On August 21st, mr. norinew and I went to court on a housing code violation. The code inspector has a hard on for us for some reason, and had charged us with chipped and peeling paint on the porch. We take to court with us a number of 8X10 color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and. . .what? Oh, sorry. Any way, we take pictures showing that our porch has been scraped and painted; but in court, the code inspector says, no, he meant the back porch (which he had never mentioned to us) and he has pics showing that the back porch does, indeed, have chipped and peeling paint. We were fined $250.00 plus $5.00 court cost, and ordered to fix the problem. Well, we didn’t have $255.00 at the time, so we arranged to pay it on Sept. 1. On Sept. 1, mr. norinew went to the courthouse, checkbook in pocket. At the courthouse, he was told that he could pay the court cost at the courthouse, but had to go to City Hall to pay the actual fine. So, he went to City Hall and paid the fine.
Fast forward to today, and what should come in the mail but a notice from the courthouse, saying the fine has not been paid, and furthermore, if it’s not paid within ten days, a warrant could be issued for my arrest! There’s a line on the notice that says: If you have any questions regarding this document, please call xxx-2105. So, I call the number and explain my problem to the nice lady who answered the phone. “Fines don’t get paid at City Hall” she says. “Well, that’s what my husband was instructed to do” “Was it a traffic violation?” “No, it was a housing code violation”. “Oh, those get paid at City Hall” Yeah, I knew that. She goes on to tell me that she’s not the person to handle this and transfers me to another nice lady, who proceeds once again to tell me that court fines don’t get paid at City Hall. “It was a housing code violation” says I. “Oh, those get paid at City Hall. Then City Hall is supposed to notify us that it was paid. You need to contact City Hall and tell them to notify us that the fine has been paid”. So, I (in a foolishly hopeful state of mind) call City Hall. I speak with a very nice lady who informs me that court fines do not get paid at City Hall, until, of course, I explain that it’s a housing code violation. “Oh, well, you want to speak to Anna about that. I’ll transfer you”. A moment later, the same nice lady comes back and says Anna’s not answering her phone, but she’ll give me the direct number. A few minutes later, I actually get ahold of Anna (she is very nice), who informs me that she notified Becky at the police department that the fine had been paid, and it’s actually Becky’s job to notify the court house. So, feeling somewhat less hopeful, I call Becky at the police department. I get her voice mail. She calls back while I’m doing dishes and don’t answer the phone. When I see on my caller ID that she’s called, I call back, and actually get to talk to Becky. She’s very nice. But she explained to me that it is not the police department’s job to notify the court house, except in the cases of traffic, skateboard or pedestrian violations. Becky asks me to hold for a moment while she contacts someone at City Hall to help me. But a few moments later, she comes back on the line saying “Well, it’s five after four, and everyone at City Hall leaves at four, but I’ll contact someone from City Hall in the morning, and have them call you”. Somehow, I’m not comforted. I’m not certain, but I believe Dante wrote about this kind of shit.
We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for the bureacracy to sort this out.
). Also there’s the idea that one of the things that needs to be taken care of is the eaves under the attic roof. This is going to be a tricky bit of work (which is why hubby contracted it out). At any rate, mr. norinew has contracted with a man who wants a new computer. We will supply him with a new (used) computer, and he will do the work! But, TwoTrouts, if I read your idea correctly and it meant that you, yourself, were willing to be spattered with white paint, you are one of my new best friends! 