COURT CRISIS CONTINUES

Rumpole has received the Memo from the “Trial Court Budget Commission” (who even knew there was such a thing? Maybe if they did away with the commission they might have enough money to staff the courts. Just a thought. )

A Mr. Belvin Perry Jr. has written that we can expect the following belt tightening changes:

1) GOOD BYE TRAFFIC MAGISTRATES! Funding ends Friday March 14, 2008. Judges will now be required to work (gasp!) and handle these calendars. Coincidentally, for all our readers who are duffers, there was a completely coincidental canceling of 10 tee times at the Coral Gables County Club golf course for the afternoon of Friday March 14, 2008.
Rumpole says, the next time you see a County Court Judge, offer to buy them a cup of coffee and pat them on the back. Working Friday afternoons was not what they signed up for when they sought to be a Judge.

2) GOODBYE SENIOR JUDGES.!! Yes, your favourite Judges from yesteryear will now just be a fond memory as County and Circuit Court Judges will now be expected to handle their own calendars without exception or a well deserved break beyond the 152 days a year they are at a conference at the Ritz Carlton on the West Coast of Florida. Also, the State will no longer reimburse those Judges at conferences for “more than two orders of shrimp cocktail per conference.”

3) GOODBYE ACTING CIRCUIT COURT JUDGES.!!! No, we’re not talking about judges pretending to be judges (although we have a lot of that.) We’re talking about your favourite County Court Judges sitting in Circuit Court and getting to say something other than “you must pay court costs and complete traffic school within two months of today.”
Rumpole wonders: What does that mean for the contingent of County Court Judges in domestic violence court?

There is also some mumbo jumbo about "terminating all OPS employment”, and so if you are employed OPS, it is time to pack your things and head out for greener pastures.

So there you have it: life in the courts in an era when government money is sparse (other than our federal government spending a BILLION DOLLARS A DAY for a war started because of a lie. And yes we know the difference between federal and state dollars. But somehow, if we had no war, we think the government could have saved 200 billion and distributed 150 billion to the States to use as they saw fit.)

QUICK NOTE: COURT CARE FUNDRAISER TOMORROW. This is a great program for a great cause. 1111Brickell Avenue, 30th Floor. Mingle, drink, contribute to a great cause-there is a silent auction as well, and see how civil lawyers work and live.

See You In Court; maybe we'll stop in and watch a few traffic calendars just for laughs.

Woops: we almost forgot: Go HERE to see the channel ten report including our now famous photo of the lines around the building.

And as always, Great Job El Capitan.