The Clerk of Superior Court is elected in partisan elections for a 4-year term and must be a resident of the county. The clerk is responsible for all clerical and record-keeping functions of the superior court and district court. The clerk also handles the probate of wills and the administration of estates of decedents, minors and incompetents. The clerk also hears a variety of special proceedings such as adoptions, incompetency determinations and partitions of land, is empowered to issue arrest and search warrants, and to exercise the same powers as a magistrate with respect to taking pleas of guilty to minor littering, traffic, wildlife, boating, marine fisheries, alcoholic beverage, state park recreation and worthless-check offenses.
Position/philosophy statement
My staff and I have a continuous goal of providing prompt, courteous service with 100% accuracy
Current Occupation
Clerk of Superior Court - Scotland County, N.C.
Campaign Phone
910-277-6597
I practiced law 26 years handling many of the same types of matters for which I'm now responsible as clerk. Within legal limits, I enjoy helping fellow members of our community access the legal system without determining whether we can afford each other.
I have developed good work habits over the years in many different jobs which required diligence, persistence, and ingenuity, such as farming and construction. I've been a long-term community volunteer in many areas, such as youth sports, historic preservation, etc. My church family is at Old Laurel Hill.
Scotland County is the place I was born and raised. Attended Scotland High, UNC-P and NCCU Law School.
I've been married 46 years to the same feisty woman with kids and grandkids.
Navigating the demands of the new eCourts system. It's an enormous statewide project in which paper is being eliminated to create and store court records. At times it is unstable, unpredictable, and sometimes doesn't work at all. But with dedication we're making it work and it will eventually be a great system.
Also, the vestiges of the pandemic still exist. We had to close the office for a week twice due to severe outbreaks. We've employed practices to minimize our risks due to Covid19 and other contagious diseases, such as restricting access to the office and social distancing. It's not foolproof, but we haven't had a single shutdown even though individual members of the office have caught Covid 19 or the flu several times.
Once eCourts becomes more reliable and functional, more cross training is desirable.
We are bound by the concept of "segregation of duties" which prevents members of the office from dealing with matters which increases the risk of malfeasance. For example, a criminal clerk cannot also be a cashier due to past statewide experiences which show that an opportunity exists whereby a clerk may accept payments which are then pocketed, but detection is avoided since the case is cleared out of the system by the same person.
I'd like to better cross train clerks to operate in departments outside of their normal duties to enable us to have another layer of redundancy in an emergency just by releasing an employee from his/her normal duties.
This job is very challenging and fulfilling. It fits my nature and personality. I love going to work in the morning.
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