I understand the value of peer juries and all that, of course, and I understand why a pool of on-the-spot potential jurors is key, but as I looked around at the dozens and dozens of Milwaukee County residents doing basically nothing -- some actually appeared to simply gaze at their feet for hours on end -- I thought about the wasted manpower.
During the course of the entire day, I believe three -- maybe four -- groups of about 20-30 people were called to courtrooms. But by the time everyone was sent home at the end of the day there were still many, many people who had been sitting idle all day.
Maybe we could pedal while we're sitting there and create some renewable energy. Or assemble some product and get paid a factory wage for the day. That would save the County $19 per person.
Tomorrow I go back for day two. I'm not sure whether I prefer another day like today -- frustrating because I spend much of the time thinking about things that need doing and that I can't do because I'm watching people do crosswords -- or if I hope to get on a jury.
The latter worries me slightly because, as you know, Summerfest starts this week and at OnMilwaukee.com, that's akin to the Christmas rush at the malls. It's one week that's especially difficult to be away from work.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
