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October 18, 2006

Man with dysfunctional penile implant will take the money

PROVIDENCE -- Charles “Chick” Lennon, the retired handyman who sued over a penile implant that won’t remain in the down position, is going to receive a $400,000 judgment after all, according to a state Supreme Court order issued today.

Lennon, 68, of North Providence, is expected to get a total of $950,000, with interest included, because of the Dura-II penile implant that he says has been causing him pain and embarrassment for a decade.

“I’m just glad it’s over. It’s been a pain,” Lennon said of the legal battle with the implant manufacturer, Dacomed Corp., and its insurance company.

For a while, it had appeared Lennon was not going to get a dime despite a jury’s decision to award him $750,000.

Superior Court Judge Edward C. Clifton had lowered the jury award to $400,000. And after both sides appealed, the Supreme Court had given Lennon 20 days to accept the $400,000 or to have a new trial on damages. Lennon decided to take the money.

-- Journal staff writer Edward Fitzpatrick

Posted by Steve Peoples at 7:11 PM | Comment

Westerly store owner charged with bookmaking

WESTERLY -- The owner of a local variety store is facing multiple felony charges accusing him of running an "illegal gambling and narcotics distribution operation" out of his Canal Street establishment, according to an announcement today by the state police.

Manuel R. Fretard, 53, owner of Manny’s Variety, located at 10C Canal St., was one of two men arraigned this morning in District Court after being arrested yesterday following a state police investigation that spanned a month.

Fretard, of 120 High St., Westerly, is charged with promoting a lottery, maintaining a gambling nuisance, bookmaking, possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and possession of marijuana.

Police detectives noticed a man leaving the variety store yesterday afternoon carrying a bag wrapped in newspaper. The detectives followed the man, later identified as Dino Urso, 48, of 48 High St., Westerly, to his home and confronted him. Inside the bag, the police found various football betting cards and more than $1,000 in cash.

State police searched the variety store and discovered "a large assortment" football gambling cards, approximately an ounce of cocaine, a scale and more than $8,000 in cash.

Urso has been charged with bookmaking, promoting a lottery and possession of marijuana. He spent the night in jail and was released on $10,000 surety bail this morning. Fretard was released on $20,000 surety bail.

-- projo.com staff writer Steve Peoples

Posted by Steve Peoples at 6:59 PM | Comment

National Republicans back Chafee with new TV ad

PROVIDENCE -- National Republicans are attacking Democratic Senate candidate Sheldon Whitehouse in a new television ad that began airing today.

The 30-second ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee criticizes Whitehouse for favoring Social Security taxes and blames the Democrat for wanting to scale back tax cuts and repeal the estate tax.

Whitehouse, the state's former attorney general, faces incumbent Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee in next month's election.

The ad is significant because it's the first time national Republicans have stepped in to help Chafee in the general election. National Democrats and Whitehouse have run 10 ads since last month's primary. Chafee has only run three.

A Chafee spokesman confirmed today that the NRSC spent $126,000 on the new ad.

National Republicans played a significant role helping Chafee campaign in the final days of his Republican primary battle against Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey, but they have been largely silent during the general election.

Chafee confirmed today that they "have been helping," but besides confirming the new television ad, he wouldn't detail their involvement.

-- Staff and Associated Press reports

Posted by Steve Peoples at 5:39 PM | Comment

Update: Beacon exec indicted on conspiracy, fraud

A former top executive of the Beacon Mutual Insurance Co. has been indicted on state charges of conspiracy and insurance fraud.

David Clark, the former vice president for underwriting at Rhode Island’s dominant worker’s compensation insurer, has been charged this afternoon with two counts of conspiracy, one count of insurance fraud and two counts of computer crimes – accessing a computer for fraudulent purposes and deleting data.

Clark is the first Beacon employee to be indicted since state and federal authorities began investigating the nonprofit company, created by the General Assembly, for giving certain customers lower rates and paying preferred brokers higher commissions.

In a signal that this is just the first phase of the investigation, the indictment also mentions an anonymous un-indicted co-conspirator. A spokesman for Atty. Gen. Patrick C. Lynch declined to say if it was former Beacon chief executive Joseph A. Solomon.

