Finding A Story At The Courthouse

We went to the Hillsborough County Courthouse looking for information on how to report stories. What I took out of the trip was the fact that there is a story there already.

The Courthouse has been forced to cut budgets and spending, including forcing employees to take furlough, or days off without pay. These furloughs force the courthouse to be short-staffed, and they are not able to handle all of the cases that they need to.

The courthouse was a very nice building located in downtown Tampa, and from first look, it appeared like it was a well-run machine. Get in, get charge, get out. From the outside, there was a bustle of people coming and going, and detour signs sending everyone in 100 different directions.

It appeared that the courthouse was thriving, but in essence, they are struggling to keep up.

When we finally got through security, we were joined by Pat Frank and her staff, who began to tell us about what they handle on a day-to-day basis. What surprised me with Frank, was how frank she was, no pun intended. She WANTED us to know about the problems that they were having. She told us about the cuts she was forced to make, and she discussed what other things could be cut from the courthouse.

Facing eight percent budget cuts could cripple the amount that the courthouse can do to help protect and serve the county.

It was interesting to hear her perspective on the legislature, and what they were doing to “help.” She served on the state legislature, and knows the problems from a local and state level, and she knows how they go about handling them.

She seemed genuinely upset that she was going to have to make more cuts. I think that I went to the courthouse to learn different ways to cover stories, but what I actually found was a big story in itself. There are problems down at the courthouse, and they need to be solved.