Judge Ellwood provides court statistics

Guernsey County Common Pleas Court Judge David A. Ellwood challenged the members of the Cambridge Lions Club to set a good example to our future generations by serving when called for jury duty. A show of hands indicated that a majority of the members had already served on a jury.

“We had a third grade class visit the court (last year),” Ellwood said. “I let them sit in the jury box and in the other seats in the courtroom. I explained how the court works.”

“They wrote thank you notes after their visit,” said Ellwood. “One girl said, ‘I hope to be a judge some day.’ Another student thanked me for explaining that the pictures in the court room were of all the men who had served as judges. (One student) asked, 'Do you think I could be a probation officer someday?’”

Ellwood introduced officers of the court and explained some of their duties saying, “I want to publicly recognize these people who do so much for the court.” He acknowledged the contributions of Capt. Tim Oliver, the chief probation officer and a certified instructor for court personnel, Lt. Bob Hollins, bailiff, Lt. Beth Brown, deputy chief probation officer, Sgt. Craig Savage, intensive supervised probation officer, Scott Jones, electronic monitored house arrest officer, Bob McCoy, bailiff of the small court, Kevin Shipe, probation officer, Kelly Gebhart, administrative assistant, and Chelsea Coburn, paralegal.

Ellwood reviewed court statistics comparing the first half of 2008 with the first half of 2007. “We have seen a decrease in violent crimes, but the theft of copper has increased. We need to send a message that the court will send copper thieves to jail.”

“The local court is assisting in trying to alleviate the mortgage crisis by trying to get the mortgage holders and the homeowners to work out other arrangements where possible rather than foreclosing. We have more foreclosures now than during the Great Depression in the 1930’s,” Ellwood said.

Ellwood said that Ohio laws allow for courts to charge a supervision fee for those convicted of nonviolent crimes. This helps pay for community service supervision and is a better solution than putting people in jail.

“We also have had over thirty-six thousand dollars paid back to the victims of crime,” Ellwood said.

The common pleas court hears cases involving divorce/dissolutions, child custody, visitation and support, personal injury, civil and criminal cases, and property foreclosures. The court also supervises the drug court program