VIDEO: Monroe County Courthouse Without Communication

ABERDEEN, Miss. (WCBI) – It just might feel like the Stone Age, no phone or internet service.

That’s been the case at the Monroe County Courthouse.

For the last few days, phone and internet services have been unavailable for clerks in the building, making it difficult to get work done.

It’s not a total blackout; the lights still work and the computers work to a degree.

Random reboots have happened in the building, but this disconnection is different.

“We realized that our systems were down. We were not able to contact our IT company Friday afternoon; they were closed. So we just made it through the rest of the day,” said Monroe County Deputy Clerk, Gaye Guin.

It’s now Monday, and the courthouse is still without the means to make phone calls or send emails.

Citizens can make phone calls, but what happens on the other end is a bit confusing.

“They get a message that says they are first or second in line or a busy signal,” explained Guin.

Coming at the end of the month makes things that much more difficult for county employees.

“We’ve got roughly 400 jury summons out there for 2 different court terms… cases coming up. They can’t call us and ask to be excused. You’re just kind of paralyzed when you’re down like this. You know the world has changed so much, we depend on the internet,” said Guin.

Upon further inspection early Monday morning, it was clear how the fiber optic cable was cut.

A squirrel chewed clean through it.

A replacement part is on the way, and the repair should be a quick one, but workers will be on their toes for the next few days.

“We’ll take all of today’s phone calls that we weren’t able to take care of; we’ll take care of them tomorrow, along with tomorrow’s phone calls. We will do double duty for a couple of days to catch back up,” said Guin.

The problem is said to be fixed by Tuesday.

This outage doesn’t mean it’s too late for potential jurors to request off duty.

They still have until this coming Friday.