Email
10-2-07
This was an email sent to us that we felt should be published. It has had minor changes to make it more easily understood. Read on:
While one may not take the life of another, the assassination of the character of a decent man is an attempt on his life.
As a matter of law, court magistrates must be free of bias and independent. No magistrate will always be correct in all judgments, but this decision by the magistrate was correct; not enough evidence to issue a warrant. The existence of an independent judiciary is fundamental to the American system of justice.
When Mayor James Perkins bypassed these notions of an independent court system and appointed a lawyer that is a part-time judge in another city to second-guess our local system, he bypassed his duty to allow the municipal judiciary of the City of Selma to be independent of the other two branches of local government. Those who know Perkins were not surprised. Our municipal court has been “called on the carpet before” for having the gall to prosecute a city official who drove down Broad Street at nearly one hundred miles per hour. He then hand-picked a jurist to hear the case against Faya Rose Toure. That may seem like a strange comparison, but all who disagree with this mayor are lumped together in his mind and in his wrath.
Perhaps the time has come to merge our municipal court with the Dallas County District Court. While the City would lose a few minor jobs, it would by statute receive a percentage of the fees generated and the politics of city hall could remain on Broad Street where they belong.
In the meantime, let your councilperson hear from you that he or she should leave the courts alone and allow them to function as intended. If the judges or magistrates abuse their power, replace them, but while they serve without misconduct, stay out of their way.
This information was received by us and we thought it necessary to post it. A different direction of thought along the same lines as ourselves. This attempt at judicial control has been reported to several governmental agencies that look for misconduct by local elected officials.
