A company is surely an unnatural particular person therefore, contains the constitutional legal rights of your individual, that is certainly, with the exception of your fifth Modification defense versus producing books along with data. Being a distinct particular person, a corporation is surely an business impartial from the shareholders and it has all of the protections that a particular person would have besides your fifth Modification.

Every single company is expected for you to behave as a fantastic citizen in the local community along with engage in the pursuits for some reason. Company Social Accountability (CSR) in the us can be self-regulating company behavior. In principle, this provider is a component in the local community and it has an ethical obligation for you to contribute to the fitness of the city and get away from harming 777cams the city. A number of may well view CSR as being in probabilities with the objectives of a company, that are to take entire good thing about all the opportunity to increase income for the shareholders. Others may well view CSR being a firm’s meaningful along with ethical duty, offering back to the area along with global local community which presented on the company regarding delivering work along with knowledge and acquiring products and services. And others may well understand CSR of the same quality publicity. No matter if you aren’t we all follow a Large Mac pc, all of us recognize Ronald McDonald. The majority of us are aware that Ronald McDonald assists your groups of unwell young children.

This article, nevertheless, just isn’t with regards to concept, yet with regards to exercise. Simply no laws or perhaps regulations govern CSR. Every single company determines its own CSR packages. In reality, your bottom-line and the shareholders are the main emphasis of a company, along with CSR might or might not perform a huge role inside company. A company must, yet does not necessarily, have a legitimate duty to do absolutely no damage. Regrettably several companies along with CSR packages do damage, considerable damage.

Within Peru, Chevron can be preventing pertaining to gas up against the local human population. The government involving Peru facilitates Chevron given it wants your gas via Chevron. At the same time, the government supports the law enforcement along with places blame your local men and women for the deaths in the law enforcement. Your local folks are basically preventing for his or her personal land. Chevron, even though earning large income because of its shareholders, drastically harms the world and the men and women dwelling about it within Peru. Nevertheless Chevron includes a CSR system.

Within Thailand, Chevron introduced a new long-term CSR undertaking for you to inspire college students to build up their own educational institutions in the eco-friendly responsible fashion, which will increase pupil understanding environment problems. Chevron cooperates along with Chulalongkorn College to build up a new master’s-degree program in petrol geology by giving $10,1000,1000.Double zero within the following five-years. Even though this is termed CSR, the truth is that the system is usually to supply Thai professionals pertaining to Chevron.

Your Ronald McDonald CSR picture can be optimistic, yet we understand that the ground beef that we try to eat can be ruining your new world. Tropical rain forests deal with about 6 percent in the planet’s floor. Wendy’s will be the largest retailer involving ground beef. Large parts of Key United states tropical rain forests have been decimated pertaining to livestock ranching along with sugars walking stick. Wendy’s clears timber inside new world to ensure that their own ground beef will have grazing land. You realize previously that we need the new world in order to avoid our planets atmosphere.

Your objective here is not to vilify Wendy’s. It’s not the sole company ruining types. We glance in Wendy’s given it contains the the majority of obvious CSR picture: Ronald McDonald. We all see the contradiction as to what Wendy’s does, McDonald your destroyer, along with Ronald McDonald, your caretaker pertaining to groups of unwell young children.

When payday loans I read articles similar to this, My partner and i question myself personally so what can I really do? In case you are wondering the identical issue, and you may or perhaps will not be, you could currently have tips for your skill. Listed here are the eight tips:

One. Avoid eating in domki holenderskie caloroczne Wendy’s

Two. Request your friends not to get your meals at Wendy’s

Three or more. Eat fewer meats

Some. Educate yourself concerning the tropical rain forests

Five. Are aware that McDonald employees are not necessarily unionized

Six. Educate yourself with regards to unions

8-10. Issue CSR packages

Being unfaithful. Become a knowledgeable along with engaged buyer along with citizen

When you have achieved all eight tips, you will view the planet requires help along with the capacity and the ability to help reduce some of the health conditions which problem your tropical rain forests. When you are getting which significantly, you will discover other people to utilize to produce a optimistic effect on planet earth.

Article Sources: Business Interpersonal Responsibility The nice And also the Undesirable Associated with Mcdonalds

It is well documented that Sheriff Rivero has a litigious past, and if he is to be taken at his word, maintains a relationship with a San Francisco-based legal firm which would likely be the recipient of the “blank check.”

Were he to choose this particular firm, a legal firm whose chief attorney was a supporter of his in the past election, the appearance of impropriety would be so strong that I think many would believe that this conflict was created by Sheriff Rivero as a way to funnel money to this legal firm, either as a form of payback for their support in the past election or for his past law suits. I think the only way to avoid this appearance is for the board to deny Sheriff Rivero’s request. I believe this conflict stems from actions he took prior to his election to the office of sheriff, at a time when he was, or could have been, covered by a legal defense fund through the Deputy Sheriff’s Association.

After his election to the office of sheriff he was still eligible to purchase coverage from the legal defense fund if he chose to. This legal defense fund covers all criminal investigations and any work related disciplinary actions with the exception of Brady issues.

Be that as it may, his lack of prior planning and the actions he took before he was elected should not be covered by my tax dollars, especially if it relates to him being dishonest.

