Bill addresses judicial efficiency in western counties Sen. Kevin Corbin
A House bill proposed by Western North Carolina reps. Mike Clampitt, R-Bryson City, and Mark Pless, R-Haywood, includes significant changes to a judicial district that is larger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.
“Population for this area is growing exponentially, the number of cases are growing exponentially. Dockets get to be so long and there’s so many court cases,” said Clampitt of H405 , which was filed in the House with Clampitt and Pless as primary sponsors on March 24.
The bill would amend NCGS 7A-41 and move Swain County from Superior Court District 30A, which also includes Cherokee, Clay, Graham and Macon counties, to district 30B, which is currently comprised of Haywood and Jackson counties. Each district is assigned one resident Superior Court judge.
Spend county money compassionately
To the Editor:
Our Haywood county government is planning to build a new jail at a cost of over $14 million. Important questions have been raised about this project. One of the most important is “What can we do to prevent another new jail being needed in ten years?”
Given the increasing cost of land and construction, this will probably cost the taxpayers of Haywood county more than the current price of $14 million.
And further, is putting more folks in jail, especially non violent offenders, the best way to spend our tax money.
Sheriff Greg Christopher and Judge Brad Letts, among others, have done great work in dealing with the ever-increasing jail population. Programs like Pathways and the pre-trial release program have both helped people who have stepped outside the law to get their lives back to together and some to even avoid future misdeeds.