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the Chronicle
An Independent Newspaper Since 1877
Vol. 128 No. 146
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Newsstand 75 Cents
Officials overjoyed
by override of veto
By DAVID HINCHEY
Chronicle Staff Writer
HARTFORD — Windham officials are
pleased with the results of Monday’s override session when state legislators overrode
Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s veto of a bill supporting
off-track betting at three new locations in
state, including Willimantic.
Monday’s vote to re-pass the bill — or
override the veto — was 110 to 28 in the
House, with 13 members not voting.
The 110 votes were more support than
the bill got originally when it passed, 99
to 43.
A minimum of 101 votes — two-thirds of
the membership — was needed to sustain
the House override.
The state Senate, which had originally
Town tosses
green bags
Inside
National
Contributed photo by Jeff Lee
ABOVE: Firefighters spray water as flames shoot out the front door of a home at 391 Pleasant St. in Willimantic
on Monday. BELOW RIGHT: A firefighter tries to vent the blaze through the roof.
Firefighters battle
blaze, hot weather
By DAVID HINCHEY
Chronicle Staff Writer
WILLIMANTIC — Firefighters
from multiple departments battled a
large structure fire — as well as the
summer heat — on Pleasant Street
Monday that displaced between 15
to 18 people.
The heat, coupled with the fire,
sent a Willimantic firefighter and
Willimantic police officer to the
hospital Monday for heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation to
Windham Community Memorial
Hospital, police and fire officials
said.
Acting Willimantic Fire Department Chief Marc Scrivener said
the blaze broke out at 11:46 a.m. at
a residence located at 391 Pleasant
St.
He said the department showed
up initially with four firefighters
and himself before calling for a sec-
High court clamps
down on terror-group
advice. See story on
Page 7.
Coventry council OKs
plan for tipper barrels
Sports
Yankees fall in Arizona,
10-4. See story on
Page 9.
ond alarm on arrival that brought in
additional firefighters — calling in
off-duty firefighters and alerting
area departments for coverage and
additional help.
“They took a beating going
through the front door,” Scrivener
said, adding the four firefighters
went through the front door with
the hose and encountered “highheat conditions” upon entry.
After the call came in, Scrivener
said firefighters encountered
“heavy smoke from multiple windows and doors” and the fire started blowing out the front doors,
which prompted the call for more
firefighters.
He said initial responders made
a “very aggressive” and “courageous attack” through the front
door, which is why the building is
still standing albeit burned on the
(Firefighters, Page 4)
Around town
All-youcan-eat
spaghetti
and
meatball
dinner, 5
to 7 p.m. on
Wednesday
at the Franklin VFW. See
more calendar on Pages 2
and 3.
Roxanne Pandolfi
Best Gas
Price
Abby................................... 6
Classified....................11-12
Comics............................... 6
Editorial.............................. 5
Features..........................6, 8
Horoscopes......................... 6
Local News.....................2-3
Nation/World...................... 7
Obituaries........................... 5
State.................................... 7
Sports............................9-10
Television........................... 7
Weather.............................. 2
Lotteries
A-1 CASH
2.76
Stop & Shop WITH CARD 2.76
Cumberland’s Main St.
2.76
Jeen’s Main St. CASH
2.77
Valero
2.78
Mobil West Main CASH
2.79
Stop & Shop W/O CARD 2.81
A-1 CREDIT
2.81
Shan’s Gulf Rec. Park
2.81
Cumberland’s Jackson St. 2.81
monday
Mid-Day 3: 2-2-9
Mid-Day 4: 5-7-6-6
Play 3: 1-5-3
Play 4: 9-3-9-1
Cash 5: 12-21-24-34-35
Lucky 4 Life
9-23-29-31/12
The News-Times
Marie Brennan photos
Splashin’ around
There’s no better way to beat the
heat than a visit to the splash park
at Lauter Park in Willimantic. ABOVE:
Briana Ingles, 5, and her brother Omar
Ingles, 4, try to splash each other with
the spraying frogs recently. They are
from Willimantic. LEFT: Angel Medina,
2, of Willimantic plays with the sprayer
while Louis Angel Alvarez, 1, looks
on.
For the record
The Chronicle is printed daily,
except Sunday and six holidays.
