He was a tough Columbus judge, but he gave sick kids teddy bears. Michael Cielinski dies
Michael Cielinski, a retired Columbus Recorder’s Court judge who served the city for 42 years, has died.
Cielinski died Jan. 6, according to his obituary on Striffler-Hamby Mortuary’s website. No cause or location of his death was available before publication. He was 76.
A rosary will be held in Edgewood Hall at Striffler-Hamby, 4071 Macon Road, on Jan. 12 at 5 p.m., followed by visitation from 5:30-7 p.m. The funeral will be at the Church of the Holy Family, 320 12th St., on Jan. 13 at 11 a.m., followed by burial at Parkhill Cemetery, 4161 Macon Road.
After starting his career with the Columbus Consolidated Government as an attorney in 1975, Cielinski was appointed as a judge in 1981.
Recorder’s Court hears traffic, criminal and city ordinance cases made by the police, Special Enforcement, Airport Police, Housing Authority, Metro Narcotic Task Force, Fire Department, Georgia State Patrol and the Columbus State University Police Department. The court is responsible for setting bail, issuing warrants, collecting fines and bonds, and hearing and determining if probable cause exists to bound cases over to superior and/or state courts.
In a 2017 Ledger-Enquirer story about Cielinski’s retirement, then-reporter Mike Owen wrote this about the judge:
Cielinski was born in Dec. 1, 1947, in Nuremberg, Germany, where his father, Army Lt. Col. Edward Cielinski, was assigned to the Nuremburg Trials. After his father was transferred to Fort Benning, Cielinski grew up on the south side of Columbus on Walker Street, just off South Lumpkin Road. After attending Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School and Baker High School, Cielinski went to Columbus College for two years, Georgia Southern for two years, then Emory University School of Law.
Cielinski’s brusque demeanor on the bench earned him criticism over the years. In 2011, there was an attempt to remove him from the bench, which came before Columbus Council. The late Red McDaniel, then a veteran member of Columbus Council, defended Cielinski’s demeanor.
“He’s tough,” McDaniel said. “But in that court you have to be firm, you have to be stern, because you get some kind of hard cases down there. I wouldn’t want that position. But he’s cut out for it, I guess.”
In the end, the motion failed and Cielinski remained in his job, Cielinski, too, defended his behavior on the bench.
“I don’t see my demeanor as being nasty or harsh,” he said. “I can be strong or tough on sentencing, but I have a demeanor in the courtroom that I think is appropriate for the courtroom. Some people don’t think so, and that’s their right. But no judge is going to be the best-liked person in the world.”
Although he wasn’t a teddy bear on the bench, Cielinski certainly was in the community. For more than 20 years, he joined local and state law enforcement agencies to collect teddy bears, food and other gifts to deliver to patients of all ages in hospitals and the Ronald McDonald House. He also helped establish the “Our Fallen Heroes” memorial in front of Columbus Government Center.
In another 2017 Ledger-Enquirer story, this one by then-reporter Ben Wright, when CCG conducted a retirement celebration in honor of Cielinski, Skip Henderson, now the city’s mayor and then a Columbus Councilor campaigning for the position, described the judge as tough but fair.
“What impressed me most is his heart,” Henderson said. “I had an opportunity to work with him in the community. The guy has the biggest heart of any public servant. He actually has been a very good role model. Columbus is going to miss his service.”
