“Hey, Frank, what about you? Get your ass inside.”
As Monroe smiled and waved at Jeannine, a huge chunk of ice landed on his head. Officer Frank Monroe was now an oozing red mass under a pile of crushed ice.
Chapter 30
July 26
New York State Chief Administrative Judge Randolph Jackson sat in his office with Janet Pinkerton, his chief clerk.
“Janet, to say that this crap is getting out of control is to overstate the obvious. Under normal circumstances our courts are clogged with caseloads, but this weather is turning our judicial system into fucking chaos, pardon my language. Look at this report. All the lockups at all the courts in the state are at capacity. Some judges have ordered that old school buildings be taken over as temporary jails. The problem in New York City is at a crisis point. Rikers Island, which was crowded already before this weather hit, can’t hold one additional inmate. The ACLU has taken notice and our courts are drowning under release petitions. Because jurors can’t get to court, the dockets back up like a sewer. Jury trials are not considered an emergency, and that means the recent local law making it a felony to travel unless it’s an emergency is bringing the system to a halt. The constitution gives a defendant a right to a speedy trial, but the constitution never contemplated non-stop blizzards in the summer.”
“I just received an update from all districts this morning, your honor. It’s even worse than you described. Prisoners are being released all over the state, and even some violent offender suspects are out on the street. Homeland Security Secretary Bellamy recently stated for the record that the only positive thing about this wild weather is that it keeps criminals off the street as well as the rest of us. Turns out he was being too optimistic. According to recent police reports, looting and burglaries are at an all-time high. And this insane weather only hit us 10 days ago.”
“What about the civil calendars, Janet?”
“Frozen in amber, judge. If you have a contract you want enforced or a personal injury case that is ready for trial, you’re out of luck. Some attorneys are waiving their client’s right to a jury trial because you can’t have a jury trial without a jury. Even if this crazy weather changes soon it will take years for us to work through the backlog. I’ve never seen anything like this, your honor.”
“Do you have any statistics on the kind of cases that are being filed?”
“Yes, sir, and this blows me away. Although it’s only been 10 days since the freeze and the blizzards started, we’re seeing a 25 percent increase in bankruptcy filings. A lot of businesses are doing absolutely no business. I expect that in the weeks and months to come we’ll see a lot more bankruptcies as suppliers go belly up. And we’re just talking about New York. The same problems are hitting courts across the country. It’s just a matter of time before we see how hard the economy as a whole is hit. And there’s not a damn thing we can do about it other than to encourage plea bargains and civil settlements. We’ve got a problem, judge, a big one.”
“I have a meeting with the governor this afternoon and I want you with me, Janet. I understand that we’ll get picked up by a big snowmobile. You and I never expected this crap when we went to law school.”
Chapter 31
“This is Cal Johnson reporting for NBC News. I’m here at the emergency room at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan with Dr. Murray Goodman, as he’s taking a well-earned break. Tell us, Dr. Goodman, what have you seen here at the emergency room as a result of our weather crisis?”
“I’ve never seen anything like what’s going on here, Cal. With the freezing temperatures, I expected to see cases of frost bite and hyperthermia. We’ve had a few cases like that, of course, but what’s clogging our emergency room are people with fractures—arms, wrists, legs, ankles, backs, necks, and skulls. It’s as if the entire city decided to play tackle football—without pads. The culprit is obvious, as you folks have been saying on The Ellen Bellamy Show—black ice, the worst I’ve ever seen. But it’s not only broken bones. We’ve seen at least 10 cases of people being injured by falling shards of ice. One person is in critical condition having had his arm severed. The rapid temperature swings are causing this. Snow and ice falling from tall buildings have always been a problem, but the rapid freeze-thaw turns those frozen sheets of ice into daggers when the temperature heats up a bit. Ice in large blocks are also falling from building ledges. Yesterday a New York City policeman was killed by a chunk of ice that fell from a building. That happened right after a man in front of him was almost hit by a sheet of ice. I tell all our people here at the hospital to try to keep their outdoor walking to a minimum, and to walk through building when possible. I commend Ellen Bellamy for sounding the alarm loud and clear, but a lot of people haven’t listened. When we encountered that weird heat spell, it lasted only two hours, but long enough to cause rivers of melting snow and sheets of falling ice, which quickly refroze when the temperatures dropped again. Please people, listen to me—be careful.”
“Good afternoon everybody, and welcome to The Ellen Bellamy Show. You just saw a clip of NBC reporter Cal Johnson interviewing an emergency room doctor at Lenox Hill, where they’re up to their eyeballs with fracture cases, the result of people falling on black ice, not to mention injuries caused by sheets of ice falling off buildings. The sudden thaw resulted in temperatures hitting the high 80s, and it lasted for a couple of hours, long enough to cause treacherous melting. It’s easy to say don’t leave home, but people must, if only to stock up on groceries and medicine. Many of the major footwear companies, including Nike, Jordan, and Adidas, sell models of shoes that include the name ‘black ice,’ which are designed for walking on, you guessed it, black ice. There are also traction devices that you can attach to your regular shoes. If you want to buy a pair of those shoes or traction devices, I suggest ordering online rather than going out to the store. Delivery people know how to walk on slippery surfaces, so leave it up to them. And avoid walking next to buildings when you can.
“My next guest is Professor James Tomkins from Columbia University, an expert in climate studies. He wrote the book, The Truth about Climate Change – Don’t Believe What You Have Heard.”
Sarah, Buster, and I were standing off to the side of the sound stage. Ellen was still broadcasting from my office.
“Professor Tomkins,” Ellen said, “please give us your ideas on this severe weather, and what it has to do with climate change.” Before he spoke Ellen held up his book.
“Thank you for inviting me on your show, Ellen. Let me get right to my point. The unprecedented weather has nothing to do with climate change. Any opposite opinion is science fiction, not science. Climate change and global warming are serious phenomena, and it can’t be denied that the earth is warming, and has warmed significantly in the past few years, partially from manmade causes. But this current weather anomaly is just that, an anomaly. Although I don’t know what caused it, I do know that the culprit is not climate change, a process that occurs over decades and centuries. I’ve seen you interview some of my colleagues, and I commend you for your bluntness in attacking their theories, theories that are not only unproven but are totally unfounded. I would be happy to debate any of those alarmists on your show, but I think they’re afraid of you.”