Letter: County court needs better broadcasts

Published 12:15 pm Wednesday, October 13, 2021

To the editor:

For several years I and others attended Grant County Court meetings and had the opportunity to become aware of issues before the court and at times comment. When COVID became an issue it became necessary to limit the number of people allowed in the room, and proceedings were broadcast thanks to the assistance of the Blue Mountain Eagle and their technology.

Likely the court will, due to COVID, continue to restrict the number of individuals allowed to physically attend court meetings. The alternative available for attendance is a continuation of broadcasting proceedings. Broadcasts of proceedings should afford to listeners the same level of involvement as experienced by those physically present in the courtroom. Specifically, communication by anyone speaking should be sufficiently loud and clear so as to be understood. With the present method of broadcast, a speaker at the podium using the microphone can be understood; however, court member comments and comments from the audience are difficult to hear and difficult to understand. There also should be an established procedure to allow those participating via broadcast to make comments.

The present system is unacceptable, and I am asking the court to address this matter first by acknowledging this letter and secondly by responding with a reasonable solution. Since COVID has created this issue, maybe there could be some COVID funds available to correct the problem. Just my thought!

Jim Spell

John Day

Marketplace