American History 1988
Chapter 34 - 31: The Little Shock

Chapter 34: Chapter 31: The Little Shock

"Dean, are you sure this thing will work?" In the library, Roger anxiously watched the door while repeatedly urging Dean, who was busy under the table.

"Shut up, Roger, don’t distract me." Dean, lying on the ground, had opened the computer case at the library’s front desk and then pulled out his own hard drive.

"Dean, you promised me everything would go smoothly. If the principal finds out we dismantled the best computer in the library, added our own little gadget, and then screwed up in front of Judge Witt, they’re definitely going to kick me out."

Roger felt he had gone crazy; why had he agreed to go along with Dean’s unreliable plan... He should clearly be playing basketball in the gym right now.

"Your damn legs are shaking worse than my hands, Come on! We are fighting for legal freedom in Youngstown, don’t you trust my computer skills?" Dean said while connecting wires, and teased Roger for his cowardice.

"Alright, Dean. Everything you said before is crap, only the last sentence is somewhat reliable." At this point, Roger could only choose to trust Dean. Meanwhile, he spotted a group of people turning into the library entrance from afar.

"Oh~Shit!" Roger kicked Dean with his foot, "Hurry up! Dean, they’re coming!"

"Give me one more minute!" Dean plugged in the cable and then continued to quickly screw the cover, also pressing the computer’s power button in passing.

"Come on, Come on~ Come on!" Although the snow outside hadn’t melted, Roger was already sweating profusely.

But it was already too late; the school’s Dean Vance had walked into the library with Judge Witt.

"Which student is this, where did Steve go today?" Dean Vance, not finding Steve who was supposed to be waiting here to receive them, asked with surprise.

"Uh... Steve, he..." In his panic, Roger desperately tried to think of an excuse.

"Steve is sick today." Dean, emerging from under the table with a smile, offered an explanation.

"Oh~" The school’s accompanying staff and Judge Witt, seeing Dean suddenly popping out from under the table, all had strange expressions on their faces.

"That’s right, Steve is sick today, so... we’re here... to help share some of his workload." Roger explained while nudging Dean with his elbow, "Dean, on your face..."

"What?" Dean subconsciously wiped his face. The smudge of dirt that was originally on the corner of his mouth smeared across half his cheek in one stroke.

"Pfft~" Someone from the school’s staff couldn’t help but laugh, even the somewhat stern Judge Witt curved her lips into a smile.

"So?" Dean Vance’s expression wasn’t too pleased, "Can someone explain exactly what’s going on?"

"Uh..." Roger felt desperate... he knew things couldn’t possibly go this smoothly.

"Here’s the thing," Dean wiped his face hastily and smoothly continued, "Roger and I really enjoyed Judge Witt’s speech. We are firm liberals, and we believe the public has the right to know everything that happens in their state."

Hearing her own name, Witt finally remembered the two young men in front of her from the speech in the auditorium, where they were among the students who spoke.

"Thank you very much for your understanding and support of the legal affairs in Youngstown." Judge Witt smiled warmly at them.

"It’s what every person from Youngstown should do, but of course that’s not enough..." Dean glanced at the computer; the damned bulky IBM finally booted up, "To facilitate people’s access to information, and to provide more reference cases for others, we’ve developed a small piece of legal application software."

"Software development?" Both Dean Vance and Judge Witt were curious. How did law get mixed with software?

In their minds, software merely aided with tasks like document processing or spreadsheet calculations, like Lotus 1-2-3, Bravo, Excel, and such office software.

But Dean offered them a different perspective, "Yes, it’s a very practical tool. If you don’t mind, let me give everyone a demonstration." Dean gestured for them to come closer to the computer.

Dean Vance looked at Judge Witt to seek her opinion, but she had already given her answer by her actions.

Curiously approaching Dean’s side, Judge Witt looked at the computer screen. "Let’s see then, what does software especially developed for law look like. Honestly, I’m quite curious myself."

Whether it was out of genuine interest or to put on a show in front of the school and students, Judge Witt didn’t mind giving Dean a chance to show his work.

"As you wish, ma’am." Dean navigated with the mouse into the hard drive, skillfully launching a case information database software he had written in three days.

It was still a prototype with just a basic search function but it was enough for the demonstration.

