Troy L. (Toby) Henderson, III has announced his candidacy for Probate Judge of Marengo County. He will run as a Democrat.

Henderson, a resident of Linden for over 46 years and who retired with more than 35 years military service, holds a Juris Doctorate from the Birmingham School of Law and a bachelor’s in Social Science and History from the University of West Alabama.

He presently owns and operates West Alabama Title and Abstract Company.

Henderson said his mix of business experience and education make him an ideal candidate for probate judge.

“I have a lot of experience in administration and executive level management, and I have judicial training,” he said. “I’ve spent the last 10 years working daily with the probate offices all over west Alabama. I first started working in probate offices over 30 years ago.”

Henderson said among the things he would like to initiate at the probate office is the implementation of a website that would hold public information that passes through the office and would be accessible around the clock and would like to see that some of the the functions of the office are made available on the website.

“(I’d like to see implemented an) electronic filing of documents for the probate court with a system which mirrors the electronic filing system that is currently utilized by the district and circuit courts.”

Also, he said he would seek to change the the property tax system, allowing the amount of taxes levied to owners to decrease as the property value depreciates and maintain much of the archival and processing ground work laid by retiring probate judge Cindy Neilson.

“I’ve got a vision for Marengo County,” said Henderson, who was appointed to the Linden City Council in the late 80s and also served as its city administrator.

“I want to put a coalition together, and I want the probate office to be a focal point for that coalition.”

The charge of the coalition, Henderson said, would be to work toward recruiting new business and industry to Marengo County, while his office also sought to unify state legislative district lines.

Henderson has been married to his wife, Pam, 26 years.

His extended family includes five children and nine grandchildren.

Henderson, who said his campaign is funded from non-borrowed and non-donated funds, pledged that he would not draw retirement income for service in the probate office.

“…the citizens of Marengo County can be assured that the operation of the probate office, the decisions and the rulings during my tenure of the office will be based strictly upon the law and free from any outside influence,” he said. “As a consequence, the voice of every citizen will receive equal consideration.”

– from staff reports