Jurors take trolley ride to court

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Cole County has recently started using a trolley service for jurors, shuttling them from a city parking lot beside City Hall to the courthouse.

The county asks jurors to park on that East McCarty Street lot across from the Red Cross offices. Jurors previously walked from that lot to the courthouse. But after recent bad weather, Cole County Circuit Clerk Dawnel Davidson said she checked into The Trolley Company’s services.

“We also had a juror come up the hill and then suffer a medical problem,” she said. “I wasn’t comfortable with people walking that far in bad weather, especially those with medical conditions or who need help walking.”

There are two jury panels sitting at all times, with 100 people on each panel.

Although they are just testing this out, Davidson said the service has worked well and they are looking to possibly continue the service.

For six days of service, Davidson said the trolley cost $450.

The money to pay for this service will come from the circuit clerk’s budget for jury needs. According to the county budget office, that budget has $64,950 in it for this year.

This money is to take care of all juror needs such as meals, housing or busing in from another county.

More money was put in the budget this year because of scheduled trials, such as the murder case of David Hosier, which is scheduled to possibly last two weeks later this year and require an out-of-town jury to be picked, then housed and sequestered in a local hotel.

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JCLifer 2 months ago

They need to bid this out to see what kind of prices they can get. This sounds outrageous to transport 12 folks a two blocks.

Maybe the trolley service is owned by a commissioner's brother or something?

sweet1 2 months ago

JCLifer-You're assuming the jurors would all be in good health and could make the walk. It's a pretty steep hill to climb from where they park to the street the courthouse is on. In an ideal world, it would be 12 healthy active people walking a flat surface. That's just not the case, though.

JCLifer 2 months ago

sweet1, please read my reply below to Jvictors. My reply applies to you, too.

Have a nice day!

JVicors 2 months ago

JCLifer, once again you should get your facts in order. If you've ever been an elderly member of the jury pool, or handycaped and made that walk you'd, appreciate a trolly service. If you've ever attempeted to find parking near the courthouse, let alone handycaped parking near the courthouse, you'd REALLY appreciate that trolly service! And, $435.00 to transport not just 12 jurors, but the entire pool of 100 or more jurors for voir dire before the jury is picked is pretty darned reasonable by any standard. My guess is that the clerk did check with other services such as city transit then went with the "low bid" as it seems every government entity does anymore. My hat goes off to the new circuit clerk for this move even if the trolly owner is and I doubt that's true "a commissoner's brother."

JCLifer 2 months ago

Talk about not getting your facts right? No where did I say anything about eliminating this service. No where did I say that this was a bad service. All I said is that it needs to be bid out so that we are getting the best deal for our tax dollars. It might be cheaper for the county to hire a part-time driver and buy a shuttle van- who knows-if it hasn't been studied?

All I read is that the Circuit Court Clerk "checked into The Trolley Company’s services". No where did it say that she got bids from other companies or did any price comparisons or negotiations.

Maybe next time you will read for comprehension and get your facts straight before laying out a whiny arguement over something that wasn't even said in the first place.

JVicors 2 months ago

$450.00 not $435.00, but reasonable none the less.

Rbreb13 2 months ago

It's definitely a neccessity for those not in condition, handicapped, elderly, etc. Even those in decent shape might want it when the weather turns nasty. I'm from western Colorado and some of the hills around here rival those of the mountains. In fact the town I lived in Carbondale was flatter and easier to walk or bike than JC is!

3blindmice 2 months ago

They should just stop stacking the jury with blue haired women. The prosecutor's office wouldn't like that though. Wait i have a even better comment. There used to be closer parking over there until they built that meglomamiac jail that they can no longer afford to operate.

JCLifer 2 months ago

There is a parking garage right across the street from the courthouse.

JVicors 2 months ago

JCLifer, Pardon my inability to comprehend true meaning of your initial writing. It was presumptuous on my part to read your response to the article as a diatribe, however you must admit that only metioning 12 jurors instead of 100 was a bit misleading. And of course I should not have read into the "commissioner's brother" comment either. I hope your day gets better. By the way it's JVicors, not Jvictors. ciao

JCLifer 2 months ago

I am glad you are feeling better.

online_editor 2 months ago

Thanks to both of you for taking the initiative to regroup and keep the discussion civil. That helps us keep the forum focused on issues. --Rick Brown, online editor, News Tribune

RobHunterJohnson 2 months ago

Angle parking? Would that solve our Parking problems? rob

tc85 2 months ago

I am currently on one of the jury panels and greatly appreciated the ride in the 20 degree drizzly weather several weeks ago. I'm 45, in great shape and would normally enjoy the walk, but not in inclement weather. And yes, there were close to 100 of us for orientation. The price is reasonable to me, especially considering we don't know until the evening before whether or not to report, so the trolley company is given little notice to have a driver ready to go as well as the trolley.

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