This week, our nation was abuzz with talk about the recent decision of the Baseball Writers Association of America not to elect any former Major League players to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The voting scribes snubbed hardball greats such as Roger Clements, Barry Bonds and Jeff Bagwell, players whose performance in prior decades would have easily qualified them for immediate admission, because they believe that these players probably used steroids and other performance enhancing drugs and, therefore, are somehow undeserving of this ultimate honor. One can understand the writers’ reluctance to …

In 2010, more than 2,000 Sharon residents defeated a proposed Charter that would have made structural changes to Town Meeting. The message was clear – voters trust Town Meeting attendees to make decisions about our Town that are in the best interest of the community. Recently, however, at Special Town Meeting on Monday, Dec. 3, residents departed from their usual role of addressing the fiscal and regulatory needs of the Town and, instead, weighed into a matter of national concern. At 10 p.m., less than 200 voters approved by a narrow voice vote an Article that called for a US Constitutional …

In the state’s most dramatic race last week, Democrat challenger Elizabeth Warren defeated incumbent Republican senator Scott Brown by taking overwhelming majorities of the vote in Boston and surrounding communities. Statewide, Warren received 1,678,408 votes. Brown received 1,449,180, or 229,228 votes fewer than Warren. That’s pretty close, as Massachusetts races go.  Warren, however, clobbered Brown in a group of densely populated northeast cities. In the area comprising Boston, Arlington, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Lynn, Malden, Medford, Melrose, Somerville and Watertown, …

In Tuesday night’s town hall debate, President Obama clearly raised his energy level. He was well prepared and made every effort to fire up the base of his party. Challenger Mitt Romney performed well also. It is clear now that the challenger’s strategy is to keep reminding voters that despite the President’s personal popularity, his economic policies have failed to energize the economy and make a serious dent in the nation’s unemployment ranks. At several points on Tuesday night, Romney made this case forcefully. I agree with Washington Post columnist George Will that it was the most …

In 2008, Abigail Fisher, then a senior in a Texas high school, applied for admission with the University of Texas in Austin, a school that admits automatically the top 10 percent of every high school graduation class.  Fisher fell short of the mark, so she applied for one of the slots reserved for non-qualifying students that demonstrate other qualities attractive to the school.  When Fisher’s application was denied, she sued the school, claiming that its admission policy was unconstitutional. The school, it seems, gives some preference to students of color – including Latinos and African-…

If you follow the Presidential campaign, you will hear a lot said about who has the lead at any one time.  A growing number of mainly conservative voices, however, are making the claim that the poll results being widely publicized are misleading.  Are they right? Well, let’s lay out some basic facts about Presidential polling. To get an accurate reading of how a large group of citizens feel about a particular subject, whether it is a television program, potato chip or candidate for President of the United States, a pollster must contact a sufficiently large number of people. If the number is …

With all the talk about the local Senate race and the epic contest between President Obama and Governor Romney, voters are not hearing much about a major ballot question that will be decided this November – whether Massachusetts should adopt a “right to die” law. Question 2 will ask voters whether the Commonwealth should enact a “Death with Dignity” Law similar to those now existing in a handful of states such Washington and Oregon. The law will permit a doctor to prescribe medication, at the request of a terminally ill patient, to end the patient’s life.  To quality, the patient must be an …

In the wake of Tuesday’s horrific attacks of United States diplomatic facilities in Libya and Egypt and the killing of the our nation’s ambassador to Libya, among others, a great deal of misinformation has been circulated about the legal protections afforded to diplomatic missions and the persons living and working in them.  Let’s try to clear it up. For centuries, nations have recognized the need to provide safe passage and housing for official representatives of foreign nations. History teaches us that Genghis Khan, the great Mongol leader, sent representatives to far-off kingdoms with the …

Just over 12 months ago, I wrote my first Counsel Corner column for the Sharon Patch. Looking back, it has been quite a year in the world of the law. Last summer, media outlets were consumed by the Casey Anthony trial.  Anthony appeared, to all observers, to be guilty as sin in the murder of her young daughter. She failed to report her daughter’s disappearance to authorities, lied repeatedly to investigators when pressed for details, and then, when her daughter’s body was located, mounted a bizarre defense at trial in which her lawyer claimed that the child drowned and that Anthony’s father …

The penalties levied by the NCAA earlier this week against Penn State University and its storied football program were both harsh and entirely justified. The recent jury trial established that for over a decade, former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky terrorized young boys in the State College community and beyond. Some of the abuse occurred while the coach was under the university's employ. Later on, in more recent years, the former coach used school facilities and his special access to the school both to carry out his crimes and groom new victims. Meanwhile, head football coach Joe …

For hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents, July means trips to the beach, backyard barbeques and ballgames on the radio.For several thousand recent law school graduates, however, these warm and humid days offer a last, desperate chance to prepare for the bar exam.This year, the state bar exam will take place on July 25 and 26. The first day will test the candidates' knowledge of basic legal principles – contracts, Constitutional law, property and so forth. The second day will focus on Massachusetts law. A candidate must demonstrate a thorough knowledge of all these areas of law in …

For most of us, the process of hiring an attorney is stressful and intimidating.We often hire an attorney during some of the most stressful periods of our lives. When we make the difficult decision to sell a home. When our employment situation changes. When we want to go into a new business. When the IRS comes to call. When wesuffer a serious injury, or, cause injury to others.It is understandable that finding the right person to help us navigate those challenging circumstances can be difficult.I have spoken to many people over the years, some clients, some not, that have had bad experiences …

A heavily divided United States Supreme Court ruled today that the key provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") – the so-called "individual mandate" that all persons obtain coverage or pay a fine forfailing to do so - is constitutional.Absent repeal by Congress, Obamacare is now the law of the land.The Court published nearly a dozen different opinions today, all of which can befound in PDF form at the Court's website. They total almost one hundred pages in length.This column offers a very quick summary of the big issue – whether Congress can impose the …

The other day, retired baseball pitcher Roger Clemens was acquitted on charges that he lied to Congress when he testified, under oath, that he never used performance enhancing drugs.Technically, the case was about perjury, not PED use, per se. But the perjury charges hinged on the government proving that Clemens lied when he told lawmakers that he never used PEDs. Therefore, the big question before the jury as it deliberated had to be whether the government had demonstrated that Clemens had, in fact, used steroids, human growth hormone or some other illegal or improper substance during the …

In April, the United States Supreme Court heard argument in a highly publicized case that likely will be decided later this month – the so-called Arizona immigration law case.Like the much anticipated ruling in the Obamacare case, the decision in the Arizona case no doubt will play a significant role in the upcoming presidential campaign.Critics of the Arizona statute claim that the law encourages so-called "racial profiling," mainly of persons of Hispanic origin. It is important to note at the outset, however, that the matter before the high court does not actually involve a challenge to law…

In the real world, the month of June means the warm air of spring and the latest sunset of the year. The end of another year of school. Nice weather, graduation parties, backyard barbeques and baseball games.In the legal world, the month of June brings United States Supreme Courtdecisions. Cases that are briefed and argued in the late winter and early springare usually decided and announced just before summer gets underway. Everyyear, lawyers and legal observers anxiously await the decisions.This year, we can expect two rulings somewhat unusual in their magnitude.These decisions also may play…

Parents of children that enjoy music, be warned. Illegally downloading copyrighted music off the Internet carries very serious penalties.Recently, in a case that attracted much attention in the music industry, theUnited States Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a lower federalcourt decision that imposed damages of $675,000 against a college student thatdownloaded 30 – that’s right, just 30 – songs off the Internet.Joel Tenenbaum was a student at Goucher College in Maryland. Rather thanpurchase music on I-Tunes or one of the other online music sources, Joel usedsome file-sharing …

It's the end of the world as we know it.On August 1, state regulations will set new standards for food and beverages sold in public schools, including those items sold at "bake sales" and other fundraising events.Schools shall be required to offer fresh fruit and non-fried vegetables. Foods prepared in fryolators will be prohibited. With some exceptions, foods shall not exceed "200 calories per item."Beverages also will be regulated. All vegetable and fruit juices must be 100 pure, with no added sugar. After a phase-in period, milk and milk substitutes will be fat free or "low fat," which is …

One of the more entertaining movies of the last decade or so is Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can." The film tells the more or less true story of Frank Abagnale, a man that confounded authorities for years by successfully impersonating, among other things, an airline pilot, state prosecutor and emergency room doctor, all the while creating false identification papers andpassing bogus checks worth millions of dollars.No one could seriously dispute that people like Abagnale deserve to be punished with criminal prosecution. Abagnale was more than a braggart. His actions put airline …

A recent United States Supreme Court decision should interest many Sharonresidents that live in and around the town’s wetlands, lakes and ponds.In a unanimous ruling (9-0), the high court ruled that landowners have a right to bring a lawsuit to challenge a compliance order of the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water Act.The case arose – like many Supreme Court matters do – out of an ordinarysituation that suddenly and unexpectedly turned extraordinary.The Sacketts – an Idaho family - owned a piece of undeveloped residential land. The lot was separated from a nearby lake by …