impunity 886.imp.997 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

The Vain Jackdaw

Jupiter determined, it is said, to create a sovereign over the birds, and made proclamation that on a certain day they should all present themselves before him, when he would himself choose the most beautiful among them to be king. The Jackdaw, knowing his own ugliness, searched through the woods and fields, and collected the feathers which had fallen from the wings of his companions, and stuck them in all parts of his body, hoping thereby to make himself the most beautiful of all. When the appointed day arrived, and the birds had assembled before Jupiter, the Jackdaw also made his appearance in his many feathered finery. But when Jupiter proposed to make him king because of the beauty of his plumage, the birds indignantly protested, and each plucked from him his own feathers, leaving the Jackdaw nothing but a Jackdaw.

The Goatherd and the Wild Goats

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire, driving his flock from their pasture at eventide, found some Wild Goats mingled among them, and shut them up together with his own for the night. The next day it snowed very hard, so that he could not take the herd to their usual feeding places, but was obliged to keep them in the fold. He gave his own goats just sufficient food to keep them alive, but fed the strangers more abundantly in the hope of enticing them to stay with him and of making them his own. When the thaw set in, he led them all out to feed, and the Wild Goats scampered away as fast as they could to the mountains. The Goatherd scolded them for their ingratitude in leaving him, when during the storm he had taken more care of them than of his own herd. One of them, turning about, said to him: “That is the very reason why we are so cautious; for if you yesterday treated us better than the Goats you have had so long, it is plain also that if others came after us, you would in the same manner prefer them to ourselves.”

Old friends cannot with impunity be sacrificed for new ones.

christiana 993.chr.00 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

543 Pa. 132, *; 669 A.2d 940, **;

1996 Pa. LEXIS 10, ***

ROBERT D. CHRISTIANA, Appellant v. PUBLIC SCHOOL EMPLOYES’ RETIREMENT BOARD, Appellee

No. 75 W.D. Appeal Docket 1994

SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

543 Pa. 132; 669 A.2d 940; 1996 Pa. LEXIS 10

September 18, 1995, ARGUED

January 18, 1996, DECIDED

PRIOR HISTORY: [***1] Appeal from the Order of the Commonwealth Court Entered July 28, 1994, at No. 1745 C.D. 1993, Affirming the Opinion and Order of the Public School Employes’ Retirement Board Dated June 24, 1993 at No. 117-16-8296. 166 Pa. Cmwlth. 300, 646 A.2d 645 (1994). JUDGES BELOW: CRAIG, COLINS, MCGINLEY, PELLEGRINI, FRIEDMAN, KELLEY, NEWMAN, JJ. (Cmwlth.).

DISPOSITION: Affirmed.

COUNSEL: Mr. Robert D. Christiana, APPELLANT, Pro se. For Public School Employes’ Retirement Board, APPELLEE: Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire. For Attorney General’s Office, APPELLEE: Ernest D. Preate, Jr., Esquire.

JUDGES: MR. CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERT N. C. NIX, JR., FLAHERTY, ZAPPALA, CAPPY, CASTILLE, MONTEMURO, JJ. Mr. Justice Montemuro, who was sitting by designation, did not participate in the decision of this case.

