‘We had to scramble;’ Storms, internet outage force temporary changes in Montgomery Co. courtrooms

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — Thursday morning’s storms caused an internet outage at the Montgomery County courthouse, forcing the commons pleas division to adjust operations.

“We had to scramble and find different courtrooms. Dayton Municipal Court was very generous and offered us one of their courtrooms,” Montgomery County Court Administrator, Steve Hollon said.

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While the courthouse never lost electricity to the building, the storms knocked out the transmitters for the common pleas division. As a result, all court appearances were forced to be in person rather than by video.

“Arraignment was a bit different, using some personal cell phones, iPads to record the proceeds. We need to make sure all proceeds are recorded in the courtroom,” Hollon said.

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Hollon told News Center 7′s Malik Patterson that the internet was out before he arrived at 7 a.m.

With the help of other courts, the courthouse was able to make the situation work, he said.

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“The juvenile court has been very gracious offering us courtroom space over there as well,” Hollon said.

The county has yet to give an official time for when the Internet will be back online. If the internet is still down tomorrow, the courthouse has plans to continue using different courtrooms.

County officials have stated the Montgomery County Administration Building will be open for business Friday.

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