Two Courthouses

 Posted on November 27, 2007 in Uncategorized

Harris County has separate courthouses, both built in the last seven years, for its civil and criminal courts. Courthouse number one is a dingy-looking beige building, solid and generally functional; courthouse number two is ornate, with a dome on top.

In courthouse number one, a judge enters her courtroom from a door to the side and climbs up to her bench; in courthouse two, a judges enters her courtroom through a limestone archway behind her benches (if I were a judge in courthouse number two, I would definitely invest in a fog machine to make my entrances even more oracular; maybe a strobe light too).

Courthouse number one has limited technology built in, and that technology was outdated when the courthouse first opened; courthouse number two has all the technological bells and whistles - WiFi, projectors with drop-down screens, and so forth.

Courthouse number one has too few elevators for the crush of humanity that visits its halls every morning; courthouse two's elevators rarely carry more than one person apiece.

By now, if you're a courthouse aficionado, you've figured out which is the criminal courthouse and which the civil. So tell me: why has the grand entrance hall of courthouse number two smelled like cat urine since the day it opened?