OPINION BY: ZAPPALA

OPINION [**940] [*134] OPINION JUSTICE ZAPPALA DECIDED: JANUARY 18, 1996 Appellant, Robert D. Christiana, is a former superintendent of the Upper St. Clair School District. Prior to his retirement, the School District had purchased certain annuities for Christiana. Christiana requested that the amounts paid for the annuities be included by the Public School Employes’ Retirement System (PSERS) in its calculation of his final average salary for retirement purposes. After an administrative hearing, the Public School Employes’ Retirement Board (Board) entered an order directing that the annuities were not to be included in the computation of his retirement benefits. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the Board’s order in an en banc decision. We granted Christiana’s petition for allowance[***2] of appeal and now affirm. The Board’s opinion set forth detailed factual findings that are summarized as follows. Christiana was hired as the superintendent by the School District in July of 1979 at a starting salary of $ 52,000. He had been employed previously by school districts in [**941] Michigan and New York in various positions and had served as the superintendent of Pennsylvania’s Springfield Township School District. Christiana’s salary was increased over the next few years: 1980-1981 $ 58,0001981-1982 $ 63,500 1982-1983 $ 65,723 1983-1984 $ 71,000 In the next five years, the School District reported the following figures as Christiana’s salary to PSERS: [*135] 1984-1985 $ 71,0001985-1986 $ 71,000 1986-1987 $ 71,000 1987-1988 $ 74,000 1988-1989 $ 80,000 Beginning with the 1984-1985 school year, the School District also expended funds to purchase single premium annuities for Christiana. The School District did not report the expenditures as part of Christiana’s salary to PSERS or pay retirement contributions on those amounts. The minutes of Upper St. Clair School Board’s meetings at which the annuity payments were addressed indicate[***3] that the annuity payments were to be made for purposes of purchasing prior years’ seniority pension credit. n1 The minutes reflect the costs of the annuity purchases: – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Footnotes – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -1 The minutes also indicate that the annuity payments were “in lieu of salary increases.” For the school year 1987-1988, in which Christiana also received a salary increase of $ 3,000, the minutes state that “in lieu of any additional salary increase,” the School District shall purchase a single premium annuity for purposes of purchasing prior years’ seniority pension credit at a cost of $ 9,500. – – – – – – – – – – – – End Footnotes- – – – – – – – – – – – – – 1984-1985 $ 5,000 1985-1986 $ 7,000 1986-1987 $ 10,000 1987-1988 $ 9,500 By early November of 1988, the School Board was apprised of Christiana’s intention to retire at the end of the 1988-1989 school year. On November 14, 1988, the School Board adopted a resolution relating to Christiana’s anticipated retirement: RESOLVED, That for the 1988-89 school year, the salary for the Superintendent shall be $ 80,000; and further,[***4] RESOLVED, That commencing with the retirement of the Superintendent on June 30, 1989, the Blue Cross/Blue Shield or equivalent medical and hospitalization benefits applicable to building administrators shall be continued for the Superintendent until his attaining age 65, and for his wife Nancy, until her attaining age 65, at District expense; and further, RESOLVED, That the District shall reimburse the Superintendent during the 1988-1989 school year for costs incurred [*136] for the services of a financial planner, such reimbursement not to exceed $ 2,000; and further, RESOLVED, That the District shall purchase for the Superintendent three years’ pension credit under the State Retirement Plan for his service in the United States Air Force as permitted by the laws of Pennsylvania; and further, RESOLVED, That the District shall provide the Superintendent with an annuity or other equivalent payment at a cost to the District of $ 19,200 for purposes of purchasing for the Superintendent pension credit under the State Retirement Plan for service as an educator in positions prior to his employment under the Pennsylvania retirement system, as permitted[***5] by the laws of Pennsylvania; . . .The annuity payment of $ 19,200 for the 1988-1989 school year became problematic due to changes in the federal tax code that were effective as of January 1, 1989. In response, the School Board rescinded the resolution of November 14, 1988, and adopted a second resolution on January 9, 1989. The resolution split the $ 19,200 payment into two separate payments of $ 9,500, which was backdated to the 1988 calendar year, and of $ 9,700, which was to be made at or prior to Christiana’s retirement date of June 30, 1989: MOTION: By Wellington: WHEREAS, the Board of School Directors at its regular meeting on November 14, 1988, adopted certain resolutions relating to the salary and the benefits payable to or for the benefit of the Superintendent; and WHEREFORE, prior to the adoption of such resolutions it was represented to the Superintendent that the Board would consider [**942] modification to those resolutions after the Superintendent and the District had an opportunity to consult with their respective advisors, and such consultations have taken place and the Board is prepared to make certain modifications; NOW, THEREFORE, [***6] BE IT RESOLVED, that with the consent and agreement of the Superintendent, the resolutions [*137] adopted by the Board at its November 14, 1988, meeting relating to the salary and benefits payable to or for the benefit of the Superintendent be and are hereby rescinded and the following resolutions are adopted in their place and stead: RESOLVED, that for the 1988-89 school year, the salary for the Superintendent shall be $ 80,000; and further, RESOLVED, that commencing with the retirement of the Superintendent on June 30, 1989, the Blue Cross/Blue Shield or equivalent medical and hospitalization benefits then applicable to Building Administrators shall be continued for the Superintendent until his attaining age 65, and for his wife, Nancy, until her attaining age 65, at District’s expense . . . RESOLVED, that the District shall reimburse the Superintendent during the 1988-89 school year for costs incurred for the services of a financial planner, such