Minutes

Court Centennial Committee Meeting

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

3rd Floor Conference Room Judicial Building

Attendees:

Chief Judge John H. Ruffin, Jr.

Judge Anne Elizabeth Barnes	Judge John J. Ellington

Judge M. Yvette Miller	Mr. Charles Adams, Attorney

Mr. Edwin Bell, AOC	Mr. Bob Feagin, Attorney

Mr. Lendon Gibbs, Attorney	Ms. Jane Martin, AOC

Mr. Harold Melton, Counsel to	Mr. Jeff Milsteen, Assistant Attorney Governor	General

Mr. Scott Henwood, Reporter	Mr. Bill Martin, Clerk/Administrator

Mr. Bob McAteer, Technical Services	Ms. Holly Sparrow, Deputy
Administrator

1.	Chief Judge Ruffin called the meeting to order welcoming the attendees and asking them to introduce themselves. Thereafter, the agenda for the day and the minutes of the last meeting were approved.

2.	Chief Judge Ruffin then asked Mr. Martin to provide an overview of the celebration plans for the Court's centennial.

Mr. Martin stated that the committee had considered several plans but none were yet final. Among the potential plans proposed were a ceremonial service (in the Appropriations Room of the Capitol which was the original courtroom), production of a video on the Court's history, special sittings of the Court in the former capital cities of the state, and a formal dinner with a prominent state or national speaker. He noted that a tentative timeline for events had been created and names of speakers and dinner venues suggested. He stated that although different types of funding had been discussed, including appropriations, grants, events fees and donations, at this point no particular strategy had been excluded.

Chief Judge Ruffin added further details to Mr. Martin's overview pointing out that the Court's chosen theme for the Centennial was "A Century of Serving Justice 1906-2006". Judge Ruffin said that he hoped the timeline would be limited to the 2006 year with the formal dinner being held at the culmination (end) of the celebration. He also suggested that one of the centennial events should have an educational purpose. An example, would be a continuing legal education program or a speaker who would appeal to laypersons as well as lawyers.

Judge Ruffin explained to the members, who had not attended the last meeting, that the committee was established to provide recommendations about the celebration to the full Court for approval. Furthermore, he envisioned involvement in the centennial plans by many of the larger bar associations such as the State Bar, the Atlanta Bar Association, the Georgia Association for Black Women Attorneys, the Georgia Alliance of African American Attorneys, the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers, the Georgia Hispanic Bar Association, the Gate City Bar, etc. The Chairman noted that he had seen the Speaker of the House recently and the Speaker had also agreed to designate a representative to the committee.

Prior to requesting the committee members comments on the plans to date, he informed the committee members that he had solicited the aid of Judge Marion Pope, Jr. and Attorney Lendon Gibbs on the funding issues and had Dianne Joy, an employee of the Court, investigating availability of speakers and sites for the dinner. The Chairman explained that Ms. Joy was unable to attend the present meeting, but would report at the next meeting on her findings.

3.	Following Chief Judge Ruffin's remarks, Mr. Milsteen asked if the celebration would indeed include visits of the Court around the state. Judge Ruffin stated that he felt such session should be held either this year or as soon as possible in order to promote the centennial celebration and to educate the public on the role of the Court of Appeals. Moreover, if a formal dinner was planned, he would not want it to be so exclusive as to eliminate interested members of the lay community.

4.	Mr. Milsteen also asked if the committee had considered involving historical societies in the centennial plans because such organizations could assist the Court in involving non lawyers in the celebration. The Chairman stated that historical agencies had not yet been contacted, but the Court's technical services had contacted some of these organizations for materials to use in the video, the Court had arranged with Professor E. R. Lanier to write a history book about the Court, and special bound volumes of the Georgia Appeal Reports would be issued during the centennial year. Judge Miller commented that she felt contacting the Atlanta History Center would be an excellent idea.

Mr. Adams suggested that the Georgia Legal History Foundation would also be interested in a cooperative activity with the Court perhaps making available their Journal which is published in conjunction with Mercer Law School. He explained that he would be willing to bring this issue up at the next meeting of the Foundation on March 3, 2005.