"Our investigation with the Rhode Island State Police is far from over," Lynch said in a statement released this afternoon. "We have continued to meet with the appropriate federal law enforcement agencies and with other state agencies that share an interest in the practices of Beacon Mutual. We will go where the facts lead us."

Governor Carcieri, a longtime critic of former Beacon management, said, “Today’s indictment is an important step in cleaning up the mismanagement and the misdeeds that have plagued Beacon Mutual.”

Today’s indictment, by a statewide grand jury in Kent County, comes some six months after the grand jury began looking into Beacon amid widespread controversy over the company’s rates and allegations of preferential treatment for certain customers.

Clark is scheduled to be arraigned in Kent County Superior Court on Oct. 27.

-- Journal staff writer Mike Stanton

The controversy prompted Beacon’s board to hire an outside company, Giuliani Safety & Security, to conduct a two-month review overseen by former Gov. Lincoln C. Almond.

That review, released in April, found that Beacon had given preferential rates to some companies and maintained ``inappropriate relationships’’ with certain insurance agents.

The Giuliani investigators found that Beacon had maintained a ``VIP list’’ of about a dozen companies. According to the report, Solomon denied the existence of the list, but Clark told investigators that Solomon had instructed him to delete it from his computer.

The Giuliani team also reported that Beacon executives did not provide them with the ``unfettered access’’ that had been promised, refusing access to the computer hard drives of Solomon and Clark. Their refusal, the report concluded, was ``a red flag that the hard drives may contain evidence of possible wrongdoing.’’

In the ensuing shakeup of Beacon, Solomon and Clark were fired, and Beacon’s new management pledged to address the problems that had been discovered.

The Giuliani report also found that some insurance agents were paid excessive commissions, that there was insufficient documentation to justify the commissions and that the commissions were reviewed only by Clark, who would then obtain Solomon’s approval.

-- Journal staff writer Mike Stanton

Posted by Steve Peoples at 5:34 PM | Comment

Brown issues long-awaited report on its ties to slavery

PROVIDENCE -- A committee examining Brown University's centuries-old ties to the slave trade issued a report this afternoon recommending the creation of a memorial and an academic center focused on slavery and justice.

The Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice -- formed three years ago to look into its "grievous crimes" of the past -- also recommended that the university's relationship to the slave trade be introduced to freshmen as part of their orientation and calls for a commitment to recruit and retain minority students, especially those from Africa and the West Indies.

"We cannot change the past," according to the 106-page report, released on the university's Web site. "But an institution can hold itself accountable for the past, accepting its burdens and responsibilities along with its benefits and privileges."

In 2003, Brown President Ruth Simmons, the first black president of an Ivy League school and a descendant of slaves herself, appointed a 16-member committee of students, faculty and administrators to study the university's ties to the slave trade and recommend how the college should take responsibility.

As part of its research, the committee had discovered a document hanging in University Hall that names slaves whose labor helped build it. The school's first president, James Manning, owned a slave at one time.

Although the committee said Brown needs to help those disadvantaged by the legacy of the slave trade, it does not recommend creating scholarships specifically for African-American students.

The report strikes an academic tone, tracing the university's centuries-old link to slave traders and calling slavery a "crime against humanity" that left an ugly legacy of discrimination and a wide gulf between rich and poor.

"If this nation is ever to have a serious dialogue about slavery, Jim Crow, and the bitter legacies they have bequeathed to us, then universities must provide the leadership," the report says.

For details, see the recommendations section of the full 106-page report and learn more about the steering committee.

-- The Associated Press

Brown, the nation's seventh oldest university, was formally chartered in 1764 as the College of Rhode Island. Its founder, the Rev. James Manning, freed his only slave but accepted donations from slave owners and traders, including the Brown family of Providence.

Nicholas Brown, a wealthy merchant, was listed in the school's charter. His brother, John Brown, a slave trader, paid for half the cost of the college's first library.

While John Brown defended slavery until his death, another brother, Moses Brown, and Nicholas Brown's son, Nicholas Jr., became ardent abolitionists and worked to end slavery by pushing for a tougher prohibition against slave ships entering American ports. Nicholas Brown Jr. is the university's namesake.

