Mel Gibson Apologizes to Doomed Mayans for Latest Remarks
Embattled Actor Reaches Out to Doomed Mayan Community
By ANDY BOROWITZ
Borowitzreport.com
After comparing the United States to the doomed Mayan civilization while promoting his new movie at a film festival in Texas this week, actor Mel Gibson today offered a heartfelt apology for offending doomed Mayans with his remarks.
At a press conference in Los Angeles, the embattled actor took great pains to explain that it was in no way his intention to offend doomed Mayans with his remarks.
"Yesterday, when I compared the United States to the doomed Mayan civilization, I had no idea that there were any doomed Mayans still around," Mr. Gibson said. "I was basically going on the assumption that since they were doomed a long time ago, I was pretty much in the clear."
Mr. Gibson's apology came just hours after an angry statement was made by the National Coalition of Doomed Mayans, a watchdog group that monitors the portrayal of doomed Mayans in the media.
"We Mayans may be doomed, but we have feelings," said a representative of the group, which is urging all doomed Mayans to boycott Mr. Gibson's latest film.
According to Buddy Schlantz, a veteran talent agent and longtime observerof the Hollywood scene, mending fences with the doomed Mayan community is"absolutely essential" to preserving what is left of Mr. Gibson's career.
"Doomed Mayans are a small but vocal part of the Hollywood community," Mr.Schlantz said. "Pissing them off isn't as bad as pissing off the Jews, but it doesn't help."
Elsewhere, Osama bin Laden is dead and "I was with him when he died," according to a confession by John Mark Karr.
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Saturday, September 30, 2006
A Few Nice / Interesting Comments Re: Enfield
How can I get money to the nuns? How can people be so cruel to these wonderful women? We just don't get it. The more they go after the nuns the more we want to help them. Sister's please keep the faith.
--
Posted by Peter &Mary to The Cool Justice Report at 9/29/2006 09:47:56 PM
Jeanette is a kind and decent person how did she know what politics would do to her family. I'm sure she is heartbroken over all of this. People shouldn't be mean to her for what he did and that is of course if he did it.
--
Posted by Anonymous to The Cool Justice Report at 9/29/2006 07:42:50 PM
Enfield deserves leadership who treats all residents & town employees with respect.
Enfield deserves elected officials that will remember it is the people’s money, and we will use the people’s money wisely. I'm a democrat just today looking at the republican web site. All this nun bashing is making me want explore other people to vote for. This is so sad.
--
Posted by Anonymous to The Cool Justice Report at 9/29/2006 07:28:54 PM
--
Posted by Peter &Mary to The Cool Justice Report at 9/29/2006 09:47:56 PM
Jeanette is a kind and decent person how did she know what politics would do to her family. I'm sure she is heartbroken over all of this. People shouldn't be mean to her for what he did and that is of course if he did it.
--
Posted by Anonymous to The Cool Justice Report at 9/29/2006 07:42:50 PM
Enfield deserves leadership who treats all residents & town employees with respect.
Enfield deserves elected officials that will remember it is the people’s money, and we will use the people’s money wisely. I'm a democrat just today looking at the republican web site. All this nun bashing is making me want explore other people to vote for. This is so sad.
--
Posted by Anonymous to The Cool Justice Report at 9/29/2006 07:28:54 PM
Special Report From Dennie Williams
News & Commentary
The Politics Of Cluster Bombs
By THOMAS D. WILLIAMS
Special To The Cool Justice Report
www.cooljustice.blogspot.com
Sept. 30, 2006
EDITOR’S NOTE: This column is available for reprint courtesy of The Cool Justice Report, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
There are a number of alarming news stories recently about the Israeli use of cluster bombs in Lebanon as well as the accidental deaths of two Lebanese soldiers and the critical wounding of a third who were trying to defuse the bomblets sprayed over a wide area. The little bomblets have reportedly injured Lebanese civilians as well.
The news reports say the United States has been supplying Israel with cluster bombs for three decades. The United Nations reports an average of 30 duds a day are being discovered on the ground in Lebanon, and endangering civilians. News reports said the US State Department has opened an investigation into whether Israel’s use of US-made cluster bombs in Lebanon violated pacts Israel had made with the U.S.
As a long time investigative reporter for The Hartford Courant, since retired, I wrote several stories 13 years ago about the deadly hazards of these munitions to soldiers and Iraqi civilians alike during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
The articles were followed by a U.S. General Accountability inquiry and by Connecticut Republican U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays’ call for a congressional inquiry into future Army plans for U.S. use of the bomblets, also known as "metal rain."
At that time, U.S. Army weapons experts were admittedly aware that the rocket system, carrying the bomblets, was faulty. Their own tests before the war showed that the rocket-launched bomblets had a dud rate as high as 23 percent, far higher than the 3 percent to 5 percent rate that the Army deems acceptable, the GAO’s conclusions said.
Because National Guard troops were not properly trained in handling the bomblets or even knowing their dangers, more Connecticut troops were injured or killed by them than by any other explosive munition. They picked them up as souvenirs, kicked or stepped on them.
An undisclosed number of Iraqi civilians were also maimed or killed.
After the war, bomb specialists from the U.S. and allied forces spent several million dollars carefully picking up the dud bomblets to keep soldiers and civilians out of harm’s way.
Pentagon officials should have been very aware of these hazards. They had a special unit in Florida, which was called upon many times to pick up bomblets from the recent widows of military veterans who collected them as souvenirs.
Even more shocking about the story was the fact that many of the munitions were faultily manufactured in various U.S. plants, and the Pentagon decided to use them anyway even after threatening legal action against at least one manufacturer. In 1988, the Department of Defense found the quality of those munitions from its most modern plant in Mississippi to be so deficient that 50 percent to 60 percent of the plant's bomblets had to be destroyed in subsequent years.
A fellow reporter I have known for a long time, George Krimsky, formerly with the Associated Press now with the Waterbury Republican, told me that he too had experiences with writing about cluster bombs.
Here is what he said:
In 1978, when Israel first invaded Lebanon, I was AP's Middle East news editor, based in Beirut.
Lebanese civilians were reporting cluster bombings in the south (from airplanes then), but Israel emphatically denied it. So, I went down there with a photographer, and we found hundreds of the nasty little buggers in farmyards, fields, all over the place.
After my story ran, with photos, Israel recanted, admitting they had used them. Congress raised such a fuss, the bombings stopped, at least for the moment.
As a memento of the time, I have half a cluster bomb here at home, which I use as an ashtray.
Thomas D. "Dennie" Williams covered courts and was an investigative reporter for The Hartford Courant, retiring recently after 38 years on the job.
The Politics Of Cluster Bombs
By THOMAS D. WILLIAMS
Special To The Cool Justice Report
www.cooljustice.blogspot.com
Sept. 30, 2006
EDITOR’S NOTE: This column is available for reprint courtesy of The Cool Justice Report, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
There are a number of alarming news stories recently about the Israeli use of cluster bombs in Lebanon as well as the accidental deaths of two Lebanese soldiers and the critical wounding of a third who were trying to defuse the bomblets sprayed over a wide area. The little bomblets have reportedly injured Lebanese civilians as well.
The news reports say the United States has been supplying Israel with cluster bombs for three decades. The United Nations reports an average of 30 duds a day are being discovered on the ground in Lebanon, and endangering civilians. News reports said the US State Department has opened an investigation into whether Israel’s use of US-made cluster bombs in Lebanon violated pacts Israel had made with the U.S.
As a long time investigative reporter for The Hartford Courant, since retired, I wrote several stories 13 years ago about the deadly hazards of these munitions to soldiers and Iraqi civilians alike during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
The articles were followed by a U.S. General Accountability inquiry and by Connecticut Republican U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays’ call for a congressional inquiry into future Army plans for U.S. use of the bomblets, also known as "metal rain."
At that time, U.S. Army weapons experts were admittedly aware that the rocket system, carrying the bomblets, was faulty. Their own tests before the war showed that the rocket-launched bomblets had a dud rate as high as 23 percent, far higher than the 3 percent to 5 percent rate that the Army deems acceptable, the GAO’s conclusions said.
Because National Guard troops were not properly trained in handling the bomblets or even knowing their dangers, more Connecticut troops were injured or killed by them than by any other explosive munition. They picked them up as souvenirs, kicked or stepped on them.
An undisclosed number of Iraqi civilians were also maimed or killed.
After the war, bomb specialists from the U.S. and allied forces spent several million dollars carefully picking up the dud bomblets to keep soldiers and civilians out of harm’s way.
Pentagon officials should have been very aware of these hazards. They had a special unit in Florida, which was called upon many times to pick up bomblets from the recent widows of military veterans who collected them as souvenirs.
Even more shocking about the story was the fact that many of the munitions were faultily manufactured in various U.S. plants, and the Pentagon decided to use them anyway even after threatening legal action against at least one manufacturer. In 1988, the Department of Defense found the quality of those munitions from its most modern plant in Mississippi to be so deficient that 50 percent to 60 percent of the plant's bomblets had to be destroyed in subsequent years.
A fellow reporter I have known for a long time, George Krimsky, formerly with the Associated Press now with the Waterbury Republican, told me that he too had experiences with writing about cluster bombs.
Here is what he said:
In 1978, when Israel first invaded Lebanon, I was AP's Middle East news editor, based in Beirut.
Lebanese civilians were reporting cluster bombings in the south (from airplanes then), but Israel emphatically denied it. So, I went down there with a photographer, and we found hundreds of the nasty little buggers in farmyards, fields, all over the place.
After my story ran, with photos, Israel recanted, admitting they had used them. Congress raised such a fuss, the bombings stopped, at least for the moment.
As a memento of the time, I have half a cluster bomb here at home, which I use as an ashtray.
Thomas D. "Dennie" Williams covered courts and was an investigative reporter for The Hartford Courant, retiring recently after 38 years on the job.
Friday, September 29, 2006
"Scandalous Lies Perpetrated By Nuns" -FROM THE BOOK OF ENFIELD JIMMY
Keep those cards and letters coming.
This is a sampling of recent comments at
The Cool Justice Report:
Just finished throwing your book in the fire. If I read your credentials correctly, you actually did pass the second grade? Hint: Don't use big words if you do not know what they mean!
Hey Mulder, with regard to your conspiracy theory about Enfield; what angers me about your shoddy reporting and ill-attention to the facts is that low-life conspiracy nuts such as yourself, and your "photographer" with the CVS brand Instamatic camera, is that you all are not being more closley surveilled by the FBI. And that your facts are scandalous lies, perpetrated by nuns.Go figure?
What's next on your agenda? Defending convicted pedophile priests from ruthless imprisoned ex-alter boys?
Posted by Jimmy to The Cool Justice Report at 9/28/2006 05:44:26 PM
--
So glad to hear that the chiefs close and personal friendship with the mayor and Frank Troiano has not clouded his better judgement.
Posted by Anonymous | 4:23 PM
We all know what kind of man you portray yourself to be in these blogs. Your semi-intellectual prostitution is worth a trip to the stocks. But since we are not pilgrims, I guess spitting on you is our only alternative.
But you, The Felician Nuns, you should be ashamed and embarassed that you conspired with this sordid man and perpetarted scandalous lies about decent men and families in our town. These same families that have supported you with time, money and heart.
Felicians, you may have won the legal battle, but you have lost all respect and honor amongst many in this town. There is such a thing as credibility, and neither the Felician Order or you Mr. Thibault have any left to salvage.
Posted by Anonymous | 6:08 PM
Thess comments are making me laugh! The nuns certainly have gained respect, and I think it is sad that you feel so exposed that you don't know what else to do but go after the nuns! That says more than anything. What kind of a catholic are you? Andy you have wit,style and are very entertaining to say the least.
Posted by Anonymous | 7:14 PM
Nuns 44,362 Politicians 5 but who's keeping score. You need some help. Your new technique of egging everyone on to turn over the dirt is just plain dumb. Be careful what you wish for.
Posted by Anonymous | 7:39 PM
I have followed the blog with great interest. If there is filth in the town of Enfield, Mr. Thibault ought to enlighten the rest of the township in court, with an ethics panel, or with someone at the state level. It is only this way that it gets cleaned it up.
Posted by Anonymous | 8:02 PM
The nuns have gained respect? Where are your facts? Donations have dropped off and even the parishes in town have begun to distance themselves from these "holy women". With this spoiled child routine, all they have done is ruin their reputation.
Stope talking to the conspiracy nuts and deal with facts. I am a member of a local parish board, the Felicians, with the help of this dim-witted maniac, have sullied our town and our faith.
Posted by Anonymous | 4:42 AM
Hey misinformed anonymous, there is an ethics board. Everytime a public official renders a decision it is at the scrutiny of the general public, the town counsel, and as many as two (2) review boards. And if that isn't enough, the State's AG has seventeen (17) investigators specifically assigned to track, monitor and investigate municipal dealings, votes and decisions.
If you have got proof, then pen the AG's office and ask for a review. It is called a "free and open democrasy". Else, I suggest you continue to sit on your toilet and expound rumors from your southern orifice.
Posted by Jimmy | 4:50 AM
I just wonder who "Jimmy" is in the grand scheme of things...
And why are the potential dirty people in Enfield all up in arms NOW? WHat are you hiding? What are you afraid of?
Posted by Thing that make me go HMMMMMM | 7:55 AM
Who is Jimmy? I am someone who cannot stomach the thought of these "holier than thou" nuns using a miscreant the likes of Thibault and you to justify thier innuendo and unorthodox approach at maligning decent people. These same people who have supported the Felicians in all they have asked with money, time and heart.
Jimmy is not elected or appointed to any board or commission. Jimmy is just an observer who knows a liar when he sees/hears one. And these nuns, by use of this pseudo-intellectual from Litchfield, have perpetrated a lie that dwarfs the Monica scandal.
Idea? Hold a public forum and have Thibault be the moderator. Openly challenge these elected and appointed offcials based upon the innuendo and hearsay you have used in these blogs.
First; Thibault is a coward and will not particpate. Second; you haven't the fortitude to confront and back up your words. And three; you, Thibault and the Felicians will be exposed for the jealous-riddled liars you are.
next...
Posted by Jimmy | 2:50 PM
What church do you go to since the donations haven't dropped in my church? If the parishes were distancing themselves then why did every parish in Enfield hand out the nuns pflyer and at every mass? You are living in a different Enfield than the rest of us.
Posted by Anonymous | 4:13 PM
Jimmy--Writes like Dave, sounds like Dave must be Dave.
Posted by Anonymous | 4:14 PM
Post a Comment
It should be noted that not all members of the Enfield Planning & Zoning Commission were on the commission when this case started. I know of at least one member who was not on when the suit started and felt strongly against the PZC's position and lawsuit.
In any event, I am glad this is over! Congrats.
Posted by Anonymous | 12:24 PM
Jeanette Tallarita is a kind, generous and honest person. It is a pleasure to know and spend time with her. To throw dirt in her direction is uncalled for, irresponsible, and "Rush Limbaugh-type" journalism.
It has been said that blogs are a coward's way to communicate. If you or anyone has information that can be substantiated, you have a responsibility to step forward now. Otherwise one can only summize that your intentions are less than honorable and this is just hot air.
Posted by Anonymous | 1:00 PM
Your statement "They (the nun's) currently save the town about $350,000 annually in education spending." doesn't add up. Use the correct formula.
Total education budget/the current student population = the cost per student. Use that generally accepted formula with the current number of students and then use it again with the current number of students + 33 (33 is the number of Montessori students who would go to Enfield schools). Get the difference and see that the real savings is (roughly $1500 per student).
Posted by Anonymous | 1:06 PM
You just did the very thing you think is so cowardly to do. To post your comment anonymously makes us think perhaps this was posted by her new business partner or perhaps a family member?
Posted by Anonymous | 5:49 PM
If there's a parking lot directly across the Montessori School, why is this a problem for the school? Also the Enfield St. School has increased its parking space in recent years as well as the Parkway Pavillion. Have they also been harassed? The Felician Sisters had schools in the same location for many years before the Troiano's moved in. Perhaps the Troiano's are the poor sports on this issue since the nuns refused to sell them their property. Let's look at the real culprits in this disgusting problem.
Posted by Anonymous | 6:51 PM
Just opened my mail to another anonymous piece regarding Tallarita, Fredrick, and Troiano. Once again my hands are tied because the person sending me this information doesn't have the nerve for whatever reason to come forward. I know that I was stacked against at PZZ meetings but I did what I felt was right and came forward and spoke. It's now your turn to speak up so that we as a community can stop the political BS that is hurting each and every tax payer while the above mentioned continue to fly under the radar because you are intimidated. If you can send me this information, then why won't you reveal who you are. I am inclined to believe that you are caught between a rock and hard place because of a position that you hold possibly within the town government.
Posted by Anonymous | 3:43 PM
Dear,
Posted by Anonymous | 1:00
How dare you ever make a statement such as "It has been said that blogs are a coward's way to communicate" after you leave your post sent as anonymous,you and only you are a coward you agree with tallarita becuase you are nothing but a "coward" or a friend of the family. So please "you have a responsibility to step forward now." famous words of your speaking, come forward and identify yourself for all of us to see. Or perhaps this is the infamous Mr. tallarita? Just one more thing i can reccomend to you, you should attend grammar school again as you can't even spell summarize correctly. thank you for your time.
Posted by Anonymous | 4:03 PM
Many town officials are ashamed
Posted by Anonymous | 2:29 PM
Merely a neighbor? Mayor Tallarita could be related to former Governor Rowland if not by blood, then by deed.
Posted by Anonymous | 8:33 AM
How can our mayor not be concerned about how much taxpayers money is being spent on this case?
Posted by Anonymous | 12:39 PM
So u are just finding out that our mayor is full of himself as well as other things? Welcome to Enfield. He sees himself as a strong mayor in the council/manager form of government. He is only one of the 11 votes. He sees himself as a great leader when in fact he doesn't know what leadership is. It shows in his a ctions and his words. The Rowland post is closer to the truth than anyone knows. Just ask his trusted friends who both know and speak freely. They don't truly like him but they play his game with a smile, a wink, and a contribution to further their Enfield business ventures. It is too bad really. He brings a dark shadow over a good town council.
Posted by Anonymous | 5:40 AM
Big Anthony's wife is on the Historical Commission. Her cousin is the police chief.
Posted by Anonymous | 6:54 PM
Shame on all of you labeled anonymous. The real culprits here are the Felician Nuns. These self-annoited deliverers of justice have allowed Thibault and his gang of disbarred lawyers and miscreants unfettered acccess to the mand thier facilities.
Jim Brewer, a disbarred lawyer and labeled stalker is a hired goon of Thibault. Brewer should be serving time in Danbury for some of the stunts he has pulled, to include having several restraining orders placed against him. Thibault lives in Litchfield, with speed dial to the local police because his slanderous innuendos and blantant lies have made him enemies. Simply put, he is just a liar.
