Justice balks at letting museum head spend his sentence reading up on law he broke

[Nemesis]

Just what is 'community service'?
Justice balks at letting museum head spend his sentence reading up on law he broke
By ERIC ROSENBERG
Copyright 2005 Hearst News Service

WASHINGTON - More than a year after he was convicted of violating a federal endangered species law, Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lawrence Small is still negotiating with the Justice Department over what kind of "community service" he must perform as part of his sentence.

The Smithsonian's chief executive wants to use the 100-hour punishment to lobby Congress to change the "outmoded" law he violated, while prosecutors argue that Small's proposal doesn't match the severity of his crime.

In court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Raleigh, N.C., where he was convicted Jan. 23, 2004, Small said "using my 100 hours of community service obligation to 'get educated' about the Endangered Species Act is highly constructive and totally appropriate."

Small wrote his probation officer that his community service should "take advantage of my 40 years of experience in large, complex institutions and the vantage point provided to me by my position at the Smithsonian Institution."

That kind of service "might well produce a more significant result for society than having me read for the blind or hammer nails for Habitat for Humanity."

Small provided a list of books he would read and lawmakers, environmentalists and private sector officials he would meet with to discuss endangered species issues. The goal, Small said, would be to use his stature to start "the process of modernizing" the Endangered Species Act, which he said is "an outmoded law that doesn't work very well."

U.S. Attorney Frank Whitney told U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle, who is handling the case, that Small shouldn't be allowed "to satisfy his obligations to the community for his criminal conduct by reading and chatting with prominent political figures. To do so would minimize his criminal activities and remove any deterrent value of his sentence."

Allowing Small "to spend time learning about the Endangered Species Act so that he may change the law he violated fails to promote respect for the Endangered Species Act."

Whitney suggested Small use his fund-raising prowess and managerial skills toward the preservation and protection of endangered species in organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund or the Environmental Defense Fund or perhaps help establish a foundation dedicated to a similar goal.

Boyle has given no indication of when he might rule.

Small was sentenced to two years probation, community service and ordered to make a public apology in newspapers and the National Geographic magazine. All of the publications declined to publish his apology, said Linda St. Thomas, a Smithsonian spokeswoman.

St. Thomas said Small "will not be commenting on the community service" controversy. "The case is over," she insisted.

Small kept his Amazonian tribal art collection in a personal gallery near his home in the northwest section of the District of Columbia. The collection, most of which he purchased in 1998 from Rosita Heredia, then a North Carolina-based private collector, included elaborate headdresses, masks, arrows and musical instruments fashioned from feathers of exotic birds. Small said he bought the collection for $400,000 after his lawyers had assured him that the collection met legal requirements.

Last December, Heredia pleaded guilty in federal court to selling the collection to Small. With rare exceptions for educational purposes, it is illegal to possess or buy protected animals, or their parts.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3043691