Thanks, waltzingmatilda. I mentioned in an earlier post that I am from the same judicial circuit as Tonya. When my daughter was 14 years old, she and some of her friends got into trouble for making a huge amount of phone calls on a cell found that they had found. She had to go before a juvenile court judge so being a single mother, I applied for a court appointed attorney. They determined that I made too much money so I had to hire one (don't know what the standard is for "too much", but at that time I made less than (30k per year). Anyway, I had an aquaintance who happened to be a lawyer in Atlanta and he offered to come up and represent her at no charge, so happily I agreed. The judge chewed me out for bringing in "outside" counsel and let me know in no uncertain terms that my lawyer was not welcome in her courtroom! She did allow him to represent my daughter but not before humiliating me in front of a full courtroom and my friend who had driven two hours and donated his time on my behalf. He told me afterwards not to worry because most judges in small towns are that way. Said it looks as though you are trying to make the locals look bad by bringing in the big guns. Sorry it took so long to say this, but to me, it boils down to "what happens in Catoosa County, stays in Catoosa County". It's always been that way, but maybe now, those days are over.