And then we have the ever-humble Felician nuns who have allowed these men access to thier facilities, children, records, lawyers and themselves. These followers of Jesus have maligned and scorned decent men with baselss attacks on thier families and beliefs.
As a catholic school graduate, I preferred when the nuns whacked you a couple of times while defaming you to your face. But these nuns prefer to stalk behind your back and ruin the very decency you have worked so hard to establish; using conspiracy nuts the likes of Brewer and Thibault. And all in the name of Jesus. How kind?
--
Posted by Jimmy to The Cool Justice Report at 9/29/2006 06:25:10 PM
This is a sampling of recent comments at
The Cool Justice Report:
Just finished throwing your book in the fire. If I read your credentials correctly, you actually did pass the second grade? Hint: Don't use big words if you do not know what they mean!
Hey Mulder, with regard to your conspiracy theory about Enfield; what angers me about your shoddy reporting and ill-attention to the facts is that low-life conspiracy nuts such as yourself, and your "photographer" with the CVS brand Instamatic camera, is that you all are not being more closley surveilled by the FBI. And that your facts are scandalous lies, perpetrated by nuns.Go figure?
What's next on your agenda? Defending convicted pedophile priests from ruthless imprisoned ex-alter boys?
Posted by Jimmy to The Cool Justice Report at 9/28/2006 05:44:26 PM
--
So glad to hear that the chiefs close and personal friendship with the mayor and Frank Troiano has not clouded his better judgement.
Posted by Anonymous | 4:23 PM
We all know what kind of man you portray yourself to be in these blogs. Your semi-intellectual prostitution is worth a trip to the stocks. But since we are not pilgrims, I guess spitting on you is our only alternative.
But you, The Felician Nuns, you should be ashamed and embarassed that you conspired with this sordid man and perpetarted scandalous lies about decent men and families in our town. These same families that have supported you with time, money and heart.
Felicians, you may have won the legal battle, but you have lost all respect and honor amongst many in this town. There is such a thing as credibility, and neither the Felician Order or you Mr. Thibault have any left to salvage.
Posted by Anonymous | 6:08 PM
Thess comments are making me laugh! The nuns certainly have gained respect, and I think it is sad that you feel so exposed that you don't know what else to do but go after the nuns! That says more than anything. What kind of a catholic are you? Andy you have wit,style and are very entertaining to say the least.
Posted by Anonymous | 7:14 PM
Nuns 44,362 Politicians 5 but who's keeping score. You need some help. Your new technique of egging everyone on to turn over the dirt is just plain dumb. Be careful what you wish for.
Posted by Anonymous | 7:39 PM
I have followed the blog with great interest. If there is filth in the town of Enfield, Mr. Thibault ought to enlighten the rest of the township in court, with an ethics panel, or with someone at the state level. It is only this way that it gets cleaned it up.
Posted by Anonymous | 8:02 PM
The nuns have gained respect? Where are your facts? Donations have dropped off and even the parishes in town have begun to distance themselves from these "holy women". With this spoiled child routine, all they have done is ruin their reputation.
Stope talking to the conspiracy nuts and deal with facts. I am a member of a local parish board, the Felicians, with the help of this dim-witted maniac, have sullied our town and our faith.
Posted by Anonymous | 4:42 AM
Hey misinformed anonymous, there is an ethics board. Everytime a public official renders a decision it is at the scrutiny of the general public, the town counsel, and as many as two (2) review boards. And if that isn't enough, the State's AG has seventeen (17) investigators specifically assigned to track, monitor and investigate municipal dealings, votes and decisions.
If you have got proof, then pen the AG's office and ask for a review. It is called a "free and open democrasy". Else, I suggest you continue to sit on your toilet and expound rumors from your southern orifice.
Posted by Jimmy | 4:50 AM
I just wonder who "Jimmy" is in the grand scheme of things...
And why are the potential dirty people in Enfield all up in arms NOW? WHat are you hiding? What are you afraid of?
Posted by Thing that make me go HMMMMMM | 7:55 AM
Who is Jimmy? I am someone who cannot stomach the thought of these "holier than thou" nuns using a miscreant the likes of Thibault and you to justify thier innuendo and unorthodox approach at maligning decent people. These same people who have supported the Felicians in all they have asked with money, time and heart.
Jimmy is not elected or appointed to any board or commission. Jimmy is just an observer who knows a liar when he sees/hears one. And these nuns, by use of this pseudo-intellectual from Litchfield, have perpetrated a lie that dwarfs the Monica scandal.
Idea? Hold a public forum and have Thibault be the moderator. Openly challenge these elected and appointed offcials based upon the innuendo and hearsay you have used in these blogs.
First; Thibault is a coward and will not particpate. Second; you haven't the fortitude to confront and back up your words. And three; you, Thibault and the Felicians will be exposed for the jealous-riddled liars you are.
next...
Posted by Jimmy | 2:50 PM
What church do you go to since the donations haven't dropped in my church? If the parishes were distancing themselves then why did every parish in Enfield hand out the nuns pflyer and at every mass? You are living in a different Enfield than the rest of us.
Posted by Anonymous | 4:13 PM
Jimmy--Writes like Dave, sounds like Dave must be Dave.
Posted by Anonymous | 4:14 PM
Post a Comment
It should be noted that not all members of the Enfield Planning & Zoning Commission were on the commission when this case started. I know of at least one member who was not on when the suit started and felt strongly against the PZC's position and lawsuit.
In any event, I am glad this is over! Congrats.
Posted by Anonymous | 12:24 PM
Jeanette Tallarita is a kind, generous and honest person. It is a pleasure to know and spend time with her. To throw dirt in her direction is uncalled for, irresponsible, and "Rush Limbaugh-type" journalism.
It has been said that blogs are a coward's way to communicate. If you or anyone has information that can be substantiated, you have a responsibility to step forward now. Otherwise one can only summize that your intentions are less than honorable and this is just hot air.
Posted by Anonymous | 1:00 PM
Your statement "They (the nun's) currently save the town about $350,000 annually in education spending." doesn't add up. Use the correct formula.
Total education budget/the current student population = the cost per student. Use that generally accepted formula with the current number of students and then use it again with the current number of students + 33 (33 is the number of Montessori students who would go to Enfield schools). Get the difference and see that the real savings is (roughly $1500 per student).
Posted by Anonymous | 1:06 PM
You just did the very thing you think is so cowardly to do. To post your comment anonymously makes us think perhaps this was posted by her new business partner or perhaps a family member?
Posted by Anonymous | 5:49 PM
If there's a parking lot directly across the Montessori School, why is this a problem for the school? Also the Enfield St. School has increased its parking space in recent years as well as the Parkway Pavillion. Have they also been harassed? The Felician Sisters had schools in the same location for many years before the Troiano's moved in. Perhaps the Troiano's are the poor sports on this issue since the nuns refused to sell them their property. Let's look at the real culprits in this disgusting problem.
Posted by Anonymous | 6:51 PM
Just opened my mail to another anonymous piece regarding Tallarita, Fredrick, and Troiano. Once again my hands are tied because the person sending me this information doesn't have the nerve for whatever reason to come forward. I know that I was stacked against at PZZ meetings but I did what I felt was right and came forward and spoke. It's now your turn to speak up so that we as a community can stop the political BS that is hurting each and every tax payer while the above mentioned continue to fly under the radar because you are intimidated. If you can send me this information, then why won't you reveal who you are. I am inclined to believe that you are caught between a rock and hard place because of a position that you hold possibly within the town government.
Posted by Anonymous | 3:43 PM
Dear,
Posted by Anonymous | 1:00
How dare you ever make a statement such as "It has been said that blogs are a coward's way to communicate" after you leave your post sent as anonymous,you and only you are a coward you agree with tallarita becuase you are nothing but a "coward" or a friend of the family. So please "you have a responsibility to step forward now." famous words of your speaking, come forward and identify yourself for all of us to see. Or perhaps this is the infamous Mr. tallarita? Just one more thing i can reccomend to you, you should attend grammar school again as you can't even spell summarize correctly. thank you for your time.
Posted by Anonymous | 4:03 PM
Many town officials are ashamed
Posted by Anonymous | 2:29 PM
Merely a neighbor? Mayor Tallarita could be related to former Governor Rowland if not by blood, then by deed.
Posted by Anonymous | 8:33 AM
How can our mayor not be concerned about how much taxpayers money is being spent on this case?
Posted by Anonymous | 12:39 PM
So u are just finding out that our mayor is full of himself as well as other things? Welcome to Enfield. He sees himself as a strong mayor in the council/manager form of government. He is only one of the 11 votes. He sees himself as a great leader when in fact he doesn't know what leadership is. It shows in his a ctions and his words. The Rowland post is closer to the truth than anyone knows. Just ask his trusted friends who both know and speak freely. They don't truly like him but they play his game with a smile, a wink, and a contribution to further their Enfield business ventures. It is too bad really. He brings a dark shadow over a good town council.
Posted by Anonymous | 5:40 AM
Big Anthony's wife is on the Historical Commission. Her cousin is the police chief.
Posted by Anonymous | 6:54 PM
Shame on all of you labeled anonymous. The real culprits here are the Felician Nuns. These self-annoited deliverers of justice have allowed Thibault and his gang of disbarred lawyers and miscreants unfettered acccess to the mand thier facilities.
Jim Brewer, a disbarred lawyer and labeled stalker is a hired goon of Thibault. Brewer should be serving time in Danbury for some of the stunts he has pulled, to include having several restraining orders placed against him. Thibault lives in Litchfield, with speed dial to the local police because his slanderous innuendos and blantant lies have made him enemies. Simply put, he is just a liar.
And then we have the ever-humble Felician nuns who have allowed these men access to thier facilities, children, records, lawyers and themselves. These followers of Jesus have maligned and scorned decent men with baselss attacks on thier families and beliefs.
As a catholic school graduate, I preferred when the nuns whacked you a couple of times while defaming you to your face. But these nuns prefer to stalk behind your back and ruin the very decency you have worked so hard to establish; using conspiracy nuts the likes of Brewer and Thibault. And all in the name of Jesus. How kind?
--
Posted by Jimmy to The Cool Justice Report at 9/29/2006 06:25:10 PM
Iraq War Protesters Take Over Senate Office Lobby
ZNet | Anti War
LINK:
http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=11076§ionID=51
The Day We Took Over the U.S. Senate
by Gordon Clark; Portside; September 29, 2006
Even for these now veteran activist eyes, it was a glorious and inspiring sight to see.
On Tuesday, September 26, more than 100 nonviolent activists took over the central lobby and atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building, and staged a protest of the war in Iraq while dozens and dozens of Senate staffers looked on. For one hour, at least, American opposition to the war in Iraq became the central focus for these offices of the U.S. Senate, and 71 individuals were arrested for making this happen.
The action was organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (formerly the Iraq Pledge of Resistance), as part of the week of anti-war actions around the country organized by the Declaration of Peace campaign.
The action started that morning with a rally and interfaith service at Upper Senate Park. Another remarkable aspect of the day was the presence of national religious leaders, such as Jackie Lynn, head of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, and Rick Ufford- Chase, Director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and for the past two years the moderator of the 216th Presbyterian General Assembly - the highest office in the denomination. They were not only participating themselves in our nonviolent direct action, but were now urging their faith communities to begin following suit.
At the end of the rally and service we formed a procession to go by the Capitol building and then on to the Senate office buildings. Police stopped us after three blocks, telling us that the large procession constituted an unpermitted demonstration and that we would not be allowed to continue. It was at this point that one affinity group broke away, and crossed police lines and Constitution Ave., carrying a coffin to the steps of the Capitol. Sixteen were arrested for that act of nonviolent witness.
The remaining 200 or so of us, however, were suddenly left without any police presence at all, since literally every one of their officers had followed the coffin. As our goal was to get to the offices of the U.S. Senate, we decided to simply turn around and head back up Constitution Ave. to the Senate office buildings - which we did without incident until some of the police realized their mistake, came roaring back and set up a line to stop us in front of the Russell Senate Office Building, one block short of our ultimate goal.
A small group of us conducted negotiations with an officer of the Capitol Police for 15-20 minutes. Although they continued to assert that our procession was illegal and could not continue - if we wanted to visit our Senators, they said, we had to return to Upper Senate Park (where we did have a permit), leave all our signs and banners behind and break up into small groups - the officer in charge was a model of courtesy, and in fact, an extremely friendly fellow. When their "final" decision was made, our decision was to stay put. We intended to proceed as a group, no matter what, and if they felt compelled to arrest us they would have to do it right there.
The police gave a five minute warning, but that five minutes passed and nothing happened. Ten of our number managed to cross the police line and get to the Russell building entrance, where they were promptly detained and arrested. Others called their senators' offices to demand to know why weren't being allowed in to see them. A giant Gandhi puppet, carrying a sign that said "Be the change you want to see in the world," came rolling down Constitution Ave. and evoked a huge cheer from our crowd, all the more so because the same puppet had earlier been stopped by police who refused to allow it near the Capitol complex. Interestingly, Gandhi was now being given an entire lane of traffic on Constitution Ave.
While all this was happening, Rick Ufford-Chase continued to negotiate with the police. Rick is a pretty darn friendly guy himself, and apparently a heck of a negotiator, since after another 15-20 minutes it was announced that if we left our large banners behind, we would be allowed to proceed as a group, enter the Hart Senate Office Building, and reassemble after passing through security. Rick had re-emphasized our commitment to nonviolence, and had patiently explained that our planned action in the Hart atrium would be a respectful, interfaith-led protest of the war in Iraq. The police explained that if we did that, we would likely be arrested inside the Hart building.
When this agreement was announced, it was immediately apparent how remarkable and unprecedented it was. The Capitol police would allow us to continue what they considered an unpermitted demonstration, and then enter a Senate office building - for the express purpose of carrying out another illegal demonstration. (The charge given those arrested inside was "unlawful assembly.")
While a number of us continued a protest outside, more than 100 of us entered the Hart building. For those not familiar with it, the Hart Senate Office Building is really quite beautiful and unlike any other congressional office building, in that it is designed around a giant, open, building-high lobby and atrium, with senate offices lining the seven stories facing on to the atrium. If you control the atrium, you essentially control the entire building.
And that is precisely what we did. With some reading the names of the dead or holding up peace signs on the balconies surrounding the lobby, a large group assembled in a circle on the first floor for our nonviolent witness against the war. As it went on, the balconies filled with onlookers, until finally all seven stories, on all four sides, were lined with senate staffers and visitors watching the protest and eventual arrests. Several applauded and gave thumbs up. The protest also garnered the front page and a full inside page spread of the following day's Roll Call newspaper, meaning that every office on Capitol Hill knew about it within 24 hours.
I have often heard "this is what democracy looks like" chanted during street marches and protests. Standing in this august senate office building, with our protest being watched by a majority of the people working there, I had the profound feeling that this is exactly what democracy should look like. If our elected leaders refuse to heed the will of the people, then we the people will take over their offices until they do. It happens in other countries around the world, usually to our great approval, so why not here in the U.S. as well? Truly, this was democracy in its purest and finest form.
People were peacefully arrested, and led away. They joined their colleagues from the previous arrests, and had by all accounts a time of great community and fellowship during the several hours it took the police to process and release them all. Those of us waiting outside the police station heard frequent outbursts of laughter and applause. The police officer in charge sought me out at the end to thank me several times over, and stated plainly that they were glad they were able to help us accomplish what we wanted to do that day.
Relationships with police are a complicated and challenging matter for our movement, a source of often heated debate. And this particular police force in question had a somewhat different interpretation of our goal, believing we were there "to be arrested." (While the nonviolent activist is willing to risk arrest and make other sacrifices, our goal is not to be arrested. We usually end up reminding the police of this, and inviting them to not arrest us the next time, but rather to join us.)
The fact remains, though, that this is one of several examples - we've been doing nonviolent actions since before the Iraq war began - where different police forces in the nation's capital not only treated us well, but actually helped us achieve our goal. A large part of that has to do with our own commitment to nonviolence, which leads us to treat all people, including our adversaries and even arresting officers, with openness and respect. Respect them, and often they will respect you in return.
Just as important, though, is the fact that many of these police, possibly even the large majority of them, actually agree with us and support what we're doing. They have privately told our activists this on many, many occasions. They have brothers and sisters and buddies in the military, and lost some of them, and they are just as sick of this war as we are. It reminds one directly of the epilogue in the updated edition of Howard Zinn's classic People's History of the United States, where he argues that a "revolt of the palace guards" may be part of how a peaceful revolution happens in this country. Listening to and working with these police, one gets the feeling the revolution may be a little closer than we think.
Above all, though, we achieved our goal, and for a least one hour on a Tuesday in September, we brought the work of a Senate office building to a standstill, and made loud and clear our demand that the immoral, illegal and unjust occupation of Iraq must end. If we can continue to ramp up our actions in this way, including the extremely important electoral work for this fall, we can and will compel members of Congress to heed our demand.
# # #
Gordon Clark is the convener of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, formerly the Iraq Pledge of Resistance. For news stories and images of these actions, as well as more information, go to www.iraqpledge.org , or www.declarationofpeace.org
LINK:
http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=11076§ionID=51
The Day We Took Over the U.S. Senate
by Gordon Clark; Portside; September 29, 2006
Even for these now veteran activist eyes, it was a glorious and inspiring sight to see.
On Tuesday, September 26, more than 100 nonviolent activists took over the central lobby and atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building, and staged a protest of the war in Iraq while dozens and dozens of Senate staffers looked on. For one hour, at least, American opposition to the war in Iraq became the central focus for these offices of the U.S. Senate, and 71 individuals were arrested for making this happen.
The action was organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (formerly the Iraq Pledge of Resistance), as part of the week of anti-war actions around the country organized by the Declaration of Peace campaign.
The action started that morning with a rally and interfaith service at Upper Senate Park. Another remarkable aspect of the day was the presence of national religious leaders, such as Jackie Lynn, head of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, and Rick Ufford- Chase, Director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and for the past two years the moderator of the 216th Presbyterian General Assembly - the highest office in the denomination. They were not only participating themselves in our nonviolent direct action, but were now urging their faith communities to begin following suit.
At the end of the rally and service we formed a procession to go by the Capitol building and then on to the Senate office buildings. Police stopped us after three blocks, telling us that the large procession constituted an unpermitted demonstration and that we would not be allowed to continue. It was at this point that one affinity group broke away, and crossed police lines and Constitution Ave., carrying a coffin to the steps of the Capitol. Sixteen were arrested for that act of nonviolent witness.
The remaining 200 or so of us, however, were suddenly left without any police presence at all, since literally every one of their officers had followed the coffin. As our goal was to get to the offices of the U.S. Senate, we decided to simply turn around and head back up Constitution Ave. to the Senate office buildings - which we did without incident until some of the police realized their mistake, came roaring back and set up a line to stop us in front of the Russell Senate Office Building, one block short of our ultimate goal.
