A Little Ammonia with that M'am?

A rite of passage into the Berkeley County Judicial Process is to have an Ammonia Coke at Patterson’s Drug Store. Paulette’s in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9Gh3CPuVEU

Still confused? Check out http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf602427.tip.html for a review of the numerous benefits (and literary references) to the Ammonia Coke.

Actually, the ammonia coke does tell a story about architecture and justice. From the stories I've heard, judges, lawyers, and local folks would gather for lunch or coffee before court at Patterson's Drug Store a few years back. When I graduated from law school in 1987 and practiced in Morgantown, at least one of the judges and a whole slew of lawyers gathered at Murphy's (across the street from the courthouse) in the morning before court. As a young mother with two children, it would have been impossible for me to add that meeting onto my day. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure that any of the women bar members felt comfortable or welcome in those morning sessions. However, it does seem important that this part of the day has been eliminated. At the new courthouse in Berkeley County, there is no place to walk to across the street from the courthouse to have coffee together. During one of our dialogs, one lawyer suggested that an informal gathering place for attorneys at the courthouse would be nice. I wonder if we could relocate Patterson's?