Wapsi Square Forum

AnotherFairportfan wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2019 2:57 pm I remember the first time my dad heard that song - i think it was a Johnny Cash recording - and he was like "a toll gate on a RAILROAD? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Interrogative!"

Based on Catawampus' reinterpretation, he definitely didn't listen to the original. I love Johnny Horton, and I wish they'd quit playing Dwight Yoakum, and play the _original_ song (Honky Tonk Man)

Bookworm wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2019 4:05 am Based on Catawampus' reinterpretation, he definitely didn't listen to the original. I love Johnny Horton, and I wish they'd quit playing Dwight Yoakum, and play the _original_ song (Honky Tonk Man)

None of my Johnny Horton CDs have a version of "Rock Island Line" on them. The version I'm most familiar with is actually Lead Belly's.

Interesting. I'd originally thought that Johnny Horton wrote it (my cassette tapes of Johnny Horton do have Rock Island Line), but apparently it's from 1934, which I think is before Johnny Horton was performing

Considering he was nine that year...

AnotherFairportfan wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 1:37 pm Considering he was nine that year...

Some kids are just very precocious!

Well, I'm serving on a jury, and the trial is expected to take two days. I can't really say much until after it's concluded, but the charges are a doozy.

Alkarii wrote: ↑Tue Mar 12, 2019 1:02 pm Well, I'm serving on a jury, and the trial is expected to take two days. I can't really say much until after it's concluded, but the charges are a doozy.

Two days isn't a terribly long trial... the civil case I sat on, decades ago, took about a week to get through all of the evidence and testimony, and about a day for us to agree on a verdict.

It was an interesting experience... not least because it led (a bit indirectly) to my meeting my future wife... and we've been married for almost 33 years now. I count this as evidence that doing one's civic duty can be a Good Thing.

Please fill us in, when it's all done and you can talk about it.

Every time that I've been called up for potential jury duty, they decided that they didn't want me after all. It didn't really hurt my feelings, though.

They had at least 50 people show up (I think it was actually a little over that), so many that even the juror box had been full before selection even started. Three times, five people at a time got excused from serving, then it went to one person at a time, and when it got to that, three or four times the last person got excused. I was the last person called up for selection, and my seat was the one where people kept getting replaced.

TazManiac wrote: ↑Tue Mar 12, 2019 3:05 pm

I was going to ask if this was from the movie 12 Angry Men, but when I used the Quote feature on your post, I got my answer...

I suppose y'all could start a pool about what you think the case is, and how it might turn out, with the winner getting some free puns. (As in, they don't have to put anything in the pun jar.)

lake_wrangler wrote: ↑Tue Mar 12, 2019 6:37 pm

TazManiac wrote: ↑Tue Mar 12, 2019 3:05 pm

I was going to ask if this was from the movie 12 Angry Men, but when I used the Quote feature on your post, I got my answer...

I didn't even have to ask.

Alkarii wrote: ↑Tue Mar 12, 2019 6:10 pm They had at least 50 people show up (I think it was actually a little over that), so many that even the juror box had been full before selection even started. Three times, five people at a time got excused from serving, then it went to one person at a time, and when it got to that, three or four times the last person got excused. I was the last person called up for selection, and my seat was the one where people kept getting replaced.

In my experience - way too many callups, frankly - they pull about 30-40 people for a 6 person jury (civil), and 100 or so for a 12 person jury (criminal). For some minor crimes, they're 6 person juries, and depending on the crime, they could go from 50 to 200 potential jurors.

We use an initial panel of 18 for civil, which then gets whittled down to 12.

I don't wanna go into too much detail, because I know the nature of the allegations in the case are pretty upsetting, but there was no physical evidence, only testimonies, and none of the testimonies against the defendant really held up. The alleged victim's testimony in court did not match the sworn testimony given during interviews, and what the witnesses told the court they had been told drastically contradicted the testimony given by the alleged victim.

When it was time for deliberation, two thirds of us stated without any hesitation "not guilty." A couple of us (myself included) weren't completely convinced it couldn't have happened, and one stated guilty right away.

I’ve never even been asked to serve jury duty.

I wonder why.

GlytchMeister wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2019 7:22 pm I’ve never even been asked to serve jury duty.

I wonder why.

It might just be random chance.

Or, it might depend on how your jurisdiction selects people for a possible call-up. It's usually via some sort of lottery system, with the list of entrants being "stocked" from some sorts of lists of local residents. In some places, they use lists of people who have registered to vote, or people who have local drivers' licences, or information from the census, or (I think) from utility-company records. If you don't drive, don't vote, and don't have much of a "presence" with local businesses and utilities, your city/county government might simply not have you "on record" in a way which will get your name into the pool.

I've been tapped three times... I think it was about 20 years between, each time (and I only had to actually serve on a jury, the first time). You're young enough (as I recall) that the odds of your name being chosen at random, from whatever lists you're on that they use, might easily have been low enough that you've been missed so far.

GlytchMeister wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2019 7:22 pm I’ve never even been asked to serve jury duty.

I wonder why.

They're saving you for the really special cases.

But yeah, you've only been of legal age to be on one for, what, half-a-dozen years or so? It's not really something that happens to most people very often.

Yeah I’m... mid-twenties.

Plus, I’ve been semi-nomadic, homeless for a while, and my DL was expired for a while, and I’ve never had my name officially on a lease or a utility bill yet (hopefully soon, I’m looking for an apartment), so not only am I young, I’ve had a dramatically reduced presence on those kinds of lists.

Been a registered voter since 18, though. I just used a friend’s address while I was homeless.

Catawampus wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2019 7:49 pm

GlytchMeister wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2019 7:22 pm I’ve never even been asked to serve jury duty.

I wonder why.

They're saving you for the really special cases.

But yeah, you've only been of legal age to be on one for, what, half-a-dozen years or so? It's not really something that happens to most people very often.

I get called up every two or three years. I can find the courthouse blindfolded.