This past Tuesday, the 2012-13 Chamber Adult Leadership Program explored the crime and judicial system within Sampson County. What an enjoyable day to be able to see the “behind the scenes” of the operations of the judicial system within our county.

Both the Adult and Junior Leadership program are operated by the Chamber’s Leadership Steering Committee. The Leadership Steering Committee is formed by eight member volunteers who work collectively to coordinate the Leadership Clinton-Sampson Program. Each committee member is responsible for making arrangements for two program days (one for the adult class and one for the junior class). This program would not be possible without each volunteer and we thank each of them for their support and organization of their specific leadership day.

For the Crime and Judicial Day, we began with Sheriff Jimmy Thornton at the Sampson County Detention Center. Sheriff Thornton was kind enough to take time to explain how the jail was operated on a day-to-day basis and also from a business standpoint with finances, revenue, and budgets. From the jail, we journeyed to the Sampson County Courthouse to sit in on a trial. After the trial, we were able to speak to the district attorney, Judge Norman, Clerk of Court Norman Naylor and his staff. While there is so much that is a part of the judicial system we were not able to cover, we were able to get an overview of the process and ask questions. From the courthouse, we went to explore the Register of Deeds office with Eleanor Bradshaw.

After a delicious lunch from The Ashford Inn in Clinton, we traveled to the Sampson County History Museum to visit the Law Enforcement museum. Oh how it has changed throughout the years from the original jail setting of bars and keys to the new jail house of concrete and automatic locks. Our last stop was at the Clinton City Police Department where Chief Jay Tilley was able to let us discover the canine unit.

What a wonderful opportunity to explore Sampson County this week. While the 2012-13 Leadership Program is quickly coming to a close with only two more explorations remaining — State Government Day and Local Government Day. As we begin to look forward to the 2013-14 Adult Leadership program, please let us know if you have interest in participating. As always, we thank you for your support and if we can be of assistance, please give us a call 910-592-6177.