The Good Banter Thread

[CountryEscape]

Wow, that would have been awful, Sissy. Our courthouse is brand new, maybe 4 years old now. I'm on "Panel B", and Panel C is supposed to call at 11:30 to see if they are needed. So, that tells me that if I get chosen, I will be around all day. If not, I'll get to leave by 11:30, or so I figure anyhow. Will report tomorrow how things went!

 

[sissy]

Hope it goes good for you and better than my one and only . :razz:

 

[Fishylove]

Finally found the pics! Here are a couple of the fungus we found a few weeks ago. Never seen an orange mushroom before And the other was on the side of a fallen rotting tree. Pretty cool I think... as a side note: I looked them up, the only one I've found so far is the orange one and It's Poisonous haven't found the other yet.
There is the chimnea i found at the salvage yard too. Not too shabby for free
I served on a jury once, It was a drunk drivers case, it was actually a interesting experience. Can't say I enjoyed it, but I did learn a bit about how the court system works.

 

[humbirdlover]

cool chiminea FL, looks like it's metals? I've been looking for the small metal mesh ones that Lowe's had a couple years ago, but haven't found one. they have the larger size, but won't fit the spot I have in mind

 

[addy1]

We are back heading home, sitting in airport...........................5 hour delay think plane broke they are putting everybody on different planes.

We had rain and sun, the rain we had headed west to florida then up the coast lots of storms. Flooding south of our place in fl.

Had a great time will post some pictures once we actually make it home.

They just confirmed plane broke.............gave everybody a $100 voucher

 

[humbirdlover]

Yay, your home! Missed you Looking forward to your pics

 

[addy1]

Well almost home, should have been landing right now, but won't land until 5pm or so

 

[HARO]

I got called once and that was back in NJ and it was a pain in the butt .Got to sit in a dark poorly lighted basement of the court house in New Brunswick with a bunch of other people and they gave you a card with a number on it and when the number was called you got the big thrill of being herded in to an elevator with a bunch of other people ,Like cows going to slaughter .4 times that day called up and did not get picked once .geeze ,felt like the leper cow . :razz: Take a good book to read because it can be boring .Half hour for lunch and bathrooms that I would not let my kids use . :sad: .Folding chairs that hurt your butt .No cell phone use allowed ,but you could use there pay phones ,yeh real nice :sad: bored bored bored and more bored that day .No windows dark and bad lighting that flickered and once you were signed in you could not leave except for lunch .They had one small door to out side where people who smoked could sit .Guards down there like we were prisoners .Hope they changed that there because it sucked . :sad: :sad:

So on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your jury experience, Sissy? Come on, now. Don't hold back!! :grumble:
John

 

[Fishylove]

Yes HL, it's cast iron Found it in the Salvage yard !!! Just needs new mesh on the windows.
Gotta Love Free !! Lol
Good to have yah back addy

 

[addy1]

So on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your jury experience, Sissy? Come on, now. Don't hold back!! :grumble:
John

I served on the grand jury in arizona for 3 months, it was interesting. po'd my job payroll, they had to pay me and replace me, cost them some over time lol around 10k. My employees got good at being their own boss since I was gone so long. You had to go down twice a week.
Never sat on a jury though.

 

[j.w]

Been on a jury 2 times and a mock jury once a long time ago. Wish they would call me again. I found it most interesting. First thing they do is get rid of all the legal, medical,firemen/women and people who have had anything similar happen to them that the case is about. The first one I was on was a vehicular homicide case............girl got convicted of racing down the freeway in her truck w/ another car of boy friends along side them. The girls best friend was thrown from the trucks window and truck rolled over and killed her as it hit a broken down car parked on the side. She said the dead girl was driving, not her. We figured it out that she was lying and was the one driving. The next case was a drug case where a guy got stopped w/ drugs in his car. He said they weren't his. He got convicted too. The mock trial.....geez, I can't even remember what that one was about right now.............again something about drugs, but we did not find them guilty,not enough evidence in our opinions. Lawyers sometimes do those mock trials to see how a real jury might decide a case for their client.

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, boohoo, I didn't even get questioned. There were 2 sets of possible jurors, 14 each, first set they chose 8 of the 14 finals. Second set they chose the other 6. I didn't even get to sit in the jury chairs. It was a murder trial from another county, they usually change "venue" - county - around here for a better chance at no publicity. One of the guys that I think was the best for the attorneys to choose was an older man (hard of hearing, but he said he would raise his hand if he could not hear during the trial) but he knew a man who had been murdered, PLUS he knew the murderer! He worked with them both, so he would know a murder from both sides, ideal person to sit on this trial! Others chosen that surprised me: 19 year old young man, works at a truck wash; and another young man, maybe 20 or so, didn't hear where he works. Others that got booted and not chosen pretty much were trying to get released, and they accomplished that! But, the questions made you say you wanted to be on the jury, the way they asked them, or you were trash! LOL I guess the attorneys for both sides got to choose the most likely people to sit on the jury to be chosen for the first group and second group, so that's why I didn't even get chosen. Being a legal secretary, working for an attorney, you would think at least one side would WANT me, but I guess I know too much, maybe. Anyhow, I would have loved to have been allowed to sit and listen to that trial. It would have been EXTREMELY interesting to me. Most people there wanted more than anything to NOT be chosen.
I also would have been paid full wages for days off work for jury trial. I got paid for this morning, got to "clock in" when I left home at 8, and then got to leave at 4:00, but didn't leave until 4:15. The defense attorneys will have to pay me for mileage and whatever the daily fee is, so I will get maybe $40 for the day. Maybe not even that much, not sure how much they pay for mileage. Anyhow, fun morning and interesting in my opinion.
Oh, and they said the selected jurors will have coffee, juice and donuts tomorrow a.m. before their work begins.

 

[j.w]

Yep we got free lunches and snacks and were on that first homicide trial for several days. My DH was always bugging me to talk to him about the trial while I was on the jury but I wouldn't do it. He kept saying oh come on it's just me. Lol I wouldn't budge even a little bit! How could they turn me down as a juror, I was a stay at home mom at the time and kids were in school and I never had been in any trouble and didn't know anyone who had been killed. I was a shoe in each time. Wish I could be a regular for jury trials. My friends and neighbors who get called always try to get out of service and they always do. I got a feeling in my bones that my time again is coming up to serve,lol!

 

[addy1]

Grand jury, no free food, no donuts, we, as group, started taking turns bringing in food and even had pot lucks. I was on duty when hubby died, so at least I had 18 witness as to where I was!

It was interesting to decide if there was enough to take a person to trial, we did release some, but most did get sent to trial. We could hear 30-40 cases in a day, sometimes. A few times it was one case, the murders, a lot to process. Most of what we heard was drugs, abuse. The most common excuse for drugs was I borrowed this jacket , these pants, didn't check the pockets for drugs! The abuse cases where very sad what the man/women, put their spouse sig other through.

 

[sissy]

Welcome almost back addy .In NJ you get 20 dollars and thats it no food no lunch and no drinks ,just vending machines and you pay .Employer can pay you if it is in your contract but other than that nothing .You get to be charged 5 dollars for parking in the jurors parking lot for the day , :razz: oh what fun .Cost me for gas to go there and food to eat and drinks ,so guessing the 20 dollars they got back any ways ,boy talk about a rip off . :neutral: