The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 15

Section Births, Deaths: 2B Campaign news: 5B 1 VERMONT Friday, October 16, 1992 Metro Editor: Rob Eley, 660-1862 Sam Hemingway Cbmplauiiis about lawyers up 75 a strain on available attorney resources." The conduct board is able to investigate fully a small percentage of complaints received, Collins said. Of the 261" complaints filed last year, 70 percent were not pursued after an initial screening. Vermont has about 2,000 licensed attorneys in Vermont. "Under present funding, bar counsel is able to investigate about 60 cases a year and bring formal charges in no more than 20 cases a year," Collins said in her annual report to the Vermont Supreme Court. Collins said a majority of complaints are closed annually without an investigation.

When evidence points to the need for information, investigators are hired Complaints The number of complaints Increased 2 1 percent since last year, she said. Complaints went from about 150 in 1989-90 to about 215 In 1990-91 and to 261 last year. on a case-by-case basis to work with Collins. "The Professional Conduct Board is neither designed nor funded to operate as a consumer assistance program. It will never be able to address each complainant's concerns," Collins said.

She said the American Bar Association this year recommended to all states Students are builders in this neighborhood ABCs of home building taught in Essex Board told to make its process public By Mike Donoghue Free Press Staff Writer MONTPELIER Complaints against attorneys have increased 75 percent in two years, according to a prosecutor responsible for handling the cases. And Bar Counsel Wendy Collins said the Professional Conduct Board should make the disciplinary process public. "Much of this increase may be due to a higher visibility of the attorney disciplinary system," Collins said. "Whatever the reason for the increase, it has created i i -s. Ml r-J 7r nti --J f-l' By Matt Sutkoskl Free Press Correspondent Dt's a Realtor's dream.

The new Essex Junction subdivision of well-constructed houses is in a quiet neighborhood, close to schools and shopping. Never mind that the project is being built almost entirely by teen-agers. Building trades students from the Essex Junction Technical Center are beginning the second phase of a 19-lot subdivision by constructing a three-bedroom ranch on Drury Drive Extension. Seven more houses are planned. Students have built 1 1 houses on nearby Taft Street.

It's not unusual for technical center students to build houses. What is different, center director, Dick Flies, says, is the students are building a neighborhood. The school district set up a non-profit corporation about a dozen years ago to support the project, Flies said. After a house is built, it is sold, and profits from the sale go toward construction of other houses. Since the project's inception, taxpayers have not had to contribute a cent toward the subdivision, Flies said.

The students do carpentry, masonry and electrical work. The houses are designed by students in the drafting department, and each house is different. Taft Street, with its varying roof lines and house styles, does not look like many cookie-cutter developments in the area. that disciplinary proceedings become public once the board has found there is probable cause to believe that an ethical violation occurred. The ABA recommendation was based on a nationwide study by the McKay Commission.

"The McKay Commission found that more public proceedings resulted in more public confidence in lawyer disciplinary proceedings," Collins said in her annual report. Collins said that adoption of a public process would cause attorneys to be treated the same as other licensed professions in Vermont, including physicians, nurses, private detectives, pharmacists, See LAWYERS, 4B The work is checked. We get it right" Matt Fletcher, Winooski senior "That is intentional," building trades instructor Tom Hitchcock said. Buyers are "getting quality homes," Hitchcock said. "I don't think there are contractor homes built any better." Students agree.

"The work is checked. We get it right," said Matt Fletcher, a senior from Winooski. "People who buy these houses are really lucky," agreed student Judy Bergeron as she helped build a chimney. Many of the students are in high school and hoping to get jobs in construction after graduation or college, but Bergeron, a nurse, is an exception. A contractor once built an addition to her house, "and I got burned," she said.

Now, Bergeron plans to have a new house built and taking the classes might enable her to keep an eye on the contractor, she said. The houses take one or two years to complete. Upon completion, they are checked by an appraiser and sold at market value, Flies said. The first one sold for $65,000 12 years ago, and the most recent sold for $179,900, Flies said. son's medical license suspended for three years.

