Barstow Gets Limited Court From ‘Couch-Cushion’ Money

They were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the budget cuts took hold. But it turns out that the Barstow courthouse will not be entirely closed, as has been thought, but will instead offer limited services, according to the Press-Enterprise newspaper’s Crime Blotter blog
 
The report reports that “… San Bernardino County Superior Court has become the poster-child for budget cuts to the state court system, with May 6 shutdowns scheduled for its courthouses in Barstow, Needles and Big Bear. But now a small bit of good news. The California Judicial Council has come up with some couch-cushion money from a statewide reserve, and the $1.2 million in emergency funds will allow one courtroom in the Barstow Courthouse to stay in business three days a week, through June 2014.
 

The newspaper says the court in Barstow will hear traffic, landlord-tenant, small claims and domestic violence cases while civil, family law and criminal cases will still have to be heard elsewhere. Those who get their cases heard in Barstow will be spared a 32-highway-mile, one-way drive to the nearest fulltime court in Victorville. Needles residents whose cases fit the limited Barstow docket will get 30 miles cut from their 174-mile, one-way drive to Victorville.

See the story here.