"Judge Witt, please take a look, here..." Dean opened a search box, "We just need to enter the relevant keyword, like eviction cases..."

With a press of the enter key, the screen quickly refreshed with rows of information. They were all the eviction cases that had occurred in Youngstown over the past week.

"Select the case you want to learn about, then click into it, and you will find all the information about it. The plaintiff and defendant, the property involved in the case, the final statement of the verdict, and so on..."

Whether it was Judge Witt, Dean Vance, or the school staff behind them, everyone’s eyes widened, having never seen such a system before.

"Of course, its functionality doesn’t stop there," Dean decided to give them a little more technological shock, "If you enter a person’s name, for example, Phillip Williams..."

Dean then tapped away at the keyboard, and this time, the screen displayed all criminal records associated with Phillip Williams: drug offenses, illegal possession of firearms, assault...

"First, let me say," Dean raised a finger for emphasis, "all this information is from the publicly available records of the Youngstown court in District Seven, so it does not involve any privacy issues."

However, his emphasis was basically irrelevant; everyone was stunned by the functionality.

They had never thought that one day simply moving their fingers across a keyboard would yield a person’s entire criminal history.

Although these cases were public and the law in Ohio even encouraged the public to search for them, there is a world of difference between an archive lying forgotten in a records room and criminal information available in a few seconds online.

"Can this system look up all cases within Ohio?" Judge Witt asked, her eyes twinkling as she sought confirmation once again.

"In theory, it’s completely possible. We just need to enter the physical case information from courts across the state into the system, that is, to convert it into electronic data.

Then the public can look up these records anytime, anywhere. We all have the right to know this information, don’t we?" Dean once again brandished the banner of liberalism.

"I completely agree!" Judge Sheryl Witt highly appreciated the system developed by Dean, which was simply the perfect legal tool in her eyes.

"How should I address you?" Judge Witt decided to have a good talk with Dean.

"Dean Price. You can just call me Dean."

"Alright, Dean, you’ve done some incredible work," Judge Witt commenced with praise, then turned to Dean Vance and said, "Mr. Vance, the educational achievements of Youngstown State University are truly astonishing."

A look of pride appeared on Vance’s face, "Youngstown State University is often overlooked, but our students are just as talented."

After a moment of modest self-promotion, Vance turned back with a beaming smile and asked with interest, "By the way, Dean, which department are you from? I will contact your department head to give you even greater support."

"My major is electrical engineering, but I’m a student at Cleveland State University," Dean said innocently as he introduced himself.

"What?!" Vance’s smile froze on his face.

Judge Sheryl Witt first looked surprised, then couldn’t help laughing. This young man always managed to shock people.

"Actually," Dean said unfazed, casually draping an arm over Roger who was next to him, "this system was developed by Roger and me together. He has also made significant contributions."

Feeling the pressure of Dean’s hand on his shoulder, Roger immediately puffed up his chest with a proud expression, "Yes, that’s right!"

Indeed, he was the one who threatened Steve with a nude photo to make him discreetly disappear from the library.

"Very good," Vance’s smile returned, "Roger, isn’t it? Good job. So this system will eventually be the joint accomplishment of students from Cleveland State University and Youngstown State University, right?"

"Of course," Dean gave the desired answer without any hesitation.

"Good!" Vance nodded in satisfaction.

"Dean," Judge Sheryl Witt first glanced at the composed Dean, then at Roger who was doing his best to stand tall, "and...Roger..."

She took a business card from the assistant behind her, "I’m very interested in your software, so would you talk to me about it when you have time?"

"It would be my honor, Judge Witt," Dean took the business card, his face exuding the right amount of excitement.

"Excellent, I look forward to the day they are put to use." Judge Witt was pleased with Dean’s demeanor; he was a smart man who knew his place.

"Mr. Vance, this visit to Youngstown State University has been very enlightening. I will definitely report your outstanding work to the city council."

"It wouldn’t be possible without everyone’s support, including of course, Judge Witt."

Watching the group walk away, Dean and Roger both let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh~Shit, Dean, you just now were totally acting like a queer," Roger referred to the moment Dean crawled out from under the table.

"Fuck you, Roger!"

"Damn it, stop saying that to me, I’m suddenly feeling a bit nauseous~"

"Roger, your fucking head is full of tadpoles!" Dean retorted, flipping him off with both middle fingers.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.