Offshore drilling opens up

Transcription

Thursday, April 1, 2010
Sun returns
Weather
High 66, Low 47
Page A2
Yesterday’s
question
Do you have water in your
basement this week?
Local
REGION
Your opinion
Today’s question
Will you take advantage of the
May 11 extended tax filing deadline?
See story on this page, then go to
telegram.com to vote.
Student cuisine used to lobby, Page B1
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
WORCESTER
Superintendent reveals deep budget cuts, Page B1
MILLBURY
Pedestrian killed in morning accident, Page B2
$1.00
Landing
airport
transfer
is tricky
Offshore
drilling
opens up
Deal may be on
final approach
Obama says let it flow
off East Coast, Alaska
By Nick Kotsopoulos
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER — The city
expects to finally have a tentative deal in place by the middle
of this month to facilitate the
transfer of Worcester Regional
Airport to the Massachusetts
Port Authority.
Once that tentative deal is
struck, City Manager Michael
V. O’Brien said there will be a
60-day period for review, discussion, deliberations and action
by the Airport Commission, the
City Council, the Massachusetts
Port Authority and the Federal
Aviation Administration.
He said he hopes the timetable
will permit the city and Massport to close on the transfer by
June 30.
“The city, Massport and the
commonwealth have worked
closely with the FAA throughout,” Mr. O’Brien wrote in a
report presented to the City
Council last night. “We have
had multiple meetings and conducted weekly conference calls
Turn to Airport transfer/Page A9
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
T&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR
Water overflows yesterday from the flooded Savage Field ball fields onto Vale Street in Clinton.
Flooding brings break
Tax deadline extended in 7 Mass. counties
By George Barnes
and Karen Nugent
The floodwaters have not receded,
but relief has come in a different
form: a tax form.
Residents in seven Massachusetts
counties that have been declared federal disaster areas will be allowed to
file late 2009 state and federal income
tax returns.
Gov. Deval L. Patrick yesterday
announced that the filing deadline
has been extended to midnight May
11 for residents of Worcester, Bristol, Essex,
Middlesex, Norfolk,
Plymouth, and Suffolk
counties. President
Obama’s declaration
of those counties as telegram.com
federal disaster areas
prompted the Internal Revenue Service to follow suit.
Residents do not have to prove
they were affected by the flooding to
qualify for the extension, but the IRS
said it hopes those who weren’t
affected will meet the original April
Video
online
telegram.com
Jim Wilson’s Extra Points: Notre
Dame offers football scholarship to St. John’s High star
receiver Richard Rodgers.
Follow us at
‘telegramdotcom’
(in inches)
Total: 10.23
0.09
0.05 0.01
1
2
3
4
1.75
1.69
7
8
9 10
1.67
0.72
0.22
0.02 0.01
6
Turn to Flooding/Page A10
1.36
Average: 4.23
5
15 deadline.
The rain that began Sunday
helped make this March the second
wettest on record in the Worcester
area. The National Weather Service
said 10.23 inches of rain fell last
month as of 5 p.m. yesterday. The
record was set in 1936, when 11.13
inches fell.
For Clinton, one of the hardest hit
communities in the March 15-16
storm, flooding this week has not
been as bad.
2.43
Worcester area
March rainfall by day
Online
Become a fan of
Telegram&Gazette
By Ben Feller
0.13
0.08*
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31
WASHINGTON — Shaking up years of energy
policy and his own environmental backers, President Barack Obama threw open a huge swath of
East Coast waters and other protected areas in
Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico to drilling Wednesday, widening the politically explosive hunt for
more homegrown oil and gas.
Obama’s move allows drilling from Delaware to
central Florida,
plus the northern waters of
Alaska,
and
exploration
could begin 50
miles off the
coast of Virginia by 2012. He
also wants Congress to lift a
drilling ban in
the
oil-rich
eastern Gulf of
Mexico,
125
miles
from
Florida
beaches.
Still off limits: the entire
Pacific
seaTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
board. And in a
nod to conser- The Chevron Genesis oil rig platvation, Obama form in the Gulf of Mexico is
canceled
oil shown in this file photo.
exploration in
Alaska’s Bristol Bay, deeming the area a national
treasure.
For this oil-dependent nation, the decision
could start to reshape far-reaching economic and
national security policies, affecting where the
* as of 5 p.m.
T&G Staff/STACEY ARSENAULT
Source: National Weather Service
Nonprofit organ registry members are first in line
Organ transplant
waiting list
By Elaine Thompson
ANNIE’S MAILBOX.C8
BRIDGE................C9
CLASSIFIED..........C8
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B4
EDITORIALS ........A11
HEALTH .............A7
HOROSCOPE .......C9
LOTTERIES .........A2
MONEY...............B6
MEDICAL MEMOS A7
STOCKS .............B7
TELEVISION ........C5
Let it all in with
Charter On Demand
Turn to Oil/Page A8
When Jan Evans and her
friend were walking their dogs
in Bolton’s Bower Springs conservation area, one of her
friend’s golden retrievers ran
out on a pond and fell through
the ice.
Her friend, a nonswimmer,
was petrified, so Mrs. Evans
crawled across the ice to try to
retrieve the dog. Just as she
reached out to grab the golden
retriever by the collar, the ice
broke underneath her and she
fell into the ice hole with the
dog.
“The ice is over my head and
I’m yelling, ‘Jean, dear God,
help me, Jean,’ ” Mrs. Evans
recalled. “Both I and the dog
were in a panic. It was a horrible
situation.”
2,822
All organs
Massachusetts
as of March 26
141
Heart
84
Lung
793
Liver
1,782
Kidney
T&G Staff/CHRISTINE PETERSON
T&G Staff/TOM RETTIG
60
Jan Evans with her dogs Maggie and Ike, foreground, at her home in Bolton. At right, Professor Patrick G.
Derr, of the Clark University Philosophy Department.
Luckily, the friend remembered she had her cell phone and
called 911. Before rescuers could
arrive, another woman walked
by and threw a tree trunk onto
the ice and they were able to pull
Mrs. Evans and the dog out of
the freezing water.
Mrs. Evans said her body was
completely numb from having
been in the ice-cold water for 10
minutes. It made her realize
how close she had come to losing
Turn to Organs/Page A9
Pancreas
47
3
Kidney/
Pancreas
Intestine
Source: US Department of Health & Human
Services, Organ Procurement
and Transplantation Network
SEE OUR AD FOR DETAILS.
“Your Choice” 10 Pc. Packages!
Includes...
50"
Samsung HDTV
& Entertainment Console
OR BOSCH WASHER/DRYER
OR 3 TV PACKAGE!*
Choice of Includes: Sofa, loveseat, a cocktail table and 2
4 Livingroom matching end tables, a pair of lamps, a 5’x8’ rug,
an entertainment console with a 50” Samsung HD
Styles!
TV or Bosch Vision Washer & Dryer or 3 TV Package!*
10 Pc. Pkg.
Fantastic!
1999*
$
News Tips
e-mail: newstips@telegram.com
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
After $150 Mail-in rebate*
*details in store or rotmans.com
Friday, April 2, 2010
Yesterday’s
question
Will you take
advantage of the
May 11 extended
tax filing deadline?
REGION
Weather
Your opinion
Yes, every extra
day helps
President Obama visits with
state emergency managers
Today’s question
29.3%
Should farmers have to pay
an excise tax on their
animals? See story on
this page, then go to
No, I need
the refund now
70.7%
Page A5
Mostly sunny
High 72, Low 49
Page A2
Local stories
WESTBORO
ÿ Mothers get help for drug
addictions, Page B1
WORCESTER
CSX asked for traffic options, Page B1
LEICESTER
Police say children lived in filth,
Page B1
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
$1.00 ...
School fundraiser charged
Michael P.
Hlady, left, is
seen yesterday
at his arraignment in Central
District Court.
His lawyer,
Vincent F.
Ricciardi, is at
right.
Scheme to bilk Venerini renovation is alleged
By John J. Monahan
T&G Staff/JIM COLLINS
Feds mandate
better mileage
By Ken Thomas
WASHINGTON — Drivers
will have to pay more for cars
and trucks, but they’ll save at
the pump under tough new federal rules aimed at boosting
mileage, cutting emissions and
hastening the next generation of
fuel-stingy hybrids and electric
cars.
The
new
standards,
announced Thursday, call for a
35.5 miles-per-gallon average
within six years, up nearly 10
mpg from now.
By setting national standards
for fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions from tailpipes, the government hopes to
squeeze out more miles per gallon whether you buy a tiny
Smart Fortwo micro car, a rugged Dodge Ram pickup truck or
something in between.
The rules will cost consumers
an estimated $434 extra per vehicle in the 2012 model year and
$926 per vehicle by 2016, the government said. But the heads of
the Transportation Department
and Environmental Protection
Agency said car owners would
Turn to Mileage/Page A8
Index
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B6
EDITORIALS .........A9
ENTERTAINMENT B8
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY .............B12
NATION/WORLD ..A3
STOCKS ............B13
Farm animal
taxable value
named “Arthur.”
Mr. Hlady was arraigned yesterday in Central District Court in Worcester on a charge of larceny of property worth more than $250 by false
pretenses. Judge Robert G. Harbour
set bail of $250,000 cash or $2.5 million
with surety and continued the case to
Turn to School bilking/Page A7
Slots
head
to fast
track
Farm animal tax?
Jan. 1, 2010,
for fiscal year 2011
$5,000
– $10,000
Some pay, and it’s not chicken feed
Prize
Horses
By Donna Boynton
$100
f Old MacDonald had a farm in Massachusetts, he’d
be looking at here a tax, there a tax, everywhere a tax,
tax as he watched pigs, chickens and cows graze.
Now, as farmers struggle to survive and towns look
to increase revenue, some towns are debating
whether to continue assessing the Farm Animal and
Machinery Excise Tax.
David Petrovick has a small working farm in Barre,
with six beef cows, 100 chickens and four workhorses,
which equates to about $150 in taxes annually. For
farmers like Mr. Petrovick, it is part of the cost of
farming.
“It’s another expense, but I am a relatively small-scale
farmer, but it is still another bill,” Mr. Petrovich, owner
of Caledonia Farm, said. “It’s not something we relish
paying, but it is not something that would make us or
break us.”
Mr. Petrovich, a member of the Barre AgriculA beef cow and freetural Commission, is
range chickens are
leading a movement in
seen at Caledonia
Barre on behalf of the
Farm in Barre.
town’s farmers to repeal
the tax, which appears
on the ballot in Monday’s annual election.
Barre collects about
$4,000 annually through the
excise tax.
“We are looking for
ways to take some pressure off farmers in
town,” said Mr. Petrovich. “In general, the
opinion has been
fairly favorable,
and people seem
fairly sympathetic to help the
farms. But there are
also some people who
say we can’t afford
any more cuts to our
budget, and I understand that, too.”
Michael Landry, a
member of the
Barre Board of
Assessors,
said
there aren’t that
many
working
farms left in Barre.
He
understands
how the repeal
measure may be a
small effort to help
I
Mules
$1,000
Horses
$500
Ponies
$80
Swine
$100
Sheep
$35
Goat
$700
Miniature Horses
$800
Llama, Alpaca
$2
Ducks, Geese
$5
Turkeys
$100
Emu, Ostrich
$35
Mink
$250
– $700
T&G Staff Photos/TOM RETTIG
Rules
to hike
price
of cars
BOSTON — A professional fundraiser at the center of the troubled
renovation project at Venerini Academy in Worcester was held on
$250,000 cash bail yesterday in an
alleged scheme to bilk the Catholic
elementary school out of $370,000,
based on promises that an anonymous donor had pledged up to $14
million for the project.
Arrested Wednesday night at his
Rhode Island home, Michael P.
Hlady, 37, of Smithfield, R.I., allegedly lied about having lined up a
major donor for the project, whom
investigators said was only identified to school officials as a man
ns
Chicke
$2
Vote possible
in 2 weeks
By John J. Monahan
BOSTON — House Speaker
Robert A. DeLeo has put House
approval of a new proposal for
two casinos and slot parlors at
four racetracks on a super-fast
track for approval, calling for a
final vote within the next two
weeks without public hearings.
Backed by a dozen lawmakers, including state Reps. Vincent A. Pedone, D-Worcester,
and James J. O’Day, D-West
Boylston, and a group of union
construction workers, Mr.
DeLeo outlined the legislation
yesterday at a Statehouse press
conference.
He said his plan for expanded
gambling would create 15,000
jobs and a new source of funding
for state government, local aid,
community colleges and tourism promotion.
While the slot parlors would
be allowed at existing racetracks in Boston, Revere, Raynham and Plainville, the legislation would not designate where
the resort casinos would be
Turn to Gambling/Page A7
Cow s, b
$7
ulls
00
Turn to Farm tax/Page A8
Buffalo, Deer,
Oxen
Online
telegram.com
Video: Cleaning up after the
major flooding in Clinton.
Source: Mass. Dept. of Revenue
Family Owned and Operated for Over 80 Years
Become a fan of Follow us at
Telegram&Gazette ‘telegramdotcom’
Total Customer Satisfaction... It’s Free with Every Purchase
APPLIANCE OUTLET CENTER
APP
APPLIANCES
For
•INSIDE OUR STORE•
AU
AUDIO
• TV Immediate
New One of a Kind • Floor Models • Scratch & Dents
Pick up or
V
VIDEO
Limited Quantities • Model Selection Changes Daily
Mon.& Fri. 10-8 • Tues.-Thurs.
Tue
10-6
Sat. 10-6 • Sun.
Su 12-5
Your Energy Star Appliance Superstore!
Delivery
UP
TO
Electric & Gas Ranges,
50% OFF Refrigerators,
Microwaves, Dishwashers, Washers & Dryers*
* Off regular retail prices. Manufacturer’s original warranty included on everything we sell. See store for details.
visit us online at www.percys.com
1st on Gold Star Blvd • Worcester • 508-755-5269
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Yesterday’s
question
Should farmers
have to pay an
excise tax on their
animals?
Yes, they
have value
Weather
Your opinion
6.9%
Today’s question
No, they pay
enough in other taxes
Which is best, chocolate or
jelly beans? See story on this
page, then go to telegram.com
to vote and offer your opinion.
93.1%
Fog,
then sun
High 80, Low 50
Page A2
SPORTS
Our
144th
year
Celtics fall in
overtime, 119-114,
to Houston Rockets.
telegram.com
Local stories
Page B1
WORCESTER
QUABBIN
Two charged in severe beating,
Page A3
Superintendent wins Funniest Person,
Page A6
$1.00
Cities get
help for
road work
Different stations on Good Friday
State money to allow
much-needed repairs
By Glen Johnson
decrease of 361 teen births from
2007, the report said.
The reduction in teen births
saves the state, over time, an estimated $12.7 million, Ms. Quinn
said.
“We have to keep doing what’s
working and what is keeping more
kids in high school, keeping the
costs down in subsequent social
BOSTON — Amid the gloom and doom of a bad
economy, Massachusetts cities and towns got good
news Friday when the Patrick administration
announced a $5 million increase in road and bridge
repair money prized by communities.
Spending from so-called Chapter 90 funding will
increase to $155 million statewide in the fiscal year beginning July 1.
The increases may appear
small, but in an era of levelfunded budgets or reductions,
community leaders say it’s a
welcome change.
A Worcester official said the
spending also has an important psychological effect on
residents.
“When they see the trucks
rolling in and the pavers roll- Robert L. Moylan Jr.
ing in, they get some sort of
satisfaction their tax dollars
are paying for something,”
said Robert L. Moylan Jr.,
commissioner of Public
Works and Parks.
Worcester will get a $91,000
increase, to $3.16 million.
Boston will get a total of $11.1
million, or $366,000 more this
year, while at the western end
of the state, the town of North
Adams will get $359,000, or
$11,500 more this year.
Springfield, the third-largest city in Massachusetts, will get $2.8 million, an $84,000 hike.
“In the days of facing constant cutbacks, it’s always
good to get a bump,” said Springfield Mayor Domenic
Sarno.
“This allows us to address roadway infrastructure
issues that, if not here, we’d have to look to address
with the general fund budget — and that’s hard to do
Turn to Pregnancy/Page A7
Turn to Road repair/Page A7
WORCESTER — Scores of the faithful walk in the sunshine on the Common, following clergymen who are leading the annual Way of the Cross, as
part of the observation of Good Friday. Participants began at St. John Church and ended up at the Cathedral of St. Paul. The activity is in contrast to
the stillness of Kathryn M. O’Brien of Worcester, who sits at a table with her computer.
Progress made on teen pregnancy
Decline in Central Massachusetts rates mirrors statewide drop
By Brian Lee
While the country is on a nationwide course toward more teen
pregnancies, a state official said
yesterday she was pleasantly surprised Massachusetts bucked the
trend in 2008.
Following its first increase in
years, the state had a record low
rate of births among females ages
15 to 19 in 2008, according to a report
released this week by the state
Department of Public Health.
Gardner had the highest teen birthrate in Central Massachusetts
and the fourth highest statewide.
Southbridge made progress, but
had the seventh-highest rate in the
state, while Leominster moved out
the state’s top 20. Teen pregnancy
rates in Fitchburg and Worcester
stayed about the same, according
to the report.
The state had 20.1 teen births per
1,000 females ages 15 to 19, down
from 22 teen births per 1,000
females in 2007. “The data is different than what we were expecting
for sure,” said Patricia Quinn,
executive director of the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy in Boston.
Overall, there were 4,583 births
among young women ages 15 to 19, a
‘Theysortgetofsome
satisfaction their
tax dollars are
paying for
something.
‚
Chocolate makers sweeten Easter
Bunnies big and small almost spring to life under care of area confectioners
By Craig S. Semon
When Sammy Davis Jr. had a smash
hit with “The Candy Man” nearly 40
years ago, he could have been singing
about William N. Prifti.
Not only does this 87-year-old chocolate-maker strive to make everything
he creates for Easter satisfying and
delicious, you can even eat the baskets. Mr. Prifti said he started a line of
specially designed edible Easter baskets about a quarter-century ago.“You
can eat the basket. You can eat every-
thing in sight. Just throw away the
cellophane,” Mr. Prifti said, holding
up a basket made of chocolate, with
bunnies and little eggs inside.
“Easter’s a big holiday. It’s the big
one,” Mr. Prifti said. “It’s a lovely tradition for children. People buy a lot of
stuff. A lot of candy’s going out. It’s
going well over here.” Prifti’s Homemade Candies is at 106 Green St., Worcester.
Mr. Prifti estimates 4,000 to 5,000
solid chocolate Easter bunnies (as well
as 10,000-plus “bunny lollipops”) will
“hop” out of the store.
Online
Born in Albania, Mr. Prifti went to
Istanbul at 12 and became a candymaker’s apprentice. In 1953, he came to
the United States and worked at
Drakes Candy and Hebert Candies. In
1965, Mr. Prifti opened his own business.
During the Easter season, Mr. Prifti
starts working at 6 in the morning and
goes home at 7 at night. From 500 to 600
bunnies are made every three to four
hours.
Karen Levesque is the director of
Turn to Chocolate/Page A7
Candy
maker
Tony
Grandmaison
of
Hebert’s
Candy
pours
excess
chocolate out
of a
bunny
mold.
telegram.com
Send news to
a friend
Want to share our stories with
a friend? Use the e-mail function at telegram.com.
ANNIE’S MAILBOX.A8
BRIDGE................B7
COMICS ...............B6
COMMENTARY.....A11
CROSSWORD........B6
DEATHS...............A4
EDITORIALS .......A11
ENTERTAINMENT A8
HOROSCOPE .......B7
MONEY...............A9
RELIGION ..........A10
TELEVISION ........B5
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
Closed Easter Sunday
Auburn (Rt. 20) 508-832-7678 • www.cabothouse.com
Partly sunny
Weather
High 72, Low 46
Page A2
Yesterday’s
question
SAVE
Which is best, chocolate or
jelly beans?
April 4, 2010
more than
$94.00
coupons in
None! Hold the
sugar and pass the health food
Hometeam
T&G’s
high school
area
spring
public golf sports
guide
schedules,
Page C3
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS Pages C9-C10
side
9.9%
I love
all of it
Chocolate
22.4%
57.8%
Jelly beans
9.9%
Today’s question
Have you ever parked in a
handicapped space? See story
on this page, then go to
Local
REGION
Why do golfers defend
hitting the links as an
athletic challenge?
Williamson column,
Page B1
telegram.com
What is Easter?
Survey of U.S. views of Easter
Americans who describe Easter as
a religious holiday
Americans who identify Jesus’
resurrection as part of Easter
Evangelicals
Born-again*
Notional
Christians
Other
Atheist/Agnostic
* Non-evangelical
93%
73%
55% 81%
62%
35%
31%
14%
36%
16%
DENOMINATION
65%
37%
78%
51%
Catholic
Protestant
$2.50 ...
Faithful reaffirm the Resurrection
Survey: Many fail to make the connection
Religious demographics
FAITH
Your opinion
Our
144th
year
Source: The Barna Group survey of 1,005 adults
T&G Staff/DON LANDGREN JR.
By Bronislaus B. Kush
Members of
Sacred Heart
Catholic
Church and
St. Matthew’s
Episcopal
Church take
part in the
Stations of
the Cross
procession in
Worcester
last week.
Becker College.
But, despite today’s hectic
schedule, Ms. Belcher said she’s
not going to miss morning services at All Saints Church in
Worcester.
“That’s because Easter’s
about the Resurrection,” she
simply explained.
It doesn’t matter if one worships in an icon-filled Orthodox
cathedral in the far reaches of
It’s going to be a busy day for
Dichawn Belcher.
She’ll attend an egg hunt at a
friend’s house and will later join
her family for an Easter dinner
feast.
“Everybody will be wearing
new outfits and we’ll be sitting
down to what amounts to a miniThanksgiving dinner,” said Ms.
Belcher, a nursing student at
Turn to Resurrection/Page A7
T&G Staff/DAN GOULD
REGION
Graduation rates are mixed
throughout area, Page B1
Suspected misuse of handicapped parking spaces at courthouse
DOUGLAS
Tea party organized in
a Brown town, Page B1
Online
Taliban takes
cash from US
telegram.com
Video: Watch recent Central
Mass. slideshows and videos
online. Go to telegram.com
and select Photos/Video tab.
Also Online
4 Going to the movies
is easy if you start
with telegram.com.
Go online for movie
reviews and times.
4 Need a challenge?
Try our online crossword
and Sudoku puzzles.
controversy
Handicapped parking space
Police parking 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Metered parking space
Follow us at
Fire hydrant
Public parking lots
Become a fan of
Telegram & Gazette
Passenger
zone
Courthouse
Hilton
Garden
Inn
Lock in your price
until 2012!
MLK Jr. Blvd.
Palladium
Commercial
St.
Main St.
Irish Times
.
Thomas St.
ylor Blvd
Major Ta
AT&T
Emergency artery:
No parking 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.
TRAVEL.................M1
TONIGHT’S TV ........N8
CLASSIFIED
WORCESTERWORKS ..
SECTION D
AUTOMOTIVE AND
REAL ESTATE ...........
SECTION E
By Richard A. Oppel Jr.
Curbside
Courthouse
parking
MONEY.....................D1
DEATHS ...................B6
EDITORIALS AND
COMMENTARY ...A12-A13
LIVING......................G1
CROSSWORD ...........G9
LOCAL NEWS ............B1
SPORTS ....................C1
Enemy
gets aid,
comfort
THE NEW YORK TIMES
T&G Staff/DAN GOULD
The handicapped parking spaces
along the side of Worcester Trial Court
building on Thomas Street are filled.
By Thomas Caywood
WORCESTER — On a recent
rainy morning downtown, as dawn
broke and the city bustled to life for
a workday, cars filled the parking
spaces along
Thomas
Street next to
the Worcester
Trial Court
building one
by one.
Drivers and
a few passengers piled
out and
opened
umbrellas.
Some gathered up bulging tote bags and briefcases and
coffee mugs. In all but a few cases,
the drivers and passengers then
strode off up the
sidewalk headed for
the courthouse
entrance on Main
Street.
As they walked —
in some cases briskly,
and in one case in tall
heels — they left
telegram.com
behind cars parked in
handicapped parking
spots with blue handicapped parking placards dangling from rearview mirrors.
In four mornings of observing
Video
online
See our ad for details.
DCU
Center
Turn to Handicapped parking/Page A3
MARJAH, Afghanistan — Since their
offensive here in February, the U.S.
Marines have flooded Marjah with hundreds of thousands of dollars
a week. The tactic aims to win
over wary locals
PAGE A11
by paying them
compensation
for property damage or putting to work
men who would otherwise look to the
Taliban for support.