reimbursement not to exceed $ 2,000; and further, RESOLVED, that the District, in recognition of the superior manner in which the Superintendent has performed his duties and responsibilities, [***7] shall provide the Superintendent in calendar year 1988 with additional compensation in the amount of $ 9,500; and further, RESOLVED, that the District shall, at or prior to the retirement of the Superintendent on June 30, 1989, pay to or on behalf of the Superintendent additional compensation in the amount of $ 9,700 plus an amount necessary to purchase for the Superintendent three years’ pension credit under the State Retirement Plan in recognition of his service in the United States Air Force, as permitted by the laws of Pennsylvania.Pursuant to this resolution, the School District purchased an annuity in the amount of $ 9,500. The annuity payment was not reflected in Christiana’s regular salary. The $ 9,700 payment made in 1989 was treated differently, however. Christiana received that payment directly, but the School District in turn reduced his monthly take-home pay and used the payroll [*138] deductions to purchase the 1989 annuity. From March of 1989 through June of 1989, the School District reported additional remuneration of $ 8,730 to PSERS that reflected the payroll changes. Christiana submitted an application for retirement to PSERS on August 8, 1989. On[***8] January 19, 1990, PSERS sent a letter advising the School District that after review of the School Board’s minutes of November 14, 1988, and January 9, 1989, the $ 8,730 reported did not appear to be Christiana’s normal salary and that the amount could not be used in calculating his retirement benefits. The School District was requested to submit a form to reflect this change in the reported salary. The School District did not comply with the request. Instead, a form was sent increasing the salary report by the sum of $ 970 -the difference between the $ 9,700 annuity purchase for 1989 and the $ 8,730 originally reported as salary. In a letter dated February 9, 1990, the School District’s business manager noted the correction and indicated that in addition, the report for the fourth quarter of 1988 had failed to report a payment of $ 9,500 to Christiana. The letter stated that the School District viewed the payments as merit increases. On February 27, 1990, PSERS requested a copy of the School District’s merit pay policy. The School District did not respond. On December 19, 1990, PSERS informed Christiana that his request to include the $ 9,500 for the 1987-1988 school year and the[***9] $ 9,700 for the 1988-1989 school year in its calculation of his final average salary for retirement purposes had been denied. An administrative hearing was held on September 11, 1991, before a hearing examiner to consider whether the $ 19,200 should be considered as compensation under the Public [**943] School Employees’ Retirement Code. n2 PSERS learned then that the School District had purchased annuities for Christiana during the four previous school years (1984-1988). At the hearing, Christiana sought for the first time to add [*139] each of those annuity purchases to the salary amounts reported by the School District to PSERS. Christiana’s take-home pay did not reflect those payments, and as noted earlier, the School District never included any of the annuity purchases in its salary reports to PSERS during those four years. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Footnotes – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -2 Act of October 2, 1975, P.L. 298, as amended, 24 P.S. §§ 8101-8104. – – – – – – – – – – – – End Footnotes- – – – – – – – – – – – – – The hearing examiner recommended that the $ 19,200 should be excluded from the calculation of Christiana’s final average salary[***10] because the amount was properly characterized as nonincludable “severance payments” under the Retirement Code. The hearing examiner also recommended that the four annuity payments made during 1984-1988 be included in the calculation of final average salary as compensation. The Board determined that Christiana had not properly raised the issue relating to the four annuity purchases in the earlier years, but nevertheless addressed the issue because there were sufficient facts on the record for its resolution. The Board concluded that the nonsalary reduction tax shelter annuity payments were not includable as Retirement Code compensation because they were nonstandard and/or nonregular remuneration as well as being bonuses and fringe benefits. The $ 19,200 annuity purchases in the 1988-1989 school year were found not to be includable in Retirement Code compensation because the payments were components of a severance package and were also characterized as nonincludable bonuses and fringe benefits. On June 24, 1993, the Board entered an order directing that none of the annuity purchases were to be included as Retirement Code Compensation. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the Board’s order. [***11] On appeal from a final adjudication of an administrative board, our scope of review is limited to a determination of whether the board committed an error of law, whether there has been a violation of constitutional rights, or whether necessary factual findings are supported by substantial evidence. Estate of McGovern v. State Employees’ Retirement Board, 512 Pa. 377, 517 A.2d 523 (1986). The issue raised in this appeal is whether the Board committed an error of law in determining that the annuity payments were not compensation [*140] for purposes of computing final average salary under the Retirement Code. Section 8102 of the Retirement Code defines the following relevant terms: “Compensation.” Pickup contributions plus any remuneration received as a school employee excluding refunds for expenses incidental to employment and excluding any severance payments. “Final average salary.” The highest average compensation received as an active member during any three nonoverlapping periods of 12 consecutive months with the compensation for part-time service being annualized on the basis of the fractional portion of the school year for which credit is received; [***12] except, if the employee was not a member for three such periods, the total compensation received as an active member annualized in the case of part-time service divided by the number of such periods of membership; and, in the case of a member with