'Jason' Visits Hiram City Hall For Government Selfie Contest

HIRAM, GA — At least he’s wearing a mask.

Hiram, a small Georgia town about 25 miles from Atlanta, greeted its Facebook followers Friday morning with a picture of Jason from "Friday the 13th" waiting for service at the municipal court window.

“No matter who comes to the window, the Hiram Municipal Court is ready to serve our citizens,” the caption reads. In the foreground taking a selfie is chief deputy clerk Sally Butterworth. Behind her is a sign that reads “mentally unstable and not fully medicated.”

There’s a story behind the picture, of course: It was taken as part of a Hiram City Hall competition to engage social-media followers, inspired by a national competition encouraging the same thing.

The nationwide contest, hashtagged #CityHallSelfie, is held annually by Engaging Local Government Leaders to showcase “local government pride,” according to the group’s website.

Normally the competition is scheduled every year for Aug. 15. But because this year that date falls on a Sunday, the competition was moved to Friday — Friday the 13th. And that gave court administrator Jason James (yes, his first name really is Jason) an idea.

With a little effort, James located a Jason mask in nearby Douglasville, and he and Butterworth staged their selfie shoot around midday Thursday. It was the first city selfie Hiram posted to Facebook, at about 8 a.m. Friday.

“He (James) ran with it as a challenge,” city clerk Melissa Chosewood told Patch. “He wanted to be the best.”

It certainly was an employee favorite, James said. “I wouldn’t say it’s gone viral,” he told Patch, “but it’s gotten the most activity we’ve had in a long time.”

By midday Friday, it had garnered 40 Facebook “likes” and tongue-in-cheek kudos from followers. Said one: “This shows great customer service for EVERYONE!!!”

And, like we said, he’s wearing a mask.

“It’s COVID, it’s Friday the 13th, it’s Jason being Jason, it’s … oh yeah,” Chosewood said. “Everything’s right about it.”

Visit the City of Hiram's Facebook page for more selfies.