The approach helped turn the tide of
insurgency in Iraq. But in Marjah, where
the Taliban seem to know everything —
and most of the time it is impossible to
5 Karzai’s anti-West
comments draw fire,
Turn to Taliban/Page A11
Sox-Yanks:
The rivalry
lives on
Opening Day is special
By George Barnes
CLINTON — When Dinorah Caraballo
was hired as the town’s permitting clerk,
James “Nibben” O’Toole had two important questions for her.
First he wanted to know if she liked
baseball. She
passed the test
by saying she
did. Then he
PAGE C1
wanted to know
which team. She
gave the worst possible answer.
“I said, ‘Yankees,’ ” she said. “He
looked at me and said, ‘How did you get
hired here?’ ”
Mr. O’Toole does not like the New York
Yankees. He dislikes the Yankees almost
5 Red Sox preview,
Turn to Opening Day/Page A3
News Tips
The
Ultimate Mattress
Package Includes
Sealy Queen
Mattress Set
a 32” LG HD TV
OR WEBER SPIRIT
GAS GRILL!*
with Memory Foam
INCLUDES
a 32” LG HD TV OR
WEBER SPIRIT GAS GRILL!* $
Was 1348
$
SAVE 549
$
Fantastic!
799
CLosed Today - Happy Easter & Happy Passover
**Details in store
or rotmans.com
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
Local stories
Monday, April 5, 2010
Yes, I’m
handicapped Yes, I was
in a hurry
Yesterday’s
question
10.1% 4.5%
Today’s question
No, it’s just
not right
What’s your prediction for
the Red Sox season?
See story on Page C1, then
go to telegram.com to vote.
Have you ever parked
in a space reserved for
handicapped drivers?
19%
No, and it angers me
when someone
does who shouldn”t
REGION
Weather
Your opinion
STURBRIDGE
Officers in schools affected by cuts, Selectman wonders why he’s the
Page B1
‘only villain,’ Page B5
Partly sunny
High 72, Low 49
Page A2
66.4
MONEY
On the job
with the
manager of
a Jewish deli
Our
144th
year
Page B7
telegram.com
$1.00
Police cruiser cams cut complaints
By Scott J. Croteau
Chief: ‘We bring the DVD right into court’
Mendon Police Officer Matthew Hoar
flicked on his cruiser’s lights. Instantly,
a black and white picture popped up in
his rear view mirror showing the car in
front of him.
The image, similar to a small picturein-picture window on a television set,
started downloading data to a small
memory card tucked neatly in the bottom of the cruiser’s rear-view mirror.
After stopping the car in front of him
for having a headlight out, Officer Hoar
hit a button on the cruiser camera system. The camera focused in on the car’s
license plate. For the duration of the
stop, the camera recorded the entire
encounter. The driver was let off with a
Water use
falls, but
bills rise
5 The quote: ‘It keeps everyone honest, the
officers and the motorists.’ — Mendon Police
Chief Ernest H. Horn
verbal warning, and Officer Hoar headed
out again on the streets of Mendon.
For about a year and a half now, Mendon police have had cameras in their
cruisers. The systems, paid for by town
appropriated funds, were mounted in
five department vehicles.
Since introducing the cameras, the
Mendon Police Department has seen a
drastic decline in complaints against officers, according to Police Chief Ernest
H. Horn. Only two complaints have been
made in the year-and-a-half timeframe
and both complaints were unfounded.
There used to be one or two complaints a
week, the chief said.
Only a handful of departments in Central Massachusetts have the cameras and
those departments are some of the
smaller ones.
With a cost of $2,500 to $5,000 for the
equipment, larger departments find it
difficult to find the money to equip a
large fleet of cruisers. The state police
used to have cameras, but do not use
T&G Staff/STEVE LANAVA
Turn to Cruiser cams/Page A4
Mendon Police Officer Matthew Hoar is seen in the video monitor mounted to
his police cruiser’s rear-view mirror as he approaches a motor vehicle.
Pope
backed
at Mass
Bats come out on opening night
By Clarke Canfield
Cardinal blames
smear campaign
PORTLAND, Maine — The
grim economy is hitting some
consumers in the wallet in yet
another way: their water bills.
Many water utilities are raising rates because water use is
down, in part because manufacturers have closed or are cutting
back, tourism has fallen and the
real estate market is in the doldrums.
Water sales for the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport & Wells
Water District in southern
Maine fell 11 percent last year, to
1995 levels. The No. 1 reason is
the sour economy, said superintendent Norm Labbe.
One of the utility’s largest customers, a catalog printer, shut
its doors last year, putting 374
people out of work. Tourism
also has been down — meaning
By Frances D’Emilio
Turn to Water bills /Page A6
BOSTON — Kevin Youkilis of the Boston Red Sox heads to first last night after hitting a triple to deep right against the New York
Yankees in the sixth inning of the opening game of the baseball season at Fenway Park. The Sox won 9-7. See story on Page C1.
Online
VATICAN CITY — Easter
Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s
Square, the Catholic church’s
most joyous celebration, began
with a senior cardinal defending Pope Benedict XVI from
what he called “petty gossip”
and hailing him for “unfailing”
leadership and courage.
But the pontiff himself
ignored accusations that he perpetuated a climate of cover-up
for pedophile priests, even as
sex abuse scandals threatened
to overshadow his papacy.
The ringing tribute by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the
College of Cardinals, at the start
of a Mass attended by tens of
thousands of faithful, marked
an unusual departure from the
Vatican’s Easter rituals, infusing the tradition-steeped religious ceremony with an air of a
papal pep rally.
Sodano’s praise for Benedict
as well as the church’s 400,000
Turn to Pope/Page A6
telegram.com
Video: Keeping a close watch
on parking spaces at Worcester Courthouse.
Veterans rehab mission is sidetracked
By Danielle M. Horn
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Veteran Daniel F. Duggan is seen at the
veterans center in Gardner.
GARDNER — Touted as a national
model for veteran rehabilitation and
education, the privately run Northeast
Veteran Training & Rehabilitation Center was designed to provide an unprecedented level of support to its clients.
Built next to the Mount Wachusett
Community College campus, the $8 million center, known as the NVTRC, has
been funded with grants and donations,
Veteran
Michelle
Wilmot is
program
director of
the Northeast Veteran Training and
Rehabilitation
Center in
Gardner.
and opened in December. It was planned
as a one-stop shop for disabled veterans
of Iraq and Afghanistan, who could live
up to two years, cost-free, in the 20 apartment units by themselves or with families. Physical therapists and counselors
would be on-site, and residents would
have free access to the community college and its facilities. Mount Wachusett
students would help the veterans under
supervision
of
licensed
Turn to Veterans rehab /Page A4
T&G Staff Photos/RICK CINCLAIR
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B4
ENTERTAINMENT B6
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY...............B7
NATION ..............A3
WORLD ..............A3
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Yesterday’s
question
What’s your
prediction for the
Red Sox season?
Local stories
Your opinion
They’ll do OK,
but no cigar They’ll make it to
22.3% the World Series
Weather
Today’s question
Should legislators seek an
independent economic
analysis of their proposed
casino plan? See story on
36.3%
They’ll make
the playoffs
41.4%
Breezy
High 71, Low 54
BLACKSTONE
WORCESTER
Prosecutor drops charges
against teacher, Page B1
Employees dispute suspect’s
account in tax trial, Page B1
GARDNER
WORCESTER
Psych tests ordered for mother
who stabbed child, Page B1
Brittle Christmas trees linked
to fire, Page B3
Page A2
MONEY
WORLD
Toyota hit
with largest
federal fine
ever for car
manufacturer
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
Afghan leader
threatens to
quit political
process
Page A3
Page B8
$1.00
House to rely on past casino income estimates
Less revenue seen from a Central Mass. site
BOSTON — Massachusetts
House leaders have opted not to
commission an independent economic analysis of Speaker Robert DeLeo’s proposal to build
two casinos and allow 3,000 slot
machines at the state’s race
tracks.
Instead, Democratic leaders
are basing their tax revenue
estimates on their own projections combined with an updated
version of a report that looked at
an older, three-casino plan.
When he unveiled the bill last
week, DeLeo said the proposal
to build two resort casinos
and allow 750
slots at each of
the four tracks
would generate between
$1.4 billion and
$1.9 billion in
added spending each year DeLeo
— or about $300 million to $600
million in tax revenues.
Gov. Deval Patrick has urged
lawmakers to commission a
By Steve LeBlanc
Board
hears
apology
new economic analysis of
DeLeo’s plan. Casino foes said
the state has yet to conduct any
review of the costs associated
with expanded gaming in Massachusetts.
“They have consistently
refused to take the basic steps
for an independent cost-benefit
analysis,” said Kathleen Conley
Norbut, president of United to
Stop Slots in Massachusetts. “If
we don’t have credible data,
which we don’t, this should be
thrown in the hopper.”
The bill is set to be debated by
House lawmakers next week.
To help make the case for his
casinos and slots proposal,
DeLeo’s office last week
released a new version of a
report by the New Jersey-based
Spectrum Gaming Group first
conducted two years ago.
That report looked at a threecasino model proposed by Gov.
Deval Patrick in 2007 and subsequently rejected by the
File Photo/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Turn to Casino/Page A8
Workers gather outside the Statehouse last week to urge lawmakers
to legalize casinos, saying they will bring jobs to Massachusetts.
Insurers
sue to halt
rate cap
Gotcha — you’re out!
Selectman says
outburst wrong
Health plans ask court
for premium increases
By Craig S. Semon
STURBRIDGE — A selectman last night apologized for
vulgarly insulting
another
search committee
member
during
two
meetings during the winter,
but some said
the
apology
was too little,
too late.
Mr. Garieri
“First, I want
to apologize to Carol (Childress) for what I said. It was
By Glen Johnson
Turn to Apology/Page A7
Online
GARDNER — Shrewsbury catcher Shawna Amatucci tags out Gardner’s Melissa Howard yesterday on a close play at
home plate. See Sports for high school game results.
BOSTON — The top health insurers in Massachusetts on Monday filed a lawsuit against
state insurance regulators, arguing a premium
rate cap imposed by the Patrick administration
on small business health plans was arbitrary,
politically motivated and could lead to losses in
the “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The filing in Suffolk Superior Court requested
a hearing Thursday on a temporary injunction to
suspend the cap, as well as a speedy trial by June
15. An administration official termed the lawsuit
“an outrageous response.”
The administration imposed its cap last Thursday, complaining the industry was seeking premiums for businesses with up to 50 employees
that included “excessive increases and rates
Turn to Insurers sue/Page A6
telegram.com
Video: Snowboarding on water
at the Wachusett Mountain
pond.
Contract killing gets Cruz life
Ex-girlfriend murdered after breakup
BRONX, N.Y. — A Supreme
Court judge told Carlos Cruz of
Southbridge yesterday she had
no doubt of his guilt and sentenced him to life without parole
for the April 13, 2008, contract
killing of Chelsea M. Frazier,
whose family members exulted
in the court’s action.
Wearing baggy jeans and a
maroon golf shirt in the Bronx
County Hall of Justice, Mr. Cruz
did not make a statement and
did not face Miss Frazier’s family and supporters as they
spoke. Mr. Cruz shook his head
when Assistant District Attorney Allen Karen explained that
Mr. Cruz planned the killing
because Miss Frazier was no
longer interested in dating him.
Mr. Karen also told Judge
By Brian Lee
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B4
ENTERTAINMENT B6
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY...............B8
NATION/WORLD ..A3
STOCKS .............B9
Chelsea M.
Frazier’s
stepfather
Raymond
Snow and
mother Robin Snow at
the Bronx
Supreme
Court. Mrs.
Snow carries
the name of
her daughter
on her arm,
which was
tattooed after
Chelsea was
murdered.
Barbara F. Newman that Mr.
Cruz is the definition of a narcissistic sociopath and noted he
had made a number of confessions, including to detectives
and a New York newspaper.
The 18-year-old Miss Frazier,
of Southbridge, was shot to
death in a car with her
Turn to Cruz/Page A6
T&G Staff/DAN GOULD
Great
Thurs., April 22nd - Sat., May 1st
While Program Funding is Available
APPLIANCES • AUDIO
TV • VIDEO • FURNITURE
APPLIANCEE CHANGE
APPLIANC
Starts Thurs., April 22
Mon. & Fri. 10-8 • Tues. - Thurs. 10-6
Sat. 10-6 • Sun. 12-5
Get
G
et Mail-In $
Rebates of
Doors Open 6am
You can
come to Percy’s before sale dates
to pre-write your orders
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
(excludes “Doorbusters”)
Home delivery
Over 100 appliances to choose from!
Visit percys.com for all
the details
(508) 791-4600
$
$
Washers*
h *
Dii h
hwasher
h rs** 200 on Refrigerators*
Re
R
efrig
fi
* 175 on W
250 on Dishwashers*
*See store signs for Qualifying
ng Appliances aand
nd details. Get Additional
Addditional Percy’s andd Manuf
Manufacturer’s Rebates on top of Mass Save Rebates above!
1st on Gold Star Blvd • Worcester • 508-755-5269
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Yesterday’s
question
Should legislators
seek an independent
economic analysis
of their proposed
casino plan?
No, the issue
has been
studied enough
Yes, we need
fresh data
38.3%
61.7%
Your opinion
Local stories
Weather
Today’s question
Have you or your children
ever been the victims of
bullying? See story on
Toasty
High 82, Low 58
SHREWSBURY
WORCESTER
Man accused of savage
abuse of dogs, Page B1
Police say sex offender lured boy,
Page B1
WORCESTER
WORCESTER
Petition seeks removal of poles,
Page B1
Man found dead in road,
Page B1
Page A2
HOMETEAM
NEW EN
GLA
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
Jogger
finds skull
in woods
The best of
the season’s
best. See the
All-Stars for
Winter 2010
Inside
AILY PU
BLIC
ATION O
F THE Y
E A R • WIN
TER
ALL -STA
RS 201
0
MVPS:
Hockey. . . . . . .
Hudson High senio. . . 4
forward Sean O’Keer
fe
Boys’ Basketball. . 8
St. John’s High
senio
guard David White r
Girls’ Basketball . 10
Wachusett senio
r
forward Jacqui
Brugli
era
Boys’ Track . . . . . 13
Westboro High
senio
runner Byron Jones r
Girls’ Track . . . . . 15
All-Stars
Winter 2010
Girls’ Basketbal
Player of the Yeal
Jacqui Brugliera r
of Wachusett Reg
ional
Wachusett sopho
runner Laura Williamore
mson
ƒlso insIDE...
Wrestling
17
$1.00
Spread
of nuclear
arms tops
US agenda
Lure of hurting someone from a distance
Search for remains
begins near reservoir
By Danielle M. Horn
and Aaron Nicodemus
Atomic ambitions
of rogues, terrorists
HOLDEN — A human skull was found
Saturday night in a wooded area of town,
according to a press release from the office
of Worcester District Attorney Joseph D.
Early Jr.
A jogger found the skull off Reservoir
Street and called police at 6:49 p.m.,
according to Holden Police Chief George
R. Sherrill. It was removed from the area
and state and local police have been
searching and will continue to search the
area.
“We’re looking for any other human
remains that might be in those woods. I
anticipate we will have more to say later
this week,” Mr. Early said in a press
release.
The skull has been positively identified
By Robert Burns
and Anne Flaherty
WASHINGTON — Rewriting America’s nuclear strategy, the White House on Tuesday
announced a fundamental shift that calls the
spread of atomic weapons to rogue states or
terrorists a worse threat than the nuclear
Armageddon feared during the Cold War.
The Obama administration is suddenly moving on
multiple
fronts
with a goal of limiting the threat of a
catastrophic international conflict, although it’s not yet
clear how far and
how fast the rest of
the world is ready to
follow.
In releasing the
results of an indepth nuclear strategy review, PresiPRESIDENT OBAMA
dent Barack Obama
said his administration would narrow the circumstances in which
the U.S. might launch a nuclear strike, that it
would forgo the development of new nuclear
warheads and would seek even deeper reductions in American and Russian arsenals.
His defense secretary, Robert Gates, said the
focus would now be on terror groups such as
al-Qaida as well as North Korea’s nuclear
buildup and Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“For the first time, preventing nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism is now at the
top of America’s nuclear agenda,” Obama said,
distancing his administration from the decades-long U.S. focus on arms competition
For the first time,
‘preventing
nuclear
Turn to Human skull/Page A7
proliferation and
nuclear terrorism
is now at the
top of America’s
nuclear agenda.
End of job
for veteran
after story
‚
By Danielle M. Horn
GARDNER — The Army combat veteran
hired last year to lead a highly praised Veteran Homestead program has left her job
following a story Monday
in the Telegram & Gazette
in which she criticized
her employer.
Michelle B. Wilmot, 28,
an Iraq veteran recruited
from North Carolina last
year by Veteran Homestead CEO Leslie B. Lightfoot to direct the one-of-akind Northeast Veteran
Training & Rehabilitation Ms. Wilmot
Center, gave a month’s notice Monday and
was barred from the
premises yesterday morning. She will be paid until
May 5, the date she had
planned to leave.
“After I said what I did, I
knew my days were numbered,” Ms. Wilmot said
yesterday, hours after her
work keys were taken and
she was notified not to return to the center, which Ms. Lightfoot
is next to Mount Wachusett Community
College. “I could have easily given the company line, or I could tell the truth and be
able to sleep at night.”
When finished in August, the NVTRC,
located on 10 acres donated by the college,
ND NON
-D
T&G Staff/DAN GOULD
The audience listens yesterday to a presentation at a cyberbullying training program held at Worcester
Technical High School.
Cyberbullying
Turn to Nuclear terrorism/Page A6
Emerging as a public health crisis
By Linda Bock
WORCESTER — As school districts, law enforcement authorities and lawmakers tackle the
issue of cyberbullying, incidents of students
using electronic devices to pick on their peers are
on the rise and approaching the point of becoming
a public health issue, according to an expert in the
emerging field.
Elizabeth K. Englander, director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at
Bridgewater State College, spent yesterday morning teaching educators the most current skills in
detecting the many forms of bullying that occur,
as well as follow-up prevention and intervention
plans needed to monitor and respond to cyberbullies.
Cyberbullying is on the rise because of a
number of factors, she said.
“You don’t see the victim, so you don’t feel
guilty,” she listed for educators as a general
reason. “Sometimes kids are actually unaware
that they are doing this (they don’t realize how
their messages are being received), and you
have much less a chance of being caught and
getting into trouble — odds are the adults will
never find out.”
One fact that surprised the trainees was that
84 percent of teenagers told researchers in a
recent study that they would rather give up
their partner than the Internet. Girls are more
likely to cyberbully than boys because girls
tend to gravitate toward social network sites
Turn to Bullying/Page A7
Turn to Veteran/Page A8
Online telegram.com
Video: Opening day at Rietta Ranch provides a glimpse of
this year’s flea market offerings.
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B4
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton holds
up the Nuclear Posture Review as she briefs
reporters yesterday at the Pentagon.
ENTERTAINMENT B6
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY...............B8
NATION/WORLD ..A3
STOCKS .............B9
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
SPORTS
Local
stories
Page C1
No, but I saw
it happen
to others
Have you or your
children ever
been the victims
of bullying?
35.2%
High 72, Low 48
Page A2
Red Sox lose to
the Yankees;
Celtics beat the
Raptors, 115-104
Yesterday’s
question
Cooler
Weather
WORCESTER
Lawyer convicted of tax evasion,
Page B1
Yes, and
the pain
still lingers
WORCESTER
64.8%
Academy taking steps to recover,
Page B1
FITCHBURG
Your opinion
Our
144th
year
Today’s question
What are the odds of at least one more frost
this spring? See story on this page, then
telegram.com
Stimulus money has health impact,
Page B1
$1.00
Hurting
healing
hands
US foes
claim
success
in coup
Effort to protect
health workers
By Elaine Thompson
When Judy Smith-Goguen
was trying to restrain a very
large, violent 17-year-old female
patient at the state mental
health facility in Westboro, the
girl grabbed her by the hair and
repeatedly banged her head
against the wall.
The Boylston psychiatric
nurse ended up with a concussion, head lacerations, and
neck, head and back injuries.
She was out of work for three
months.
“They put her in a program
out of state immediately. They
felt she was too high a risk to go
back to the program,” Ms.
Turn to Violent patients/Page A8
Kyrgyzstan houses
a key US air base
T&G Staff/PAUL KAPTEYN
Bridget Nowosacki of Shrewsbury enjoys the record-breaking warm weather yesterday at Dean Park in Shrewsbury. Rory, her
8-year-old Old English sheepdog, may have been just a tad uncomfortable.
Growing concern
Record highs plant seeds of doubt for crops
By Donna Boynton
Nate Benjamin is planning to do
something he has never done this
early at Charlton Orchards — plant
his fields with the hope of seeing
vegetables by the end of May, rather
than mid-June.
100°
“I know we are taking the chance
90°
that we are going to have to Sunday
replant,” Mr. Benjamin said. “But record high 80°
the frost came out of the ground 76°
70°
two weeks ago, and the soil temper- Previous record
ature is continuing to warm. The 71° in 1974 60°
daffodils are up, and they are never
50°
up at this time.”
40°
Last week’s rain and yesterday’s re30°
cord-breaking heat have not only
prompted premature budding on fruit
20°
trees and advanced local orchard own10°
ers’ management and planting schedules,
but have also raised concerns that those
0°
crops could be damaged or destroyed by
one last gasp from Old Man Winter.
Record Highs
Judy Smith-Goguen is a nurse at
UMass Memorial who has been
assaulted by patients.
Online
telegram.com
The archive: Use our link on the
home page to Worcester City
Council stories.
Become a fan of
Telegram&Gazette
Follow us at
Turn to Growing concern/Page A8
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Opposition
leaders declared they had seized power
in Kyrgyzstan, taking control of security headquarters, a state TV channel
and other government buildings after
clashes between police and protesters
killed dozens in this Central Asian
nation that has a key U.S. air base.
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who
came to power in a similar popular
uprising five years ago, was said to
have fled to the southern city of Osh,
and it was difficult to gauge how much
of the impoverished, mountainous
country the opposition controlled
Wednesday.
“The security service and the Interior Ministry ... all of them are already
under the management of new people,”
Rosa Otunbayeva, a former foreign
minister who the opposition leaders
Yesterday
record high
Turn to Kyrgyzstan/Page A9
85°
Previous record
84° in 1929
KAZAK.
RUSSIA
Saturday
Detail
record high
75°
TURKM.
Previous record
71° in 1974
IRAQ
Average April
temperature
IRAN
AFGHAN.
0 300 mi
PAK.
0 300 km
43.9°
Police seen
shooting
protesters
Source: National Weather Service
Daniel Oliver, son of orchard owner Jane
Oliver, prunes apple trees that will be sprayed
tomorrow at Keown Orchards.
SOURCE: ESRI
INDIA
Bishkek
KYRGYZSTAN
0
100 mi
CHINA 0
100 km
Family grieves for young father slain on city street
By Scott J. Croteau
HEALTH .............A6
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY...............B6
MEDICAL MEMOS A6
STOCKS .............B7
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B4
By Peter Leonard
WORCESTER — Jose Rivera had just
returned from spending Easter with
family in New York when he was
gunned down Tuesday night on Hollis
Street.
Police continue to investigate the
death of the 22-year-old father of two
girls. Officers were seen yesterday all
along Hollis and Gates streets. It is the
second killing this year in the city.
