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August 25, 2006

New bridge takes first step to final location

NORTH KINGSTOWN -- The Providence River bridge made its first move today as contractors prepared for the project's most delicate, and watchable, stages.

This afternoon, Mammoet, the Dutch company that specializes in hauling huge objects, moved the bridge about 150 feet, close to the edge of the pier where it was built at Quonset Point/Davisville.

The state Department of Transportation said it plans to move the 400-foot-long bridge with a pair of barges early tomorrow and tow it to Providence about 5 a.m. on Sunday.

On Monday, the DOT hopes to have the bridge installed at its permanent location, just south of the Hurricane Barrier, as part of the relocation of Route 195.

While the trip up Narragansett Bay on Sunday will be the most visible part of the voyage, officials at Mammoet say that the trickiest part of moving the 5.5-million span is getting it on the barges tomorrow.

More to come in tomorrow's Journal and on projo.com ...

-- Journal staff writer Bruce Landis

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 6:59 PM | Comment

Poll finds gubernatorial candidates in tight race

Candidates for governor are locked in a tight race, with Republican Governor Carcieri leading the Democratic challenger, Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty, by 45 percent to 41 percent, according to a poll released today.

The poll, conducted by Fleming & Associates for Channel 12 Eyewitness News, found 14 percent were “not sure” whom they would vote for in November and had a margin of error of about 5 percent.

The results included those who “lean toward a candidate,” and were based on interviews with 401 registered voters Aug. 16-21.

Fogarty’s campaign spokesman, Adam Bozzi, called the latest poll “great news,” saying, “We are right where we need to be at this point. We are seeing Rhode Islanders who want a change responding to Charlie Fogarty’s message.”

Polls conducted by Rasmussen Reports also have shown Carcieri and Fogarty either tied or very close for several months. The most recent Rasmussen poll had the candidates tied at 43 percent. Bozzi said, “All the polls solidify the idea that this race is a dead heat.”

Carcieri’s campaign manager, Kenneth K. McKay IV, said, “We only worry about getting the job done. We’ll let career politicians worry about the polls.”

McKay said the Carcieri campaign relies on its own polls. While he would not release those polls, he said they showed a larger lead for Carcieri.

“We don’t worry about public polls,” McKay said, emphasizing that the campaign’s internal polls focus on likely voters as opposed to registered voters.

But Fleming & Associates said it only interviewed people who passed two screens designed to show that the respondents were registered to vote and were likely to vote in November.

-- Journal staff writer Edward Fitzpatrick

The poll broke down the results by gender and age. Among males, Carcieri led by 48 percent to 42 percent, with 10 percent not sure. Among females, Carcieri led by 43 percent to 40 percent, with 17 percent not sure.

Among those age 18 to 39, Fogarty led by 48 percent to 27 percent, with 25 percent not sure. Among those 40 to 59, Carcieri led by 50 percent to 40 percent, with 10 percent not sure. And among those 60 and over, Carcieri led by 46 percent to 39 percent, with 15 percent not sure.

-- Journal staff writer Edward Fitzpatrick

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 6:03 PM | Comment

Update: Providence police ID homicide victim / Photo

Journal photo / Sandor Bodo
Residents overlook the site where a body was found in a parking lot today.

PROVIDENCE -- The police have identified the victim of a fatal shooting this morning in the Manton neighborhood as William Garcia, 42, of Providence.

In a press release late this afternoon, police said Garcia had apparently been shot in the head. An autopsy by the state medical examiner's office has been done, and the case has been ruled a homicide.

Emergency crews responded to a Salmon Street home at about 7 a.m. and were told that a male was down, James Taylor, chief of communications for the Providence Fire Department, said this morning.

The police confirmed that a male body was found lying face down in the parking lot at the rear of 29 Salmon St.

Police have begun an investigation. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the city police's Detective Division at (401) 243-6406.

-- With reports from projo.com staff writer Steve Peoples and Journal staff writer Gregory Smith

Posted by Steve Peoples at 5:51 PM | Comment

Aquidneck land trust buys time to raise $3M for easement

PORTSMOUTH --Thanks to the philanthropy of a van Buren heiress, the Aquidneck Island Land Trust has secured the right to purchase a perpetual conservation easement for close to 125 acre of woods and farmland on Wapping Road, near the Middletown line.

Barbara Van Buren, great-granddaughter of the inventor of Campbell's condensed soups, has agreed, for $70,000, to give the trust two years to raise $3 million for the easement. She is the principal of a company that snatched the land away from prospective developers for $8 million last year, with the intent of reaching an agreement with the trust.

"It's a major contribution,'' said Ted Clemente, executive director of the trust, which announced the deal today. "Without that kind partnership, we truly would not be at the table.''

If the trust is successful at raising the $3 million and exercising its option, farming can continue and wildlife habitats will be conserved, said Clemente. The parcel features swamp, pond and field habitats and the largest unfragmented forest on Aquidneck Island. It is home to such birds as the northern harrier, dark-eyed junco and blue-winged teal.

