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Show Fifth District Court Workload increases According to Ronnow, some of the differences are on account of population distribution or the amount of traffic that travels through a particular area. However, Ronnow said that if the number of officers increased, so would the number of violations. "For every officer we hire, we- ould raise the traffic tickets. If ve had twenty more policemen in Cedar City,' for example, we would double the number of tickets," said Ronnow. Ronnow also mentioned that he had a highly good attitude towards his work. "I've got the best job in the state, and it's exactly what I want to do. I'm very happy and I feel that I'm very productive. "However, there is one thing that I think should be mentioned. The courts are not for the benefit of the judges or the lawyers. They're for the benefit of the people. It's a people's court to process the people's cases," he said. SALT LAKE CITY - Fifth District Court activity has increased during this past year, according to a report from the State Court Administrator; however the Ninth Circuit Court hasn't had any significant increase or decrease. According to the report, "Annual Report of the Utah Courts," the Fifth District Court, tlrori, Beaver, Millard and Washington Counties) has had an 18 percent increase in cases filed and in cases closed, compared to last year's totals. There were 1,311 cases filed this year and 1,228 cases closed. Last year there were 1,065 cases filed and 998 cases closed. In the order of volume, for cases tried in the state, Iron County ranked seventh highest behind Salt Lake, Weber, Utah, Davis, Cache and Box Elder counties. Iron County had a total of 610 cases filed, with 447 cases being closed, for a disposition rate of 73 percent which includes cases closed that were filed and carried forward from the previous year, according to the report. According to Ninth Circuit Court Judge Christian Ronnow in a recent Record interview, the increases in the courts aren't really significant ones. Ronnow stated the the workloads in the smaller courts can have a substantial increase on paper, but, in reality, the increase isn't all that sever. "If you take a court that tried only two cases last year, and this year you try four cases, then you have a 100 percent increase in the cases for the year," stated Ronnow. He also said that in some areas where there is a significant case load, any large increase might be a significant figure to note. Ronnow also mentioned that due to increasing workloads, in the District Court, he helps Burns out by "sitting on the bench with some regularity" in the Fifth District. According to the report, Ninth Circuit Court activity in Cedar City included 2,491 filings made up of civil, criminal and traffic violations. Circuit Court dispositions in Cedar City included; civil, 175; criminal, 388; and traffic, 1,484. The Circuit Court is a new statewide court of limited jurisdiction that replaced the former City Court system on July 1, 1978. The Circuit Court handles cases involving all classes of misdemeanors as well as civil cases where the sum claimed is less than $5,000. There are 33 Circuit Court judges throughout the state, with two for the Ninth Circuit, Judge Ronnow and Judge Robert F. Owens, St. George. On a statewide basis this past year the circuit courts disposed of 41,634 civil cases, 28,889 criminal and 331,239 traffic. Comparatively, during the 1979-80 1979-80 year, the court disposed of 22,343 civil cases, 29,590 criminal and 360,899 traffic. |