Orr issues first marriage license of 2004

Thursday, January 01, 2004

For the 13th consecutive year, Cook County Clerk David Orr married the couple that obtained the first marriage license issued in the new year.

Carlo D. Terrazas, 52, of Berwyn, and Pauline Urrutia, 58, of Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, received the first marriage license of 2004 and agreed to have Clerk Orr marry them.

Orr, the only county clerk in the state with the authority to perform marriages, asked a judge to waive the 24-hour waiting period so he could conduct the ceremony this morning.

Aside from the license fee paid for by the Clerk’s office, the couple received donated gift certificates redeemable for: a weekend stay at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, dinner at Petterino’s restaurant, and a pair of tickets to an opening performance of the Goodman Theatre’s “The Light in the Piazza.”

The Cook County Clerk’s office issues all marriage licenses in Chicago and in suburban Cook County. The office issued: 41,113 in 2003; 33,661 in 2002; 41,650 in 2001; 41,231 in 2000; 37,709 in 1999; and 40,807 in 1998.

For the month of December 2003, the Clerk’s office issued 2,298 licenses, down from the 2,452 licenses issued in December 2002.