A small group of us conducted negotiations with an officer of the Capitol Police for 15-20 minutes. Although they continued to assert that our procession was illegal and could not continue - if we wanted to visit our Senators, they said, we had to return to Upper Senate Park (where we did have a permit), leave all our signs and banners behind and break up into small groups - the officer in charge was a model of courtesy, and in fact, an extremely friendly fellow. When their "final" decision was made, our decision was to stay put. We intended to proceed as a group, no matter what, and if they felt compelled to arrest us they would have to do it right there.
The police gave a five minute warning, but that five minutes passed and nothing happened. Ten of our number managed to cross the police line and get to the Russell building entrance, where they were promptly detained and arrested. Others called their senators' offices to demand to know why weren't being allowed in to see them. A giant Gandhi puppet, carrying a sign that said "Be the change you want to see in the world," came rolling down Constitution Ave. and evoked a huge cheer from our crowd, all the more so because the same puppet had earlier been stopped by police who refused to allow it near the Capitol complex. Interestingly, Gandhi was now being given an entire lane of traffic on Constitution Ave.
While all this was happening, Rick Ufford-Chase continued to negotiate with the police. Rick is a pretty darn friendly guy himself, and apparently a heck of a negotiator, since after another 15-20 minutes it was announced that if we left our large banners behind, we would be allowed to proceed as a group, enter the Hart Senate Office Building, and reassemble after passing through security. Rick had re-emphasized our commitment to nonviolence, and had patiently explained that our planned action in the Hart atrium would be a respectful, interfaith-led protest of the war in Iraq. The police explained that if we did that, we would likely be arrested inside the Hart building.
When this agreement was announced, it was immediately apparent how remarkable and unprecedented it was. The Capitol police would allow us to continue what they considered an unpermitted demonstration, and then enter a Senate office building - for the express purpose of carrying out another illegal demonstration. (The charge given those arrested inside was "unlawful assembly.")
While a number of us continued a protest outside, more than 100 of us entered the Hart building. For those not familiar with it, the Hart Senate Office Building is really quite beautiful and unlike any other congressional office building, in that it is designed around a giant, open, building-high lobby and atrium, with senate offices lining the seven stories facing on to the atrium. If you control the atrium, you essentially control the entire building.
And that is precisely what we did. With some reading the names of the dead or holding up peace signs on the balconies surrounding the lobby, a large group assembled in a circle on the first floor for our nonviolent witness against the war. As it went on, the balconies filled with onlookers, until finally all seven stories, on all four sides, were lined with senate staffers and visitors watching the protest and eventual arrests. Several applauded and gave thumbs up. The protest also garnered the front page and a full inside page spread of the following day's Roll Call newspaper, meaning that every office on Capitol Hill knew about it within 24 hours.
I have often heard "this is what democracy looks like" chanted during street marches and protests. Standing in this august senate office building, with our protest being watched by a majority of the people working there, I had the profound feeling that this is exactly what democracy should look like. If our elected leaders refuse to heed the will of the people, then we the people will take over their offices until they do. It happens in other countries around the world, usually to our great approval, so why not here in the U.S. as well? Truly, this was democracy in its purest and finest form.
People were peacefully arrested, and led away. They joined their colleagues from the previous arrests, and had by all accounts a time of great community and fellowship during the several hours it took the police to process and release them all. Those of us waiting outside the police station heard frequent outbursts of laughter and applause. The police officer in charge sought me out at the end to thank me several times over, and stated plainly that they were glad they were able to help us accomplish what we wanted to do that day.
Relationships with police are a complicated and challenging matter for our movement, a source of often heated debate. And this particular police force in question had a somewhat different interpretation of our goal, believing we were there "to be arrested." (While the nonviolent activist is willing to risk arrest and make other sacrifices, our goal is not to be arrested. We usually end up reminding the police of this, and inviting them to not arrest us the next time, but rather to join us.)
The fact remains, though, that this is one of several examples - we've been doing nonviolent actions since before the Iraq war began - where different police forces in the nation's capital not only treated us well, but actually helped us achieve our goal. A large part of that has to do with our own commitment to nonviolence, which leads us to treat all people, including our adversaries and even arresting officers, with openness and respect. Respect them, and often they will respect you in return.
Just as important, though, is the fact that many of these police, possibly even the large majority of them, actually agree with us and support what we're doing. They have privately told our activists this on many, many occasions. They have brothers and sisters and buddies in the military, and lost some of them, and they are just as sick of this war as we are. It reminds one directly of the epilogue in the updated edition of Howard Zinn's classic People's History of the United States, where he argues that a "revolt of the palace guards" may be part of how a peaceful revolution happens in this country. Listening to and working with these police, one gets the feeling the revolution may be a little closer than we think.
Above all, though, we achieved our goal, and for a least one hour on a Tuesday in September, we brought the work of a Senate office building to a standstill, and made loud and clear our demand that the immoral, illegal and unjust occupation of Iraq must end. If we can continue to ramp up our actions in this way, including the extremely important electoral work for this fall, we can and will compel members of Congress to heed our demand.
# # #
Gordon Clark is the convener of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, formerly the Iraq Pledge of Resistance. For news stories and images of these actions, as well as more information, go to www.iraqpledge.org , or www.declarationofpeace.org
Montessori Help From The Stokes Report
http://www.gregtstokes.blogspot.com/
Enfield Montessori School Needs Your Help!
By Greg Stokes
This week I was made aware of a situation that I want to speak out about in this week’s article. It has to do with the future of the Enfield Montessori School (EMS) and the use of the parking lot they have used for years.
The Enfield Montessori School has been in operation for over 40 years serving the needs our community by bringing first class education. The property located at 1370 Enfield Street was acquired by the Felician Sisters in 1932. The school has provided a great place to learn for children 3-12 years old and with your support will continue. But, that is just what is needed….Your support and help.
In 2003, the Enfield Zoning Enforcement Officer issued an order that the school cease and desist use of its parking area despite the fact that the parking area had been continuously used as the school parking lot for decades and preexisted zoning and the establishment of an historic district along Enfield Street.
In 2004, the Enfield Historic District Commission denied an application by the school to improve the parking area on the site by moving it behind the main school building along the rear border of the historic district.
While the historic district matter was pending, the Zoning Enforcement Officer issued a second cease and desist order forcing an appeal to the Enfield Zoning Board of Appeals.
In 2005, the Zoning Board of Appeals overturned the zoning enforcement order and determined that the existing parking area used by the school for decades was legal.
The Planning and Zoning Commission has now sued the Zoning Board of Appeals claiming the decision that the parking area is legal should be overturned.
So there you have it. This information was provided to me by concerned staff, parents, and alumni of the school. But is there more behind the scene political maneuvering that has not been disclosed? Over the next few weeks I am going to do my best to investigate if there is some personal interest by local politicians. Do some people high up have a stake in this property?
So how can you help?
Here are a few things that citizens can do to come to the aid of the EMS.
First, join me and other concerned people on October 16, 2006 at 6:00 P.M. on the Town Green for a rally to protect the school. You as taxpayers have a voice and it needs to loud and clear.
Two, contact our local elected officials and tell them to step up and stand up to protect one of Enfields most historic institutions.
Three, contact those heading up the Protect EMS Team and let them know you support them. Contact information is: ProtectEMS@cox.net or call Sister Anastasia at 745-5847.
The fact is this endeavor can be a costly one for the Felician Sisters. With all they do, it is terrible that they have to spend money to fight a legal battle, money that would otherwise be spent for community care.
Let me remind you also that when one Board sues another in our town it is you who pay the expense. Is this a good use of public tax money?
Also let me report that from the information I have obtained the EMS saves the taxpayers over $300,000.00 a year by providing great education.
So contact them today and let your voice be heard. Contact our members of the Town council and ask them where they stand on this issue. Then, since this is an election year, contact people running for office and if it’s not an issue…make it one. Remember, you have the power, because you have the vote.
You also can contact me at GTStokessr@aol.com . I will help you, help EMS.
Enfield Montessori School Needs Your Help!
By Greg Stokes
This week I was made aware of a situation that I want to speak out about in this week’s article. It has to do with the future of the Enfield Montessori School (EMS) and the use of the parking lot they have used for years.
The Enfield Montessori School has been in operation for over 40 years serving the needs our community by bringing first class education. The property located at 1370 Enfield Street was acquired by the Felician Sisters in 1932. The school has provided a great place to learn for children 3-12 years old and with your support will continue. But, that is just what is needed….Your support and help.
In 2003, the Enfield Zoning Enforcement Officer issued an order that the school cease and desist use of its parking area despite the fact that the parking area had been continuously used as the school parking lot for decades and preexisted zoning and the establishment of an historic district along Enfield Street.
In 2004, the Enfield Historic District Commission denied an application by the school to improve the parking area on the site by moving it behind the main school building along the rear border of the historic district.
While the historic district matter was pending, the Zoning Enforcement Officer issued a second cease and desist order forcing an appeal to the Enfield Zoning Board of Appeals.
In 2005, the Zoning Board of Appeals overturned the zoning enforcement order and determined that the existing parking area used by the school for decades was legal.
The Planning and Zoning Commission has now sued the Zoning Board of Appeals claiming the decision that the parking area is legal should be overturned.
So there you have it. This information was provided to me by concerned staff, parents, and alumni of the school. But is there more behind the scene political maneuvering that has not been disclosed? Over the next few weeks I am going to do my best to investigate if there is some personal interest by local politicians. Do some people high up have a stake in this property?
So how can you help?
Here are a few things that citizens can do to come to the aid of the EMS.
First, join me and other concerned people on October 16, 2006 at 6:00 P.M. on the Town Green for a rally to protect the school. You as taxpayers have a voice and it needs to loud and clear.
Two, contact our local elected officials and tell them to step up and stand up to protect one of Enfields most historic institutions.
Three, contact those heading up the Protect EMS Team and let them know you support them. Contact information is: ProtectEMS@cox.net or call Sister Anastasia at 745-5847.
The fact is this endeavor can be a costly one for the Felician Sisters. With all they do, it is terrible that they have to spend money to fight a legal battle, money that would otherwise be spent for community care.
Let me remind you also that when one Board sues another in our town it is you who pay the expense. Is this a good use of public tax money?
Also let me report that from the information I have obtained the EMS saves the taxpayers over $300,000.00 a year by providing great education.
So contact them today and let your voice be heard. Contact our members of the Town council and ask them where they stand on this issue. Then, since this is an election year, contact people running for office and if it’s not an issue…make it one. Remember, you have the power, because you have the vote.
You also can contact me at GTStokessr@aol.com . I will help you, help EMS.
National President, SPJ, Cites Cool Justice Blog / Reporter Detention
National President, Society Of Professional Journalists,
Cites Cool Justice Report On Enfield Shenanigans
And Detention Of Reporter
SPJ Leads
By Christine Tatum
Assistant Business Editor, The Denver Post
National President, SPJ
GAINING MOMENTUM. The OPEN Government Act (H.R. 867) has won approval
from the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government
Management, Finance and Accountability. This stands to be the most
comprehensive reform of the Freedom of Information Act in a decade.
Wednesday's vote came less than a week after the Senate Judiciary
Committee approved a Senate version (S. 394) of the act that also has
bipartisan support. SPJ has worked with a coalition of media
organizations, called the Sunshine in Government Initiative, to
champion the legislation. While Congress isn't expected to vote on
the measure this term, the momentum behind these bills bodes well for
approval next year. LINK http://spj.org/blog/blogs/president/ >Find
out more about what the OPEN Government Act would accomplish.
FOI FYI. That's the name of SPJ's new and very cool, LINK http://spj.
org/blog/blogs/foifyi/> blog manned by the national www.spj.org/foi.asp>Freedom of Information Committee. Check the
blog early and often for the latest, greatest information and insight
about challenges to the free flow of public information. When you
spot interesting items, please drop a line to Committee Chairman Joel
Campbell: joel_campbell@byu.edu<.
SPEAKING OF BLOGS. SPJ member and veteran legal affairs reporter Andy
Thibault's http://cooljustice.blogspot.com/2006/09/greed-power-
enfield-way-cops-detain.html>Cool Justice Report is worth a look.
Are you blogging, too? We'll drive traffic your way! Send a note to
leads@spj.org
NOT BLOGGING? LEARN HOW. The USC Annenberg School of Journalism is
offering an intensive, hands-on workshop about the myriad ways
journalists can use blogs and other tools to improve traditional
reporting and storytelling. Learn ways to build a wider audience for
your work and make money through blogging. Photoblogs, videoblogs,
wikis, podcasting and whatever's next also will be discussed. When:
Saturday, Sept. 30. Where: ASC 204 at USC Annenberg School for
Communication.
Paid parking available. Bring: A wireless-capable laptop and power
cord. Or just take notes. Cost: Free. RSVP:< LINK http://www.formsite.
com/columbiaspj/form784799710/index.html Details online. Only
those who register in advance can attend.
OK, AND HERE'S ANOTHER. Show the world how smart you are - and
promote SPJ.org in the process -- by chiming in on a thoughtful, new
blog about foreign policy launched by the Washington Post. The blog,
called PostGlobal,
brings together sharp minds from around the world to debate pressing
issues. Currently, the blog features an interesting discussion about
global press freedom. When you post, write "Society of Professional
Journalists," and provide a link to spj.org in the appropriate fields.
______________________________________________________________________
__
UNDER COVER? Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts org/content/content_view.asp?id=111116>take on the debate about a
proposed federal shield law. Add your 2 cents to org/blog/blogs/president/archive/2006/09/12/131.aspx>a rolling
discussion on spj.org
BLOWN COVER. Five private investigators accused of signonsandiego.com/news/business/20060927-1222-hewlett-packard-
directors.html>posing as journalists to obtain information under
false pretenses for tech giant Hewlett-Packard have been subpoenaed
to testify before Congress.
COVERED. SPJ National President Christine Tatum jomc.unc.edu/talkingbiznews/?p=1412>yammered this week with
SABEW business blogger and SPJ member Chris Roush about why some
business news coverage falls flat and her hopes for SPJ's growing
business savvy. She also chatted with Ken Spencer Brown of Investor's
Business Daily about IBDArticles.asp?artsec=17&issue=20060926>the hard questions
reporters caught in the Hewlett-Packard scandal should be asking
themselves.
______________________________________________________________________
__
SPJ IN MOTION. Didn't get a chance to join us for the national
conference in Chicago? Boy, did you miss out! Members needn't fear,
however. They can check out video
recordings of select sessions about blogging, multimedia skills,
practicing journalism abroad, news councils and the Freedom of
Information Act. Not a member? No time like the present www.spj.org/join.asp>to join one of the nation's largest and
oldest journalism advocacy organizations.
_____________________________________________________________________
BACKING BOSTON. SPJ has joined an amicus brief supporting the Boston
Herald's appeal of a $2 million jury verdict awarded to Judge Ernest
B. Murphy in February 2005 by a jury in Massachusetts Superior Court,
the court on which Murphy sits. During a meeting with lawyers, Murphy
reportedly said of a teenage rape victim, "She's 14. She got raped.
Tell her to get over it." The Herald's David Wedge interviewed the
prosecutor who attended that meeting as well as two other prosecutors
with whom the first immediately shared Murphy's comments. Wedge also
tried, but failed, to obtain comment from Murphy. All three
prosecutors later testified that the comment attributed to Murphy was
substantially accurate. Murphy denied making the comments - but
waited more than three weeks after the Herald's publication to make
many any statements about the prosecutors' allegations. Despite
several other press accounts of Murphy's controversial comments about
cases he was handling, a trial court found that Murphy had proved "a
false statement of fact" and that the Herald published with actual
malice. Siiiiiigh.
SPJ's Legal Defense Fund
needs your help all year. Consider making a donation - or scoring
cool loot to auction during our national conference.
SOCKIN' IT TO 'EM. During a hearing Monday, SPJ's Sunshine
Chairperson in Utah - Alison Barlow Hess - com/ci_4396862>made no bones about where SPJ's Utah chapter
stood on a goofy proposal to place limits on pamphleteering and other
speech activities inside and around the Capitol complex in Salt Lake
City. Hess joined unanimous opposition from com/dn/view/0,1249,650193754,00.html>speakers at the hearing to
proposed "free speech zones." "How do we label everything that is not
(a free speech zone)?" she asked. "Does it become a zone of no free
speech?"
TAKING STANDS. Over the past two weeks, the Miami Herald learned that
at least 10 journalists had accepted payments from the Office of Cuba
Broadcasting in exchange for positive news coverage about Cuba. After
discovering the unethical practice at El Nuevo Herald, The Miami
Herald News Co. fired the journalists. Today, the director of the
Office of Cuba Broadcasting is calling for a public ethical debate.
Weighing in, The South Florida Pro chapter com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003155693 released
a statement in support of the firings.
_____________________________________________________________________
PRIZE FIGHTERS. Freelance videographer and blogger net>Josh Wolf is back in a federal slammer in California for
refusing to give up unaired video he took of a 2005 protest for a
grand jury's review. San Francisco Chronicle reporters Lance Williams
and Mark Fainaru-Wada have been sentenced to 18 months in a federal
prison for refusing to identify the sources that leaked them grand
jury testimony concerning steroid use among professional athletes.
All three have been named "Journalist of the Year" by SPJ's Northern
California chapter. Help celebrate
their work at an awards ceremony honoring excellence in
journalism. When: Nov. 9 Where: Yank Sing Restaurant in San
Francisco. Tickets: Contact Eva Martinez at
emartinez@accionlatina.org< or (415) 648-1045.
JOURNALISM TODAY. The Greater Los Angeles chapter will host an
evening with Jerry Roberts, the award-winning editor who made
headlines when he and eight other journalists from the Santa Barbara
News-Press left the paper, putting ethical convictions above
professional security. Roberts will draw on his long and illustrious
career while discussing some of the most topical issues in our
industry today, including the importance of ethics in managing the
modern newsroom. WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 4; 6:30 p.m. no-host cocktail
reception; 7 p.m. dinner. WHERE: Smokehouse Restaurant at 4422
Lakeside Drive; Burbank, Calif. COST: $27 for SPJ members; $32 for
non-members. RSVP: By Monday, Oct. 2, at (323) 259-3350 or
spj_la@hotmail.com.
Cites Cool Justice Report On Enfield Shenanigans
And Detention Of Reporter
SPJ Leads
By Christine Tatum
Assistant Business Editor, The Denver Post
National President, SPJ
GAINING MOMENTUM. The OPEN Government Act (H.R. 867) has won approval
from the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government
Management, Finance and Accountability. This stands to be the most
comprehensive reform of the Freedom of Information Act in a decade.
Wednesday's vote came less than a week after the Senate Judiciary
Committee approved a Senate version (S. 394) of the act that also has
bipartisan support. SPJ has worked with a coalition of media
organizations, called the Sunshine in Government Initiative, to
champion the legislation. While Congress isn't expected to vote on
the measure this term, the momentum behind these bills bodes well for
approval next year. LINK http://spj.org/blog/blogs/president/ >Find
out more about what the OPEN Government Act would accomplish.