5.	Chief Judge Ruffin asked for further comments on the previously proposed celebratory events proposing that at least one event appeal to the general public and that the number of events be limited to two so that the Court would be able to obtain sufficient resources to ensure success. He indicated the date of the dinner should be set as close as feasible to either the date of the passage of the constitutional amendment creating the court (October 3, 1906) or the date the Court was first convened (January 2, 1907).

Judge Miller suggested that the Atlanta History Center Museum might be a good site for the dinner enhancing the public outreach aspect of the celebration. Mr. Adams indicated that the Executive Director of the Museum would be open to a discussion of such an event at the museum. Although Mr. Melton and Judge Ellington both suggested considering the new Bar Center as a potential event site, Judge Miller felt this would not be as likely to reach the broader public. The Chairman indicated that he was partial to a panel discussion for the outreach event with Judge Miller proposing that the event be held at the Museum with a reception following the panel discussion.

At the conclusion of the discussion, Chief Judge Ruffin appointed an Events Subcommittee of Judges Anne Elizabeth Barnes and M. Yvette Miller and Mr. Charles Adams, Mr. Jeff Milsteen, and Mr. Harold Melton to make recommendations on the form of the celebratory events at the next committee meeting.

6.	Returning to the issue of public outreach, Judge Miller asked if the committee had contacted Georgia Public Broadcasting about airing a program on the Court and its Centennial perhaps including an interview with the Chief Judge or a panel. In response, the Chairman suggested that he have Mr. McAteer describe the court's video history project and his grant proposal.

Mr. McAteer stated that, on behalf of the Court, he had applied to the Georgia Civil Justice Foundation for funds to research and produce a video history of the Court. He explained that the video would be 30 to 40 minutes long and include photos and other materials from historical societies, the Georgia Archives and materials from CNN or other news archives as well as interviews with judges, governors, and past employees of the court.

He noted that the grant application required the finished video to be distributed to schools and libraries. Moreover it or the interviews conducted in preparing the finished video could be used alone or jointly with a live interview or panel on PBS or a local commercial TV station. He explained that he had not called any TV stations yet, since he was concerned that a commercial station might appropriate his idea before he has time to complete the major part of the project. He also explained that the grant was very important since the owners of photo and news archives charge fairly significant fees for their materials.

Thereafter, Mr. McAteer mentioned a number of the persons who he had either interviewed or planned to interview for the project including a granddaughter of one of the first three judges on the Court, several past Governors, and retired Judges Frank Eldridge, Sammons Bell, Dorothy Beasley, Braswell Dean, etc. Judge Ruffin suggested that in the interest of preserving the memories which will soon be lost that Mr. McAteer interview the oldest judges first. Mr. McAteer stated his goal is to have a draft version of the video completed by April 2006 and a final version by summer 2006.

Ms. Jane Martin volunteered to assist Mr. McAteer with the current grant application while Mr. Henwood suggested that the Watson Brown Foundation which provides educational grants be contacted on behalf of the committee.

Following Mr. McAteer's presentation, members of the committee suggested other ideas for outreach such as including local historical societies in planning special sessions of the court around the state; involving some of the larger local bar associations in preliminary events; and organizing a moot court competition around themes arising from monumental Court of Appeal decisions for which the winners would be recognized at the formal dinner.

7.	In order to make efficient use of everyone's time, Chief Judge Ruffin proposed that several additional subcommittees (in addition to the previously appointed Events Subcommittee) be charged to return to the next meeting with recommendations on the following subjects: financing centennial events; determination of a speaker for the formal dinner; and expansion of the committee membership to enhance outreach activites. He appointed the following persons to these subcommittees:

Finance - Judge Marion Pope, Mr. Lendon Gibbs, Ms. Jane Martin, and Mr. Scott Henwood

Formal Dinner Speaker - Judge John Ellington, Ms. Dianne Joy, Mr. Bob Feagin, and Mr. Edwin Bell

Committee Membership Expansion - Chief Judge John Ruffin, Mr. Bill Martin, and Holly Sparrow

Chief Judge Ruffin adjourned the meeting at 11:00 a.m.