No plans for retirement- Courthouse employees Linn, Sifford have served Rowan for more than 60 years

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 2, 2009

By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost
Rowan County Clerk of Court Jeff Barger may be the envy of clerks and county department heads across the state.
While others struggle with turnover and training new employees, Barger has two clerks with 65 years of combined experience.
Better yet, they’re workaholics who have no interest in retirement.
Amelia Linn is the assistant clerk of court, heading up the criminal division.
Earlene Sifford is the assistant clerk of court heading up the civil division.
Barger worked with them in the 1980s when he was a deputy clerk. All three got their start when hired by longtime Clerk of Court Francis Glover.
“They do a tremendous job,” Barger said last week. “Both take pride in their jobs. I don’t know what I would do without either one of them.
“When you have 30-plus years of experience, you can’t replace it.”
The dreaded retirement word came up a few years back.
Barger recalled that Linn put in paperwork for retirement. She came back in a couple of days and asked if it was OK if she stayed on.
He remembers his response. “Are you kidding? I didn’t want you to leave to start with.”
Linn joined the clerk’s staff in 1974, and Sifford started in 1978.
They both like to work and share a love of gospel music.
When they started work, the Clerk of Court’s office had 12 employees and occupied a small section of the courthouse.
Now there are 40 employees, and the office has expanded to swallow up areas that once housed the tax office and the Register of Deeds.
Amelia Linn
“When I came to work, there was 12 employees, everybody did everything,” Linn said.
The office was full of typewriters. Case dispositions were typed into big, heavy books that the clerks lugged around.
The transition to computers started in 1985 with what Linn calls “dummy terminals”ó units hooked to a mainframe that had very limited ability.
As the civil and criminal caseloads grew, other changes came. The biggest change for Linn was separating the criminal and civil division, with the clerks specializing in the separate areas.
When she looks at the Rowan County Justice Center that takes up most of a city block, she’s still amazed. “I never dreamed the court building would take up a block.”
Linn is also amazed at the volume of cases flowing through the criminal division.
Handling the increasing volume of caseloads is a challenge, but her biggest struggle at times is with trying to help people who don’t understand how the system works.
“We can’t fix it the way people want things done . Sometimes they get so mad,” Linn said.
Linn wouldn’t trade jobs with anyone. “I don’t know where the years have gone. I’m just not ready to let go. People say you’re crazy.”
And what would she do if she retired?
Probably look for another job.
Earlene Sifford
Sifford worked for a while on the criminal side but opted to move to the civil side.
As in the criminal side, there’s no slowdown in civil actions.
“People sue for everything,” Sifford said. “Some sue for the principle.”
Early on, she got first-class training as a clerk, working with Superior Court Judge Thomas Seay.
“It was good training. A lot of people say he was tough and hard. He was fine with me,” Sifford said.
Seay taught her that if she didn’t understand something, she should ask, and “it’s best to get it right the first time.”
She spent 14 years in the criminal division and was in the courtroom for some of the highest profile cases.
But Sifford remembers little about the cases or what transpired in the courtroom.
She concentrated on remembering the names and case numbers. “My concern was about processing the paperwork and getting it moved through.”
Her 30-year stint, in the clerk’s office has been a learning experience, and the learning hasn’t ended.
She admits that she’s a workaholic, and that means everybody isn’t going to work like she does.
While the paperwork is challenging, the best part of the job for Sifford is dealing with the public.
When someone calls or comes to the office and asks questions, she assumes they don’t know anything about the court procedure.
“Sometimes we’re quick to assume that people know something, assume that they know how things work.”
Sifford said her goal is to treat people with respect ó to treat them like she would want to be treated.
Her approach has apparently worked. She’s never had anyone to come in and treat her with disrespect.
She hangs on to a relic ó a typewriter ó to address envelopes.
Sifford said she has no retirement plans. As a child, she wanted to be a gospel singer, but this clerk’s job is just fine.