With information from the Georgia Supreme Court-
The Georgia Supreme Court announced that it will hear arguments in former School Board Chairman Henry Cook's case against Randolph County's School Board next Monday.
- The case is on the docket as: COOK V. BOARD OF REGISTRARS OF RANDOLPH COUNTY (S120140)
In 2010, the high court upheld a ruling that Cook, then chairman of the school board as the first African American to hold that position, was in contempt of court for refusing to allow school board members to appeal his decisions.
At the same time, the high court ruled unconstitutional a new local law that was designed to allow members to vote him out of office two years before the end of his term. The current case was prompted by a decision by the county Board of Registrars that Cook is no longer an eligible voter in Randolph County because he is not a resident.
In dispute between the parties is whether his primary residence or "domicile" is Randolph County, GA or Dothan, AL. According to Cook's testimony at trial, he was born in Randolph County and at 51 years old, remains a lifelong resident.
In October 2008, Cook's house in Cuthbert on Howell Mill Road, the address he has used on his voter registration, burned down. He testified that shortly after, he moved into a house on Jimmy Carter Drive – also in Randolph County – owned by his sister, who subsequently died.
In February 2009, Cook bought a house in Dothan, Alabama.
Following a December 2010 trial, the trial court executed an order concluding that Cook was not a resident of Randolph County. He then asked the state Supreme Court for permission to appeal, which the high court granted to determine whether the Board of Registrars was authorized to remove Cook from the eligible list of voters.
Cook's attorney Maurice Luther King, Jr., first argues the state Supreme Court has authority over this case. It is within the high court's jurisdiction, he contends, because of the type of relief he is requesting and because it involves the constitutionality of the law.
"In this case, the decision of the trial court severely and unconstitutionally restricted the definition and meaning of domicile under Georgia law," Cook's attorney writes in briefs.
The attorney states that "if this ruling is allowed to stand, then no person who has more than one residence is immune from a challenge to his or her residency." The evidence shows Cook has "spent more than 70 percent of his time in Randolph County, Georgia, attended church, paid taxes, registered at least two vehicles, registered to vote, voted since the age of 18 and voted three times in 2010, owns and operates a business, has a driver's license, receives mail, has been elected member of the board of education since 1993, is a member of the NAACP, attends community forums, and owns property," the attorney argues.
"Under these circumstances, it just cannot be established that Appellant is not a resident of Randolph County, Georgia." Georgia law states that, "[a] person shall not be considered to have lost such person's residence who leaves such person's home and goes into another state or county or municipality in this state, for temporary purposes only, with the intention of returning, unless such person shall register to vote or perform other acts indicating a desire to change such person's citizenship and residence."
Cook has never registered to vote in Alabama and does not intend to permanently leave the county, his lawyer contends.
Attorneys for the Board of Registrars, Franklin Coleman, III, and R. Kelly Raulerson, argue that the state Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction over this case, calling Cook "disingenuous" for arguing that it does simply because he filed a motion for emergency hearing and a motion for stay.
"This is not an election dispute case for which this Court would have jurisdiction of an appeal," they argue in briefs. The trial court correctly ruled that the board had the authority to remove Cook from the list of eligible voters. The facts at trial clearly showed "Appellant was not a resident of Randolph County, and was therefore not an elector qualified to vote in Randolph County."
He continues to be registered to vote at the Howell Mill Road address where since 2008, no structure has existed. Cook even used the insurance proceeds he received after his house burned to purchase the Alabama home, the attorneys contend. When his mother died in 2009, her obituary listed one of her children as "Henry Cook of Dothan, AL."
A witness for the Georgia Power Co. testified that from January to May, no electricity was used at the house on Jimmy Carter Drive, which Cook claims as his primary residence. Records also show no water was used for 10 months during 2009.
The Chief Tax Appraiser testified that that there was no sign of life at the property in July 2009 during the five or six times he visited after Cook applied for a homestead exemption. Cook also refused to produce his utility records and bank records from Alabama after the Board of Registrars got a subpoena for them.
Based on his refusal, "it must be presumed that those records would be unfavorable to him and would refute his contention that he was a resident of Randolph County," the attorneys argue.
Copyright 2012 WALB. All rights reserved.
Cook and attorney Maurice King
