More Things, Because Always More Things in BookThree: Flight Log 2016

Wow… I discovered some more wonderful ways that this new county in which I work is left trailing far behind the counties surrounding it… and most of the modern world in general.

We’ve known that the County Attorney does not work in the County Seat. In order to do any court appearances she must, begrudgingly, travel 30 minutes each way.
We’ve known that the County Attorney does not work with computers. Even when it comes to E-Mail, she requires her secretary to do 100% of the typing and “mouse clicking.”
We’ve known that the County Attorney does not use a cell phone. Even when driving to court; should her secretary need to give her information, I am called on my cell phone and requested to find her to give her the message.
We’ve known that the jail here is laughably deficient for a county that has a considerable meth problem. The inability to house more than 6 people, paired with the inability to house females or the mentally ill, is not only crudely insufficient for a county jail… it is an expensive and dangerous oversight. Expensive in that, should we be required to house people, we have to transport them (at state cost) to an out of county facility (at state cost) then transport them back (at state cost) for whatever hearings or trials come up. Dangerous in that, since we don’t wish to incur the costs, most individuals are simply not kept in the jail and instead are instantly released back to the public.
We’ve known that the jail issue was much much worse just a few years ago, as the jail did not even have a staff budget and was simply manned by “whatever sheriff’s deputy wanted the overtime.”
We’ve known that the county itself sees computers as an unnecessary expense for a number of reasons. One such reason is that our IT “department” is nothing more than a server farm located approximately 100 miles away. That is the IT department for the whole county. So, if there’s a computer error that needs to be taken care of… they have to schedule someone to come all the way out here to fix it. As opposed to, y’know, having anyone in the county be able to do it.
We’ve known that computers are just… so unneeded… that the computer I use in my office is a 4 year old ThinkPad.
We’ve known that modern conveniences like Dry Cleaners, Fast Food Joints, and Movie Theaters that play current films are all things one must leave the county to find.
The list of things we’ve known about this county… that prove that the county likes pretending the 20th Century never ended… could go on.
But we have a new addition today. FINGERPRINTS! As most counties and state governments have gone to digital fingerprinting (for the sake of having a National Database that could prevent or capture criminals)… this county has refused to put Digital Scanners into the budget. So, we fingerprint the way fingerprints were done in the 1950s! Are you… what the fuck?!

NO WONDER this county is the way it is. AND no wonder they keep voting for this man:

And yes, that IS a Confederate Flag on the desk of an IOWA Representative. Iowa… a state that was, is, and continues to be a UNION STATE. As well as one of the first states to desegregate and one of the first states to legalize gay marriage. But.. what the hell, right?! Representative King doesn’t have to represent all of Iowa… just the people who keep voting him into public office for the last 20 years! Which, by the way… those people? ARE MY COUNTY. He was born in the county where my wife now works, the people of my county love the ever loving shit out of him, and it is believed that “he is one of the only folks in Washington to truly understand small town life.” And, truly tragically, he really did a bang up job representing them on Monday before the RNC Convention.