Sand Mountain Reporter

SARDIS CITY — Sardis City magistrate Sherry Wilson is certified.

Wilson received the professional designation of certified municipal court clerk/magistrate from the Administrative Office of Courts and the Alabama Municipal Court Clerks & Magistrates Association on Sept. 19.

Wilson started the lengthy process shortly after accepting the Sardis City job in 2007. She attended classes and testing in Tuscaloosa and Montgomery.

Wilson brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Sardis City’s magistrate position. She spent more than six years working as a deputy clerk for the Virginia court system in Chesapeake. She said the Virginia experience prepared her for the magistrate position here.

“This job’s more in depth here because you have the ability to issue arrest warrants, set the bonds and determine probable cause,” Wilson said. “It’s a big responsibility because you’re messing with somebody’s life and it affects their livelihood.”

She chiefly encounters traffic violations and domestic violence-related offenses in her job, but she also prepares the court docket, communicates with court referral officials and accepts payments for traffic violations.

Community service

Wilson believes in second chances and helped implement a community service program in Sardis City. It allows people to work off their misdemeanor fines on cleanup details and spend nights with their families at home instead of jail.

“They work eight hours a day,” Wilson said. “We provide a daily wage and lunch. It’s a privilege and most people appreciate it. I feel like we’ve had a good response and a good outcome.”

One reason for the program is to address the number of young adults with traffic violations.

“We put them out at the ballpark picking up trash,” she said. “It helps families. The economy has affected everybody. It’s hard to come up with $200 to $300 at one time.”

Wilson also helped implement an amnesty program earlier this year, allowing violators to pay their outstanding fines without penalty. The city has recovered more than $31,000 from outstanding warrants since May 2008.

Wilson praised Mayor Terry Stephens, Sardis City Clerk Doug Gamblin and the police department for working together to ensure success of the programs.

“She’s very dependable,” Gamblin said. “She really pays a lot of attention to outstanding warrants, and we’ve seen a definite boost in collections over the past two years. She does a very good job.”

Wilson said she hopes the programs ultimately help families.

“It’s fulfilling at the end of the day when you know a person doesn’t have to go to jail because they can get community service,” she said. “It’s a sense of accomplishment to help people. The community service program also helps us from having to pay to keep the prisoner.

“I learned from our judge in Virginia, Robert R. Carter, that if you put them in jail, their family’s going to suffer. If you punish them and make them pick up trash, they’re going to think twice before they do what they did again.”

Wilson said she “loves God” and worries about violators and the directions of their lives.

“The people that break your heart are the people on drugs, especially when children are involved,” she said. “A lot of these people … they burden my heart because a lot of them are at the age they could go either way.

“Community service is a privilege, and I think they need to seize the opportunity.”

Princess Diana

Wilson and her family moved here six years ago. Her husband Jonathan is from the area, and her daughter Victoria is a senior at Crossville High School.

Wilson is a devoted Princess Diana admirer and collector. She even considered postponing her wedding because Diana died near the date.

“I love to read about Princess Diana,” Wilson said. “One of the first things I did when I got here is donate several books about her to the library. I’ve got over 100 books about her. My husband got me 11 Princess Diana dolls for our 11th anniversary.

“She was a goodwill ambassador. To Diana, it didn’t matter if people had AIDS or whatever. She’d touch them.”

Wilson is a member of a fan mail group in the United Kingdom.

“Every year, I send money for the tributes at the gates of Kensington Palace,” she said. “My dream is to visit Kensington Palace.”

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Publisher: Ben Shurett

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