Standing in the street near a pool of
blood edged with candles and an empty
Hennessy cognac bottle, Mr. Rivera’s
uncle said yesterday he was with his
nephew 15 minutes before the shooting.
John Pitre said he didn’t hear shots that
claimed the young man’s life, but went
outdoors when he heard the ambulances.
He looked up just a few hundred feet
from the family’s apartment and saw a
man covered in a sheet at Hollis and
Gates streets.
“I recognized the sneakers. I couldn’t
see his face,” Mr. Pitre said, as friends
and family gathered at the memorial
site. He saw gang unit Officer James
Turn to Slaying/Page A10
Miriam Rodriguez,
the mother of Jose
L. Rivera’s children,
pounds her fists and
grieves Wednesday
at the spot where
Mr. Rivera died, at
Hollis and Gates
streets in Worcester.
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
Local stories
Your opinion
Yesterday’s
question
Weather
Today’s question
Are you glad to see
Tiger Woods back on the
professional golfing circuit?
See story on Page C1, then
What are the
odds of at least
one more frost
this spring?
Much cooler
HOLDEN
ASHBURNHAM-WESTMINSTER
‘Interesting’ finds in skull search,
Page B1
School candidate says parent
hounded him, Page B1
WORCESTER
SOUTHBRIDGE
Conference focuses on
Armenian genocide, Page B1
Carron rips Alicea over RMV role,
Page B5
High 58, Low 36
SPORTS
Page A2
2010 MASTERS TOURNAMENT
Tiger Watch
1.
T2.
T2.
T2.
T2.
T2.
T7.
Fred Couples
K.J. Choi
Phil Mickelson
Tom Watson
Lee Westwood
Y.E. Yang
Tiger Woods
-6
-5
-5
-5
-5
-5
-4
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
$1.00 ...
Obama, Medvedev sign pact
Treaty to shrink nuclear arsenals
PRAGUE — The nuclear weapons
cuts President Barack Obama and
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
signed on Thursday would shrink the
Cold War superpowers’ arsenals to the
lowest point since the frightening
arms race of the 1960s. But they won’t
touch the “loose nukes” and suitcase
bombs seen as the real menace in
today’s age of terrorism.
“This ceremony is a testament to the
truth that old adversaries can forge
new partnerships,” Obama declared.
“It is just one step on a longer journey.”
The warheads covered by the treaty
are lethal relics of the Cold War, and
even with the planned reductions
there will be enough firepower on
each side to devastate the world many
times over. And of more immediate
concern are attempts by terrorist
groups such as al-Qaida and nations
such as Iran and North Korea to
By Jennifer Loven
Rate
appeal
in court
President
Barack Obama
and Russian
President
Dmitry Medvedev sign the
new START
treaty Thursday at Prague
Castle.
acquire or use nuclear weapons.
Obama and Medvedev showed solidarity for a spring showdown with
Iran. And, beginning Monday, leaders
of 47 countries will gather in Washington in an effort to prevent the spread of
nuclear weapons, crack down on illicit nuclear trafficking and lock down
vulnerable nuclear materials around
the world.
Turn to Nuclear treaty/Page A6
Fleet-footed Crusaders
Health insurers
plead their case
By Glen Johnson
BOSTON — Leading Massachusetts health insurers and
state regulators squared off in
court Thursday in their dispute
about acceptable health insurance premiums for a pivotal sector of the local economy: smallbusiness owners.
The insurers argued the
state’s decision last week to
reject nearly all of their proposed 2010 premium increases
will cause destabilizing losses
for them. The state said the
insurers fundamentally misunderstand both the rate rejection
and the way to resolve their dispute.
During a two-hour hearing in
Suffolk Superior Court, an
attorney for Blue Cross Blue
Shield of Massachusetts and
five members of the Massachusetts Association of Health
Plans asked Judge Stephen Neel
to issue a temporary injunction
on the state’s decision.
Attorney Dean Richlin also
asked that the companies be
allowed to collect the new pre-
WORCESTER — The Department of Classics at the College of the Holy Cross held its 38th Classics Day yesterday, featuring a race for student-built chariots. Other events
relating to Roman culture included a Latin grammar contest and a costume contest. Here, students race the chariots to the finish line. More photos at www.telegram.com.
Solutions elude educators
By Jacqueline Reis
Turn to Insurers/Page A8
Online
telegram.com
Photo galleries: An array of the
day’s best images are always
found in our slide shows.
State Secretary of Education S. Paul Reville speaks in Marlboro
during a panel discussion on student achievement.
MARLBORO — Depending on
whom you ask, the state’s latest
round of education reform —
called “An Act Relative to the
Achievement Gap” — is what’s
needed to give a lifeline to students trapped in schools that are
not serving them, or it’s a prescription so flawed that it risks
destabilizing struggling schools
even more.
Gov. Deval L. Patrick signed
the act into law in January, but
tension around the law contin-
Minorities are still far from the top
ues. In a panel discussion
Wednesday hosted by the Cambridge-based Rennie Center for
Education Research & Policy,
opponents and proponents,
including state Secretary of
Education S. Paul Reville of
Worcester, hashed it out.
Kevin T. Andrews, president
of the Massachusetts Charter
Public School Association and
headmaster of the Neighborhood House Charter School in
Dorchester, said the changes
Undocumented students seek out Brown
Effort to convey immigration issues
By Russell Contreras
BOSTON — A coalition of
undocumented students is seeking a meeting with Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, saying
they hope to better acquaint him
with their issues since the loss
of one of their strongest advocates and Brown’s predecessor,
the late Edward M. Kennedy.
Representatives for the
groups, Harvard Act on a Dream
and the Student Immigrant
Movement, said Thursday they
believe their online petition and
letter-writing campaign eventually could lead to a private meeting between them and Brown
before immigration reforms are
debated in Congress.
Renata Teodoro, a 22-year-old
undocumented student who has
lived in the U.S. for 16 years, said
the goal is for Brown, a Repub-
lican, to hear
out the students and to
meet a constituency group that
rarely seeks
public attention.
“We really
want to sit
Brown
down with him
and tell him our story,” said
Teodoro, a Massachusetts high
school graduate who attends
college when she can afford the
out-of-state tuition. “I hope he
realizes (that) this is important
and that this is affecting real
people.”
During his campaign in the
special election to replace Kennedy, Brown said he was against
granting driver’s licenses and
in-state tuition rates to illegal
immigrants.
But immigrant advocates said
they are hopeful to see where
Brown stood on various reform
proposals floating around in
Congress.
Turn to Immigration debate/Page A6
the law promises are desperately needed. “Black folks and
Latino kids just aren’t cutting it
in this state,” he said. “These
kids are dying in the streets
because they’re leaving school.”
Mary Jo Marion, executive
director of the Latino Education
Institute at Worcester State College, agreed. “Latino kids in
Worcester and other cities really need help now,” she said,
Turn to Achievement gap/Page A10
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B6
ENTERTAINMENT B8
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY .............B12
NATION/WORLD ..A3
STOCKS ............B13
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
Local stories
LEOMINSTER
Yesterday’s
question
Your opinion
Weather
Today’s question
Are you glad to
see Tiger Woods
back on the professional golfing circuit?
Is spring pollen bothering
you? See story on Page A12
and go to telegram.com to
answer.
Windy
PRINCETON
Fire chief retires after years of ser- Jury chosen in murder trial, Page
vice, Page A3
A3
QUABBIN
REGION
Reconfiguration of elementary schools
set, Page A3
Area robotics team heads to
nationals, Page A5
High 58, Low 41
Page A2
SPORTS
Our
144th
year
Tiger’s two
shots back
after the
second
round
telegram.com
Page B1
$1.00
Stevens
to leave
high court
Perpetual grief for miners’ families
Obama gets second pick;
GOP to fight any activist
By Mark Sherman
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS
Travis McKinney is comforted by Cheyanne Graybeal as they view the casket of Travis’ grandfather, Benny Ray Willingham, at the
miner’s funeral at Mullens Penetecostal Holiness Church in Mullens, W.Va., Friday.
The long goodbye
Crews find bodies of 4 missing miners
By Dena Potter
and Peter Prengaman
Cleo Roach
weeps during
the funeral
service for her
son, Benny
Ray Willingham, who was
killed in a
mine explosion.
MONTCOAL, W.Va. (AP) —
Authorities say crews have
found the bodies of four miners
missing nearly a week since an
explosion at a West Virginia coal
mine, bringing the death toll to
29.
Gov. Joe Manchin said, “The
journey has ended.”
Officials say the mission now
is to recover all 22 bodies still
inside the Upper Big Branch
mine. Seven other bodies were
recovered after the blast Monday
and two other miners were
injured.
The raised death toll makes it the
worst coal mine disaster in the U.S.
since 1970 when 38 were killed at
Finley Coal Co. in Hyden, Ky.
Authorities said early Saturday
that they will start bringing out the
bodies so they can be identified.
It was their fourth attempt to
find the four miners missing since
Monday’s explosion killed 25 others in the nation’s worst underground disaster since at least 1984.
During the previous rescue
attempts, searchers were forced to
withdraw by dangerous gases and
the risk of fire or explosion.
Late Friday, officials said their
fourth try to check the chamber
was progressing better than previTurn to Miners/Page A12
WASHINGTON — The retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, the Supreme Court’s leading liberal, touched off an immediate election-year political battle Friday over President
Barack Obama’s second high
court pick. Republicans promised trouble for any activist
nominee.
Obama said he would quickly
name a successor in the mold of
Stevens, who he said was a voice
for ordinary people rather than
powerful interests.
Eleven days before his 90th
birthday, Stevens said he would
step down when the court finishes its work for the summer in
hopes that a replacement could
be confirmed well before the
next term begins in October.
Among potential successors,
Massachusetts Gov. Deval L.
Patrick’s name has surfaced
again — a nomination that
would continue to shake up
Massachusetts politics. “We
cannot replace Justice Stevens’
experience or wisdom,” Obama
said at the White House after
returning from Prague where
he had signed a nuclear treaty.
“I’ll seek someone in the coming
weeks with similar qualities: an
independent mind, a record of
excellence and integrity, a
fierce dedication to the rule of
law and a keen understanding of
how the law affects the daily
Bearings are set for D.C.
Abhinav V. Kurada of Littleton, right, winner of the Massachusetts
Geographic Bee held yesterday in Worcester, accepts congratulations from second-place contestant John Ramirez of North
Easton.
Online
telegram.com
experience or wisdom.
‚
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
lives of the American people. It
will also be someone who, like
Justice Stevens, knows that in
democracy powerful interests
must not be allowed to drown
out the voices of ordinary citizens.”
A White House official said
about 10 people are under consideration, but speculation has
focused on fewer than that.
Leading candidates are said to
be Solicitor General Elena
Kagan, 49, and federal appellate
Judges Merrick Garland, 57, in
Turn to Stevens/Page A7
National Geographic Bee
Sample questions
1. Which state averages more inches of
rainfall per year, Nevada or Delaware?
Bee winner has ‘great memory’
2. Which country has a higher literacy
WORCESTER — All right, no
cheating — click off Google and
try to guess what country the
Wellesley Islands are a part of.
If your answer is Australia,
then you may just have the taste
for obscure geographical knowledge that allowed Abhinav V.
Kurada of Littleton, a sixthgrader at the Advanced Math
and Science Academy in Marlboro, to beat almost 100 of the
state’s sharpest
students yesterday in the state
finals of the 2010
National
Geographic Bee at
telegram.com
Worcester State
College.
“I guess I just have a great
memory,” Abhinav said last
night on his way out to a celebratory dinner with his family.
3. Which country shares its name with
By Steven H. Foskett Jr.
T&G Staff/MARK C. IDE
cannot replace
‘WeJustice
Stevens’
Video: Bedbug-sniffing dogs
are the latest weapon against
a resurgent scourge.
Slideshow
online
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
“I read books. I read National
Geographic magazine. Plus, me
and my dad work together.”
Abhinav will represent Massachusetts in the National Geographic Bee in Washington,
D.C., May 25 and 26. All state
winners receive $100, a National
Geographic atlas, and an allexpenses paid trip to compete in
rate, Burundi or Slovakia?
Africa’s third largest lake?
4.The Gibson Desert is to Australia as
the Qizilgum is to what?
5. Place the following countries in order
according to number of years since
independence from most to fewest:
Uruguay, Benin, Ireland.
See page A7 for answers
Turn to Bee/Page A7
ANNIE’S MAILBOX.A8
BRIDGE................B7
COMICS ...............B6
COMMENTARY.....A11
CROSSWORD........B6
DEATHS...............A4
EDITORIALS .......A11
ENTERTAINMENT A8
MONEY...............A9
NATION/WORLD.A10
NEW ENGLAND ..A10
TELEVISION ........B5
Source: National Geographic Society
April 11, 2010 SAVE
more than
$123.74
coupons inside
SUNDAY
LIVING
Make this
new-look
section
part of
your world
every week
Our
144th
year
SPORTS
telegram.com
$2.50 ...
Crash leaves
Poland
in shock
REGION
Do you contribute to tip
jars at restaurants?
Page B1
REGION
Parents need to lead
fight against bullies.
Williamson column,
Page B1
Leaders killed near site
of 1940 massacre of Poles
By Ellen Barry, Nicholas Kulish
and Michal Piotrowski
ATHOL
As usual, the smug and
dry come up wringing
wet in River Rat Race,
Page B1
THE NEW YORK TIMES
The main administration building at Westboro State Hospital. The hospital is closing, a victim of the state’s budget problems.
Weather
Shutting down
Chance
of shower
High 62, Low 40
Your opinion
1953
23,560 1955
1940
22,218
21,000
1960
20,258
Yesterday’s question
16,669
1965
Is spring pollen bothering you?
Dwindling
inpatients
Statewide census of
Department of
Mental Health
hospitals
12,571
1970
1910
4,969
1975
2,213 1998 2004
1,123
971 2010
630
1,139 1,218
900
1997 2000
2005
Source: Department of Mental Health
Today’s question
Do you think Gov. Deval L. Patrick
and Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray will be
re-elected? See story on this page,
then go to telegram.com to vote.
Online
telegram.com
TRAVEL.................M1
CLASSIFIED
WORCESTERWORKS ..
SECTION D
AUTOMOTIVE AND
SECTION E
Classic Car
Audio
Since
1981
Standing on the Westboro State Hospital main administration building veranda are staffers, from left, Daniel R.
Lambert, director of psychology; Janet E. Ross, director of
nursing; Barbara L. Fenby, director of community services,
and Theodore E. Kirousis, DMH area director.
5 World reaction,
5 Prominent victims,
Turn to Site of tragedy /Page A3
By Lee Hammel
1980
WARSAW — A plane carrying the Polish
president and dozens of the country’s top
political and military leaders to the site of
the Soviet massacre of Polish officers in
World War II
crashed in
western RusPAGE A3
sia on Saturday, killing PAGE A3
everyone on
board.
President Lech Kaczynski’s plane tried to
land in a thick fog, missing the runway and
snagging treetops about half a mile from the
airport in Smolensk, scattering chunks of
flaming fuselage across a bare forest.
The crash came as a stunning blow to
Poland, wiping out a large portion of the
country’s leadership in one fiery explosion.
And in a bizarre twist, it happened at the
Westboro State
Hospital closing
is end of an era Love fest
10,400
MONEY.....................D1
DEATHS ...................B6
EDITORIALS AND
LIVING.........................
CROSSWORD.............7
SPORTS ....................C1
Page C1
Local
stories
Page A2
Lee
Westwood
takes lead
into today’s
final round
of Masters
WESTBORO — A van will pull away from the Daniels
Building at Westboro State Hospital tomorrow, taking
four patients to Worcester State Hospital, and it will be
the first time since 1886 that there are no adults there.
When $625,000 in renovations are completed at Worcester State Hospital in June, 30 adolescents being
treated at Westboro State Hospital also will be transferred there. And that will be the last that the 61 buildings on more than 600 acres off Lyman Street will see
psychiatric patients from the state Department of Mental Health.
The hospital fell victim to the state’s budget problems,
leading officials to decide to close it even before the new
psychiatric hospital in Worcester opens in spring 2012.
That new 320-bed hospital on the campus of Worcester
State Hospital is planned to replace the aging state
psychiatric hospitals both here and in Worcester, which
had 354 beds between them.
It leaves mixed feelings — but decidedly more bitter
than sweet — among the staff and advocates for what
started out as the Westborough Insane Hospital. “Westboro is gorgeous,” said Jennifer C. Garry, a nursing
supervisor who is among the 180 Westboro State Hospital employees who will work at Worcester State Hospital.
“It has Lake Chauncy. It has trails/roads down by the
Turn to Westboro State Hospital/Page A11
for Patrick
at WSC
Murray joins in the fun
as campaign gears up
By Shaun Sutner
WORCESTER — Gov. Deval L. Patrick
and Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray jumpstarted their re-election campaign at a Worcester State College rally yesterday afternoon, saying they have navigated the state
back to fiscal stability after a bleak recession, brought student performance to the top
of the nation and secured hundreds of millions of dollars for Central Massachusetts
projects.
Mr. Patrick has staked a markedly higher
profile in recent weeks with a stepped-up
tempo of appearances across the state, and
the rally showcased his oratorical flair and a
Turn to Patrick/Murray /Page A10
Lawmakers betting bill for casinos will pass House
By John J. Monahan
“We make it sound as
good as it looks”
Auburn • 832-2131 Worcester • 756-8563
Mr. DeLeo
BOSTON — House lawmakers are
set to hold marathon three-day
debates this week over a bill that
would make Massachusetts one of
the top gambling centers on the East
Coast, with two half-billion-dollar
casinos and slot parlors at four existing racetracks.
APPLIANCEE CHANGE
APPLIANC
Sat. 10-6 • Sun. 12-5
The debate comes at a time when
broad opposition to a casino culture
that blocked expanded gaming proposals two years ago appears to have
given way to the allure of a mid-
Great
5 Mass Politics: John Monahan’s
new political column, PAGE A4
Get
G
et Mail-In $
Rebates of
Doors Open 6am
recession job and state revenue
bonanza.
House Speaker Robert E. DeLeo,
D-Winthrop, has scheduled the
debate on the bill and 216 proposed
amendments to begin Tuesday, with
a vote expected on Thursday.
After a joint Republican-Democratic caucus behind closed doors
last week, Mr. DeLeo, who has two
racetracks in his district, said he is
You can
confident of House passage of the
bill. He expects it to produce up to
15,000 temporary and permanent
jobs and more than $300 million in
new state revenue annually.
Gambling opponents, who prevailed in stopping Gov. Deval L.
Patrick’s plan for three casinos and
no slot parlors at tracks in 2008, have
Turn to Casinos/Page A14
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
the details
$
$
Washers*
h *
Dii h
hwasher
h rs** 200 on Refrigerators*
Re
R
efrig
fi
* 175 on W
250 on Dishwashers*
ng Appliances aand
19 Glennie Street • Worcester • 508-755-5269
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
SPORTS
Red Sox get the
best of the Royals
with an 8-6 win
Page C1
Yes, they deserve
a second term
Yesterday’s
question
Do you think Gov.
Deval Patrick and Lt.
Gov. Timothy Murray
will be re-elected?
20.8%
No, we need
new leadership
79.2%
Weather
Your opinion
Today’s question
Have economic conditions
in Massachusetts changed
your mind about building
casinos? See story on
Mostly sunny
High 60, Low 36
Page A2
LOCAL
STORIES
WORCESTER
Manager wants greener building
codes, Page B1
WORCESTER
Religion losing hold on young people,
Page B1
WORCESTER
Man allegedly drove drugged with
child, Page B2
FITCHBURG
Agency undergoes smooth, sad
transition, Page B5
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
$1.00
Safer world,
fewer atomic
weapons
Masterful performance
Iran, North Korea, terror
are on summit’s agenda
By Steven R. Hurst
and Anne Gearan
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Phil Mickelson celebrates Sunday on the 18th green after winning the Masters golf tournament. See story and more
photos on Page C1.
Paying mutual respect
Online
telegram.com
Video: Here’s a foolproof
solution to the itchy problem of tracking down bed
bugs.
Become a fan of
Telegram & Gazette
Follow us at
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B4
ENTERTAINMENT B6
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY...............B7
NATION ..............A3
WORLD ..............A3
Retired trooper, 91, meets new commander
Turn to Fewer nukes/Page A4
By Anne Gearan
WASHINGTON — If alQaida acquired nuclear
weapons it “would have no
compunction at using
them,” President Barack
Obama said Sunday on the
eve of a summit aimed at
finding ways to secure the
world’s nuclear stockpile.
“If there was ever a detonation in New York City, or
London, or Johannesburg,
the ramifications economically, politically and from a
security perspective would
be devastating,” the president said.
“We know that organizations like al-Qaida are in the
process of trying to secure
nuclear weapons or other
weapons of mass destruction, and would have no compunction at using them,”
Turn to Bomb material /Page A4
By Scott J. Croteau
Raymond T. Alzapiedi sat comfortably
in his chair, recalling stories from his
longtime career as a state trooper. Across
from him sat Col. Marian J. McGovern,
the first woman to be named superintendent of the state police.
As the pair chatted in the colonel’s office
at the state police headquarters in Framingham last week, Mr. Alzapiedi smiled
when asked if he thought a woman would
ever be named to the top position in the
department he proudly served.
“I can’t say I did. You never thought
you’d ride together with a woman in a
cruiser,” the 91-year-old Sterling resident
said. “We could never foresee seeing a
Turn to State police/Page A4
Survivor: Keep
retelling the story
Schindler saved her from Holocaust
By Priyanka Dayal
Retired Massachusetts State Police Capt. Ray Alzapiedi of
Sterling talks with Superintendent Col. Marian J. McGovern
at state police headquarters in Framingham.
DeLeo pushes for 2 casinos
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
By Steve LeBlanc
Economy brought change of heart
Home delivery
BOSTON — House Speaker
Robert DeLeo is trying to convince dozens of state lawmakers who voted against a casino
bill two years ago to support
his bill to license two casinos
and up to 3,000 slot machines
at the state’s four racetracks.
DeLeo has at least one convert already — himself. He
was among the House members who in 2008 overwhelmingly rejected a bill by Gov.
Deval Patrick to allow three
resort-style casinos.
At the time, the House was
led by then-Speaker Salvatore
DiMasi, a fellow Democrat
and fierce opponent of casinos. DeLeo was serving then
(508) 791-4600
WASHINGTON — President
Barack Obama’s pledge to one
day rid the world of nuclear
weapons runs up against global
realities this week when representatives from 47 countries try
to craft an agreement on keeping nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands.
Sweeping or even bold new
strategies were unlikely to
emerge from the two-day gathering that begins today. But
Obama invited the swarm of
world leaders as an important
step to intensify global focus on
one of the most serious nuclear
proliferation threats: a world in
which non-state actors — like
the al-Qaida terrorist organization — obtain nuclear materials.
“The single biggest threat to
U.S. security, both short-term,
medium-term and long-term,
would be the possibility of a
terrorist organization obtaining
a nuclear weapon. This is something that could change the security landscape in this country
Loose bomb
material feared
as DiMasi’s Ways and Means
chairman. Patrick’s bill died
after the House voted 106-48 to
