(c) 2009 Lydia Hinshaw
Mariposa County (CA) CourthouseORMOND BEACH, FL -- My usual Internet rounds take me to many of the places I've worked and visited over the past four years. I check out newspapers and other websites to see what's happening in Northwest Montana, several areas of Alaska and other points in California.
One of my favorite places is the small town of Mariposa, CA, in the foothills of the Sierra, 43 stunning miles from Yosemite Valley.
The Mariposa County Courthouse is a local historic site, built in 1854 and still in use, although the bulk of the county's business is conducted in a large, modern annex nearby.
Mariposa made the news Thursday when a judge discovered that fully one third of the jurors summoned for a murder trial had failed to appear.
So the judge sent bailiffs a few blocks to the Mariposa Post Office, where they shanghaied 49 unsuspecting residents and ordered them to go to the courthouse immediately for jury duty. The alternative: A free ride to jail.
This was all perfectly legal, according to a law on the books in California since the days of the Gold Rush. The Merced Sun-Star, which reported the story, consulted several legal authorities who could not recall the law being put to use in their lifetimes.
The unlucky residents were not amused initially, but in the end about half of them were good sports, agreeing to join the jury pool. Either that or they were too intimidated to protest.
Moral of the story: If you must visit the Post Office in Mariposa, be sure you can prove you don't live there.
One of my favorite places is the small town of Mariposa, CA, in the foothills of the Sierra, 43 stunning miles from Yosemite Valley.
The Mariposa County Courthouse is a local historic site, built in 1854 and still in use, although the bulk of the county's business is conducted in a large, modern annex nearby.
Mariposa made the news Thursday when a judge discovered that fully one third of the jurors summoned for a murder trial had failed to appear.
So the judge sent bailiffs a few blocks to the Mariposa Post Office, where they shanghaied 49 unsuspecting residents and ordered them to go to the courthouse immediately for jury duty. The alternative: A free ride to jail.
This was all perfectly legal, according to a law on the books in California since the days of the Gold Rush. The Merced Sun-Star, which reported the story, consulted several legal authorities who could not recall the law being put to use in their lifetimes.
The unlucky residents were not amused initially, but in the end about half of them were good sports, agreeing to join the jury pool. Either that or they were too intimidated to protest.
Moral of the story: If you must visit the Post Office in Mariposa, be sure you can prove you don't live there.
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