FOI FYI. That's the name of SPJ's new and very cool, LINK http://spj.
org/blog/blogs/foifyi/> blog manned by the national www.spj.org/foi.asp>Freedom of Information Committee. Check the
blog early and often for the latest, greatest information and insight
about challenges to the free flow of public information. When you
spot interesting items, please drop a line to Committee Chairman Joel
Campbell: joel_campbell@byu.edu<.
SPEAKING OF BLOGS. SPJ member and veteran legal affairs reporter Andy
Thibault's http://cooljustice.blogspot.com/2006/09/greed-power-
enfield-way-cops-detain.html>Cool Justice Report
Are you blogging, too? We'll drive traffic your way! Send a note to
leads@spj.org
NOT BLOGGING? LEARN HOW. The USC Annenberg School of Journalism is
offering an intensive, hands-on workshop about the myriad ways
journalists can use blogs and other tools to improve traditional
reporting and storytelling. Learn ways to build a wider audience for
your work and make money through blogging. Photoblogs, videoblogs,
wikis, podcasting and whatever's next also will be discussed. When:
Saturday, Sept. 30. Where: ASC 204 at USC Annenberg School for
Communication.
Paid parking available. Bring: A wireless-capable laptop and power
cord. Or just take notes. Cost: Free. RSVP:< LINK http://www.formsite.
com/columbiaspj/form784799710/index.html Details online. Only
those who register in advance can attend.
OK, AND HERE'S ANOTHER. Show the world how smart you are - and
promote SPJ.org in the process -- by chiming in on a thoughtful, new
blog about foreign policy launched by the Washington Post. The blog,
called PostGlobal,
brings together sharp minds from around the world to debate pressing
issues. Currently, the blog features an interesting discussion about
global press freedom. When you post, write "Society of Professional
Journalists," and provide a link to spj.org in the appropriate fields.
______________________________________________________________________
__
UNDER COVER? Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts org/content/content_view.asp?id=111116>take on the debate about a
proposed federal shield law. Add your 2 cents to org/blog/blogs/president/archive/2006/09/12/131.aspx>a rolling
discussion on spj.org
BLOWN COVER. Five private investigators accused of signonsandiego.com/news/business/20060927-1222-hewlett-packard-
directors.html>posing as journalists to obtain information under
false pretenses for tech giant Hewlett-Packard have been subpoenaed
to testify before Congress.
COVERED. SPJ National President Christine Tatum jomc.unc.edu/talkingbiznews/?p=1412>yammered this week with
SABEW business blogger and SPJ member Chris Roush about why some
business news coverage falls flat and her hopes for SPJ's growing
business savvy. She also chatted with Ken Spencer Brown of Investor's
Business Daily about IBDArticles.asp?artsec=17&issue=20060926>the hard questions
reporters caught in the Hewlett-Packard scandal should be asking
themselves.
______________________________________________________________________
__
SPJ IN MOTION. Didn't get a chance to join us for the national
conference in Chicago? Boy, did you miss out! Members needn't fear,
however. They can check out video
recordings of select sessions about blogging, multimedia skills,
practicing journalism abroad, news councils and the Freedom of
Information Act. Not a member? No time like the present www.spj.org/join.asp>to join one of the nation's largest and
oldest journalism advocacy organizations.
_____________________________________________________________________
BACKING BOSTON. SPJ has joined an amicus brief supporting the Boston
Herald's appeal of a $2 million jury verdict awarded to Judge Ernest
B. Murphy in February 2005 by a jury in Massachusetts Superior Court,
the court on which Murphy sits. During a meeting with lawyers, Murphy
reportedly said of a teenage rape victim, "She's 14. She got raped.
Tell her to get over it." The Herald's David Wedge interviewed the
prosecutor who attended that meeting as well as two other prosecutors
with whom the first immediately shared Murphy's comments. Wedge also
tried, but failed, to obtain comment from Murphy. All three
prosecutors later testified that the comment attributed to Murphy was
substantially accurate. Murphy denied making the comments - but
waited more than three weeks after the Herald's publication to make
many any statements about the prosecutors' allegations. Despite
several other press accounts of Murphy's controversial comments about
cases he was handling, a trial court found that Murphy had proved "a
false statement of fact" and that the Herald published with actual
malice. Siiiiiigh.
SPJ's Legal Defense Fund
needs your help all year. Consider making a donation - or scoring
cool loot to auction during our national conference.
SOCKIN' IT TO 'EM. During a hearing Monday, SPJ's Sunshine
Chairperson in Utah - Alison Barlow Hess - com/ci_4396862>made no bones about where SPJ's Utah chapter
stood on a goofy proposal to place limits on pamphleteering and other
speech activities inside and around the Capitol complex in Salt Lake
City. Hess joined unanimous opposition from com/dn/view/0,1249,650193754,00.html>speakers at the hearing to
proposed "free speech zones." "How do we label everything that is not
(a free speech zone)?" she asked. "Does it become a zone of no free
speech?"
TAKING STANDS. Over the past two weeks, the Miami Herald learned that
at least 10 journalists had accepted payments from the Office of Cuba
Broadcasting in exchange for positive news coverage about Cuba. After
discovering the unethical practice at El Nuevo Herald, The Miami
Herald News Co. fired the journalists. Today, the director of the
Office of Cuba Broadcasting is calling for a public ethical debate.
Weighing in, The South Florida Pro chapter com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003155693 released
a statement in support of the firings.
_____________________________________________________________________
PRIZE FIGHTERS. Freelance videographer and blogger net>Josh Wolf is back in a federal slammer in California for
refusing to give up unaired video he took of a 2005 protest for a
grand jury's review. San Francisco Chronicle reporters Lance Williams
and Mark Fainaru-Wada have been sentenced to 18 months in a federal
prison for refusing to identify the sources that leaked them grand
jury testimony concerning steroid use among professional athletes.
All three have been named "Journalist of the Year" by SPJ's Northern
California chapter. Help celebrate
their work at an awards ceremony honoring excellence in
journalism. When: Nov. 9 Where: Yank Sing Restaurant in San
Francisco. Tickets: Contact Eva Martinez at
emartinez@accionlatina.org< or (415) 648-1045.
JOURNALISM TODAY. The Greater Los Angeles chapter will host an
evening with Jerry Roberts, the award-winning editor who made
headlines when he and eight other journalists from the Santa Barbara
News-Press left the paper, putting ethical convictions above
professional security. Roberts will draw on his long and illustrious
career while discussing some of the most topical issues in our
industry today, including the importance of ethics in managing the
modern newsroom. WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 4; 6:30 p.m. no-host cocktail
reception; 7 p.m. dinner. WHERE: Smokehouse Restaurant at 4422
Lakeside Drive; Burbank, Calif. COST: $27 for SPJ members; $32 for
non-members. RSVP: By Monday, Oct. 2, at (323) 259-3350 or
spj_la@hotmail.com.
With Some Praise For The Enfield Police Chief
ANDY THIBAULT
EDITOR & PUBLISHER, The Cool Justice Report
www.cooljustice.blogspot.com
Fri., 9-29-06
Police Chief Carl Sferrazza
293 Elm St.
Enfield, CT 06082
Phone (860) 763-6400, ext. 4, ext. 1 *Fax (860) 763-6416
PoliceChief@enfield.org
Dear Chief:
It was a pleasure to speak with you today. I appreciated your time and accessibility and your forthright responses to my questions.
Re: Reports 2006-39046 and 2006-40080, please find a check enclosed for $3 and a stamped, self-addressed envelope. As a footnote, I did double-check with the FOI Commission today and the maximum charge per page for non-certified documents is 50 cents. Again, there is no mandatory charge. There are stipulations do get the documents for free, such as when there is a public interest related to the integrity of public servants. I will not quibble this point with you at this time because, as I stated on the phone, you strike me as a straight shooter and I cannot say that of many other Enfield officials we have encountered recently.
I especially appreciate your affirmation of civil rights, re- any reporters or photographers who might have local business: "We agree he has a First Amendment right. We respect people's rights. If he wants to take photos from another property, he can do that all day long."
Also, I believe you understand how a citizen might perceive being blocked off or greeted by four cruisers after visiting Town Hall to pick up public records. You seem open to the idea that a citizen might feel intimidated when an officer tells him with some vigor, "You know how to get to I-91."
Your explanation that the officer in one cruiser delivered a missing form and the other contained the deputy chief, who happened to be in the neighborhood, is indeed plausible.
For your consideration, due diligence in notifying the object of the complaint might have included a follow-up call by the officer who had one round of phone tag with my colleague. Officer Nolan might have informed your officers - as he was told on voicemail - that a news photographer was just doing his job. I hope you understand that the events of Sept. 21, 2006 caused a chilling effect on news gathering. A reasonable person would have to ask, "Next time I take a photograph or ask a difficult question, will a public official call the police and have them detain me?"
As we discussed, photojournalist and reporter Jim Brewer never set foot on any property owned by the complainant. Nor did he ever receive notice from the complainant not to call. Therefore, any such allegations that might have been made - written or verbally - are false.
We do find it odd and curious that a public official - Anthony DiPace, chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission - would initiate police action following legitimate inquiries that are in the public interest. This remains a subject of ongoing interest for us.
Sincerely,
Andy Thibault
Copies to: Steve Kalb, Ct. President, Society of Professional Journalists; Christine Tatum, National President, Society of Professional Journalists; Atty. Norm Pattis.
EDITOR & PUBLISHER, The Cool Justice Report
www.cooljustice.blogspot.com
Fri., 9-29-06
Police Chief Carl Sferrazza
293 Elm St.
Enfield, CT 06082
Phone (860) 763-6400, ext. 4, ext. 1 *Fax (860) 763-6416
PoliceChief@enfield.org
Dear Chief:
It was a pleasure to speak with you today. I appreciated your time and accessibility and your forthright responses to my questions.
Re: Reports 2006-39046 and 2006-40080, please find a check enclosed for $3 and a stamped, self-addressed envelope. As a footnote, I did double-check with the FOI Commission today and the maximum charge per page for non-certified documents is 50 cents. Again, there is no mandatory charge. There are stipulations do get the documents for free, such as when there is a public interest related to the integrity of public servants. I will not quibble this point with you at this time because, as I stated on the phone, you strike me as a straight shooter and I cannot say that of many other Enfield officials we have encountered recently.
I especially appreciate your affirmation of civil rights, re- any reporters or photographers who might have local business: "We agree he has a First Amendment right. We respect people's rights. If he wants to take photos from another property, he can do that all day long."
Also, I believe you understand how a citizen might perceive being blocked off or greeted by four cruisers after visiting Town Hall to pick up public records. You seem open to the idea that a citizen might feel intimidated when an officer tells him with some vigor, "You know how to get to I-91."
Your explanation that the officer in one cruiser delivered a missing form and the other contained the deputy chief, who happened to be in the neighborhood, is indeed plausible.
For your consideration, due diligence in notifying the object of the complaint might have included a follow-up call by the officer who had one round of phone tag with my colleague. Officer Nolan might have informed your officers - as he was told on voicemail - that a news photographer was just doing his job. I hope you understand that the events of Sept. 21, 2006 caused a chilling effect on news gathering. A reasonable person would have to ask, "Next time I take a photograph or ask a difficult question, will a public official call the police and have them detain me?"
As we discussed, photojournalist and reporter Jim Brewer never set foot on any property owned by the complainant. Nor did he ever receive notice from the complainant not to call. Therefore, any such allegations that might have been made - written or verbally - are false.
We do find it odd and curious that a public official - Anthony DiPace, chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission - would initiate police action following legitimate inquiries that are in the public interest. This remains a subject of ongoing interest for us.
Sincerely,
Andy Thibault
Copies to: Steve Kalb, Ct. President, Society of Professional Journalists; Christine Tatum, National President, Society of Professional Journalists; Atty. Norm Pattis.
FOI COMMISSION COMPELS WATERBURY PD TO PRODUCE SMOLINSKI MISSING PERSON LOVE TRIANGLE FILE
Breaking News
FOI COMMISSION COMPELS WATERBURY PD TO PRODUCE
SMOLINSKI MISSING PERSON LOVE TRIANGLE FILE
Department Says It Is Reaching Out To the FBI For Help
By ANDY THIBAULT
The Cool Justice Report
www.cooljustice.blogspot.com
Sept. 29, 2006
[For background,
see posts in archives:
Upside Down Investigation In Billy Smolinski Case
Waterbury PD FOI request re- Missing Person Billy Smolinski
Complaint / Request for hearing re- Denial of public records request by Waterbury PD
Does Missing Person / Love Triangle Case Add Up To Homicide?]
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is available for reprint or citation courtesy of The Cool Justice Report, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
The state Freedom of Information Commission has compelled the Waterbury Police Department to hand-deliver its file on the Billy Smolinski case to the FOI office in Hartford for an in-camera review.
During a hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 26, Waterbury Police legal advisor Gary Roosa said he could deliver the file and an index within one week.
Smolinski, 33, has been missing for more than two years. Foul play is suspected. Smolinski’s family complained police did not initially take them seriously and failed to perform basic investigative tasks in a timely manner. Central to the case is a love triangle involving a politician who recently resigned from office.
The in-camera or secret review by FOI Commission staff would lead to a determination of what records can be released to the public.
The Sept. 26 hearing followed a complaint filed Aug. 4, Docket # FIC 2006-389, Andy Thibault v. Chief, Police Department, City of Waterbury. The first formal request was made July 28. It was denied Aug. 4, resulting in the complaint.
Such documents are public records unless police can demonstrate they are taking substantive action to pursue the case. Police must also show that release of the records would harm an ongoing investigation.
Waterbury Police Lt. Chris Corbett, testifying at the Sept. 26 hearing, could not cite any recent investigative activity by his department in the Smolinski matter.
Roosa and Corbett pointed to a letter written by Deputy Police Chief James Nardozzi on Aug. 4, the same day the FOI complaint was filed.
In the letter, written to the agent in charge of the New Haven FBI office, Kimberly Mertz, Nardozzi said the Waterbury PD had “exhausted all avenues of investigation available to us.”
“Thus,” Nardozzi said, “We are requesting the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in conducting a joint FBI-WPD investigation into the disappearance of Mr. Smolinski.”
Corbett testified that at least one FBI agent has been looking at the file. But, he could not say whether any interviews had been conducted.
Based on the letter to the FBI, Roosa sought a continuance of the FOI hearing. The request was denied by the hearing officer, Atty. Mary Schwind, after argument that the mere writing of a letter did not constitute an ongoing investigation.
Andy Thibault, author of Law & Justice In Everyday Life and a private investigator, is an adjunct lecturer of English and a mentor in the MFA writing program at Western Connecticut State University. He also serves as a consulting editor for the literary journal Connecticut Review. Website, www.andythibault.com and Blog, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
FOI COMMISSION COMPELS WATERBURY PD TO PRODUCE
SMOLINSKI MISSING PERSON LOVE TRIANGLE FILE
Department Says It Is Reaching Out To the FBI For Help
By ANDY THIBAULT
The Cool Justice Report
www.cooljustice.blogspot.com
Sept. 29, 2006
[For background,
see posts in archives:
Upside Down Investigation In Billy Smolinski Case
Waterbury PD FOI request re- Missing Person Billy Smolinski
Complaint / Request for hearing re- Denial of public records request by Waterbury PD
Does Missing Person / Love Triangle Case Add Up To Homicide?]
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is available for reprint or citation courtesy of The Cool Justice Report, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
The state Freedom of Information Commission has compelled the Waterbury Police Department to hand-deliver its file on the Billy Smolinski case to the FOI office in Hartford for an in-camera review.
During a hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 26, Waterbury Police legal advisor Gary Roosa said he could deliver the file and an index within one week.
Smolinski, 33, has been missing for more than two years. Foul play is suspected. Smolinski’s family complained police did not initially take them seriously and failed to perform basic investigative tasks in a timely manner. Central to the case is a love triangle involving a politician who recently resigned from office.
The in-camera or secret review by FOI Commission staff would lead to a determination of what records can be released to the public.
The Sept. 26 hearing followed a complaint filed Aug. 4, Docket # FIC 2006-389, Andy Thibault v. Chief, Police Department, City of Waterbury. The first formal request was made July 28. It was denied Aug. 4, resulting in the complaint.
Such documents are public records unless police can demonstrate they are taking substantive action to pursue the case. Police must also show that release of the records would harm an ongoing investigation.
Waterbury Police Lt. Chris Corbett, testifying at the Sept. 26 hearing, could not cite any recent investigative activity by his department in the Smolinski matter.
Roosa and Corbett pointed to a letter written by Deputy Police Chief James Nardozzi on Aug. 4, the same day the FOI complaint was filed.
In the letter, written to the agent in charge of the New Haven FBI office, Kimberly Mertz, Nardozzi said the Waterbury PD had “exhausted all avenues of investigation available to us.”
“Thus,” Nardozzi said, “We are requesting the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in conducting a joint FBI-WPD investigation into the disappearance of Mr. Smolinski.”
Corbett testified that at least one FBI agent has been looking at the file. But, he could not say whether any interviews had been conducted.
Based on the letter to the FBI, Roosa sought a continuance of the FOI hearing. The request was denied by the hearing officer, Atty. Mary Schwind, after argument that the mere writing of a letter did not constitute an ongoing investigation.
Andy Thibault, author of Law & Justice In Everyday Life and a private investigator, is an adjunct lecturer of English and a mentor in the MFA writing program at Western Connecticut State University. He also serves as a consulting editor for the literary journal Connecticut Review. Website, www.andythibault.com and Blog, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
Thursday, September 28, 2006
JI Story On Enfield Montessori Decision
Judge sides with ZBA, Felician Sisters
in parking lot dispute at Enfield Montessori School
By Jennifer Hoyt
Journal Inquirer
Sept. 28, 2006
The ruling by Judge Richard M. Rittenband could end years of heated debate over the lot, which has pitted two town boards - the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals - against one another and sparked rumors about the town's real interest in the matter.
The ruling settled a lawsuit between the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals.
The commission and Zoning Enforcement Officer Wayne Bickley, a co-plaintiff, sued the Zoning Board of Appeals for overturning an order that the school stop using the area for parking. The Montessori School and the Felician Sisters, who operate it, were co-defendants with the ZBA in the suit.
After hearing from lawyers on all sides on Sept. 12, Rittenband was left to decide if the lot was being illegally used.
"This is not a complex case," Rittenband wrote in his decision, which was against the PZC.
The issue arose in 2003 when, at the request of PZC Chairman Anthony DiPace, Bickley studied old aerial photographs and site plans and determined that the lot had not been used for parking prior to when relevant zoning regulations were enacted.
The school is at 1370 Enfield St. in the town's historic district, where strict guidelines regulate properties.
