"You know what they say, come to California for vacation and leave on probation."

Sitting around waiting in court is par for the course at Humboldt Superior Court. The congestion and all courtrooms on the second floor don't help. Intervention is the worst.

Yesterday, while waiting for Courtroom 5 to open, I was talking with a guy from Georgia and he provided some humor and relief. "You know what they say, come to California for vacation and leave on probation."

He did not share details about his case but according to him, he came to Humboldt, got a court case for something he was not involved with and now he cannot leave.

Having covered quite a few court cases with people in similar situations, his observation about people from out of town or out of state getting stuck in Humboldt is accurate.