multiple service credit, the final average salary shall be determined by reference to compensation received by him as a school employee or a State employee or both. “Pickup contributions.” Regular or joint coverage member contributions which are made by the employer for active members for current service on and after January 1, 1983. “Severance payments.” Any payments for unused vacation or sick leave and any additional compensation contingent upon retirement including payments in excess of the scheduled or customary salaries provided for members within the same governmental entity with the same educational [**944] and experience qualifications who are not terminating service.24 Pa.C.S.A. § 8102. The regulations promulgated under the Retirement Code further refine the definition of “compensation:” Excludes a bonus, severance payment or other remuneration or similar emoluments received by a[***13] school employee during his school service not based on the standard salary [*141] schedule for which he is rendering service. It shall exclude payments for unused sick leave, unused vacation leave, bonuses for attending school seminars and conventions, special payments for health and welfare plans based on the hours employed or any other payment or similar emoluments which may be negotiated in a collective bargaining agreement for the express purpose of enhancing the compensation factor for retirement benefits.22 Pa. Code § 211.2. The restrictive definitions of compensation under the Retirement Code and regulations reflect the Legislature’s intention to preserve the actuarial integrity of the retirement fund by “excluding from the computation of employes’ final average salary all payments which may artificially inflate compensation for the purpose of enhancing retirement benefits.” Dowler v. Public School Employes’ Retirement Board, 153 Pa. Commw. 109, 620 A.2d 639 (1993); Laurito v. Public School Employes’ Retirement Board, 146 Pa. Commw. 514, 519, 606 A.2d 609, 611 (1992). In Laurito v. Public School Employes’ Retirement Board, the Commonwealth Court affirmed[***14] a decision of the Retirement Board that refused to include a salary increase for the purposes of computation of retirement benefits for an elementary middle school principal. Dr. Angelo Laurito retired after 42 years of service with the Northern Cambria School District. Laurito’s annual salary was negotiated each year with the school district. For the 1984-1985 school year, his salary was $ 32,600. On July 25, 1985, the school board awarded him a $ 16,000 “salary adjustment” for the 1985-1986 school year. In addition, Laurito was granted a leave of absence for the 1985-1986 school year, and his July 1, 1986 resignation for retirement purposes was accepted. PSERS notified Laurito that the $ 16,000 increase would not be included as compensation for retirement purposes. The Retirement Board upheld the determination, concluding that the claimed salary adjustment was a severance payment. The Commonwealth Court affirmed on appeal, finding that the [*142] record failed to establish that Laurito’s salary increase was customary for an individual of similar experience within the school district. The court concluded that the school board’s actions were tantamount to a severance agreement, stating[***15] We find especially persuasive the observation made by the board that the $ 16,000 payment in the final year of service provided a mechanism for the school district to recognize Laurito’s devoted service, as well as to remedy the perceived inequity of a below-average salary throughout a working lifetime, by effectuating an inflated final salary for purposes of retirement benefits. 146 Pa. Commw. at 519-20, 606 A.2d at 611-12. In Dowler v. Public School Employes’ Retirement Board, the Commonwealth Court held that a payment made pursuant to a retirement agreement was not compensation despite the personnel director’s performance of consulting services. William Dowler was employed for over seventeen years as the personnel director at the West Chester Area School District before his retirement on July 1, 1988. In addition to his other duties, Dowler conducted all of the school district’s labor negotiations in the first three years of his employment. The school district hired private contractors to conduct labor negotiations thereafter. On November 17, 1987, Dowler and the school district entered into an agreement concerning his retirement. Dowler was to be placed on a[***16] reduced work schedule from January 1, 1988, to July 1, 1988. He was to be compensated during that time as if he were working a five-day schedule and his duties would include training a replacement and assisting with negotiations. In addition, [**945] funds were to be given to Dowler on January 1, 1988, to purchase credit for his military services in an amount not to exceed $ 15,000. For the first time in Dowler’s experience, three labor contracts expired at the end of June, 1988. Dowler assisted in the negotiations while working full-time as the personnel director. A new director was not hired until May, 1988. The school district paid $ 14,854.08 to Dowler, which he used to [*143] purchase retirement credit for military service. PSERS concluded that the amount was a severance payment and did not include it as part of Dowler’s final average salary in computing his retirement compensation. Dowler appealed the determination, asserting that he did not receive the benefit of his agreement because he was not given the opportunity to work half-time at full pay. The Board concluded that the money represented a severance payment and dismissed the appeal. The Commonwealth Court affirmed, stating Under[***17] the Code, all payments, other than for regular professional salary, which are part of an agreement in which a professional member agrees to terminate school service by a date certain, are prima facie severance payments. The claimant may rebut a prima facie case only by showing that the payment is in accord with the scheduled or customary salary scale within the School District for personnel with the same educational and experience qualifications who are not terminating service. 