BY-LAWS CHANGE PROPOSAL:
This Proposal will be voted on at the Spring Meeting
Please make sure that you understand the proposal

It is a recommendation from the by-laws committe to
change the following:

By-law currently reads:
A. The nominating committee for association officers and executive
board members will consist of the 3 most immediate past presidents of the
association*. (ADD CHANGE HERE). The most immediate past
president will serve as chairman of the committee. In the event
there are not 3 immediate past presidents available to serve, the current
association president will appoint a representative to fill the committee.

The proposal: is to add where the asterisk is; and 1 coroner and 1
deputy coroner from different counties appointed by the President of the
Association. The coroner and deputy coroner appointed to the committie
shall not be currently serving as an officer or director of the
association.

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In Memory:

Joe F. Mason, Jr.

Joe F. Mason, Jr. -MILLEDGEVILLE -
Joe F. Mason, Jr. age 71 went home to be with the Lord on Monday February 4, 2008.
Services will be held at 11:00 am Thursday at Liberty Baptist Church
with Rev. Morris Wood officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery.
-Mr. Mason was born in Wilkinson County March 19, 1936, he was the son of
Joseph F. Mason, Sr. and Idell Whitaker Mason.Ê He was preceded in death by
two brothers Richard "Dick" Mason and Elton Durwood Mason. He was elected
Mayor of Irwinton in 1956 and was the owner of Dixieland Motel & Restaurant for
more than 30 years. He was the first county agent for Farm Bureau and was the
Wilkinson County Coroner for 31 consecutive years. He also held the position of
District Supervisor for the Central Georgia Soil & Water Conservation Commission
and was awarded Conservationist of the Year. He received his degree as a Master
Gardner in Organic Gardening. -His love for God and Nature was working in his 12 acre
organic natural garden everyday. He loved talking to people about the way he farmed
and always had a positive outlook and saw the best in everyone he met and loved all
his many garden buddies. He was a devoted husband, father and grandfather.

His family was the most important thing in his life. He always taught them the
value of love, honesty and forgiveness and to always do their best.Ê -He will be
greatly missed by his loving wife of 52 years, Jackie Justice Mason of McIntyre,
his loving children; Joe F. Mason, III (Lynn) and Denise Mason Brinson (Phil) all of Irwinton,
John Paul Mason (Celes) of Milledgeville, six grandchildren; Tania Mason Mitchell (Jonathan),
Joseph Mason, Tyler Brinson, John Cody Mason, John Logan Mason and Olivia Mason,
three brothers; John E. Mason (Dagma) and Larry Mason (Annette) all of Irwinton,
Harold Mason (Brenda) of Milledgeville, two sisters; Winifred Wood (Morris) of Gray and
Annie Rachael Loyd (Bo) of McIntyre.
-Memorial contribution may be made to the Georgia Cancer Specialist of Milledgeville.
-The family will receive friends Wednesday from 6:00 until 8:00 pm at
Moores Funeral Home. -Visit www.mooresfuneralhome.com to express tributes.

Published in The Telegraph on 2/6/2008.

BST - Child Fatality Conference: March 18-20, 2008
The Building Successful Teams Child Abuse, Injury & Fatality: Investigation,
Prosecution & Prevention Conference is an excellent educational opportunity
for people who work with abused and/or neglected children, and is offered at
no charge for Georgia residents. The workshops being offered range from child
homicide and physical abuse investigations, to cyberbullying and investigating
internet crimes against children, to controversial abusive head injuries, and many
more in between.

The registration deadline is February 22, 2008.
Please be sure to include your email address when registering
as confirmation notices will only be sent out via email.

Please note; Your Executive Committee has changed.
Congratulations to all Coroners and Deputy Coroners on
your new positions.

State Bill 450 Adopted:

The State Bill 450 Paragraph 12 has been adopted. This was the bill that
had the amendment attached raising the coroners fee to $175.00,
effective January 1 2007. A big thank you to Richad Stanley for all
his hard work and many phone calls. Thank you as well to, Vernon Le
and Charlie Watts for all their efforts on our behalf.

NOTICE:

All Georgia Coroners and Deputy Coroners are required to take the
Incident Command Support courses 100 and 700 by October 1, 2006.
The course information can be obtained through your local Emergency Management
Coordinator in your county. The courses can be taken on line.
You can also find the course information on the FEMA website or the
Georgia Emergency Management website

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

A New Rule:

A new rule regarding the Georgia Coroners Association has been
set by the Executive Committee. Effective immediately there will be a
charge of $150.00 for any Coroner attending off-site training who is not
a member of the GCA. This will be in addition to the normal fee paid to the
Training Council. For off-site training the Georgia Coroners Association pays
for the place to hold the training and for any hospitality.

NOTICES:

Coroner Profile For Life Link:
Please return your Life Link information form to your district director.
This will enable Life Link to develop a comprehensive database of preferences
for contacting each Coroner and Deputy Coroner.

Remember: Electronic Death Certificates Are Coming:

Electronic death cetificates are coming. The Georgia Department
of Vital Records is implementing death certificates online. They are
testing different areas now and want to roll out statewide by October
of this year. It will be interesting to see how long it will take to
get a certified death certificate. Vital Records will send someone to
Macon to preview this at our annual meeting. It should be very interesting.

TRAINING COURSE RULE CHANGES:

The following is an announcement from the
Georgia Coroners Training Council.
These are the rule changes from the training council
that went into effect January 1, 2006.

1. You cannot take the same training course more than once
in a year, and receive more than 24 hours credit.
RULE #112-2-047(1)

2.You must take the annual training provided by the Georgia
Police Academy for three years out of the four year term.
Outside training must be approved 45 days prior to the training
by the training council. A syllabus of the training shall be
forwarded to the council for review. RULE #112-2-04(5)

3. If the training council withdraws or suspends certification of a
Coroner or Deputy Coroner, the same shall have 15 calendar days
to request a hearing. A lack of response is viewed as accepting
the Council's decision. RULE #112-4-01 (2c)

4. Annual training shall consist of 24 hours of approved training
and must be in successive days.

From Vanita Hullander with reference
to the website

The website committee is still trying to build a memorial
page for the website. They need members to provide a list of
Coroners and Deputy Coroners that died while in office or Coroners
who received special recognition from their community or other
agencies.

Vanita Hullander has been elected Vice Chair of the
Georgia Fatality Review Panel. She would like to encourage
Coroners to participate on some of the committees and promote
an appreciation and understanding of the Coroners role in child
abuse and death investigation.

Purchase Coroners Association Items On This Site
Or Contact, Hon. Gary McElhenney. Treasurer

New GCA Member Announcement Forum !
All members may post on this public announcement page

Click Here !

Child Deaths

If you have had any child deaths where a child was in a dangerous or
negligent situation and died, and the parents were not charged due to
a lack of intent or malice, please contact Hon. Vanita Hullander Coroner of Catoosa County.
Phone: 706-965-3541, 706-965-6800
E-Mail,ccoroner@catt.com
This information is needed to support passage of HB651, which is a bill
putting a child endangerment law into effect.
Currently Georgia is the ONLY state in the nation without this type of law.