Brenda writes from Austin

We decided to come out to Austin a little early and having never seen the Alamo-included a trip to San Antonio on our tour. We were walking along the "river walk" and came up to look around. There it was-the courthouse. The huge courthouse, built out of some red stone, was surrounded by construction stuff-it being in the process of renovation. However, the thing that struck me was the open "court yard" or "square" in front of the courthouse. The square was filled with a fountain, tables, and benches.

People (who didn't look like tourists) were sitting at the tables, playing cards or chess, reading, eating, talking...spending a Sunday afternoon. The "square" in front theyof the courthouse has been a fixture in many small towns in the US for centuries. I remember when I first graduated from law school, the square in front of the courthouse was filled with benches, and bordered by shops, like the Murphy's, where townspeople would gather in the morning for coffee and breakfast.

When I think about most of the historic courthouses I've been to, the square is as much a fixture as the courtroom.However, when I think about the newer courthouses, the square is gone. I've compared one of the courthouses where I practice to airport-in the way it looks. But after thinking about these courtyards, I start to think that the analogy is deeper. Have courthouses just become a place we stop off on our way to someplace else?

When the courtyard was a place where the community gathered, did that make the community a greater part of the judicial process? I did research on jury selection in law school. And in the old days, the bailiff would get a jury by going out to the courtyard and finding 12 men. While that method does not do enough to protect a defendant's right to a jury trial, it seems like it goes much further in including the community in the activity in the courthouse. Today, a courthouse has become another locale where the state exercises it's power over individuals, not a place where the community works to find solutions.

Does the disappearance of the square contribute to this?We've talked some about folks to interview and the county clerk in Berkeley County has been in that position for something like 40 or 50 years. His office is still in the old courthouse. I'm sure he could address some of the issues about what has been lost in the "new courthouse" so far as community involvement-so remind me to include Mr. Small in our list of interviewees.