Courthouse follies

The judge has approved my request to open probate on mom's estate and named me personal representative. And I didn't even need a lawyer to have this done.

I stopped by the County clerk's office to get several certified copies of my Letter of Administration. The clerk charged me $10 for the first copy, $5 for each additional copy. Pretty expensive if you ask me. Upon my appointment you'd think I would get the first copy free as notice that I was approved. Instead the clerk sent me a non-certified copy as notice of my appointment. Anything by Ward County to make money and rip people off I guess.

I remember reading a few years ago about a woman working in the courthouse who insisted on having metal detectors at the courthouse. Apparently Ward County gave in to her fear as now you can only enter the courthouse through one door and must go through a metal detector. The detector is so sensitive that my brother's metal snaps on his shirt set the detector off and then he must have an employee run a wand over his body to confirm the metal snaps are triggering the detector. For a county with an extremely low level of violence, and none I know of at the courthouse, this detector is an expensive option as the County employs two people to man the detector in addition to the cost of the detector. The employees must get bored as I seldom see more than a few people in the courthouse when I have been there. But you know, for fearful people you can't be too safe, especially when someone else is paying for it.

I found the County's security procedures listed online and found the following interesting;

All persons entering the Ward County Courthouse with the exception of Law Enforcement, Ward County employees, and State Court employees housed within the Ward County Courthouse are subject to screening procedures.

If they are truly concerned about safety they would screen everyone. How often do you hear about a worker holding a grudge against another worker and taking a violent act against them?

I also note that the screeners do not follow the correct procedure when the alarm sounds after my brother steps through the detector. The correct procedure is have the person walk through the detector a second time when the alarm sounds before wanding the person. The screeners have never done that.