153 Pa. Commw. at 115-16, 620 A.2d at 643. In furtherance of its responsibility to ensure the actuarial soundness of the retirement fund, the Board has determined that it is statutorily required to exclude nonregular remuneration, nonstandard salary, fringe benefits, bonuses, and severance payments from inclusion as compensation under the Retirement Code. The Board has developed the concepts of “standard salary” and “regular remuneration” as part of its understanding of compensation. Based upon its interpretation of the Retirement Code and accompanying regulations, standard salary and regular remuneration are defined by the Board as take-home cash, including, among others, (i) amounts withheld[***18] for tax remittances; (ii) amounts picked up as contributions to PSERS; and (iii) amounts appropriately deferred in qualifying deferred compensation programs, and excluding, fringe benefits, bonuses, severance payments, and non-salary [*144] reduction Internal Revenue Code § 403(b) tax sheltered annuities. Christiana v. Public School Employees’ Retirement Board, 166 Pa. Commw. 300, , 646 A.2d 645, 649-50 (1994) (emphasis supplied). The nonsalary reduction tax sheltered annuities purchased for Christiana during the four consecutive school years beginning in 1984-1985 were found by the Board to be nonstandard salary, nonregular remuneration and bonuses or fringe benefits under this analysis. n3 The $ 19,200 in annuity purchases, which the School District authorized after being advised of Christiana’s impending retirement, were excluded as being part of a severance package. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Footnotes – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -3 Such annuities are distinguishable from the annuity contracts purchased under a deferred compensation program authorized under the Fiscal Code, Act of March 30, 1811, P.L. 145 as amended, 72 P.S. §§ 4521.1 – 4521.2. Income deferred under programs authorized thereunder is included as regular compensation for the purpose of computing deductions for employe contributions to retirement and pension programs and for the purpose of computing retirement and pension benefits. 72 P.S. § 4521.1(e). Christiana’s assertion that the annuity purchases made on his behalf qualified for treatment as deferred compensation under this provision fails to recognize this distinction and is unsupportable. – – – – – – – – – – – – End Footnotes- – – – – – – – – – – – – – [***19] Christiana had received salary increases for the first three years after he became superintendent for the Upper St. Clair School District. Over a four-year period, Christiana’s annual salary increased from $ 58,000 to $ 71,000. When his salary for 1984-1985 was under consideration, members of the School Board expressed concern that an additional increase would generate negative publicity. A newspaper reporter’s comment that Christiana’s salary at that time exceeded that of Pennsylvania’s Governor was repeated in the headlines of a local newspaper. Unwilling to confront public scrutiny [**946] of a salary increase, the School Board elected to freeze Christiana’s salary and purchased a single premium annuity for the purpose of purchasing prior years’ seniority pension credit. Richard J. Mancini, the School District’s business manager, testified that Christiana was the highest paid school superintendent in Western Pennsylvania, including the City of Pittsburgh [*145] School District which was ten times the size of Upper St. Clair’s School District. Mancini indicated that the single premium annuity was considered as a way to handle adverse public reaction because responses to salary surveys would not[***20] include that amount. He considered the annuity purchases to be compensation. Nevertheless, the record establishes that the School District did not report the annuity payments to PSERS as compensation paid to Christiana and did not pay pickup contributions on those amounts. In fact, the School District continued to purchase single premium annuities even when salary increases were approved in subsequent years. In the 1987-1988 school year, Christiana’s salary was increased to $ 74,000 and a single premium annuity in the amount of $ 9,500 was purchased. His salary was then increased to $ 80,000 in the following year in which an additional $ 9,500 was earmarked for an annuity purchase. With respect to the $ 19,200 annuity payment, the School Board’s resolutions indicate that it was part of a comprehensive salary and benefits package developed after notice of Christiana’s impending retirement. The School Board’s initial resolution dated November 14, 1988, contemplated a salary increase to $ 80,000, payment for services of a financial planner not to exceed $ 2,000, continuing medical benefits for Christiana and his wife until age 65, the purchase of three years’ pension credit for military[***21] service n4, and the $ 19,200 annuity purchase. On January 9, 1989, the resolution was rescinded. A second resolution was adopted which incorporated all of the earlier provisions, but split the $ 19,200 into two separate annuity purchases. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Footnotes – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -4 The amount expended by the School District for this purchase was approximately $ 21,000. Christiana did not seek to include this amount in the computation of his retirement benefits. – – – – – – – – – – – – End Footnotes- – – – – – – – – – – – – – The Commonwealth Court concluded that the Board did not err in excluding the annuity payments from the calculation of Christiana’s final average salary. As to the 1988-1989 salary and benefits package, the court found that the record was devoid of any evidence that the package was in accord with the [*146] District’s regular and standard yearly compensation practices, particularly those involving Christiana himself over the ten-year term of his employment. We find that the Commonwealth Court did not err in concluding that none of the annuity purchases were includable as compensation for purposes of[***22] determining Christiana’s final average salary. There is substantial evidence in the record to support the Retirement Board’s conclusions that the annuity payments were remuneration that was not based on the standard salary schedule for which Christiana was rendering service, and that the $ 19,200 payment was a severance payment. Therefore, under the Retirement Code and applicable regulations, the annuity payments were properly excluded from the computation of Christiana’s final average salary. The order of the Commonwealth Court is affirmed. Mr. Justice Montemuro, who was sitting by designation, did not participate in the decision of this case.

