STURBRIDGETIMESMAGAZINE

JULY, 2014THE

THE CHRONICLE OF STURBRIDGE COUNTRY LIVING

18 THE CHRONICLE OF STURBRIDGE COUNTRY LIVINGTHE STURBRIDGE TIMES MAGAZINE

r MUSINGS FROM LONG HILL s

BY RICHARD MORCHOE

CONTRADICTION WATCH

Ever wonder who makes the law? You probably thinkit’s the Congress, or some duly elected body of leg-

islators. Give those folks credit for trying, but all theydo is write boring statutes.

In actuality, the law is made by the lawyers whotwist and grind and shred those statutes into piles ofinky mishmash, and then the judges who reconstructthat mishmash into bound volumes of judicial deci-sions that make up what the law actually is.

For instance, the lawmakers pass a law that says youcan’t operate a vehicle while drunk. Then the policehappen along a drunk man sleeping in the driver’s seatof a car parked on the side of the road. So, is he “oper-ating” a vehicle while drunk? It’s up to some lawyer tosay he’s not and some judge to decide whether thelawyer is right. That’s the law, not what the lawmakerswrote.

Sometimes, lawyers and judges actually write thelaw before the so-called lawmakers get around to draft-ing a statute.

Take for example the idea that you can sue someonefor rear-ending your car and giving you whiplash. Itwas a creative lawyer, in Scotland, who came up withthe modern understanding of what it means to be neg-ligent.

Mrs. Donoghue, in the hamlet known as Paisley,drank a pint of ginger beer during the Glasglow TradesHoliday. And in that ginger beer, unbeknownst, to her,lay a dead snail. Mrs. Donoghue got sick and wantedsome compensation for her damages. Her lawyer suedand, even though there was no law against negligentbehavior, at the end of the day, the judges agreed thereshould be and the modern concept of negligence wasborn. Only later did the lawmakers across the globe getaround to passing statutes regarding negligence.

Just imagine if Mrs. Donoghue had passed out in thedriver’s seat of her car parked on the side of the roadafter getting sick on ginger beer. What then?

LEGALBRIEF

WHO MAKES LAWS?

M O N T H L Y L E G A L A D V I C E

F O R R E A D E R S O F

T H E S T U R B R I D G E T I M E S M A G A Z I N E

STURBRIDGE ATTORNEY

ROBERT A. GEORGE, ESQ.

Sometimes you see something that changes yourday. This occurred to me. I was looking at one

of those world maps that assign a value to eachcountry based on some national aspect.

The atlas that caught my eye had the main ex-port as the value. I found it on Global Post, whichbills itself as America’s world news site, and is outof Boston. The map is the creation of a young vi-sual artist, Simran Khosla who lives in Chicago.

The map was of interest to me as I wished toknow how much change has happened in the so-called post-Cold War era among nations. When Iread that the main export of Afghanistan wasopium, it was like a smack on the side of the head(pun intended).

Ms. Khosla relied on the CIA Factbook. Howreliable is that? Who knows, but if one were togive it some thought, semiconductors and softwaremight not readily come to mind as importantAfghan trade items.

Still, we should pause to reflect that theAfghans do not seem all that grateful to us for theblessings we have bestowed on their nation. Onewould think the Pathan farmers would regret theharm their biggest cash crop causes our underclassand take up Belgian endive as Mike Dukakis sug-gested to Mid-Western farmers. The Duke wasrunning for pres at the time. The heartland tillersof the soil were as ready to abandon corn and soyas are the Afghans opium.

So why are our troops staying in theater? If it isto make Afghanistan safe for the cultivation ofpoppies, we cannot gainsay the success. I do expect

the doojie crop will not wither if we depart.But, but aren’t we also fighting a war on drugs?If the grand contradiction of fighting a war on

terror that’s fighting the war on drugs was notenough, we are now being told we need to buddyup with the worst S.O.B,s out there, the Iranians,to re-save Iraq.

Of course, my government never ceases toamaze me with contradictions. For the longesttime, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been ourgreat Satan as much as we theirs.

Consider the senior senator from South Car-olina. When the temporary nuclear deal wasconcluded, Lindsey Graham said, “We’re dealingwith people who are not only untrustworthy: thisis a murderous regime that murders their ownpeople, create chaos and mayhem throughout thewhole world, the largest sponsor of terrorism.This deal doesn’t represent the fact we’re dealingwith the most thuggish people in the wholeworld.”

Now that the tables have turned, the contra-diction has been noted. The senator has said weneed Iran’s help. He has likened it to collaborat-ing with a murderer as we did with Joseph Stalinin the Second World War.

