Bone-Chilling, Teeth-Chattering Cold

A Blogitorial on Entering the Broward County Courthouse



by Norm Kent



If there was ever a morning to decry the embarrassingly long lines to enter the courthouse on Southeast 6th Street, it is on this, the 5th day of February, 2009, where the temperatures here in South Florida dropped to 32 degrees. Look at this Herald picture of the way one person is dressed.



The courthouse entry process is a complete and abject failure. It demands, absolutely demands, immediate answers and not studies. More doors need to be opened. More guards need to be added. More detectors should be employed. No taxpayer, juror, or citizen should wait on lines as long as thirty minutes to get in, whether the weather is warm and inviting, or like today, cold and biting.



We have seen these lines too many times on too many days for too long. This is not rocket science. It takes someone to care enough; to be respectful of the wrongs being committed every single day to citizens whose tenure in the courthouse is traumatic enough without standing outside hours to get in.



One way it would change tomorrow is if every judge entering the building through their third floor catwalk from the parking garage had to instead endure the same lines the public has to adapt to each and every morning. Whose volunteering first?