Harber says he will clean up Juvenile Court mess in Anderson County
By Martha Woodward
Saying, "The Juvenile Court System is a mess in Anderson County and someone needs to clean it up," attorney, Phil Harber launched his campaign to run for Juvenile County Judge.
The seat came open when Judge April Meldrum abruptly quit.
Harber said he sees the main issue in the race as being the way children are being removed from homes by the court.
"Our children are removed at 4 times the rate of all other counties in the state of Tennessee," explained Harber. "Someone needs to straighten this mess out for the sake of our families."
Harber explained that he thinks the rules for removal of children have been implemented with a heavy hand.
"The rules and laws sent down from the Tennessee General Assembly require evidence - lots of evidence - before a child is removed from his/her parents," said Harber. "I am hearing about cases in which children have been removed only because the officials found boxes or bottles of chemicals in a house. Well, look in any house where there is a swimming pool in the yard and you'll find muriatic acid - the same chemical used in meth labs. Just having muriatic acid does not make a parent unfit. Yes, possession of it does raise questions, but we need to stop going nuts about some things and get back to requiring real evidence."
Harber said examples of real evidence would be things such as: finding an actual Meth Lab that has been cooking the drug; viewing a home in which there is no food available for the children; finding children unkept and ill-fed; seeing bruises, cuts, or abrasions on children; having testimony from teachers or neighbors as to the ill-treatment of children; and having children tell officials they are getting poor or bad treatment.
Harber will have plenty of competition for the position as Juvenile Judge as seven other applicants have applied for the job.
The Republican Party nominated Zack Farrahs as their candidate. The Democrats have not held their caucus yet so their choice is unknown. Others, like Harber, are running as Independents.
For more about Harber's opinions, go to www.phil4juvenilejudge.blogspot.com or phone him at (483) 457-4000.