send it to a study committee.
Now House leaders are
working not just to pass
DeLeo’s bill but pass it by a
two-thirds majority that could
MILFORD — Sixty-six years
ago, Rena Ferber Finder trudged
into the barbwire-lined expanse
of Auschwitz-Birkenau, a place
of which she had heard only
rumors.
Ms. Finder, 13 at the time, and
the women and girls who traveled with her were exhausted
and parched. They saw snow
falling from the sky and
extended their tongues, hoping
to catch a drop of wet relief.
Then they realized these were
not snowflakes. They were ashes
— human ashes.
Ms. Finder and her mother
were lucky enough to leave
Auschwitz before they could be
killed along with other innocent
Jews. They were rescued by
Oskar Schindler, the man who
hired them once before, and who
arranged for them to work for
him again in his factory in Czechoslovakia.
“I am here because of Oskar
Schindler,” Ms. Finder told
members of the Massachusetts
National Guard yesterday, HoloTurn to Holocaust /Page A6
T&G Staff/DAN GOULD
Keynote speaker Rena Ferber
Finder speaks yesterday at the
ceremony.
Your opinion
Yesterday’s
question
Weather
Some clouds
High 56, Low 37
Page A2
PAXTON
WORCESTER
Man killed in violent crash,
Page B1
Swim program being revived,
Page B1
Today’s question
Would you prefer to see
performers and shows at a
resort casino or at a local arts
center? See story on
this page, then go
to telegram.com to vote.
Have economic
conditions in
Massachusetts
changed your mind
about building
casinos?
MONEY
New traffic
information —
and it’s free
SPORTS
Westboro
lacrosse
coach resigns
Page B10
Page C1
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
$1.00
Theaters: Casinos could kill us
Troy Siebels, executive director of The
Hanover
Theatre for
the Performing Arts, is
worried
about competition with
casinos for
talent and
shows.
By Steve LeBlanc
Hanover could lose shows, customers
BOSTON — Community theaters
and performing art centers are worried
they could face unfair competition and
lose business if a proposal to allow resort style casinos in Massachusetts is
approved.
House lawmakers are set to debate a
bill today that would allow two resort
casinos and up to 3,000 slot machines at
the state’s four racetracks. Local thea-
ters, many of them in the heart of some
of the state’s struggling downtown areas, fear such casinos could easily outbid them for the singers, comedians
and traveling Broadway plays that are
their bread and butter.
The theater owners are particularly
worried about so-called “radius
clauses” that often are included in con-
tracts performers sign with casinos.
They typically bar performers from
booking shows at other venues, such as
community theaters, within 90 or 100
miles of the casino for a set period of a
time — from three months to a year or
T&G File Photo/PAUL KAPTEYN
Nuke
confab
A very complex portrait
gets warning
Teen in stabbing
described as insane
on al-Qaida
By Lee Hammel
Goal to secure vulnerable
nuclear material is closer
WOBURN — One of the last things James Alenson
did in his young life was drop $5 into an open instrument case of a musical group playing to raise money
for charity before classes at Lincoln-Sudbury High
School on Jan. 19, 2007.
Minutes later, Mr. Alenson, 15, who played trumpet
at the school, went into a bathroom and was stabbed to
death by John Odgren, then 16, of Princeton, a special
needs student with a history of threatening other
students, Assistant District Attorney Daniel J. Bennett told a jury yesterday in the first-degree murder
trial at Middlesex Superior Court.
But the trial, estimated to last 3 to 4 weeks, will not
be about what happened, but why, defense lawyer
Jonathan
Shapiro said
in his opening statement
to the jury.
Mr. Shapiro
said
Mr.
Odgren, now
19, was a severely disabled child
diagnosed
with depresPolice Sgt. Kerry McHugh holds the sion, anxiety,
knife used to kill James Alenson, pre- Asperger’s
sented as evidence during the trial.
syndrome and
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and possibly suffering from
bipolar illness.
They are deep-seated problems. His mother,
Dorothy Odgren, has bipolar illness and four of her
relatives have committed suicide, the lawyer said.
Asperger’s syndrome makes it difficult or impossible
to follow instructions or plan ahead, and his client
should be found not guilty by reason of insanity, he
said.
The prosecutor, however, portrayed a youth fascinated with violence who woke up the day of the killing
and played a violent video game in which a character
slashed the throat of a victim. Mr. Odgren left the
house to get the school bus but returned to get a book
and take a carving knife to school with him — the
weapon he used to inflict eight knife wounds to Mr.
Alenson, including two deep into his heart, Mr. Ben-
By Robert Burns
WASHINGTON — President
Barack Obama optimistically
opened a 47-nation nuclear summit Monday, boosted by
Ukraine’s announcement that it
will give up its weapons-grade
uranium. More sobering: The
White House counterterror
chief warned that al-Qaida is
vigorously pursuing ingredients and expertise for a bomb.
Ukraine’s decision dovetailed
with Obama’s goal of securing
all vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide within four years
— an objective that the White
Photos/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
By Steven H. Foskett Jr.
Above, John
Odgren enters
the courtroom
on the first day
of his trial at
Middlesex Superior Court in
Woburn for the
murder of James
Alenson. At left,
Jon Alenson
looks at a photograph of his
son James on a
monitor during
testimony.
WORCESTER — President
Barack Obama had a good first
year in the foreign policy realm,
but it is now time to start producing tangible results, former
high-ranking diplomat R.
Nicholas Burns said last night
during an interview at the Worcester Club.
Mr. Burns, who served nearly
30 years in the U.S. Foreign Service, said the president has apparently done a good job dealing
with several major foreign policy issues, and if he succeeds at
Turn to Burns/Page A4
telegram.com
Video: Checkups at the Teddy
Bear Clinic help kids understand medical moments.
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B6
ENTERTAINMENT B8
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY .............B10
NATION/WORLD ..A3
STOCKS.............B11
Two principals will lose their positions
By Jacqueline Reis
Phone: (508) 793-9245
(508) 791-4600
JOHN FERRARONE
R. Nicholas Burns speaks last
night at the Worcester Club.
School board votes to seek federal funds
News Tips
Home delivery
Turn to Nuclear/Page A4
Burns approves Obama’s stance
on how to steer foreign policy
Turn to School stabbing/Page A5
Online
House hopes will be endorsed by
all summit countries at a closing session Tuesday, even if the
means to accomplish it are
unclear. The fear is that terrorists or a nation other than the
major nuclear powers could
obtain crucial ingredients and
inflict horrendous damage.
Before formally opening the
summit with a reception and
working dinner, Obama held a
series of one-on-one meetings
with leaders from China, Jordan, Ukraine, Armenia and
Malaysia. Presidential aides
billed the summit as the largest
WORCESTER — The School
Committee voted 5-2 last night
to seek $3 million in federal
funds for the city’s two lowest
performing schools — a move
that will cost the schools’ principals their jobs. Voting against
the move were committee members Mary Mullaney and Tracy
O’Connell Novick.
The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently designated Union
Hill and Chandler Elementary
Community schools Level 4
schools, two of 35 of the lowestperforming in the state. They
are the only two in Central Massachusetts.
The schools can qualify for
$500,000 each for three years in
federal School Turnaround
Grants, but to do so, they would
have to adopt one of four federal
turnaround models. All four of
those models involved getting
rid of the principal if he or she
Turn to School funds/Page A5
School Committee member Jack L. Foley speaks last night about
the need for a “level playing field” for urban and suburban schools.
Weather
Day of sun
High 65, Low 42
Yesterday’s
question
Depends At a casino
20.6%
on the
ticket price
39% At my local
arts center
Would you prefer
to see performers
and shows at a resort
casino or at
a local arts center?
40.4%
Your opinion
Today’s question
Has anyone in your family
contracted a serious infection
during a hospital stay?
See story on Page A7, then
Page A2
MONEY
Our
144th
year
Alternative energy
is a milestone for
firm in Worcester
telegram.com
LOCAL
Page B8
WORCESTER
HOLDEN
WORCESTER
Councilors kill sign
moratorium, Page B1
Police say skull likely that Tea party prepares for rally,
of black woman, Page B1 Page B1
$1.00
Son
faces
murder
charge
Amendments
dropping as
casinos rise
One with the works
Mother stabbed
while in kitchen
Quick, decisive vote
expected in House
By George Barnes
and Gail Stanton
By John J. Monahan
CORRESPONDENT
LEOMINSTER
—
A
26-year-old city man is being
held without bail while undergoing a mental health evaluation in Bridgewater State Hospital after being arraigned yesterday in the stabbing death of his
mother at their home on Biscuit
Hill Drive.
Thomas B.
Scesny, of 39
Biscuit
Hill
Drive,
was
arraigned in
Leominster District Court before
Judge
Mark B. Noonan on a charge
of murder in the
death of Lisa Mr. Scesny
Scesny, 46, of
the same address. He is scheduled to appear again May 6 in the
Leominster court for a pretrial
hearing.
Mr. Scesny’s lawyer, James G.
Reardon Jr. of Worcester,
requested the evaluation, saying
his client has a history of mental
illness and suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. He said Mr.
Scesny has been treated at the
Herbert Lipton Community
Mental Health Center in Leominster for the ailment and is
taking medications to treat the
schizophrenia.
“I have serious concerns
about his mental health,” Mr.
Reardon said. “He did not even
realize his mother had died.”
Mrs. Scesny was in the
kitchen pouring soda when her
son stabbed her in the back up to
four times, according to a
BOSTON — A bill to allow two resort casinos and 3,000
slot machines at four racetracks barreled toward approval
yesterday in the House as debate continued on amendments
to refine the proposal.
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, D-Winthrop, is hoping
for a two-thirds vote for passage, possibly as soon as today,
which would strengthen his hand if racetrack slot parlors
are opposed in the Senate or vetoed by Gov. Deval L. Patrick.
Dozens of lawmakers who blocked a bill for three casinos
two years ago were flipping their position on expanded
gambling this time, with some saying the dearth of jobs in
the recession has changed their view.
Proponents say the gaming centers would provide up to
15,000 temporary and permanent jobs and generate more
than $300 million in state revenue. The bill proposes those
revenues would be divided to pay for problem gambler
programs, community colleges, local capital projects, a
manufacturing support fund, tourism, municipal aid, the
state rainy day reserve fund and education.
Opponents, however, say allowing casinos and racinos
would steal jobs and customers from existing business, hurt
It’s do-or-die
day on MCAS
Science, technology retests
By Elaine Thompson
signed. The School Committee voted Monday night to apply for the grants as Ms.
Boone recommended.
Last night, Ms. Boone said, “Let me
clearly state that this is not an indication
that Ms. Bahosh’s leadership is the reason
that this school is a Level 4 school,” she
said, saying that it was a “system failure.”
“Ms. Bahosh is a fine educator, and Ms.
Bahosh will have a great seat on the bus of
leadership in the Worcester public
schools,” Ms. Boone said.
Union Hill staff, who made up a good
chunk of the approximately 50-person
crowd last night, gave their principal a
Today is “D” day for
more than 4,000 members Met Competency Determination
of the class of 2010 — Requirement in STE
approximately 375 of
Passed
Did not pass
them in Central Massachusetts — to try to pass Start of 2009-10 school year:
the MCAS science and
63,136 6,339
technology exam to
receive their high school
diploma with classmates. Current (thru Feb. biology retest):
This year’s graduating
65,356 4,119
class is the first to be
required to pass an exam Met Competency Determination Requirement
in either biology, chemis- in STE through the MCAS Appeals Process
try, introductory physics
349 students
or technology-engineering in addition to the
math and English/lan- STE test opportunities for class of 2010
guage arts MCAS exams. Today – High School STE Tests for
class of 2010
Typically, retests of
June 2, 3 – High School STE Tests
MCAS exams are given in
Massachusetts Department of
February and November. Source:
Elementary and Secondary Education
Today’s retest is special.
“We want to make sure they have every opportunity given
they’re the first class to have to pass it,” said Heidi Guarino,
spokewoman for the state Department of Elementary and
Secondary Education. “We will not be giving this test in
April again.”
Mrs. Guarino said the results of today’s science and technology exam will be expedited by May 21, which is in time for
Turn to School/Page A7
Turn to MCAS/Page A7
WORCESTER — Workers from Kay Gee Sign & Graphics Co. of Auburn do repair work Tuesday on the
iconic Coney Island hot dogs sign on Southbridge Street.
Turn to Murder charge/Page A7
High praise for principal
Union Hill
Elementary
School
Principal
Denise R.
Bahosh
acknowledges
applause
from the
gathering of
parents and
teachers at
a meeting
last night at
the school.
Level 4 school a ‘system failure,’ says schools chief
By Jacqueline Reis
Online
telegram.com
WORCESTER — Union Hill Principal
Denise R. Bahosh won’t be at Union Hill
next year, but she will still be one of the
district’s leaders, Superintendent
Melinda J. Boone told a community meeting at Union Hill last night.
The state has designated Union Hill and
Chandler Elementary Community School
Level 4 schools, putting them among the 35
lowest-performing schools in the state and
making them eligible for federal School
Turnaround Grants. Those grants come
with conditions, however, and one of them
is that each school’s principal be reas-
Special sections: Visit our links
to special sections for an indepth look at important
regional issues.
Follow us at
MCAS Science and
Technology exam
Become a fan of
Telegram & Gazette
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B4
ENTERTAINMENT B6
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY...............B8
NATION/WORLD ..A3
STOCKS .............B9
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
Weather
Nice day
Local stories
High 60, Low 39
WORCESTER
Page A2
Taxi company rejects offer, Page B1
Yesterday’s
question
AUBURN
Sex offender arrested after school visit, Page B3
Has anyone in your family contracted a
serious infection during a hospital stay?
SPORTS
No hospitalizations.
We’re lucky.
19.2%
No, so far
so good.
Yes, and it
made matters
much worse.
37.3%
43.5%
Your opinion
Today’s question
If the state gets two casinos, should
Central Mass. be home to one of them?
See story on this page,
then go to telegram.com to vote.
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
Sharks
lose to
the Lowell
Devils, 3-2
Page C1
$1.00
Tax deadline change
S
M
T
11 12 13
W
T
F
S
Today
14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
MAY
25 26 27 28 29 30
2
3
9
10
4
New
5
MAY
6
11 12 13
date
1
8
7
14 15
House OKs
2 casinos,
limited slots
120-37 is veto-proof margin
By John J. Monahan
Worcester State
College accounting
major Timothy
Auger of Rutland
asks Barbara
O’Handley of Paxton about one of
her tax documents.
The school offered
free tax assistance.
JOHN FERRARONE
Late deadline
for tax filing
aids dawdlers,
flood victims
Online
By Lisa Eckelbecker
Procrastinators, today is your lucky day.
Today, those of you who tend to put off
important tasks, such as filing your state and
federal income tax returns, would ordinarily
be hunched over a computer and entering
numbers into a TurboTax program, or queued
up at a post office to deposit your mailings to
the Internal Revenue Service and the state’s
Department of Revenue before the clock runs
out on April 15.
Yet because of fierce spring storms that
lashed the Northeast with flood-inducing
rains, residents of Worcester County and six
other Massachusetts counties declared federal
disaster areas have until May 11 to file their
state and federal taxes. The extended deadline
applies to those who were flooded and those
who were not.
Yes, procrastinators, you got a reprieve.
It’s too early to tell how many filers will take
advantage of the extended deadline. Rob-
BOSTON — Despite warnings from opponents that it
would
destroy
families,
increase crime and harm the
economy, the House last night
gave overwhelming approval to
an expansion of gambling, with
a veto-proof 120-37 margin of
support for two resort casinos
and slots at the state’s four racetracks.
The approval, which saw
dozens of lawmakers changing
their position on gambling from
two years ago when the House
rejected a three-casino plan by
a 108-46 vote, came after two
days of debate and 13 days after
the bill was unveiled by House
Speaker Robert E. DeLeo.
This time around, legislators
desperate to bring in new jobs
to deal with an unemployment
rate above 9 percent sided with
proponents who cited studies
showing the bill would create
up to 15,000 jobs and deliver
more than $300 million in new
Obama policies
Video: Beating of a homeless
man caught on videotape.
By Glen Johnson
Let it all in with
Charter On Demand
SEE OUR AD FOR DETAILS.
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Turn to Tax/Page A9
Cuts also for state programs, jobs
By John J. Monahan
HEALTH .............A7
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY...............B8
MEDICAL MEMOS A7
STOCKS .............B9
Rep. Geraldo Alicea (D-Charlton)
Rep. Jennifer B. Benson (D-Lunenburg)
Rep. John J. Binienda Sr. (D-Worcester)
Rep. Jennifer M. Callahan (D-Sutton)
Rep. Stephen L. DiNatale (D-Fitchburg)
Rep. Christopher J. Donelan (D-Orange)
Rep. Carolyn Dykema (D-Holliston)
Rep. Lewis G. Evangelidis (R-Holden)
Rep. John V. Fernandes (D-Milford)
Rep. John P. Fresolo (D-Worcester)
Rep. Paul K. Frost (R-Auburn)
Rep. Anne M. Gobi (D-Spencer)
Rep. Danielle Gregoire (D-Marlboro)
Rep. Robert S. Hargraves (R-Groton)
Rep. Kate Hogan (D-Stow)
Rep. Paul J. Kujawski (D-Webster)
Rep. Harold P. Naughton Jr. (D-Clinton)
Rep James J. O’Day (D-West Boylston)
Rep. Vincent A. Pedone (D-Worcester)
Rep. George N. Peterson Jr. (R-Grafton)
Rep. Karyn E. Polito (R-Shrewsbury)
Rep. Robert L. Rice (D-Gardner)
Rep. Dennis Rosa (D-Leominster)
Rep. Todd M. Smola (R-Palmer)
Rep. Robert P. Spellane (D-Worcester)
Dems
lay
out
Palin brings energy to Boston
local aid slashes
Tea party dunks
telegram.com
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B6
How they voted
BOSTON — Sarah Palin rallied the conservative tea party
movement near the scene of its
historical inspiration Wednesday, telling
Washington
5 In Worcester: politicians
that governA tea party tax
ment should
day rally will be
be working for
held today at
the people, not
Lincoln Square,
from 4 to 6 p.m. the other way
around.
The theme is
Addressing
‘‘Reclaim Liberty,”
roughly 5,000
organizers said.
people,
the
2008 Republican vice presidential nominee
accused President Barack
Obama of overreaching with his
$787 billion stimulus program.
She also criticized the administration’s health care, student
loan and financial regulatory
overhauls.
Turn to Tea party /Page A9
Sarah Palin flashes a thumbs up toward her husband, Todd, Wednesday on Boston Common. More photos at www.telegram.com.
BOSTON — Local aid would
be cut by up to 4 percent, funding for state programs and
agencies would be slashed and
as many as 1,500 state jobs
would be eliminated under a
fiscal 2011 budget plan laid out
yesterday by House Democrats.
The impact on local school
districts would vary depending
on whether they are already
funding schools at minimum
allowable levels, meaning cities
such as Worcester, currently at
minimum funding levels
allowed by law, would not see a
large reduction in school funding.
But other communities
would see as much as a 4 percent cut in school funding,
according to House Ways and
Means Committee Chairman
Charles Murphy, D-Burlington.
All cities and towns would see
unrestricted aid to municipal
“Your Choice” 10 Pc. Pkgs!
Includes...
Choose
from
4
Different
Livingroom
Styles!
Choose:
50" LG HDTV &
Entertainment Console
OR 3 TV PACKAGE!*
PAGE A8
operations reduced.
While proposed state spending totaling $27.8 billion would
be a 3.2 percent increase over
the current year, local aid
would be reduced by $234 million.
House leaders rejected Gov.
Deval L. Patrick’s call for new
taxes on candy, sweetened
drinks, cigars and a bottle bill
expansion, along with his proposal to level fund local aid.
They said their version of the
budget provides no increases in
taxes or fees next year.
The House version appropriates $411 million less than the
governor proposed, but goes
along with his proposal to cut
Mass Health dental programs.
Turn to Budget/Page A8
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
After 150 Mail-in rebate*
All for only
Sofa, loveseat, a cocktail table and 2 matching end tables,
a pair of lamps, a 5’x8’ rug, an entertainment console with a $
*details in store
*
or rotmans.com
50” LG HDTV or Bosch Vision Washer & Dryer or 3 TV Package!* *Limited quantities on TVs and appliances. We reserve the right to substitute like brand items
on TV and Appliances.
$
1999!
5 How the aid cuts look in
Central Mass. communities,
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
Weather Page A2
Rain, cold
High 43, Low 35
ICELAND’S VOLCANO ASH
HALTS EUROPEAN
FLIGHTS
Particles pose major
hazard to airlines
PAGE A8
$1.00 ...
Your opinion
W O R C E S T E R T E A P A R T Y R A L L Y 2 010
Today’s question
How much influence will tea party
activists have on party politics this
year? See story on this page, then
No, the social
costs will be
too high
29.4%
Voices are raised for freedoms
Yes, we need
the jobs
and revenue
70.6%
Yesterday’s question
If the state gets two casinos,
should Central Mass.
be home to one of them?
Local
WORCESTER
Man fires at worker in
court crew, Page B1
SOUTHBRIDGE
Parishioners fight church’s
closing, Page B1
2010
State Republican
Convention
WORCESTER
T&G Staff Photos/PAUL KAPTEYN
More than 2,000 tea party supporters gather for a tax day rally at Lincoln Square in Worcester.
Mr. Baker
Taxes, spending are blasted
Mr. Mihos
Mihos
seeking
a seat
at table
By Martin Luttrell
Slid h
Slideshow
and video
online
‘Outsider’ vying
for GOP primary
By John J. Monahan
WORCESTER — On its second annual
tax day rally, speakers at the Worcester
Tea Party event yesterday mentioned its
new hero, U.S. Sen. Scott
Brown, almost as many
times as its patron saint,
Ronald Reagan.
Mr. Brown, the Wrentham Republican who was
little known outside of his
state Senate district when
he spoke at the first Worcester Tea Party rally a telegram.com
year ago, was held up by
some speakers yesterday as an example of
how the organization is gaining power in
having helped him win an upset victory in
January to succeed the late Edward M.
Dana George Reed of Spencer gives a thumbs up to a passing
motorist during the tax day rally
Brian Cormier of Westminster cheers during the tax day rally.
Kennedy.
Yesterday’s rally at Lincoln Square was
attended by an estimated 2,500 to 3,000
Turn to Rally/Page A7
WORCESTER — The top
question facing Republicans
who will begin arriving in the
city today for their state nominating convention is whether
Christy P. Mihos will get
enough support to force a Republican primary election with
Charles D. Baker Jr. in the race
for governor.
Mr. Baker, the former state
finance chief under former governors William F. Weld and
Paul Cellucci who left his job as
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
CEO to run for governor, is
expected to get a majority of the
delegate support for his candidacy.
But Mr. Mihos is scrambling
to get the minimum 15 percent
of the delegate vote needed to
force a GOP primary contest in
September. The former Massachusetts Turnpike Authority
board member and convenience
store chain owner angered
many rank-and-file Republicans four years ago when he left
the party to run as an independTurn to GOP/Page A7
RUSSIAN ADOPTIONS
Worth the struggles
Parents cope with unpredictable process
By Sandy Meindersma
CORRESPONDENT
From left, Russian exchange student Dmitriy Kozhevniko, 17;
Sharon Yager; Olya Yager, 12, who was adopted from Russia in
December 2004; Will Yager; Kristina Yager, 17, foreground; and
