FROM STAFF REPORTS

COLUMBIANA — Shelby County Circuit Judge Hub Harrington has announced his plans to retire effective Feb. 15, 2014 after 12 years on the bench.

Harrington said in news release that his post-retirement plans include returning to private practice, providing services as a mediator, arbitrator, private judge and special master.

“The advanced public notice of [Harrington’s] intention to leave the bench provides the opportunity for a seamless transition which is most important since the Shelby County courts have long carried one of the highest case loads in the state,” the release reads.

The Shelby County Judicial Commission is scheduled to meet Jan. 6 to start the application process and establish deadlines for prospective candidates. The commission will interview applicants and select three candidates whose names will be submitted to Gov. Robert Bentley for consideration. Bentley will select one of the three candidates.

“The goal of the commission is to have the application and interviewing phases of the process completed and submittal of the nominees to the governor’s office at the earliest date possible,” the release reads.

In addition to his judgeship, Harrington, 65, served as the first mayor of Indian Springs Village and as a member of the Shelby County Board of Education and the North Shelby County Library District.

Harrington also is known for being struck by a car while in Arizona to see the Auburn Tigers play in the 2010 BCS National Championship game. The car struck Harrington, his wife and another couple Jan. 11, 2011, the day after Auburn won the national championship. Harrington suffered life-threatening injuries, including a broken left leg and internal complications.

Doctors at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center took “emergency procedures” that saved Harrington’s life, Harrington told the Shelby County Reporter in February 2011. He was hospitalized in Arizona for 16 days.