Reader Thanks Hall for ‘Jury Duty’ Column

To The Editor:
Regarding the publisher’s opus of April 21 “Oh no! Not a Jury Summons,” wow…does that take me back a few years.
Around 1990, I was summoned for jury duty. I pleaded with them that if I had jury duty, as the sole operator of a service company, I would lose my accounts and income, my livelihood. Astonishingly, they agreed to summon me after I retired. Unbelievable, but true.
So about 2000, I was called to duty. I really wanted to do it simply to keep my gray matter stirred up. So as they started the count down, like 5-4-3-2-1, luckily I just made it. Judge Batten said, “Mr. Carroll, I’ve some good news for you, you are the jury foreman.” I had a ball. A study in human behavior. Wow. Very interesting. I did “welcome the opportunity.” I learned a lot as grand jury foreman.
First off, there were about four rows of jurors, extroverts in the front row — as opposed to definite introverts way in the back row, as closes to the back wall as anyone could get. IT was like they were trying to become the wall.
When I called for a vote and a show of hands, the “extros” liked to jump out of their seats. The “intros” hunkered down. I had to ask them to “raise your hands higher.” As jury foreman, I had a plush upholstered seat, faux leather arm rests, the very ends were completely dug deep into the padding from ultra nervous fingernails. I don’t know why some foremen were “all shook up” to the point of demolishing the armrest. As I said, I had a ball.
I am glad that Judge Batten has a sense of humor, as anyone in our country who lacks one is doomed.
A couple of things in the publisher’s opus puzzle me, why don’t lawyers want anyone from the media? What about jury duty shocked your friends from the Keystone State?
Also, the juror who prejudged the “old guy,” that is down right scary. It makes me wonder how many “old guys” are in our nation’s “buckets” and they really don’t belong there.
Thank you, Art Hall, for your column on jury duty.
JIM CARROLL III
Green Creek