"Our sense of what appropriate actions might be has been guided by our undertaking of what kind of institution Brown is and what it does best - which is to learn and to teach," said James Campbell, the committee chairman and an associate professor of American civilization and Africana studies.

Extra: Read more about Rhode Island’s slave trade history in a multimedia series, "Unrighteous Traffick," by projo.com and The Providence Journal.

-- The Associated Press

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 4:08 PM | Comment

ACI fires 3 who allegedly 'tarnished' reputation of all guards

Three correctional officers at the state prison, including a captain who allegedly forced an inmate to taste his own feces, have been fired by Director A.T. Wall after an internal administrative hearing found “numerous violations of departmental policy,” according to Adult Correctional Institutions spokeswoman Tracey Poole.

Multiple assault charges by the state police are pending against the three in District Court in Providence.

The dismissals from the ACI won't take effect until Saturday and are entirely separate from the criminal proceedings against the men, Poole said. The men have been on paid leave since Wall signed their letters of termination on Oct. 10.

The officers are: Capt. Gualter Botas, 38, of 186 School St., Pawtucket, a 17-year ACI veteran; Lt. Kenneth J. Viveiros, 54, of 211 Woonasquatucket Ave., North Providence, a 25-year ACI veteran; and Officer Ernest Spaziano, 38, of 50 Whipple Rd., Burrillville, a 15-year veteran.

Wall was surprised to learn during the internal investigation that it is not a crime in Rhode Island to force an inmate to “sample his own feces,” Poole said.

“But certainly, no one would question whether it’s a violation of departmental policy when we’re charged with the care and custody of inmates,” she said.

Wall said today that the “conduct of these three officers tarnished the reputation of 1,600 men and women who do their job with pride and professionalism every day,” Poole said.

The officers will have 10 days from Saturday to appeal their termination.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Steve Peoples at 3:34 PM | Comment

Carcieri, Fogarty debate this afternoon

Governor Carcieri will face his Democratic challenger Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty in a live radio debate this afternoon.

The candidates will meet at 4:45 p.m. on WPRO 630 AM. Radio host Dan Yorke will moderate.

With election day less than three weeks away, the incumbent Carcieri holds a slight lead over Fogarty, according to two independent polls released last week.

Posted by Steve Peoples at 2:39 PM | Comment

Photo/Chafee accuses Whitehouse of 'willful blindness'

Sen. Lincoln Chafee attacks his opponent Sheldon Whitehouse on the steps of U.S. District Court.
Journal Photo / Bill Murphy

PROVIDENCE -- In an unusual press conference on the sidewalk outside the federal courthouse this afternoon, Sen. Lincoln Chafee blasted his political opponent for not "doing his job" six years ago for not pursuing fraud charges against the head of Roger Williams Hospital.

Former president Robert Urciuoli was convicted last week in the same federal court for illegally paying former state Sen. John Celona to do the hospital's bidding at the General Assembly.

The Chafee campaign is facing a strong challenge from Democratic candidate Sheldon Whitehouse, who holds a slight lead according to several recent polls, in a race that has garnered national attention as Democrats seek to regain a Senate majority. The election is less than three weeks away. Whitehouse previously served as Rhode Island's attorney general and U.S. attorney.

"I accuse Mr. Whitehouse of willful blindness," Chafee said today, repeating a phrase he used earlier in the week during a Senate debate. "Mr. Whitehouse didn't do his job to fight corruption in Rhode Island."

Chafee said that Whitehouse, while serving as attorney general six years ago, ignored hospital employees' allegations of improper spending by Urciuoli. Whitehouse said in a debate Monday that the hospital didn't want to pursue criminal charges. Whitehouse also said that a report detailing expense account abuses by Urciuoli was protected by attorney-client privilege.

Chafee refutes Whitehouse's responses. At today's press conference, he even distributed copies of Rhode Island law that he says contradicts Whitehouse's claims about attorney-client privilege.

"Are you in trouble in this race?" one reporter asked Chafee, suggesting that today's press conference was a political stunt.

"It's a close race," Chafee said. "Very, very close."

Whitehouse issued a statement this afternoon characterizing today's press conference as a "desperate" move by someone who refuses "to talk about the real issues in this campaign."

