Philly Not Fully Y2K-Ready, as 1900 Jury Notices Prove
As many as 500 people got notices telling them to show up for jury duty in 1900--an error caused by the so-called Y2K bug in city court computers.
“Yes, after all the work that was done to avoid this, it happened,” city Jury Commissioner Michael J. McAllister told the Philadelphia Daily News.
“Well, it was only one run of mailings, and we’ve taken care of it. It shouldn’t happen again.”
About 400 to 500 people got the erroneous mailings, he said.
McAllister said the problem only involved those who had been granted postponements of their jury duty; the notices were for a second call.
But Charles McLaughlin of the city’s Port Richmond section, who got his summons Friday, said he had never asked for a postponement.
“I told my wife, ‘I’ve got jury duty, but I can’t go. I’ve already missed it.’ Then I told her it was for the year 1900,” he said.
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