About Herbert E. (Buzz) Franklin
Buzz Franklin grew up on a working farm in Wildwood, Georgia. He attended the local public schools and graduated from Dade County High School in 1973. In 1977, he graduated summa cum laude (with highest honors) from the University of West Georgia. He was accepted to the University of Georgia School of Law and graduated in 1981. Buzz began working at whatever jobs he could find at age 14 and continuing through law school so he was able to pay for his own education.
After graduating from law school, Buzz began to work as an Assistant District Attorney. When he had been in the office only six months, Buzz was the sole prosecutor in a complicated murder case against two veteran defense attorneys and secured a conviction.
In 1984, Buzz went into private practice and, in late 1985, he was appointed by the Superior Court Judges of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit as the Juvenile Court Judge for Dade County - the youngest appointee in the State of Georgia at the time. During his time in private practice, Buzz was appointed by the Supreme Court of Georgia to serve as a Special Master for Lawyer Disciplinary Proceedings, a position of trust given to lawyers with the highest ethical standards. Buzz has also served as the Secretary, Treasurer, Vice-President and President of the Lookout Mountain Bar Association and is currently an ex-officio member of the board.
Buzz has been very involved in the community. He became a charter member of the Optimist Club of Trenton/Dade County in 1984 and had 12 years of perfect attendance in that organization, serving as the club's President in 1986, and later as the Lt. Governor at the District level in 1987. Buzz was a charter member of the Board of Directors of the Dade County Chamber of Commerce, a charter member of the Dade County Jaycees and a member of the Board of Directors of Four Points, an organization formed to combat family/domestic violence.
In 1997, Buzz was elected and took office as the District Attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, which includes Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade and Walker counties. Since becoming District Attorney, he has taken the initiative on several fronts. With other local law enforcement heads and agencies concerned with children, he helped to start the Children's Advocacy Center of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit. In 1999, he established the Child Fatality Investigation Team, a specially trained team which investigates all child deaths in the four county circuit. The multi-county team concept created by Buzz has been used as a model in other multi-county jurisdictions across the state. Buzz has been instrumental in establishing the Child Abuse protocols for each county in the circuit. He is the chairman of Child Fatality Review Panels. He was a charter member of the Family Violence Task Force, a collaborative coalition of agencies involved in family/domestic violence cases. With various members of the Family Violence Task Force, he helped to establish a Family Violence Intervention Program in the circuit.
Buzz has always been very frugal with the taxpayer's money. Prior to his becoming District Attorney, there was not a formal budget process with the four counties in the circuit so Buzz worked with the four county governing authorities to establish a budget process with each. When Buzz took office, he inherited an office vehicle with 62,000 miles on it and retired it when it had over 300,000 miles on it. Having been in office for almost sixteen years, Buzz is currently driving his second office car, which currently has in excess of 160,000 miles on it. In the same frugal manner, Buzz taught himself how to write a template program to automate the preparation of indictments and accusations. This saved countless work hours and was used until 2008 when the District Attorney's Office began to use Tracker, an online database management system which is now used to prepare indictments, accusations and other essential documents as well as keeping track of the District Attorney's caseload and cases. Tracker, too, did not cost the local taxpayers and was provided by the state.
Buzz has sought and obtained grants to expand the office's victim witness program. In 1997, there was one person in the four county circuit who was paid part-time as a victim/witness advocate. Over the years, Buzz secured over $1.1 million dollars in grant funding to expand the program to four full time advocates to better serve the victims of crime. Similarly, Buzz obtained grant funding to create a position for a juvenile court prosecutor to handle delinquency cases. He also sought and obtained grant dollars for a specialized prosecutor for domestic violence cases and later, in another grant, helped to create a specialized task force for the investigation and prosecution of domestic violence cases. Specially trained officers were hired in several local law enforcement agencies to work with the domestic violence prosecutor through the grant.
When he first ran for the office of District Attorney, Buzz promised to be fair but tough. He has kept that promise. The sentences in the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit are among the toughest in the State of Georgia.
On a more personal note, Buzz grew up attending Wildwood United Methodist Church. After his marriage to Donna Ross, the family attended New Salem United Methodist Church. While at Wildwood United Methodist Church, Buzz was a Youth Leader. At New Salem United Methodist, he served for many years as a member of the Board of Trustees and is a past chairman of that board. He currently serves on the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee. His wife Donna has been the church treasurer for many years. They have one son, Wil Martin. Wil married Erin Schilling on June 5, 2011. They have a daughter, Annalee Rose Martin, who was born on Leap Day, February 29, 2012. Wil works at Burk's United Methodist Church in Hixson, Tennessee where he assists with the music ministry and other administrative duties. His wife Erin is a registered nurse who is about to complete her degree to be a nurse practitioner.
