Texas Forum on Self-Represented Litigants

Registration is now open for the April Texas Forum on Self-Represented Litigants and the Courts in Dallas.

Link is www.TexasCourtForum.org

TACA has a Facebook Group!

TACA now has a group on Facebook where approved members can post discussion questions, get feedback and interact with other TACA members!

Want to join?

1. You must first be a Facebook member (you can create an account by logging onto www.facebook.com).
2. Once you join, or if you are already a member, log into Facebook and search for TACA (or the Texas Association for Court Administration).
3. Click on the group once you find it.
4. Click on the "Join" button.
5. Wait for confirmation of approval.

Only approved members can see the contents of the group page, meaning if you're not a member, all you will be able to see is the logo and description.

As always, please use your discresion when posting to any public group. TACA is a professional organization and the site will be moderated to assure that any information on the group page reflects positively on the Association.

Worried about your Facebook privacy? Here's and article you might find interesting: http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/

Presentation Materials are Available!

Did you miss the 33rd Annual Education Conference, or need a copy of something the presenters handed out at the conference? Many of the materials from the conference are now available online at http://www.mytaca.org/hist/conf/presentations2009.html.

Linda Kellum Receives TACA's Barrow Award

Order in court receives attention
By BLAIR DEDRICK ORTMANN
November 19, 2009
Posted: November 18, 2009, 8:57 PM CST Last updated: November 18, 2009, 9:01 PM CST

For 14 years, Linda Kellum's smile has greeted rushed attorneys and irate citizens, court reporters and clerks alike in the office of 88th District Judge Earl Stover III.

Her calm manner belies the phone calls she makes and answers, the scheduling she juggles and the files she goes over as she performs her duties as Stover's court coordinator.

"When people call and ask if I'm Judge Stover's secretary, I correct them," she said. "I'm a coordinator."

In addition to her job, she has taken the position further, becoming a leader in the Texas Association of Court Administrators by teaching other court coordinators, organizing conferences and meetings and serving on the organization's board for several years.

Her outstanding work earned her the Justice Charles W. Barrow Award this week from the association. The award, which is not given every year, recognizes someone who has "high standards of excellence" and who makes "extraordinary contributions in promoting court administration in Texas," according to the organization's Web site.

Kellum became a court coordinator when Stover was elected 88th District Judge in 1996.

"He'd never been a judge, and I'd never been a coordinator," Kellum said, laughing.

She and Stover graduated from Silsbee High School together, she said, and worked together when she worked at his father's title business and, later, law office.

In their respective new positions, they learned together, she said, calling his dad, longtime member of the law community Earl Stover Jr., for advice in a pinch.

Fourteen years later, the two have their routine down.

Stover, whose district also includes Tyler County, spends three weeks in his Hardin County office and one week per month in Tyler County, presiding over jury trials and civil cases.

Kellum makes sure he stays busy.

"I literally do over-book," she said. "So many of our trials don't happen and if you don't have something else already lined up, that's a day wasted in the courtroom."

Hardin County's courtrooms are shared by two district judges, the county judge and the justices of the peace, and some days, Kellum said, it's like playing musical courtrooms.

"We have court wherever we fit," she said. "We have started out a trial in one courtroom and then moved to another to accommodate someone else."

Kellum and Rita Peterson, the court coordinator for 356th District Judge Britt Plunk, share the duties of making sure everyone has a place to be.

"Every case that's heard in court, we have to set it," Peterson said, adding that Kellum is outstanding at her job as well as spending much of her spare time working for the state association.

"It's time they recognized her, that's what I'm saying," she said. "You almost have to be a psychologist to deal with the citizens who come in upset, and sometimes you have to be the chamber of commerce because everybody calls when they're lost or they need the answer to a question."

Article copied from: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/order_in_court_receives_attention.html

Criminal Court Cost Charts

The latest news from OCA's website: The District Clerk’s Felony Court Cost Chart, the County Clerk’s Misdemeanor Court Cost Chart – Original Jurisdiction, and the County Clerk’s Misdemeanor Court Cost Chart – Appeals from Lower Courts have been updated to include new and amended criminal court costs established by the 81st Legislature. These new and amended criminal court costs will go into effect on January 1, 2010. [09/18/09]

Judges to Judges: What is the Impact of underage drinking on the courts' caseloads?

REMINDER - UPCOMING PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT

This program is the fourth in a series of audio-teleconference presentations produced by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) and the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) in cooperation with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) with a focus on the relationship of the judicial and probation communities and the issues related to underage alcohol abuse.

TITLE: Judges to Judges: What is the Impact of underage drinking on the courts’ caseloads

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The impact of underage drinking is not well discussed or even acknowledged because the related problems that occupy a significant amount of the Court’s time do not carry a label “underage drinking”. Yet the illegal activity of drinking by the underage youth creates many associations for additional illegal activities. Judges and court staffs around the country are looking for information and seeking best practices to provide youthful offenders with the best possible outcomes.

The U.S. Surgeon General’s “Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking” called for increasing the knowledge of judges and others in the justice system about the nature and scope of underage drinking. The education needs include how to identify the underage drinking problem in your case load when alcohol is not part of the charged offense. How do the judges identify the alcohol risks for a child on the Children in Need of Service docket and experiencing stressful events such as divorce or abuse may be at increased risk for alcohol involvement? Our program panel of judges will share how they identify the impacts of underage alcohol problems for the young people in their courts (adult and juvenile) and discuss what information they would like to have in the future to address these problems.

LOCATION: Online Audio Teleconference

DATE: September 30, 2009 3:00-4:15 Eastern Time

PRESENTERS:
Judge Lucinda Masterton
Circuit 22 Family Court
Kentucky Court of JusticeLexington, KY

Judge Michael McPhail
Forrest County Youth Court
Hattiesburg, MS

Judge Thomas Bamberger,
Associate Justice
State of New Hampshire District Court System
Nashua, New Hampshire

NO REGISTRATION FEE: Register on line at: http://www.udetc.org/audioconf_judicialregistration.asp

Course Objectives, Outline and CLE Certificate Provided Upon Request

INQUIRIES:
Aidan J. Moore
Senior Program Manager
Judicial-Probation Outreach Project
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation
amoore@pire.org
603-369-1766

TACA Appoints New Board Member: Denise Spalding

I am sending you this message to inform you that Dana Cotherman of the TACA Board has received and accepted the position as City Clerk for the city of Ulyses, Kansas. This is a great opportunity for Dana and her family and, while we will definitely miss her, we wish her great success in her new position.

Needless to say Dana cannot retain her Regular Membership in TACA and as such cannot remain on the Board of Directors. Therefore, in accordance with the TACA Bylaws (Art. IV, Sect. 7), the Board has appointed Denise Spalding to serve out Dana’s unexpired term. Denise serves with the 158th District Court in Denton County and has been a TACA Member since 1990. We believe Denise is a great addition to the Board and will serve the Membership with great zeal and enthusiasm.

Randy Walker, TACA Chair