During the final two years, the doctor would be allowed to practice under specific limitations. In addition, Emerson would be required to complete a training program on prescribing controlled drugs. But Emerson told the board he should be allowed to practice medicine. As penalty, he asked to participate in a local cancer-registry study under way in the Brattleboro area. "It was wrong.

It was illegal in terms of federal regulation of methadone," Emerson said. But, he added, "I was unaware at that time that methadone could not be used for heroin withdrawal." The panel will consider the testimony and issue a decision on the penalty. after election is ordered, it is public record by law. Anderson said the board was scheduled to hear the Illuzzi case last week, but it was postponed to allow the defense more time to prepare its case. Anderson said Nov.

6 was the first date available for all the board members and lawyers. Illuzzi placed second in a three-way Republican primary Sept. 8. Illuzzi and Sen. Michael Metcalf, R-EssexOrleans, will face two Democrats, newspaper publisher Chris Braithwaite of Glover and farmer Tom Fritz of Craftsbury in the general election Nov.

3 for the district's two seats. Jeffords pitches in to help GOP pie is practically the only poli-I I tician in the state NOT run-I I ning this year. He also is the only heavy hitter the Republicans have in the dugout, the one person they have who can inject himself into a race and instantly change the political dynamics. So it's not at all surprising to find U.S. Sert.

James Jeffords, spending these waning days of the 1992 campaign trying to help the party avert what even he fears will be its worst Election Day performance in Vermont history. "I feel an obligation to the party," he said. "I know they need some support, and help." So he's out there every day, stumping for about 30 Vermont House and Senate candidates and for most of the statewide ticket. Most, but not all. Jeffords said he offered his.

help to the two conservatives on the Republican ticket, John McClaughry, the party's gubernatorial hopeful, and Timothy Philbin, the GOP's U.S. House nominee, but got no reply. That, of course, is not surprising. Jeffords and the rieht wing of his party are barely on speaking terms these days since he suggested that President Bush drop Dan Quayle from the ticket and later ducked out on the party's religious revival errr, convention in Houston in August. Jeffords' trip through the hustings this fall on behalf of fellow Republicans is hardly altruistic.

His objectives are obvious: pick up the pieces of his party once the election is over, restore its moderate image, and position himself and the party for victory later on in the 1990s. For Jeffords, the first step will be deciding whether to run for a second Senate term although his comment to a class of sixth-graders in St. Albans recently that "I will run in '94," suggests the decision has been made. Winning that race won't be too tough. Taking the next step, however, will be because what Jeffords really wants to do some day soon is leave Washington and come home to run for governor, maybe before a second Senate term is over.

If you think that's just talk, then explain why Jeffords has devoted so much time 200 hours and counting to challenging the 1992 reapportionment of the state's legislative districts. Jeffords, a part-time Shrewsbury resident, has gone all the way to the Vermont Supreme Court with his argument that Shrewsbury should not have been put in a district with Ludlow, a town separated by a mountain range with which it is only remotely connected. Instead, the Legislature should have gone alpng with a reapportionment board plan to put Shrewsbury with -Wallingford and Ludlow With Mount Holly because those were combinations that reflected the towns' common interests roads, schools and commerce. "The Legislature took a situation that was favorable to both Shrewsbury and Mount Holly and made it unfavor- able to both," Jeffords said. "If Shrewsbury does not win this case, then the Legislature can do anything it wants, and the state is wide open to gerrymandering." He suspects that politics was the smoking gun here: Rep.

Harold Weid- man, R-Wallingford, is House Speaker Ralph Wright's Montpelier roommate and, according to several witnesses Jef- fords questioned, had spoken about not wanting to have his district's border changed. -r This is more than about Shrewsbury, however. Jeffords said his case is one of eight up and down the state involving the constitutional rights of small "mountain towns" put into districts they don't belong in, recalling the painful reapportionment battles of the 1960s. "I take my constitutional rights very seriously," he said. "To me, the Legislature has rewritten the Constitution.