-- Journal staff writer Rich Salit

The site is located on the eastern side of Wapping Road, just north of Old Mill Lane, and was formerly owned by the Derektor family.

Beginning in the 1980s, the state began a protracted effort to force the owners to clean up soils contaminated with PCBs from dumped transformers.

Clemente said the area where Robert Derektor dumped transformers from his Middletown shipyard is about 2,500 square feet and has since been capped and cleaned up. Nevertheless, he said, this area is not part of the 125 acres included in the conservation easement.

In April, van Buren helped the trust protect another large farm off Wapping Road. Her company sold the trust a conservation agreement for the 128-acre Vaucluse Farm for $150,000.

-- Journal staff writer Rich Salit

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 5:18 PM | Comment

Update: Hasbro hospital worker accused of molesting girl

JOHNSTON -- An employee at Hasbro Children's Hospital has been charged with molesting an 11-year-old girl in Johnston.

Anthony Maini, 34, of 36 Beechnut Drive, was arrested last night and arraigned this morning in Providence District Court on one count of second-degree child molestation. He was given $10,000 surety bail and ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim or any children, according to Johnston police Deputy Chief Gary Maddocks.

Maini was placed on unpaid leave today soon after hospital officials were notified of the charges.

Hospital spokeswoman Nancy P. Cawley said that Maini works weekends as a respiratory therapist at Rhode Island Hospital. He occasionally works in the children's hospital, she said.

Maddocks said that the victim told her parents that she was molested at 6:30 a.m. Sunday inside Maini's home. Maddocks would not comment on why the girl was with Maini, a friend of her family's, at that time of day.

“We’re taking the incident very seriously,” Maddocks said. "All the witnesses appear to be very credible and reliable.”

Cawley said the hospital has placed Maini on unpaid leave, pending the outcome of the charges. "Given that this is a pending police investigation, we cannot comment further on the specifics of this matter," she said.

-- projo.com staff writer Steve Peoples

Posted by Steve Peoples at 3:15 PM | Comment

Students run in Providence to help Sudanese / Photo

Journal photo / Sandor Bodo
Ryan Gilbert runs around downtown Providence today as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the genocide plaguing Sudan.

PROVIDENCE -- A Massachusetts college student plans to run 20 miles along Providence streets today as part of a two-week 300-mile run to raise money and awareness for the genocide in Sudan's Darfur region.

Ryan Gilbert, 21, who has an American flag strapped to a harness on his back, plans to run small loops in the downtown area for several hours.

Thomas Whalen, also 21, is accompanying Gilbert today. Gilbert's effort, which began Sunday in Lowell, will end in New York City on Sept. 2 -- two days before classes resume. The two men are students at UMass Lowell.

"This is a patriotic thing," Whalen said. "We have no connection to Sudan at all, we don't know anybody there. We're just two regular college kids."

The pair is trying to raise money to send to the region. Those interested in making donations can do so directly on the Unicef Web site. Whalen didn't know how much had been raised so far.

-- projo.com staff writer Steve Peoples

Posted by Steve Peoples at 3:00 PM | Comment

Patriots give Branch permission to seek trade

In an unusual move, the New England Patriots have posted on their Web site a two-sentence statement saying that they are giving wide receiver Deion Branch permission to seek a trade and negotiate a contract with another team. The statement says that the permission is granted to Branch through Sept. 1.

Branch, the Patriots' top wide receiver, is under contract but has been holding out for a richer deal.

Posted by Mike McDermott at 1:51 PM | Comment

Neighbor indicted in Woonsocket girl's slaying, rape

PROVIDENCE -- Joshua A. Davis has been indicted on charges he kidnapped, raped and murdered his 8-year-old Woonsocket neighbor, Savannah Smith, according to the grand jury report released today by the Attorney General's Office.

Today's three-count indictment includes the charge of first-degree child molestation, or rape. The police investigating the case previously would not say whether the girl had been sexually assaulted.

Davis, 20, of 564 Coe St., Woonsocket, is also charged with one count of murder and one count of kidnapping a minor, with, the prosecution contends, the intent to sexually molest her. Davis had been arrested only on a murder charge.

Davis waived his right to a bail hearing in May and has been held at the Adult Correctional Institutions since then. Prosecutors believe he picked up Savannah at a park in her Woonsocket neighborhood on May 7 and murdered her later that day in Cranston.

His next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 13.

The indictment is "significant because it means that an independent panel of 23 Rhode Islanders have looked at the case and decided that probable cause exists to charge Davis," said Michael Healey, spokesman for the Attorney General's Office. "But for us, it’s really just the beginning of the prosecution."

-- projo.com staff writer Steve Peoples

Posted by Steve Peoples at 1:10 PM | Comment

Update: Exeter man gets 150 months for posing as doctor

A federal judge today sentenced an Exeter man who offered false hopes to the sick by prescribing bogus treatments to more than 12 years in prison.

