Reach Out and Touch the Bureaucracy (Was: Getting Action)

[George Pell]

The Portland Oregonian
Thursday August 30, 1990
Margie Boule'

"Reach out and touch the bureaucracy"

Irnalee Stohrs is not having any trouble at all adjusting to the quiet
in her apartment.

[recap of problem with Multnomah County juvenile court printing her
number on 4000 summons, and then refusing to do anything about it]

So on Sunday, it was suggested that people call the correct number for
the juvenile court system Monday morning, and ask for Irnalee.

The idea was that mayby the people at the court would say to
themselves, "Boy, these wrong numbers are really a hassle. Maybe this
is what Irnalee Stohrs has been going through. Why don't we print new
summonses, with the right phone number on them, so she doesn't have to
deal with any more pesky phone calls?"

Which is close to what happened.

The first callers set to work as early as 7:15 Monday morning. They
report that the court operators were "amused" when they asked for
Irnalee. They were transferred to the state department that prints
the summonses.

By 8:15, readers report, the operators were beginning to sound "curt."

"She said I had a wrong number," said a guy named Al, who runs an auto
body store. "She sounded pretty sore about it, and then she hung up."

By 8:30, few callers were able to get past the busy signals.

One fellow, who works at Tektronix, put the number on his autodialer.
"When I finally got through," he says, "I asked for Irnalee, and the
woman said, 'Wrong...' and she hung up before she even said 'number.'"

Most folks who reported back had no luck at all placing calls. An
attorney with one of the largest firms in town said several lawyers in
his firm had called all day long and had never gotten through.

In fact, the calls were so heavy, the juvenile court system was
virtually without phone service on Monday. Which, of course, was not
the intent of the suggestion. The idea was to create sympathy for
Irnalee's situation, not create a crisis at the court. To all those
who were unable to conduct business with the juvenile court system at
the beginning of the week, I apologize.

Nevertheless, Irnalee has finally been given some assistance.

The court arranged for Irnalee to have a temporary new telephone
number. And they arranged for an intercept. So now, when somone
calls Irnalee's old phone number, an operator comes on and asks, "Who
are you calling?" If the caller says Irnalee, Irnalee's new number is
given.

In addition, the court has formally apologized to Irnalee. The trial
court administrator has sent her a letter of apology, as has the chief
judge. And the juvenile court referees even sent Irnalee flowers.

The best part of all is that when the new summonses - with the correct
court phone number - are printed in a few weeks, Irnalee will get her
old phone number back.

(The next best part is that the court is picking up the bill for the
temporary new number. It was hooked up Monday afternoon.)

"I'm as happy as can be," says Irnalee Stohrs.

But please do not call the juvenile court system to thank them for
solving Irnalee's problem. The court operators are just not in the
mood.