JUDGE’S COMMENTS
Shortly after taking office I had an idea to have a first ever county wide “moot court” competition with all five schools competing.
That’s a legal exercise with two-student teams making an oral argument made in open court about a hypothetical problem. The teams are graded on many criteria. We contacted the superintendents of all five schools and each readily agreed to participate.
We wrote a hypothetical problem involving the search and seizure issues of the Fourth Amendment and a meeting was held with representatives from all five schools. Each school then invited students to participate and the response was excellent.
On Tuesday, 18 teams comprised of 36 students participated in the first-ever Milam County Moot Court competition.
The students have learned how to make an oral argument presentation to a panel of three judges. Some of Milam County’s best lawyers volunteered to help tutor the students including, Hollis Lewis, Benton Watson, Jenny Gebhart, Craig Brown, Asst. DA Brian Price, County Attorney Kyle Nuttall and James Walker.
The distinguished panel of judges includes District Judge John Youngblood, DA Bill Torrey, Judges Andy Isaacs, Greg Hoelscher, Gary Northcott and Jerry Waggoner. Melanie Reed, Michelle Morgan and Curtis Chubb are helping to get teams to the right courtroom and keep the competition on schedule.
Moot court was to have concluded on Wednesday.
The Cameron Rotary Club, Rockdale Lions Club, the Cameron Lions Club and the Rockdale Rotary Club are sponsoring scholarships
The winning team will receive a $1,000 scholarship and the runner up will receive $600.
We thank them profusely for their donations as it could not have been possible without their help. The Rockdale Reporter, The Cameron Herald, KMIL and KRXT are covering competition.
Interested students have been given a brief glimpse into one small aspect of the legal world. Perhaps this event will help them decide if a career in law is appealing to them.
Also, this is a small step in uniting this fine county. If our county is to prosper, we must have in kind cooperation on both sides of the river.
Old worn out lines of division are not healthy and obstruct economic development.
We accomplish so much more when we work together. Remember what happened when citizens from Rockdale, Cameron and Thorndale joined together to form a countywide economic committee?
A bid for the Amazon H2 headquarters was consummated. We were the only county in the nation that made such a bid. We were recognized on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and many new businesses started looking at us.
In the very near future we will likely hear of another new business coming to the county, due in part to the exposure we got by working together.
So yes, we have a new positive spirit of cooperation in the county. Thanks to the schools and all of those that have worked so hard for making this possible.
Know that this is just the beginning and that there is much more to come.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.