CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Parts of the Nueces County Courthouse have steadily been under construction.
“When I first took over the court it was a construction zone. So, everything that you see now was not here, just construction materials,” Courtroom 4D Judge Chris Waller said.
Judge Missy Medary is the Fifth Administration Region Presiding Judge and appointed Judge Waller to take over the 4D Courtroom in January.
“The individuals that you see in this court are individuals seeking child support and to take care of their children. And so, we’ve tried to make it a little bit more comfortable for them, a little bit more inviting," Medary, the 347th District Court Judge said.
Waller came in with some ideas to make the courtroom more welcoming.
"I'm very proud of his initiative and the way that he's handling the court," Medary said.
For the last few months, Waller and his staff have worked to clean up and decorate the courtroom, specifically with some patriotic wall displays. One is the Wall of Honor that shows pictures of people from Nueces County who have served in the military.
Another addition was bringing the courtroom up to code for the Americans with Disability Act, such as adding a wheelchair lift behind Judge Waller's bench.
Another useful addition was that of a closet of clothes of interview and work attire. This was an idea Medary said was in the works years ago, but roadblocks always appeared. When Judge Waller came in, he figured out how to make it work.
The judges hope to help non-custodial parents get jobs as part of the NCP Choices Program.
“Judge Waller says, hey look you got to get a job, you got to pay your child support. And, a lot of those individuals did not have the clothes in order to be able to go out into the community and get a job,” Medary said.
The closet has just about anything that someone would need for an interview. There are suit coats, dresses, ties, belts, pants, pant suits, dress shirts and a variety of shoes.
"The NCP Choices program also provides steel-toed boots and items like that for construction workers, so they can go get the job and not have a problem with having to buy these expensive items," Waller said.
Judge Waller and his staff built the closet on their own time and money. Then the staff and other judges began donating their clothes to add to the closet.
“The law gives me the power to put people in jail for not paying child support. We’ve had a great success rate in people actually getting jobs now and being compliant now, so they don’t have to worry about that happening,” Waller said.
“Clean clothes for somebody to be able to go find a job, has them get the job, has them be able to keep a job. Which means they can keep their apartment, they can keep their house and everything else, but mostly they can also pay their child support because our kids need that," Medary said. "And, keep seeing their children.”
Those that use the closet are able to keep the clothes they take, as well.
The judges are asking for any and all help with donations. If you’re someone who would like to donate all you need to do is bring clean interview appropriate attire to the Nueces County Courthouse. The clothes should have a hanger or something to hang off of.
When donors arrive at the courthouse, they should let security know they're dropping off clothing for Courtroom 4D and they’ll take care of it.
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