twin brother Sasha Yager, 17, both adopted in June 2009 from
Russia, are seen in Charlton. In the background are the Yagers’
biological sons, Riley Yager, 13, and Liam Yager, 16.
feud rattles U.S. families, Page A3.
sian adoption process are not
surprised that Russian officials
appeared to have closed adoptions to the United States yesterday following the unescorted return of a 7-year-old boy to Moscow from a town in Tennessee
last week.
“Russia is an unpredictable
program,” said Etta Lappen
Davis, former president of
Adoption Community of New
England, based in Westboro.
“They have changed the
requirements, shut down organizations and withdrawn accreditation for agencies before.”
Adoption Community of New
England is a resource and referral agency, not an adoption
agency. Among its offerings is
an annual conference about all
phases of adoption. This year’s
conference is tomorrow at Bellingham High School.
The Russian government’s
suspension of adoptions by
Americans was in response to
Torry Ann Hansen, a registered
Turn to Adoption/Page A10
Home delivery
Index
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B6
Area residents who have
adopted Russian children say
their experiences with the children are worth the struggles and
problems that sometimes
accompany the process.
“They’re the reason we get up
in the morning and I can’t imagine life without them,” Laura
Dilts of Rutland said about her
two sons whom she adopted
from Russia. And other adoptive families she knows feel the
same way. “We all feel like it
was meant to be,” she said.
Experts familiar with the Rus-
5 Drastic action: Russia adoption
ENTERTAINMENT B8
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY .............B12
NATION/WORLD ..A3
STOCKS ............B13
Online
telegram.com
Become a fan of
Telegram&Gazette
Catch up: Review the action
and commentary related to
yesterday’s tea party rally in
Worcester.
News Tips
Follow
us at
e-mail:
newstips@telegram.com
Phone: (508) 793-9245
(508) 791-4600
Yesterday’s
question
How much influence will tea
party activists have on party
politics this year?
Quite a bit
on both
parties
Little or no
effect on
either party
36.6%
43%
Some effect
on Republicans
Your opinion
Weather
SPORTS
Today’s question
How closely will you be paying
attention to this year’s political campaigns? Go to telegram.com to vote
and offer your opinion.
Showers
High 42, Low 32
Page A2
20.5%
Local
stories
HOLDEN
Woman’s skull is
identified,
Page A3
WORCESTER
Shooting suspect held
without bail,
Page A3
Become a fan of
Telegram & Gazette
Celtics
face Heat
to start
playoffs
Follow us at
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
Our
144th
year
Page B1
telegram.com
DOUGLAS
Girl says assaults
occurred ‘lots of times,’
Page A3
REGION
Moore briefs officials
on local aid,
Page A3
$1.00
Schools
making
a choice
Districts opt for
revenue stream
By Elaine Thompson
As assistant superintendent of the Narragansett Regional School District from
2000 to 2004, serving Templeton and Phillipston, Anthony T. Polito helped attract
students who were using the inter-district school choice program to flee the
troubled neighboring
Athol-Royalston
Regional School District.
Because of low MCAS
scores and other problems, Athol High School
was about to lose its accreditation and the district was targeted for
possible takeover by the
state. Buildings were in
Mr. Polito
poor condition and there
was a superintendent turnover rate of 11
in 13 years.
The past five years, as superintendent
of Athol-Royalston, Mr. Polito has
worked hard to improve the district’s
educational quality, buildings, leadership and image and is now working to
woo local students back.
On Wednesday, the district began distributing a 10-point brochure outlining
Turn to Choice/Page A7
Republican State Convention volunteer Camille Knowlton, left, of Ashland, registers delegates Andrea and James Killian of Sandwich at the DCU Center
yesterday.
Grand Party
Republicans upbeat
Goldman
accused
of fraud
By John J. Monahan
For starters, he is pledged to a candidate, Cape Cod convenience store
magnate Christy P. Mihos, who is
the decided underdog versus Charles D. Baker Jr. for the party’s nomination for governor.
Another thing that sets Mr. Wyatt
apart is that he is active in the Worcester Tea Party, a group of Worces-
WORCESTER — Republicans gathering
here last night had an extra bounce in their
step and smiles on their faces, having won a
special U.S. Senate election in January, and
were talking about hopes running high for
the fall as they hopped from one pre-convention party to another downtown.
Reed Hillman,
PAGE A11
who ran for lieutenant governor
on the ticket with Kerry Healey in 2006, was
all smiles arriving for the convention, saying he is expecting big results for Republicans in the state elections this time around.
He said he believes gubernatorial candidate
Charles D. Baker Jr. will earn the confidence
of voters with his business-like style, even
though he is not as conservative as some
Republican voters.
State GOP Chairman Jennifer A. Nassour
was all smiles as well as she made the
rounds, stopping at both gubernatorial candidate Christy P. Mihos’ low-key party at the
Crowne Plaza Hotel and Mr. Baker’s jampacked celebration in the lobby of Union
Station.
She said she got a good vibe as soon as she
arrived at the Crowne Plaza yesterday afternoon with the hotel abuzz with delegates. “I
walked in here and it was a madhouse, a
Turn to GOP/Page A8
Turn to Republicans/Page A8
Mortgage-backed
securities made to fail
5 Editorial,
By Marcy Gordon
T&G Staff/DAN GOULD
WASHINGTON — The government on
Friday accused Wall Street’s most powerful company of fraud, saying Goldman
Sachs & Co. sold mortgage investments
without telling the buyers that the securities were crafted with input from a client who was betting on them to fail.
And fail they did. The securities cost
investors close to $1 billion while helping
Goldman client Paulson & Co., a hedge
fund, capitalize on the housing bust. The
Goldman executive accused of shepherding the deal allegedly boasted about the
“exotic trades” he created “without necessarily understanding all of the implications of those monstrosities!!!”
The civil charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission are the
Turn to Goldman/Page A9
GOP convention delegate Bradford Wyatt unfurls a banner for Christy Mihos.
GOP delegates are divided
on issues, loyal to party
By Shaun Sutner
WORCESTER — Meet Bradford
Wyatt, delegate at the Republican
state convention, which unfolds
today at the DCU Center.
At 40, the Berlin-Boylston
Regional School Committee member is not exactly your typical GOP
delegate, if there is one.
2010
State Republican
Convention
WORCESTER
4 Where: DCU Center, Worcester
4 When: Today, 9 a.m. to midafternoon
4 Keynote speaker: 10 a.m., U.S.
Sen. Scott Brown
4 Purpose: To nominate and cast
ballots for candidates for secretary
of state, auditor, treasurer, lieutenant governor
4 Delegates: More than 3,000
registered
4 Leadership: Jennifer A. Nassour,
chairman of the Massachusetts
Republican Party
4 Fun facts: 2,000 balloons and
75 lbs. of confetti
ONLINE UPDATES
4 Live blogging
by Shaun Sutner
from the convention floor
beginning at 9 a.m.
4 Web updates by John Monahan
4 Video of Sen. Scott Brown’s
speech
4Slide shows of convention
activities : www.telegram.com/
ANNIE’S MAILBOX .A10
BRIDGE..................B7
CLASSIFIED............C2
COMICS .................B6
CROSSWORD..........B6
DEATHS.................B6
EDITORIALS ..........A13
ENTERTAINMENT ..A10
HOROSCOPE...........B7
LOTTERIES.............A2
MONEY .................A11
RELIGION..............A12
STOCKS ................A11
TELEVISION ...........B5
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
April 18, 2010
Local stories
SAVE
more than
$114.03
coupons inside
REGION
WORCESTER
Wind energy explored in north
Worcester County, Page B1
Movie’s premiere marks epic fight
of Miranda Berry, 12, Page B1
WORCESTER
SOUTHBRIDGE
Tea party brews up some protest.
Williamson column, Page B1
Town deals with garbage menace,
Page B1
SPORTS
Our
144th
year
Boston Marathon primer;
Faces in the Crowd
telegram.com
Pages C1-C3
$2.50 ...
Weather
2010
Shower possible
High 47, Low 35
Page A2
State Republican
Convention
WORCESTER
Baker’s way is clear
Overwhelming
support for
gov. nominee
Yesterday’s
question
How closely will you be
paying attention to this year’s
political campaigns?
Why bother,
nothing will change
22.5%
As close as
I can get
40.3%
By John J. Monahan
WORCESTER — Republican Charles D. Baker Jr. won over enough delegates to avoid a primary contest with
Cape Cod businessman Christy P.
Mihos yesterday, taking 89 percent of
the delegate votes at the state GOP convention to deny Mr.
Mihos the 15 percent
he needed to stay in
the contest.
The convention outcome means Mr.
Baker will have a
clear run to the fourway November election contest for gover- telegram.com
nor that has shaped
up with Timothy P. Cahill running as
an independent, Green Party candidate Jill Stein and incumbent Democrat Deval L. Patrick.
Mr. Baker received 2,544 delegate
votes for the GOP nomination to Mr.
Mihos’ 318.
The overwhelming vote of support
for Mr. Baker and his lieutenant governor running mate, state Sen. Richard
R. Tisei, came hours after U.S. Sen.
Scott P. Brown issued a hearty endor-
U.S. Sen. Scott P. Brown, left, and Charles D. Baker Jr., the Republican nominee for governor, shake hands with members of the
delegation yesterday at the conclusion of Mr. Brown’s speech at the GOP state convention in the DCU Center.
Turn to Delegates/Page A3
Enough to stay
informed
37.2%
Your opinion
Today’s question
Do you think Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles D. Baker Jr.
can unseat Gov. Deval L. Patrick?
See stories on this page, then go
Slid h
Slideshow
and video
online
Online
telegram.com
Video: Watch recent Central
Mass. slideshows and videos
online. Go to telegram.com
and select Photos/Video tab.
Also Online
4 Need a challenge? Go to
telegram.com and try our
online crossword and Sudoku
puzzles.
4 What did the new neighbors pay? Go to our online
Real Estate section and
search our database of house
sales.
Follow us at
Become a fan of
Telegram & Gazette
MONEY.....................D1
DEATHS ...................B6
EDITORIALS AND
LIVING.........................
CROSSWORD.............7
SPORTS ....................C1
TRAVEL.................M1
CLASSIFIED
WORCESTERWORKS ..
SECTION D
AUTOMOTIVE AND
SECTION E
Brown urges end to one-party rule
By John J. Monahan
WORCESTER — U.S. Sen.
Scott P. Brown endorsed Republican Charles D. Baker Jr.
in his keynote speech to the
state’s GOP nominating convention yesterday, calling for
an end to one-party rule on Beacon Hill.
Mr. Brown thanked Republicans and Democrats for his
victory in the January special
election to fill the remaining
three years of the late Sen.
5 Convention notebook,
PAGE A6
5 Delegates cheer Polito,
PAGE A7
Edward M. Kennedy’s term,
and made a special appeal for
the election of a Republican to
fill his former state Senate seat
in a special election May 11.
Mr. Brown’s endorsement of
Mr. Baker came as no surprise,
as he has had a Baker bumper
sticker on his now famous
GMC pickup truck for months.
But the appeal issued directly
to delegates at the convention
came as no help to the bid by
Republican Christy P. Mihos to
force a GOP primary for the
party nomination. Mr. Mihos
failed to get the necessary 15
percent support from delegates
that he needed to force a primary.
Mr. Brown decried the
unchecked spending in WashTurn to Brown/Page A3
U.S. Sen. Scott P. Brown acknowledges the delegates yesterday at the Republican State Convention in the DCU Center.
Volcano activity increases, airspace remains closed
Toxic ash threatens farms; airports weigh layoffs
Jan Kubicek of the
Czech Republic
and other
grounded passengers rest on
cots Saturday in
Terminal 4 at JFK
International Airport in New York
after their flights to
Europe were canceled because of
the volcano eruption in Iceland.
By Sylvia Hui
and Angela Charlton
PARIS — The Icelandic volcano that has
kept much of Europe land-bound is far from
finished spitting out its grit, and offered up
new mini-eruptions Saturday that raise concerns about longer-term damage to world air
travel and trade.
Facing days to come under the volcano’s
unpredictable, ashy plume, Europeans are
looking at temporary airport layoffs and getting creative with flight patterns to try to
32"
Sealy Posturepedic
TRIPLE CHOICE
Queen Mattress Set
Firm or Plush or Pillowtop
with Memory Foam
$
1499*
Fantastic!
SAVE UP TO $1000
The
Ultimate Mattress Pack
age
32"
Includes your ch
oice of a
TV 3 PACK
OR BOSCH
WASHER & DRYER
*Details in store or rotmans.com
weather this extraordinary event.
Modern Europe has never seen such a travel
disruption. Airspace across a swath from Britain to Ukraine was closed and set to stay that
way until today or Monday in some countries,
affecting airports from New Zealand to San
Francisco. Millions of passengers have had
plans foiled or delayed.
Activity in the volcano increased early Saturday, and showed no sign of abating.
“There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight,”
Icelandic geologist Magnus Tumi Gudmunds-
Limited quantites on
“Ultimate Package
Special” TVs and
appliances.
We reserve the right to
substitute like brand
items sold by Vin’s TV
and Appliances.
Turn to Volcanic/Page A8
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
15"
3 PACK includes
Two 32" LG TVs,
and one 15" TV
After $150 Mail-in rebate*
No
Yesterday’s
question
Weather
Your opinion
11%
Today’s question
Yes
Do you think
Republican gubernatorial candidate
Charles D. Baker Jr.
can unseat Gov.
Deval L. Patrick?
MONEY
Have you or a family
member ever run in the
Boston Marathon? See story
on this page, then go
89%
Breezy
High 55, Low 40
Page A2
At work
with a boat
technician
at Hazard
Marine
Insurance
firms want to
recoup funds
from Toyota
crashes
Page B7
Page B7
Local stories
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
WORCESTER
WORCESTER
City trying to find money to retain
police, firefighters, Page B1
Neighbors try to combat violence,
Page B1
WORCESTER
FITCHBURG
New pastor installed at Greendale
People’s Church, Page B1
Sexual violence on the increase,
Page B5
$1.00
Is airspace safe yet? Experts disagree
Test flights v. meteorologists
By Arthur Max
AMSTERDAM — Major airlines that
sent test flights into European air space
found no damage Sunday from the volcanic ash that has paralyzed aviation over
the continent, raising pressure on governments to ease restrictions that have
thrown global travel and commerce into
chaos.
Is it safe to fly yet? Airline officials and
some pilots say the passengerless test
flights show that it is. Meteorologists
warn that the skies over Europe remain
unstable from an Icelandic volcano that
continues to spew ash capable of knocking
out jet engines.
European Union officials said air traffic
could return to half its normal level today if
the dense cloud begins to dissipate. Germany allowed some flights to resume.
Eighty percent of European airspace
remained closed for a devastating fourth
day on Sunday, with only 4,000 of the normal
24,000-flight schedule in the air, said Brian
Flynn, deputy head of operations for Eurocontrol, which supports the air traffic control network across the European Union’s 27
states.
“Today it has been, I would say, the worst
situation so far,” Flynn said.
The test flights highlighted a lack of con-
sensus on when to reopen the skies. The
microscopic but potentially menacing volcanic grit began closing airports from Ireland to Bulgaria on Thursday, stranding
countless passengers and leaving cargo rotting in warehouses.
“It is clear that this is not sustainable. We
cannot just wait until this ash cloud dissipates,” EU Transport Commissioner Siim
Kallas told reporters at the European capital
in Brussels.
KLM Royal Dutch airlines, the national
German carrier Lufthansa, Air France and
Turn to Holding/Page A4
Passengers rest Sunday at the Prat Llobregat airport, near Barcelona,
Spain. All flights there have been grounded.
Weekend renovations, repairs
Marathon run
for a reason
After Boston, Northboro
native headed to Sahara
By Jennifer Toland
WORCESTER — Rebuilding Together Worcester’s 10th annual rebuilding weekend found volunteers out across the city on renovation
projects and repairs. Here volunteers clean up at Doherty Memorial High School. Story and more photos on Page B1.
Last year, Patty Vehmeyer
walked the 5K portion of the
Gate River Run, a big-time
annual event in Jacksonville,
Fla., where she now makes her
home, and it was a struggle just
to get to the finish line.
“I almost didn’t make it,” Vehmeyer, a Northboro native,
recalled this week. “I was so
sore and I thought I was dying
just from walking it.”
This year, 55 pounds trimmer
and a hundred times healthier
in body, mind and spirit, Vehmeyer had no problem running
the entire 15K race. Completing
the Gate River Run was the first
goal Vehmeyer set when she
started her running program
last August. Up next is today’s
Boston Marathon — she’s part
of the New England Patriots
Turn to Marathon/Page A6
Online
telegram.com
Video: Review the weekend’s
GOP convention events at the
DCU.
Poll: People don’t
trust government
Study finds 80% lack confidence
in feds’ ability to solve problems
By Liz Sidoti
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B4
ENTERTAINMENT B6
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY...............B7
NATION ..............A3
WORLD ..............A3
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
WASHINGTON — Can you
trust Washington?
Nearly 80 percent of Americans say they can’t and they
have little faith that the massive federal bureaucracy can
solve the nation’s ills, according to a survey from the Pew
Research Center that shows
public confidence in the federal
government is at one of the lowest points in a half-century.
The poll released Sunday
illustrates the ominous situation facing President Barack
Obama and the Democratic
Party as they struggle to maintain their comfortable congressional majorities in this fall’s
elections. Midterm prospects
Patty Vehmeyer will be running
today in the Boston Marathon.
It’s a roll call double take
Gardell brothers’ Fire Dept. careers on similar track
By Scott J. Croteau
are typically tough for the
party in power. Add a toxic environment like this and lots of
incumbent Democrats could be
out of work.
The survey found that just 22
percent of those questioned say
they can trust Washington
almost always or most of the
time and just 19 percent say
they are basically content with
it. Nearly half say the government negatively affects their
daily lives, a sentiment that’s
grown over the past dozen
years.
This anti-government feeling has driven the tea party
movement, reflected in fierce
protests last week.
“The government’s been
Gardell, who is an acting district chief.
“I giggle every time I hear it,”
Geoffrey said recently, standing outside the Franklin Street
Fire Station.
For the Gardell brothers,
their lives are a complete parallel. Life events came around the
same time and so did changes in
their careers in the department.
Growing up on Constitution
Avenue in Great Brook Valley
— later on Vernon Hill — the
Gardell brothers were two of
eight children. In a family of
five boys and three girls, money
was tight and so was living
space.
But their homemaker mother
and auto body technician father
did their best to keep the family
going.
“We made do. We didn’t know
we didn’t have things,” said
Geoffrey, 52. “One of my friends
Turn to Negative/Page A6
District Chief Geoffrey Gardell, left, and his brother, acting District
Chief Timothy Gardell, at the Franklin Street Station.
Turn to Brothers/Page A6
WORCESTER — District
Chief Geoffrey Gardell gets a
little laugh when the Fire
Department’s morning roll call
is broadcast.
His name is announced, then
his brother’s — Capt. Timothy
Local stories
REGION
HOPEDALE
Charlton, Southbridge jockey
over water, Page B1
Fire destroys country club,
Page B2
AUBURN
REGION
Organ recipient devotes life to
saving others, Page B1
Women of Distinction format
changing, Page B3
Weather
Yesterday’s
question
Mostly sunny
High 60, Low 43
Your opinion
Today’s question
Have you or a
family member
ever run in the
Boston Marathon?
Do you support or oppose
legalization of marijuana?
See story on this page, then
Page A2
SPORTS
Bruins defeat
Sabres, 2-1
Page C1
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
$1.00
Group’s
gay ban
testing
top court
Limited flights allowed
New ash cloud spreading toward Britain
By Jill Lawless
and Slobodan Lekic
Is school objection
a ‘crazy’ notion?
By Jesse J. Holland
WASHINGTON
—
The
Supreme Court seemed to split
sharply Monday on whether a
law school can deny recognition
to a Christian student group
that won’t let gays join, a case
that could determine whether
nondiscrimination policies
trump the rights of private organizations to determine who
can — and cannot — belong.
In arguments tinged with
questions of religious, racial
and sexual discrimination, the
court heard from the Christian
Legal Society, which wants recognition from the University of
California’s Hastings College of
the Law as an official campus
organization with school
financing and benefits.
Hastings, in San Francisco,
turned them down, saying no
recognized campus groups may
exclude people due to religious
belief or sexual orientation.
The Christian group requires
that voting members sign a
statement of faith. The group
also regards “unrepentant participation in or advocacy of a
sexually immoral lifestyle” as
being inconsistent with the
statement of faith.
“CLS has all of its activities
entirely open to everyone,” lawyer Michael McConnell said.
“What it objects to is being run
by non-Christians.”
A federal judge threw out the
Turn to Group membership/Page A6
Online
telegram.com
The view: Follow the links to our
lineup of bloggers for timely
local commentary.
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B4
ENTERTAINMENT B6
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY...............B8
NATION/WORLD ..A3
STOCKS .............B9
Huw Thomas of England eats breakfast in his cot Monday at John F.
Kennedy International Airport in New York.
LONDON — Europe began to
emerge from a volcanic cloud
Monday, allowing limited air
traffic to resume and giving
hope to millions of travelers
stranded around the world when
ash choked the jet age to a halt.
Even then, however, the eruption from the Icelandic volcano
that caused the five days of aviation chaos was said to be strengthening and sending more ash
toward Britain, which could
make it unlikely that London
airports would reopen today.
Three KLM passenger planes
left Schiphol airport in Amsterdam on Monday evening during
daylight under visual flight
rules bound for New York,
Dubai and Shanghai. An Associated Press photographer saw
one jet taking off into a colorful
sunset, which weather officials
said was pinker than normal
because of the ash.
European Union transport
ministers reached a deal during
a crisis videoconference to
divide northern European skies
into three areas: a “no-fly” zone
immediately over the ash cloud;
a caution zone “with some conTurn to Limited/Page A4
Student
dies at
practice
Fastest finish yet
Nashoba senior
on track team
By Brian Lee
BOLTON
—
Nashoba
Regional High School senior
Alexander Doucette collapsed
and died yesterday morning
while running at track practice.
Mr. Doucette, 18, of Lancaster,
was an honor roll student.
Coby Horowitz, a four-year
teammate of Mr. Doucette, said
he was a sprinter and “a great
kid” of whom everyone talked
highly.
“I heard about it at 10:30 when
everyone was leaving,” said Mr.
Horowitz, a team captain who
was at home sick yesterday. “He
collapsed
at
the
finish
BOSTON — Boston Marathon men’s winner and new record-holder Robert Cheruiyot waves yesterday at the conclusion of the race, joined
by Teyba Erkesso, winner of the women’s run. Story and more photos are on Page C1. A list of Central Mass. finishers is on Page B10.
Turn to Nashoba/Page A5
Hurricane year iffy; NE due for a big one
By Bill Fortier
only one major storm and you get
‘Ifhitthere’s
‚
where you live, then it’s a bad year.
The 2010 hurricane season
doesn’t start until June 1, but
tropical tempest experts say
things happening in different
parts of the world point to what
they believe could be a very
active and extreme summer and
fall storm season.
William M. Gray, professor of
atmospheric science at Colorado State University, and Plymouth native Philip J. Klotzbach, of the university’s Tropical Meteorology Project,
recently updated their predic-
DENNIS W. FELTGREN
NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER SPOKESMAN
tion for the tropical storm season. Their forecast calls for 15