“He’s engaging in these desperate attacks, right out of the George Bush-Karl Rove playbook, because he refuses to explain why his continued support of Republican leadership in Washington is good for Rhode Island families,” Whitehouse said.

-- projo.com staff writer Steve Peoples

Posted by Steve Peoples at 2:15 PM | Comment

Update: Residents back in nursing home after fire

JOHNSTON – An empty wheelchair and towels in a fourth-floor shower caught fire this afternoon at Cherry Hill Manor Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, forcing a brief evacuation of part of the building.

No one was injured, and firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, which was reported at 12:06 p.m., according to Deputy Fire Chief Arthur Moretti.

There’s no word yet on the cause of the fire.

A few bedridden residents were evacuated from the four-story brick building that houses 148 people, according to fire officials. Most of the 24 affected residents, however, were just moved to the opposite side of the fourth floor as crews extinguished the fire, Moretti said.

Those who had been evacuated were brought back into the building at 2 Cherry Hill Road shortly before 1 p.m.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Tatiana Pina and Journal staff photographer Andrew Dickerman

Posted by Kate Bramson at 12:32 PM | Comment

Update: Martha gets 'very excited' by R.I. pumpkin and gourd guys

Photo courtesy of Ron Wallace
Ron Wallace celebrates his victory after winning first place with his new world record 1,502-pound pumpkin in the Great Pumpkin Weigh-off sponsored by the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Growers Association.

Coventry's Ron Wallace and Scituate's Joe Jutras appeared on The Martha Stewart Show this morning with their record-breaking vegetables.

Martha couldn't contain her enthusiam. "Fantastic ... I love these things," she said.

A representative of Guinness World Records was on hand to give Wallace and Jutras certificates for their agricultural feats.

Jutras told Martha that his 126.5-inch gourd, displayed in a protective sleave, grew 5 to 6 inches a day.

That's nothing. Wallace said his 1,502-pound pumpkin, unveiled on TV with a drumroll, added about 35 pounds a day.

After the guys from Rhode Island left the set, singer Charo joined Martha to make Halloween-themed totem poles.

-- Peter Phipps

Posted by Jack Perry at 11:40 AM | Comment

Cranston man charged in fire at cousin's house

CRANSTON – The police have charged a local man with first-degree arson in relation to a house fire last night at 79 Woodland Ave., where a cousin of his lives.

David Paolo, 41, of 50 Tomahawk Trail in Cranston, was arrested at the scene of the fire after allegedly throwing what appears to be gasoline at the house, Cranston Police Major Ronald Blackmar said this morning. What exactly was thrown at the house remains to be identified through tests, Blackmar said.

No one was injured in the blaze, which was reported at 10:30 p.m. by the residents of the home, John and Kenneth Gaspar, Blackmar said.

The Gaspars are father and son, and Paolo is a cousin of one of the men, Blackmar said. Kenneth Gaspar is 79, and John Gaspar is 51.

The fire was contained to the exterior of the single-family home, Blackmar said.

Paolo is expected to be arraigned this morning in the Kent County Courthouse.

The incident remains under investigation.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Kate Bramson at 10:42 AM | Comment

Massachusetts savings banks merge

Bristol County Savings Bank, based in Taunton, Mass., and Randolph Savings Bank, based in Randolph, Mass., said this morning they have agreed to merge, creating the sixth largest mutual savings bank in the Bay State.

Both banks have branches and loan production offices in Rhode Island.

The deal needs the approval of state and federal regulators and the corporators of the two banks.

The merged bank will be called Bristol County and by run by Dennis Kelly, currently the president and CEO of Bristol County.

Posted by at 10:27 AM | Comment

Police release name of tow truck operator killed Monday

EAST GREENWICH – A 32-year-old Warwick man has been identified today by the state police as the tow truck operator who was struck and killed Monday afternoon by a lumber truck on Route 4 when he ran onto the road to pick up debris.

Daniell Steinberg, of 45 Cottage St., was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after the accident, Capt. James Swanberg said today.

Steinberg had been dispatched to Route 4 north, near exit 6 and Route 2, to help a motorist with a flat tire, according to the state police. An employee of Herb’s Towing Co. in Warwick, Steinberg was hit at 2:25 p.m. by a 36-ton lumber truck owned by Douglas Lumber Kitchens & Home Center in Smithfield.

