<p>I don’t know if it’s that crazy. A lot of people that live in city’s don’t own cars and not all 18 year olds are in college. My older kids were both asked to serve here in PA when they were in college in Illinois and Virginia. They just sent back the postcard explaining why they weren’t available and they discharged them without asking for a different date. I would actually LIKE to serve on a jury. I’ve been served several times but was dismissed the last time because they had dozens of people too many.</p>
<p>Count me in as another person that is not excited about snow in the FALL forecast. Snow should not be allowed to arrive until January, with the exception of Christmas eve and Christmas day.</p>
<p>I am so sorry about the jury duty debacle!! Virginia must have an overload of willing and able participants. When the kids were young I was called and I was given the option of writing a letter of saying why serving would be a hardship. Being a SAHM with no one to watch the kids counted. I was excused with no question. I never felt bad about this feeling I would serve plenty when they were older as a SAHM. I’ve never been called again, ever. I don’t know if the laws have changed and the possible problems Bluejr will face. My heart goes out to the kids going through this.</p>
<p>I was called for jury duty in NY two summers ago and there were a ton of college kids who were called to sit at some point in the year and simply had it deferred until they came home after the spring semester. </p>
<p>I have asked to be deferred and they usually will ask you when it would be convenient for you. </p>
<p>I don’t see what they big deal is. </p>
<p>Not only is it snowing now it’s sticking. Bleugh.</p>
<p>Sorry about the snow eb. I realize it really is early for this. I lived in Johnstown PA for several years and we had snow by Halloween some years until Easter. The blessing was that from late November it rarely thawed so you didn’t have the ice layer. They are also VERY good at clearing roads so school rarely closed. We miss here in the mid-atlantic because of the dreaded ice, and freeze/thaw/freeze cycle.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t classify it as a big deal-more of a nuisance. If it was his home state he could defer to a date in the summer when we knew he would be home. I think it is ridiculous to expect a kid from out of state to have to go back to Massachusetts to request a hardship exemption for being a student in person-why not let them send in a card and be done with it.</p>
<p>He can’t serve during the school year, how is he supposed to serve in the summer when he doesn’t live there, and he has to show up in person to be excused-it’s stupid. The only good thing I can see is at least it’s not cross-country.</p>
<p>I welcome any suggestions from anyone as to a date he could give them that would be convenient for him-because I can’t come up with one.</p>
<p>Kinder thank you for that saying-it’s going on my FB page right now! :)</p>
<p>BI, my mother’s college roommate and dear friend was from Johnstown. I can’t tell you how many times I heard the story about the big flood.</p>
<p>I lived in a suburb of Syracuse from 8th grade until I went to college and again when I was in grad. school. I am a glutton for punishment. </p>
<p>It could snow 3 feet over night in Syracuse and we went to school the next day. It was so different from New Haven, where we came from, when school was close if it flurried.</p>
<p>Pepper, he should try to call the Commissioner of Jurors. I did that once after I completely forgot to report until a few days later. He was very nice and just asked me when I could serve. This was in NY though.</p>
<p>Pepper - DS got a jury summons in Fl. Frankly we didn’t and haven’t yet looked up the law re: college kids. We just sent a letter to Jury folks saying he is in college OOS and attached some appropriate documentation. Shortly thereafter he got a letter deferring him for four years. Keep us posted on what our forefathers say.</p>
<p>pepper, I googled on jury duty for college students in boston. </p>
<p>The bad news: Students who spend 50% or more time in MA are eligible for jury duty. There are students who end up having to serve on a jury both in MA and in their home state. Students from BC, BU, Emerson, Northeastern, Harvard…everyone gets caught up in the net. One Harvard student was called to a courthouse located 30 miles from cambridge, took a cab, the cab got a flat, the student was late…a horrorshow all around.</p>
<p>The good news: It’s one day/one trial, after which you are exempt for three years. So hey all you freshmen who are called, I say defer to the end of the school year so that you are then ineligible for the rest of your college undergrad years. Also, you can request a change in courthouse location within the same county if it is a hardship, e.g. you have no car, there’s no one to drive you, and there’s no public transportation. On the other hand, that Harvard student had to take the cab, so maybe this doesn’t work as well as it should. </p>
