By Bill Grubb
News Editor

NASHVILLE - Hawkins County attorney and former State Senator Mike Faulk is one of 11 attorneys who have applied to fill a judicial vacancy on the Tennessee Court of Appeals Eastern Section
    The deadline for filling the post, which serves 13 judicial districts in east Tennessee, was October 22.  The vacancy was created by the retirement of Court of Appeals Judge Herschel P. Franks.
    Faulk, elected to the state senate in 2008, opted not to seek a second term earlier this year.
    According to his application for the post, Faulk was licensed to practice law in 1980 and was enrolled in law school during the night and worked as a courtroom clerk in Shelby County during the day.  Near the end of his education he became a law clerk and later an attorney with a Memphis law firm.
    In 1982 he came back to Hawkins County and opened his law firm.  He has also been a Hawkins County Commissioner, from 1998 to 2002, and served as the city attorney for both Mount Carmel and Church Hill.
    "Service to people has taken many forms in my career.  All I've done and learned over the years can best be put to use on the Court of Appeals.  After all, that court is asked to decide appeals of matters that have been tried.  In my 32 years of practice I have been litigator at every level of trial practice. The breadth of my trial practice is comprehensive," Faulk's application states.
    In addition to Faulk, other applicants include:  Chancellor Thomas R. Frierson, who presides over courts in Hawkins, Hancock, Greene and Hamblen counties;
Brian K. Addington, of Kingsport;  Esther L. Bell, of Knoxville;  10th district Chancellor Jerri S. Bryant, of Athens;  Jesse Dewayne Bunch, 10th district child support magistrate from Cleveland;  David Edward Long, of Knoxville;  Jimmie Alice Carpenter Miller, of Kingsport;  Hugh J. Moore, Jr., of Chattanooga; Sarah Yarber Sheppeard, of Knoxville; and Daniel P. Street, of Blountville.
    A public hearing will be held on November 16 at 9 a.m. at the Sheraton Read House Hotel, Chattanooga. During the public hearing, attorneys and members of the public may express their approval or objections to the candidates.
    Following the public hearing, the Judicial Nominating Commission will interview each applicant before recommending three candidates to Governor Bill Haslam, with the governor then selecting an appointment.  Members of the public are invited to attend both the public hearing and the interviews.