Former parole board chairman dies

ATLANTA - James Thomas Morris Sr., who spent 22 years on the state Board of Pardons and Paroles, three of them as chairman, died Monday of cancer at Atlanta Medical Center. <br> <br> Morris, 62, spent 34 years in a criminal justice career. He worked his way through college as an Athens policeman to earn a business degree and a master&#39;s in counseling from The University of Georgia. <br> <br> The Athens resident retired in 1995. <br> <br> He believed there was more to stopping crime than building prisons, which he said would bankrupt the state. <br> <br> ``He was dedicated to trying to find answers,&#39;&#39; said former Gov. Joe Frank Harris, who named Morris to the Governor&#39;s Advisory Committee on Crime and Punishment in the late 1980s. ``He was very firm. He was very fair.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Survivors include his wife, Gayle Davis Morris; daughter, Gaye Morris Smith of Atlanta; two sons, James Thomas Morris, Jr. of Colbert and Justin Tyler Morris of Athens; a brother, David Roy Morris of Athens; two grandchildren, James Thomas Morris, III and Margaret Olivia Morris, both of Colbert. <br> <br> Services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at the First United Methodist Church with burial in Evergreen Memorial Park. <br> <br>

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