Jimmy Sandlin to Again Run for Lauderdale Circuit Court

According to yesterday's TimesDaily, Judge Jimmy Sandlin will seek re-election as Lauderdale County Circuit Court Judge Place 1, commonly referred to as Family Court Judge. Sandlin is opposed by Florence attorney Willson Jenkins and presumably Billy Jackson who, if still in the running, is keeping a low profile.

Sandlin came to the judgeship four years ago after defeating Judge Larry Mack Smith. His platform during that campaign was "saving marriages." Since his election, Jimmy Sandlin himself has divorced and been the subject of much speculation concerning his ability to carry out the job to which the people of Lauderdale County elected him.

Almost immediately after the inception of this blog, we were contacted by a Lauderdale County woman who had experienced Sandlin's court firsthand. Now that Sandlin has officially announced his intent to run for a second term, this caring and articulate woman and mother has again contacted us. She will be setting up her own website to oppose Jimmy Sandlin's re-election, using her documented case specifics, as well as other personal information that we choose not to publish at this time.

However, we can publish some of the concerns this woman is seeking to address. Here, in her own words, are her (edited) complaints regarding Judge Jimmy Sandlin which she has included in a mailing to many of his supporters:


---------Sandlin refused to grant my children and me financial support or exclusive use of the home-place from Feb 2005 to Feb 2007, that we owned another home on the same property, that we repeatedly turned to Judge Sandlin for help, that Sandlin was given several opportunities to protect my children, and he refused to help them.

---------copies of 3 motions filed asking for immediate relief from the conditions we were in:

---------the first one coincided with the initial filing for divorce which stated that "the wife does not feel safe if required to reside with the husband", "there have been certain behavioral changes in her husband of late which support and give credence to her fears"...stated that the husband has other places to reside.

---------subsequent motions used the words "openly hostile".... "chronic tension".... "detrimental effects both on the parties and the parties' children"... "significant negative effects on the parties' three girls"... "there is suffering among this family and the brunt of the suffering is unfortunately borne by the parties' children"... "defendant routinely drinks to excess".... "(children) have too much to endure".... "indicative of their (children's) depression"..."he withholds money"..."makes their simple existence almost unbearable"...."deteriorating circumstances in the marital residence"..."increasing air of hostility"...."environment counter-productive and unnecessary"..."afford them the relief to which they are entitled". Strong language, yet Sandlin refused to respond to the numerous requests for relief and deliberately left us in the same house with (husband) for two full years.

---------my testimony that the court damaged my children by making us reside with (husband) under these conditions for 2 years and that Sandlin threatened to make my daughters wards of the state with no justification at all.

---------that it was suggested by legal professionals that the way Sandlin arranged my children's child support is not legal...he awarded them $1934/month and then kicked back to (husband) $734/month as "rent" even though both our homes were paid for. This $734 in rent was not recorded on the Child Support Guidelines Worksheet. More than one attorney told me this was not legal.

---------my attorney's affidavit that neither he nor (husband's) attorney received notice of the ruling which cost us our opportunity to appeal Sandlin's decree.

---------a copy of the January, 2007, article from the Times Daily about Sandlin's commitment to mending marriages, the programs that he implemented, the same programs he bypassed when he got his own divorce in another county.

As stated, these comments are highly edited. When the website has been completed, we will be providing a link for those who wish to read the story in its entirety. For further reading, we include links to previous columns concerning Lauderdale County Circuit Court Judgeship Place 1:

Jimmy Sandlin
Willson Jenkins
Billy Jackson

Be a good Alabamian, be an informed Alabamian.

Shoalanda