Hebron to see upgraded courtroom

4-1 023By Jaime Thomas

It’s hard to maintain order in a court when everyone from the defendants to the judge is overwhelmed by stifling heat.

While this has previously been the case in Hebron, new funds will soon bring improvement. Court Clerk Virginia Curran recently received notification from New York state that her grant application was approved, and the town will realize $5,038 for its court.

“I think it really updated the court system a bit,” Town Supervisor Brian Campbell said, “With things that we really wouldn’t have been able to pay for but that needed an update.”

These items included basics to give the building a more professional feel.

“The room was in pretty rough shape — it makes it look more official and more like a courtroom,” Curran said.

She said the rugs, for example, were ripped and a hazard, so they will be replaced.

The court will also now have a witness stand, which it didn’t before. And then there is the new air conditioner, which will offset the heat that builds up from having only two windows in the room.

“Now we won’t have people passing out in the summer; we’ve had to give out water bottles in court because it was so hot,” Curran said.  A new desk for the clerk will also be installed, which will serve as a secure, contained counter area.

A new photocopy machine is also on its way in, which Curran said was desperately needed because officials were working with a printer copier, which was slow and outdated.

Campbell said Curran worked hard to obtain the grant, and that she deserves a lot of credit. She said it wasn’t an extensive process and that court officials had been hoping for improvements for a while.

Additionally, Curran said the fire department is helping with the upgrade by painting the courtroom at their cost and time.

“It’s nice that everybody works together like that,” Campbell said.