EDITORIAL : JURY DUTY BLUES; RESIDENTS SHOULD DO THEIR DUTY AND SERVE WHEN CALLED. IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

Few chores seem as burdensome in life as jury duty. Certainly, many citizens who count themselves as patriotic would rather have a root canal than fulfill their civic responsibility.

For many prospective jurors, jury duty is spent in a stuffy, crowded jury room waiting to be called for a trial. In Los Angeles County, jury service lasts 10 days, but employers often only pay for five days.

So it's easy to sympathize with the vast majority who plead economic hardship or find it hard to serve due to family responsibilities. Of the 2.8 million county residents who get juror questionnaires in the mail each year, only about 6 percent end up performing their civic duty.

And yet, this country's greatest strength is the participatory nature of government, including each person's obligation to serve when called.

Far too many residents in Los Angeles fail on that account. In Los Angeles County, one in five people ignore their jury affidavits, which contains a questionnaire to determine eligibility.

With nearly 3 million such documents sent out each year, it's easy for residents to ignore the questionnaire and not suffer any consequences. In 1994, 50 percent of the affidavits were never returned. The next year, the number dropped to 36 percent. Last year, it went down to 20 percent.

Many counties make jury service more appealing by offering a ``one-day, one-trial'' guarantee.

L.A. looked into a ``one-day, one-trial'' system in 1984, but found that it wouldn't work administratively, according to jury services manager Gloria Gomez.

Judge Judith M. Ashmann of the San Fernando Superior Court notes that many employers used to pay for 10 days of jury service but now pay only for five. That's often not enough time for a juror to get processed and picked for a trial.

While money is hardly an incentive to respond - jurors get $5 a day and 15 cents a mile one way - it should not be the driving force to encourage people to act honorably and serve their county.

Our city and all its forms of government are only as good as the people who serve, who step up to leadership roles, who run for public office, who volunteer their time for all aspects of community life.

L.A. County's immense population and the sprawling geography makes shirking and not getting caught the easy. But it doesn't make it right. To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, when it comes to jury duty, ask not what your county can do for you, ask what you can do for your county.