Instead, the Government Code Section he is requesting representation under has an alternative resolution should his request be denied by the board.

Under Government Code Section 31000.6(b), Sheriff Rivero is entitled to an ex parte review of his request by a superior court judge. It is my opinion that such a review is the only way to be sure that we are legally and ethically required to expend taxpayer money for what essentially amounts to a private attorney. Should the board be inclined to grant his request, I would urge them to consider requiring the attorney to be a local one, thereby keeping taxpayer money local, or at a minimum require him to use a law firm with which he does not have a previous or existing relationship.   I would like to add that if this request is related – as I believe it is – to the reports in the news media and Internet blogs that Sheriff Rivero is potentially receiving a “Brady” letter from the district attorney, it would be frivolous to pay an attorney to try to intervene at all.

The district attorney has a duty and a responsibility pursuant to the United States Supreme Court Decision in Brady vs. Maryland to disclose information on any witness who might testify in any matter if that information directly relates to their credibility.

It should also be noted that the district attorney has complete discretion and immunity in this area, so the sheriff obtaining a writ of mandate as he said he would in the previous Board of Supervisors meeting to stop the district attorney from doing what he is required to do under the law would be very unlikely.

Patrick McMahon lives in Middletown, Calif.

Article Sources: McMahon: Considerations for supervisors before deciding on sheriff’s request for counsel

A federal jury brought back verdicts in Alabama recently on an indictment charging 39 counts against 9 defendants with bribery.  After a two-year investigation by the F.B.I, two months of jury trial with evidence that included thousands of tape-recorded telephone conversations, and finally by a week of jury deliberations, the prosecution score was zero.

No one was convicted: All acquittals and mistrials.  The main target, Milton McGregor, was found not guilty on three counts and got a hung jury on 14 counts including one count of conspiracy.  (There is always a conspiracy count in federal court, at least when there has been an extensive investigation.)   McGregor is the multimillionaire owner of one of the largest casino complexes (including a greyhound racetrack) in the country name VictoryLand.   He was tried with two serving state senators, four former state senators, and four other people.

Two defendants, State Senator Quinton Ross and VictoryLand lobbyist Bob Geddie, were completely cleared by the jury’s verdict.   The jury could not reach a verdict on 33 other counts, so the government could seek a new trial for the seven remaining defendants, who include Senator Harri Anne Smith, former Senators Larry Means and Jim Preuitt, and McGregor.

All of this arose from some new gambling machines that were proposed for use in the casinos, called electronic bingo machines.  They looked like slot machines and were common for some time around the state.  However, the Governor Bob Riley declared them illegal, and several judges agreed with him, so legalizing them was proposed in the Alabama legislature. That is where the F.B.I. investigation took place.

As the casino-sponsored bill to legalize the machines was debated in the legislature, rumors floated of a federal investigation of money offered or paid for votes in favor of the new machines.   The F.B.I. made surprise visits to some of the legislators.  Indeed, when the 65-page indictment was unsealed last year, two of those originally charged pled guilty and testified at trial for the government as “cooperating witnesses.”  They and the recorded telephone conversations were the sum and substance of the government’s case.  Much discussion of money, contributions, promises, and deals were offered into evidence, but the criminal defense lawyers argued none of that constituted bribery.  The cooperating witnesses gave their opinions that bribery was implied or understood, but all of it fell short.  The jury obviously looked past all the theater of the government’s display, looked into all the mountains of evidence, and found it unpersuasive when held to the burden that is required in American courts: beyond a reasonable doubt.

The government’s case fell short of connecting McGregor to any discussion of money or votes.  And the government’s case was not helped by tape-recordings from one of its own witnesses, Senator Scott Beason.   One of the informant legislators, he referred on one of his tapes referring to customers of a gambling hall in a predominantly black counties as “aborigines.” Beason also recorded himself talking to Republican colleagues about how passage of the bill could hurt Republicans because the bill wouldn’t take effect unless approved by voters in the November election. He argued having the issue on the ballot would bring out more black voters, who traditionally favor Democratic candidates.

On a retrial, the government is sure to omit those tapes from the jury.  But jurors in that case will also know that legislators are constantly raising money, swapping favors, and trading deals on legislation on a daily basis, and the jury will still need evidence of bribery.

Article Sources: Oklahoma Criminal Defense Blog » Blog Archive » Feds shoot blanks in Alabama

“New Mexicans loose their right to fly on commercial airlines or enter onto federal property” will soon be the headline. You will be turned away at all airports and federal properties that require valid Identification.

Forty-eight states (96 percent) will not issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens. Only two states (4 percent) issue licenses to illegal aliens (Utah issues a driving permit, not a license). Only New Mexico and Washington state are cursed with having too many feckless legislators (senators and representatives) whose disrespect for the welfare, security and safety of all legal citizens is arrogantly shown by their continued vote to give illegal aliens a drivers license over the objections of more than 75 percent of the legal residents of this state.

Our driver’s licenses and ID cards procedures do not meet the requirements of The Real ID Act. In the very near future, you will not be able to present your New Mexico driver’s license as valid identification to board a commercial aircraft nor enter federal property. You will be denied entry because your legislators have again failed to protect your right to carry a valid ID like the citizens of the other 48 states.

