Rubicon's Job Page (Deputy County Clerk)

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Currently, I work as a Deputy Clerk of District Court in the Carbon County Courthouse and have done so since August of 2000. Prior to that, I worked in the Carbon County Clerk's Office, in the Land Office.

My responsibilities at the current time are to handle half of all felony criminal cases in District Court. I receive paperwork pertaining to any active cases which I 'docket' into the computer. This is a synopsis of what the document contains. I then scan all pages into the graphic files so we can view and print copies later. Lastly, I file this paperwork or take it to the District Court Judge for his perusal.<

It is my reponsibility to be present during most criminal hearings as the representative of the Clerk. I take notes pertaining to the proceedings to assist the Judge, the Court and the Court Reporter in documenting what transpired.

I also maintain the jury pool on the computer so we can keep track of calling and notifying jurors of upcoming trdials. I wrote a computer program which we use to enter the names, update information received from jurors and to eventually send out questionnaires to the prospective jurors.

I handle half of all appeals, whether they be appeals from our court to the Supreme Court Of Wyoming or from other courts to our court. It is my responsibility to set deadlines and send appropriate paperwork to attorneys so they can file time sensitive paperwork on time.

I also work on half of any Writs filed in our court. Writs are legal procedures, usually utilized by inmates in settling grievances. The reason why we deal with these type actions in our court is because the Wyoming State Pen, Max Unit is located here in Rawlins

I am in charge of preparing reports for all financial activities of the District Court for each month. These statistics are prepared and given to the Clerk so she can make appropiate payments to the agencies who receive these payments.

Quarterly reports are another area of responsibility for me where I accumulate statistical workload data. This data is then sent to the statistician who has contracted with the Supreme Court to compile all statistics for all counties.

Needless to say, all these jobs keep me very busy (sometimes too busy) but it is very challenging and no day is exactly like the previous. I work with 5 women who are easy to get along with and who do their respective jobs very well as well as a very organized Clerk who relates to her staff well.

Immediatly prior to the job I now have, I worked in the Carbon County Clerk's Office, in the Land Office. I started that job in March of 1994 after being offered a job there by the then Clerk, Bill Harshman. Bill was a super person and a great boss and he allowed me to begin a career that would allow me to support my family away from the railroad. I will always be grateful for the chance he gave me, a man who had been working for the railroad for almost 20 years and at first glance didn't have many other skills.

My job in the Land Office was to work with one other person to receive all documents pertaining to the ownership of lands and properties in Carbon County. We processed these documents through the system, entering all pertinent information into a computer network, scanning these documents and making this information available for the public to do searches upon. We also did all paperwork involved with obtaining a marriage license (we never did figure out why this job was given to the Land Office but that's the way it was).

I was perfectly content at this job. I liked it, I was pretty good at it, we were very much left to our own devices, I liked the person I was working with and things were going well. Then Bill, my boss became quite ill with breathing problems which forced him to retire under disability. He then appointed his head deputy to his position and my world changed in a way I could barely stand. The new boss was a woman who had an extreme power complex and had problems dealing with men. My co-worker and I were both men and she made our lives as much a hell on earth as she possibly could. After about 1-1/2 years of this situation, I simply had to get out. My co-worker felt the same way and we both escaped at about the same time. He got married and moved to Tennessee and I was lucky enough to find a job in the same building in the Clerk Of District Court's Office.

Bill Harshman, the man who had shown confidence in me and who gave me a shot, died of complications with Emphasema about the time I left the Land Office. All who worked for him mourned for him and we will all miss him, not only for being a great boss, but for being a genuinely nice guy. The place is not the same without him, it is now run by a co-worker of mine from the time I worked there. She is young but seems to be doing a good job and also seems to relate well with those who work for her.

For almost 20 years, I worked for the Union Pacific Railroad, first dsas a sheetmetal worker and then I transferred to train service. I was a brakeman until 1978, at which time I was promoted to conductor, a job I held until December 1993 when I took a separation allowance offered to me by the railroad.

I enjoyed my job a great deal when I first started working in train service, it was a high paying job where I had the opportunity to see the countryside and every day was different from the one before. I had a lot of responsibility and I took pride in accomplishing a job and doing it in a timely manner

As time passed, I became more and more disillusioned with the job and my lifestyle in general. I was gone away from home for approximately 24 hours at a time and then home with my family only 24 hours. In the process of trying to raise a family, I missed a great deal of those times in which a young father wants to participate in or watch.

I worked, off and on, on what was called a 'reserve' board for several years before I finally left the company. That was a terrific situation where I made 70% of my previous wage but did not go to work for months at a time. This board was created because of an excess of employees and I certainly enjoyed the situation and got a great deal of things accomplished. At that time, I opened and operated a Comic Book and Trading Card Shop in downtown Rawlins. It was great fun, I loved being self-employed and I learned a great deal but we ultimately closed this small business since I took the buy-off.

Bus Boy: Gay Johnson's Truck Stop (June 1966 to August 1966) - This was the very first job I ever had and I was only 14 years old. My parents had to drive me to work and then pick me up afterward. I didn't make a lot of money, maybe $1.50 an hour but the waitresses were supposed to share part of their tips with me, they seldom did. This was a very physical job and after an 8-hour shift I was tired, even though I was only 14 years old. I worked there during the summer of 1966, right before going into High School.