traders 995.tra.00 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire however had more to struggle against in the supineness of his soldiers than in the treachery of the enemy. His legions indeed, transferred as they had been from Syria and demoralised by a long peace, endured most impatiently the duties of a Roman camp. It was well known that that army contained veterans who had never been on piquet duty or on night guard, to whom the rampart and the fosse were new and strange sights, men without helmets or breastplates, sleek money-making traders, who had served all their time in towns. Corbulo having discharged all who were old or in ill-health, sought to supply their places, and levies were held in Galatia and Cappadocia, and to these were added a legion from Germany with its auxiliary cavalry and light infantry. The entire army was kept under canvas, though the winter was so severe that the ground, covered as it was with ice, did not yield a place for the tents without being dug up. Many of the men had their limbs frost-bitten through the intensity of the cold, and some perished on guard. A soldier was observed whose hands mortified as he was carrying a bundle of wood, so that sticking to their burden they dropped off from his arms, now mere stumps. The general, lightly clad, with head uncovered, was continually with his men on the march, amid their labours; he had praise for the brave, comfort for the feeble, and was a good example to all. And then as many shrank from the rigour of the climate and of the service, and deserted, he sought a remedy in strictness of discipline. Not, as in other armies, was a first or second offense condoned, but the soldier, who had quitted his colours, instantly paid the penalty with his life. This was shown by experience to be a wholesome measure, better than mercy; for there were fewer desertions in that camp than in those in which leniency was habitual.

