Step one Kevin, is to find out what your employer's policy on jury duty is. If your regular job doesn't pay during the jd stint, you'll have to try and get out of it. If your regular employer does pay, I don't see any reason to give the court's stipend to them, that money is for parking, meals etc. Don't ignore the summons or you could be up against a contempt charge. BTW, I'm pretty sure jury duty selections are taken from voter registration records.

I had jury duty for a couple of weeks on an attempted murder case once, and it was a very interesting experience.