Life in the Information Age isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Just ask the Circuit Court clerk’s office.

Not only is a $737,000 computer installation project more than seven months past its projected completion and making life difficult for the clerks who serve General Sessions and Circuit courts, it cost one woman her job.

Lisa Dunn, a 35-year employee who started working in the clerk’s office in 1979, was fired Sept. 12 for harassment, workplace violence and unsafe work habits after she got frustrated with the new system and the vendor installing it, according to county documents in her personnel file.

Dunn, who took retirement rather than contest the firing, let her dislike for the NewDawn Technologies system show too easily and wound up getting terminated by new Circuit Court Clerk Melissa Harrell less than two weeks after Harrell was sworn in to the post. She replaced Laura Bohling, who oversaw the computer change but little of its start-up.

Installation of the new system has been, to say the least, a challenging process for the clerk’s office, according to county officials who are calling it the most challenging computer project in the Information and Technology Department’s history.

“Throughout the transition, Lisa has expressed her dislike. She acted unprofessionally in front of the office staff and customers in her communication with and to the NewDawn group,” her dismissal letter states. “She demanded they leave the office for a meeting without approval of supervisor. The next day she grabbed a chair that one of the NewDawn employees had been using and flung it across the room . . . This behavior is a violation of Employee Handbook and is considered violent, aggressive behavior,” the dismissal states.

Though I’ve heard that’s not exactly the reason Dunn got fired, it was enough to get rid of her. The document says that the incident was witnessed by NewDawn employees, General Sessions employees and customers. Dunn could not be reached for comment for this column.

Let’s be honest, though, how many of us have gone through a computer switch that didn’t take a toll? If you’re like me and grew up in the ’70s when computers were few and far between, they can be a challenge. You learn how to work them one way, and next thing you know the bosses are telling you another system is needed.

Not that I’m against technology, but if you believe all computer systems make things more efficient, I’ve got some ocean-front property in Leanna I’ll sell you.

We went through a computer change at my former workplace a couple of years ago, and I reacted about like Dunn supposedly did. Previously, it took two steps to open a file. The new system required about 10 steps for the same task. We had a few hours of training and—bam—we got thrown into the fire.

My first day live, I thought I was having a heart attack. It took two months of blood-pressure pills to calm me down.

As it turned out, the new system was designed to incorporate the business into the corporate structure and remove all autonomy. Of course, I learned to use it, but it took about two years off my life.

Anyway, this NewDawn deal is still going on at the clerk’s office. It was described recently as a “work in progress.”

Eventually, it’s supposed to allow attorneys and others who subscribe to be able to access court records by going online. Maybe someday.

Eloise Gaither, who was defeated by Bohling more than four years ago in the Republican tide, was set to replace the old system through General Services Automated. Instead, this is what we’ve got, and it could take some time to figure out if we’re saving any money or running more efficiently. Ask Lisa Dunn, though, and she’d probably tell you, “neither.”

Tramel Settles with Sheriff
Speaking of wasting money, Sheriff Robert Arnold may have gotten rid of a political liability when he fired Detective Jim Tramel in June 2013. But it wound up costing the county nearly $330,000 in legal fees and a lawsuit settlement reached in early October.

Broken down, that’s $275,000 for the settlement, according to county officials, who disclosed the amount to be paid after receiving three open records requests. Nearly $60,000, possibly more, went to legal fees.

When Arnold, a former jailer and school resource officer, won the election over longtime Sheriff Truman Jones during the Republican sweep of 2010, it didn’t take long for him to start upsetting some people within the department.

Tramel disagreed with how Arnold was spending money within the drug fund and several other areas, in addition to hirings and firings. When he let it be known he was going to run for office, Arnold’s staff accused him of harassment based on a one-to-one conversation with a supervisor, then also claimed he was giving out information to the local media to make Arnold look bad.

Not long after that, Tramel was fired. It was handled clumsily, and local attorney Terry Fann didn’t have much trouble tearing Arnold to shreds in a deposition. The case was set for a jury trial in late October, but the judge had already turned down the county’s request to dismiss the case. And, though neither side will say anything other than it was “resolved,” I’m willing to bet that Tramel is satisfied with what he got. Otherwise, he would’ve gone to trial.

Ironically, Tramel’s lawsuit was about free speech, but county officials initially thought the settlement amount was confidential. Tramel, his attorney, the sheriff and county officials declined to disclose the figure until I filed Open Records requests with the Risk Management Department, Finance Department and County Mayor Ernest Burgess.

According to the state’s Open Records counsel, who advised them on the matter, county officials believed the documents containing the settlement figure was a public record. They just weren’t sure if they were allowed to disclose it because of a confidentiality agreement between the county’s attorney and Tramel’s attorney.

Fortunately, the Open Records Act prevailed. Unfortunately, county taxpayers are out $330,000; meanwhile, Tramel won’t be choosing between souse meat and liver cheese for supper.

Child Rape Trial Turns Bizarre
Laural Hemenway prosecuted child abuse and child sex abuse cases for years with the district attorney’s office here. But neither her conviction rate—reportedly 95 percent—nor her determination meant little after she accused Circuit Court Judge Keith Siskin of running a “sexist” courtroom.

It happened Sept. 18 on the seventh day of a child rape trial for Christopher Hernandez, who is charged with raping a young girl. When Hernandez took the stand, Hemenway aggressively questioned the defendant, asking him everything from how he paid child support and company employees to whether he knew women in his life were running sex-related businesses and whether his uncle, who accompanied him on jobs, was with him when he went to women’s homes to have sex with them. She contended her questioning went to his character.

Defense attorney Mark Scruggs objected to several of Hemenway’s questions that day, and Siskin sustained most of them. Yet even though the judge denied two of Scruggs’ requests for a mistrial, when Hemenway brought up a domestic violence charge against Hernandez, Siskin decided he’d had enough.

In fact, he said he’d had enough of the entire proceeding.

“Calm down. Don’t make me have the marshal arrest everybody now. I have never had any attorney thrown in jail before,” the judge said.

He called the situation a runaway train that was being steered off the tracks and even admitted that he might have been too patient with the attorneys as they yelled “at the top of their lungs.”

After researching a ruling he made that morning, Siskin determined that the domestic violence charge, in which Hernandez allegedly held a gun to a woman’s head, was not to be brought up in court.

He declared a mistrial, which led Hemenway to launch into claims that she was being “disrespected” and that the “entire court proceeding has been a violation of my constitutional rights as a women to be treated fairly.”

Siskin filed complaints, and DA Jennings Jones fired her after she refused to resign.

There are a lot of dynamics involved here. First, Hemenway is an aggressive prosecutor. She had to be to protect the rights of children. Siskin, who served in Juvenile Court for years, is an extremely polite judge. He’s no stone-face, and the transcript didn’t show any signs of sexism.

Hemenway may have gone through some burnout in dealing with child-rape trials for many years. That’s a tough job. Apparently, she had filed a worker’s compensation complaint with the office.

All that aside, she should be lauded for fighting for abused children for so many years. It’s too bad things ended the way they did. Or did they? The DA is concerned she might take legal action over the firing.

Of course, there’s no way she could ever argue a case before Siskin again. She didn’t use the word, but she accused him of sexism.

Siskin, meanwhile, has moved to Circuit Court’s civil docket, and Judge Royce Taylor is taking over the criminal docket, including the Hernandez trial.

Assistant DA Nathan Nichols, who ran for a judge’s seat this year, will prosecute the case and get a shot at taking over all child abuse and child sex abuse cases.

But Scruggs is likely to seek dismissal of the charges against Hernandez using a double jeopardy claim. We’ll see how Taylor handles it.