SALISBURY — In an informal but personal ceremony Tuesday morning at Rowan County Superior Court, NC Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby offered his thanks to the staff that are the “unsung heroes that keep things running,” he said.

Newby kicked off a Superior Court tour in all 100 counties last spring, and Rowan marks 93 on the list, with seven left to go.

He arrived with his wife, Macon, and his general counsel and chief of staff, Liz Henderson, and part of the morning’s events was recognition of anyone with 20 years or more of state service, but Newby addressed the gathering first.

“Everybody is entitled to the fruits of their own labor,” he said. “In other words you should reap the rewards and recognition for your hard work. Without all of you, all the way down to the custodians, this system would not work. So I want you to know you are appreciated, you are seen.”

Newby said his legacy, “because I’m old and legacy is therefore something I think about,” will be “justice administered without delay. But I can’t do that sitting in Raleigh. I need all of you.”

Laughingly noting that the administrative office of the court, which he oversees, “should be the Chick-fil-A of state government,” offering service “with pleasure.”

“It used to be that there was a bit of an attitude, ‘we’re from Raleigh and we’re going to tell you how to do things,'” he said. “But the office is there to equip and assist the courts, and we need to be the Buyer’s Club, Amazon and the Geek Squad all in one.”

 

Newby said the administrative office is funded better than it has ever been and he thanked the state legislation, including state Sen. Carl Ford, who attended Tuesday’s event, for recognizing the need and supporting it.

His other legacy, he said, will be e-court, which is in process. E-warrants “had a little bit of a rough roll out, and took 18 months longer than planned, but we have the biggest court system the company working on it has ever tackled, and in five years, we are going to look back and wonder how we ever had such a paper-driven system.”

Primarily, however, he spent time thanking all who work in Rowan County in the court system.

“We saved the best almost for last,” he said, noting that he and Macon had lived nearby for years. Newby was born in Asheboro and raised in Jamestown, where he graduated from Ragsdale High School. He received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and went to law school at Chapel Hill, where he met Macon. Following law school, Newby spent four years in private practice in Kannapolis before being appointed assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina in 1985. He remained in the post nearly 20 years before being elected to the state Supreme Court.

On Nov. 3, 2020, Newby was elected N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice for an eight-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2021. He was sworn in as the 30th Chief Justice of the state, with a term extending until 2029. At Tuesday’s event, Macon announced her husband is “never running for elected office again,” but had nothing but praise for her husband for “answering God’s call. Every morning he gets up and starts the day saying ‘God, I can’t, but you can.’ ”

She said her husband’s faith is the rock on which he stands. “God gives him strength and steadiness.”

And strength and steadiness are essential attributes for working in the court system.

“It’s not easy, the work here,” Newby told those gathered, which included District Attorney Brandy Cook along with multiple judges, clerks, assistant clerks and staff all the way down the line. “Most folks are here against their will; they don’t want to be here. Except for jury duty, because everyone loves jury duty.”

“I have people call and ask me if I can help them get out of jury duty, so I say ‘well, let’s talk about this,'” he went on. “How many places in the world have jury trials? Ten percent. That means there are trials by judge in 90 percent of the world. Corruption is overwhelmingly in the judge trials, so aren’t we glad we took the power from judges and gave it to ‘we the people?’ Of course by then, they’ve hung up because they didn’t want a civics lesson.”

But, Newby added, “if you had to go to trial, who would you want judging your case? I think you would want someone like you.”

Macon told the gathering that her husband is “sincere in his thanks. We both know that you are what makes the wheels turn, and we could not be more grateful.”

Henderson presented tokens of appreciation to a list of employees who have 20 years of service or more, and Macon gave out honorary pins to all in attendance to recognize their service.

Included in those recognized were: Jeff Barger, Patricia Smith, Tina Grubb, Valerie Ewart, Remona Jackson, Lisa Thomason, Brandy Cook, Barrett Poppler, Kisha Bowlin, Judge Beth Dixon, CDCJ Charlie Brown, Judge Kevin Eddinger, Judge Roy Bickett, Richard McCollister, Cindy Lefler, Richard Wyrick, Rebecca Williams and Marci Ward.