The visitors from the north, along with the 250 people involved in the show, were served steak and lobster. There's a personal connection here, of course, because Kathleen's brother, Robert King, and his wife, Michelle, created, wrote and are executive producers of the series.

The show, which airs at 9 p.m. Fridays on Channel 7, depicts cases in which innocent people are wrongly convicted of a crime. The team from the National Justice Project tackle their work like a puzzle that's been put together wrong. Their task is to take the pieces apart and reassemble the puzzle correctly.

In so doing, they identify the truly guilty and free the innocent. The local group watched one episode and saw some of the filming of another. "Very fast-paced, but fascinating to watch," Kathleen reports. In the episode about a boy found guilty of murdering his sister, "I learned quite a lot about our judicial system."

In Justice stars Kyle MacLachlan, Jason O'Mara, Constance Zimmer, Daniel Cosgrove and Marisol Nichols. The website is http://abc.go.com/primetime/injustice/index.html. Robert also wrote the screenplays Vertical Limit, Speechless and Clean Slate.

In Vertical, a brother saves his sister, who is caught in a snow cave avalanche on Everest. Later, King learned that a boy had saved his own life when trapped in the snow as a result of seeing that movie. Speechless starred Geena Davis and Michael Keaton; Clean Slate featured Dana Carvey.

Robert also wrote and directed two TV movies for Disney, Principal Takes a Holiday and Angels in the Infield.

What with the recent series in the SJ Mercury about lawyers and the D.A. too concerned about winning cases to make sure just who the guilty parties are, the new In Justice seems particularly apt. Kathleen, the immediate past mayor of Saratoga, is a member of the city council.

GROUNDHOG ALERT: Followers of Punxsutawney Phil are invited to the annual Pennsylvania Groundhog Party Feb. 11, 11:15 a.m., at Hardy's Bavarian Restaurant, 111 W. Evelyn Ave, Sunnyvale. Sponsored by the Groundhog Club of Silicon Valley, the theme is "Punxsutawney Phil Celebrates Ben Franklin's 300th Birthday."

The club is composed of 200 former Pennsylvanians, headed by Saratogan Jack Mallory. A 6-foot groundhog will help raise funds for the USO and the Salvation Army's disaster relief. The club has raised more than $29,000 for the Salvation Army, Second Harvest Food Bank, Red Cross, USO and disaster relief in its 17 years of existence.

The event celebrates the legend of Punxsutawney Phil, brings together those of Pennsylvanian heritage, serves Pennsylvanian fare, plays Pennsylvanian music for singing and raises money for charity. For tickets, call Jack at 408.252.7447. Cost is $27 for members and $30 for non-members by Feb. 8.

Mallory threatens that this may be Phil's last hurrah, at least with him at the helm.

PAST AND FUTURE: You can celebrate both Saratoga's agrarian past and its multicultural future on Feb. 5 starting at 11 a.m. when the Mustard Walk is held in the Heritage Orchard and the Lunar New Year observed in the adjacent community center.

The Lunar New Year performances will include Chinese dance, music, kung fu and yo-yo sleight of hand. Demonstrations will feature Chinese calligraphy, tai chi and arts, crafts and games for all ages. Complimentary Chinese appetizers will be served. At the Mustard Walk, Butter Paddle volunteers, under the direction of Susie Schechter, will offer mustard tastings and recipes. The Novokovich family will supply apricot products.

BY DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT: Saratogan Kay Fireman got a different look at Hawaii on her recent month-long trip to the islands, where the Firemans have a home. The youngest member of the family, 20-month-old Joshua, came for a week, along with parents Mark and Suzanne.

Since Joshua hadn't adjusted to the time change, he was raring to start his day along about 4:30 or 5 a.m. That's when grandmother Kay took over to give her son and daughter-in-law a respite from toddlerhood. The dawning day found grandma and Joshua taking off. Their ultimate goal: breakfast bagels.

The two were at the shops before anything opened but took in the sights of garbage trucks loading, produce trucks unloading, markets setting up, birds singing--in short, all the sounds and smells of early morning aloha action.

HARBINGERS OF SPRING: No matter how long I live in the Golden State, I'm always amazed when the blossoms appear even in the throes of January storms and February chills. After the tulip trees, what are the earliest species that appear--is it almonds?

Got a tip for Saratoga Sampler? Send email to maryanncook@earthlink.net.