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Journalists cannot help but ask questions. We regularly annoy sources with incessant inquiries about seemingly pointless and insignificant details.
And while our work can be influential, seldom do significant, tangible changes occur before our very eyes. Or at least that is how it often seems.
A few weeks back, I asked a question that brought about a change in how Adams County court administrators conduct business. They no longer list in their court lists criminal charges that were dropped by prosecutors.
Click on the image above, a screenshot of May 15 pleas and criminal bench warrants in Adams County Court. Note that under two of the defendants, their final charge is numbered “E+0.” Go ahead and say it. What the heck does that mean?
I asked Kristin Rice, public defender for Adams County, who referred my question to Don Fennimore, Adams County court administrator.
As days passed with no response, I figured it was a lost cause. And that was OK, because it was not a pressing matter and really had no adverse outcome on how I did my job. But again, what the heck does it mean?
After a few weeks had gone by, I passed Fennimore on Gettysburg’s Baltimore Street near the courthouse, and he said he was working on an answer to my “E+0″ question. On June 30, he emailed me this:
“Mark, a late response to your question about what “E+0” means on the court lists you receive.
“I’m glad you asked, because I was able to learn something about Microsoft Access and Excel. Our court lists are tied to a program that uses Access and Excel, and within those programs, “E+0″ represents a scientific notation of numbers. This will occur in Excel and Access when the number is too large to fit in a particular field, in our case, the number being 99999. “99999” in our program indicates a charge that was once filed but is no longer being prosecuted by the affiant/district attorney.
“Since the charge that follows “E+0” is not being pursued, thanks to your asking about this, we have programmed the software to eliminate “E+0” references from future lists so they more accurately reflect what charges are being pursued in court.”
It is not quite on par with getting the president to resign or initiating a grand jury investigation that results in criminal convictions, but it felt good to know my question brought about public change.
