Jury Duty No-Shows

From 2012 05 Dallas

Editorial writer Jim Mitchell of The Dallas Morning News says that jury duty no-shows are a problem with no solution. He says less than 20% of the residents of Dallas County who are summoned for jury duty actually show up. Based on my recent experience, that sounds about right. Assuming the juror numbers are sequentially assigned based on summonses, 277 people had to be summoned to create a 42 person jury pool for the trial I was called for last week.

After the jump, why it's a problem.

DeGolyer Welcomes Chihuly

From 2012 05 Chihuly

An exhibition of glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly is on display at the Dallas Arboretum May 5 - November 5.

More photos from our Memorial Day visit after the jump.

Service Interruption

From 2012 05 Dallas

The Wheel is on a short hiatus, due to circumstances beyond my control that I am not allowed to talk about, under penalty of law, or something like that.

Richardson Citizens For A More Democratic Government

According to the Form 8871 filed with the IRS, there's a new 527 organization as of May 15, 2012. It's the "Richardson Citizens For A More Democratic Government."

What's a 527 organization?

A 527 organization or 527 group is a type of American tax-exempt organization named after Section 527 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 527). A 527 group is created primarily to influence the selection, nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates to federal, state or local public office.

Technically, almost all political committees, including state, local, and federal candidate committees, traditional political action committees, "Super PACs", and political parties are "527s." However, in common practice the term is usually applied only to such organizations that are not regulated under state or federal campaign finance laws because they do not "expressly advocate" for the election or defeat of a candidate or party. When operated within the law, there are no upper limits on contributions to 527s and no restrictions on who may contribute. There are no spending limits imposed on these organizations; however, they must register with the IRS, publicly disclose their donors and file periodic reports of contributions and expenditures.

Source: Wikipedia.

After the jump, what this filing can tell us about this new organization that wants to change Richardson's city charter.

How Far Will You Walk to DART?

First, a thank you to The Dallas Morning News's Rodger Jones for becoming aware of my existence.

On the News's blogs, Jones responded to me calling his complaint that Richardson lacks walkability "whining." Basically, he says, "Guilty as charged." As Stephen Colbert might say, "I accept your apology."

Then Jones goes on to say that I accused him of being ignorant and/or dishonest. That's not exactly right. What I said is that I couldn't tell if he was just being obtuse or was deliberately misleading readers. Come to think of it, I guess it's my turn to say, "Guilty as charged."

After the jump, the case I made.