Do I have to go to Court Myself?

i was arrested four years ago for petty theft (shoplifting) and sentenced to community service. i skipped town and move to another state and a warrant was issued. i recently moved back to the state where the warrent was issued ( california ) as was picked up on the warrent durring a traffic stop. the city who served the original warrent is a few hundred miles away and did not want to pick me up. they released me three days later issuing me a new court summons to appear in court in the city i was orginally arrested.

my question is ... do i have to appear in court or can i hire a laywer to appear in my behalf. what is my best course of action. i want to put this behind me but will not be able to make it to court myself. is there anything else i can do?

uncle sam used to start his draft summons into military service with ,"greetings". we didn't have a choise either. it's your arraignment, "greetings".

Call me a cynic, but my guess is that they've released you because they don't want to pay for a police cruiser to haul you back over there. They've issued the summons so you'll save them the trouble and get there yourself. I would guess you're headed for jail or at least a hefty fine as soon as you appear. As for not being able to make the court date you could call and see if you can reschedule for a more convenient time. (say 9/21/2061? <grin>) No doubt the ones who are lawyers will have a comment.