The Ilocos Times

By Noralyn O. Dudt Germany is all precision and punctuality, that is... until you board a Deutsche Bahn train.   Of all the German institutions,   the Deutsche Bahn may well win first prize in   tearing down the reputable German punctuality. The Germans value punctuality and as a people, they are religiously punctual. And the Deutsche Bahn which is still very useful and a lifeline for so many,   is driving them crazy. By Deutsche Bahn standards, a train is considered delayed when it reaches its destination at least six minutes later than planned. I remember about 30 years ago when I was visiting a friend in Freiburg, a former student. I was waiting for the train to Bonn and suddenly an announcement came on the loudspeaker. My knowledge of the Deutsche Sprache [German language] was still very elementary then so I couldn't understand exactly what was being announced. I asked another passenger who said dismally, "the train is five minutes late and they apologize."  

By Noralyn Dudt A SUMMONS from Montgomery County Circuit Court to serve in the Grand Jury in 2018 surely came as a surprise. It has been 30 years since I requested the Montgomery County Court to remove my name from the jury pool as it was nearly impossible for me to leave my job if I were to be selected. In 2018, I was already semi-retired   and I had time to spare so receiving the summons was… well.... sort of exciting. The Jury Commissioner has a big list of potential jurors and I never imagined I would be among the 23. But just a day before the voir dire (jury selection), I was surprised to get a call from the Commissioner's office. She wanted to make sure that I would be at the Courthouse the next day. What is a Grand Jury ? A Grand Jury is a group of citizens who are presented with evidence associated with a case and then determine if there is enough information to move forward on those charges based on the evidence presented to them. They are selected at random from a cro