In 2003, and again in 2004, Bickley issued orders telling the school to stop using the parking lot because it was constructed without the permission of the PZC.
The school appealed Bickley's second order to the ZBA in February 2005. More than a dozen people affiliated with the school vouched that the grassy area had been used for parking before the zoning regulations took effect, and therefore didn't need a permit.
The ZBA agreed. Two weeks later Bickley and the PZC filed their lawsuit.
At the hearing on Sept. 12, Matthew J. Willis, the lawyer for Bickley and the PZC, argued that even if the lot had been used for decades, school officials changed its use when they put gravel on it in 1992. That use required a permit from the PZC, Willis said.
In his decision, Rittenband said the court couldn't find that the ZBA acted "unreasonably, illegally, arbitrarily, or in abuse of its discretion.
"The court also finds that the ZBA made an honest judgment, which was reasonably and fairly exercised," Rittenband wrote.
If Bickley and the PZC want to appeal the decision, they will have to file a petition for certification with the state Appellate Court in Hartford, said Kenneth R. Slater Jr., lawyer for the school and the Felician Sisters. Once the petition is filed, a panel of judges will decide if the appeal can go forward, Slater said.
DiPace said Wednesday that the commission probably will discuss how to move forward at its meeting on Oct. 5 or at a special meeting. Those discussions will take place in executive session, he said.
DiPace said he wants to ensure that Rittenband's decision wasn't made out of sympathy, but was based on zoning regulations or precedent set in previous cases.
The Montessori School, which has about 120 students, opened in 1965, although schools have operated on the property since 1944.
The debate surrounding the lot has sparked rumors about the town's interest in the issue. Some supporters of the school have said that town officials who have business interests in the area are trying to shut down the school.
DiPace was adamant that these rumors were unfounded.
"What we're looking at is a safety concern - and that's it," he said.
Mayor Patrick L. Tallarita said Wednesday he has received over a dozen calls at his home concerning the issue. He and his children even received a few harassing calls, he said.
He stressed that he and other members of the Town Council weren't involved in the decisions of the two land-use boards.
"People don't see the separation of powers," he said.
Tallarita said he hopes Rittenband's decision won't be appealed.
Children and nuns celebrated Wednesday at the Montessori School upon hearing about Rittenband's decision, said Sister Anastasia, a teacher at the school.
"We are delighted," she said Wednesday.
Slater said he hopes school officials can now concentrate on educating their students.
"Hopefully this will be the end," he said.
in parking lot dispute at Enfield Montessori School
By Jennifer Hoyt
Journal Inquirer
Sept. 28, 2006
The ruling by Judge Richard M. Rittenband could end years of heated debate over the lot, which has pitted two town boards - the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals - against one another and sparked rumors about the town's real interest in the matter.
The ruling settled a lawsuit between the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals.
The commission and Zoning Enforcement Officer Wayne Bickley, a co-plaintiff, sued the Zoning Board of Appeals for overturning an order that the school stop using the area for parking. The Montessori School and the Felician Sisters, who operate it, were co-defendants with the ZBA in the suit.
After hearing from lawyers on all sides on Sept. 12, Rittenband was left to decide if the lot was being illegally used.
"This is not a complex case," Rittenband wrote in his decision, which was against the PZC.
The issue arose in 2003 when, at the request of PZC Chairman Anthony DiPace, Bickley studied old aerial photographs and site plans and determined that the lot had not been used for parking prior to when relevant zoning regulations were enacted.
The school is at 1370 Enfield St. in the town's historic district, where strict guidelines regulate properties.
In 2003, and again in 2004, Bickley issued orders telling the school to stop using the parking lot because it was constructed without the permission of the PZC.
The school appealed Bickley's second order to the ZBA in February 2005. More than a dozen people affiliated with the school vouched that the grassy area had been used for parking before the zoning regulations took effect, and therefore didn't need a permit.
The ZBA agreed. Two weeks later Bickley and the PZC filed their lawsuit.
At the hearing on Sept. 12, Matthew J. Willis, the lawyer for Bickley and the PZC, argued that even if the lot had been used for decades, school officials changed its use when they put gravel on it in 1992. That use required a permit from the PZC, Willis said.
In his decision, Rittenband said the court couldn't find that the ZBA acted "unreasonably, illegally, arbitrarily, or in abuse of its discretion.
"The court also finds that the ZBA made an honest judgment, which was reasonably and fairly exercised," Rittenband wrote.
If Bickley and the PZC want to appeal the decision, they will have to file a petition for certification with the state Appellate Court in Hartford, said Kenneth R. Slater Jr., lawyer for the school and the Felician Sisters. Once the petition is filed, a panel of judges will decide if the appeal can go forward, Slater said.
DiPace said Wednesday that the commission probably will discuss how to move forward at its meeting on Oct. 5 or at a special meeting. Those discussions will take place in executive session, he said.
DiPace said he wants to ensure that Rittenband's decision wasn't made out of sympathy, but was based on zoning regulations or precedent set in previous cases.
The Montessori School, which has about 120 students, opened in 1965, although schools have operated on the property since 1944.
The debate surrounding the lot has sparked rumors about the town's interest in the issue. Some supporters of the school have said that town officials who have business interests in the area are trying to shut down the school.
DiPace was adamant that these rumors were unfounded.
"What we're looking at is a safety concern - and that's it," he said.
Mayor Patrick L. Tallarita said Wednesday he has received over a dozen calls at his home concerning the issue. He and his children even received a few harassing calls, he said.
He stressed that he and other members of the Town Council weren't involved in the decisions of the two land-use boards.
"People don't see the separation of powers," he said.
Tallarita said he hopes Rittenband's decision won't be appealed.
Children and nuns celebrated Wednesday at the Montessori School upon hearing about Rittenband's decision, said Sister Anastasia, a teacher at the school.
"We are delighted," she said Wednesday.
Slater said he hopes school officials can now concentrate on educating their students.
"Hopefully this will be the end," he said.
Joseph Wilson At Lamont Event
Lamont Campaign Event Slated For Sunday
The Day
9-28-06
Old Saybrook –– Annie Lamont, investment banker and wife of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont; Ambassador Joseph Wilson, author of a report that disputed evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; and George Jepsen, former Democratic state chairman, will campaign for Ned Lamont from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at Harbor One Marina.
John Seiger and his “Satchmo Jazz” band will perform and a selection of gourmet hot dogs will be offered. Those who attend are urged to bring a folding lawn chair. The suggested minimum contribution is $100 per person.
For more information, call 443-2422
The Day
9-28-06
Old Saybrook –– Annie Lamont, investment banker and wife of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont; Ambassador Joseph Wilson, author of a report that disputed evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; and George Jepsen, former Democratic state chairman, will campaign for Ned Lamont from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at Harbor One Marina.
John Seiger and his “Satchmo Jazz” band will perform and a selection of gourmet hot dogs will be offered. Those who attend are urged to bring a folding lawn chair. The suggested minimum contribution is $100 per person.
For more information, call 443-2422
Bascom's Collection Of Dorothy West Stories
Lionel Bascom's new book
Western Connecticut State University English Prof. Lionel Bascom's latest book, "The Last Leaf," a collection of Dorothy West's short stories, is scheduled for publication in Fall 2007 by St. Martin's Press.
Bascom says the title comes from "a reference West made to herself as the last surviving member of the Harlem Renaissance ." West's second and last novel, "The Wedding" (1995), was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. "The Last Leaf" will include one of West's unpublished short stories that Bascom uncovered in the Library of Congress archives. This story was published in Connecticut Review in 2001 and later included in "America's Best Short Stories."
Publication of "The Last Leaf" has been delayed because of probate issues. West died in 1998, and Bascom needed permission from her estate to move forward with the project. Bascom next plans to write a literary biography of West, whom he calls his "literary grandmother."
In 1999, Bascom published "A Renaissance in Harlem: Lost Voices of an American Community" (HarperCollins).
A Renaissance in Harlem
reviewed by Library Journal:
Digging beneath the glitter of the African American artistic outpouring early in this century dubbed the Harlem Renaissance, journalist Bascom unearths another Harlem from forgotten WPA Writer's Project manuscripts in the Library of Congress.
Selecting 50 pieces by 11 WPA writers who worked in Harlem in the 1930s, Bascom challenges standard versions of the Renaissance's dimensions--everything from when it began and ended to its content and style. His selections take us beyond the close-knit circle of black intellectuals usually credited with producing the fruits of the most celebrated post-Civil War, pre-Civil Rights season of African American self-discovery.
The pieces resound not with the voices of the glitterati but with a vernacular chorus about everyday life during the Great Negro Migration. (That migration, which brought blacks from the rural South to the urban North in massive numbers, changed not merely the complexion of upper Manhattan but transformed it into the world's black capital.) This important book promises to shift discussions about Harlem, the Renaissance, New York, and Depression-era America in popular culture, literature, history, and folklore. Highly recommended.--Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Western Connecticut State University English Prof. Lionel Bascom's latest book, "The Last Leaf," a collection of Dorothy West's short stories, is scheduled for publication in Fall 2007 by St. Martin's Press.
Bascom says the title comes from "a reference West made to herself as the last surviving member of the Harlem Renaissance ." West's second and last novel, "The Wedding" (1995), was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. "The Last Leaf" will include one of West's unpublished short stories that Bascom uncovered in the Library of Congress archives. This story was published in Connecticut Review in 2001 and later included in "America's Best Short Stories."
Publication of "The Last Leaf" has been delayed because of probate issues. West died in 1998, and Bascom needed permission from her estate to move forward with the project. Bascom next plans to write a literary biography of West, whom he calls his "literary grandmother."
In 1999, Bascom published "A Renaissance in Harlem: Lost Voices of an American Community" (HarperCollins).
A Renaissance in Harlem
reviewed by Library Journal:
Digging beneath the glitter of the African American artistic outpouring early in this century dubbed the Harlem Renaissance, journalist Bascom unearths another Harlem from forgotten WPA Writer's Project manuscripts in the Library of Congress.
Selecting 50 pieces by 11 WPA writers who worked in Harlem in the 1930s, Bascom challenges standard versions of the Renaissance's dimensions--everything from when it began and ended to its content and style. His selections take us beyond the close-knit circle of black intellectuals usually credited with producing the fruits of the most celebrated post-Civil War, pre-Civil Rights season of African American self-discovery.
The pieces resound not with the voices of the glitterati but with a vernacular chorus about everyday life during the Great Negro Migration. (That migration, which brought blacks from the rural South to the urban North in massive numbers, changed not merely the complexion of upper Manhattan but transformed it into the world's black capital.) This important book promises to shift discussions about Harlem, the Renaissance, New York, and Depression-era America in popular culture, literature, history, and folklore. Highly recommended.--Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Federal Wiretaps And Local Cops: Scenario Once Led To A Wild West Standoff
Payoff
Tales Of Political Corruption
Vol. 1, No. 3
Federal Wiretaps And Local Cops:
Scenario Once Led To A Wild West Standoff
By RICHARD MEEHAN With ANDY THIBAULT
The Cool Justice Report
www.cooljustice.blogspot.com
Sept. 27, 2006
EDITOR'S NOTE: This column, excerpted from "Payoff: Tales Of Political Corruption," is available for reprint courtesy of The Cool Justice Report, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
Several years ago Philadelphia Mayor John Street found himself the object of national attention when a routine sweep of his office by local police turned up a surreptitious listening device.
The feds ultimately accepted responsibility for planting the bug, a microphone capable of recording all conversations within the mayor's office. Speculation concerning the identity of the electronic eavesdroppers initially ranged from Street's Republican opposition in the coming election to concerns that Street was yet another in a growing army of politicians gone sour. Today, the mayor is still firmly entrenched while several confederates have been prosecuted.
That the mayor of a large urban center is the target of electronic eavesdropping is not surprising. Elected office seems to bring with it the focus of federal investigators as the stakes for control of lucrative municipal contracts ratchet up. The trend toward gentrification of decaying urban centers has replaced physical blight with moral decay.
But that is not the most compelling part of this story. Lost in the feeding frenzy of yet another impending demise of a politician was the fact that local police were used to sweep for bugs that exposed a federal investigation secretly taking place in their city. Don't these folks communicate with one another?
The fact is that local cops and feds have been at odds many times in the recent past. Concern that the locals are too cozy with the targets of federal probes has led to separate, covert investigations that bypass the channels of local law enforcement, sometimes even colliding with them.
Years ago Bridgeport saw just such a clash in what became an almost comedic attempt by the feds to take down Bridgeport's police superintendent, Joe Walsh. Federal investigators had long suspected Walsh to be a dirty cop. Several attempts to infiltrate his department with a mole were unsuccessful.
In one endeavor the feds identified a local cop reputed to have a heroin addiction. A junkie rat was enlisted to befriend this cop and exploit the addiction. Ultimately the cop succumbed and agreed to travel to New York to score some dope to be shared with the new junkie friend. Waiting, however, were the feds. The unfortunate cop was not booked and paraded immediately before a judge. Rather, she was taken to a local motel and offered a deal: work as a mole inside the department, reporting any information that could be used to target Walsh as well as others. The cop refused. Even addicts have some sense of loyalty. The chance to make the drug distribution case go away evaporated and this cop was prosecuted.
The stage was set for what would become an urban legend not unlike the gang that couldn't shoot straight, when the feds conceived of a plan to use longtime hoodlum, Tommy Marra, to approach Walsh with a potential cash payoff. Marra was a small time car thief and gangster wannabe who was graduating to bigger games. He had a voluminous rap sheet. He ultimately would serve time for the baseball bat killing of another local smalltime bad guy.
I had heard of Tommy through the years but didn't know him personally. One of my teenage sons was dating a girl that Marra's son fancied. Some threats were subtly passed causing me to be concerned enough to reach out to Tommy's lawyer, a local guy I knew. Marra was on trial for the murder and a meeting was arranged for me at the courthouse during a recess in his trial. In a scene reminiscent of the Godfather, Tommy granted me an audience and assured me that his son would back off. This was years after the botched Walsh sting.
The feds suspected that Joe Walsh controlled the lucrative towing contract deals for local city garages. On a summer evening in 1981, Marra was enlisted to offer Walsh a substantial bribe to ensure that the contract would be awarded to someone close to him.
Walsh apparently bit and the payoff was negotiated and arranged. Marra was wired and given the cash for the meet. FBI agents were present to monitor the transaction through the listening device and actual surveillance. They even invited the beat reporter from the Bridgeport Post to accompany them on the take down.
In an affidavit, David Margolis, head of the Justice Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section in Washington, said federal authorities had received information that Superintendent Walsh accepted payoffs.
"Walsh ran [the situation] by me," recalled long-time Inspector Anthony Fabrizi. "I told him, `It stinks. Everyone knows you don't take money. It's got to be a sting.'
"So I wired him up and I led the squad that staked it out."
In a Wild West scene that would have made the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday jealous, the showdown was set for a city parking lot. The cops stood 100 feet away in a firehouse. FBI agents were nearby in a van.
"I trust you, you trust me," Walsh told Marra, who handed him an envelope containing $5,000.
Then, the cops beat the feds to the punch. "Put your hands on the dashboard, you're under arrest for attempted bribery," Walsh told Marra. Marra was cuffed. FBI agents, too late, ran to the car. They demanded their equipment, the money and their witness.
"We told them, `Get out of here. If you want to talk to us, come to the station,' " Farbizi said.
Walsh was backed up by a bevy of Bridgeport cops. So here were the feds facing off against the locals. To add even greater comedy, the local cops had invited the beat writer from the same paper who covered the local police. Neither reporter had any knowledge that the other would be there or what was intended; neither wanted to be scooped on such a huge story.
The feds never got to Joe Walsh. He retired comfortably.
Bridgeport attorney Richard Meehan Jr. was the lead defense counsel for former Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim's corruption trial. Meehan is certified as a criminal trial specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He has also obtained multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements in complex medical and dental malpractice and personal injury litigation. He is a past president of the Greater Bridgeport Bar Association and appears regularly on Court TV. Andy Thibault, author of Law &Justice In Everyday Life and a private investigator, is an adjunct lecturer of English and a mentor in the MFA writing program at Western Connecticut State University. Website, www.andythibault.com and Blog, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
Tales Of Political Corruption
Vol. 1, No. 3
Federal Wiretaps And Local Cops:
Scenario Once Led To A Wild West Standoff
By RICHARD MEEHAN With ANDY THIBAULT
The Cool Justice Report
www.cooljustice.blogspot.com
Sept. 27, 2006
EDITOR'S NOTE: This column, excerpted from "Payoff: Tales Of Political Corruption," is available for reprint courtesy of The Cool Justice Report, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
Several years ago Philadelphia Mayor John Street found himself the object of national attention when a routine sweep of his office by local police turned up a surreptitious listening device.
The feds ultimately accepted responsibility for planting the bug, a microphone capable of recording all conversations within the mayor's office. Speculation concerning the identity of the electronic eavesdroppers initially ranged from Street's Republican opposition in the coming election to concerns that Street was yet another in a growing army of politicians gone sour. Today, the mayor is still firmly entrenched while several confederates have been prosecuted.
That the mayor of a large urban center is the target of electronic eavesdropping is not surprising. Elected office seems to bring with it the focus of federal investigators as the stakes for control of lucrative municipal contracts ratchet up. The trend toward gentrification of decaying urban centers has replaced physical blight with moral decay.
But that is not the most compelling part of this story. Lost in the feeding frenzy of yet another impending demise of a politician was the fact that local police were used to sweep for bugs that exposed a federal investigation secretly taking place in their city. Don't these folks communicate with one another?
The fact is that local cops and feds have been at odds many times in the recent past. Concern that the locals are too cozy with the targets of federal probes has led to separate, covert investigations that bypass the channels of local law enforcement, sometimes even colliding with them.
Years ago Bridgeport saw just such a clash in what became an almost comedic attempt by the feds to take down Bridgeport's police superintendent, Joe Walsh. Federal investigators had long suspected Walsh to be a dirty cop. Several attempts to infiltrate his department with a mole were unsuccessful.
In one endeavor the feds identified a local cop reputed to have a heroin addiction. A junkie rat was enlisted to befriend this cop and exploit the addiction. Ultimately the cop succumbed and agreed to travel to New York to score some dope to be shared with the new junkie friend. Waiting, however, were the feds. The unfortunate cop was not booked and paraded immediately before a judge. Rather, she was taken to a local motel and offered a deal: work as a mole inside the department, reporting any information that could be used to target Walsh as well as others. The cop refused. Even addicts have some sense of loyalty. The chance to make the drug distribution case go away evaporated and this cop was prosecuted.
The stage was set for what would become an urban legend not unlike the gang that couldn't shoot straight, when the feds conceived of a plan to use longtime hoodlum, Tommy Marra, to approach Walsh with a potential cash payoff. Marra was a small time car thief and gangster wannabe who was graduating to bigger games. He had a voluminous rap sheet. He ultimately would serve time for the baseball bat killing of another local smalltime bad guy.
