Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 3, 1994 TAG: 9407030064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Laurence Hammack
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jurisdictional battles are sometimes added to the mix, as was demonstrated this year in the filling of a General District Court judgeship in Franklin County.
With the session winding to a close, Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood received the nod from Democratic caucuses in both the House and Senate.
That is usually a sure sign of final approval by the General Assembly, and Hapgood took it as such. "I'm really very humbled by it," he said in an article in the Roanoke Times & World-News.
The story ran on a Saturday, the last day of the General Assembly's 1994 session.
Lawyers and court officials in neighboring Pittsylvania County, which shares the judgeship with Franklin County and Danville, were outraged at the news.
With two other judgeships in the circuit already filled by Franklin County lawyers, the Pittsylvania County bar felt that it was being slighted.
Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Martinsville, and other legislators who represent the area began to receive telephone calls.
"They felt they were being left out in terms of representation on the bench from a geographic standpoint," Armstrong said.
After discussing the matter at a hastily arranged meeting, Armstrong and the other Democratic legislators decided the Pittsylvania County lawyers had a point.
In an unusual move, they submitted a new candidate - George Jones, a Pittsylvania County lawyer who received final approval by the General assembly.
by CNB