named storms, eight hurricanes
and four major storms of Category 3 or higher with winds of at
least 111 miles per hour. The
forecast will be updated in June
and again in August as prime
Great
time in the hurricane season
gets under way.
Meanwhile, AccuWeather.com and chief long-range meteorologist and hurricane forecaster Joseph Bastardi is calling
for 16 to 18 storms, five named
hurricanes and two or three
APPLIANCEE CHANGE
APPLIANC
Doors Open 6am
Sat. 10-6 • Sun. 12-5
Get
G
et Mail-In $
Rebates of
250
$
on Dishwashers*
Dii h
hwasher
h rs**
major landfalling storms of at
least Category 3 strength. He
said 15 of the storms likely will
form in the western Atlantic or
Gulf of Mexico which means
they could threaten the United
States.
“This year has the chance to
be an extreme season,” Mr. Bastardi said in a recent AccuWeather.com press release.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s
Climate Prediction Center is
scheduled to put out its hurricane forecast on May 20, accordTurn to Atmospheric/Page A5
You can
the details
$
Washers*
h *
Re
R
efrig
fi
* 175 on W
200 on Refrigerators*
ng Appliances aand
Medical pot
gains favor
By Greg Risling
LOS ANGELES — Most Americans still oppose legalizing
marijuana, but larger majorities believe pot has medical benefits and the government should
allow its use for that purpose,
according to an Associated
Press-CNBC poll released today.
Respondents were skeptical
that crime would spike if marijuana is decriminalized, or that
it would lead more people to harder drugs such as heroin or
cocaine. There also was a nearly
even split on whether government spends too much or the
Turn to Marijuana/Page A5
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
SPORTS
Weather
Pats will be
busy as they
enter the
NFL draft
Mostly sunny
High 70, Low 46
Page A2
Page C1
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
$1.00
Yesterday’s
question
Cities, towns
grapple with
health costs
High school athlete mourned
Do you support or
oppose legalization
of marijuana?
I’m against it I support it
48.8%
51.2%
Your opinion
Today’s question
Unions question savings,
want a say in changes
Should the government
mandate lower salt content in
packaged and restaurant food?
See story on this page, then go
By Priyanka Dayal
Local
stories
CLINTON
Police shoot two
bull mastiffs,
Page B1
SPENCER
Superintendent
on the outs,
Page B1
MILLBURY
Talks loom on closing
budget gap,
Page B1
WORCESTER
Police mentoring
inner-city children,
Page B1
T&G Staff/MARK C. IDE
Nashoba Regional High School coaches look at some of the memorials left on the track for
Alexander C. Doucette. From left are Steve Beckwith, boys assistant track coach, Ben Langelo, girls
assistant track coach, and James Nosel, boys track coach.
An empty lane
on the track
By Danielle M. Horn
Online
telegram.com
Become a fan of
Telegram & Gazette
Alexander C. Doucette
BOLTON — Track practice
went on as scheduled yesterday
for the Nashoba Chieftains, but
with two runners conspicuously
and painfully absent.
Alexander C. Doucette, a
senior who had just started the
first season of a sport that
friends say he wished he had discovered earlier, died during
practice Monday morning while
running the 100-yard dash. His
brother, freshman Braden Doucette, was also at the practice,
and took yesterday off to grieve
privately.
“He was in great shape. I just
don’t understand,” said Joe
Quirk, a senior track and field
captain, who met after practice
with dozens of teammates and
classmates yesterday morning
to mourn the loss of their friend.
“It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Alex had a physical in December 2009 and was cleared for athletic activity,” school Superintendent Michael L. Wood
FDA reins on manufacturers urged
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B4
ENTERTAINMENT B6
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY...............B8
NATION/WORLD ..A3
STOCKS .............B9
Group Insurance Commission
QStarted in 1955
QProvides health and other benefits
to state employees
QCovers more than 300,000 people
QIncludes 4 cities, 13 towns, 6
school districts
Source: Massachusetts Municipal
Association, and GIC
T&G Staff
“It’s still important, because
as we move forward in the
future there will probably be
more changes that we need to
make … to remain competitive
with what they’re doing in the
private sector,” Mr. Malloy said.
Negotiating with unions was
“a huge effort,” he said, and the
time-consuming process is not
worth pursuing for small changTurn to Health/Page A5
WASHINGTON — Too much
salt is hidden in Americans’
food, and regulators plan to
work with manufacturers to cut
back — but the government isn’t
ready to go along with a major
new recommendation that it
order a decrease.
“We believe we can achieve
some substantial voluntary
reductions,” Food and Drug Ad-
ministration Commissioner Dr.
Margaret Hamburg told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “We
are shaping a strategy, and that
strategy involves working in
partnership.”
Don’t expect soups, pizzas and
breakfast cereals — yes, they
contain added sodium, too — to
taste different any time soon.
The FDA’s plans are still being
formulated, but the idea is for
Animal cruelty
or free speech?
Court throws out criminal
charges in dogfight video case
By Mark Sherman
Turn to Track/Page A5
Report slams overuse of salt
By Lauran Neergaard
Follow us at
QIn the past 10 years, cost has risen
150%, while spending on everything
else increased 30%
QAccounts for up to 15% of local
budgets
QAdjusting health plans without
union approval could save $100
million statewide
Runner, 18, dies at practice
Love animals?: Click on the
link to our page that’s been
put together especially for
pet owners.
Westboro Town Manager
James J. Malloy knew that if
nothing changed, the town
would face a deficit this year and
every year in the foreseeable
future.
So he sat down with leaders of
Westboro’s 11 unions, and for
months they talked about one of
the town’s greatest expenses —
health insurance.
The group finally reached
agreement on major changes
that lower town employees’ premiums but raise their out-of
pocket expenses such as doctor
visit co-payments. Co-pays are
currently $5.
The result, Mr. Malloy says, is
about $1 million in savings for
Westboro next fiscal year.
He and municipal leaders
across Massachusetts are seeking changes in state law that
would give cities and towns
more control over the rapidly
rising cost of insuring their employees. They want an easier
path to joining the state’s health
insurance system, or more authority to change health plans
on their own.
Municipal health
insurance
gradual change so consumer
taste buds can adjust, as well as
industry recipes and production methods.
Americans eat about 11⁄2 teaspoons of salt daily, more than
double what they need for good
health and enough to increase
the risk of high blood pressure,
strokes and other problems.
Turn to Too salty/Page A5
WASHINGTON
—
The
Supreme Court, with only one
dissenting vote, on Tuesday
struck down a federal ban on
videos that show graphic violence against animals. The ruling cheered free speech advocates, but it raised concerns that
more animals will be harmed.
The justices threw out the
criminal conviction of Robert
Stevens of Pittsville, Va., who
was sentenced to 3 years in
prison for videos he made about
pit bull fights.
The law was enacted in 1999 to
limit Internet sales of so-called
crush videos, which appeal to a
certain sexual fetish by showing
women crushing to death small
animals with their bare feet or
high-heeled shoes.
“Your Choice” 10 Pc. Pkgs!
Includes...
Choose
from
4
Different
Livingroom
Styles!
Choose:
50" LG HDTV &
Entertainment Console
OR 3 TV PACKAGE!*
Turn to Dogfight/Page A6
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
After 150 Mail-in rebate*
All for only
Sofa, loveseat, a cocktail table and 2 matching end tables,
a pair of lamps, a 5’x8’ rug, an entertainment console with a $
*details in store
*
or rotmans.com
50” LG HDTV or Bosch Vision Washer & Dryer or 3 TV Package!* *Limited quantities on TVs and appliances. We reserve the right to substitute like brand items
on TV and Appliances.
$
1999!
The videos virtually disappeared once the measure
became law, the government
argued. The Bush administration used the law for the first
time when it indicted Stevens in
2004.
All 50 states have laws against
animal cruelty, but the federal
statute targeted the videos
because it has been difficult to
prosecute people who take part
in violence against animals
with a camera rolling, but not
showing their faces.
Chief Justice John Roberts,
writing for the majority, said
the law goes too far. He suggested that a measure limited to
crush videos might be valid.
A lawmaker said he was moving immediately on Roberts’
suggestion. Rep. Elton Gallegly,
Yesterday’s
question
Should the
government mandate lower
salt content in packaged and
restaurant food?
Your opinion
Today’s question
Is it important to you that the
next Supreme Court nominee have
a clear position on abortion?
See story on this page, then go
A shower
Weather
High 64, Low 42
Page A2
SPORTS
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
Bruins beat
the Sabres,
3-2; Sharks
over the
Devils, 5-1
Page C1
Local
WORCESTER
FITCHBURG
Teens to be charged with burning center, Page B1
Neighbors worry about rail expansion, Page B5
$1.00
House
in NH
nixes
slots
Need is
up for
safety
net
EARTH DAY AT 40
Gambling issue
is not dead yet
By Norma Love
CONCORD, N.H. — New
Hampshire’s House killed a bill
to legalize video slots Wednesday that supporters argued in
vain would help revive the
state’s economy by creating
jobs.
The House voted 212-158
against allowing slots at six
locations, including two on the
Massachusetts border. A scaledback alternative was not considered.
The vote does not mean the
issue is dead this session,
though the big vote margin
could discourage supporters.
Turn to Video slots/Page A10
Online
telegram.com
Program’s goal
is to stop spiral
By Peter S. Goodman
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Former state Sen. Robert D. Wetmore is shown at the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Cook’s Canyon Wildlife Sanctuary in
Barre. Mr. Wetmore was one of the state’s key proponents of environmental legislation.
Planet protectors
Students anchored early environmentalism
By Bradford L. Miner
Video: Tracking down frogs
and salamanders at Broad
Meadow Brook sanctuary.
Follow us at
Become a fan of ‘telegramdotcom’
Telegram&Gazette
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B6
HEALTH .............A9
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY...............B8
MEDICAL MEMOS A9
STOCKS .............B9
The Blackstone River never quite
enjoyed the infamy of Cleveland’s fiery
Cuyahoga, but pollution — water, air,
noise and litter — marked Central Massachusetts’ first observance of Earth
Day 40 years ago today.
No surprise that it was the region’s
secondary schools and colleges that
were in the vanguard of activities ranging from roadside and campus cleanups to speeches from politicians and
“teach-ins” on the danger of ignoring
the planet’s needs.
The wellspring of interest that culminated on April 22, 1970, in response
to the former Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord
A. Nelson’s call to arms, was not lost on
Evelyn B. Silver of Worcester and former state Sen. Robert D. Wetmore, now
of Hubbardston.
5 The legacy: Earth Day took hold, Page A9
Mr. Nelson was recognized 10 years
before his death in 2005 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom award.
David J. Webber, political science
professor at the University of Missouri
and Nelson biographer, said the senator’s basis for the first Earth Day observance was modeled after another
with a proven track record.
Mr. Webber said it was while reading
an article on anti-Vietnam War teachins on college campuses across the
nation, the thought occurred to Mr.
Nelson: “Why not hold a nationwide
teach-in on the environment?”
In Central Massachusetts, successful
daylong activities were held at schools
Turn to Environmentalism/Page A10
To Do Today
✓ Wake Up...
Have Breakfast & Coffee
✓
To Do Today
Hurry in to
Today for...
✓
...Mass Save
APPLIANCEEX CHANGE
APPLIANC
CHANGE
Evelyn B. Silver, one of the founders of the Regional Environmental
Council, at home in Worcester.
SAN MATEO, Calif. — Two years into a
merciless downward spiral, Antonio
Moore was threatened with living on the
street.
He had lost his $75,000-a-year job as a
mortgage consultant, his three-bedroom
house with a Jacuzzi, his Lexus sedan. He
could no longer even pay the rent on his
cramped studio apartment — not on his
$10-an-hour part-time job as a fry cook at a
fast-food restaurant.
Faced with eviction, he was staring last
month at the imminent prospect of joining the teeming ranks of the homeless.
His last hope was a new $1.5 billion federal program aimed at preventing that
fate.
Within days of applying, a check for
$775 was on its way to Moore’s landlord,
enabling him to stay — at least for now.
Much like the Great Depression, when
millions of previously working people
came to rely on a new social safety net for
their sustenance, a swelling group of former middle-class Americans like Moore,
30, is seeking government aid for the first
Turn to Safety net/Page A12
EARTH DAY FOUNDER
Gaylord Anton Nelson
1916 - 2005
Born:
Clear Lake, Wis., June 4, 1916
Education: San Jose State College, 1939
University of Wisconsin
Law School, 1942
Military: Lieutenant, U.S. Army
(World War II )
Party:
Democrat
Career: Law practice, Madison, Wis.,
1946
State Senate, 1948-1956
Governor, 1959-1962
U.S. Senator, 1963-1981
Counselor, The Wilderness
Society
Other: Select Committee on Small
Business; Special Committee on
Official Conduct; Founder of Earth
Day, 1970; Presidential Medal
of Freedom, 1995
Source: Congress.gov
Court pick
focus turns
to women
Dems, GOP give input
By Ben Feller
WASHINGTON — President Barack
Obama, treading carefully in the explosive arena of abortion and the Supreme
Court, said Wednesday he will choose a
nominee who pays heed to the rights of
women and the privacy of their bodies.
Yet he said he won’t enforce any abortion
rights “litmus tests.”
Obama said it is “very important to
me” that his court choice take women’s
rights into account in interpreting the
Constitution, his most expansive comments yet about how a woman’s right to
choose will factor into his decision.
T&G Staff
Turn to Supreme Court/Page A10
Doors Open at 6 AM
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
Yesterday’s
question
Local stories
Your opinion
Weather
Today’s question
Is it important to
you that the next
Supreme Court
nominee have a
clear position
on abortion?
Should communities be
able to raise property taxes
above the Prop. 2 1⁄2 limit?
WORCESTER
LEOMINSTER
Fight launched against razing
old factory, Page B1
Parole board tough on convicted
rapist, Page B1
Mostly sunny
High 60, Low 39
Page A2
LOCAL
Seniors’ conference
covers many bases
Page B1
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
$1.00 ...
Bill called
end run of
1
Prop. 2 ⁄2
Tuck rule rules!
Order and
decorum
in the court
Tax to help towns
pay tax abatements
By Danielle M. Horn
By Steve LeBlanc
WORCESTER — It was shortly
after 9 a.m. in Judge Paul L. McGill’s
courtroom yesterday when a dozen
men and women unbuckled their
belts and unzipped their pants.
The seemingly improper sight
wasn’t shocking to those familiar
with Judge McGill’s unique courtroom standards. Court officers and
clerks forewarn people who appear in
front of the district court judge to
tuck in their shirts. If defendants
ignore this instruction, they move to
the end of the list and their cases
aren’t called until they tidy up their
appearance.
Yesterday, as is the case each time
Judge McGill presides, this requirement led to a widespread tuck-in
effort — one that preferably would
have taken place in private, but happened so quickly that court authorities could barely react.
“Guys, if you’re going to unzip, step
outside and go to the bathroom,”
Court Officer Sherri Glenn said as a
third of the people waiting for the
morning criminal session simultaneously stood and began tucking in
their shirts.
Judge McGill is universally known
in Central District Court as somewhat of a decorum enforcer, a selfdescribed
traditionalist,
who
demands that defendants respect the
court and consider their attire. With
20 years as a judge, and a prior career
as a lawyer, he can’t say that indifference
toward
one’s
appear-
Above, a defendant, right,
presents himself Thursday in
Judge Paul L. McGill’s Central District Court courtroom.
In photo at left, Judge McGill
presides. He requires defendants to be presentable
in his courtroom, and court
officers and clerks warn
people who appear in front
of the judge to tuck in their
shirts.
Turn to Judge/Page A7
telegram.com
Turn to Prop. 21⁄2/Page A8
Next hole
is auction
T&G Staff Photos/RICK CINCLAIR
Fridge rebate effort freezes up
Online
BOSTON — Massachusetts Republicans and
anti-tax activists charged House Democratic
leaders Thursday with attempting an end run
around Proposition 21⁄2, which limits property tax
hikes.
And Gov. Deval L. Patrick, a Democrat, and
other gubernatorial candidates
quickly weighed in, opposing
the measure that would allow
cities and towns to raise property taxes above the limit set by
Prop. 21⁄2.
The measure is included in a
municipal relief bill that the
House is scheduled to take up
Monday.
House Ways and Means Chair- Murphy
man Charles Murphy said the
proposal would help cities and towns better manage their finances in the face of possible cuts in
local aid this year.
“The intent ... is to provide cities and towns
additional ‘tools’ to assist them in what are
extremely difficult fiscal times,” said Murphy,
D-Burlington.
“I encourage the Legislature to reject this provision so that the bill comes to my desk in a form
that I can support,” Patrick said in a statement. “I
will not sign a bill that includes that language.”
Prop. 21⁄2 was approved by voters in 1980 and
Energy-efficient appliance program is anything but efficient
Sterling golf course
draws crowd online
By Lisa Eckelbecker
GO! on video: Take a look at
some weekend activities you
and your family might enjoy.
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B6
ENTERTAINMENT B8
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY .............B12
NATION/WORLD ..A3
STOCKS ............B13
By Martin Luttrell
The state’s appliance rebate program has been compared to last year’s federal Cash for Clunkers automobile
program, with rebates offered to consumers who replace
old household appliances with energy-efficient ones.
But the clunker in yesterday’s Mass Save Great
Appliance Exchange rebate program appears to have
been the online registration, which was plagued with
problems that prevented thousands from taking advantage of the rebates, as high as $250.
State energy officials said the $5.4 million in federal
stimulus money allocated to the Mass Save Great
Appliance Exchange rebate program was used up within
two hours of yesterday’s 10 a.m. start. Reservations to get
on a waiting list were given out for another hour before
the program was closed.
Turn to Appliance program /Page A6
People wait in line Thursday at Percy’s and direct their attention to the Internet Department’s Brian Rice, right, who was
updating customers on issues with the state website.
As distressed properties go, Sterling National
Country Club has plenty to offer.
Nearly 243 acres sprawling from Sterling into
Lancaster. An 18-hole golf course. A
19,306-square-foot clubhouse. A pool with competition lanes.
It also has a less appealing quality — $5.39
million in debt to TD Bank.
What comes next for the club, which is owned
by an entity whose equity is held by Potomac
Realty Capital LLC of Needham, remains
unclear. Sterling National shut its doors in February, was put up for foreclosure auction by
mortgage holder TD Bank, and went into bankruptcy earlier this month when the owners filed
for Chapter 7 protection, seeking to liquidate all
assets.
News Tips
FRI. APRIL 23 - THURS. APRIL 29
Sofa + Loveseat + 42” LG LCD TV
+ TV Stand
“Wow”
MICROFIBER
42”
1st on Gold Star Blvd • Worcester
TV • VIDEO
42LH30
508-755-5269 visit us online at
VS42837
MICROFIBER
www.percys.com
Family Owned and Operated • Percy’s will meet, beat or better your best deal, all at the guaranteed lowest prices.
Turn to Golf course/Page A6
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
Yes, more
local aid cuts
are coming
Yesterday’s
question
10.8%
Should communities be able to raise
property taxes above
the Prop. 21⁄2 limit?
No, property owners
are stretched thin
89.2%
Weather
Your opinion
Today’s question
Do you think Arizona’s immigration enforcement law goes too
far? See the story on this page,
then go to telegram.com to vote
and offer your opinion.
Mostly sunny
High 64, Low 43
Page A2
SPORTS
Our
144th
year
Celtics and Red Sox
win, but Bruins lose
telegram.com
Local stories
Page B1
GARDNER
SOUTHBRIDGE
Mother’s statements allowed in
murder case, Page A3
Two churches await their fate,
Page A3
$1.00
Strict immigration measure becomes law
Failure to carry identity documents a crime in Arizona
By Randal C. Archibold
THE NEW YORK TIMES
PHOENIX — Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona signed the nation’s toughest bill on
illegal immigration into law Friday; its
aim is to identify, prosecute and deport
illegal immigrants.
The move unleashed immediate protests and reignited the divisive battle
over immigration reform nationally.
Even before she signed the bill at an
afternoon news conference here, President Barack Obama strongly criticized it.
Speaking at a naturalization ceremony
Round 2
of rebates
in summer
for 24 active-duty service members in the
Rose Garden, he called for a federal overhaul of immigration laws, which congressional leaders signaled they were preparing to take up soon, to avoid “irresponsibility by others,” The Arizona law, he added, threatened “to undermine basic
notions of fairness that we cherish as
Americans, as well as the trust between
police and our communities that is so
crucial to keeping us safe.”
The law, which opponents and critics
alike said was the broadest and strictest
immigration measure in generations,
would make the failure to carry immigra-
tion documents a crime and give the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally.
Opponents have called it an open invitation for harassment and discrimination
against Hispanics regardless of their citizenship status.
The political debate leading up to Brewer’s decision, and Obama’s criticism of
the law — presidents very rarely weigh in
on state legislation — underscored the
power of the immigration debate in states
along the Mexican border. It presaged the
Turn to Immigration/Page A7
Phoenix police officers in riot gear form a line at the Arizona Capitol yesterday
after a disturbance broke out following the signing of a new immigration law.
Pirate
radio
ordered
to stop
Heavy rainfalls don’t extinguish brush fire risks
BOSTON — State officials
said Friday they will offer a second round of appliance rebates
this summer after would-be participants crashed a computer
server, then drained the program of all its funding in 21⁄2
hours.
Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles said Friday the
state will also fund all of more
than 12,700 rebate reservations
placed on a waiting list after
Thursday’s first-come, firstserved free-for-all.
Those on the waiting list will
be notified by e-mail or mail in
about one week explaining how
to claim their rebate.
The deadlines for buying
appliances and submitting paperwork have been extended by
one week to aid those customers
on the waiting list, officials said.
The rebates were up to $250
for dishwashers, $200 for refrigerators, $175 for clothes washers, and $50 for freezers.
Turn to Rebates/Page A7
By Aaron Nicodemus
T&G Staff/CHRIS CHRISTO
Worcester firefighter James Bombard hoses down a brush fire yesterday in a wooded area off Harley Drive.
Brush fires on rise
All ingredients
are in place
Online
telegram.com
Getting
hungry?
ENTERTAINMENT....A8
HOROSCOPE...........B7
LOTTERIES.............A2
MONEY ..................A9
RELIGION..............A10
STOCKS.................A9
TELEVISION ...........B5
Massachusetts forest fire control districts
and fire tower network Districts Fire tower locations
Sunderland
Shelburne
Savoy
By Brian Lee
Looking for a new place to
eat? Check our restaurant reviews at telegram.com.
ANNIE’S MAILBOX...A8
BRIDGE..................B7
CLASSIFIED............C2
COMICS .................B6
CROSSWORD..........B6
DEATHS.................A4
EDITORIALS ..........A11
Flava 105.5
lacks license
