A story I wrote for KETR-FM radio’s website revealed a fascinating and unexpected consequence of a restoration project on an 1888-era courthouse in Northeast Texas.
I want to share it here.
Fannin County Judge Newt Cunningham told me the courthouse restoration project completed in Bonham has elevated residents’ interest in serving on jury duty. He said that since the courthouse opened for business, Fannin County residents have been more keenly interested in reporting for their civic duty than before the project was undertaken.
The county had trouble finding jurors who would serve on trial juries. Not any longer, Cunningham said. Residents “want to come see what the courthouse looks like” when they get their jury summons from the county.
This is a marvelous positive outcome on a project that Cunningham described as “fairly expensive.”
I have long been a fierce advocate for residents honoring those calls for jury duty. I have yet in all my years on this Earth been able to serve on a jury. I hope to have that wish fulfilled before my time is up. My career as a journalist, I am sure, kept me from serving. My stint in the early 2000s as a grand juror in Randall County, Texas, also would keep me from serving on a criminal trial jury, according to the district attorney in Randall County; no mention of the impact on a civil trial.
Still, the positive outcome in Fannin County likely is playing out in other places where courthouses have been dolled up and returned to their prior glory.
It only strengthens counties’ efforts to seek these grand funds. They not only improve the physical appearance of historic structures, they improve the quality of civic life.
What is wrong with that?