Office Brings Vital Services to High Desert

Richard Hughes, who was on hand Friday to celebrate the opening of a new Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s satellite office in Lancaster, knows only too well how far residents of the high desert have to go for some county services.

Hughes, an assistant registrar-recorder, makes the traffic-choked 160-mile round trip from his Lancaster home to downtown Los Angeles each working day.

Although Hughes’ commute won’t change, the opening of the registrar-recorder’s first satellite office in the county means that many Antelope Valley residents will find it easier to file and retrieve records of births, deaths, marriages and real estate transactions.

County Supervisor Mike Antonovich also attended the official opening of the two-employee office in the county government complex on Avenue K-6. He said the office was created in recognition of the “growing needs for critical county services in the Antelope Valley.”

About 120 people, an average of about 14 a day, have used the office since it began functioning Jan. 8, Hughes said. He predicted the number will increase as more people become aware of the service. The need for birth records will be especially acute during school registration periods because of the high percentage of families with children in the high desert, he said.

“I expect there will be times when we will be seeing up to 100 people a day,” Hughes said.

A new computer system enables clients to obtain birth records dating back to 1964 in abbreviated forms known as abstracts, which are acceptable substitutes 95% of the time, he said.