Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 1980)
The Heppner (iiiette-Times. Heppner. Oregon, Thursday, April. 3. I9R0 THREF Tf JFiti lie addition of a district court in the county, JUry SeleCtlOn prOCeSS: chances will increase that voters tail have to serve The following l the first of a two-purl scries on the Jury nystem In Morrow County. This article drain with the election process for the Justice and circuit courts. Next week. New Fdllor Steve Powell (ells of his pcrxonul experience on a Jury recently and given example of aome different Jury procen e that other atate and Oregon counties are ulng In an effort to save the county money and aave time for the Juror. By Steven A. Powell JOB OPPORTUNITY: Make $10 a day and eight cents a mile to and from work. Probably not too many people would answer an ad like that. But many people have to serve in that low-paying job when they are called to Jury duty by a court summons. While most other prices and wages have sky-rocketed in recent years, the pay for a juror has remained the same. People in Morrow County have a better chance of nerving on a jury than in other counties because of the (small population. When the district court begins to come to Heppner July 1. the chances will he even greater. Currently, jury lists for the two justice courts and the circuit court for Morrow County are drawn every year. This vear. there are 3.4K2 registered voters in the county to choose from. At the first of the year. 6th District Court Justice Char lotte Gray draws 2(Ki names from the voter registration lists. legislation stales that at leas! 50 names must be drawn for the yearly list . Gray said if only 50 names were selected, persons may not be picked that many times but when they are picked, they would have to sit on more trials. Gray puts the 2(H) names on cards and she is the only person involved in this portion of the jury selection process. Since the fith District Court serves only south Morrow County, she can only choose names from the seven pre cincts in that end of the county and cannot choose from the north end. She selects the justice jurors from the pre cinct lists from Hardman. lone, lcxinglnn and the three precincts in Heppner. "There are not that many to pick from." she said. Cray said she divides these seven precincts into the 20 needed to come out with an average for each precinct. She said Hardman usually has fewer jurors because it is smaller than Ihe other pre cincts. Once a person is on the justice court jury list, he is on it for the entire year. A person cannot le on the same jury list two years in a row but can hypothetic-ally be on a differ ent jury court list every year. Many people complain that it seems as if they have to serve year after year and It is possible. A person can serve on a circuit court trial Jury or grand jury one year and then be on a justice court jury list the next year and then back on the circuit court or on a district court the following year. But a person cannot, by law, serve on the same court on succeeding years. The Legislature has esta blished a law stating that a person can be put back on the same court jury list after being off it for only one year. Approximately two weeks before a trial. Gray selects 1ft names at random from Ihe list of 2o on her yearly list that was made from Ihe voter registration records at the county clerk's office Both attornevs observe Ihe selec tion and drawing of the 18 names. Grav said she draws everyone's name once and then for Ihe rest of the trials in Ihe year, draws Ihe names randomly. "In a county Ihis small, chances are good that you will end up on a jury list." Gray said. Of the 18 persons selected, three names are taken off by the district attorney and three more by the defense attorney. The twelve that are left are summoned to court by the county sheriff's office depart ment to appear for jury duty. I'p to three of the persons summoned can be excused by the justice for sickness or other reasons, Nine are left to appear the day of Ihe trial. The two attorneys question the jurors individually and three are excused leaving the best six impartial jurors available. "A person has no choice nol to come (if summoned to jury duly and not excused)." Gray said. "II would be contpmpt of court. I have never had that happen. A juror can be fined up to $100 a day and cited for the criminal charge of contempt of court if he does not appear when summoned. Many angry citizens try to get out of jury duty but the justice decides if the reason is valid only if it involves "undue hardship or inconvenience," according to statute. The 1979 legislature repealed ORS 10. 040 that exempted physicians, f "" jU li r - If I oNatural-gas pipeline to cross Morrow County The projected natural gas pipeline linking F'rudhoe Bay, Alaska, with California will cross central Oregon- includ ing 35 miles in Morrow County It has received an initial grant of approval from the U.S. government, accord ing to a rcMirt to the Heppner Ga.etteTimes. Construction in this area is foreseen in two or three years at the earliest A recently issued permit from the Bureau of Ind Management covers Kill miles of the "western leg" from Ihe Idaho British Columbia lar der to Stanfield, in t'matilhi County. The permit was to the Pacific Gas Transmission Co, (PGTl which operates the existing :ifi-inch diameter pipeline that carries Alberta natural gas to California markets. Allen Ci. Hooker, public affairs director for PGT in San Francisco, said the Alaska line is to follow the route of the Alaska Highway southward through Canada, (hen branch into western