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 148,
Willimantic, CT 06226.
Location: 1 Chronicle Road,
Willimantic, 1/4 mile west of the
intersection of routes 66 and 32.
To Subscribe: (860) 423-6341
Advertisement
DANBURY — When the HIV/
AIDS epidemic exploded in the
1980s, the word got out: If you
don’t want to get sick, don’t have
unprotected sex.
Nearly 30 years later, the message has faded.
As a result, the number of people becoming infected with HIV
from having unprotected sex
— nationally and in Connecticut
— is on the rise.
“People have been getting a
little lax,” said Maureen Singer,
public health nurse coordinator
for the Danbury Department of
Health.
Advertisement
By MIKE SAVINO
Chronicle Staff Writer
COVENTRY — After receiving the option of a
third, smaller tipper barrel, some town councilmen
changed their stance and agreed Monday night to
end the green bag program.
The council approved the change, 5-2, and while
the vote split came after nearly two more hours of
discussion on the topic, the overall tone was calmer
than it was at the council’s June 7 meeting.
Councilmen Julie Blanchard, Richard Williams,
Lisa Thomas, Chairman Elizabeth Woolf and Vice
Chairman William Zenko voted for the switch,
while Councilmen Steven Hall and Valdis Vinkels
opposed.
The decision — which came after a 5-2 vote to
rescind a May 17 vote — means the town will switch
to tipper barrels for trash collection and recycling,
ending the green bag program.
No date has been finalized for residents to receive
the barrels, but town officials have indicated it will
be sometime this fall.
The town currently charges residents a $138 fee
for trash collection, plus $1 for each large bag or 50
cents for each small bag — also known as “green
bags” — they use for trash.
But residents will now have to choose a tipper barrel of 35, 65 or 95 gallons for their trash and either
65- or 95-gallon barrels for recycling, which will be
collected biweekly.
Residents will have to pay $138 again this year for
collection, plus $32 for the 35-gallon barrel, $200
for the 65-gallon barrel and $250 for the 95-gallon
barrel. Recycling barrels will be free.
(Coventry, Page 4)
Blumenthal campaign
accepted money from
lobbyists for tobacco
By PAUL HUGHES
Republican-American
HIV cases are on the rise
By ROBERT MILLER
voted for the bill, 24-11, approved it this
week, 26-10.
It all means a Willimantic restaurant
whose owners were looking to provide
OTB services are smiling this morning.
“Yeah, we were certainly happy,” said
Damian Fox, one of the owners of the
Thirsty Frog Restaurant, located at 600
Main St., which would host an off-track
betting facility.
Fox thanked a slew of officials that included state Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia,
state Senate President Pro Tempore Donald
Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn, state Rep. Susan
Johnson D-Willimantic, and Windham
Mayor Ernest Eldridge, among others, for
their support.
(Officials, Page 4)
Elke Probst, an AIDS counselor
for AIDS Project Greater Danbury, said the proportion of cases
the project sees is changing, with
many new HIV cases involving
transmittal of the virus from men
having sex with men.
Some of these cases involve
men who are openly gay. Others,
she said, involve men who are
married to women or have girlfriends but also have anonymous
sex with men.
Chris Andresen, section chief
of the AIDS and chronic diseases
section of the state Department
of Health, said at the same time
the state is seeing an increase in
(HIV cases, Page 4)
Advertisement
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has accepted money from tobacco industry lobbyists while he
has been campaigning for the U.S. Senate as an antitobacco crusader.
The contributions are few and represent only several thousand dollars out of the $2 million-plus in
individual contributions the Democratic frontrunner’s campaign reported through May 1. The small
handful of political donations stand out, however,
because of his aggressive and high-profile stands
against the industry.
Blumenthal regularly accuses tobacco companies
of selling addiction, disease and death. He hasn’t
hesitated to sue them. In 1998, Blumenthal helped
broker the landmark $206 billion settlement between
46 states and the four biggest U.S. cigarette makers
— Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA, Reynolds
American Inc., Brown & Williamson Tobacco and
Lorillard Inc. The state of Connecticut’s share is
$5.5 billion.
Based on his credentials and rhetoric, Blumenthal
(Blumenthal, Page 4)
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