<p>Edited to add: Just found an article about a Tufts student who was given an assignment in Woburn, apparently a very lengthy T ride from campus. The student asked for and got a change in locale, making it much easier to get to jury duty. So it IS possible to make the change. Or, maybe the jury commissioner just likes Tufts students more. ;)</p>
<p>Thanks for the information, ST. No one mentions this when they talk about what a great college town Boston is. I wonder how they found Pepper’s so fast. You’d think that they’d wait until you’d lived in Boston for 6 months.</p>
<p>Hmmmm all this East Coast snow talk does not bode well for our parents weekend trip to New Haven- flying into the belly of the beast on a red-eye tonight, wish me luck :). Drat that rosier forecast a couple of days ago! Oh well, so looking forward to seeing S2 I probably won’t even notice. Keeping my eyes peeled for EAO’s bargain boots!</p>
<p>Also got called for jury duty years ago, also got off with my SAHM status. The case was really interesting though so I was kind of bummed I couldn’t hear it out. A woman was suing the electric company because her husband put up a ladder against the power lines to get at something on his house and electrocuted himself…kinda sounded like a Darwin award case to me…</p>
<p>Here we are in SoCal, thinking it’s nice and warm and dry, but my DS1 decided a few months ago how nice it would be to visit his pals from his Florence semester, many of whom go to college in Syracuse. Yes, that’s where he is right now. So tell me, will they get 3 feet of snow tonight? Brrr…</p>
<p>Sorry about the jury duty troubles, the bumps in the transitions, the bad bad ex-gf, the grades-are-not-like HS adjustments, the illness, the big bumps into other athletes, and the snow (to those who are not snow babies). </p>
<p>Imagine we are all on a big big trampoline and the harder the fall, the higher the bounce back up. Good news is coming.</p>
<p>I was called for jury duty almost two years ago…I never thought in a million years that I would be picked to serve. On this particular case, they selected a highly educated jury - all had at least a Masters, were professionals, owned businesses or served in executive mgmt positions. We all claimed hardship but none of us were excused. The case was a gang murder…we put a kid away for life for 1st degree murder. It took almost a month…when we were ready to deliver the verdict, it was towards the end of the day and the court was making arrangements for us to be sequestered for the evening…we found it odd because we were ready around 3:00 in the afternoon to deliver the verdict. We were very anxious to get it over with. The judge told everyone that they were going to give us more time but it didnt look like we were going to have a verdict that day. Well, around 5:00, the judge let us back into the courtroom but it was empty with the exception of the lawyers, the defendant and 24 armed state troopers in bullet proof vests. I literally thought I was going to have a heart attack - I turned to the juror next to me who happened to be a cardiologist and asked him to give me CPR if I go down - his reply, “I may go down first.” Anyways, what they had done was drag the process out so all the gang members in the audience went home for the night. They led them to believe that the verdict wouldn’t be until the next day. Then they had to call in the troops and they cleared and closed all the streets around the courthouse in anticipation of gang violence. Each juror was escorted home by two state troopers - it took months before I stopped looking over my shoulder looking for Asian gang members…so, if you can delay, then delay delay delay…I think that you can reschedule up to three times…</p>
<p>Yikes, momofboston, and I was worried about the lone doofus we convicted of armed robbery on one of my juty duty terms! I would have been absolutely terrified on your trial!</p>
<p>Yalemom2015, I am driving up tomorrow morning but I hadn’t heard about snow, UGH! Hopefully its just hype! Have the car packed and have made cookies with Halloween candy. The best treat I found today at the local Amish Market was a big bag of the marshmellows they put into Lucky Charms. Totally appropriate for D as she always eats the marshmellows out of the Lucky Charms when I buy them so I know she is going to love them. Hope everyone enjoys the weekend.</p>
<p>On a sad note, just saw a thread about an MIT student who was found dead, always breaks my heart to see news like this, my heart goes out to his family.</p>
<p>wow…momofboston…how scary! But thank you so much for your service. As an attorney I am always so appreciative of what people have to do on jury duty…such an important role!</p>
Also, you can request a change in courthouse location within the same county if it is a hardship, e.g. you have no car, there’s no one to drive you, and there’s no public transportation. On the other hand, that Harvard student had to take the cab, so maybe this doesn’t work as well as it should. </p>
;)</p>
better fine my shovel :)</p>
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