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188 Minn. 15.NORTH WESTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES <br />precedent by permitting a single inroad, <br />however small, upon the public's share of <br />the shore line, other inroads will inevitably <br />follow, until the aggregate becomes a -eat <br />threat to the public's free access :.o the <br />lake. To avoid any possibility of such a re- <br />sult, the courts should with equal vigor re- <br />pulse the first, the second, and every other <br />assault upon the public domain. <br />If eternal vigilance is the price of pre- <br />serving the full benefit of Minnesota's lakes <br />for all members of the public —as it is of <br />liberty —public officials must gladly pay <br />that price. They must not stand by, wholly <br />unconcerned, like Nero, who fiddled while <br />Rome burned, and p<•rmit public access to <br />our lakes to be cut off or reduced for sel- <br />fish private purposes. Yet here town <br />supervisors appear to have been entirely ob- <br />livious to the full import of the petition, <br />cf the filing of which they received notice. <br />Not only did they fail to protest, but they <br />actually gave aid and comfort to the pe- <br />titioners in their raid upon the public's con- <br />servation chest. <br />be supported by clear proof that the street <br />has in fact become "useless" to the public <br />in the full and unrestricted meaning of <br />that term. <br />Reversed. <br />The obvious purpose of providing notice <br />to t;,- town supervisors of proceedings to <br />vacate a street or highway is to put these <br />officers on guard, so that the interests of <br />it.. public may be amply protected. The <br />supervisors of Excelsior township having <br />failed in their duty in this respect and <br />having permitted a default to be entered, it <br />is at least understandable why the petition <br />was originally granted by the lower court. <br />But when the court's decree vacating the <br />street was promptly attacked by appellants <br />upon their receiving notice of the proceed- <br />ing, the trial court should have been alert <br />to the public interest and, unhesitatingly, <br />should have reopened it; and this, not- <br />withstanding that appellants' motion to re- <br />open was motivated principally by the an- <br />ticipated damage to their own property. <br />Not to reopen the proceeding in the public <br />interest was a clear abuse of discretion, and <br />the order denying appellants' motion must <br />be reversed. <br />If, in view of the importance we have <br />attached to the preservation of our lakes <br />sud full access thereto for the public and <br />for posterity, respondents still desire to <br />urge that the portion of Lake Street be- <br />tween their property and St. Albans Bay <br />has become "useless for the purpose for <br />which it was laid out," they will be ac- <br />corded that privilege. We may not have <br />all the facts. But respondents should un- <br />derstand that any decree of vacation must <br />M <br />c i an �wa� mm� <br />T <br />In re LIPSCOMB. <br />No. 33759. <br />Supreme Court of Minnesota. <br />June 2, 1944. <br />1. Attorney and client C;39 <br />Conviction of a felony or a misde- <br />meanor involving moral turpitude results <br />in disbarment as a matter of course, even <br />though sentence is suspended. Minn.St. <br />1941, § 481.15, subd. 1(l ). <br />2. Attorney and client C=39 <br />The record of conviction of a felony <br />or a misdemeanor involving moral turpi- <br />tude is conclusive in disbarment proceed- <br />ing and cannot be gie�tioned by proof <br />al,unde. 1\linn.St.1941, § 481.15, subd. <br />1(1). <br />3. Attorney and client 4=154 <br />That money which client owed attor- <br />ney but refused to pay would have been <br />more than enough to take care of another <br />client's claim did not constitute such ex <br />tenuating circumstances as would justify <br />a reference of proceeding to disbar attor- <br />ney for embezzlement of second client's <br />money. Minn.St.1941, § 481.15, subd. l(1). <br />Proceeding on order to show cause why <br />Allen H. Lipscomb should not be dis- <br />barred. <br />Respondent disbarred. <br />Philip Neville, Sec'y, State Board of <br />Law Examiners, of Minneapolis, for peti- <br />tioner. <br />Henry G. Young, of Minneapolis, fol <br />respondent. <br />PER CURIAM. <br />On October 27, 1943, respondent, an at- <br />torney ataw duly licensed to prar•ice in <br />our state, pleaded guilty to an infortna <br />l <br />