Debbi and Dave Morfit support Janice Shanks for Clerk of the Court

Editor:

Janice Shanks is the only truly qualified candidate for Clerk of Court. No other candidate has management experience over a staff of ten full time employees. Janice ran a restaurant and catering business for 20 years with a full time staff of over 30 employees.

No other candidate has the court system experience that Janice has. She was a Court reporter for 16 years, working with judges, court personnel, lawyers and the public throughout all the courts in our Circuit. She was the Court reporter to Special Grand Juries convened to deal with the prosecutions of the Drug Task Force in Winchester. She learned how a Clerk should conduct the processes in the courtroom from observation of Bill Hall and from Jennifer Sims, both of whom worked with the Judges and legal community with dignity and decorum. She was mentored for her current position as Clerk of Court by Judge Daryl Funk, who appointed her Chief Deputy Clerk so that she would become Clerk of Court upon his election to the Juvenile Court Bench by the General Assembly. No other candidate has ever held the position of Chief Deputy Clerk, much less Clerk of Court.

She now manages that office, a full time job, and is also the Clerk to the Special Grand Jury investigating the EDA scandal, also a full-time job. Her work days often extend to 12 hours. She is now managing hundreds of thousands of highly confidential documents for the Court, the prosecutor and the Special Grand Jury. She remains the only candidate who has had no business dealings with any of the targeted defendants and can be trusted to handle the ultra-sensitive information under her control with discretion, respecting the rights of those charged.

Janice believes the Clerk’s Office should not be run as a political office. She believes the Clerk’s Office is not only the hub of the judicial system in Warren County but is also the Office of the people. All who come to the Clerk’s Office are given the same respect, regardless of race, creed, age or economic status. This is the way she was raised by her parents, Bill and Marie Dodson, stalwart members of First Baptist Church of Front Royal, and she has impressed this same attitude on her staff. Janice is a genuinely nice person and is reflective of the best in our community.

If you want to see the face of Warren County, look at Janice. We need her to remain in her post as Clerk of the Circuit Court.

On November 5, vote for Janice!

Debbi and Dave Morfit
Front Royal, Virginia