Jury Duty And A Good Report

For the last two days, I had to go to the Navajo County Superior Court in Holbrook, about fifty miles from here, for jury duty. It’s a pain, but it’s part of the civic responsibility citizens have. I’ve been called for jury duty several times before, both in Arizona and in Alabama. Each time, because of my background, because of my connections with law enforcement, and my career in the newspaper business, I have been excused.

The one time I was chosen didn’t make any sense, because the first question to the potential jurors was if any of us knew either the defendant or the arresting officer. I said I knew the arresting officer; he was a very good friend of mine. Then they asked if that would sway my feelings about his testimony. I replied that if he said something happened, I would believe him. It was a DUI case, and the next question was if I had ever had a friend or family member either arrested for DUI or a victim of an impaired driver, or had ever expressed a public opinion on people who drive while impaired. I replied that yes, my neighbor had been killed by a drunk driver the year before, and also that I had written several articles in my newspaper in support of things like MADD, stating that I thought people who drove while impaired should be locked up. They put me on the jury because they believed I was honest and forthcoming. Go figure. As it turned out, after two days of trial, the man changed his plea from not guilty to guilty anyway, because the officer’s dash cam showed him falling out of the car when the officer stopped him and that he was unable to stand up, let alone do any of the field sobriety tests.

This time around, I drove to Holbrook on Tuesday, checked in, and waited an hour or so before they called us all into the courtroom and said to come back on Wednesday (yesterday) because there was a scheduling conflict. So bright and early yesterday morning, I was on the road back to Holbrook again. It took about three hours before they impaneled a jury, and I was not one of them. Since this was a domestic violence case and I had been one of the organizers of our local women’s shelter, I knew I wasn’t going to get chosen for the jury. But I still had to jump through the hoops. The good news is that I won’t be in the jury pool for at least another year.

In other news, we finally got the results of the biopsy I had last month. Everything came back good. One less thing to be concerned about. Thank you, everybody, for your support as we waited for the results.

While I was in Holbrook yesterday doing my thing, Terry was busy here at home. First, she hung up several cases of my police and other assorted badge collections in my office.

Then she smoked a turkey breast on our Pit Boss pellet smoker for dinner, using mesquite flavored pellets. It was delicious! What a delight to come home to! But not nearly as delightful as coming home to Terry.

It’s Thursday, so it’s time for a new Free Drawing. This week’s prize is copy of Nordic Aliens and the Rapture of the Apocalypse by Sharon Delarose, who was profiled in an Author Spotlight a while back. Does the Revelation prophecy of the Bible foretell an alien invasion? Are world leaders preparing to attack Jesus and his army of angels?

The Nordic aliens visiting Earth today perfectly match descriptions of the angels in the Bible and the Book of Enoch, while the ancient Greek, Celtic, and Norse gods were born of the same angels. Meanwhile in India, the Hindu gods match another species of biblical angels, and so do the Blue Avians. These angels are hovering in the sky, watching us right now, and according to the apocalyptic prophecies, as many as one hundred million extraterrestrials could fill our skies led by the New Jerusalem mothership of massive proportions. Governments will treat this as an alien invasion, and indeed it will be when the wicked kings are hurled from their thrones.

The countdown to this apocalypse has already begun with the prophecies unfolding in chilling precision: the 6th mass extinction event, a secret society that rules the world, the Antichrist, human de-evolution, and the inexplicable war on cows which was prophesied thousands of years ago.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – I want to be like you. No one has expectations of you.