Go to the website nmlegis.gov and get the name, phone number, address and e-mail address of your senator and representative, tell them that you want them to vote “yes” on Rep. Andy Nunez’s House Bill 103, as written, to eliminate issuing NM drivers licenses and ID cards to federal lawbreakers.

Tell your legislators to put you and your family’s freedom and security first.” Tell them to vote yes on HB 103 as as originally written, not the “castrated version” that the HL&HR Committee of Sheryl Stapleton and four others did in butchering the original bill.

KEN VIEU

Tyrone

Ridiculous law

People, I’m sick and tired of this bickering about driver’s licenses for illegals. Let’s get something straight, I have no problem with an immigrant getting a picture ID. It means he/she has applied for, and been granted at least temporary residence status in this country. What I do object to, is someone who is in this country illegally, thinking they have a right to anything!

It was reported that the 2003 legislature voted to give these people the right to get a driver’s license. Whatever year it was, those intellectually challenged politicians are responsible for involving the state of New Mexico in a criminal act. It is against the law to aid and abet a criminal. Anyone who is in this country illegally, is a criminal, with no rights, or privileges at all! It may only be a misdemeanor, but it is a crime.

It looks to me like Governor Martinez has a brain, and understands this concept, unlike the politicians who are only concerned with keeping their cushy jobs with votes from people who should not even be in this country.

I say “we” need to get behind her and get rid of this ridiculous law. I also believe “we” need to make sure, all of the politicians who don’t understand the meaning of illegal, get removed from any job that allows them to involve this state in illegal acts.

JAMES S. GOFF Jr.

USAF retired

Organ

Bill based on fear

Fear has served humans well for thousands of years. It’s normal to seek security for oneself and our loved ones. So throughout the ages some people have played on others’ fears to stampede them into doing things against their best interests. That’s what’s happening with a piece of legislation from some Washington politicians called H.R. 1505.

Supporters of H.R. 1505 claim it’s a security measure. Maybe. But as a former prosecutor and Army veteran, I know that security comes in many forms – and that focusing on just one threat is a sure way of getting overrun in other areas. H.R. 1505 supposedly helps with our physical security by making the Department of Homeland Security an uber-agency which can override any other agency or law which protects us. But far from providing any necessary security for our nation, it is a security measure for those who would drill, dig, scrape, and fill.

How so? By letting the fear-based label of “security” override the laws that protect clean air, clean water, and save some of our wildlife and wild places. Not just the Mexican border, but the Canadian border and both coasts would become 100 mile sacrifice zones at the mercy of the Department of Homeland Security. Why do the politicians who take big contributions from extractive industries tout H.R. 1505? Because they want the DHS to do the dirty work of smothering every other agency and overriding protection for air, water, and the land – and not just on the Mexican border, but in the resource-rich lands near our coasts.

Some people criticize candidate Nate Cote’s public questioning of H.R. 1505. I am glad that someone like Mr. Cote – ready to go back to Santa Fe – is fighting to protect southern New Mexico.

PETER M. OSSORIO

Las Cruces

A Navy wife

The promotion ceremony of BG John Ferrari at White Sands Missile Range was one of those ah-ha moments for those of us who attended.While the promotion ceremony was very compelling, the participation of his wife and children was even more so. The fact that his wife and children were there to pin on his stars made the family feel that they were not only a part of his life as a husband and dad, but also an integral part of his professional life as a soldier.

As a Navy wife whose husband spent 24 years in the Navy, I never recalled being at a promotion ceremony nor participating in one. His deployments took him out to sea aboard aircraft carriers for long periods of time, so that we were separated during most of his career. When he was promoted it must have been at sea, and I can’t recall that we were ever invited as a family to be a part of one. Our children never really connected with his Navy career.

There was a saying in the Navy that “if the Navy wanted a sailor to have a wife they would have issued one with his sea bag.” The wonderful ceremony of having BG Ferrari, his lovely wife Andrea and their children there to pin on his star brought home to me that the family must be an integral part of a serviceman’s career and have a connection to it since this is who they are.

This wonderful family and the tradition of having their children’s involvement as a part of this special time in their lives brought home to me how very important it is for the services to remember to include families in their traditions. Thank you for the privilege of being a witness as this very special moment.

FRANCES F. WILLIAMS

Las Cruces

Article Sources: Your View: Letters to the editor (Feb. 12)

OTTAWA – The world received two blunt messages this week on Enbridge Inc.’s proposed $5.5-billion oilsands pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia’s northern coast.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the government will “make it a national priority to ensure we have the capacity to export our energy products beyond the United States, and specifically to Asia.”

But that pitch for the pipeline megaproject, which would open up the landlocked oilsands resource to non-U.S. buyers, was countered by a report quoting Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo.

Atleo said the federal government and Calgary-based Enbridge required the “consent” of B.C. First Nations, who are mostly opposed to the project.

So, do aboriginals have the legal ability to stop a major energy megaproject that the Harper government touts as the key to creation of numerous jobs and billions of dollars in new wealth?

They probably don’t, legal experts said this week, though uncertainty remains about how courts might deal with a legal challenge.