Flower Delivery Person: Art Floral & Gift (June 1968 to May 1970 - I worked here for two years while I was in High School. I started the summer of 1968 before going into the 11th grade. I had my drivers license so my job was to help around the shop, mostly cleaning up and also making flower deliveries after school and on Saturday mornings. This job gave me money for gas for my car, to pay my insurance and for my clothes and necessities for school. It was a great working experience and I really enjoyed it. I worked there from the summer of 1968 until May of 1970.

Laborer: City Of Rawlins (June 1970 to August 1970 and June 1971 to August 1971) - I worked here for two summers while I was going to college. I started out in the street department but mostly was working in the parks raking, mowing and just general clean-up and maintenance. During my first summer, they moved me to the water and sewer department which I liked a lot more. It was not nearly as boring since I was always busy helping dig ditches, filling in ditches and just general labor work in that department. It was hard work and got me in shape which I enjoyed a great deal.

Laborer: Colorado Interstate Gas (June 1972 to August 1972) - I worked this job one summer while I was still attending college. It was the summer before I had decided I was going to move to Montana to work and gain my residency so I could go to college there. This was a great job where I worked on a painting crew of 3 other guys my own age. We were assigned two pickups which we traded off driving into the field and it was our job to paint gas installations in the Red Desert. We had a lot of independence and we saw and were out in some beautiful country. It was great fun. I worked there the summer of 1972.

Surveror Helper/Draftsman: Arch Mineral (October 1972 to August 1973) - I got a job here shortly after returning from Montana after I was unable to find a job in Billings. I wasn't in Billings long... I could not find a job, I was running out of money and I was very homesick so I returned home. I first started as a surveyor helper running a rod but after a few months at that, they learned that I had some schooling in and an aptitude for drafting so they placed me in the office as a draftsman after one of the other draftsmene didn't work out. I worked in that capacity for the remainder of the winter and the next summer. It was early summer of that year (1973) when I met and started dating my future wife Peggy. I had already decided that I was going to return to the University Of Wyoming to try to get my degree. Peggy had just graduated high school and was going to go to beauty school that fall. As I have said before, we both did what we had planned but my future plans changed drastically from here.

Draftsman: Volk & Harrison [Structural Engineers] (January 1974 to May 1974) - I moved to Casper in January 1974 to be close to Peggy and found a job with this company. I had my own basement apartment and life was good. I had a job I loved, was living in the same town as my girlfriend and spent all my spare time with her, I love Casper, I had a little money to spend on my passions like stereos, photography and I was happy. I worked there until May of 1974 when I moved back to Rawlins to work on the Railroad and get married.

Correctional Officer: Wyoming State Penitentiary (May 1993 to November 1993) - I got a job at the pen in my attempt at getting away from the railroad. I was on the reserve board and not working so I took this job in the hopes another buy-off would come up and I could take it since I had another income. My luck didn't quite work out and I was called back to work after working there for about 7 months. I didn't really like that job even though I was moved into the canteen which is like a convenience store within the prison walls. I sold inmates their magazines, cigarettes, pop and about any other items they needed. I quit this job in November of 1993 to return to the railroad.

Medical Transcriptionist: Memorial Hospital of Carbon County (January 1994 to March 1994) - Only a month after returning to the railroad, another buy-off was made available so after much hand-wringing and worry, I took the buy-off and quit the railroad. I immediately went out looking for a job and the first one which came along was at the Hospital. I had been working on computers for so long, I had become a good typist and could consistently type about 60 wpm so I got the job. I had lots of applilcations in around town but went to work there. I liked the job but it was a little stressful trying to accurately type what doctors (some of whom did not speak English very well) had dictated. After about 2 months there I was offered a job with the county in the Clerk's Office and since it was for more money, better benefits and what I thought would be a better job, I gave my notice and started with the County in March of 1994.

As they say, the rest is history and I am now very content with my job. It has been a long journey but I am hopeful I will be able to retire from this job. My bosses have been very generous about getting me pay increases when they could and I am making enough money to enjoy a good life. I am looking forward to the day I can retire which is September of 2014, that is when I will be 62 and eligible to draw my pensions.

I am very much looking forward to our next adventure, retirement. On August 30, 2014, I will turn 62 years old, qualifying me for my railroad retirement which I paid into for almost 20 years. I will also be able to draw my state retirment which I paid into for over 20 years where I worked for Carbon County. I have been pondering what life will be like for us at that time and although one never knows for sure, I definitely have a plan. The first thing on my plan is to buy a toy hauler and a diesel pickup to pull it. That will allow us to load our Harley and head south to warmer weather after the holidays and stay for a couple months, thus escaping our least favorite time of year here in Wyoming. When we are at home here in Rawlins, I have plans of tackling some the projects which have been left undone for many years in and around our home. I also want to go back to doing woodworking, selling some items on e-bay. I also would like to list some trading cards and comics on e-bay to generate some income from the surplus we had left over when we closed our card/comic shop. I know the key to a productive, happy retirement is to stay busy. So as long as keep that in mind and make and effort to stay busy, I think we can make a success of retirement.