By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – Current Shelby County District Court Judge James R. “Jim” Kramer will seek re-election to the seat in the county’s 2016 elections, he announced on Nov. 2.

Kramer, who primarily oversees Shelby County’s Juvenile Court, has been in office since 2004

“It has been an honor to protect the children and serve the families of Shelby County for the past 12 years and it would be an honor to continue,” Kramer said. “There is nothing more rewarding than seeing families reunited when it is possible and when it is not, seeing children placed in safe, caring and permanent homes with people who will give them the love they deserve.”

Kramer received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Montevallo in 1981 and his juris doctorate degree from Cumberland School of Law in 1984. In his current position, Kramer presides over the Shelby County Juvenile Drug Court, Truancy Court, Child Support Court, early warning sessions and is chairman of the Children’s’ Policy Council.

He is a board member of the Developing Alabama Youth Program, Family Connection and the Court appointed special advocate program. He is chairman of the Drug Free Coalition and a recipient of the Safe Harbor “Beacon of Light” Award. He has attended and successfully completed numerous educational institutes and conferences appropriate to the work and objectives of his court.

Kramer said he has presided over thousands of cases in the Juvenile Court of Shelby County. He created the Shelby County Family Dependent Treatment Court, which strictly supervises parents whose children were removed from their homes as a result of the parents’ substance abuse.

Over the years, Kramer has served as a municipal judge for Alabaster, a child support referee for Shelby County and the prosecutor for the city of Calera. He practiced in the Juvenile Court of Shelby County for 20 years as a contract attorney with the state of Alabama, representing indigent parents and juveniles. Kramer is a member of the Shelby County and Alabama Bar Associations, Alabama District Judges Association, Alabama Association of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, National Association of Drug Court Professionals and National Juvenile and Family Court Judges.

He and his wife, Lynette, have two adult children, are members of First Baptist Church of Alabaster and are involved in several other civic organizations in the county.

The District Court judge seat election likely will be determined in the Republican primary on March 1, 2016.