Civic pride

I know ...it's been awhile. I had an interesting experience yesterday. Several weeks ago and on the day I was diagnosed with pneumonia I received a notice in the mail that said I was to report for jury duty. They don't word it like you are being invited to an exciting event rather, if you don't show up you will be fined $1,000.00 and a subpoena will be issued for your arrest. Yes by all means thanks for inviting me, I will definitely be there! Fortunately my good health returned just in time and off I went.

After spending half a day learning about the selection process I felt like a wall flower when all was said and done because I didn't get picked. Surprisingly it was kind of disappointing that after investing that much time and energy I didn't get to participate in a trial and I also didn't get paid!

We had about 280 people show up minus the 25 or so with "valid" excuses for the judge as to why they couldn't be jurors. That left 265 people to produce enough jurors for 3 trials. Part way through the day one of the trials was cancelled so that left us with only two trials to cover. After listening to the entertaining judge who claimed our odds of serving were pretty small and watching a video on what to expect, the computer finally generated a list of about 50 people and the bailiff called off the names one by one. They all headed to the back doors and were sent on their way to participate in the next phase of the process.

The computer generated the second list and the process was repeated. After this group headed for the back doors we were told to sit tight. Everyone was feeling pretty relaxed thinking they had dodged the proverbial bullet. It turned out that one of the woman on the list at some point in the process decided to fly the coop! They kept repeating her name and if she was still in the room she didn't answer so everyone was sent back to their seats and a new list had to be produced.

The bailiff came back up and said they had gotten the bugs worked out and she began to read the new list. She had read about 25 of the names and they were all gathering at the back doors when she stopped. She had the funniest look on her face as she abruptly started walking to the back of the room. The next thing we know everyone was sent back to their seats and they had to start over one more time. Believe it or not this women's name had randomly turned up on the new list!

They finally came back with another list and after reading all of these names I realized I wasn't on it either. I hadn't been picked once! What are the odds of that? They read over 175 names out of the remaining 265 people and I wasn't on any of the lists. (Well maybe I was one of the 25 people who's names weren't read when the balliff discovered the name of the AWOL juror. I guess I will never know.

The funny thing is that the guy to my right was picked twice. And on the last list the guy on my left was picked as well as the woman next to him. We were on the front row and that left me and one other woman sitting all alone at the end. A man across the room had been picked all three times for the second jury. As he left the room he said, "I should be playing the lottery!" It was pretty funny and everyone had a good laugh.

I can't complain too much since I have plenty to do in the next few days. Hopefully one of the things will be to find the time to make another entry.