I had heard of Tommy through the years but didn't know him personally. One of my teenage sons was dating a girl that Marra's son fancied. Some threats were subtly passed causing me to be concerned enough to reach out to Tommy's lawyer, a local guy I knew. Marra was on trial for the murder and a meeting was arranged for me at the courthouse during a recess in his trial. In a scene reminiscent of the Godfather, Tommy granted me an audience and assured me that his son would back off. This was years after the botched Walsh sting.
The feds suspected that Joe Walsh controlled the lucrative towing contract deals for local city garages. On a summer evening in 1981, Marra was enlisted to offer Walsh a substantial bribe to ensure that the contract would be awarded to someone close to him.
Walsh apparently bit and the payoff was negotiated and arranged. Marra was wired and given the cash for the meet. FBI agents were present to monitor the transaction through the listening device and actual surveillance. They even invited the beat reporter from the Bridgeport Post to accompany them on the take down.
In an affidavit, David Margolis, head of the Justice Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section in Washington, said federal authorities had received information that Superintendent Walsh accepted payoffs.
"Walsh ran [the situation] by me," recalled long-time Inspector Anthony Fabrizi. "I told him, `It stinks. Everyone knows you don't take money. It's got to be a sting.'
"So I wired him up and I led the squad that staked it out."
In a Wild West scene that would have made the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday jealous, the showdown was set for a city parking lot. The cops stood 100 feet away in a firehouse. FBI agents were nearby in a van.
"I trust you, you trust me," Walsh told Marra, who handed him an envelope containing $5,000.
Then, the cops beat the feds to the punch. "Put your hands on the dashboard, you're under arrest for attempted bribery," Walsh told Marra. Marra was cuffed. FBI agents, too late, ran to the car. They demanded their equipment, the money and their witness.
"We told them, `Get out of here. If you want to talk to us, come to the station,' " Farbizi said.
Walsh was backed up by a bevy of Bridgeport cops. So here were the feds facing off against the locals. To add even greater comedy, the local cops had invited the beat writer from the same paper who covered the local police. Neither reporter had any knowledge that the other would be there or what was intended; neither wanted to be scooped on such a huge story.
The feds never got to Joe Walsh. He retired comfortably.
Bridgeport attorney Richard Meehan Jr. was the lead defense counsel for former Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim's corruption trial. Meehan is certified as a criminal trial specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He has also obtained multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements in complex medical and dental malpractice and personal injury litigation. He is a past president of the Greater Bridgeport Bar Association and appears regularly on Court TV. Andy Thibault, author of Law &Justice In Everyday Life and a private investigator, is an adjunct lecturer of English and a mentor in the MFA writing program at Western Connecticut State University. Website, www.andythibault.com and Blog, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
Hartford Courant Reporter Writes To His New Boss
September 18, 2006
TO: Stephen D. Carver, President, COO and Publisher-to-be
America’s Oldest Continuously Published Newspaper
The Hartford Courant
FROM: Rinker Buck, Staff Writer
The Hartford Courant
SUBJECT: The Tribune Company's Disinvestment in Connecticut
AN OPEN LETTER FROM A WRITER TO HIS PUBLISHER
Mr. Carver:
Two weeks ago, what should have been a proud moment in the life of an historic institution -- the elevation of the popular and talented Cliff Teutsch to editor of the Courant -- was marred by fresh promises by Tribune to exact more job cuts. We can't even get through the choice of a new editor around here without the negative spin of Tribune's rote management default: gutting the very property it claims to be managing for shareholders. This is an open e-mail from a concerned and experienced newsman who isn't afraid to tell you that Tribune’s "cost center" mentality is alienating your workforce, driving readers away in droves and contributing to a loss of confidence among advertisers and the civic community.
Why would a newspaper that its owners say is still profitable commit commercial suicide like this?
Last week, we learned that Dean Baquet, the editor of Tribune's Los Angeles Times, is refusing to participate in the same rounds of cuts that you are demanding here. The publisher in Los Angeles, Jeffrey Johnson, has publicly backed his editor, saying, "Newspapers can't cut their way into the future." Tribune's management of its paper there has become so controversial and embarrassing that a group of prominent citizens, including a former secretary of state, have challenged the company to either begin reinvesting in its local property or sell it to an owner more worthy of media stewardship.
Both events raise an important issue that needs to be publicly aired before you commence another round of unpopular layoffs. In an increasingly desperate and headlong effort to stem costs associated with a string of regrettable business decisions, Tribune is bleeding its local properties to keep the corporate mother ship in Chicago above water. But this unique consumer product that we call a newspaper -- presented new to readers and advertisers every day -- isn't simply acutely sensitive to nuances of quality and threatened by these cuts. A newspaper is a public institution whose fortunes and élan are shared by all, a passionate presence in people’s lives. You can't make money at newspapering -- and there is still plenty of money to be made in newspapers -- by positioning the brand as a money-losing operation whose future depends on perpetual budget cutting and the concomitant erosion of quality. People don't want to buy a product that's inferior to the one they bought the day before. They want to buy a newspaper that is public-spirited, improves their lives and adapts to change by intelligently investing in the future.
We are not doing that anymore at The Hartford Courant. And the disconnect between these competing needs -- serving the community versus filling the corporate coffers -- is destroying the brand.
I don't think Tribune's leaders in Chicago perceive just how much their leadership has let us all down. So let's look at the record since Tribune bought the old Times Mirror properties in March 2000.
It is now generally agreed among business writers and Wall Street analysts that the $8.3 billion Tribune paid for the Times Mirror papers was hugely over-valued, by perhaps as much as $1 billion. That's a big mistake, but it was compounded by the fact that Tribune made its bet on the papers at the very moment when a historic but hardly fatal downturn in national advertising spending was challenging many print companies. In this environment, the debt Tribune piled up couldn't be easily retired by cash flow from the properties. This situation, of course, is made worse by the increasingly unrealistic and greedy expectations of shareholders and their Wall Street stock-pickers, whose quarterly mentality about earnings makes it difficult for any company to intelligently spend for the future.
It would be nice if America's CEO class had the courage to stare down Wall Street and say that certain businesses and certain companies are important to preserve and that we ought to expect more modest earnings during challenging times in their markets. Bet on us now while we’re investing in the future and we'll deliver solid returns, based on sound properties, in future years. But of course the obsequiousness of our business leaders toward financial analysts is too complete. It would never strike a media company to make a splash by challenging conventional wisdom.
Tribune compounded this common problem by assuming responsibility for a $1 billion tax break that Times Mirror claimed after it divested some print properties in 1998. Tribune executives went ahead with the deal even after attorneys informed them that keeping the tax advantage "was a difficult case in tax court." A year ago, a tax court ordered Tribune to pay its overdue bill, a decision now on appeal. In the third quarter last year, Tribune took a $125 million after-tax charge to cover the interest being assessed by the IRS, and has issued $780 million in bonds to help cover the payment of the tax bill should it lose on appeal. These are funds, of course, that can’t be used to reinvest in the local properties and at least partially have to be recovered by siphoning cash flow elsewhere.
In the annals of American business, billion-dollar judgment errors are rare, but Tribune didn’t stop there. The circulation scandal at the Spanish-language Hoy and Newsday forced the company to set aside another $90 million in charges against earnings and caused incalculable harm both to revenues and the company’s business reputation.
And let's not forget "convergence." Remember that word? This was the belief, heavily promoted by Tribune at the time of its Times Mirror acquisition, that the duopoly of cross-owned newspapers and television stations in the same market would offer profitable advantage to the newly merged empire. Tribune would be able to cut costs on newsgathering while enticing advertisers with joint print-broadcast packages. But that gamble, too, has flopped. Sources as various as Business Week, The Economist and even the Chicago Tribune's own business page have criticized the failed strategy as one that contributed to Tribune’s stagnant stock price. More expense and damage to Tribune's reputation has been incurred by the six-year losing effort of the company to amend the FCC rules barring cross-ownership, which two federal courts have now rejected. Even the executive-suite-friendly Bush administration can’t stomach Tribune’s attempt to bend the FCC rules. Last year the Justice Department announced that it is no longer supporting Tribune's FCC lawsuit.
From what we've seen in Hartford, convergence couldn't help but fail. Here, the Courant and its reputation for deep reporting and insightful writing were forced into an arranged marriage with Tribune's crossed-owned television station, the gaudy Fox 61. Aside from rewriting and then reading articles from the Courant on-air -- which, by the way, the Fox station was doing very well even before “convergence” was invented -- the experiment has led to nothing memorable, except that it is the frequent butt of jokes among the sources we have as reporters. (You can check the history of your insertion orders, Mr. Carver, to see if the Courant-Fox 61 menage has produced any advertising results.) Certainly Tribune has concluded as much itself. The staffer hired with much fanfare to coordinate Tribune's print-broadcast "convergence" in Hartford was let go in the last round of budget cuts. The equipment purchased to effect this synergy now sits idle most of the day.
Tribune executives regularly and fastidiously lecture us via e-mail on the importance of controlling costs. To this corporation, we are not reporters who love staying up all night getting a story done to beat the competition in Boston or New York. We are not writers who dream of the perfect sentence or winning awards. To Tribune, we're just cost-centers, constantly hectored from Chicago about the need to pinch pennies and reduce the burdens of our upkeep.
Perhaps then sir you wouldn't mind if I ask how much corporate Tribune has blown by its serial financial miscalculations? I only scored in the mid-600s on my math SATs, but it does seem to me that the dollar figure here has grown frightfully large. Okay, let's put aside for the moment the $1 billion over-valuation at the time of the Times-Mirror purchase. That's a subjective figure that can always be dismissed as simply the musings of stock analysts and short-sellers intent on running down Tribune's stock. Let's begin with the second $1 billion, for the tax liabilities Tribune probably will have to pay. The financial fallout from the Newsday and Hoy circulation has to come to at least $200 million. Payments to lawyers and lobbyists to sustain Tribune's long effort at changing the FCC rules, and fighting the tax case, must be at least in the $25 million range. I wouldn't be surprised if it's more like $50 million.
That's at least $1.2 billion in potential costs incurred by corporate malpractice. These potential losses, and the controversies swirling around them, as you know, have had a disastrous impact on Tribune's stock price.
Don't you think, before we undertake another round of demoralizing and quality-degrading layoffs and cuts, that the real problems of the company should be addressed? The Tribune Tower in Chicago is itself a massive cost-center and I see no evidence that anything is being done about that. Given this record, draining the properties in Hartford, Baltimore and Los Angeles of their cash is just pouring good money after bad and in no way improving our business prospects.
Now, let's take a look at the revenue side.
In their published reports, business writers and stock analysts who follow Tribune have consistently insisted that operating margins at the local papers are in the 20 percent range. This is well above the 10 to 12 percent achieved by most Fortune 500 companies. I can find no evidence of Tribune executives questioning these figures. It's possible, of course, that the 20 percent figure simply reflects selective leaks on the part of Tribune executives to assure a jittery stock market that the operating units of the company remain sound. So let's say that our margins are really closer to the national business norm of 10 percent.
Is it prudent for a business still that profitable to degrade its quality and shred the loyalty of its market by announcing further cuts? To do that seems an especially unwise decision when the local funds so desperately needed by Chicago will be used, at least in part, to cover the costs of past mistakes.
But we need to know, and our market needs to know. The personal sacrifice and damage to our reputation by additional cuts is simply not worth the cost unless we are really losing money and you can document that. If we're not losing money and the funds secured from more cuts are simply diverted to Chicago, what sort of message are we sending, and what business model are we pursuing? The only thing we are expressing by the current policy of alienating cash from Hartford is that the Tribune model for corporate ownership of local papers is not working. Moreover, ownership of local newspapers by publicly traded companies beholden to the financial analysts is also a model that deserves questioning.
So, I ask you:
What are the Courant's operating margins?
How much cash are we shipping, on a monthly and yearly basis, to Chicago?
Most likely, your Chicago masters will not allow you to divulge those figures. They don't want their Connecticut market to apprehend the level of Tribune’s local disinvestment.
However, if you can’t document our margins, or specify how much we are diverting to Chicago to support high corporate overhead, budget cuts at this time have no context. Nor can they be justified from either a business or a moral standpoint.
The predations of Tribune’s budget cuts here have already been substantial. Shuttering circulation offices, drastically reducing the size of our news hole, cutting staffing in local news bureaus and outsourcing our call center to a cheap-labor foreign country produce real, tangible difficulties for our readers. One of our most frequent reader complaints is that coverage of local towns -- once the heart of the Courant’s vaunted edition system -- has declined to the point where subscribers no longer see the value of taking the paper. Getting a circulation problem resolved can be worse than dealing with the Pentagon. Over the past few weeks, though I’m an award-winning writer, I've had to abandon reporting and writing at least two days a week because the section I write for is so short-staffed I have to copy-edit instead. I don't mind the work, and I'm more than willing to personally sacrifice to meet legitimate company goals. But the truth is that you are wasting your investment in me.
Our image suffers as well. The state senators I interview, or members of our Congressional delegation, regularly and bitterly complain about our reducing the size of our statehouse staff and the closing of our Washington bureau. We don't generate our own movie reviews any more, because Tribune considers it more "efficient" to run wire copy. But what an important and visible symbol of disinvestments that is. In one of the most sophisticated and wealthy markets in the country, with immensely prosperous suburbs, a dozen prominent colleges and prep schools and famous cultural outlets like The Hartford Stage and The Bushnell, The Courant no longer runs movie reviews by its own critics. That's pathetic and a telling symbol of the cultural mediocrity that Tribune ownership brings to our state.
And here's another thing that the readers always appreciate but that the chuckleheads at Tribune can't see. When there is a big regional story to cover and I'm competing against larger papers out of Boston or New York, we always win, we always out-report them, and my editors always demand that my copy is smarter, brighter. We regularly do this even when the Times or the Globe double-teams us with extra reporters. (God, how I enjoy doing it too.) But nobody at Tribune notices that because they can only measure newspapering in dollars and meeting budgets. But heart and soul are the qualities that a newspaper and its readers value. Tribune executives need to get hip, get off the golf links, and get down with some real people to understand this. It's heart and soul that you are selling to your customers. And the Tribune boys also need to curb their arrogance toward the journalists who work for them. You can demoralize, but you can never defeat a causally motivated person like me.
There's another deleterious result of the Tribune culture, a sad thing to watch. At Tribune, so much emphasis is placed on cost-cutting, and incessant talk of cost cutting, that the company's executives have completely forgotten the art of selling our strengths. The Courant still enjoys one of the highest pass-through rates in the country. Tireless teams of investigative reporters have recently toppled a corrupt Governor and made national headlines with a story about mentally ill soldiers being dispatched to Iraq. Our web site is receiving impressive numbers of page-reads and, over time, creative executives will learn how to sell that and promote the fact that we’re recovering readers that no longer rely on print. The Courant regularly wins more awards than any other paper in the country for its photographic and design excellence. Nobel Prize-winning writers, busy CEOs, and U.S. Senators always come to the phone when I tell them I'm from The Hartford Courant.
Are we selling that? No. We're selling a culture of layoffs and budget cuts, all to sustain the practice of diverting local profits to support corporate overhead in Chicago.
Tribune's strategy of cutting its way into profitability has another, obvious fault. We all know that eventually the management problems of the company have to be addressed and that one strong possibility is that we’ll follow the Knight Ridder model of dismantling the chain. Most of us would regard this as a positive development. In Connecticut there are any number of wealthy, public-spirited investors who would pool their funds to buy the Courant, and then operate the paper successfully for the public good and profit. But why degrade the property now with further cuts? We’d only be delivering into the hands of new owners a weaker franchise that would sell for a lower price.
I love the pulse and throb of being a newsman, the pleasure of working for a successful, moneymaking business. I rise in the morning excited about the stories I'm going to write and about working hard and late with other reporters when there’s a big event that we have to crash onto the pages. I enjoy beating other nationally ranked papers on the same story, proving to this tremendously sophisticated audience we have in Connecticut that the local writer really can be the smartest and the best. I love exposing self-importance and praising the noble and the brave. It’s a Whitmanesque love of country and landscape and freedom that I have. And the better publishers that I've worked with over the years could always promote that kind of elan. But you sure don't feel like old Walt when the only thing on your computer screen this morning is another Tribune diktat from Chicago obsessing all over again about the need to cut, cut, cut.
So, that’s the equation I am presenting to you, Mr. Carver. If you can’t prove to me that the Courant is losing money, executing additional layoffs and cuts cannot be defended. Connecticut doesn’t need any more layoffs. Your employees reject the strategy of publishing an inferior paper. And the practice of alienating profits from Hartford to pay for the mistakes of a distant corporate parent in Chicago is both an unwise business decision and deeply immoral.
And, over the coming days, I would hope that you would consider another question related to Tribune. It is one that your employees and your market in Hartford are asking.
Why does a company that owns so many newspapers detest them so?
Thanks for reading. I look forward to your reply.
Yours,
RINKER BUCK
TO: Stephen D. Carver, President, COO and Publisher-to-be
America’s Oldest Continuously Published Newspaper
The Hartford Courant
FROM: Rinker Buck, Staff Writer
The Hartford Courant
SUBJECT: The Tribune Company's Disinvestment in Connecticut
AN OPEN LETTER FROM A WRITER TO HIS PUBLISHER
Mr. Carver:
Two weeks ago, what should have been a proud moment in the life of an historic institution -- the elevation of the popular and talented Cliff Teutsch to editor of the Courant -- was marred by fresh promises by Tribune to exact more job cuts. We can't even get through the choice of a new editor around here without the negative spin of Tribune's rote management default: gutting the very property it claims to be managing for shareholders. This is an open e-mail from a concerned and experienced newsman who isn't afraid to tell you that Tribune’s "cost center" mentality is alienating your workforce, driving readers away in droves and contributing to a loss of confidence among advertisers and the civic community.
Why would a newspaper that its owners say is still profitable commit commercial suicide like this?
Last week, we learned that Dean Baquet, the editor of Tribune's Los Angeles Times, is refusing to participate in the same rounds of cuts that you are demanding here. The publisher in Los Angeles, Jeffrey Johnson, has publicly backed his editor, saying, "Newspapers can't cut their way into the future." Tribune's management of its paper there has become so controversial and embarrassing that a group of prominent citizens, including a former secretary of state, have challenged the company to either begin reinvesting in its local property or sell it to an owner more worthy of media stewardship.
