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Author Topic: I got a jury summons today! Ugh.... Jason Winn Expert Film Handler Posts: 131 From: Mesquite, TX, USA Registered: Jan 2006 posted 03-01-2006 07:49 PM                     I just had jury duty last November here in Dallas County. This was my first time ever being summoned and I got selected. The trial lasted for 8 days and it was boring as hell. It was a breech of contract case. It was two companies that nobody's ever heard of that had a contract together. The plaintiff accused the defendant of breeching the contract. We deliberated for 8 and a half hours until we finally ruled in favor of the defendant. Man, I thought I was never gonna get out of there. I thought I was gonna end up living at the courthouse. It was not a fun experience to say the least. Next time I get jury duty, I'm definitily gonna try harder to get out of it. Last time, I dressed kinda conservatively. Next time, I'm gonna roll up in there sporting an Insane Clown Posse T-shirt, baggy jeans, and covered in spikes and chains. Every time one of the lawyers or the judge says something, I'm gonna bust out laughing and tell them, "Oh, I'm sorry! I just smoked a fat joint this morning. WOW! Cool hands!" Yeah, I'll be gone so fast. HaHaHa! BTW, for my "civil duty" I got paid a whopping $6.00 a day! Parking is $3.00. So, that leaves me with $3.00 a day. I think I'm gonna buy that island I always wanted.  |  IP: Logged Jason Burroughs Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 654 From: Allen, TX Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-02-2006 11:10 AM                     In the US Video/Audio distribution of the trial is up to the judge. Sometimes Video is allowed (O.J. Simpson trial) and sometimes its not (Rich Peterson trial).  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 08-13-2006 09:38 PM                     I have to go tomorrow. I don't think it will bother me if I get picked and have to serve for a trial for one day, but I am worried about getting picked for something like JW's trial.  |  IP: Logged Jon Miller Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 973 From: San Diego, CA, USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 08-14-2006 12:37 AM                     Chris, is it a one day/one trial commitment? Can you report any day during the week? At least in San Diego County, CA , you can report up to two weeks after the reporting date on the summons. I took advantage of this grace period when I postponed my commitment from last February to last July, only to learn in June the Monday date I selected turned out to be the first day of a conference where I had a critical support role. I reported Thursday, which was a very good thing nevermind the boring waits (and those ominous pops through the jury lounge PA each time a jury services officer keyed up the mike for announcements) as Thursdays are slow jury days due to most trials starting on Mondays. Only one courtroom needed a batch of prospective jurors (I wasn't among the group called), and that was it. So it looks like the next time I'm summonsed (2008?), I'll plan on reporting on a Thursday.  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 08-15-2006 10:42 AM                     I don't know about reporting on whatever day. My truck broke down on the way there yesterday so I never made it. I tried to call them and let them know but I got a recording that said to write a letter and tell them what happened and they will reschedule you. Great, now I get to waste another day to stupid jury duty. My clutch master cylinder broke on me. They seem to break every three years. The piece that connect to the pedal is made of plastic and it snaps in half. So I was at least able to get off the highway, because I could still get it in gear, but if you stop there is no way to get moving again. I broke down in a ghetto part of Dallas where alot of non-whites hang out. If it would have been in a better area I would have left my truck and hopped on the bus with the free pass they give you.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 08-15-2006 11:04 AM                     Chris, is your truck a GMC/Chevy? Is there alot of mileage on your clutch? I've seen these hydraulics break when the clutch is nearly worn out. Fords are no better. Plastic hardware sucks.  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 08-15-2006 11:19 AM                     95 ford f150. 160k miles It is not actually hydraulic failure, There is a piece that connects the clutch pedal to a plunger that goes inside the master cylinder, half of it is metal and half is plastic. The plastic half is what keeps snapping. I bought it from my uncle in 2001, he told me it broke on him in 2000. It broke on me in August of 2003 and now again in August 2006. You cannot buy that piece alone, I had to buy a whole new master cylinder. What I did this time, instead of changing the whole thing out and having to worry about bleeding the lines, was change out the plunger and linkage themselves. Just pull out a retaining ring, it slides out and put the other one in. The last time it happened to me I was 60 miles from home and had to pay $150 to get towed home. I should buy a spare to keep in my truck at all times.