Just as Steinberg ran into the roadway to pick up some debris at a bend in the road, the truck driver was heading north on Route 4, Swanberg said. Steinberg ran toward the median, and the truck driver apparently hesitated, Swanberg said, both men trying to avoid a collision and decide which direction to move in order to do so, Swanberg said.

“It seems like they both went the same way, and it was an unfortunate accident,” Swanberg said.

The police are examining the truck’s mechanism to determine if it was operating properly, which is typical after such an accident, Swanberg said. The accident remains under investigation.

No charges have been filed against the truck driver, Swanberg said.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Kate Bramson at 9:33 AM | Comment

Social Security checks to go up 3.3 percent

Social Security checks will go up 3.3 percent in January for 191,710 Rhode Islanders and 1.1 million people in Massachusetts, the government announced this morning.

The annual cost of living adjustment will translate into an average monthly increase of $33 for the typical retired worker, hiking the average monthly benefit from $1,011 currently to $1,044.

The 3.3 percent increase is smaller than the 4.1 percent rise in 2006 and is based on the inflation rate in the U.S.

In all, the cost of living adjustment set by the Social Security Administration will go to about 48 million who receive Social Security benefits and another 4 million who receive Supplemental Security Income payments.

Posted by at 8:41 AM | Comment

Update: South County Hospital fully operating after fire

South County Hospital is open and taking patients this morning after a fire around 5 p.m. yesterday closed the emergency room and forced the hospital to evacuate patients from that part of the hospital.

The emergency room opened back up last night at about 10 o’clock, according to Cynthia Wyman, vice president of planning and market development.

“Cleaning crews worked throughout the night and have cleaned any areas that needed it, and all areas [of the hospital] are operating at 100 percent,” Wyman said this morning.

Hospital officials still do not know the cause of the fire, which caused minimal damage, Wyman said. She's attending an early-morning meeting today where she hopes to get more information about the fire’s cause.

Fire officials yesterday said ongoing renovations at the hospital may have played some part in starting the fire.

Damage was limited to a few ceiling tiles in a storage area, Wyman said. There was no damage to any of the hospital’s patient-care areas, she said.

Although some potential hospital patients were diverted to Newport and Westerly hospitals last night and emergency-room patients already at South County Hospital were shuttled in wheelchairs to a cafeteria away from the smoke, the hospital never stopped operating last night, Wyman said.

“We admitted patients in the emergency department that had to be admitted,” she said. “So we were still accepting walk-in patients.”

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Kate Bramson at 8:40 AM | Comment

Jury set, trial for murder of fashion writer to begin today

BARNSTABLE, Mass. -- The high-profile trial of a man charged in the murder of fashion writer Christa Worthington was expected to get under way today, after the selection of three more jurors.

The state's highest court yesterday turned down a defense appeal to move the trial away from Cape Cod and to sequester the jury.

Seven women and six men have been picked so far the hear the case of Christopher McCowen, a trash collector charged in the January 2002 slaying of Worthington, a member of a prominent family who was found fatally stabbed in her Truro home.

Read the full Associated Press story.

Posted by Jack Perry at 8:01 AM | Comment

Accidents, rain make for long commute

A couple accidents and the rainy weather are tying up traffic more than usual this morning.

Cars along Route 95 south are moving at just 41 miles per hour, from exit 29 down to exit 27, according to Robert Miller, a Transportation Management Center operator for the state Department of Transportation.

Also, Route 195 West, which is packed every morning, is backed up even more from the Gano exit in downtown Providence back to the Massachusetts state line, Miller said.

Accidents shortly after 7 a.m. on both highways have contributed to the delays, Miller said.

Before heading onto the roads this morning, check out the DOT’s traffic cameras online.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 7:52 AM | Comment

Showers, fog to give way to partly sunny skies, 71 degrees

PROVIDENCE -- The rain should clear out today with the sky turning partly sunny with a high near 71 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Patchy fog and a chance of showers will continue until noon.

Partly cloudy skies will clear tonight and the temperature will drop to about 51 degrees.

For more weather and updates, see projo.com/weather.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:00 AM | Comment