Legal appeal filed

http://gazettenet.com/2012/02/04/shutesbury-library-supporters-sue-town-over-jan-25-recount
Saturday, February 4, 2012
SHUTESBURY - Supporters of a proposed Shutesbury library filed suit Friday against the town's Board of Registrars over that panel's decision to accept two disputed ballots against the project and to disallow one in favor.
The board's decision resulted in a 522-522 tie on the question of raising taxes for the project, causing its defeat.
A preliminary hearing on the case has been scheduled for Feb. 14 at 2 p.m. in Hampshire Superior Court.
"We believe there were some errors made, not intentionally, but errors nonetheless," said William A. McDermott, a Boston attorney retained by the Friends of the Library to represent them in the case.
The suit was filed on behalf of the Friends of the M.N. Spear Memorial Public Library and the following individuals: Christopher Buck, Meryl Ann Mandell, Gair R. Fleischaker, John-Christian Aierstuck, James Walton, Joanne Sunshower, Joan M. Hanson, Dina Stander and Clifton R. Read.
Defendants include these board members, in their official capacities: Town Clerk Leslie Bracebridge, Marilyn E. Tibbetts, Linda Lawton-Jacobson and Ruth Todrin. It does not claim any damages.
The suit alleges the defendants erred in not disqualifying ballots cast by Richard F. Paczkowski Jr. and Joan L. Paczkowski and in disqualifying the ballot cast by Buck, one of the plaintiffs.
The suit claims the Paczkowskis have taken actions to qualify for status as permanent residents of Edgewater, Fla. According to the complaint, the Paczkowskis applied for and received a $25,000 tax exemption extended to full-time residents of the state.
On the matter of Buck's eligibility to vote in Shutesbury, the suit claims he was only briefly registered to vote in Kentucky and was deleted from the voter rolls there Jan. 25, the day of a Shutesbury recount.