Wednesday, July 16, 2008

This Just In from Waynce Dolcefino

Apparently last night's Channel 13 Undercover Report by Wayne Dolcefino revealed this story that you could have only learned from being a loyal viewer of KTRK:

It seems that last month there was a fire of some sort at the CJC.

I had no idea.

I guess Wayne decided that going through the trash behind the Sheriff's Office was getting stale with the viewers so he had to go and report some really old news.

Way to stay on top of things, Wayne!

8 comments:

Ron in Houston said...

Hey, we all need to do something to justify our existence.

Thomas Hobbes said...

I understand the sarcasm, but the building was paid for with public dollars and there is no question that the early morning event was misidentified and mishandled. The actual fire and the later false alarm opened a can of worms that justifiably attracted the attention of the Houston Fire Marshal's Office. Over the past month or so, the FMO rep in Dolcefino's report easily could have qualified as a frequent courthouse visitor.

Leviathan

Anonymous said...

Wayne plays great latin percussion, so you should give him a break. For those who don't remember, he was the longtime congo and timbale player with local favorites Ms. Francis and the Rhythm Fish.

Wayne can certainly be a hardass, but to many honest, hardworking public servants, he's been a great friend and someone they can trust to get the truth out. Even when the politicians don't want the truth out there.

The public should know everything, as allowed by law of course, and the politicians should not control what we get to know.

Tex

Murray Newman said...

Leviathan and Tex,
I'm not blasting Wayne for this story. I'm just mildly poking fun at the lack of timeliness of it. I've seen him do pieces on topics ranging from the extremely fascinating and important to the mind-numbingly benign. And all of his pieces take on the importance of Watergate.

Actually, I agree with you very much Leviathan that this story is important. As you and I both know, the CJC is a horribly haywired structure that could become a death trap in an emergency situation. It needs some major remodeling in my opinion.

Just last week there was some sort of power surge that caused the electricity to shut off for a split second. I heard that in at least one court, the electric locks engaged and would not disengage, leaving some court personnel locked in their offices for a period of time.

I would gladly trade the CJC for the new Civil Courthouse. That thing is beautiful and they built it right.

Anonymous said...

Any news on the CJC fire hazard lawsuit?

http://countyseat.blogspot.com/2008/07/class-action-jurors.html

Thomas Hobbes said...

I think the power surge was back on July 1st. Instead of unlocking the controlled access doors (as might occur in a fire), the doors were locked and the server was knocked offline for a period of time. People throughout the CJC were having trouble moving around.

Of course, you probably know the joke about why the two buildings are so diffferent: Comparatively, a lot more money changes hands in the civil courthouse.

Leviathan

Anonymous said...

The bottom line is the building is unsafe. If there was a fire, chances are the system would fail and people would be trapped on the fire floor.

No public stairwells was the dumbest idea ever. In the old courthouse you could go down a couple of floors taking the stairs. Here, you have to call an elevator, and wait, to even go down one. Thats why the elevators are so slow.

Jason said...

When is he going to break the story about the CJC being flooded?

Episode Seven: The Voters Awaken - A One Act -Sci-Fi Play

SCENE:  The Death Star orbits over Downtown Houston. [INTERIOR] The Imperial Council Chambers. EMPRESS OGG sits at the head of a long table ...