Recent significant brush fires after record rainfalls have surprised some people, a state official
said.
But all the ingredients, including the aftereffects
of the December 2008 ice storm, are in place for
such fires, said David Celino, the state’s chief forest
fire warden in the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.
“It does take the public by surprise, especially
when we have open burning through May 1,” Mr.
Celino said. “People, coming off the rains with
historical flooding, look at the idea of having a fire
threat as not there, when in fact it’s easy to get
Warwick
Groton
Georgetown
Andover
Chelmsford Manchester
Philipston
Princeton
Harvard
Goshen
Waltham
Sudbury
Pelham
W. Brookfield
Norwell
Dover
Ludlow
Sharon
Holbrook
Monterey
Agawam
Hanson
Mendon
N. Attleboro Kingston
Charlton
Plymouth
Carver
Source: Department
Bourne
of Conservation and Recreation
Rehoboth
Falmouth
Fall River
Acushnet
Middleboro
Tisbury
Wellfleet
Brewster
Dennis
Barnstable
Sandwich
Turn to Brush fires/Page A7
Turn to Pirate radio/Page A7
Gold is over $1100/troy ounce - Silver is on the rise! 2 DAY EVENT ONLY!
TURN GOLD AND SILVER INTO $$MONEY$$
Dear Miss, Mrs. or Mr.
Want to pay off a debt? Are you having financial hardship? Or do you just want some extra CASH in your pocket?
Sell us your gold necklace, bracelets, rings, earrings, coins, flatware: anything made with gold or silver for CASH. Doesn’t matter if it is
broken or defective WE WILL BUY IT FOR CASH!
A little gold brings a lot of money!
Gold is at an historical high. Act now while gold and silver are on the rise.
Sell your gold face to face with an expert who will appraise and weigh it in front of you.
We work directly with gold and silver refineries to guarantee the best price for your Gold and Silver.
We are having a 2 day only buying event at Beechwood Hotel at 363 Plantation St., Worcester, MA 01605 that is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
NO AMOUNT TOO BIG OR SMALL
WORCESTER — The Federal
Communications Commission
has issued a second cease-anddesist order against a pirate FM
radio station, which also is
receiving criticism from a Main
South neighborhood activist for
promoting after-hours parties.
Flava 105.5, a reggae and hip
hop station in
business
for
about
two
years, was notified by the FCC
on April 15 that
it does not have
an FCC-issued
radio license
and should immediately shut
down its oper- Mr. Simon
ations. The notice was sent to
station manager Leroy Simon
Jr. at the station’s office, located
in an office building at 18 Grafton St. The FCC had sent a similar notice to Flava 105.5 a year
ago, when the station’s transmitter was located in a private
home at 4 Camassa Terrace in
Worcester.
“We’re no longer on the air,”
said Mr. Simon, when contacted
for this story. “We’re not in
business.”
When asked how the radio station could be out of business
when it was on the air on Thursday, and its website was still
active, Mr. Simon replied, “I only run the Internet business.
The website is up.”
He refused to answer additional questions.
Beechwood Hotel
363 Plantation St.,
Worcester, MA 01605
April 24 - Saturday 10am to 4pm
pm
April 25 - Sunday 10am to 4pm
Bring in this ad to receive an
additional 10% of the
value of your gold
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
April 25, 2010
Yesterday’s
question
Yes, there will
be abuse
Your opinion
15.3%
Do you think
Arizona’s immigration enforcement law
goes too far?
Local stories
Weather
Today’s question
No, there needs
to be control
84.7%
How do you think
the New England Patriots
did in the draft? See story
on Page C1, then go
Rain possible
High 54, Low 41
Page A2
WORCESTER
REGION
Captain taking heat from a couple of firefighters. Williamson column, Page B1
Author shares views on
feminine beauty ads, Page B1
REGION
MILLBURY
Bill banning surgical de-barking procedure
signed into law, Page B1
Petition seeks to revoke
beer-wine license, Page B1
SPORTS
SUNDAY
LIVING
Coupons inside
SAVE
more than
$177.33
Holy Cross
quarterback
Dominic
Randolph
signs with
NY Giants,
Food
Homes
Tomato substitute
Out & About
Wood buffs
High cost of tomatoes
and
peppers prompts
look for alternativemany to
s. Page 5
Taste of
the Nation
Woodworking
skills
find new respect
among designers
collectors. Page and
8
Chefs, restaurants and food
vendors serve
up
their best. Page
5
sunday
When it comes
to good eating, men’s
palates
here are some
guy favorites
SUNDAY, APRIL
25, 2010
Appealing to
telegram.com
/living
Coney Island has
competition when some
comes to guy favorit
ites
By Linda Bock
TELEGRAM &
GAZETTE STAFF
I
t’s no surprise
for the generations
have been ordering
of men who
“three dogs
Coney Island
up” at George’s
featured recentlythat the Worcester restaurant
was
27 places across in Esquire magazine
as one of the
the country
Southbridg
“Where Men
e Street
Eat.” The
gigantic hot-dog-driprestaurant is known
for
ping-with-m
in front. Dogs
ustard neon its
served “up,”
sign telegram.com
with the
or
works, means
grilled Kayem
hot dogs
served on
white
T&G Staff/STEVE
buns and topped steamed
LANAVA
with chili
(family secret
recipe), yellow
mustard and
onions. They chopped raw
far outnumber
the orders
for grilled
hamburgers.
“Without a
doubt, it’s one
of the places
men
said Ted Army, like to eat,”
41, of Worcester. He took
his
for a hot dog son, Caden, 4,
on a recent
spring afternoon.
“I used
come here
with my dad to
years ago.”
30
Mr. Army had
his “usual”
— three chili-chees
e dogs
and a Polar
orange dry
soda,
and his son
had his “usual”
— a hot dog
and
chocolate milk. a carton of
“This is the
best guy food
because it’s
quick, easy
and
always tastes
great,” Mr.
Army said.
“I told my
son
today that I
think I have
sat in every
Kathryn Tsandikos’
booth in here.”
family has owned
1918. She said
T&G Staff/RICK
the restaurant
she had no
CINCLAIR
would be featured
idea the
since Above,
in the national famous grilled hot dogs
Erin Cruz works
lishers sent
magazine —
the grill at Coney
recently. The
her an e-mail
until the pubeatery was named
and pictures.
Island
as one
Slideshow
Slid
h
and video
online
Our
144th
year
Page C1
telegram.com
Kevin Nylen of
T&G Staff/STEVE
Shrewsbury prepares
LANAVA
West Side Steak
& BBQ, 2 Richmondto chomp down on a
pulled pork sandwich
Ave., Worcester.
at
Turn to Guy favorites/Pag
e G2
LAURA PORTER
Very superstitiou
s
I
........... ........... ...
by Esquire magazine
of 27 places across
Eat.” Top photo,
the country “Where
Wild Willy’s Burgers’
Men
Barnes holds
waitress Kristy
an order of scrumptious
317 West Boylston
burgers at the
St., Worcester,
restaurant.
Dispatches from
— it only makes
the home front
sense
’d like to say
that
less superstitiou I have become devil’s
number instead
older, but that s as I have grown
of a single 6.
At least
would be a
untruth.
ister qualities
patent accident. I was pretty sure it
than salt in
was an
it?
Near the end
But ritual is
immediate knee-jerk
engrained. My
I shuddered
of first week
I was typing
tossed salt,
slightly.
of April,
mother ever
a letter to a friend
as
One never quite
I hear or make reaction whenI happened to
probably her did her mother and
when
knows …
a positive preglance back
diction, just
None of the
grandmoth
at the date
in case it might
I had written
her.
er before
make much superstitions I follow
at the
true.
not come
sense,
“April 666, 2010,” top of the page.
My children
nature of superstitionbut that’s the
It makes perfect
do it, too,
it read.
think my daughter,
though I
666?
sense to me
s.
knock on wood
If I spill salt,
more apt
to
her pragmatic
Clearly, my
or spit to the
shoulder with I toss it over my left
brother to give than ward off the
side to
accidentally fingers had slipped,
evil
a little nudge,
chance
not sure why my right hand. I am
typing out
is
Who wouldn’t?eye.
the scary
habit than my more faithful to the
I do this. Why
out of the shaker
does
son.
And it goes
Other than
without saying
have any more salt
spilling and
that I
sin- condiments
throwing
, I am also
prone to an
Turn to Porter/Page
G2
$2.50 ...
Faithful
mourn
victims
Market
soured;
Goldman
profited
Putting down roots to a flowering future
Armenians mark
start of massacre
WORCESTER — For years,
the Worcester-area Armenian
community has gathered on
April 24 to solemnly mark the
beginning of the purge nearly a
century ago that led to the eventual slaughter of 1.5 million
Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks.
A number of Armenians who
had escaped the bruSolemn anni- tality and
had
versary in Armenia, who
later setPAGE A11
tled in Central Massachusetts would attend the services.
Yesterday, local Armenian
faithful met again at the Armenian Church of Our Saviour on
Salisbury Street to mourn the
dead and to pray such massacres never occur again.
This year, however, none of
the aging survivors attended,
though three of them — Asdghig
Alemian, Almas Boghosian, and
Executives’ e-mails
indicate money made
By Louise Story
and Sewell Chan
5
THE NEW YORK TIMES
T&G Staff Photos/TOM RETTIG
WORCESTER — Members of the
Earth Stewardship Ministry of First
Congregational Church and EcoJustice Ministry of St. Mary’s Parish, both of Shrewsbury, plant
Aristocrat flowering pear trees
yesterday along New Vista Lane at
Great Brook Valley. With the aid of
some heavy equipment, about 60
volunteers helped plant the trees
in conjunction with Earth Day last
Thursday and Arbor Day April 30.
Turn to Armenians/Page A11
Online
telegram.com
In late 2007 as the mortgage crisis
gained momentum and many banks were
suffering losses, Goldman Sachs executives traded e-mail messages saying that
they were making “some serious money”
betting against the housing markets.
The e-mails, released Saturday morning by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, appear to contradict previous statements by Goldman
that left the impression that the firm lost
money on mortgage-related investments.
In the e-mails, Lloyd Blankfein, the
bank’s chief executive, acknowledged in
November 2007 the firm had lost money
initially. But it later recovered by making negative bets, known as short positions, enabling it to profit as housing
prices plummeted. “Of course we didn’t
dodge the mortgage mess,” he wrote. “We
lost money, then made more than we lost
because of shorts.”
In another message, dated July 25, 2007,
David Viniar, Goldman’s chief financial
officer, reacted to figures that said the
company had made a $51 million profit in
on a single day from bets that the value of
mortgage-related securities would drop.
Turn to Goldman Sachs/Page A14
Follow us at
Compensation on rise for nonprofit leaders
By Shaun Sutner
5 Executive compensation, nonprofit revenue charts, PAGES A10, A11
Become a fan of
Telegram & Gazette
MONEY.....................D1
DEATHS ...................B6
EDITORIALS AND
LIVING.........................
CROSSWORD.............7
SPORTS ....................C1
TRAVEL.................M1
CLASSIFIED
WORCESTERWORKS ..
SECTION D
AUTOMOTIVE AND
SECTION E
WORCESTER — The Boys &
Girls Clubs of MetroWest has
been buffeted in recent years by
state funding cuts that forced
the small nonprofit agency to
close one of its Marlboro locations, freeze salaries and lay off
employees after it was hit with
an $800,000 deficit.
At the same time, the Marlboro-based group’s national
parent organization reported a
$13 million loss on its most
recent tax return and came under fire in Congress last month
for doling out nearly $1 million
in salary and expensive perks to
its president.
As its own finances were
WOW!
Mr. Hurley
Mr. Jordan
plummeting, the MetroWest
group’s top official, Francis X.
Hurley, saw his total pay and
benefits rise 17 percent over
three years — from $118,000 in
2006 to $142,150 in 2008. The Boys
& Girls Clubs has since rolled
back Mr. Hurley’s compensation to $121,000, the amount he
earned in 2007.
The same financial pattern
has held for many of Central
Massachusetts’ largest nonprofit organizations that provide
direct human services, with
chief executives’ pay and benefits rising as the economy sank
into a recession and agencies
cut programs, eliminated services, and increased employee
workloads.
Even as the groups faced
tough economic challenges,
however, most experienced
steady expansion in their overall revenues and scope of services — success their leaders
attribute to their efficiency and
quality of programs and which
critics say has largely been
spurred by state government’s
privatization of social services.
In 2008, Community Healthlink Inc., the subsidiary of
UMass Memorial Health Care
Inc. which administers several
mental health, substance abuse
and homeless programs, sustained a $2 million budget cut
and closed a Worcester day program for the mentally ill. That
same year, its president and
chief executive, Deborah J. Ekstrom, was coming off a 6.6 percent raise, over 2007, in her compensation package. She and
G E T T H E S E PA C K A G E S ! F I N A L W E E K !
42” Samsung HDTV
and this
Queen Set
FREE
Removal
Plush
APPLIANCES • AUDIO • TV
VIDEO • FURNITURE
SKU# 62493
or Firm
# 24852
SKU# 20056
$
999
Mr. Boisvert
other top managers took a pay
freeze last year.
As of 2008, the most recent
year for which financial information is publicly available,
Ms. Ekstrom made $237,776,
with an additional $72,477 in
benefits.
Turn to Nonprofits/Page A10
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
of Old
Bedding!
Home delivery
ALL FOR
42”
Ms. Ekstrom
FREE
Set Up!
(508) 791-4600
Yesterday’s
question
Who cares –
Go Celtics Restocked
and Bruins and reloaded
Your opinion
11.8% 16.9%
Today’s question
How do you think Who cares –
the New England it’s baseball season!
Patriots did
27.1%
in the draft?
Let’s see if they
can play in the NFL
14.1%
30.2%
Should Martha Coakley be
re-elected as state attorney
general? See story on
They passed on
some future stars
Our
144th
year
Local stories
Weather
A little rain
High 50, Low 40
Page A2
telegram.com
WORCESTER
WORCESTER
Sewer, water rate hikes likely,
Page B1
New regs target new-style signs,
Page B1
LANCASTER
STURBRIDGE
Town closer to ‘green’ status,
Page B1
Canoes, kayaks race for charity,
Page B8
SPORTS
MONEY
Celtics take
some Heat;
Red Sox
lose in extra
innings
On the job
with a
music
therapist
Page B7
Page C1
$1.00
‘Monuments Men’ recovered art stolen by the Nazis
Author describes WWII heroics; 3 men had ties to Worcester Art Museum
By Kim Ring
Nearly 65 years after the end
of World War II, works of art
stolen by the Nazis and numbering in the hundreds of thousands remain missing.
But in the years immediately
after the war, 5 million items of
cultural significance were returned thanks to the Monuments Men, an obscure group of
museum directors, curators
and others in the field of art.
They joined the military and
were charged with finding missing art, usually stolen by the
Nazis but sometimes stashed
away for safekeeping by
museum curators, and with returning it. Many times they put
themselves in peril.
Some of those involved were
from Massachusetts, including
Lt. Cmdr. Perry Blythe Cott, Lt.
Cmdr. George L. Stout and Pfc.
Charles H. Sawyer, who all had
ties to the Worcester Art
Museum. Yesterday, members
5 A discovery: The foundation
recently helped return to Germany
the Gemaldegalerie Linz Album XIII,
one of Hitler’s valued books in which
he listed artworks he possessed.
5 The resource: Those interested in
learning more about the Monuments
Men can visit
www.monumentsmenfoundation.org.
of the Stephen Salisbury
Society heard of their exploits
from author Robert M. Edsel.
Mr. Edsel explained that after
the attack on Pearl Harbor, a
telegram was sent to museums
around the country notifying
them of an emergency meeting
at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art. They would discuss plans
to save culturally important
items, including artwork.
The Monuments, Fine Arts
and Archives program was
soon born.
Adolf Hitler, who had hoped
Turn to Nazi art/Page A6
Robert Edsel talks about soldiers who located and saved thousands
of works of art stolen from European museums by the Nazis.
Financial
overhaul
vote today
Full speed ahead
Key hurdle to
move bill forward
By Jim Kuhnhenn
Massachusetts attorney general this fall
without a Republican opponent.
The shift reflects lingering weakness
within the state GOP, despite its success in
staging Scott Brown’s upset win.
It also highlights Coakley’s work to rehabilitate her image, as well as the satisfaction some voters feel for her in her
current role.
“There is some irony in that,” said Paul
Watanabe, a political science professor at
University of Massachusetts at Boston.
“In some ways, it’s as though the January
election didn’t take place, or that at least it
did not have the consequences for her own
political future — or opportunity for the
WASHINGTON — Democrats are showing
little willingness to alter financial overhaul
legislation any further and are ready for a
showdown vote today, hoping to splinter solid
Republican opposition or to
cast the minority party as an
ally of Wall Street.
Republican leaders seem
prepared to take that risk —
for now — if they can force
Democratic concessions.
The top negotiators on the
sweeping bill — Democratic
Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Republican Sen.
Dodd
Richard Shelby of Alabama —
professed to be close to a deal Sunday during a
joint appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
But, as Shelby said, “inches sometimes are
miles.”
The two lawmakers did not hold a negotiating session Sunday.
The legislation, the most
sweeping effort to rein in
financial institutions since
the Great Depression, is
approaching its end game, and
Republicans and Democrats
alike predict it can ultimately
pass with bipartisan support.
But for now, Republicans
are using what leverage they
Shelby
have in hopes of putting a bigger GOP imprint on the bill or removing Democratic provisions they perceive as government
overreach.
Senate Republican Leader A. Mitchell
McConnell of Kentucky on Friday blocked
Democrats’ efforts to bring the bill up for
debate, setting up a vote today that will require
60 votes to move ahead. McConnell and Shelby
said Sunday that without a deal with Dodd, all
41 Republican senators would vote to stall the
start of debate. Shelby said a deal in time for the
vote was unlikely.
Democrats said they were out of patience.
“Are we going to start the debate or are we
Turn to Coakley/Page A4
Turn to Overhaul/Page A4
STURBRIDGE — Paddlers compete yesterday in the Sturbridge Lions All-American River Race on the Quinebaug River, from Turners Field in Sturbridge to
Westville Dam Recreational Area in Southbridge. Story and more photos on Page B8.
Costs still a mystery
for health care law
Coakley re-energized
By R. Alonso-Zaldivar
By Glen Johnson
WASHINGTON — What’s it
going to cost me?
That’s the single biggest
unanswered question about
President Barack Obama’s new
health care overhaul law — and
its weak spot.
Many experts believe the law
falls short on taming costs, and
that will force Congress to revisit health care in a few years.
While it seems hard to believe
now, Republicans might want to
participate in a debate over
costs, perhaps opening the way
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B4
ENTERTAINMENT B6
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY...............B7
NATION ..............A3
WORLD ..............A3
AG has no Republican opponent so far
for limits on malpractice lawsuits and other ideas they’ve
advocated.
“Now that the baseline question of coverage has been answered, it would be irresponsible if we didn’t come back and
try to do more on costs,” said
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who
voted for the bill and led efforts
to squeeze more savings.
“I think there is going to be a
debate in the Republican Party
on whether they should waste
all their energy on repeal or
make an effort to do something
Turn to Health care/Page A4
Online
telegram.com
BOSTON — The January weekend after Democrat Martha Coakley lost
a supposedly can’t-miss
election for U.S. Senate,
“Saturday Night Live”
underscored the graveness of her political Coakley
future with a skit where a
Barack Obama impersonator labeled her
“the single most incompetent candidate
ever to seek public office in this nation’s
history.”
Three months later, Coakley faces the
very real prospect of being re-elected as
Video: Have a couple with
the works, joined by the
hot dog fans at George’s
Coney Island.
News Tips
Follow us at
Become a fan of
Telegram&Gazette
e-mail:
newstips@telegram.com
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home
delivery
(508) 791-4600
Yesterday’s
question
Local stories
Weather
Your opinion
Today’s question
Should Martha
Coakley be
re-elected as state
attorney general?
Should the Supreme Court
uphold a state’s ban on the
sale or rental of violent video
games to minors? See story
on this page, then go to
Showers
High 50, Low 35
WORCESTER
ASHBURNHAM
Manager would spend extra
for street repairs, Page B1
Three contests on today’s ballot,
Page B5
WORCESTER
WORCESTER
CSX offers neighbor-friendly changes,
Page B1
Driver killed in collision with truck,
Page B2
Page A2
SPORTS
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
MONEY
Bruins
hold off
the Sabres
to win
the series
Report says
executives
misled
Goldman
investors
Page C1
Page B8
$1.00
Health
care
costs
targeted
Baker: Let local
govts. hike costs
to workers, retirees
Financial bill stubs its toe in the Senate
By Jim Kuhnhenn
New vote may come as early as today
WASHINGTON — Undaunted by a
Senate setback, Democrats appeared
increasingly confident Monday they will
be able to take advantage of Americans’
anger at Wall Street and push through
the most sweeping new controls on financial institutions since the Great Depression.
The Senate, in a 57-41 vote, failed to get
the 60 supporters needed to proceed on
the regulatory overhaul. One Democrat,
Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, joined with
the Republicans.
But the evening vote was just part of a
legislative ballet keeping bipartisan
talks alive. At the end, Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid switched his vote to
“no,” too, but that was just a maneuver
that will enable him to call for a new tally
as early as today.
Democrats believe that public pressure and the scent of a Wall Street scan-
dal have given them the upper hand. Republicans themselves have taken up the
Democrats Wall Street-bashing rhetoric
and have voiced hope that a bill will ultimately pass. In that light, the path to final
approval seems clearer than it ever did
during the contentious debate over
health care.
The financial overhaul bill is a priority
of President Barack Obama and, after
health care, its passage would build on
5 Hiring firefighters: Worcester wins $2.2
million grant to hire 17 firefighters, Page A10
his legislative successes — an important
political consideration in an election
year. The House has already passed its
version of new bank regulations.
Less than an hour before the scheduled
vote, the White House issued its official
endorsement of the bill, saying
Turn to Finance/Page A12
By John J. Monahan
Almost!
BOSTON — Republican candidate for governor Charles D.
Baker Jr. is targeting municipal
retiree and employee health
care plans to save “hundreds of
millions” of dollars in government spending.
Mr. Baker
yesterday said
the funds could
be saved with
state approval
of a bill that
would allow
cities
and
towns
to
increase the
Mr. Baker
share of premiums paid by employees and retirees. It would also, without
union agreements, swap current insurance plans for others
that provide less medical coverage and higher co-payments.
Asked whether unilateral
changes in health plans would
require retirees and employees
to pay more for their health insurance with possible cuts in
coverage, Mr. Baker would not
acknowledge that retirees and
workers would bear the cost of
the savings.
“Basically, if it’s good enough
Turn to Premiums/Page A10
Online
telegram.com
The history: For the back story
on the fight against the Asian
longhorned beetle, see our
special online archcive.
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B4
ENTERTAINMENT B6
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY...............B8
NATION/WORLD ..A3
STOCKS .............B9
REMOTE STARTER SALE
MOTHER’S DAY SALE
VIPER $100
OFF
®
FREE HANGING PLANT
WITH PURCHASE
RAYCO
NORTHBRIDGE — Millbury outfielder Brandon Lacrosse goes all out Monday to capture this line drive by a Northbridge batter, but just missed holding on to the ball. See the
Sports section for game results and view a slide show at www.telegram.com.
Violent video law goes to high court
Calif. law was written to protect children
WASHINGTON
—
The
Supreme Court will decide
whether free speech rights are
more important than helping
parents keep violent material