Atleo’s claim was made at a news conference after this week’s Crown-First Nations summit in Ottawa.

“The notion of First Nations having free, prior and informed consent means exactly that,” said Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

Atleo, of B.C.’s Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation, avoided using the word “veto.” Instead, he adopted the “free, prior and informed consent” that is taken direction from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Another of B.C.’s aboriginal leaders, Jody Wilson-Raybould, concurred.

“There are impacts of major development projects that, based upon our rights and our territories, may and potentially will require the consent of First Nations,” said Wilson-Raybould, a lawyer and the AFN’s regional chief in B.C.

“This notion of free prior consent has no legal basis in Canada – none,” said Vancouver lawyer Thomas Isaac, a former B.C. government chief treaty negotiator who has acted in the past for Enbridge.

“That’s not to say that people ought not to seek consent. That’s a different question. But is there a basis in law? Not a shred.”

University of B.C. law professor Gordon Christie said in an email it “is a bit strong to say a veto of some sort exists now.”

But First Nations along the route “do have powerful claims that just might prevent the state from simply pushing a pipeline through their territories and, most troubling, across their riverways.”

There are two touchstones cited in legal arguments which assert that First Nations do potentially wield a veto if the National Energy Board panel approves the project, as many expect it will, in late 2013.

The first is international in nature. Atleo’s notion of “consent” comes directly from wording sprinkled throughout United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007 and endorsed, after considerable hesitation, by the Harper government in 2010.

The declaration says states should obtain from indigenous peoples “their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources.”

But the declaration is not a treaty, said Nigel Bankes, chair of natural resources law at the University of Calgary’s law faculty.

“I think most people would say that part of the declaration is aspirational in nature rather than customary law.”

In fact, the Canadian government’s website uses that term, saying the 2007 declaration “is a non-legally binding aspirational document.”

The Harper government also spelled out its objection to the: “consent” wording, noting its concerns regarding “those provisions dealing with lands, territories and resources; free, prior and informed consent when used as a veto; self-government without recognition of the importance of negotiations; intellectual property; military issues; and the need to achieve an appropriate balance between the rights and obligations of Indigenous peoples, member states and third parties.”

Of greater relevance is Canadian case law that has required governments in Canada to “consult” and “accommodate” First Nations on land-use decisions.

But common-law precedents don’t say aboriginals with established title to the land in question have a blanket veto on land-use decisions. In fact, the law specifically contemplates allowing title to be “justifiably infringed.”

The Supreme Court of Canada’s landmark 1997 Delgamuukw decision specifically spells out the government’s right to “infringe” on aboriginal title.

“The development of agriculture, forestry, mining, and hydroelectric power, the general economic development of the interior of British Columbia, protection of the environment or endangered species, the building of infrastructure and the settlement of foreign populations to support those aims, are the kinds of objectives that are consistent with this purpose and, in principle, can justify the infringement of aboriginal title,” the decision said.

The court made it clear infringement couldn’t take place without meaningful consultation that could, in certain cases, open the door to the requirement of consent.

“This consultation must be in good faith, and with the intention of substantially addressing the concerns of the aboriginal peoples whose lands are at issue. In most cases, it will be significantly deeper than mere consultation,” the court stated.

“Some cases may even require the full consent of an aboriginal nation, particularly when provinces enact hunting and fishing regulations in relation to aboriginal lands.”

Both Bankes and University of Victoria aboriginal law expert Jeremy Webber said the strongest case could come from the Haisla First Nation.

Roughly half of the 1,500-strong Haisla First Nation live in Kitimaat Village, about 11 kilometres south of Kitimat, the coastal community where hundreds of supertankers will dock each year to load diluted bitumen from the Enbridge pipeline starting in late 2017, assuming the project proceeds as scheduled.

“The peoples that would have the strongest argument for consent being required are those whose lands would be heavily affected – those, for example, where the pipeline would cut through the heart of their lands, where it would endanger some resource or interfere with their use of the land, or where there was a risk of heavy damage from spills, etc.,” Webber wrote in an email.

“I am not an expert on the technical aspects of this project, but I would think that the Haisla would have to be one of the nations with the biggest potential impact – the largest risk of spills, on land and in both fresh and salt water; the greatest intrusion on their traditional territory.”

Banks said a legal case would most likely be launched at the Federal Court of Appeal level after an NEB go-ahead.

“But I don’t think there’s a veto except in really quite exceptional circumstances,” he said, singling out the Haisla.

“They’d say, `We are a marine people, we are shellfish harvesters, we are fishery folks. It’s fundamental to our culture and this imposes such a huge risk of destroying that culture.’ That’s the nature of the argument.”

Isaac said no court has yet ruled that a specific First Nation has title to a specific piece of land.

“It’s going to come, it’s going to happen,” he said.

“I am sure there will be (a decision) someday where consent is required over a discreet parcel of land of high significance to a First Nation, where title has been proven, but we’re a ways away from that and we don’t know what that would look like.”

Twitter:@poneilinottawa

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News      

Article Sources: Aboriginal consent for Gateway iffy proposition in law

The 23-year-old, who also won the LLM Best Project Prize of £500 for his Law Report, received his award during the Winter Degree and Award Congregation for the College of Business, Economics and Law.

