Awards: Good...Federal Takeovers: Bad

Since our brief mention of Cherokee in yesterday's blog, we've had several questions as to what role the Federal government would or could play in that town's political problems in the upcoming year. The answer is probably very little. As long as the town meets any financial obligations to the US government and doesn't defy any Federal employment or environmental laws, we would hardly think Cherokee would be of great concern to Uncle Sam.

We have not yet had an update from our source, but the exact nature of Federal involvement in Cherokee is stated to be: Federal criminal charges and an arrest by US Marshals. If new information warrants, we'll publish a special update.

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Has former Cherokee attorney Rebecca Narmore committed an ethics violation in assisting Mayor Chuck Lansdell's secretary in a lawsuit? This is a more difficult question to answer. Narmore was terminated as attorney for the small Colbert County town in July of this year. Now she is representing Marsha Allen in her attempt to recover unpaid wages. According to rules of bar associations in almost all states, an attorney is guilty of a conflict of interest if:

1. The existence of a valid attorney-client relationship between the attorney and the former client.
2. The interests of the current and former clients must be materially adverse.
3. The former client has not given an informed consent to the new representation.
4. The current and former matter are the same or substantially related.

Whether Ms. Narmore is guilty of these four elements would probably be a matter of interpretation. Number four would seem to be the hardest to prove. We welcome comments from any of our attorney friends. As always, they will be published anonymously if that is their wish.

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Another sort of Federal takeover is in the works. It may not go anywhere...or it may change the way you and I look at and use the Internet.

We urge each of you to read this Washington Post article:

Hand's Off Tomorrow's Internet

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Awards?! Who doesn't love them? OB's Corner has just published part one of its awards for 2010. We're extremely pleased that he named us "Shoals Blogger of the Year." This award means much more to us than the Blogophilia award we received in 2008.

O.B. takes time from his busy schedule to blog about what matters in the Shoals. He makes a difference...and in our estimation that makes him an award winner every day of the year.



Shoalanda