State Bar to honor Cranbrook 5th graders

Last week, the State Bar of Michigan announced that 17 5th graders at Cranbrook's Brookside Lower School have been awarded first place in the Statewide Law Day Competition for 2012. The team of fifth graders was sponsored by Troy attorney Gerard Mantese and Royal Oak attorney Theresamarie Mantese. The group choose to reenact the defamation trial of Theodore Roosevelt v. George Newett. That 1913 case is a milestone case in Michigan in which then-former President Theodore Roosevelt sued George A. Newett, publisher of the Iron Ore, an Ishpeming newspaper, for libel. An article in Newett's newspaper had accused Roosevelt of getting "drunk...and that not infrequently." Newett acknowledged the falsity of his statement in his newspaper after the testimony of many credible and reputable witnesses. Mr. Mantese and Ms. Mantese worked with the students to select the topic and edit down the actual trial testimony. The students studied their roles intensely and presented the trial re-enactment in a 26 minute video presentation. Cranbrook Schools are dedicated to a classical education as well as a keen focus on the performing arts. The State Bar of Michigan will be conducting an award ceremony at Brookside Lower School, 550 Cranbrook Road in Bloomfield Hills, on Thursday, May 10, at 2:15 p.m. in the Meeting House. Published: Mon, May 7, 2012