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larryhammerThere are certain essential experiences -- like seeing the Toledo bus station at midnight* or backpacking across Europe -- that one should have for a well-rounded life. One of them is visiting the county jail, not necessarily as an inmate. My life is flatter than I'd like, but I do have a county jail story.
After we'd been living together a good while,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
janni and I realized the only reason we hadn't gotten married was we didn't want to plan a large formal party. Where "didn't want" is an understatement -- the idea gave us the heebies. However, given family politics, it was either a big to-do or elope -- and yanno, not wanting a wedding is a stupid reason not to marry. So we decided to elope: secretly drop in at the courthouse, where the J.P.s stay after hours a couple days a week, on the way out of town for a planned vacation. Because that was a couple days off, to be sure things went off without a hitch, we decided to get the license ahead of time, that weekend.
It turns out that in Arizona, residents can get a marriage license 24/7: if the county Recorder's office is closed, you go down to, yes, the jailhouse. Specifically, the outside bail window. Which turns out not to be drive-up -- the curb's about 8 feet away -- but Lordy, it sure looks like it. So there we were, on a Sunday afternoon, pushing papers and money under the thick bulletproof glass. A few yards away, at some picnic tables, families were having lunch while waiting to visit their incarcerated loved ones. It was a balmy winter day, the sky was blue, and we were at the county jail getting a marriage license. At the bail window.
It was all very surreal. We managed to keep from laughing until we pulled out of the parking lot -- but it was a near thing.
Anyway, that was eight years and two days ago. Two days later, we stood before a J.P. who married us. Two days after that, we were almost trapped on the rim of the Grand Canyon by a blizzard. But that's another story.
What county jail stories do you have?
* Which isn't nearly as bad as you might think.
---L.
After we'd been living together a good while,
janni and I realized the only reason we hadn't gotten married was we didn't want to plan a large formal party. Where "didn't want" is an understatement -- the idea gave us the heebies. However, given family politics, it was either a big to-do or elope -- and yanno, not wanting a wedding is a stupid reason not to marry. So we decided to elope: secretly drop in at the courthouse, where the J.P.s stay after hours a couple days a week, on the way out of town for a planned vacation. Because that was a couple days off, to be sure things went off without a hitch, we decided to get the license ahead of time, that weekend.It turns out that in Arizona, residents can get a marriage license 24/7: if the county Recorder's office is closed, you go down to, yes, the jailhouse. Specifically, the outside bail window. Which turns out not to be drive-up -- the curb's about 8 feet away -- but Lordy, it sure looks like it. So there we were, on a Sunday afternoon, pushing papers and money under the thick bulletproof glass. A few yards away, at some picnic tables, families were having lunch while waiting to visit their incarcerated loved ones. It was a balmy winter day, the sky was blue, and we were at the county jail getting a marriage license. At the bail window.
It was all very surreal. We managed to keep from laughing until we pulled out of the parking lot -- but it was a near thing.
Anyway, that was eight years and two days ago. Two days later, we stood before a J.P. who married us. Two days after that, we were almost trapped on the rim of the Grand Canyon by a blizzard. But that's another story.
What county jail stories do you have?
* Which isn't nearly as bad as you might think.
---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 02:47 pm (UTC)Another time, a friend in very High Places got me into another big city facility, to talk to the guy in charge of major disaster planning, and he gave us a tour of their lockdown.
Of course it's not county, it's city, but the county lockups aren't really much to see--at least the ones I've had to deal with.
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Date: 22 December 2005 04:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 December 2005 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 December 2005 04:38 pm (UTC)While I was there, a woman bailed out her ex husband who was jailed for nonpayment of child support. I learned that he was an alcoholic, and that's why she'd divorced him. I also learned that she has four grandchildren. It's not often that a grandma is still eligible to receive child support...
Oh, the things you see at the county jail!
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Date: 22 December 2005 04:57 pm (UTC)There's stories everywhere. Jails are containers for concentrated tales.
---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 04:58 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 04:59 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 04:59 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 05:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 December 2005 05:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 December 2005 05:38 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 December 2005 06:10 pm (UTC)(You thinking of going to the Nebs in Tempe? We also might do that, though I need to get my act together on it.)
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Date: 22 December 2005 06:20 pm (UTC)pk
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Date: 22 December 2005 06:25 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 06:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 December 2005 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 December 2005 06:30 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 06:31 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 06:31 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 06:33 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 06:34 pm (UTC)(We being more often attuned to our moving-in together date than to the date the paper was signed. :-)
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Date: 22 December 2005 06:51 pm (UTC)For other county jail stories, my spouse would be a good bet as he was a cop for 8 years. Me, I don't have any such tales.
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Date: 22 December 2005 07:08 pm (UTC)Swell story.
Fortunately, I don't have any jailhouse stories. Only my stint in the evidence room and courthouse as a Hound of Justice.
Nine
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Date: 22 December 2005 07:13 pm (UTC)I really doubt about Nebs--major expense at the worst time of the work year.
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Date: 22 December 2005 07:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 December 2005 07:21 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 07:22 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 07:22 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 December 2005 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 December 2005 08:05 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 22 December 2005 10:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 December 2005 11:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 December 2005 11:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 December 2005 12:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 December 2005 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 December 2005 02:17 am (UTC)But heck, the more fun anniversaries the better, say I.
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Date: 23 December 2005 02:18 am (UTC)Jails are just more full of broken people, in transition between actions in lives strewn with glass shards, at least in my experience, and I have far too much experience with jails.
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Date: 23 December 2005 02:39 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 23 December 2005 06:22 pm (UTC)I don't remember the moving-in date (September something) and we never got around to that piece of paper, or not yet.
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Date: 23 December 2005 09:55 pm (UTC)THANK YOU!
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Date: 23 December 2005 10:29 pm (UTC)Fair warning to Da Kid: the first is the best.
---L.
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Date: 23 December 2005 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 23 December 2005 11:27 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 23 December 2005 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 24 December 2005 04:03 am (UTC)All over, IOW.
I'll try. I've been meaning to post about Carpe Demon for a couple weeks (short form: not quite as lively as the premise promises, but better than others of Kenner I've read).
---L.
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Date: 24 December 2005 04:07 am (UTC)