Both events raise an important issue that needs to be publicly aired before you commence another round of unpopular layoffs. In an increasingly desperate and headlong effort to stem costs associated with a string of regrettable business decisions, Tribune is bleeding its local properties to keep the corporate mother ship in Chicago above water. But this unique consumer product that we call a newspaper -- presented new to readers and advertisers every day -- isn't simply acutely sensitive to nuances of quality and threatened by these cuts. A newspaper is a public institution whose fortunes and élan are shared by all, a passionate presence in people’s lives. You can't make money at newspapering -- and there is still plenty of money to be made in newspapers -- by positioning the brand as a money-losing operation whose future depends on perpetual budget cutting and the concomitant erosion of quality. People don't want to buy a product that's inferior to the one they bought the day before. They want to buy a newspaper that is public-spirited, improves their lives and adapts to change by intelligently investing in the future.
We are not doing that anymore at The Hartford Courant. And the disconnect between these competing needs -- serving the community versus filling the corporate coffers -- is destroying the brand.
I don't think Tribune's leaders in Chicago perceive just how much their leadership has let us all down. So let's look at the record since Tribune bought the old Times Mirror properties in March 2000.
It is now generally agreed among business writers and Wall Street analysts that the $8.3 billion Tribune paid for the Times Mirror papers was hugely over-valued, by perhaps as much as $1 billion. That's a big mistake, but it was compounded by the fact that Tribune made its bet on the papers at the very moment when a historic but hardly fatal downturn in national advertising spending was challenging many print companies. In this environment, the debt Tribune piled up couldn't be easily retired by cash flow from the properties. This situation, of course, is made worse by the increasingly unrealistic and greedy expectations of shareholders and their Wall Street stock-pickers, whose quarterly mentality about earnings makes it difficult for any company to intelligently spend for the future.
It would be nice if America's CEO class had the courage to stare down Wall Street and say that certain businesses and certain companies are important to preserve and that we ought to expect more modest earnings during challenging times in their markets. Bet on us now while we’re investing in the future and we'll deliver solid returns, based on sound properties, in future years. But of course the obsequiousness of our business leaders toward financial analysts is too complete. It would never strike a media company to make a splash by challenging conventional wisdom.
Tribune compounded this common problem by assuming responsibility for a $1 billion tax break that Times Mirror claimed after it divested some print properties in 1998. Tribune executives went ahead with the deal even after attorneys informed them that keeping the tax advantage "was a difficult case in tax court." A year ago, a tax court ordered Tribune to pay its overdue bill, a decision now on appeal. In the third quarter last year, Tribune took a $125 million after-tax charge to cover the interest being assessed by the IRS, and has issued $780 million in bonds to help cover the payment of the tax bill should it lose on appeal. These are funds, of course, that can’t be used to reinvest in the local properties and at least partially have to be recovered by siphoning cash flow elsewhere.
In the annals of American business, billion-dollar judgment errors are rare, but Tribune didn’t stop there. The circulation scandal at the Spanish-language Hoy and Newsday forced the company to set aside another $90 million in charges against earnings and caused incalculable harm both to revenues and the company’s business reputation.
And let's not forget "convergence." Remember that word? This was the belief, heavily promoted by Tribune at the time of its Times Mirror acquisition, that the duopoly of cross-owned newspapers and television stations in the same market would offer profitable advantage to the newly merged empire. Tribune would be able to cut costs on newsgathering while enticing advertisers with joint print-broadcast packages. But that gamble, too, has flopped. Sources as various as Business Week, The Economist and even the Chicago Tribune's own business page have criticized the failed strategy as one that contributed to Tribune’s stagnant stock price. More expense and damage to Tribune's reputation has been incurred by the six-year losing effort of the company to amend the FCC rules barring cross-ownership, which two federal courts have now rejected. Even the executive-suite-friendly Bush administration can’t stomach Tribune’s attempt to bend the FCC rules. Last year the Justice Department announced that it is no longer supporting Tribune's FCC lawsuit.
From what we've seen in Hartford, convergence couldn't help but fail. Here, the Courant and its reputation for deep reporting and insightful writing were forced into an arranged marriage with Tribune's crossed-owned television station, the gaudy Fox 61. Aside from rewriting and then reading articles from the Courant on-air -- which, by the way, the Fox station was doing very well even before “convergence” was invented -- the experiment has led to nothing memorable, except that it is the frequent butt of jokes among the sources we have as reporters. (You can check the history of your insertion orders, Mr. Carver, to see if the Courant-Fox 61 menage has produced any advertising results.) Certainly Tribune has concluded as much itself. The staffer hired with much fanfare to coordinate Tribune's print-broadcast "convergence" in Hartford was let go in the last round of budget cuts. The equipment purchased to effect this synergy now sits idle most of the day.
Tribune executives regularly and fastidiously lecture us via e-mail on the importance of controlling costs. To this corporation, we are not reporters who love staying up all night getting a story done to beat the competition in Boston or New York. We are not writers who dream of the perfect sentence or winning awards. To Tribune, we're just cost-centers, constantly hectored from Chicago about the need to pinch pennies and reduce the burdens of our upkeep.
Perhaps then sir you wouldn't mind if I ask how much corporate Tribune has blown by its serial financial miscalculations? I only scored in the mid-600s on my math SATs, but it does seem to me that the dollar figure here has grown frightfully large. Okay, let's put aside for the moment the $1 billion over-valuation at the time of the Times-Mirror purchase. That's a subjective figure that can always be dismissed as simply the musings of stock analysts and short-sellers intent on running down Tribune's stock. Let's begin with the second $1 billion, for the tax liabilities Tribune probably will have to pay. The financial fallout from the Newsday and Hoy circulation has to come to at least $200 million. Payments to lawyers and lobbyists to sustain Tribune's long effort at changing the FCC rules, and fighting the tax case, must be at least in the $25 million range. I wouldn't be surprised if it's more like $50 million.
That's at least $1.2 billion in potential costs incurred by corporate malpractice. These potential losses, and the controversies swirling around them, as you know, have had a disastrous impact on Tribune's stock price.
Don't you think, before we undertake another round of demoralizing and quality-degrading layoffs and cuts, that the real problems of the company should be addressed? The Tribune Tower in Chicago is itself a massive cost-center and I see no evidence that anything is being done about that. Given this record, draining the properties in Hartford, Baltimore and Los Angeles of their cash is just pouring good money after bad and in no way improving our business prospects.
Now, let's take a look at the revenue side.
In their published reports, business writers and stock analysts who follow Tribune have consistently insisted that operating margins at the local papers are in the 20 percent range. This is well above the 10 to 12 percent achieved by most Fortune 500 companies. I can find no evidence of Tribune executives questioning these figures. It's possible, of course, that the 20 percent figure simply reflects selective leaks on the part of Tribune executives to assure a jittery stock market that the operating units of the company remain sound. So let's say that our margins are really closer to the national business norm of 10 percent.
Is it prudent for a business still that profitable to degrade its quality and shred the loyalty of its market by announcing further cuts? To do that seems an especially unwise decision when the local funds so desperately needed by Chicago will be used, at least in part, to cover the costs of past mistakes.
But we need to know, and our market needs to know. The personal sacrifice and damage to our reputation by additional cuts is simply not worth the cost unless we are really losing money and you can document that. If we're not losing money and the funds secured from more cuts are simply diverted to Chicago, what sort of message are we sending, and what business model are we pursuing? The only thing we are expressing by the current policy of alienating cash from Hartford is that the Tribune model for corporate ownership of local papers is not working. Moreover, ownership of local newspapers by publicly traded companies beholden to the financial analysts is also a model that deserves questioning.
So, I ask you:
What are the Courant's operating margins?
How much cash are we shipping, on a monthly and yearly basis, to Chicago?
Most likely, your Chicago masters will not allow you to divulge those figures. They don't want their Connecticut market to apprehend the level of Tribune’s local disinvestment.
However, if you can’t document our margins, or specify how much we are diverting to Chicago to support high corporate overhead, budget cuts at this time have no context. Nor can they be justified from either a business or a moral standpoint.
The predations of Tribune’s budget cuts here have already been substantial. Shuttering circulation offices, drastically reducing the size of our news hole, cutting staffing in local news bureaus and outsourcing our call center to a cheap-labor foreign country produce real, tangible difficulties for our readers. One of our most frequent reader complaints is that coverage of local towns -- once the heart of the Courant’s vaunted edition system -- has declined to the point where subscribers no longer see the value of taking the paper. Getting a circulation problem resolved can be worse than dealing with the Pentagon. Over the past few weeks, though I’m an award-winning writer, I've had to abandon reporting and writing at least two days a week because the section I write for is so short-staffed I have to copy-edit instead. I don't mind the work, and I'm more than willing to personally sacrifice to meet legitimate company goals. But the truth is that you are wasting your investment in me.
Our image suffers as well. The state senators I interview, or members of our Congressional delegation, regularly and bitterly complain about our reducing the size of our statehouse staff and the closing of our Washington bureau. We don't generate our own movie reviews any more, because Tribune considers it more "efficient" to run wire copy. But what an important and visible symbol of disinvestments that is. In one of the most sophisticated and wealthy markets in the country, with immensely prosperous suburbs, a dozen prominent colleges and prep schools and famous cultural outlets like The Hartford Stage and The Bushnell, The Courant no longer runs movie reviews by its own critics. That's pathetic and a telling symbol of the cultural mediocrity that Tribune ownership brings to our state.
And here's another thing that the readers always appreciate but that the chuckleheads at Tribune can't see. When there is a big regional story to cover and I'm competing against larger papers out of Boston or New York, we always win, we always out-report them, and my editors always demand that my copy is smarter, brighter. We regularly do this even when the Times or the Globe double-teams us with extra reporters. (God, how I enjoy doing it too.) But nobody at Tribune notices that because they can only measure newspapering in dollars and meeting budgets. But heart and soul are the qualities that a newspaper and its readers value. Tribune executives need to get hip, get off the golf links, and get down with some real people to understand this. It's heart and soul that you are selling to your customers. And the Tribune boys also need to curb their arrogance toward the journalists who work for them. You can demoralize, but you can never defeat a causally motivated person like me.
There's another deleterious result of the Tribune culture, a sad thing to watch. At Tribune, so much emphasis is placed on cost-cutting, and incessant talk of cost cutting, that the company's executives have completely forgotten the art of selling our strengths. The Courant still enjoys one of the highest pass-through rates in the country. Tireless teams of investigative reporters have recently toppled a corrupt Governor and made national headlines with a story about mentally ill soldiers being dispatched to Iraq. Our web site is receiving impressive numbers of page-reads and, over time, creative executives will learn how to sell that and promote the fact that we’re recovering readers that no longer rely on print. The Courant regularly wins more awards than any other paper in the country for its photographic and design excellence. Nobel Prize-winning writers, busy CEOs, and U.S. Senators always come to the phone when I tell them I'm from The Hartford Courant.
Are we selling that? No. We're selling a culture of layoffs and budget cuts, all to sustain the practice of diverting local profits to support corporate overhead in Chicago.
Tribune's strategy of cutting its way into profitability has another, obvious fault. We all know that eventually the management problems of the company have to be addressed and that one strong possibility is that we’ll follow the Knight Ridder model of dismantling the chain. Most of us would regard this as a positive development. In Connecticut there are any number of wealthy, public-spirited investors who would pool their funds to buy the Courant, and then operate the paper successfully for the public good and profit. But why degrade the property now with further cuts? We’d only be delivering into the hands of new owners a weaker franchise that would sell for a lower price.
I love the pulse and throb of being a newsman, the pleasure of working for a successful, moneymaking business. I rise in the morning excited about the stories I'm going to write and about working hard and late with other reporters when there’s a big event that we have to crash onto the pages. I enjoy beating other nationally ranked papers on the same story, proving to this tremendously sophisticated audience we have in Connecticut that the local writer really can be the smartest and the best. I love exposing self-importance and praising the noble and the brave. It’s a Whitmanesque love of country and landscape and freedom that I have. And the better publishers that I've worked with over the years could always promote that kind of elan. But you sure don't feel like old Walt when the only thing on your computer screen this morning is another Tribune diktat from Chicago obsessing all over again about the need to cut, cut, cut.
So, that’s the equation I am presenting to you, Mr. Carver. If you can’t prove to me that the Courant is losing money, executing additional layoffs and cuts cannot be defended. Connecticut doesn’t need any more layoffs. Your employees reject the strategy of publishing an inferior paper. And the practice of alienating profits from Hartford to pay for the mistakes of a distant corporate parent in Chicago is both an unwise business decision and deeply immoral.
And, over the coming days, I would hope that you would consider another question related to Tribune. It is one that your employees and your market in Hartford are asking.
Why does a company that owns so many newspapers detest them so?
Thanks for reading. I look forward to your reply.
Yours,
RINKER BUCK
JUDGE SMACKS ENFIELD P& Z
Breaking News & Commentary
JUDGE SMACKS ENFIELD P&Z
Finds Commission Cited Rules That Do Not Exist
Montessori School Safe - For The Moment
By ANDY THIBAULT
The Cool Justice Report
www.cooljustice.blogspot.com
Sept. 27, 2006
[For background,
see post immediately following,
GREED & POWER THE ENFIELD WAY]
EDITOR'S NOTE: This column is available for reprint courtesy of The Cool Justice Report, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
The Enfield Montessori School has been rescued from the clutches of the venal Planning and Zoning Commission and its fellow marionettes. Hartford Superior Court Judge Richard Rittenband smote the sledgehammer that has been pounding the school, its children and the Felician Sisters for several years, ruling Tuesday that an old dirt lot is just an old dirt lot.
"The good ladies of Enfield of prevailed, absolutely," said the lawyer for the Felcian Sisters, Ken Slater of Hartford's Halloran and Sage.
"This is not a complex case," Rittenband wrote in his decision, Docket No. CV 05-4008771, Enfield Planning & Zoning Commission et al vs. Enfield Zoning Board of Appeals et al. "This gravel is merely maintenance or repair of an existing use and not an expansion thereof."
The town of Enfield has spent tens of thousands of dollars harassing the school. A full accounting has yet to be made.
"Is use of the parking area a legal pre-existing non-conforming use?" Rittenband asked in his 15-page decision. "The short answer to this question is yes ...
" Â… Was the addition of gravel in 1992 an illegal expansion of a non-conforming use? The short answer is no Â…
" Â… The Court would add that common sense would indicate that since the school was in operation from the mid 40's up to today but certainly up to 1966, it is logical to conclude that parents taking their children to the school and picking them up would have to have an area of off street parking in which to park ...
"Â… The plaintiffs have failed to specify any portion of the Zoning regulations that would require a special permit to apply the gravel to the parking area Â… There are no regulations requiring site plan or special permit approval to maintain and use an existing area. The parking lot of the defendants does not have new or expanded parking area. Suffice it to say that the existing unpaved parking area does not require a special permit."
Regarding assertions by Planning and Zoning that the Felician Sisters needed a permit because they had gravel dumped on a muddy lot, Rittenband wrote: "None of [the regulations] apply to the maintenance of adding gravel to the subject parking area in this case."
Rittenband affirmed a decision of the courageous Zoning Board of Appeals: The graveled parking lot is not in violation of the zoning regulations and that further approvals are unnecessary.
The ZBA ruling led to the Planning and Zoning Commission to promptly sue the Felician Sisters and the ZBA. Anthony DiPace, chairman of the P&Z, said his commission would appeal any adverse ruling by Rittenband.
The ongoing litigation and harassment has been on severe drain on operations of the school, its students, their parents and the Felician Sisters.
Read the Judge's Decision - PDF File.
NOTE FOOTNOTE IN JUDGE RITTENBAND'S DECISION, Page 4, in which he cites misrepresentation by Planning & Zoning Commission counsel and asks, "Is this entire dispute about a load of gravel being placed on the area of which no one complained for eleven (11) years?" You have certainly scratched the surface, Judge. A.T.
Andy Thibault, author of Law & Justice In Everyday Life and a private investigator, is an adjunct lecturer of English and a mentor in the MFA writing program at Western Connecticut State University. He also serves as a consulting editor for the literary journal Connecticut Review. Website, www.andythibault.com and Blog, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
JUDGE SMACKS ENFIELD P&Z
Finds Commission Cited Rules That Do Not Exist
Montessori School Safe - For The Moment
By ANDY THIBAULT
The Cool Justice Report
www.cooljustice.blogspot.com
Sept. 27, 2006
[For background,
see post immediately following,
GREED & POWER THE ENFIELD WAY]
EDITOR'S NOTE: This column is available for reprint courtesy of The Cool Justice Report, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
The Enfield Montessori School has been rescued from the clutches of the venal Planning and Zoning Commission and its fellow marionettes. Hartford Superior Court Judge Richard Rittenband smote the sledgehammer that has been pounding the school, its children and the Felician Sisters for several years, ruling Tuesday that an old dirt lot is just an old dirt lot.
"The good ladies of Enfield of prevailed, absolutely," said the lawyer for the Felcian Sisters, Ken Slater of Hartford's Halloran and Sage.
"This is not a complex case," Rittenband wrote in his decision, Docket No. CV 05-4008771, Enfield Planning & Zoning Commission et al vs. Enfield Zoning Board of Appeals et al. "This gravel is merely maintenance or repair of an existing use and not an expansion thereof."
The town of Enfield has spent tens of thousands of dollars harassing the school. A full accounting has yet to be made.
"Is use of the parking area a legal pre-existing non-conforming use?" Rittenband asked in his 15-page decision. "The short answer to this question is yes ...
" Â… Was the addition of gravel in 1992 an illegal expansion of a non-conforming use? The short answer is no Â…
" Â… The Court would add that common sense would indicate that since the school was in operation from the mid 40's up to today but certainly up to 1966, it is logical to conclude that parents taking their children to the school and picking them up would have to have an area of off street parking in which to park ...
"Â… The plaintiffs have failed to specify any portion of the Zoning regulations that would require a special permit to apply the gravel to the parking area Â… There are no regulations requiring site plan or special permit approval to maintain and use an existing area. The parking lot of the defendants does not have new or expanded parking area. Suffice it to say that the existing unpaved parking area does not require a special permit."
Regarding assertions by Planning and Zoning that the Felician Sisters needed a permit because they had gravel dumped on a muddy lot, Rittenband wrote: "None of [the regulations] apply to the maintenance of adding gravel to the subject parking area in this case."
Rittenband affirmed a decision of the courageous Zoning Board of Appeals: The graveled parking lot is not in violation of the zoning regulations and that further approvals are unnecessary.
The ZBA ruling led to the Planning and Zoning Commission to promptly sue the Felician Sisters and the ZBA. Anthony DiPace, chairman of the P&Z, said his commission would appeal any adverse ruling by Rittenband.
The ongoing litigation and harassment has been on severe drain on operations of the school, its students, their parents and the Felician Sisters.
Read the Judge's Decision - PDF File.
NOTE FOOTNOTE IN JUDGE RITTENBAND'S DECISION, Page 4, in which he cites misrepresentation by Planning & Zoning Commission counsel and asks, "Is this entire dispute about a load of gravel being placed on the area of which no one complained for eleven (11) years?" You have certainly scratched the surface, Judge. A.T.