Lindsey Graham is basically saying, “You’re aswine, but could you help me out here.” Not ex-actly from the Dale Carnegie playbook, but theAyatollahs probably would utter something sim-ilar. There is precedent from my dimming mem-ory, Iran-Contra. This time, maybe no one will

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21THE CHRONICLE OF STURBRIDGE COUNTRY LIVING THE STURBRIDGE TIMES MAGAZINE

Contradiction watch

Patricia Ballard retires from TRHS

out being subject to either estate or in-come taxes.

What if you want to benefit yourheirs while you are still alive? You cangive your heirs gifts of up to $14,000each with cash from your life insurancepolicy while you are still alive withoutyour gifts being subject to the gift tax.The unified tax credit allows you to giftup to $5 million in assets over your life-time without your gifts being subjectto the gift tax or estate taxes.

If your heirs then use part of the

go to jail.Lindsey is trying to scare us by say-

ing the next 911 could come fromIraq or Syria. Contradiction alert,Graham was all for arming the rebelsin Syria against the current regime.Of course he would claim it was thenice rebels.

Now one might suspect that ISISis not thinking of building a carrierfleet and making the next 911 a PearlHarbor. So are they planning onsending another team of flying stu-dents over here? No problem, theNSA should easily be able to keeptabs on them. Hey, Lindsey voted forindefinite detention in the NDAA.What could go wrong?

Yet Lindsey is shaking in his boots.Why, because if we don’t fight themover there, y’all know what’s going tohappen over here. A couple of guysmight set off bombs at a marathon.Oh well.

He needn’t be trembling if we hadavoided the biggest contradiction ofthem all. We wouldn’t have to worryabout any of this had we never in-vaded Iraq in the first place.

from those experiences,” said former stu-dent Michelle Phillips, who graduated in1998. “She was a no-nonsense teacher whomade learning fun. I went to Morocco onone of the trips with her and it was a greatexperience. In college, I studied Spanishand scored at the advanced class level, tak-ing native language classes that coveredreading, writing and the study of literature.I continued to keep in touch with Pat andsought her advice on things like papers Ihad to write. She became a mentor.”

The lessons from Ballard’s classroomstuck with Phillips when she became ateacher. “I taught Spanish in the New YorkPublic School System for seven years beforemoving over to administration,” saidPhillips, who moved back to Sturbridge afew years ago. “I learned a lot from Patabout developing relationships, respect andcontinuity in the classroom. She was alwaysfair and consistent and I she taught us a lotof life lessons too. Everyone has those teach-ers that they remember and are at the topof the list. Pat is one of them.”

Ballard has also been an influence inthe lives of many foreign language teachersnow in the Tantasqua School District. HighSchool Foreign Language Chair SharonReece-Harrell is one of her former studentsas well as Nikki Jolie, who teachers Frenchand Spanish at the Junior High.

Perhaps the most valuable possessionsfrom her teaching career are the letters andgifts from former students who have trav-eled. As for retirement plans, she is wideopen as her husband, Gabriel Acevedo, hasyet to retire. “There is so much I want todo. I am working on writing a romancenovel, and love creating miniature piecesfor dollhouses and gardening. I will alsospend time working the Brimfield AntiqueFair (with Waite) and with my 86 year oldmom who still lives in town,” Ballard said.

Continued from page 18

gift you provide to purchase insuranceon your life, they can still collect adeath benefit, but also take advantageof your gift while you are still living.A Tax Benefit for Employers

Life insurance can also provide atax benefit to employers. While life in-surance premiums are not tax de-ductible for consumers, employers candeduct premiums for group term lifeinsurance as a business expense.While there are no limits on theamount of coverage that can be pro-

vided, benefits plans must pass tests toensure that the plans are not weightedto favor key employees.

Employees also receive the insur-ance tax-free, up to the first $50,000of coverage. The value of coverage ex-ceeding $50,000 is considered taxableincome and employees who receivethe insurance must pay a tax based onIRS tables.

Life insurance can protect yourfamily and ensure that they are takencare of if something happens to you.

That is its most important purpose,but it’s good to know that it can alsoprovide tax advantages that no otherinsurance product or investment canprovide.

Richard A. McGrath, CIC, LIA isPresident and CEO of McGrath Insur-ance Group, Inc. of Sturbridge, Mass.He can be reached at rmcgrath@mc-grathinsurance.com.

This article is written for informa-tional purposes only and should not beconstrued as providing legal advice.

Continued from page 9 “I don’t think it will hit me that I have re-tired until the fall. I won’t miss the paper-work, or grading tests and quizzes. I willmiss the interaction with some of the kidsand seeing my best friends on a daily basis.”

Tantasqua High School PrincipalMichael Lucas says Ballard’s retirementleaves a void in the classroom. “Pat hasdone a wonderful job here teaching foreignlanguages and creating a passion for themamongst many, many, Tantasqua students.We will miss her greatly.”