Miscellaneous

I had a chance to attend some of the Law Day festivities at the Johnson County courthouse today. I sat in on a discussion concerning the need for a new “justice center” in Johnson County. Some of the conversation centered on the fact that there’s a lot of public knowledge about the need for a new jail because it costs money to house inmates somewhere else. On the other hand, there’s very little public knowledge about the need for more courthouse space because relatively few members of the general population have a reason to go there.

The only way we can let people know about the problem and get public support for a solution is to tell people about it. So, I urge attorneys, law students, judges, litigants, jurors, court staff, county attorney’s office staff and anyone else who’s noticed that there’s a lack of space at the Johnson County Courthouse to let people know.

Now, that may not be the easiest thing to do. You’re sitting around with friends talking about the price of cheese and you launch into a diatribe about the need for more space at the Johnson County Courthouse. You might need to find different people to hang out with next weekend. But there has been, is and will be a lot of discussion about the need for more jail space; and there’s no reason that the need for courthouse space should be a separate discussion.