Jaime, who studied Law at the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany and the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid before commencing his studies at Swansea in 2010, completed his course last September.

He now lives in north London, where he works in the Marine and International Transport Department of the leading international law firm Clyde & Co LLP.

Jaime said: “I am genuinely grateful to the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law for this unexpected prize. I would also like to thank all the staff of the LLM, and specially, Professor Caddel and Professor Nikkaki for their support in the preparation of my project.”

Commenting on Jaime’s achievement, Professor Baris Soyer, Director of the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law, said: “Jaime was an exceptional LLM student. He has a solid legal background and has developed himself immensely during his time at Swansea. He is a quick-thinker and problem solver and I have no doubt he will adapt himself to the legal practice with ease. 

“The LLM degrees offered by the Law School are well-known and regarded in shipping, banking and insurance sectors. The courses are taught by internationally recognised experts who are at the cutting edge of their disciplines and are very much practice oriented.

“I have every confidence that the LLM degree will accelerate Jaime’s rise in the legal profession as he joins the elite class of Swansea LLM Alumni which is spread all around the world.”

This news item has been generated by Bethan Evans, Swansea University Public Relations Office, Tel: 01792 295049, or email: .

Article Sources: Swansea University – News Archive

storyidforme: 26103684 tmspicid: 9295370 fileheaderid: 4248113 Article Extras

All three Republican candidates for Lake County state’s attorney in the March 20 primary election propose creating some type of post-conviction or case review panel to ensure the right person is behind bars.

Louise Hayes of Lake Bluff has been an assistant state’s attorney since 1990. She has been involved in almost every part of the State’s Attorney’s Office and currently does mental health court, veteran’s court and oversees grand jury proceedings.

Michael Nerheim of Gurnee is private defense attorney who spent seven years as an assistant state’s attorney in Lake County. His private practice handles felony, juvenile, misdemeanor, traffic and civil cases.

Bryan Winter of Lake Barrington spent 27 years as a prosecutor for municipalities. He has been the Gurnee and Kildeer village attorney for seven years.

“I think the No. 1 priority right now is a post-conviction review board in conjunction with retraining our staff top to bottom, including extensive training on DNA,” Hayes said. She noted the review board would “continually make sure that the right person is behind bars” and would include attorneys, law enforcement personnel, scientists and other community members.

Nerheim said the first thing he would do if elected would be to implement a Case Review Panel consisting of retired judges, law enforcement members and others. The panel would give older cases a fresh set of eyes and develop protocols for how new cases would be handled.

“The biggest thing is to get it right the first time,” Nerheim said.

Both Nerheim’s and Hayes’ proposed panels would examine all kinds of cases, including but not limited, to ones that involved DNA.

Winter‘s proposed panel would include State’s Attorney’s Office staff and members of the Lake County Major Crime Task Force.

“That panel would be assigned the responsibility of providing a fresh, ongoing review of cases where there is new evidence or where there is inconsistent evidence,” Winter said.

Winter said his other two top priorities include increasing gang prevention initiatives and expanding cooperation between local law enforcement agencies and the State’s Attorney’s Office. He said the Major Crime Task Force’s duties could be expanded to investigate gang activities.

“Of all six candidates, I have been an attorney the longest. I have the most diverse legal background — I’ve handled criminal, civil and municipal law,” Winter said. “I want to utilize my experience at the municipal level and apply that at the county level.”

Winter is married and has a 19-year-old son.

In addition to creating a review board, Hayes said she wants to reallocate funds for the cybercrime division and wants to continue programs run by the State’s Attorney’s Office such as the Major Crash Assistance Team and the Children’s Advocacy Center.

“I think that I am the most qualified to do this job. I have been the representative of the people of Lake County and prosecuting for more than 20 years. I know that office inside and out,” Hayes said.

Hayes is married and a mother of four children.

Nerheim is married and a father of three.

Aside from his main goal of implementing the review panel, Nerheim said he wants to implement in-house training to keep prosecutors on top of case law as it advances.

“Not to say they don’t understand, but case law and DNA law changes frequently. It requires ongoing training,” Nerheim said.

He said he’s running to help keep the county safe. His slogan is: “I’m running for my family and yours.”

“I see the job as state’s attorney as being the chief law enforcement officer in the county to keep the streets safe,” Nerheim said.

Article Sources: Republican state’s attorney hopefuls stress experience, case review panels

The conference commissioners who run the Bowl Championship Series are determined to have thechampionship game played earlier in January and stop playing major bowls in the middle of the weekafter New Year’s Day.

The 11 conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director met yesterday in Dallas,along with BCS executive director Bill Hancock, to continue discussing changes to college football’s postseason.

Hancock said they had a “very broad conversation” and did not start whittling down a long listof ideas.

• Highly rated wide receiver recruit Davonte Neal from Scottsdale, Ariz., signed a letter of intent with NotreDame.

The 5-foot-10, 175-pound Neal was considered the highest-rated recruit still unsigned.

Notre Dame lost out on its top receiver recruit on signing day when Deontay Greenberry signed with Houston after giving an oral commitment to theFighting Irish.

