REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013

Local News
DAILY DIGEST
CHESHIRE

Nonnewaugs Dante Segnatelli

SPORTS STARTS ON THE BACK OF THIS SECTION

SECTION

Tech teacher, administrator to leave at end of school year

The school district is losing two educators to retirement and relocation. Stephen Proffitt, the districts Special Education Supervisor and Summer School coordinator is retiring at the end of the school year. Proffitt is taking another job with the state after his retirement, said School Superintendent Greg Florio as a consultant at a Special Education resource center in Middletown. Proffitt is a former principal of Highland School. Florio said Proffitt is knowledgeable and with a great sense of humor. Florio said he was great to work with. Cheshire High School is losing Andrew Abate, technology teacher and jack of all trades, as Florio described him, who was instrumental in incorporating technology in classrooms at the school. Abate will be moving to New York and has accepted a job with a private school, Florio said. NEWTOWN

Firework fallout appealed

Worker suspended for lighting device
BY ALIA MALIK
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

NAUGATUCK Christopher Jones, a 48-year-old driver and laborer for the Park Department, was on his mid-morning break March 13 about 9 a.m. when he noticed a firework leftover from last

years Fourth of July festivities sitting in the Rubber Avenue garage. I decided to take it down off the locker and light it off, Jones wrote in a statement to police, obtained by the Republican-American under the Freedom of Information Act. This was a spur of the mo-

ment decision on my own. Jones told police he lit the firework at the edge of the brook behind the garage while another employee, Mike Caron, watched. I was expecting this to be a spark fountain and was completely surprised to find out it was an aerial display

with multiple explosions followed by crackles, Jones wrote. Once the cake ignited, there was no way to safely stop it from finishing its cycle. Jones and other park department employees were surprised again when they learned later that day that the noise had been reported as

See FIREWORKS, Page 4B

Grants will perk up parks

Sacred Heart gives honorary doctorate to first selectman

Newtown First Selectman E. Patricia Llodra will be one of two people presented honorary doctorates during Sacred Heart Universitys annual undergraduate commencement ceremonies Sunday in Fairfield. Llodra, and author Terry Eagleton, will each receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters during the ceremonies. Llodra will also deliver the commencement address to the 756 members of the class of 2013, who will receive associates and bachelors degrees. Llodra holds a bachelors degree in psychology, a masters in mathematics/education, a certificate of advanced study in supervision/evaluation and a 6th-year certificate. She has also done some doctoral studies. She has also been praised for her efforts in the wake of the Dec. 14 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Sacred Heart will present two other honorary degrees on Saturday during graduate commencement ceremonies. Paul Baumann, editor of Commonweal magazine, will receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree, and Barry H. Ostrowsky, president and chief executive officer of Barnabas Health, will receive an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree. CHESHIRE

Board approves 2-year deal for additional school cleaning

The towns seven school buildings are expected to be cleaner after the Board of Education approved a two-year contract with a new company that will add two more days of cleaning. The Board approved the contract with Performance Environmental Services of New Haven that gives the company $666,785 for fiscal year 2014-15 and $684,788 for fiscal year 2015-16. The districts current contract is with Advantage Maintenance of Woodbridge. Superintendent Greg Florio, said the company which has served the district for several years, bid, but lost the contract. Florio said the new contract will add two more days of cleaning to the schools, now cleaned only three days a week with school staff doing more and the bathrooms only cleaned every day. Florio said for less than $50,000 per year, the district is adding the two days of cleaning. The district cut down to three days of cleaning after budget problems a few years ago. CHESHIRE

Above, Victoria Encarnacion of Waterbury, left, plays with her children, Josiah Jimenez, 7, and Micaela Jimenez, 4, at Rivera-Hughes Park in Waterbury on Friday. The city is using $870,000 in federal grants to redesign four lackluster parks in downtown, Hopeville and South End, including Rivera-Hughes. The city plans to use $200,000 to draft and carry out a master design plan for Hopeville Park, and $420,000 to resurrect the run down RiveraHughes and River Baldwin parks.
STEVEN VALENTI REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Synagogue, church to collect used bicycles for charity

Two houses of worship are uniting to collect used bicycles for the Massachusetts-based charity Bikes Not Bombs this weekend. Volunteers from Congregation Kol Ami and First Congregational Church will receive used bicycles from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday on the Church Green in the towns center. All sizes of bikes will be accepted whether working or broken, road, mountain, hybrid, tandem, BMX, and others and all sizes adult and children. Volunteers are also collecting bicycle tools, accessories like helmets, lights, locks, cycling clothing and bicycle parts. Each year Bikes Not Bombs collects thousands of used bicycles and parts, refurbishes them and ships them to countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. N A U G AT U C K

Zoner Murphy resigns again Nursing

Chairman says meetings will be more productive
BY RICK HARRISON
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

homes penalized
State levies fines for lapses in care
BY LISA CHEDEKEL
' CONNECTICUT HEALTH INVESTIGATIVE TEAM

Methodists to remove debris from Naugatuck Rivers banks

Local environmentalist Kevin Zak will lead a Naugatuck River cleanup Sunday as part of United Methodist Change the World Day. The goal is to remove debris for the benefit of wildlife along the river. To join in or for information, contact 203-7232428.

>>> OBITUARIES ON PAGE 5B

WOODBURY Alternate Zoning Commissioner Sean Murphy has resigned for the second time in five months. This time, he means it. I have learned a lot in my time volunteering for the town, Murphy said in a letter delivered to the Town Clerks Office Wednesday. I understand why this country is in such trouble seeing how elected and appointed officials conduct themselves. ...Too many people in positions of influence do not do the right thing and it is just plain sickening to watch this. Murphy, who was elected to a four-year term in 2011, spent much of his attenuated tenure battling with Zoning Commission Chairman

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN ARCHIVE

Former Woodbury Alternate Zoning Commissioner Sean Murphy at a meeting in January. Martin Overton over meeting procedures and what Murphy believes is the illegality of attempts to regulate political signs. He first resigned after storming out of a meeting in December, only to rescind the decision before his letter was filed with the town clerk in accordance with the town charter and state law. Overton asked a police officer to remove Murphy from a January meeting, asserting that he was no longer a commissioner. Murphy eventually left on his own, though under protest. A lawyer for the town later supported Murphys contention that the resignation never took effect. Murphys more recent resignation letter bears Assistant Town Clerk Judy Ryans stamp and signature, making his departure offiSee RESIGN, Page 4B

The state Department of Public Health has penalized six nursing homes for lapses in care that contributed to residents injuries. In one case, a resident of Middlesex Health Care Center of Middletown who was cognitively impaired and known to have an obsession with shaving her legs was found with multiple lacerations on her legs. The resident obtained a razor from an unlocked room, a DPH inspection report says. After the incident, the facility changed its practice and

See CITATIONS, Page 4B