Jul 13, 2013 3 min read

This is in response to the July 7 letter by Charles Hrutkay. He complained he had to pay for copies from the Washington County Recorder of Deeds Office.

My first impression is that Hrutkay had not been doing oil and gas title research for very long, if at all, before his trip to the courthouse. If he had, he would have realized that paying 50 cents per copy is actually one of the lower prices for copies at the courthouse. I have been to many courthouses that charge $1 per page; several have charged $1.50 per page.

Secondly, I too have a wand scanner and a smartphone that takes nice pictures. I use it on dusty old books that are difficult to wrangle up on the copy machine, and it is kinder to the books to take photographs rather than photocopy them. The clerks at the courthouse appreciate this kindness to their books. Also, the paper files in the prothonotary’s office do well when copied by a phone or a wand scanner. But, in all my days at various courthouses, I have never seen anyone take a picture of the computer screen. I actually laughed out loud when I read that.

The point Hrutkay is missing here is the courthouse went to a huge expense to digitally scan those old documents and index them and put them on the computer. So when he stated, “Very quickly, I located what I needed,” what he forgot was that a lot of money and effort went into him being able to click a couple of times and find his document quickly. It didn’t happen magically. The Recorder’s office has to recoup that expense in some way.

I’ve done research in different parts of the United States at many courthouses, not only for oil and gas leases, but also for genealogical research and there has always been a charge for copies. The Washington County Recorder of Deeds is not trying to get a piece of the Marcellus Shale “pie.” They are merely trying to pay their bills. Again, that technology he spoke of doesn’t come cheap.

I have also found the courthouses in Washington County and, especially, Green County, to be among the easiest to work in and staffed by some of the nicest, most accommodating people. The Marcellus boom came fast and furious up here, but they seem to be handling it well.

Debbie Long

Washington