The Quietest Courts in the State
Two Eastern Washington towns set records for lack of legal trouble, as local Justices of the Peace go years without a single case.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Two towns in eastern Washington probably broke world’s records in legal procedure recently. Angus McKay of Russell Creek has been a justice of the peace at that place for ten years, yet he presided over his first case only recently, and that came as the result of a change of venue. At every election for 10 years Mr. McKay has paid his filing fee of $1 and has never been defeated. The town of Mohler is a competitor of Russell Creek for the honor of being a model community. The first lawsuit tried there in eight years was held recently, and that also on a change of venue. As if to make up for past omissions in the legal entanglements of the town, the jury disagreed.
“Angus McKay of Russell Creek has been a justice of the peace at that place for ten years, yet he presided over his first case only recently.”
In an era where judicial backlogs are common, these quiet rural outposts stand out for their lack of local conflict. The irony of the legal 'action' only occurring via a change of venue from elsewhere suggests that these small communities were notably peaceful or perhaps just remarkably uninterested in litigating their neighbors.
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