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 08-15-2006 11:37 AM                     A friend of mine just bought himself a fancy new 2007 Ford Mustang. What a mistake. Freakin' Fords! I've yet to find a reliable one.  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 08-15-2006 11:52 AM                     If I was going to spend $30k on a car I would definitely get a VW, Honda S200 or a BMW. However, for the $5k I spent on my truck I think I got a good value. It has been great until this year. All of the sudden it started falling apart.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 08-15-2006 01:19 PM                     Sorry you are having these problems Chris. Brad, I have a reliable 1983 Ford. I agree with you about the new ones, though. All plastic junk, thin metal, and just waiting to die. I'll stick with old and paid for...  |  IP: Logged Charles Greenlee Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 801 From: Savannah, Ga, U.S. Registered: Jun 2006 posted 08-15-2006 10:27 PM                        1979 Nissan/Datsun 280ZX, it has its problems, but overall pleased with the car. Its issues aren't really the car's fault, but poor mantanence by the previous owners. The rust is the only major issue that is the car's fault.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 08-16-2006 07:02 AM                        quote: Brad Miller A friend of mine just bought himself a fancy new 2007 Ford Mustang. What a mistake. Freakin' Fords! I've yet to find a reliable one. My experience has been completely the opposite. The three cars I've owned are a 1981 Ford Fiesta, a 1992 Fiat Tempra and a 1997 Ford Mondeo. The Fiesta and the Mondeo never broke down once away from home (though the Fiesta was a bugger to start in cold or damp weather). The Fiat did so three times in the four years I owned it, and cost almost four times as much in repairs and maintenance per mile as the Fords. I've owned the Mondeo since 118k miles: it is now approaching the 200k mile mark and has only ever needed routine servicing and the replacement of parts which you'd expect to wear out on a car of that age (brake discs, petrol filter, that sort of thing). On the basis of my experience so far, my next car will almost certainly be a Ford.  |  IP: Logged Pete Naples Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1565 From: Dunfermline, Scotland Registered: Feb 2001 posted 08-16-2006 01:44 PM                     Leo, on a Fiesta that age you did replace the diaphragms in the (most likely) Ford VV carb, didn't you? THE number 1 casue of difficult cold starting on CVH/OHV engined Fords of the period. I know this because I had a 1982 Escort which played up one winter.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 08-16-2006 02:08 PM                        It was a Weber carb, and I don't think that was causing any problem (although I got rid of the car in '99 and so my memory's a bit hazy). The symptom was that after having been left for a while in very cold and/or damp weather, the starter motor wouldn't turn; not that the engine wouldn't catch when it finally did. I think the culprit was that the negative lead from the starter motor went to a binding post on the side of the engine block which was virtually fossilised in rust. Not even a whacking great torque wrench would shift the nut, and the guy who ran the garage opposite where I lived advised against applying too much brute force, because if the bolt sheared off, I'd be buggered. That road was on a slight hill, and eventually I took to parking it at the top and simply rolling it down the hill to start it.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 08-16-2006 02:41 PM                        I got summoned for jury last week, the second time in three years. And I am not even an US citizen. Yes, I know, they pull the information off the driver's licenses, but that shouldn't keep them from knowing who is a citizen and who is not. No wonder they have such a hard time keeping track of terrorists and evil people, with all that unorganized data chaos. quote: Gordon McLeod once the judge warned all of the panel at selection that anyone claiming a booked vacation would get a contempt of court sumouns (the panel was during the school march break and many had prepaid vacations that they would loose) and he gave one women 5 days for trying to use that excuse What if you can prove that you paid for the vacation before you received the notification? quote: Mark Gulbrandsen And no... I will never register to vote again! Jury duty seems like a penalty for being able to vote. Heck... there is no politician worth voting for anyway. Mark, Mark, Mark... A lot of people died for you to have these rights, and you are just throwing them away because it is more convenient? That is sad, especially since you are among those who blow the patriotic horn the loudest on occasion. Apparently not when it is time for you to give something back to your country, though.  |  IP: Logged

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