DEAR ABBY: The recent letter in your column about jury duty prompts this letter. How do we ever get a jury of our peers when the selection process weeds out anyone who has read a newspaper or listened to the news in the last five years? They seem to want only brain-dead jurors. -- ARLEN B., HERCULES, CALIF.
DEAR ARLEN: During the last decade or so, the jury selection process has become very sophisticated -- and counsel for both sides usually have specific criteria in mind as they go through the process. If I had to name the No. 1 complaint I receive from readers about jury duty, it's that so little money is paid to jurors that they fear it would cause financial hardship to their families. Someone has to pay for the groceries while the jurors sit in judgment.