ALEXJONES.BIZ

You hear of tragic events such that occurred yesterday and it is forever marked by the date. Simply stating a date of an occurrence and everyone instantly knows what you are talking about.

Do you remember what occurred on these dates? April 18, 1906, Dec 7, 1941, November 22, 1963, April 4, 1968, January 28, 1986, September 11, 2001. Now we must add April 16, 2007.

I pray for the families and friends of the lives taken yesterday. May they have peace and comfort from those that love them. I Pray for the student body and faculty that they may also find peace and comfort. Our hearts go out to those family members overseas and are having to make travel plans. Lord, keep them safe.

A friend sent me some pictures of Katrina coming through Magee and leaving Magee. He also sent a couple of close images of the storm hitting Bay St Louis. The dance with Katrina, part of her beauty as she left destruction on her exit. They are remarkably dramatic.

Well this week I performed my first ever jury duty service. When I received the summons I thought to myself this is not going to be fun. I was right. The first day was juror selection and that was long and drawn out. It is easy to see why the court system is so slow in completing trials and why they have such a backlog. There was no urgency to the processes and procedures.

It took over two hours before we even started to process the 112 possible jurors. Some showed up late, as late as two hours later. Then it took an additional two hours for those that have excuses to not serve to plead their case before the judge. We were then placed in 8 groups of 14 members and we were told our panel number. Then they indicated which panel members were dismissed for the day and which had to return. Of course I had to return.

We were then dismissed for a lunch break. Upon our return we were directed to a juror waiting room where we were for a very long time it seemed. Then we were sent back into the courtroom to be examined and asked questions from the prosecutor and defense attorney. This took a lot of time. The prosecutor was very thorough and basically asked questions of almost everyone.

The defense attorney then got up and asked his questions but was either hard of hearing or incompetent. He asked several questions over and over again from some jurors either trying to ascertain something about them or again possibly being incompetent. Afterwards we were sent back into the juror waiting room. Several hours later they called everyone back into the courtroom and picked the twelve jurors and two alternates.

I was picked as juror #3. At this time it was nearly 6PM. We were instructed to show up the next morning at 9AM. I showed up well before 9AM and we played the waiting game again. It was nearly 10AM before we went into the courtroom where they actually started the trial. We heard testimony from 3 witnesses. Around 11:30AM the judge declared we would be taking a lunch break and for us to return by 1PM.

Great! Here we go again. We all went to lunch at a local restaurant within walking distance of the courthouse. Upon our return we were sent back into the jury deliberation room and told we were waiting on the judge. An hour went by and we were informed that the lawyers were in the judge’s chambers and for us to be patient. We finally were called into the courtroom around 3PM. When we entered the courtroom I noticed that only the judge and court reporter were present. That is when I knew they had come to a plea agreement and we were being excused. I was right.

Now I enjoyed getting to know the process and procedure for jury duty but it was very boring waiting. There were 13 other people in the room and we all talked and joked around never really discussing the case except for maybe everyone’s agreement that the defense attorney was incompetent. There were people from all walks of life and I enjoyed getting to know them. I believe the process was performed fairly and honestly.

One thing I did notice is that they took our information from the questionnaire they sent out without checking to see if we really were who we said we were. I could have paid someone to serve for me and they would not have known it. I’ll certainly be prepared next time I am asked to serve.

I’m reading about this guy who posed as a 12 year old and enrolled in the 7th grade in a school in AZ. It turns out the guy is actually a 29 year old sex offender and was working with other sex offenders to get him into the school.

This guy doesn’t look like a 12 year old! You cannot tell me that this guy passed as a 7th grader! At least someone at the school system had enough sense to look at the paperwork one of the others brought in. They say fortunately no child interacted with him and I certainly hope that is the case.

What has this World come to?

I know this sounds weird, but not too long ago I researched and even visited an Alpaca farm in MS. I saw an article in a local magazine of a woman who had enough of the telecommunications industry and ended up with an Alpaca farm and Bed & Breakfast in North MS. She and her family packed up there things and moved from Colorado to Mississippi.

It was called HoneyBee Alpacas. Currently only the Bed & Breakfast are in business today as the family moved to Jamaica with the husbands job.

My research lead me here www.zocaloalpaca.com. I read the below information and became infatuated with them.

“Since ancient times, the South American Andes Mountains have been the ancestral home to the prized alpaca. Their fleece was cherished by members of the Incan civilization (referred to as “The Fiber of the Gods”), and their graceful herds of alpaca roamed the lush foothills and mountainous pastures. In the 17th century, Spanish conquistadors killed a large part of both the Incan and alpaca populations, forcing the retreating survivors to seek refuge in the high mountain plains known as the Altiplano. The high altitude and harsh landscape ensured only the hardiest of these creatures survived, and these ancestors of today’s best bloodlines have provided a gene pool producing hardy, agile animals with dense, high quality fiber. In 1984, a small group of importers brought the first of a carefully selected herd of highest quality alpacas into the United States and Canada, and they immediately became a beloved part of the North American landscape.

Peru, Bolivia, and Chile are still home to the largest percentage of alpacas in the world, and alpaca breeders in the United States have learned much from their southern neighbors. Alpacas are a member of the camelid family, which also includes dromedary and Bactrian camels, llamas, vicunas, and guanacos. They are a modified ruminant and chew their cud similar to a cow, although they have three stomachs rather than the true ruminant, which has four. Alpacas selectively graze, eating pasture grasses and hay, a fact that makes feeding alpacas relatively inexpensive. A daily mineral supplement rounds out their diet.

There are two different alpacas types, the suri and the huacaya. The suri has fiber that grows quite long and forms silky, pencil-like locks. The huacaya has a shorter, dense, crimpy fleece, giving it a very woolly appearance.

Alpacas have soft padded feet, making them gentle on their pastures, and they have no top teeth in the front. The average height of an alpaca is 36″ at the withers, and they weigh from 100 to 175 pounds. Alpacas are small and gentle enough to travel short distances in the family minivan and are easily handled by most people.

Alpacas have a life span of 15 to 20 years, so you can enjoy your alpaca for a long time. Not only do they have a long reproductive life, they will provide fleece for a lifetime, making your investment long-lived.

An alpaca’s gestation period is 11 to 12 months, and they have single births (twins are extremely rare). A baby alpaca, called a cria, usually weighs between 15 and 20 pounds.

Alpaca fiber comes in 22 colors that are recognized by the textile industry, and there are many blends in addition to that. Alpacas are shorn for their wonderful fleece each year, which will produce 5 to 10 pounds of soft, warm fiber that is turned into the most luxurious garments in the world.”

I still think maybe one day when I can afford it, I’ll start a small farm with 10 or more acres.