A Press Release to End All Press Releases :)

Reporters are inundated by press releases, usually of the dry, factual variety.

But one that intentionally makes us crack a smile?

Priceless.

Such was the case with this release, sent from Wayne Kirwan, director of Community Justice and Public Information at the Howard County State’s Attorney's Office, when he wrote about an unscripted event Thursday in a county courtroom.

It quickly made the rounds and we decided to share it with you:

On a morning where people the world over were looking over their shoulders for a falling NASA climate satellite, a fixture from the ceiling of the Howard County courthouse came crashing to the floor during the sentencing phase of a plea hearing before Howard County Circuit Court Judge Louis A. Becker.

A four-inch disk attached to a cylindrical flange that serves as an architectural cover to the building’s sprinkler heads inexplicably fell 25-30 feet from the ceiling of courtroom 2, narrowly missing spectators sitting on benches in the courthouse gallery.  The courthouse was scheduled to be closed on Labor Day weekend for two years of extensive renovations but the move was indefinitely postponed due to at the county’s Ascend One building in Columbia and the-then .

Without missing a beat, Deputy District Public Defense Louis A. Willemin asked, 'Your honor, when are we moving?' Willemin was representing Kishawn Gontayia Hinton, of the 500 block of 50th Place NE, Washington, D.C., who had pleaded guilty to first degree burglary of an Ellicott City couple.

T. Wayne Kirwan

Director of Community Justice & Public Information

Howard County State's Attorney's Office

Carroll Building - 2nd floor

3450 Courthouse Drive

Ellicott City, MD 21043

Phone (410) 313-3002  FAX (410) 313-3003