It’s OK; it’s only the wrong address

The Commissioners Court isn’t going to admit that the Joseph A Carroll Building is on Mulberry Street. It prefers to cling to the fiction that the building is on West Hickory Street, despite the fact that the building entrance, and its parking lot, face West Mulberry Street, a block to the south.

It would cost too much money to change the address officially, the commissioners feel, and people might still be confused. We are not sure why people would be confused by having the correct address on a public building, but we will accept the commissioners’ reasoning, and assume that it doesn’t represent a low opinion of their constituents’ intelligence.

Justice of the Peace Joe Holland had asked for the change, saying many people summoned to his court were confused when they drove down Hickory Street and were unable to find an entrance to the Carroll Building. The commissioners said that confusion could be remedied by a sign on Hickory giving explicit directions to the Mulberry Street entrance.

At a meeting on Tuesday, they also suggested that Hol­land include maps with all his court summonses and that he add verbal directions to his office’s voice mail greeting.

Most other tenants of the building — people who already know where it is — were also opposed to changing the address.

So the county will paint a new sign, and Judge Holland will try to explain via map and voice mail just where his courtroom is located. Some people will still get lost, but that’s what they get for looking at an address that says “401 W. Hickory St.” and assuming that the building is actually at 401 W. Hickory St.

This is not an earthshaking issue, but it leaves us feeling a little less of our commissioners than we used to. Refusing to fix such an obvious mistake just seems a bit slovenly, like wearing a gravy-stained necktie to a funeral on the grounds that few people will notice it.

We’re not neat freaks, but we think our public buildings should be where their formal addresses say they are.

Regnat Populus

City Hall hasn’t been the only place people have been voting this week. When the television listings disappeared on Tuesday from this newspaper, readers responded in large numbers and with admirable fervor. Hundreds of readers responded, by telephone, by e-mail and in person. There was considerable contempt displayed toward whoever thought up the idea (his name is being withheld to protect the guilty), and even more insistence that the listings be reinstated.

We hereby holler uncle. The TV listings will resume Friday. We were trying to save money, but will think of something else, such as firing the editorial writer or shooting the office cat, who is a big eater and a poor mouser.

The people have spoken.