Pews in the courthouse? Aging courtroom chairs to be replaced

Published 5:36 am Tuesday, January 22, 2008

PORT TOWNSEND — They have been silent witnesses to courtroom dramas for more than a half-century.

Now, the chairs in the Jefferson County Courthouse courtroom have been tried and found wanting.

The case now before court administrator Michelle Moore — how to go about replacing the chairs that have been a part of the historic courtroom scene for generations.

“I call it my bench quest,” Moore says.

People have become attached to the curved-back wooden captain’s chairs, at least one person literally.

Last year, a young woman in the courtroom for juvenile cases tore her brand-new jeans on a chair, probably on a nail or metal pin, Moore says.

That led to her mother filing a claim against the county, which Moore recommended be paid.