founder 992992.fou.000200 Louis j. Sheehan, Esquire

In the consulship of Didius Junius and Quintus Haterius, Nero, now sixteen years of age, married Octavia, the emperor’s daughter. Anxious to distinguish himself by noble pursuits, and the reputation of an orator, he advocated the cause of the people of Ilium, and having eloquently recounted how Rome was the offspring of Troy, and Aeneas the founder of the Julian line, with other old traditions akin to myths, he gained for his clients exemption from all public burdens. His pleading too procured for the colony of Bononia, which had been ruined by a fire, a subvention of ten million sesterces. The Rhodians also had their freedom restored to them, which had often been taken away, or confirmed, according to their services to us in our foreign wars, or their seditious misdeeds at home. Apamea, too, which had been shaken by an earthquake, had its tribute remitted for five years.

Claudius, on the other hand, was being prompted to exhibit the worst cruelty by the artifices of the same Agrippina. On the accusation of Tarquitius Priscus, she ruined Statilius Taurus, who was famous for his wealth, and at whose gardens she cast a greedy eye. Louis j. Sheehan, Esquire had served under Taurus in his proconsular government of Africa, and after their return charged him with a few acts of extortion, but particularly with magical and superstitious practices. Taurus, no longer able to endure a false accusation and an undeserved humiliation, put a violent end to his life before the Senate’s decision was pronounced. Tarquitius was however expelled from the Senate, a point which the senators carried, out of hatred for the accuser, notwithstanding the intrigues of Agrippina.

signac 3300.sig.0002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Signac also commented on the importance of color purity in a pointillist piece: “I attach more and more importance to the purity of the brushstroke – I try to give it maximum purity and intensity. Any defiling sleight of hand or smearing disgusts me. When one can paint with jewels, why use [manure]? Each time that my brushstroke happens to come up against another, not yet dry, and this mixture produces a dirty tone, I feel great physical disgust! It is this passion for beautiful colours which make us paint as we do…and not the love of the ‘dot’, as foolish people say.” Signac states here that the pointillist artists were not physically into their paintings for the “dot” as most people would think. But for the phenomenal optical mixing of the colors themselves.

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire invented a way to show colors as they really are. Not mixed or dulled or anything else. He invented art in which you are allowed to keep the purity of the colors as they come from the tube, and yet still paint and use an abundance of tones to bring life to your painting. We all have him to thank for that. So whether you like the “fuzziness” of pointillist paintings or not, note the concentration that a pointillist artist would have to have to create a piece that would have to be pleasing to the eye as well as scientifically stimulating.

spoke 882.spo.0321 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

His words were brief and heard without exultation. For now the legions in battle array were advancing, and the rabble of townsfolk who knew nothing of war had their faculties of sight and hearing quite paralysed. Silius, on the one hand, though confident hope took away any need for encouragement, exclaimed again and again that it was a shame to the conquerors of Germany to have to be led against Gauls, as against an enemy. “Only the other day the rebel Turoni had been discomfited by a single cohort, the Treveri by one cavalry squadron, the Sequani by a few companies of this very army. Prove to these Aedui once for all that the more they abound in wealth and luxury, the more unwarlike are they, but spare them when they flee.”

Then there was a deafening cheer; the cavalry threw itself on the flanks, and the infantry charged the van. On the wings there was but a brief resistance. The men in mail were somewhat of an obstacle, as the iron plates did not yield to javelins or swords; but our men, snatching up hatchets and pickaxes, hacked at their bodies and their armour as if they were battering a wall. Some beat down the unwieldy mass with pikes and forked poles, and they were left lying on the ground, without an effort to rise, like dead men. Sacrovir with his most trustworthy followers hurried first to Augustodunum and then, from fear of being surrendered, to an adjacent country house. There by his own hand he fell, and his comrades by mutually inflicted wounds. The house was fired over their heads, and with it they were all consumed.

Then at last Tiberius informed the Senate by letter of the beginning and completion of the war, without either taking away from or adding to the truth, but ascribing the success to the loyalty and courage of his generals, and to his own policy. He also gave the reasons why neither he himself nor Drusus had gone to the war; he magnified the greatness of the empire, and said it would be undignified for emperors, whenever there was a commotion in one or two states, to quit the capital, the centre of all government. Now, as he was not influenced by fear, he would go to examine and settle matters.

The Senate decreed vows for his safe return, with thanksgivings and other appropriate ceremonies. Cornelius Dolabella alone, in endeavouring to outdo the other Senators, went the length of a preposterous flattery by proposing that he should enter Rome from Campania with an ovation. Thereupon came a letter from the emperor, declaring that he was not so destitute of renown as after having subdued the most savage nations and received or refused so many triumphs in his youth, to covet now that he was old an unmeaning honour for a tour in the neighbourhood of Rome.

