, the Chair stated that there would be another meeting of the	Centennial Committee after the date of the Centennial Dinner to make a final
assessment of the Centennial activities including the dinner. There were
several suggestions from committee members about possible future cooperation	with Justice Served, Inc. The Chair deferred discussion of these ideas until the	next committee meeting.

Thereafter, there being no further business, the Chairperson adjourned the meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

____________________________________

Holly K. O. Sparrow

Deputy Court Administrator

Court of Appeals of Georgia