In sentencing John E. Curran to 150 months, U.S. District Court Judge Mary M. Lisi called him "the worst of the worst" con artists for preying on people's worst fear -- their health.

Curran, 41, was convicted last May of pretending to be a doctor, after a two-week trial presented evidence that Curran performed bogus diagnostic tests and frightened people into buying expensive treatments.

Lisi scheduled a second sentencing hearing for Oct. 12 to determine a fine and the amount of restitution Curran must pay to his victims. Curran was taken into custody after being sentenced today.

Curran also forfeited to the government treatment machines that he used to promote his scheme and about $15,000 in a Citizens bank account in the name of his business, the Northeastern Institute for Advanced Natural Healing.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Tom Mooney

The jury of five men and seven women in U.S. District Court, Providence, deliberated for seven hours over two days before finding Curran guilty of all 21 charges: 18 counts of wire fraud and 3 of money laundering, related to the financial transactions that fueled his business.

According to evidence presented at the trial, Curran wore a lab coat with "M.D." after his name as he looked at people's blood under a microscope, and told them they had parasites, immune-system failure or even cancer. He told dying people that he could make them better and healthy people that they were in danger of dying.

As treatment, he sold them "E-water," which he said had healing powers similar to the waters at Lourdes, and "Green Drink," a powdered vegetable mix that he said helped the body fight disease. He also had an array of machines in his office that patients could use for $10,000; they included a hyperbaric chamber, an "ionizing footbath," and devices that applied heat, water, oxygen, massage or infrared lights. In two years, Curran's patients bought $1.4 million in treatments, federal investigators showed.

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 12:47 PM | Comment

Cranston woman seeking to mate before she turns 30

A 29-year-old woman from Cranston who says she's a virgin has asked a national magazine to help her find a mate before her 30th birthday.

Sarah DiMuro, who now lives in New York City, is being featured on a page on Jane magazine's Web site entitled, "Sarah Need Us: Meet Sarah, a 29-year-old virgin, who wants us to help her find a guy."

Readers are encouraged to submit candidates to date DiMuro, who plans to write in detail about her experiences in a dating blog on the site.

DiMuro attended the all-girl's Lincoln School in Providence and then the all-female Smith College in Massachusetts. And she currently lives in an all-female boarding house in New York, according to the site.

She works as an assistant in a gourmet baking company and is an aspiring standup comedian. In a video posted on Jane's site, DiMuro said she wants to find someone who makes her laugh, loves movies and, preferably, is a Red Sox fan.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 12:29 PM | Comment

More than 100 to be sworn in to AmeriCorps

PROVIDENCE -- U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee will administer the oath of service to 110 new AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers at the Providence Biltmore Hotel today.

At least 12 members of the group will be assigned to Rhode Island community agencies including the RI Free Clinic, RI Campus Compact, the United Way and Providence Community Policing.

"These Americans who have answered the our country's call to service are to be saluted for their sacrifice and willingness to help their neighbor and community," said Incent Marzullo, Rhode Island director of the Corporation for National & Community Service, in a statement.

The volunteers serve full-time for one year at social service agencies and receive a stipend plus $4,725 for college tuition.

The swearing in ceremony is scheduled for 12:45 p.m.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 9:11 AM | Comment

Electric rates going down next week

The state Public Utilities Commission has approved a rate decrease for National Grid that takes effect next Friday.

The decrease from 10 cents to 9.4 cents per kWh will present a $3.12 a month savings for a typical consumer using 500 kWh of electricity per month.

National Grid, which first petitioned the PUC in March to lower its rates, says its oil and natural gas costs are lower than it expected.

Posted by Peter Phipps at 8:57 AM | Comment

TV show to feature missing Middletown man

MIDDLETOWN -- A man wanted by police for molesting three girls in Rhode Island will be featured tomorrow on ``America's Most Wanted.''

The police say 52-year-old James Bell molested the girls, ages 9 to 13, two years ago. He had been working at the Newport County YMCA in Middletown.

Bell was arrested and charged with several counts of child molestation, but escaped in 2004 while released on bail.

The Middletown police say they enlisted the help of the show to bring more publicity to the alleged sex offender. They believe he is now living on the West Coast and hope the show will limit his movement.

Posted by Peter Phipps at 7:22 AM | Comment

A hard rain's gonna fall

Dylan was in Pawtucket last night, and it is forecast to rain off and on through Tuesday.

There's a chance of thunderstorms and flooding today.

Saturday looks like the best beach day, but the National Weather Service still says there's a 1 in 5 chance that you'll get wet. And the high temperature is only expected to reach 72.

Sunday looks wetter.

Then the rain will stay around Monday and Tuesday, complicating plans to move the new Providence River bridge up the Bay from Quonset.

--- Peter Phipps, projo.com

Posted by Peter Phipps at 6:57 AM | Comment