Call to jury drains some workplaces in Eldorado
 
By Matthew Waller
San Angelo Standard-Times
 
SAN ANGELO, Texas — ELDORADO — The large jury pool called in the trial of Raymond Merril Jessop — 153 out of the 300 summoned came to Eldorado’s Memorial Building on Monday — affected the town’s business life and institutions.

Some offices closed completely for part of the day.

With a population of 2,815, the original call affected more than 10 percent of the county population, and the 153 people left after the excused and exempted jurors amounted to about one of every 14 adults in the county.

Members of County Clerk’s office left blue signs throughout the courthouse saying the office would be closed Monday due to the trial, and it stayed closed until Monday afternoon.

"There isn’t anybody here to run it," a staff member in the nearby County Judge’s office said Monday morning.

Sarah McNealy, a deputy in the office, said two of her coworkers were helping with the jury selection and one had answered the jury summons, leaving the office unstaffed until Monday afternoon, when McNealy returned to Eldorado after having taken her husband to San Angelo for a doctor’s appointment.

The Schleicher County Independent School District lost some staff to the process. Superintendent Billy Collins, the district, said principals knew a day of being shorthanded was coming and prepared for it accordingly, although he could not say how many staff members were missing.

"We have some absentees, but we’re handling the situation and we’ll be okay," Collins said. "We’re just trying to proceed as normal as possible."

Collins said that he was surprised, not by bustle around the court house but by the lack of activity. He didn’t see as much media and law enforcement as he thought he would.

"I’ve seen a lot of cars, but it’s not what I expected," Collins said.

Other Eldorado enterprises were hardly affected at all.

At the city hall utilities office, clerk Maggie Lloyd said the impact on her staff was minimal.

"We’re only out one," Lloyd said.

Lloyd said her office has 20 people.

The lunch rush at Jo Jo’s Café was more intense and concentrated than usual, said owner Derek Engdahl.

"It happened all at once," he said.

That would have been when 51st District Judge Barbara Walther released more than 100 people for the lunch recess.
 
gosanangelo.com
Originally published October 26, 2009
 
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