Students bring Patriot Act to Town Meeting

Like many area towns, Sherborn is beset by a tight municipal budget, growth issues, and a school that needs repair. These topics usually provide plenty of fuel for debate at the annual Town Meeting.

But when residents convene Tuesday, they also will be asked to rise above day-to-day issues and consider the Patriot Act. A group of high school seniors has filed Article 18, ''A Warrant Article for the Town of Sherborn in Support of Life and Liberty," which seeks support for the Patriot Act, and Article 19, ''A Warrant Article for the Town of Sherborn to Restore Key Civil Liberties and Rights," which asks the town to send a resolution to Congress seeking repeal of the law.

The students say participating in the process of town government has been humbling sometimes, but also stimulating and fun.

''Something like 372 other towns across the country and 41 in Massachusetts have voted on" the Patriot Act, said Brian Frederico, a Republican who said he is one of the few at school supporting reauthorization of the law.

''If we manage to get Sherborn to vote in favor of it, we'll be the first town in the country to adopt a resolution in support of it," he said.

The Patriot Act, passed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, gave law enforcement agencies new powers to fight terrorism. Critics say it goes too far and could lead to violations of innocent citizens' rights. Congress is to decide before the end of the year whether to reauthorize the law.

The students understand it is unlikely that Sherborn will support the law, even if Town Meeting allows it to be debated. Assistant Town Clerk Barbara Kantorski described the town as ''financially conservative but socially liberal." Democrats generally win at the polls.

Kantorski also said Patriot Act supporters may find there is still an old Yankee attitude in town that residents don't want anyone in Washington telling them what to do.

Frederico was among students in Thomas Bourque's government and law class at Dover-Sherborn Regional High School who were given the assignment to bring the issue to Town Meeting. They heard from a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union, spoke to Town Clerk Carole Marple, and got a letter of encouragement from US Attorney Michael Sullivan.

Yet the project got off to a rocky start. Some signatures collected by the students to get the issue on the warrant were not from registered voters. And the proposals were greeted skeptically by the Board of Selectmen and Advisory Committee.

Selectman James Murphy said he appreciated the students' involvement in town government, but criticized their preparation, saying their article was poorly written and could be considered invalid because it did not follow proper procedure.

Then the Advisory Committee, which reviews articles before they are placed on the warrant, voted to recommend ''no action" to Town Meeting.

''We basically got our butts handed to us," said Bourque, the teacher. ''A lot of the people out there don't think this is an important issue. Their comments were things like 'This is an improper forum' and 'This is a waste of time.' The students were intimidated. I had to tell them this is the real world. It's no longer a classroom project. You can't shy away when someone gets critical. You have to fight back."

Town Moderator John Farrington said he will do all he can to bring the debate to the floor. Farrington said he has seen the issue brought to several town meetings in other communities, but never by high school students.

While he applauds Bourque for seeing the project through, he hopes next time they aim a little lower, and perhaps bring an issue before the selectmen or School Committee rather than all the way to Town Meeting.

''It may be five or 10 years before these kids get involved in town government again, and they'll remember this," he said.

''We were kind of treated like children" by selectmen and the Advisory Committee, said student Mike Randa, who opposes reauthorization of the act. ''Hopefully at [Town Meeting] they'll look past it and realize we're not children. We're 18 years old."

For Frederico, who plans to study political science in college, the project represents a turning point.

''The way high school is structured, they teach us something, then expect us to repeat it back," he said. ''As seniors, this was our first opportunity to say, 'This is what I believe in.' "

Student Mike Abdelahad did not feel strongly one way or the other until he heard Assistant US Attorney Brian Kelly speak to his class. ''I think before 9/11 there were a lot of holes in our defense systems, and the Patriot Act worked to seal them up," he said. ''It gives law enforcement tools they didn't have previously. We think something of this magnitude is an issue for everyone."

But Abdelahad is also realistic about the chances his side has of winning. As a member of the Republican minority, he just wants an opportunity to debate the issue.

''We know our chances are pretty slim. We're just interested in getting our point across," he said.

Alison O'Leary Murray may be reached at amurray@globe.com.