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District Court Judge Anders B. Tingstad Jr. appeared at the Ontonagon County Commission meeting last evening. Judge Tingstad made a presentation to the commissioners that focused on a new PolyCom camera system that will be installed in the Ontonagon District Court.
The Michigan Supreme Court along with the Michigan state police have received a Federal Grant and the 98th Circuit Court in both Gogebic and Ontonagon counties have been selected recipients of the grant.

They are going to give us two PolyCom cameras with a 50’ screen and a TV on a stand and those will come to the court.

The purpose is to save the state money, by communicating from our courtroom to the state prison, to the state crime lab, to the state mental health facility, so that testimony can be received through this visual audio system
The unit that goes into the courtroom has a camera that sits on top of a 50” screen. The camera rotates for different views. The transcriber has earphones and can listen to the testimony.

The installation would mean that the state would not have to transport prisoners to the court. “That usually takes two guards and a half a day minimum and usually means an overtime expense to the prison.
“The state police took over the crime lab in Detroit. Now they don’t want to send their experts out to testify as they have more cases than experts.”

Through the PolyCom system they can use the testimony at preliminary motions. They cannot use the system at trial. It’s expensive to get the witnesses to Gogebic and Ontonagon so we always have to fight to get them up here. Using the remote camera the witness only loses testimony time and not the day to get up and a day to go back down.

The unit will be mounted on a wall facing the jury box and can be swung out and rotated as needed. The court will be responsible for providing an electrical hookup and a data connection as well as a large plywood panel to mount the PolyCom .

A second unit will go to the jail. Through the electronic hook up arraignments can be done at the jail. The prisoners will see the judge and be able to talk to the judge. The result being that the sheriff does not have to bring the prisoner up to the courtroom. That concept was well received by the Commissioners, who considered that a safety improvement.

“The installation costs are to paid from the courts “Drug Money” fund and will not cost the county commission anything.”

The snag according to Judge Tingstad was the maintenance costs. For the two cameras the annual cost 2731.91

Judge Tingstad told the Commissioners that he has two pages of telephone numbers embedded in the system and as an example he can call any prison in the state.

The Commissioners approved the installation of the remote camera system.

Polar Bear Cookbook

Thank you to everyone who submitted recipes for the Polar Bear Hockey Cookbook. The cookbooks are now available. The cost for the cookbooks are $10.00 so make sure to grab one for yourself and maybe one or two as a gift. They can be purchased at the Pat O'Donnel Civic Center concession stand or by contacting Kerry Roehm or Micki Sorensen.

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