Midland County Essay Contest
1st Place Entry
Jordan York, 3rd grade, Rusk Elementary School, Midland
The Boss of the County
In county government, the most important position is that of the voter. I will explain what I mean. If a voter doesn’t vote, oh no, will we have good people to fix our county roads? When you are driving along that bumpy road and your car gets stuck in a hole, you can’t complain because you didn’t take the time to vote for knowledgeable road workers.
If that scares you, just listen to what else I have to say. What if you are sitting at home being lazy and what if the other voters elected a person you didn’t like for county judge. If that person isn’t capable, you can’t blame anyone because you didn’t get out and vote.
What if there is a new sheriff that puts the wrong person in jail for robbing a bank and that person is YOU! Does that frighten you? That is exactly why you need to get out and vote for people who know what they are doing.
You are the boss of the county when you vote. SO DO YOUR JOB AND ELECT GOOD PEOPLE!
Midland County Essay Contest
2nd Place Entry
Shelby Goswick, 4th Grade, Elisha M. Pease Communication/Technology Magnet School, Midland
Judge Michael Wallace…
Today at Pease Magnet School Mr. Judge Wallace came to Mrs. Cunningham’s fourth grade class because we are writing an essay for a contest. Mr. Wallace is a Justice of the Peace in Precinct Three of Midland County. He became a judge because of the way people respected him in his old job. He wanted to make a difference in the lives of others. Mr. Wallace ran for office in 1996. He was thirty-six years old. He deals with judicial matters such as not paying for your traffic tickets. However, I believe it is important to pay your tickets so you can learn from your driving mistakes.
Another thing he deals with is marrying people such as if one man and woman are engaged he will marry them. Another part of his job is presiding over suit. One example of a case is if a girl is the boss and there are two other employees. One is a 16 year old boy and one is a 16 year old girl, but the girl gets paid more than the boy – there is a problem. If the boy finds out, then he can sue the boss. They go to court, and that is where Mr. Wallace comes in. He can fine the boss up to $5,000! He does that so they won’t do it again.
He also investigates deaths of people and pronounces them dead, which is one of the toughest parts of his job. Today I have learned many things from Judge Michael Wallace. A couple of things he has taught me are if I do something really, really wrong, I could be sent to jail or given community service work. Just think I could be charged with a $5,000 fine and that is more than my life’s allowance. Thank you Judge Wallace for making a difference.