Andy Thibault, author of Law & Justice In Everyday Life and a private investigator, is an adjunct lecturer of English and a mentor in the MFA writing program at Western Connecticut State University. He also serves as a consulting editor for the literary journal Connecticut Review. Website, www.andythibault.com and Blog, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Greed & Power The Enfield Way ... Cops Detain Reporter / SPJ Member
News & Commentary
Greed & Power The Enfield Way:
Is Montessori School Property
Just A Driveway For Troiano & Flunky Mayor?
Are Official Acts Tainted By Development Moves?
How Did Zoning Chairman Get Cops To Detain A Reporter?
By ANDY THIBAULT
The Cool Justice Report
www.cooljustice.blogspot.com
Sept. 26, 2006
EDITOR'S NOTE: This column was reported by Andy Thibault and Jim Brewer and was written by Thibault. It is available for reprint courtesy of The Cool Justice Report, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
This is a story of greed, political manipulation and the little school that got in the way.
I have been following this story for more than two years. There are strong indications it will rise - or already has risen - to the level of political corruption.
Enfield, Connecticut, a town of about 45,000 residents, is south of Springfield and north of Hartford off Interstate Route 91. The median household income in 2000 was about $53,000. The median house value, which has increased significantly since that time, was about $125,000. Manufacturing trails education, health and social services combined slightly in providing employment. The town is about 90 percent white, with significant concentrations of Irish, Italian, French, Polish, German and English ancestry. The median age of residents in 2000 was 37.3 years.
Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1 in Enfield, but they were able to regain power in 2003 only after a split between Republicans and conservatives including taxpayer groups. Democrats are led by Mayor Patrick Tallarita.
Tallarita's wife has entered into at least one development partnership. One project is very close to the Enfield Montessori School. Tallarita's wife Jeannette is a nurse and is not known for real estate expertise.
Jeannette Tallarita's partner in the Yale Court subdivision now under construction behind the Montessori School is M. Diane Frederick of Ridgewood Homes of Connecticut LLC. M. Diane Frederick's husband David Frederick is a major developer in the region. Diane and David Frederick confirmed this partnership to my associate, Jim Brewer.
Sources said David Frederick has expressed an interest in buying another parcel, of about seven acres, next to Yale Court and the Montessori School.
The first major move by the Tallarita crew upon his ascent to mayor last year was to fire the town manager, Scott Shanley. Shanley had no trouble landing a job in Manchester.
"The working theory, in the absence of any actual reasons provided by Mayor Tallarita or his party, is that the Democrats want to install someone more friendly to their plans," according to a posting by Chris Bigelow of Enfield, a blogger who runs the Connecticut Local Politics site. There are seven Democrats and four Republicans on the Town Council.
A malleable town manager might, for instance, go along with a recommendation not to replace the town's wetlands officer. Such a recommendation is currently before the town manager, sources said. With the Planning and Zoning and Wetlands Commissions controlled by the Council, this vacuum would allow certain developments to proceed without significant review or opposition.
The Golden Goose in this scenario is the 11-acre Montessori property, owned by the Felician Sisters. Acquisition of the Montessori land, along with Yale Court and the 7-acre adjacent property, would give a developer about 25 acres upon which scores of houses or a major condo complex could potentially be built. The combined properties could also allow for a right of way from Route 5 to a side street that already is densely populated.
Sister Francine Mary
Photo by Jim Brewer
For the past three years, the town of Enfield has mounted a relentless legal campaign to shut down the Montessori School. At best, the case appears to be based on a false premise. At worst, the constant battering of the Felician Sisters by the town seems to be the result of a conspiracy to manufacture false evidence.
When the sisters return from court, students ask them, "Are we still going to have a school?"
The sisters have operated the school at 1370 Enfield Street in various incarnations since 1944. They currently save the town about $350,000 annually in education spending. The site has operated as a Montessori School since 1965. And, since 1965, parents have dropped off their children in the parking area in front of the school.
At times this parking area would get muddy and cars would get stuck. In 1992, a parent dumped some gravel to alleviate the problem.
Eleven years later, the chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission, Anthony DiPace, would find this to be a major problem.
Adspresso, 540 Enfield St.
Photo by Jim Brewer
Also around this time, as we began the new millennium, Anthony Troiano stepped out of the shadows. Troiano, who lives next door to the school, became one of its most vehement opponents. The developer and prominent businessman spoke publicly against plans to move the parking area away from the highway to the back of the school. He said "historic vegetation" would be destroyed. Yet, when Troiano developed the parcels that now house Enfield Federal Savings Bank and a health care center, it was OK to tear down an historic blacksmith shop. Others who tried to develop those parcels before him were unsuccessful.
When Anthony Troiano talks, people jump. For most, he is the straw that stirs the drink.
One exception is Sister Mary Anastasia, who has taught at Enfield Montessori for more than 38 years. Sister Anastasia told us she turned down Troiano's offer to buy the 11-acre parcel.
"He insisted that we have plenty of buildings across the street, and that we could solve all our problems by moving," Sister Anastasia said.
Troiano was not pleased by the refusal to sell.
"He told us," Sister Anastasia said, "we would run out of money before he does," an apparent reference to ongoing legal battles.
Mayor Tallarita said of his relationship with Troiano: "We're just neighbors."
In his latest whopper, Tallarita told Sister Anastasia he couldn't do anything, his hands were tied, related to the town's war against the Montessori School.
The Ancient Dirt Parking Area
Photo by Jim Brewer
Zoning enforcement officer Wayne Bickley, meanwhile, confirmed he received the personal, if belated complaint about the Montessori parking area from P&Z Chairman DiPace, his superior.
"We didn't want to hurt the nuns," DiPace told Jim Brewer, "but we gotta do what we gotta do."
And so the town issued a cease and desist order for parking at the school. No parking, no school. Last year, however, the Zoning Board of Appeals lifted the order. The ZBA noted the area had been used for parking for more than 40 years. Regulations passed after the school began operating do not apply.
Planning and Zoning responded by suing the ZBA.
Dipace also told Brewer that if the town loses its current Superior Court battle against the Felician Sisters and the ZBA, it will appeal. Judge Richard Rittenband is hearing the case.
A small compilation of recent legal bills shows the town has spent more than $15,000 to harass the Montessori School. This does not cover preparation and actual costs for a hearing on Sept. 12.
The town is paying upwards of $200 an hour for the zoning commission lawyers to misrepresent testimony by Sister Anastasia. For example, attorney Matthew Willis, of the firm Branse, Willis &Knapp wrote in a brief for the September hearing in Hartford Superior Court: "Even the Sisters themselves admitted that the Disputed Gravel Parking Lot was created in 1992."
This tripe gives lawyers a bad name. Will they take any case, now matter how frivolous or lacking in merit? Talk about living off the public trough…
"There's something deeper than a scrawny little parking lot," Sister Anastasia said. "Out of a clear blue sky they say we have a newly-constructed parking lot. We wondered where it was.
"Nothing was said about gravel for 10 years," Sister Anastasia continued. "It's stupid. You don't see any gravel any more. It's dirt."
We have met many nice people in Enfield recently. Some of them like our inquiries, some apparently don't. We pressed DiPace about his involvement in the Montessori complaint. We didn't get to talk with him about the smooth sailing and waivers his wife got from the zoning commission for a coffee shop proposal at 540 Enfield St. The waivers include about $2,000 in savings for not having to submit a site bond and an undetermined savings for not having to submit a survey. A zone change from residential to commercial passed unanimously. Someone paid a $90,000 down payment, and Enfield Federal Savings holds a $70,000 mortgage, according to town records. An estimated $20,000 has been allocated for site improvements. The shop will be called Adspresso Cafe.
It was only indirectly, through the Enfield Police Department, that we became aware of DiPace's feelings.
Some time after leaving Town Hall Thursday, Sept. 21, my associate Jim Brewer was accosted by police officers from about four Enfield cruisers. They blocked his path and with no probable cause detained him illegally for approximately 30 minutes. They asked him if he knew how to get to Route 91, e.g., get out of town. As they focused on Jim, yelling at him and trying to intimidate him, they told a woman who was trying to report a fire to go away. Among the officers on the scene were a sergeant and a captain.
Police stated, among other things, that Dipace had met with the chief and other officials and had filed a stalking complaint. There is no basis for such a complaint and Dipace should probably be arrested for filing a false complaint.
No one ever told Jim not to call or visit. He took photographs only while on public property.
Atty. Norm Pattis of Bethany put the town on notice that they violated the civil rights of a citizen and reporter and that they will be held accountable.
"We are not yet prepared to bring an action against the town and / or its officers, but will do so without reservation should either of our clients be impeded once again in the exercise of their First Amendment rights," Pattis wrote today to Chief Carl Sferrazza and Town Manager Matthew Coppler.
Andy Thibault, author of Law & Justice In Everyday Life and a private investigator, is an adjunct lecturer of English and a mentor in the MFA writing program at Western Connecticut State University. He also serves as a consulting editor for the literary journal Connecticut Review. Website, www.andythibault.com and Blog, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
Jim Brewer, a former civil rights litigator, is a photojournalist and a contributing writer for The Justice Journal and Inquiring News. Brewer served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, commanding a military police unit at a nuclear weapons site in Germany, and as a prosecutor in New Jersey. Both writers are members of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Related posts:
Propaganda From Enfield Town Attorney & Friends
Town Has Spent More Than $15,000 To Harass Montessori School
Courant Covers Town's Demented &Costly Crusade Against Enfield Montessori School
Enfield’s ‘Deep Connole:’ Follow The Subdivisions
Enfield Legal Dept. Needs Tuneup
MONTESSORI PARENT SPEAKS
Sister Francine Mary's Letter To Gov. Rell
Enfield Mayor Full Of ...
Nuns Aren't Taking It Any More...
Greed & Power The Enfield Way:
Is Montessori School Property
Just A Driveway For Troiano & Flunky Mayor?
Are Official Acts Tainted By Development Moves?
How Did Zoning Chairman Get Cops To Detain A Reporter?
By ANDY THIBAULT
The Cool Justice Report
www.cooljustice.blogspot.com
Sept. 26, 2006
EDITOR'S NOTE: This column was reported by Andy Thibault and Jim Brewer and was written by Thibault. It is available for reprint courtesy of The Cool Justice Report, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
This is a story of greed, political manipulation and the little school that got in the way.
I have been following this story for more than two years. There are strong indications it will rise - or already has risen - to the level of political corruption.
Enfield, Connecticut, a town of about 45,000 residents, is south of Springfield and north of Hartford off Interstate Route 91. The median household income in 2000 was about $53,000. The median house value, which has increased significantly since that time, was about $125,000. Manufacturing trails education, health and social services combined slightly in providing employment. The town is about 90 percent white, with significant concentrations of Irish, Italian, French, Polish, German and English ancestry. The median age of residents in 2000 was 37.3 years.
Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1 in Enfield, but they were able to regain power in 2003 only after a split between Republicans and conservatives including taxpayer groups. Democrats are led by Mayor Patrick Tallarita.
Tallarita's wife has entered into at least one development partnership. One project is very close to the Enfield Montessori School. Tallarita's wife Jeannette is a nurse and is not known for real estate expertise.
Jeannette Tallarita's partner in the Yale Court subdivision now under construction behind the Montessori School is M. Diane Frederick of Ridgewood Homes of Connecticut LLC. M. Diane Frederick's husband David Frederick is a major developer in the region. Diane and David Frederick confirmed this partnership to my associate, Jim Brewer.
Sources said David Frederick has expressed an interest in buying another parcel, of about seven acres, next to Yale Court and the Montessori School.
The first major move by the Tallarita crew upon his ascent to mayor last year was to fire the town manager, Scott Shanley. Shanley had no trouble landing a job in Manchester.
"The working theory, in the absence of any actual reasons provided by Mayor Tallarita or his party, is that the Democrats want to install someone more friendly to their plans," according to a posting by Chris Bigelow of Enfield, a blogger who runs the Connecticut Local Politics site. There are seven Democrats and four Republicans on the Town Council.
A malleable town manager might, for instance, go along with a recommendation not to replace the town's wetlands officer. Such a recommendation is currently before the town manager, sources said. With the Planning and Zoning and Wetlands Commissions controlled by the Council, this vacuum would allow certain developments to proceed without significant review or opposition.
The Golden Goose in this scenario is the 11-acre Montessori property, owned by the Felician Sisters. Acquisition of the Montessori land, along with Yale Court and the 7-acre adjacent property, would give a developer about 25 acres upon which scores of houses or a major condo complex could potentially be built. The combined properties could also allow for a right of way from Route 5 to a side street that already is densely populated.
Photo by Jim Brewer
For the past three years, the town of Enfield has mounted a relentless legal campaign to shut down the Montessori School. At best, the case appears to be based on a false premise. At worst, the constant battering of the Felician Sisters by the town seems to be the result of a conspiracy to manufacture false evidence.
When the sisters return from court, students ask them, "Are we still going to have a school?"
The sisters have operated the school at 1370 Enfield Street in various incarnations since 1944. They currently save the town about $350,000 annually in education spending. The site has operated as a Montessori School since 1965. And, since 1965, parents have dropped off their children in the parking area in front of the school.
At times this parking area would get muddy and cars would get stuck. In 1992, a parent dumped some gravel to alleviate the problem.
Eleven years later, the chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission, Anthony DiPace, would find this to be a major problem.
Photo by Jim Brewer
Also around this time, as we began the new millennium, Anthony Troiano stepped out of the shadows. Troiano, who lives next door to the school, became one of its most vehement opponents. The developer and prominent businessman spoke publicly against plans to move the parking area away from the highway to the back of the school. He said "historic vegetation" would be destroyed. Yet, when Troiano developed the parcels that now house Enfield Federal Savings Bank and a health care center, it was OK to tear down an historic blacksmith shop. Others who tried to develop those parcels before him were unsuccessful.
When Anthony Troiano talks, people jump. For most, he is the straw that stirs the drink.
One exception is Sister Mary Anastasia, who has taught at Enfield Montessori for more than 38 years. Sister Anastasia told us she turned down Troiano's offer to buy the 11-acre parcel.
"He insisted that we have plenty of buildings across the street, and that we could solve all our problems by moving," Sister Anastasia said.
Troiano was not pleased by the refusal to sell.
"He told us," Sister Anastasia said, "we would run out of money before he does," an apparent reference to ongoing legal battles.
Mayor Tallarita said of his relationship with Troiano: "We're just neighbors."
In his latest whopper, Tallarita told Sister Anastasia he couldn't do anything, his hands were tied, related to the town's war against the Montessori School.
Photo by Jim Brewer
Zoning enforcement officer Wayne Bickley, meanwhile, confirmed he received the personal, if belated complaint about the Montessori parking area from P&Z Chairman DiPace, his superior.
"We didn't want to hurt the nuns," DiPace told Jim Brewer, "but we gotta do what we gotta do."
And so the town issued a cease and desist order for parking at the school. No parking, no school. Last year, however, the Zoning Board of Appeals lifted the order. The ZBA noted the area had been used for parking for more than 40 years. Regulations passed after the school began operating do not apply.
Planning and Zoning responded by suing the ZBA.
Dipace also told Brewer that if the town loses its current Superior Court battle against the Felician Sisters and the ZBA, it will appeal. Judge Richard Rittenband is hearing the case.
A small compilation of recent legal bills shows the town has spent more than $15,000 to harass the Montessori School. This does not cover preparation and actual costs for a hearing on Sept. 12.
The town is paying upwards of $200 an hour for the zoning commission lawyers to misrepresent testimony by Sister Anastasia. For example, attorney Matthew Willis, of the firm Branse, Willis &Knapp wrote in a brief for the September hearing in Hartford Superior Court: "Even the Sisters themselves admitted that the Disputed Gravel Parking Lot was created in 1992."
This tripe gives lawyers a bad name. Will they take any case, now matter how frivolous or lacking in merit? Talk about living off the public trough…
"There's something deeper than a scrawny little parking lot," Sister Anastasia said. "Out of a clear blue sky they say we have a newly-constructed parking lot. We wondered where it was.
"Nothing was said about gravel for 10 years," Sister Anastasia continued. "It's stupid. You don't see any gravel any more. It's dirt."
We have met many nice people in Enfield recently. Some of them like our inquiries, some apparently don't. We pressed DiPace about his involvement in the Montessori complaint. We didn't get to talk with him about the smooth sailing and waivers his wife got from the zoning commission for a coffee shop proposal at 540 Enfield St. The waivers include about $2,000 in savings for not having to submit a site bond and an undetermined savings for not having to submit a survey. A zone change from residential to commercial passed unanimously. Someone paid a $90,000 down payment, and Enfield Federal Savings holds a $70,000 mortgage, according to town records. An estimated $20,000 has been allocated for site improvements. The shop will be called Adspresso Cafe.
It was only indirectly, through the Enfield Police Department, that we became aware of DiPace's feelings.
Some time after leaving Town Hall Thursday, Sept. 21, my associate Jim Brewer was accosted by police officers from about four Enfield cruisers. They blocked his path and with no probable cause detained him illegally for approximately 30 minutes. They asked him if he knew how to get to Route 91, e.g., get out of town. As they focused on Jim, yelling at him and trying to intimidate him, they told a woman who was trying to report a fire to go away. Among the officers on the scene were a sergeant and a captain.
Police stated, among other things, that Dipace had met with the chief and other officials and had filed a stalking complaint. There is no basis for such a complaint and Dipace should probably be arrested for filing a false complaint.
No one ever told Jim not to call or visit. He took photographs only while on public property.
Atty. Norm Pattis of Bethany put the town on notice that they violated the civil rights of a citizen and reporter and that they will be held accountable.
"We are not yet prepared to bring an action against the town and / or its officers, but will do so without reservation should either of our clients be impeded once again in the exercise of their First Amendment rights," Pattis wrote today to Chief Carl Sferrazza and Town Manager Matthew Coppler.
Andy Thibault, author of Law & Justice In Everyday Life and a private investigator, is an adjunct lecturer of English and a mentor in the MFA writing program at Western Connecticut State University. He also serves as a consulting editor for the literary journal Connecticut Review. Website, www.andythibault.com and Blog, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com
Jim Brewer, a former civil rights litigator, is a photojournalist and a contributing writer for The Justice Journal and Inquiring News. Brewer served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, commanding a military police unit at a nuclear weapons site in Germany, and as a prosecutor in New Jersey. Both writers are members of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Related posts:
Propaganda From Enfield Town Attorney & Friends
Town Has Spent More Than $15,000 To Harass Montessori School
Courant Covers Town's Demented &Costly Crusade Against Enfield Montessori School
Enfield’s ‘Deep Connole:’ Follow The Subdivisions
Enfield Legal Dept. Needs Tuneup
MONTESSORI PARENT SPEAKS
Sister Francine Mary's Letter To Gov. Rell
Enfield Mayor Full Of ...
Nuns Aren't Taking It Any More...
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