The Civil Status Acts Register (CSAR) office in the town of Jambarak, Gegharkunuik Marz, has many local residents up in arms. It’s the way they are treated by Lousineh Mkhitaryan, the woman who runs the place as she pleases; often keeping residents waiting in line for hours for no apparent reason. Residents we spoke to claim that even when they approach the petty bureaucrat with the simplest of questions, she never answers and makes them wait for at least one half hour. I even had occasion to wait for a whole 40 minutes for her after the official 1-2 p.m. lunch break.

On the day of my visit to the office, Mrs. Mkhitaryan came to work with her kid in tow and proceeded to spend the next ten minutes dealing with the child rather than dealing with those waiting in line. When I asked her why she was late and why she was so disliked by local residents, she turned and claimed that, "Hetq was carrying out an order to smear her good name." She then refused to give us access to information at the CSAR regarding births, deaths and marriages registered there. It was only when we went to complain to Lana Mshetsyan,Press Secretary for the Ministry of Justice, thst the CSAR head agreed to speak to us. Her reluctance is to be understood, to a point, since Hetq has in the past reflected on her work habits and how she supplies residents with incorrect documents. Rather than take responsibility for their less than adequate work ethic, many officials would rather blame the members of the press. But since Lousineh Mkhitaryan is the daughter of the Jambarak Municipality's Chief of Staff, she has always been "off-limits". In the end, she finally relented and told us that as of September 22, her office has registered 128 births, 140 deaths, 29 marriages and 6 divorces.