Your name: Candace Parke
Your job: Official court reporter for the 217th District Court of Angelina County, Texas.
Joel Andrews/The Lufkin Daily News |
Candace Parke is the official court reporter for Judge Barry Bryan's 217th District Court of Angelina County.
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Your employer: Angelina County, Judge Barry Bryan.
How long have you been in this job? This May will be 25 years.
What are your normal hours? 8 to 5, or as long as court lasts or a jury is deliberating. Once a jury has begun to deliberate, I need to be there in case there is a question about some of the testimony.
Once they begin that deliberation process, they decide how late they work into the evening and what time they want to start the next day.
Your job duties: To make a verbatim record of court proceedings on a daily basis and to transcribe requested proceedings in accordance with the rules promulgated by the Texas Court Reporters Certification Board.
I am employed by the county and also self-employed. The county pays me to make the verbatim records. I am paid for any records I produce in response to a request from a party or for appeal purposes, which subsidizes my income.
What do you like most about your job? The people I work with and the fact that I'm always learning something new.
What do you like least about your job? That I see and hear mostly the negatives in peoples' lives.
Unfortunately, if you are seeing me, it's either because you are in trouble with the law, you have filed a lawsuit against another party or had one filed against you, you are in the midst of a divorce or custody battle, or you are appearing for jury duty.
What's the most unusual part of your job? I think it would be that my job is probably unique in that I listen to each and every single word that is uttered in a given situation.
Most of us only listen to what we think is the gist of what someone is telling us. Sometimes we're right in assuming that we know what they were going to say; sometimes we're surprised because we never really listened to what they were saying.
What would you be doing if you weren't doing this job? I would probably — oh gee, I haven't a clue what I'd be doing now!
When you were in high school, what did you think you would be doing now? Never this. I really thought I'd be someone's secretary.
What would you like to be doing 10 years from now? Whatever retired people do. I know I'll have to find something to keep me busy.