away from children.
The justices agreed Monday
to consider reinstating California’s ban on the sale or rental of
violent video games to minors, a
law the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in San Francisco threw
out last year on grounds that it
violated minors’ constitutional
By Jesse J. Holland
rights.
California Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, who signed
the law in 2005, said he was
pleased the high court would review the appeals court decision.
He said, “We have a responsib-
ility to our kids and our communities to protect against the
effects of games that depict
ultra-violent actions, just as we
already do with movies.”
However, the judge who wrote
the decision overturning the
law said at the time that there
was no research showing a connection between violent video
games and psychological harm
to young people.
The Supreme Court’s decision
to hear the case comes only a
week after the high court voted
Turn to Videos/Page A9
Beetles, your doom’s nigh
CAR ELECTRONICS
SHREWSBURY Route 9
across from (Spag’s) Building 19 • 508-757-8388
AUBURN 64 Auburn St.
next to Post Office • 508-832-4989
Imidacloprid injections to halt attack, save city trees
By Danielle M. Horn
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
WORCESTER — Lisa Quinlan gently and affectionately
stroked a leaf on the young silver maple tree she planted in
her yard eight years ago, and
saved from destruction last year
when she wrapped it in duct
tape that read “Don’t Take Me.”
“I got this at Price Chopper on
clearance for $5,” she said of the
tree that now towers above her
backyard on Blue Bell Road, in a
quiet neighborhood east of
Burncoat Street.
Ms. Quinlan’s beloved young
maple still bears the man-made
sign of doom for Asian longhorned beetle host trees: a red
blotch of paint signifying plans
for removal. Though it wasn’t
actually infested by the beetles,
agricultural officials had originally planned to cut it down
because it was a host tree. Yesterday, however, they instead
injected it with a pesticide officials say should keep tens of
thousands of hardwood trees
from coming down.
Yesterday marked the start of
a two-month treatment effort
through which arborists treat
host trees by injecting the insecticide imidacloprid through the
T&G Staff/DAN GOULD
Turn to Treatment/Page A9
Derek Sullivan, left, of the USDA, takes notes as Arthur Engdahl, of
Hartney Greymont, applies a treatment to a tree on Inwood Road.
Yesterday’s
question
Should the
Supreme Court
uphold a state’s ban
on the sale or rental
of violent video
games to minors?
28.4%
Weather
Your opinion
No, video games
are protected
expression
Local stories
Today’s question
Yes, they’re
hazardous
to young people
71.6%
Should state legislators
raise some taxes to avoid cuts
in local aid? See story on
A shower
High 52, Low 36
WORCESTER
WORCESTER
Many Democrats running
unopposed, Page B1
Hit-and-run victim recalled as
‘awesome guy,’ Page B1
GARDNER
MILLBURY
Long-awaited Heywood project
advancing, Page B1
Veteran selectman upset in election,
Page B3
Page A2
LOCAL
MONEY
New rules in the
mix for lead paint
removal
Page B10
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
Sports
betting on
campus is
a growing
problem
Page B1
$1.00
House
nixes
sales
tax cut
Property
tax hike
is sought
Spencer man gets Special Olympics honor
Impasse looms
on spending
O’Brien proposes
raising $2M more
By John J. Monahan
By Nick Kotsopoulos
BOSTON — The House
decided yesterday that state
taxes will not go up or down next
year, fending off tax-rate rollbacks and a series of proposed
tax hikes as the state budget
debate got under way.
House Democrats held fast to
their adoption one year ago of a
sales tax increase to 6.25 percent, voting 96 to 55 to block consideration of a Republican budget amendment to lower the rate
from 6.25 percent to 5 percent.
The vote came despite a looming referendum on the November ballot to reduce the sales tax
rate to 3 percent, as Republicans
kicked off the state budget
debate with a series of tax cut
proposals. They failed by wide
margins to eliminate the sales
tax on alcohol and to roll back
the sales tax and the income tax
rates to 5 percent.
As they did last year, a number of Central Massachusetts
Democrats crossed party lines
to vote against the amendment
that blocked consideration of
the sales tax rollback on a 96-55
vote. A year ago, the House
hiked the sales tax by a vetoproof 108-51 margin.
Meanwhile,
Republicans
were joined by Democrats in
opposing several smaller tax
hikes, by wide margins. They
included proposals to tax soda
and candy, expand the bottle
bill, impose a 2.5 percent excise
WORCESTER — City Manager Michael V.
O’Brien last night unveiled a no-growth municipal
budget for fiscal 2011 that calls for raising an additional $2 million in property taxes — on top of the
allowable annual 2.5 percent tax increase — so the
city can preserve critical core
programs and services.
The manager’s $506 million
budget proposal, just $71,000
more than this year’s budget,
also focuses on reinvesting in
the city’s infrastructure and
public school buildings, by
increasing capital expenditures for street and sidewalk
repairs and for the rehabilitation of school facilities.
Meanwhile, the overall operating budgets for municipal
departments, excluding the Mr. O’Brien
School Department, will be 2.2 percent less than the
current year. That translates into a cumulative
reduction of about $2.5 million to their bottom line,
while public education costs will be going up by $1.18
million.
Even though the manager’s budget plan is at about
the same spending level as this year, Mr. O’Brien
said the city needs to tap into its unused tax-levy
capacity to the tune of $2 million to make up for a 32
percent reduction in state aid, a 10 percent reduction
in local revenues and the loss of nearly $25 million in
annual recurring revenues during the past couple of
years.
Without the $2 million tax increase, he said, the
city would be faced with having to make “untenable
cuts” in the areas of public safety and public works
that would have a significant impact on the quality
of life in the city.
Worcester is roughly $12 million under the limit of
what it can raise in property taxes under Proposi-
Matthew Millett of Spencer, left, is honored for being chosen to play in a Unity Cup game in South Africa.
A dream realized
Millett
headed
to play
at site
of Cup
in July
By Ryan O’Hanlon
SPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
MARLBORO — Bob Bradley,
head coach of the United States
Men’s Soccer National Team,
will name 25 players to represent this country at the World
Cup in South Africa this summer.
Despite the cap on roster size,
the United States will have 26
players competing for its colors.
Matthew Millett of Spencer
was chosen yesterday as one of
16 Special Olympics athletes to
partake in the first ever Unity
Cup on July 3 at Cape Town Stadium — the same field that will
host one of the World Cup’s
quarterfinal matches later that
day.
The Unity Cup will be a
20-minute match, featuring
players from 16 of the 32 nations
competing in the World Cup,
along with celebrities, politicians and athletes such as Jacob
Zuma, the president of South
Africa, and Clarence Seedorf, a
midfielder for A.C. Milan and
former standout for the Dutch
national side.
“It’s very life-changing,” the
31-year-old Mr. Millett said
when he was told last night of
his selection. “I can’t wait. It’s
kind of hard to put into words.”
Mr. Millett was given a
framed letter sent directly from
Coca-Cola and Special Olympics
International
CEO,
Tim
Turn to Athlete/Page A10
Turn to Taxes/Page A8
Turn to Taxes/Page A7
Crowne Plaza to close in June, when it will be sold
Too many deficiencies to make it viable, receiver says
By Lisa Eckelbecker
Worcester occupancy rates
WORCESTER — The Crowne Plaza Hotel at
Lincoln Square, which was taken over by a
receiver in November after its owner defaulted
on more than $16 million in mortgage debt, will telegram.com
close in mid-June and be sold.
“The hotel at 10 Lincoln Square has become outdated and
requires costly improvements and significant upgrades to
bring it in line with its competitors,” receiver David Buddemeyer of Driftwood Hospitality Management LLC said in a
statement. “Accordingly, a business determination has been
made to close the hotel by mid-June and sell the property.”
Slideshow
online
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010*
Occupancy
rate
Room revenue
Rooms available
at end of year
58.1%
56.5%
61.8%
58.1%
56.1%
$21.58 million
$23.08 million
$24.43 million
$21.96 million
$4.99 million
1,123
981
981
981
981
*First three months of 2010
Source: STR
The Crowne Plaza Hotel at Lincoln Square will close in mid-June and be sold.
Online
telegram.com
Stay current: For up-to-date
results of high school and college teams, check our online
sports archive.
Turn to Crowne/Page A7
News Tips
Become a fan of
Telegram&Gazette
Follow us at
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B6
ENTERTAINMENT B8
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY .............B10
NATION/WORLD ..A3
STOCKS.............B11
T&G Staff
Local
Clouds, wind
stories
Weather
Yes, cities and
towns are hurting
Yesterday’s
question
13%
Should state
legislators raise some
taxes to avoid cuts
in local aid?
High 64, Low 40
Page A2
Your opinion
Today’s question
What do you think of the
Cape Wind energy project?
No, go after
spending instead
87%
HARVARD
Superintendent fined for
ethics violation, Page B1
SPORTS
WORCESTER
Lawyer accused of misusing
client money, Page B1
Red Sox get the best
of the Jays, 2-0
SHREWSBURY
Page C1
Police protest author who
shot officer, Page B1
TANTASQUA
Move to ban ‘cleavage’
falls short, Page B7
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
$1.00
Cape Wind nearing reality
By Jay Lindsay
Mr. Scanlon
Mr. Quist
Witness
smelled
alcohol
BOSTON — A whole new way
of generating electricity in the
U.S. drew a big step closer to
reality Wednesday, and it could
look like this: 130 windmills, 440
feet tall, rising from the ocean a
few miles off Cape Cod.
After more than eight years of
lawsuits and government re-
views, the Obama administration cleared the way for the
nation’s first offshore wind
farm.
“We are beginning a new
direction in our nation’s energy
future,” U.S. Interior Secretary
Ken Salazar declared in
Become a fan of
Telegram&Gazette
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B6
HEALTH .............A6
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY...............B8
MEDICAL MEMOS A6
STOCKS .............B9
Ella Kalagher-Maiuri, 6, demonstrates to School Nurse Annette B. Hanson how she uses her nebulizer when needed. Ms. Hanson
is the school nurse at Walter J. Paton Elementary School in Shrewsbury.
Hard to breathe
More urban children
struggle with asthma
When Annette B. Hanson
began as an elementary
school nurse 21 years ago, she
saw very few students with
asthma. Since then, she and
medical professionals all over
country have seen an explosion of the chronic inflammatory airways disease, particularly in young urban children.
“When I started nursing at
Paton, we didn’t have the
number of kids diagnosed
with asthma. Now, it seems
like more and more kids are
diagnosed with this and are
treated at school for their
problem,” said Ms. Hanson,
nurse at Walter J. Paton Elementary School in Shrews-
Hurrya!ys
Final 3 D
Asthma prevalence by school district
Statistically significantly higher than state
Not statistically significantly different than state
Statistically significantly lower than state
bury. “Back then, it was just
a handful, five to eight inhalers in the school. Now I have
29.” The school’s enrollment
is 362.
Nationwide, nearly 10 percent of children, three students in a classroom of 30,
have asthma, according to
data released this month by
the National School Boards
Association. The NSBA said
the disease is the leading
health cause of school absenteeism, and it can negatively
affect learning if not wellmanaged. On average, children with asthma miss three
more days a year than their
peers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta.
Orange
Lamps and accessories not
as shown.
Winchendon
Ashby
Ashburnham
Townsend
Fitchburg
Athol
Lunenburg
Gardner
Templeton
Phillipston
Shirley
Leominster
Harvard
Lancaster
Hubbardston
Princeton
Bolton
Sterling
Barre
Clinton
Rutland
Hardwick
Northboro
New
Braintree
Ware
W.
Brookfield
Warren
Marlboro
Boylston
Holden
Oakham
Hudson
Berlin
W.
Boylston
Southboro
Paxton
Worcester
N.
Brookfield
Spencer
Shrewsbury
Westboro
Leicester
E.
Brookfield Brookfield
Auburn
Grafton
Millbury
Upton
Charlton
Brimfield
Oxford
Sutton
Northbridge
Sturbridge
Milford
Ho
pe
da
le
Mendon
Wales Holland
Southbridge
Dudley
Webster
Millville
Douglas
Uxbridge
Turn to Asthma/Page A7
Ayer
Westminster
Petersham
Nantucket
Sound
Martha’s
Vineyard
Nantucket
Sources: ESRI; THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TeleAtlas; Cape Wind
Blackstone
WORCESTER — The Massachusetts
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences will add to its downtown presence by buying the Crowne Plaza hotel
at 10 Lincoln Square for $16.8 million
and turning it into housing for students
as well as classroom and laboratory space, the 5 The plan: Crowne
college said yes- Plaza hotel will become
terday.
housing for students as
The transac- well as classroom and
tion is expected laboratory space.
to close June 14,
soon after the 5 The site: The
hotel
shuts college will make 243
down, said col- guest rooms and 350
lege President parking spaces
Charles F. Mona- available to students,
and provide food
han Jr.
“Right after we service in the building,
take possession, which has a restaurant
we will have stu- and bar, and retain the
dents living in swimming pool.
there, and we
5 The quote: ‘It solves
will be using the
a
big problem, because
parking spaces,
and then we will the Crowne Plaza is a
build out the aca- very tough building to
demic portion,” reprogram.’ — David P.
Mr. Monahan Forsberg, president of
the nonprofit Worcester
said.
A receiver con- Business Development
trolling the trou- Corp.
bled 243-room
hotel had announced Tuesday that the
property would close, raising questions about what would happen to the
site. David P. Forsberg, president of the
nonprofit Worcester Business Development Corp., which is involved in developing housing nearby on former vocational school property, said the college’s plan suits the building and complements other efforts to create a
community at the north end of Main
Street.
“It solves a big problem, because the
Source: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
ROTMANS ULTIMATE Leather Package Includes TV!
Complete 13 pc.
Livingroom includes
42" HD
Plasma TV!
Bayside
New! Contemporary
styling in leather everywhere the body
touches.
Hyannis
Follow us at
Mashpee
By Lisa Eckelbecker
By Elaine Thompson
Get GO!ing: Check out the latest
online video featuring activities from GO!, our arts and
entertainment publication.
Cape
Cod
Crowne Plaza
to be dorm, lab
Royalston
telegram.com
Proposed
wind farm
School
will buy
hotel for
$16.8M
Online
MASS.
Turn to Wind/Page A7
By Scott J. Croteau
Turn to Fatality/Page A8
20 km
Atlantic Ocean
tribes and some environmentalists and residents, including the
late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy,
who warned that the windmills
could mar the ocean view. They
would be visible from the Ken-
announcing his approval of the
$2 billion Cape Wind project,
which would finally allow the
U.S. to join the list of major
countries that are producing
electricity from sea breezes.
The project has faced intense
opposition from two Indian
20 mi
0
Boston
Obama administration clears the way
Fatality suspect
held on $50K
WORCESTER — Witnesses
told investigators they saw
Arthur T. Scanlon III drive
away from an accident in the
Burncoat Street area that
claimed the life of 72-year-old
Robert H. Quist of Sachem Avenue.
Assistant District Attorney
Blake J. Rubin said yesterday in
Central District Court that one
witness also reported smelling
alcohol on Mr. Scanlon, a
51-year-old Millbury resident.
State records show Mr. Scanlon
has had his license suspended
five times in the past.Mr. Scanlon, 51, of 271 Riverl in St., was
held yesterday on $50,000 cash
bail after he was charged with
motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation, leaving the
scene of an accident causing
death, negligent driving and a
red light violation. He will return to court May 24.
Mr. Rubin said Mr. Scanlon
was attempting to avoid charges
when he drove away from the
scene of the fatal accident Monday night in the Burncoat Street
and Dorothy Avenue area. Mr.
Quist died from injuries
received in the crash.
“There was no question that
the crash occurred,” Mr. Rubin
0
13 pc. Leather Livingroom INCLUDES: Sofa,
Fantastic!
1999
$
Loveseat, Cocktail
table, 2 end tables, 2
lamps, 5 pc. accessory
set plus 42" TV!
Ref#L28147341
ROTMANS
508-755-5276 • www.rotmans.com
Turn to Hotel /Page A7
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600
MONEY
Yesterday’s
question
Workers, union leaders march on Wall Street, Page B12
Your opinion
Weather
Today’s question
What do you think
of the Cape Wind
energy project?
Do you agree with the guilty
verdict in the Odgren case?
Warmer
High 72, Low 53
Page A2
Local stories
WORCESTER
WORCESTER
Manager gives preview of
airport deal, Page B1
Youth shot at Laurel Street house,
Page B2
BROOKFIELD
FITCHBURG
Pre-election tension gets police
attention, Page B1
New life pumped into old mills,
Page B5
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
$1.00 ...
Gulf spill may eclipse Exxon Valdez
Slick just a few miles from Louisiana coast
By Cain Burdeau and Holbrook Mohr
John Odgren enters the courtroom to hear the jury’s verdict
with legal associate Amanda
Vanderhorst. An unidentified
court officer is at right.
Odgren
guilty of
murder
VENICE, La. — An oil spill that threatened to
top even the Exxon Valdez disaster spread out of
control and drifted inexorably toward the Gulf
Coast on Thursday as fishermen rushed to scoop
up shrimp and crews spread floating barriers
around marshes.
The spill was both bigger and closer than imagined — five times larger than first estimated,
with the leading edge just three miles from the
Louisiana shore. Authorities said it could reach
the Mississippi River delta by Thursday night.
“It is of grave concern,” David Kennedy of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told The Associated Press. “I am frightened.
This is a very, very big thing. And the efforts that
are going to be required to do anything about it,
especially if it continues on, are just mind-boggling.”
The oil slick could become the nation’s worst
environmental disaster in decades, threatening
hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world’s richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oys-
Turn to Oil/Page A10
This image made from video shows burning oil in the Gulf of Mexico
in response to the spill. More photos at www.telegram.com.
Tree had role in history
Jury rejects
insanity defense
Clark
gets
$14M
gift
By Lee Hammel
Fund yields
$600K a year
WOBURN — A Middlesex
County jury yesterday convicted John Odgren of Princeton of first-degree murder in the
Jan. 19, 2007, stabbing of a fellow
Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High
School student.
After a dozen hours of deliberations by a jury of seven women
and five men, the forewoman
called out in a clear voice that
the former special education
student was guilty of deliberate,
premeditated murder with malice and extreme atrocity.
Turn to Odgren/Page A9
Online
A large sycamore tree towers over the Thaddeus Pollard House, 327 Still River Road in Harvard.
telegram.com
Video: See what it’s like to
drive under the influence, and
the dangers you’ll face.
BRIDGE................C9
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B6
ENTERTAINMENT B8
HOROSCOPE .......C9
MONEY .............B12
NATION/WORLD ..A3
STOCKS ............B13
Shakers
gone from
town, but
whipping
tree
flourishes
By George Barnes
HARVARD — When J. Sterling Morton created Arbor Day in 1872, the large sycamore
tree towering over what is known as the
Thaddeus Pollard House is likely what he had
in mind.
Majestic and healthy, it is what people hope
for when they follow Mr. Morton’s lead and
decide to plant and care for trees in their
communities. It has led to millions of trees
being planted and today, even with urban
sprawl, has seen a significant greening of
America since the holiday was created.
National Arbor Day
Founded
T&G Staff
April 10, 1872, in
Nebraska by J. Sterling
Morton to encourage tree
planting and care; more than
1 million trees were planted
in Nebraska on that first day
Massachusetts
state tree
Date
April 30
(celebrated last
Friday in April)
U.S. national tree
Oak
American Elm
National Arbor Day
Foundation members
in Massachusetts
16,536
The tree in Harvard is a treat for any tree
lover to see, although tree hugging it would be
difficult. It is more than 220 years old, about
110 feet tall and 20 feet in circumference. It was
there on Still River Road when Henry David
Thoreau passed by to visit the Alcotts at
Fruitlands, but its history goes back to a time
of great turmoil — when Shaking Quakers, a
religious sect better known as the Shakers,
lived a tenuous existence in the community.
The tree is known as “the whipping tree.”
Local historian Mildred Chandler said it got
its name, not from being the site of official
Turn to Tree/Page A9
Tree City USA communities
in Massachusetts
What you can do
on Arbor Day
80, including Worcester,
Leominster, Charlton,
Grafton, Hopkinton,
Sturbridge, Sutton, Warren;
in 2009, the 80 towns and
cities spent $20.1 million
on urban forestry budgets
Plant a tree; read a book
about trees; hike or visit a
park; attend a class on tree
and plant care
For more ideas
arborday.org
Source: Arbor Day Foundation
Due to an overwhelming response,
Gold is over $1100/troy ounce - Silver is on the rise! we
e are back
ba at the Beechwood Hotel
TURN GOLD AND SILVER INTO $$MONEY$$
TU
Dear Miss,
M Mrs. or Mr.
Want to
W
t pay off a debt? Are you having financial hardship? Or do you just want some extra CASH in your pocket?
t?
SSell us your gold necklace, bracelets, rings, earrings, coins, flatware: anything made with gold or silver for CASH. Doesn’t matter if it is
bbroken or defective WE WILL BUY IT FOR CASH!
A little gold brings a lot of money!
GGold is at an historical high. Act now while gold and silver are on the rise.
SSel
Sellll yo
your gold face to face with an expert who will appraise and weigh it in front of you.
Wee wo
work directly with gold and silver refineries to guarantee the best price for your Gold and Silver.
Wee are having a 2 day only buying event at Beechwood Hotel at 363 Plantation St., Worcester, MA 01605 that is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
NO
O AMOUNT
A
TOO BIG OR SMALL
Beechwood Hotel
363 Plantation St.,
Worcester, MA 01605
May 1 - Saturday 10am to 4pm
May 2 - Sunday 10am to 4pm
2 DAY
EVENT
ONLY!
Bring
Bri
ing iinn th
this
his add to recei
receive
ive an aadditional
%
10 of the value of your gold
WORCESTER — Members of
the Clark University community gathered yesterday to pay
tribute to former trustee John
Adam Jr., who recently
bequeathed $14.2 million to better the quality of education in
urban schools.
It’s a good bet that many of
them also privately gave a big
thank you to “Pluto” Cook.
Mr. Adam,
who died last
year, was a
civic leader
who became a
giant in the insurance industry and a benefactor to local
causes.
But
he
always told Mr. Adam
friends that he never would
have gotten anywhere had it not
been for Mr. Cook, an economics
teacher at the old South High
School on Freeland Street.
Yesterday, on the university’s
front lawn, school officials formally announced Mr. Adam’s
generosity — the largest single
gift in the school’s history.
The money will establish the
Ruth and John Adam Education
Fund and will be used to better
urban secondary education,
teacher training and community and educational partnerships.
Mr. Adam, the former president of The Hanover Insurance
Companies, established the
fund before his death last year at
the age of 94.
Turn to Adam/Page A9
News Tips
Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home delivery
(508) 791-4600

Offshore drilling opens up

Transcription

Similar documents

Brookfield Orchard

150 - Gatehouse Media

document: File - Property Pilot

HARRELLS COTTAGE

Find it online at jcr.worc.ox.ac.uk/woostasource Hilary 2014, Edition 2

details - Commercial Property Search

newsletters - Worcester International Link

AG1977-A4-1-1-3-002-jpeg - Historical Papers

inglebrook house high street, kinver

Untitled - Chaplin Entertainment, Inc.