and eastern legs to enter the United Stales. The western leg would follow I'GT's present pipeline corridor in Idaho. Washington and Oregon. Hooker explained that a number of regulatory issues still must he decided in the United States and Canada before actual construction of the first -phase western leg facilities can begin. However, if resolved promptly, portions of the new facilities could be in service by mid 1 OH I The new facilities will be installed in four general locations between the Canada -U.S. border and Stanfield, and will be used along with the connecting systems of North west Pipeline Corp. and Kl Paso Natural Gas Company to provide a new source of Canadian natural gas to the more than 3.6 million natural gas customers served by Southern California Gas Co. in southern California. The overall project is known as the AlaskdMMatural Gas Transportation System. Its general contractor is the Northwest Pipeline Co. of Salt Lake City. A consortium of American companies would be responsible for the pipeline in Alaska, and of Canadian companies for sections to be built in the Yukon Territory. British Columbia and Alber'a. The western leg; will be undertaken by PGT. a subsi diary of the Pacific Gas and Kleclric Co. . which distributes parallel "looping" of the existing PGT and PG&E systems which have trans ported Canadian natural gas to the San Francisco area since 11 . The Iwo companies will construct the remaining sS muowi Alaska Natural Gas " Transportation System $J Q COMMIX j- " Smith ' .j 3 ..... umitcoi. 7f l-'fM- 5 . . I I ; 7..NO.T.U.! BOKOI. i fc 8..MCI.IC 01 ... Xjt T 9--"ICIHC 0t iLICTme rm f . i r" " 10 "" 7?f j VvC J E DM0NTON "v,, J)J -.ci . 7',""c CjS I iCl ' I v STsfAUL jf & :'v:.-"i ' X "X H( J S FRANCISCO ' i , CHICAid both electricity and natural gas in California. The Alaska natural-gas pipeline's start has been staJled for several months not only over regulatory matters but financing, with hoped for participation by the federal and Alaska state govern ments. The western leg will be a western leg facilities later for deliveries of Alaskan North Slope gas to California and other western markets. Hooker said "later" could mean as early as 1982 or 1983. When the work gets under way in Morrow County, construc tion crews would pass through (Continued on Page X) WATKH I'SKHS Oh'THK CITY OK HKPPNKK Your meters have been read this month after using in inim ii iti s through the winter. All gallonage used over the minimum will tie reflected on your March bill. Therefore, please expect an increase on your next statement. City of Heppner Water Department Publish March 27 and April 3, 1980. 1" Chances are good that most voters in Morrow County will be sitting in one of these chairs in the jury box at the courthouse in Heppner especially with the addition of the district court. dentists, teachers and other professionals from being called to jury duty. But there is no automatic excuse any more. It is up to the justice. "It depends how( badly I need a juror what reasons I accept." Gray said. "Some times I will let a sole businessman or a farmer during harvest not serve but that is not always an excuse. I need six jurors on trial day and if I have to. I send the sheriff downtown to pick up people off the street to serve on the jury. "Now (here are going to be three courts (when a district court sits in Morrow County) so chances are good people will serve." she continued. "Nobody is exempt, not any more." In her budget request. Gray estimates the number of trials she will have the next year. Currently, she averages 2'i a month. "Rverytime there is a jury trial, it costs the taxpayers at least $100." she said. A juror must be at least 18-years-old and up to 70 or older depending on the attor neys and the judge involved. Statutes specify the payment of $10 a day for jurors and $5 daily for witnesses. All re ceive eight cents a mile round trip. County Clerk Barbara Bloodsworth selects the juries for the circuit court and she said she will use the same process when selecting the district court juries when it comes to Heppner. Each year, the county clerk, with the sheriff observing, selects 400 names from the list of all the registered voters in the county. From that list, the clerk selects 40 to serve for a three-month period. If a grand jury is needed, the same list is used. Once a persons serves for the three months, they are finished for the rest of the year. All 40 persons are sum moned by the sheriff for every trial. The 40 persons go to the courtroom and have their names drawn randomly by the county clerk. The prospective jurors are then questioned by the attorneys. Jurors are then excused for various reasons of previous knowledge, bias. etc. When 12 jurors are agreed on by both attorneys, the other 40 called are excused. All jurors are paid even if they are not selected. "The circuit court judge is the only one who can excuse (prospective jurors)" Bloods worth said. "People call me or the sheriff but we can't do anything." Prices Effective April 34-5i Pierce's Boneless, Smoked, Fully Cooked Ham 1 55 lb. Sausage lb. Roll Ik 1 cvu Tomatoes c Krusteaz Pancake Mix U39 43 56 oz. Celery Bananas 3 lbs. for C ea. Lynderi Medium Eggs 7c do, We have a good selection of Easter candy, plus assorted Easter baskets. 7 Kraft Cheez Whiz (QHflc MM 8oz. t Baker's Coconut U V 8 oz. Western Family Mandarin Oranges c 11 oz. All Grind Coffee 3 lbs. for S & W Pitted Ripe Olives a a 6 oz. Kraft Miniature Marshmallows 00 10 oz. 31 galley's f Banquet Dills I29 46 oz. Nalley's Mayonnaise .iw MARKET Groctry Dtpt. 676-9614 Mtot Dtpt. 676-9233