These towns can't afford to spend the $20,000 or $30,000 needed to bring a case like this. Somebody needed to step in who knew the background." Somebody like James Jeffords. Sam Hemingway is the state news columnist for The Burlington Free Press. Frank Dunshee, 16, (bottom) and Jerry Thomas, 15, take clapboard measurements on a house on Drury Drive in Essex Junction. The home is the first of eight built community service v.Nf MARVIN HILL Free Press lecnnicai emcr, asks to do In one case, the board found, a patient later overdosed and died from the drug.

Emerson has admitted to the illegality of his actions, but he argued that he was unaware of the law, did not endanger the public and provided sound medical treatment to his patients. The board met Thursday in a federal courtroom to determine what sanctions Emerson should face. They heard arguments from the state for stiff penalties, including a three-year suspension of his medical license, while the defense presented witnesses defending the doctor's actions and urging leniency. "I was moved by what I see as an extraordinary sense of compassion on the part of a physician toward patients who have a potentially life-threatening illness," testified Dr. Robert iNewman, said Illuzzi went over the heads of op posing lawyers and urged insurance companies to settle cases.

The Supreme Court ruled that Illuzzi was not given enough opportunity to defend himself and sent the case back to the conduct board. That decision was announced Sept. 8, the date of Vermont's primary. After the ruling, Illuzzi petitioned the board to ensure that the sessions would continue to be confidential. J.

Eric Anderson, chairman of the board, said that although details of the Illuzzi complaint might be public, it appears the board must hold a secret hearing. He said the board thinks that the 1 1 ii i by students from Essex Junction Vocational Physician Doctor faces action in methadone case By Susan Allen The Associated Press 5 MONTPELIER A Brattleboro physician facing disciplinary action in prescribing methadone to heroin addicts asked to be assigned to community service for his punishment. "His actions were clearly illegal," Assistant Attorney General Marilyn Skoglund told members of the state Medical Practice Board on Thursday. "He wasn't treating (addicts). He was providing them with their drug of choice." The board determined that Emerson krr.ifo.thP law in 1989.

when he pre- scribed methadone to 18 heroin addicts scnoea memauunc i.u uuiv. chief executive officer of the Beth-Israel Medical Center in New York City. The case has generated an outpouring of support locally for Emerson, who is known for treating low-income people, those on Medicaid and the uninsured, as well as making home visits to those who cannot travel for care. Outside the courthouse Thursday, a few supporters stood with signs denouncing the "witch hunt" against Emerson. Others expressed concern that barring Emerson from practicing medicine would overload Brattleboro's medical system.

Emerson said he sees about 130 patients a week, plus about 50 nursing home residents. In addition, he said, he makes about 10 home visits weekly. Skoglund said the state wants Emer delayed until case is back at a level where confidential ity is required under the board rules. Edwin Amidon Illuzzi's lawyer, said his client wants the hearing closed because any publicity about the charges would hurt him. "He would prefer not to be injured while the process is going on," Amidon said.

"I think that he will probably be cleared by the Supreme Court," Amidon said. The board will make another recommendation to the court, which can accept, reject or modify it. If Illuzzi is found innocent or gets a private admonition from the court, Amidon think that it will be made public by his client. If a suspension or disbarment ISIuzzi's disciplinary hearing By Mike Donoghue Free Press Staff Writer MONTPELIER A Professional Conduct Board disciplinary hearing for state Sen. Vincent II-luzzi, R-EssexOrleans, who is running for re-electionj has been postponed until after the Nov.

3 election. The hearing will be held behind closed doors Nov. 6. The Professional Conduct Bdard recom Vincent llluzzl mended this summer after closed-door hearings that Illuzzi be suspended for six months. The board.