Judge Jason B. Thompson had another busy fall visiting local schools and mentoring local high school and college students interested in law school, but he is most proud of laying the groundwork for the first accountability court in a State Court for the Griffin Judicial Circuit.
Judge Thompson’s goal is to interact with as many students as possible. Many times he will visit a local school, but students are also encouraged to visit him in the courtroom as well. Last Fall, he visited Burch Elementary to speak to the Burch Ambassadors about “integrity.” During a visit to Sara Harp Elementary, he passed out dictionaries to each third-grader as part of an initiative with the Peachtree City Rotary Club. At Crabapple Lane, Judge Thompson discussed the branches of the government with each third-grade class.
He went back to his alma mater, Fayette County High School, to speak to the Business Law students as well as those students in the work-based learning program. The courtroom was a classroom for the elementary school students from The Children’s House in Serenbe, and the Whitewater High School girls varsity basketball team visited as they prepared to “dominate the court” this season.
There were many students observing court proceedings over the last three months including Gabrielle Saxe (Georgia State), Kristina Little (Georgia College), Sahrena Nevarez (Georgia Military College), and high school students Jeffrey Colo-Jones and Ally Griffin. If any student would like to observe a court proceeding and meet with Judge Thompson to discuss the judicial system, contact his judicial assistant, Toni Tumlin, at 770-716-4270 or ttumlin@fayettecountyga.gov.
At a County Commission meeting in December, the high school (Ifeacho Awachie, Alexa Yanar), college (Reagan Drake), and law school (Daniel Richardson, Erin Deitrich) interns were recognized for their outstanding contributions to the county and Fayette County State Court.
Judge Thompson had the privilege of swearing in Justin Forrester as the newest member of the Fayetteville Police Department. The Fayette County State Court DUI Court team visited the DUI Court team from Athens-Clarke County to learn how to successfully implement the newest accountability court in the Griffin Judicial Circuit.
The DUI Court was scheduled to officially begin Jan. 1.
