Jury Duty Summons

Today I went down to try to get my mail, at least, and pay the $25 for the post office's street mailbox, when i could have put my own mailbox on the street. I get my mail, up to today finally, although I won't get anymore mail until next week, next Monday to be exact, and in my mail are three pieces delivered to the wrong address, not even my mail. And there is a jury duty summons. And six pieces of junk mail. Why did I want my mail anyhow? Maybe I don't need mail delivery.

So when I get home I call up the Linn County courthouse, to tell them why I was unable to respond, as demanded by the letter, within five days of receipt, because of the mail key issue, and also to ask about jury duty. I've been in Linn County less than a year and get called to jury duty. I was in Benton county over three decades and got called only once.

I have no idea what it entails. The letter states I'm on jury duty for a period of two months, but you're only called for a period of two weeks. Well how do you work your life around that, especially when you work independently and make vet appointments over a month in advance?

The woman refused to tell me anything, and just repeated over and over, just to fill out the form and send it in. I told her I need to know how it works, so I can figure out if I need to just shut down everything for two weeks. Because I don't know how it works, if you call in every day at a certain time or what. She hung up on me, repeating I'd get a letter, apparently without time or inclination to want to explain things.

I don't believe in the justice system. I wish I did. I wanted to believe in it. I've never gotten justice for things done to me. I see some people get railroaded and others get nothing for the same crimes. And people put away for the apparent sport of it. I believe the system has become contests between DA's and attorneys where winning for them personally is everything, without regard for justice or even common sense. I'm going to unregister to vote, since that is how they get their jury pools. I don't want to vote anymore anyhow. I just don't care.

When the criminal justice system needs jurors, sure that's a duty of citizenship, but I cannot understand all these people sueing one another, how they get a right to a jury trial for their disputes, and why a jury member in a civil trial has to sacrifice their lives for often petty lawsuits, where lawyers are sometimes making extreme profits. This isn't a duty of citizenship, to be pawns in the hands of civil lawsuits and their participants.

If people are in dispute over property or an unpaid bill or who was at fault in a car wreck, where no criminal charges have been filed, the citizenry at large is not bound to sacrifice their time and money to help solve civil suits with jury duty. Not in my opinion.

I guess I could get used to the power of being on a jury. I could find out if the defendant fixes his or her pets or not. If not, guilty right there.