• Alabama-Birmingham coach Garrick McGee hired John Peterson as offensive line coach.

Peterson spent the past eight years as an assistant at Ohio State, where he coached tight endsand was the Buckeyes’ recruiting coordinator.

Former race-car driver Jeremy Mayfield said the new criminal charges against him are “baseless” andsuggested that he is the target of a conspiracy involving NASCAR and law enforcement officials.

Indictments by a North Carolina grand jury released on Monday charged Mayfield with three countsof possessing property stolen from businesses and a charge of obtaining property by falsepretense.

The charges follow a November raid on Mayfield’s home in Catawba, N.C., after which the formerNASCAR star was charged with possessing 1.5 grams of methamphetamine

“For some reason, the district attorney’s office simply ignored our offers to explain thesources of the items seized from my property and chose, instead, to indict,” Mayfield said in astatement. “We do not know if there is any connection between the NASCAR lawsuit and thisinvestigation but, based upon the evidence disclosed to us already by the district attorney’soffice, it appears that the Catawba County authorities have been coordinating with NASCARofficials.”

Mayfield was suspended from NASCAR after failing a random drug test in May 2009 and is trying toappeal it in the courts.

Since his suspension, Mayfield has faced judgments in excess of $2 million for failing to paybills and owes another $109,000 in property taxes. He also faces foreclosure on his 388-acreproperty.

• The Fiesta Bowl’s former top executive pleaded guilty to a felony charge to settle allegationsstemming from a political donations scandal.

John Junker entered the plea in Phoenix for his role in soliciting politicalcontributions from Fiesta Bowl employees. The bowl later reimbursed employees for about $48,000over a nine-year period.

The plea is part of an agreement with Arizona prosecutors in connection with the scandal thatled to the firing last year of Junker.

Junker pleaded guilty in Maricopa County Superior Court to a state felony, which carries apresumptive 21/2-year sentence that’s also eligible for probation.

— From wire reports

Article Sources: Sports wire

Issue: 2289 dated: 11 February 2012 News & Reports posted: 6.06pm Tue 7 Feb 2012

comment on article | email | print Share: | Tweet | |

Leading employment lawyer John Hendy QC is taking up the case of Yunus Bakhsh, the nurse and trade union activist unlawfully sacked by Northumbria Tyne and Wear NHS Trust.

Hospital bosses in Newcastle refused to obey a court order to re-employ Yunus. His supporters have now filed for a judicial review of the trust

Article Sources: QC takes on Yunus Bakhsh case

HAMPTON — Five candidates are competing for two three-year terms on the Board of Selectmen.

Age: 54

Occupation: Member at Bean Insurance Agency LLC, Hampton

Education: Hampton Academy, Winnacunnet High School, University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics, Bachelor of Science degree

Public service/public office experience: Department of Transportation (1977-1983), Department of the Navy (1983-2008), chairman, town of Milton Board of Selectmen

What are the three most important issues in your race?

1) Money! Commence a plan of reimbursement from the state of New Hampshire regarding infrastructure reimbursement. The state of New Hampshire siphons between .15 and .20 billion dollars per year from within the borders of Hampton. Across state service delivery platforms, taxes and revenue measures, the state piggy-backs on our infrastructure to include police, fire and public works without equitable contribution. This will stop.

2) Infrastructure! The town needs a coherent Capital Improvement Program to include committee work on town building needs. This will start.

3) Business! Secure business input into municipal decision matrix formula. This will start.

If you are elected, how do you plan to address these issues?

1) Deploy our legislative leaders to pinpoint Hampton economic contribution to the state budget with all state agencies. Information is power. Immediately commence negotiations with state leaders to include the governor, to seek reimbursement for our capital infrastructure commitments that the state exploits for revenue gain yet does not contribute or make reimbursement to the town of Hampton.

2) Form a capital improvements committee to include Hampton engineers, builders, skilled craftsmen and business owners who have expertise in the business of building.

3) Incorporate the Hampton Chamber of Commerce in a more proactive business model when conducting the business of Hampton government.

Explain why you are running and why you feel you are the best candidate.

Perhaps now is the time for a new face and new ideas on the board. Hampton is a world-class town with world-class citizens, employees, businesses and geography. This town generates huge opportunity for the state of New Hampshire that yields a Granite State exceptionalism funded in large part on Hampton shoulders. Now is the time for contract ratifications with our employees, coherent dialogue with the state, consideration for our taxpayers and business community and better communication about our achievements and challenges. Leadership is about preparing for success. This election is important. The paradigm has shifted. Our leadership can do better and we will.

Age: 39

Occupation: Self-employed

Education: 1990 graduate, Winnacunnet High School

Public service/public office experience: Hampton Budget Committee 2011-12; chairman, Hampton Commission 375, volunteer coach

What are the three most important issues in your race?

Proper use of the Capital Improvements Plan, keeping the Board of Selectmen at the same ethical standard as is expected of all town employees, and progression, not regression for Hampton.

If you are elected, how do you plan to address these issues?

With strong planning and follow through in working with the Town Manager to achieve goals while keeping the best interests of Hampton and its residents a top priority.

Explain why you are running and why you feel you are the best candidate.

