LOTTERY KILLINGS ANNIVERSARY TODAY
ROCKY HILL, Conn. (AP) – The Connecticut Lottery is planning to lower flags outside its headquarters to half-staff on the 20th anniversary of the killings of four lottery executives. Lottery spokeswoman Kendra Eckhart says the U.S. and state flags outside the Rocky Hill headquarters will be lowered Tuesday. No official remembrance is planned, but workers have been told they can mark the anniversary in any way they want. Disgruntled employee Matthew Beck of Ledyard gunned down lottery chief Otho Brown and three other officials at the former headquarters in Newington on March 6, 1998. He killed himself as police arrived. The other victims included chief financial officer and former New Britain Mayor Linda Mlynarczyk, operations vice president Rick Rubelmann and data processor Michael Logan. Thirty-one current employees worked at the agency on the day of the killings.
“RED” DIES
Robert ” Red” McKeon, the retired longtime chief of the Occum Volunteer Fire Department and tireless advocate for his hometown village, has died. McKeon was 89. Several local, current and former volunteer chiefs in Norwich considered him a supporter and mentor. A funeral Mass will be held this morning at ten at St. Joseph’s Church, 11 Baltic Road in Occum, followed by a luncheon at the Occum Fire Department on Route 97.
NEW LONDON SETTLES WITH ACKLEY
Former New London Police Chief Margaret Ackley will receive $50,000 from the city. Ackley has agreed to withdraw her lawsuit and any other complaints she may have had with New London. The total cost, including legal fees, is an estimated $75,000 for the retired former police chief. Monday night, the New London City Council signed off on the settlement agreement that ends a long-running lawsuit. A trial was slated to begin this summer.
DON’T SELL SEASIDE
A group of preservationists, environmental advocates and state officials on Monday urged lawmakers to reject a bill requiring the state to sell the former Seaside Regional Center in Waterford. More than 100 residents and Seaside enthusiasts pushed lawmakers to let plans for a public-private partnership play out. That would be to let regulators select a developer to renovate the site into a 63-room hotel while keeping the grounds open to the public as a state park. They say selling the property could “doom the historic buildings to destruction.”
NO GUNS IN CLASSROOMS
The idea of arming teachers is discussed during a roundtable discussion featuring local and state officials and law enforcement personnel. It happened Monday at Griswold Middle School. Representative Kevin Skulcyck says educators shouldn’t have guns in the classroom. Sckulcyck says local school districts would be able to beefen up security if not for the recent cuts in ECS funding by Governor Dannel Malloy. Killingly Representative Anne Dauphanais says constituents need to make their voices heard by contacting the governor and telling him the cuts are tying their hands. Governor Malloy has proposed allocating ten million dollars in state funding for school security. Sckulcyck says Monday’s discussion was very informative. He’s looking forward to hosting a similar event with high school students in the near future.
SUPERVISOR SUSPENSION OVERTURNED
An arbitrator has overturned a five-day suspension of a since-fired Stonington highway supervisor. The decision said Louis DiCesare II was improperly denied from having union representation at a disciplinary hearing. The town has spent $210,000 fighting the grievance, and now must pay DiCesare five days’ pay totaling about $1,500 and remove the suspension from his record. A ruling on two more union grievances by DiCesare’s civil rights lawsuit against the town is pending in federal court.
CHILD ABUSERS TAKE PLEA DEAL
Three defendants, all brothers, pleaded guilty on Monday to charges in connection with a child pornography and child neglect case involving several members of an extended former Danielson family. James and Jason Emory each pleaded under the Alford Doctrine to a single count of child pornography possession and were each sentenced to five years in prison, along with five years of special probation. Nicholas Emory pleaded guilty to risk of injury to a minor and first-degree child porn possession. He will be sentenced May 8th to eight years in prison.
