John Shirley
Today a group issued a press release that contained lies. Every day as a judge, I try to remember that people lied about and ultimately crucified Jesus Christ, who was perfect, and since I am an imperfect human being, I can expect some people to do the same to me.While I am prohibited from discussing a youth court matter, I have always sought to protect children from those who abuse and neglect children and I have at the same time protected the rights of the accused. Many times, knowing a youth court judge cannot comment on a case, abusers/neglecters or their attorneys will state partial facts but leave out the ugly facts about the abuser/neglecter. Any time I prohibited contact between a child and an abuser/neglecter, I ensured that the child would be safe and that the abuser/neglecter had an opportunity to take corrective measures to ensure that the abuse or neglect did not reoccur and that the abuser/neglecter would reappear before me so I could determine if the abuse/neglect hopefully would not reoccur. Sometimes abusers/neglecters fail to take corrective measures and believe that they should have contact regardless. Sometimes an abuser/neglecter refuses to appear before the judge. Some abusers/neglecters have "convenience amnesia" because he/she remembers the fine but conveniently forgets the other corrective action required.The Department of Child Protection Services ("CPS") has employees who have a duty to protect children and some of them do an excellent job, but some of those employees do a LOUSY job and he/she makes a recommendation just to lighten his/her workload. It is the judge's duty to try to ensure that the judge is fully informed rather than taking the word of a CPS employee whose motivation may be suspect.Unfortunately, the current Rankin County Youth Court Judge is more concerned about patting himself on the back rather than protecting children. That judge wanted to dissolve the Pearl Youth Court so he could use Pearl's statistics for grants and another judge informed me that he heard the current Rankin County Youth Court Judge tell others that Jake Windham promised to dissolve the Pearl Youth Court if the judge would help Jake get elected. When Jake was elected, he tried to convince the aldermen to dissolve the Pearl Youth Court, but a majority of the aldermen refused and that apparently angered Mayor Jake Windham because he said it would be brought up again.I resigned because I am tired of the politics of Mayor Jake Windham and that other judge and would always wonder when the next back-stabbing would occur.#