As a lifelong resident of the town of Hampton, I have a personal passion for this community and want to be a part of its resolution through the voice of the residents. I have a real sense of community, a fresh and positive innovative view and have some great ideas from which the residents and the town should benefit.

Age: 60

Occupation: Retired, formerly President- Meggitt USA

Education: Ohio University, 1973, Bachelor of General Studies

Public service/public office experience: Selectman 2005-2008; state representative- 2006-2008; currently president of the Hampton Historical Society, on Board of Trustees since 2000; currently treasurer and board member of Experience Hampton, Inc.; past president of the Hampton Rotary Club; past president of the James House Association.

What are the three most important issues in your race?

We need less controversy and more cooperation on the issues facing the town. No one has all the right answers, it take meaningful dialogue to create solutions.

I would hope that the voters pass the bonds relating to the fire stations and the Church Street pump station along with the employee contracts that are on this year’s warrant so that we can work on planning and implementing continued improvements and repairs to the town’s streets, sewers and drains.I would support the renewal of the contract for the town manager.

We need to make sure that our businesses and business owners have a voice in the future of the town and that we always work toward one community, town and beach.

Lastly, I support a change in our town form of government. I believe a change to a Town Council could increase efficiency and may even improve participation by residents in the decisions facing the town.

If you are elected, how do you plan to address these issues?

Dialogue is the result of both speaking and listening. Listening is the harder of the two. Controlling controversy means staying away from personalities and sticking to the facts. I believe I am a good listener and that I can deal with, and calm controversy.

The town needs to highlight the planning it already does by focusing more public attention on it. The CIP (Capital Improvement Plan) is an active tool, but the public needs to be made more aware of the plan and have more input into its creation. Planning also involves our ability and willingness to pay for the changes and improvements suggested by the plan in a deliberate fashion. In most cases we can deal with the costs of improvements over time by capital reserve funds or bonding. Too often we defer decisions to the point of creating crisis and thus add to the final costs and bunching necessary projects into the same year.

As to the town manager- if elected, in the first month I will move to renew his contract for a mutually agreeable term. I hope that three votes will exist to make that motion pass.

The form of Town government is certainly controversial. I would propose a series of public meetings to get a better sense of the pros and cons of a change and if merited a warrant article in 2013 or 2014 to move the issue forward. It is clear that the deliberative session is not working.

Explain why you are running and why you feel you are the best candidate.

I was shocked by the current Board of Selectmen decision to not renew the manager’s contract. I have also been confused by the return of the discussion on trash collection. Having made decisions on trash and recycling collection, I would have preferred a period of “settling in” before an attempt was made to change the system. I am also concerned that members of the board may be micromanaging our department heads. I think the selectmen should act as a Board of Directors, setting policies and reviewing results, not attempting to become “experts” in areas where the expertise is already employed.Who the best two candidates are is down to the voters. I can merely stand on how I have approached the job in the past. I would hope that we can increase town resident awareness and participation in town activities and its government.

Age: none given

Occupation: State of New Hampshire licensed property and casualty insurance producer, Brownell Insurance Center, Hampton

Education: Bachelor of Arts in English and history

Public service/public office experience: three-term selectman, (served eight of the nine years as selectman representative to the Budget Committee; seven-term member at large of Hampton Municipal Budget Committee (currently vice chairman), elected to a term on each of two formal Charter Commissions; second woman elected as selectman in Hampton; first woman to chair Budget Committee and Board of Selectmen; successfully led taxpayer Class Action suit in 1988 before the Board of Tax and Land Appeals against the BOS for the illegal 1987 tax warrant.

What are the three most important issues in your race?

1) I hope to encourage the Board of Selectmen to return to the intent of the Municipal Budget Act, with each tax year self-contained, releasing as much surplus money as possible at the end of each year to help reduce the tax rate — no more “squirreling” resources and regurgitating them into warrant articles the next year.

2) I hope, with the voters’ support of Article 36, to return to using outside counsel to handle the town’s legal needs. There are plenty of attorneys competent in their fields to serve as advisers. We can save the taxpayers $200,000 per year in salaries and benefits by going out of the legal business at the Town Office. It is much easier to keep track of time spent and what it is spent on if we use specialized counsel as needed rather than general in-house attorneys. We need to hire a negotiator for collective bargaining , and never allow a selectman to participate directly in the negotiating process. Hiring outside counsel means more efficiency, less inclination to file lawsuits and less lobbying in Concord.

3. If our local government under SB2 is to succeed, selectmen must focus on presenting shorter and more user-friendly warrants. No more pages and pages of ordinances, unintelligible wording of articles and day-long deliberative sessions. The warrant must include only what is absolutely necessary for public decision, in a form the average voter can understand. We must bring participatory government back to the public. The large number of selectmen’s flawed articles this year is unprecedented, and the deliberative session did allow them to correct by amendment before a very sparse audience.

If you are elected, how do you plan to address these issues?

All issues need to be addressed in the context of the board as a whole. This is why it is critical to elect independent selectmen who will represent the public interest and not “go along to get along” as if they suddenly belong to an exclusive club. A board is only as good as the sum of its parts. To watch a sitting board enable inappropriate behavior on the part of one selectman (intimidating the manager by seeking his job while still his employer) by carrying on as if nothing has happened should give voters cause for serious concern. And the excessive number of nonpublic sessions, which may or may not have legally been entered into, is also open to question. I support adhering to the letter of the law when it comes to out of the public eye deliberations.

