Columbus Board of Honor votes on names for public safety building and new judicial center

The Columbus Board of Honor voted Thursday on recommendations for the names of the future Columbus judicial center and the current public safety building.

Theboard unanimously voted to name the new judicial center after the late Superior Court Judge John D. Allen and the public safety building after the late Columbus police chief and mayor Jim Wetherington.

The recommendations will go to the Columbus Council for a final vote March 11.

Superior Court Judge Bobby Peters, the mayor of Columbus from 1995-2002, announced during Allen’s funeral he filed a petition to name the new judicial center after Allen.

Allen retired as the chief Judicial Circuit judge in 2013 and was inducted to the Georgia Military Veterans Hall of Fame in 2020, the Ledger-Enquirer reported.

As a pilot in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, Allen flew 284 combat missions over hostile enemy zones. He earned six Distinguished Flying Crosses and 23 Air Medals.

Allen was honorably discharged in 1973 to attend law school at the University of Florida. Allen and Peters would alter form the first integrated law firm in Columbus during the 1970s.

Wetherington served as a police chief from 1981 until his retirement in 1995. Wetherington was appointed to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles.

He was later appointed to commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections in 1999. Wetherington was elected as the 67th mayor of Columbus from 2007-11.

After the meeting, Peters told the Ledger-Enquirer he is “very proud of the board for doing this.”

Peters added, “I don’t think there’d be any opposition anywhere, the naming of these facilities after these two men.”

What is the Columbus Honor Board, and who are the members?

The Columbus Honor Board recommends to the Columbus Council the honoring of deceased citizens through a continuing memorial program, under which public activities, buildings, bridges and other facilities may be named for citizens who have distinguished themselves through service to the city.

The Columbus Council appoints the board’s seven members, who must be former elected officials of Muscogee County. The board’s members serve four-year terms and may be reappointed unlimited times. The members are:

• Wayne Anthony, former Columbus Councilor
• Vivian Creighton Bishop, former Columbus Municipal Court clerk
• David Ebron, former Muscogee County School Board member
• Beth Harris, former Muscogee County School Board member
• Bobby Peters, Superior Court Judge, former Columbus mayor and former Columbus Councilor
• Barbara Pierce, former Muscogee County School Board member
• John Wells, former Muscogee County School Board member.

This story was originally published March 6, 2025 at 3:35 PM.