Judges
Juvenile Court Judges hear all matters in Juvenile Courts of the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit and some Superior Court matters. In addition to Muscogee County, the Judicial Circuit includes Chattahoochee, Harris, Marion, Talbot, and Taylor Counties. The Juvenile Courts has one full-time, Presiding Judge, Warner Kennon, and two part-time Judges, Andrew Dodgen and Joey Loudermilk.
JUDGE WARNER KENNON, born in Emory University, Georgia, September 18, 1953; admitted to bar, 1979, Georgia; 1980, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Georgia. Law Clerk, Honorable Floyd E. Propst, Judge, Fulton County, Georgia, 1979-1980; Warner L. Kennon, P.C., Attorney at Law, 1981-2011; County Guardian and County Administrator, Muscogee County, 1989-2011; Child Advocate Attorney, Juvenile Court of Columbus, Muscogee County 1989-1994; Judge, Juvenile Court of Columbus, Muscogee County, 1994-2002; Founding Judge, Juvenile Drug Court of Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia, 2000-Present; Judge, Juvenile Courts of the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit, 2002-2011; Presiding Judge, Juvenile Courts of the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit, 2011-Present; Member, National Panel of Arbitrators, American Arbitration Association, 1987-2011; Past Arbitrator, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia; President, Mental Health Association of Columbus, Georgia, 1990-1992; President, Chattahoochee Bar Association, 1994-1995; Columbus Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Columbus Alumni, 1995-Present; Board of Directors, Boys and Girls Club of Columbus, 1996-2001; Chair, Education and Certification Committee and Georgia State Liaison to the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Georgia Council of Juvenile Court Judges, 1998-2003; Board Member, Executive Committee, Georgia Council of Juvenile Court Judges, 2003-2009; Chair, Educational and Certification Committee, Georgia Council of Juvenile Court Judges, 2017- President; President, Columbus Bar Association, Inc., 2004-2005; Board Member, Executive Committee, Columbus Bar Association, Inc., 2004-2009; Board Member, Judicial Council of Georgia Standing Committee on Accountability Courts, 2009-2015; Served on various committees including Membership/Resource Development Committee, Alcohol and Other Drugs Committee, and Accountability Courts Committee, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges; Advisory Board Member, Teen Challenge, 2010-2018; Currently serving as Member of Resource Development Committee, Legislative Committee, Founding Chair and currently serving as Chair of Military Committee, Member of the Board of Directors and former Member of Executive Committee, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges 2013- Present; Member, Board of Directors of the Historic Linwood Foundation; Presiding Judge, Superior Courts of the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit, 2017- Present.
Member: Columbus and Chattahoochee Bar Associations; State Bar of Georgia; Georgia Council of Juvenile Court Judges; National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges; Columbus Chamber of Commerce.
JUDGE ANDREW DODGEN, born in LaGrange, Georgia in on April 8, 1961; graduated from LaGrange College in 1983 and Walter F. George School of Law/Mercer University in 1986; admitted to the State Bar of Georgia and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia since 1986.
Upon admission to the Bar, he joined The Law Offices of William C. Moore in Columbus, Georgia and became a partner in 1990, at which time the firm became Moore & Dodgen. Upon the retirement of Mr. Moore on July 1, 2011, he formed The Law Offices of Andrew C. Dodgen and continues the general practice of law in Columbus, Georgia in addition to his service on the Bench.
He served as a part time public defender for the Superior Court of Muscogee County from 1989 to 1992; was public defender for the Juvenile Court of Muscogee County from 1998 to 2004; was an original member of the Muscogee Juvenile Drug Court planning team and served as counsel for participants from 2000 until his appointment to the Bench in 2011; served as Special Assistant Attorney General representing the State of Georgia in Mental Health proceedings from 1993 to 2011; serves as County Attorney for the Unified Government of Cusseta-Chattahoochee County.
JUDGE JOEY M. LOUDERMILK currently serves as judge of the Juvenile Court of Georgia's Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit, where his primary responsibility is to preside over the five rural counties of the Circuit (Harris, Talbot, Taylor, Marion, and Chattahoochee Counties). Judge Loudermilk retired from Aflac Incorporated in 2014 after a 31-year career where he served as General Counsel, Executive Vice President, and Corporate Secretary. He was educated in the public schools of Muscogee County, graduating from Hardaway High School in 1971. He received a B.S. degree with honors from Georgia State University in 1975 and his J.D. degree from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1978. He worked in private law practice in Columbus before joining Aflac in 1983 as head of the Company's newly formed Legal Department. He serves on the board of Goodwill Industries, and the board of directors of the Piedmont Columbus Regional Healthcare Systems. He is a member and former president of the Rotary Club of Columbus. Judge Loudermilk has authored 2 books. His first book, My Friend Rob and Me is an autobiographical account of growing up in Columbus in the 1960's and the relationship with his best friend, Rob Peacock, who died suddenly in 1969. His short story, The Lawyer Riddle won the 1998 fiction-writing contest sponsored by the Georgia Bar Journal. He wrote a weekly column for the Harris County Journal for 13 years. He served on the Harris County Board of Commissioners from July 2008 (when he won a special election against four other candidates) until the end of 2016. He served as vice chairman of the board. In 2010 Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed him to the Georgia Board of Education where he served until 2011. In 2013 he was selected to Ethisphere Magazine's list of "Attorneys Who Matter" in leading their companies "to the top of the ethics and compliance world." In March 2015, Judge Loudermilk was presented the Distinguished Service Scroll award, which is the highest honor given by the University of Georgia Law School Association. This award recognizes outstanding dedication and service to the legal profession and the law school.
In November 2015 he was presented the Hardaway High School Distinguished Alumni Award at the school's 50th anniversary celebration. He also owns Turntime Farms in Ellerslie, Georgia, which raises beef cattle, poultry, turkeys, eggs, pork, goats, and blueberries. Last month (Feb. 2019) he was inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame of the Boys and Girls Club of the Chattahoochee Valley. Judge Loudermilk and his wife of 45 years, the former Ramona Lewis, are active members of Bethesda Baptist Church in Ellerslie, Georgia where they teach a Sunday School class. Joey and Ramona have 6 children and ten grandchildren.