The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-12-11
COUNTY GRAND JURY PASSES THE BUCK"
 ON ROAD SITUATION
Final Report of Grand Jury Is Made Before Judge HefIin. Recommend Extra Judge
 for Criminal Court

October 4 on account of the in- ability to secure a report of the auditors now working on the books, according to the final report filed with Judge H. P. Heflin in the criminal division of the circuit court last night at 8 o'clock. l The grand jury recommended that the next grand jury take this matter ] up and account to the public as to the i exact condition of the county's financial affairs.
 i Both the city and county officers
 were commended for their diligent
 work in npprehending and bring ing to the bar of justice the crim- inaIs who have committed rob- berries, murders and thefts of auto mobiles, which have been reported 1 to the investigating body. As a means of relieving the congested condition of the criminal dockets, the | jury recommended that the judges in l these divisions of the circuit court or ! ganize their divisions of the court on | September l, instead of October l, as heretofore. Judge Dan A. Greene, the | | Jefferson county, was commended for ! his efforts to secure an extra judge for ! the purpose of relieving this conges | tion.
 FINAL REPORT The report follows:
 ITO the Hon. H. P. Heflin, Judge, Cir cult Court of Tenth Judicial Circuit: Criminal Division:
 We, the grand jury impanelled on | Got fnr I,,1x lar, hae l leave to make this our final report. l We have been in session 13 days, during which time we have examined 4S7 witnesses, investigated 227 cases, having found 220 true bills and 21 no 1 bills
 COUNTY INSTITUTIONS
 We visited the county jail in a | body and found it to be in excellent condition.
 l We visited the county farm, the Hill man hospital the county poorhouse and the juvenile court, and found them in good condition. We find that the heating facilities at the county alms- house are very inadequate, and would recommend that a steam heating plant i be installed not only for convenience and comfort of the inmates, but to lessen the possibility of disastro 1 fires. We found that the intern ser ice at the Hillman hospital is insuffi- cient. and recommend to the board of revenue that authority be given the manager to increase the number of in terms as he may require, at sufficient increase in salaries to enable him to maintain force in order that he may give the maximum service.
 FINANCIAL CONDITION
 The grand jury was very anxious
 to go further into the county r0ad
 affairs, and endeavored on a num- l per of occasions to secure from the
 state auditors their final report of
 an audit of the county affairs, in l order that we might base an 'n- 1 teIiigent idea to how to pro-
 ceed. It Is with much regret that
 the auditors have not furnished this report, which precIudes us from going into this matter at all We, therefore, recommend that the
 next grand jury take this matter l up and account to the public as to the exact condition of the cOunty's | financial affairs.
 TWENTIETH STREET Realizing the bad condition of South lTWentieth street. and it being of such public interest, the jury felt that it was incumbent upon them to investigate this matter. This resulted in our learning
 
 the board of revenue a north and south highway through the city, the paw ing of which had been paid for by the abutting property owners at the time of being laid. After completion of the 1 Twenty-first street viaduct the board of revenue decided to change their north and south highway from Twentieth to Twenty-first street. which movement was opposed by the city authorities 1 upon the grounds that South Twentieth street was in very bad repair, and that it was the duty of the county to put it ! in good cindition prior to granting this | new route. We had this matter up with members of the board of revenue, who | informed us that the-street will be re- pared te the earliest oppidtunity. the work to start immediately. ! TRAFFIC LAWS l During our session we had constantly l in mind the charge delivered to us by Judge H. F. Heflin in regard to inves- | tigating violations of the traffic laws specifically of automobile speedinfg. We had before us Hon. John H. Taylor, com missioner of public safety; J. T. Shirley, chief of police; Sergeant w. W. Brent of the motorcycle scouts and George | Lyons chief of detectives. It was haro for the jury to gain a very good idea as to howe the police force was instructed in these specific laws, and it was with l that we COulu gather ally 1 facts that would be of interest to the public from the aforementioned gentle men, except that they were short of - adequate police force, and due to this l fact it was impossible to have the laws enforced as they should be. We would recommend to the city commission that [ they have their entire police force in ! structeA as to what these laws are, in /, order that they may be enforced to the letter.
 CRIMINAL DOCKET l Upon investigation, we found the criminal docket terribly congested at the present time. The jury had before them the presiding judge, Hon. Dan A. Greene. and we have decided that we would recommend that the judges try ling criminal cases organize their divi- sions of the court on September l each year instead of on october l, as here tofore; and we heartily concur in the efforts of Judge Greene in trying to secure an extra judge for the purpose of relieving this congestion.
 LAW ENFORCEMENT
 aWe have had . number of bur- | Riaries, robberies, murders and
 thUts of aut0mobo-s reported to
 the grand jury. and we have ex- ! anined q number of witnesses in
 Uni. connection, and it Ia very 1 gratifying for us to state that the
 city police officers as we'll as the
 county deputies have been diligent
 in their work and Vory efficient in
 bringing the criminals to justice.
 "In conclusion. 1t Is the unanimous opinion of the grand jury that we in a 1 -aa,,,va aytapd our thanks fO