Explain why you are running and why you feel you are the best candidate.

I have a wealth of experience from all of my years of hard work actively serving the public interest — working, not just showing up and warming the chair. I have tremendous respect for the employees who keep this community safe and daily enhance our standard of living and want to keep them well-trained, well-equipped, adequately compensated and productive. My positions are clearly set out, and clearly presented. I am dedicated to working within the law for the taxpayers and voters of Hampton, and I have no aspirations whatever to become the next town manager.

Age: 73

Occupation: Quality control/product assurance management (retired)

Education: Bachelor of Science, Lowell Technological Institute 1963; M.B.A. Northeastern University 1971; University of Hartford, Ward School of Electronics 1958.

Public service /public office experience: Hampton selectman 2009-present.

What are the three most important issues in your race?

A) To maintain firm control of the property taxes and to eliminate spikes and surges as well as to continue to assure financial stability for all the aspects of town government.

B) Increase the efforts to develop a healthy working business relationship with the state of New Hampshire, the Hampton Beach Commission, the Village district and the town of Hampton for the continued development of Hampton Beach.

C) Continue the momentum of the collective bargaining efforts and work to ensure that employee relationships and morale are optimized throughout the town.

If you are elected, how do you plan to address these issues?

A) I have a proposal on the table to improve the budgeting process so that all who are involved are on the same page! This includes the originator of the budget and the subsequent reviewers that consist of town management, selectmen and the Budget Committee. If all have the same data, it should significantly reduce the differences of opinion that arises on the budget that has caused adversity between the government bodies. The Board of Selectmen has indicated that this will be taken up after the elections.I have establish standard formats for the quarterly department head reports, including the solicitation of identified opportunities for cost reductions. These opportunities would then be part of their goals and objectives and then be tracked throughout the year. I have made a written recommendation on this issue, and again, it will be discussed after the elections.

I would like to continue to introduce lean thinking and continuous improvement initiatives into municipal government. Maintaining the way things are because it’s comfortable and the way we have always done them, needs to be discouraged! We need fresh thoughts and minds willing to discuss what may be perceived as uncomfortable subjects by some (which have led to passionate disagreements) if we are to move forward. Change should be embraced if we are to accomplish the main goal of supplying cost effective quality services! All of this needs to be transparent and vetted with the public.The Board of Selectmen needs to be directly involved where it is required and where the tax payer interests need strong representation. We need to continue to review current policies and procedures for adequacy; we need to become goal and performance driven. Everybody should have them and they should be measurable. We need to understand our costs and determine what makes them up to see if we have opportunities for reduction. We need to look at how we are organized to see if synergy is possible. We need to definitely think about regionalization opportunities that we may have. In other words push the envelope!

We need to improve the planning and the capital improvement process. Sound management must start with good planning. We must assure that new projects are well planned out and vetted thoroughly before actions are committed.

I pledge to be a prime mover in the above initiatives, as I believe in them, and the resulting benefits that are derived from their successful implementation.

B) Hampton Beach is a major asset to the town and we need to continue to develop and nurture it. We need sidewalks on the west side of Ocean Boulevard, infrastructure on the streets west of Ashworth Avenue, parking resolutions for the thousands that visit us, improved drainage and lighting, crosswalks and lights where deemed necessary and more. We need to assure the continued development of this valuable asset we have in our town in accordance with the master plan that has been devised.In order to accomplish all that is needed, it is going to take money. Federal and state funding, as well as other sources of funding, will need to be pursued. We need a partnership with all (mentioned above) to make it happen. I am open to honest discussions with all our partners and am positive that with the correct setting and positive approach, and with the taxpayers interest properly represented, that differences can be worked out. After all, reasonable and moderate people should be able to strike accords. I pledge to be active in this process.

C) We have worked very hard in 2010 and 2011 in the collective bargaining process. The ground has been plowed and the town and the unions fully understand one another. We now have reached agreement on five contracts and were very close on the last one, which we have hopes on closing on this year. This process now has a foundation for continued success, which is healthy for the town and all its employees. Success in this endeavor recognizes the employee’s quality of life and lifts the morale of all. It has been shown in industry that a workforce with good morale is more productive, experiences less absenteeism and relationships are less tense. I pledge my continued support to the success of this process.

Explain why you are running and why you feel you are the best candidate.

We have truly accomplished much progress over the last three years and we have the financial metrics to substantiate that point but the job is not finished. It’s a journey, it’s a process and there is no destination! It never ends! I feel that with another three years we will have the roots of the efforts further established and progress will be even more evident. It takes the right people to make this happen. It takes a blend of the right education and solid time tested work experience!

I am a very experienced manager, and I feel that I know the way and what it takes and I will not be diverted from the mission. Working with the town manager and the Board of Selectmen, my skills and abilities will lend strength to the team.

Simply put, I have the management /administrative and engineering experience that comes from being time tested and offer that to the Hampton residents.

Ads by Google

Article Sources: Hampton selectmen candidate profiles