VIENNA — John Pridgen, chief Superior Court judge for the Cordele Judicial Circuit, signed an order Monday appointing John W. Sherrer, Jr. acting probate judge for Dooly County.

Pridgen said Sherrer is a practicing attorney in Vienna who has served as municipal court judge in both Vienna and Unadilla. Sherrer is required by state law to call a special election within 10 days to fill the probate judgeship in Dooly County.

Sherrer will fill in for Dwayne Forehand, who submitted his resignation to Gov. Sonny Perdue late last week. Sources familiar with the situation said Forehand’s resignation puts an end to allegations of abuse of office ranging from financial impropriety to mistreatment of people appearing before him in probate court.

A former staff member of Forehand’s submitted his notification of retirement to Gov. Perdue for publication in today’s issue of the Dispatch. It appears on page 4A.

Forehand has not been charged formally with any criminal or professional wrongdoing in this matter, although he first gained notoriety in 1999 after being arrested on a felony obstruction of justice charge. That charge was the result of an altercation with a Jones County Sheriff’s deputy who was enforcing an emergency curfew after a tornado wrecked much of the city.

Forehand pled guilty to a lesser offense and was publicly reprimanded by the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission. Forehand served 35 years as probate judge in Dooly County.