You may contact Buzz Franklin at electbuzz@gmail.com or reelectbuzz@gmail.com.
After graduating from law school, Buzz began to work as an Assistant District Attorney. When he had been in the office only six months, Buzz was the sole prosecutor in a complicated murder case against two veteran defense attorneys and secured a conviction.
In 1984, Buzz went into private practice and, in late 1985, he was appointed by the Superior Court Judges of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit as the Juvenile Court Judge for Dade County - the youngest appointee in the State of Georgia at the time. During his time in private practice, Buzz was appointed by the Supreme Court of Georgia to serve as a Special Master for Lawyer Disciplinary Proceedings, a position of trust given to lawyers with the highest ethical standards. Buzz has also served as the Secretary, Treasurer, Vice-President and President of the Lookout Mountain Bar Association and is currently an ex-officio member of the board.
Buzz has been very involved in the community. He became a charter member of the Optimist Club of Trenton/Dade County in 1984 and had 12 years of perfect attendance in that organization, serving as the club's President in 1986, and later as the Lt. Governor at the District level in 1987. Buzz was a charter member of the Board of Directors of the Dade County Chamber of Commerce, a charter member of the Dade County Jaycees and a member of the Board of Directors of Four Points, an organization formed to combat family/domestic violence.
In 1997, Buzz was elected and took office as the District Attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, which includes Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade and Walker counties. Since becoming District Attorney, he has taken the initiative on several fronts. With other local law enforcement heads and agencies concerned with children, he helped to start the Children's Advocacy Center of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit. In 1999, he established the Child Fatality Investigation Team, a specially trained team which investigates all child deaths in the four county circuit. The multi-county team concept created by Buzz has been used as a model in other multi-county jurisdictions across the state. Buzz has been instrumental in establishing the Child Abuse protocols for each county in the circuit. He is the chairman of Child Fatality Review Panels. He was a charter member of the Family Violence Task Force, a collaborative coalition of agencies involved in family/domestic violence cases. With various members of the Family Violence Task Force, he helped to establish a Family Violence Intervention Program in the circuit.
Buzz has always been very frugal with the taxpayer's money. Prior to his becoming District Attorney, there was not a formal budget process with the four counties in the circuit so Buzz worked with the four county governing authorities to establish a budget process with each. When Buzz took office, he inherited an office vehicle with 62,000 miles on it and retired it when it had over 300,000 miles on it. Having been in office for almost sixteen years, Buzz is currently driving his second office car, which currently has in excess of 160,000 miles on it. In the same frugal manner, Buzz taught himself how to write a template program to automate the preparation of indictments and accusations. This saved countless work hours and was used until 2008 when the District Attorney's Office began to use Tracker, an online database management system which is now used to prepare indictments, accusations and other essential documents as well as keeping track of the District Attorney's caseload and cases. Tracker, too, did not cost the local taxpayers and was provided by the state.
Buzz has sought and obtained grants to expand the office's victim witness program. In 1997, there was one person in the four county circuit who was paid part-time as a victim/witness advocate. Over the years, Buzz secured over $1.1 million dollars in grant funding to expand the program to four full time advocates to better serve the victims of crime. Similarly, Buzz obtained grant funding to create a position for a juvenile court prosecutor to handle delinquency cases. He also sought and obtained grant dollars for a specialized prosecutor for domestic violence cases and later, in another grant, helped to create a specialized task force for the investigation and prosecution of domestic violence cases. Specially trained officers were hired in several local law enforcement agencies to work with the domestic violence prosecutor through the grant.
When he first ran for the office of District Attorney, Buzz promised to be fair but tough. He has kept that promise. The sentences in the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit are among the toughest in the State of Georgia.
On a more personal note, Buzz grew up attending Wildwood United Methodist Church. After his marriage to Donna Ross, the family attended New Salem United Methodist Church. While at Wildwood United Methodist Church, Buzz was a Youth Leader. At New Salem United Methodist, he served for many years as a member of the Board of Trustees and is a past chairman of that board. He currently serves on the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee. His wife Donna has been the church treasurer for many years. They have one son, Wil Martin. Wil married Erin Schilling on June 5, 2011. They have a daughter, Annalee Rose Martin, who was born on Leap Day, February 29, 2012. Wil works at Burk's United Methodist Church in Hixson, Tennessee where he assists with the music ministry and other administrative duties. His wife Erin is a registered nurse who is about to complete her degree to be a nurse practitioner.
You may contact Buzz Franklin at electbuzz@gmail.com or reelectbuzz@gmail.com.