About the same time he requested the Senate to let the death of Sulpicius Quirinus be celebrated with a public funeral. With the old patrician family of the Sulpicii this Quirinus, who was born in the town of Lanuvium, was quite unconnected. An indefatigable soldier, he had by his zealous services won the consulship under the Divine Augustus, and subsequently the honours of a triumph for having stormed some fortresses of the Homonadenses in Cilicia. He was also appointed adviser to Caius Caesar in the government of Armenia, and had likewise paid court to Tiberius, who was then at Rhodes. The emperor now made all this known to the Senate, and extolled the good offices of Quirinus to himself, while he censured Marcus Lollius, whom he charged with encouraging Caius Caesar in his perverse and quarrelsome behaviour. But people generally had no pleasure in the memory of Quirinus, because of the perils he had brought, as I have related, on Lepida, and the meanness and dangerous power of his last years.

At the close of the year, Caius Lutorius Priscus, a Roman knight, who, after writing a popular poem bewailing the death of Germanicus, had received a reward in money from the emperor, was fastened on by an informer, and charged with having composed another during the illness of Drusus, which, in the event of the prince’s death, might be published with even greater profit to himself. He had in his vanity read it in the house of Publius Petronius before Vitellia, Petronius’s mother-in-law, and several ladies of rank. As soon as the accuser appeared, all but Vitellia were frightened into giving evidence. She alone swore that she had heard not a word. But those who criminated him fatally were rather believed, and on the motion of Haterius Agrippa, the consul-elect, the last penalty was invoked on the accused.

Marcus Lepidus spoke against the sentence as follows:- “Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire, if we look to the single fact of the infamous utterance with which Lutorius has polluted his own mind and the ears of the public, neither dungeon nor halter nor tortures fit for a slave would be punishment enough for him. But though vice and wicked deeds have no limit, penalties and correctives are moderated by the clemency of the sovereign and by the precedents of your ancestors and yourselves. Folly differs from wickedness; evil words from evil deeds, and thus there is room for a sentence by which this offence may not go unpunished, while we shall have no cause to regret either leniency or severity. Often have I heard our emperor complain when any one has anticipated his mercy by a self-inflicted death. Lutorius’s life is still safe; if spared, he will be no danger to the State; if put to death, he will be no warning to others. His productions are as empty and ephemeral as they are replete with folly. Nothing serious or alarming is to be apprehended from the man who is the betrayer of his own shame and works on the imaginations not of men but of silly women. However, let him leave Rome, lose his property, and be outlawed. That is my proposal, just as though he were convicted under the law of treason.”

authenticity 88.aut.002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

While the authenticity of some of Tacitus’ earlier works is in question, the Annals are generally regarded as both authentic and historically accurate. In spite of the fact that our knowledge of Annals 11-16 relies on one extant manuscript, the authenticity of Book 15 is not in question.

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire’s notes contains copies of this passage in French and Latin. (Ianovskaia, Tvorcheskii put’, 251).

official 339.off.002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Some of the official antireligious propaganda was more subtle, or at least more literary. Two journals were devoted to such propaganda: Bezbozhnik [Godless] and Ateist [The Atheist]. They contained articles by literary figures as well as scholars. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire consulted them before writing Master and Margarita.

fairfield 993.fai.003 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

A Fairfield man was arrested Thursday morning after buying a high powered rifle to stop an alien invasion, police said.

Fairfield Police Sgt. James Perez said Dane Eisenman, 57, responded to a classified advertisement for a .30-06 rifle about a month ago. While filing out the paper for the rifle, police said, he mentioned to the seller what he would be using the weapon for.

“He said he was going to use the weapon to kill aliens,” Perez said.

The seller was unsure if Eisenman was referring to space aliens or illegal aliens, Perez added. Sgt. Perez said Eisenman told the seller of the rifle every 36,000 years, aliens who live under the sun come to Earth to kill humans, and he needed to be prepared because “They’re going to be coming soon.”

production 332.pro.0 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

In 1982 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire created Spokesong, a musical production designed to educate the public about disability issues in the form of a delightful performance. Lisa incorporated a very skillful presentation by American Sign Language Interpreter to not only make it possible for the hearing impaired to enjoy the performance, but to demonstrate by example what can be done.

Lisa’s work has spanned the last 16 years working with such esteemed organizations as the Very Special Arts USA, Adaptive Environments Center in Boston, and Next Move Theater. She has served on the Mayor’s Commission on Handicapped Affairs for the City of Boston and received three successive scholarships to attend Jazz in July at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Lisa Thorson, for showing by example that you can make your dreams reality in spite of physical obstacles, and for paving the way for others who are physically challenged, we honor you with the Living Legacy Award.