June 23, 2000

One year ago: I had a forum (hey, I was cutting edge!) which I have since abandoned because I spend way too much time on other people's forums to have my own, and I tell a story about Mary getting mad at her parents. It still cracks me up.

I bought some new toys for my cats. I pretend it's because they loved one of them so much (and can you tell which one from the picture?) but really it's because they are so freaking cute. Look at the monkey! It's so cute! Oh my God, I'm turning into Dana.

Okay, a little business to take care of first. I got an e-mail from Katie, asking if I was the Kim Reed that was quoted in Time about Survivor. Yeah, that was me. I mentioned it in my weblog, but I forget that some people read that and not this or vice versa. So, if you're interested, pick up a copy on newsstands now or follow this link and read it online. It's not that exciting, but kind of cool. I bought like seven copies of it at the store, and when I got home I felt really dumb. I mean, it's not like I'm profiled or something. But then again, how often do you get to see your name in a national magazine? For me, I'm guessing only once.

And also, guess who's coming to visit me on Sunday? Sars! And there is a lovely picture in the New York Times article about Mighty Big TV. Kee-rist, this journal entry is like a weblog unto itself! Anyway, I'm excited to finally meet Sars in person, and I hope she has a nice time while here. I'm glad we got new furniture!

Now, to the thing I wanted to talk about today. Okay, about a year ago, a kid from my hometown died of alcohol poisoning at a graduation party. He was 20 years old. I don't know all the facts of the case, so I may be misinformed somewhat, but allegedly he went to a party where the mother of the graduate supplied kegs of beer and hard liquor to many underage people, and he had too much to drink, and he passed out and never woke up. His blood alcohol level the next day was .44, which is four times the legal limit. So last week, the mother who provided the alcohol went on trial for negligent homicide, serving alcohol to minors and some other charges.

I should mention that my grandmother's best friend is named Dorothy. The kid that died was Dorothy's grandson. So my dad got called for jury duty on this trial. About seventy-five people got called, and when they asked who among them had heard about this case, fifty of them raised their hands. Most of them knew one family or the other involved, or knew a kid who was at the party. I mean, it's a small community, it happens. So my dad thought since his mother was best friends with the victim's grandmother, he would automatically get off, but not true. He got called back for a second day. Even then, they deliberated before removing him from the jury.

I guess they ran out of potential jurors pretty quicky and had to start sending subpeonas to people for jury duty. I had never even heard of that before! They would send police to your house and escort you to the courthouse! Isn't that weird? Anyway, one of the people this happened to was none other than Mike Northrup, my prom date who recently finished going on trial for murder (with the result being a hung jury). And then he gets called for jury duty! I would imagine he got eliminated pretty quickly. But I guess there were television cameras there and stuff.

In the end, there was no trial because the woman entered a plea of guilty to all of the charges. She will probably still get sued by the kid's family though. The whole thing is sad, but I thought the whole jury part was weird. I've never been called for jury duty. Well, that's not true. I was called once when I was in college, but since I was living in another county, I sent in my notice that I couldn't do it. I've never been called since.

P.S. Reunion Countdown: 22 days away!