Arrest of Mayor Philip A Giordano on Child Sex Charges:
We are not covering this story in the Hillside Historian
any longer, but these links are excellent for constant updates:
www.wtnh.com - Channel 8 TV
in New Haven
www.Rep-Am.com - Local Waterbury Paper
Police identify 2 victims in a spree of shootings
Saturday, August 26, 2000
© 2000 Republican-American
By Kimberley Thomsen
WATERBURY Detectives on Friday identified two victims of three
unrelated shootings one fatal that occurred within two hours of
each other Thursday night in different city neighborhoods.
Alonta Gaymon, 29, of 131 East Farm St., died after she was shot in the
head about 7:45 p.m. in front of 261 Grove St., police said.
James Tonkin, 43, whose last known address is 222 Bradley Ave., was
shot in the neck about 30 minutes later in an unrelated shooting behind
St. Francis Xavier School in the South End, police said. He was upgraded
to serious condition Friday at St. Mary's Hospital, where he is a patient
in the hospital's Critical Care Unit, a nursing supervisor said.
Detectives concentrated their efforts on those two investigations
considered most serious of the three shootings and did not have
details at hand Friday on the third shooting, police said.
Police learned of the third shooting about 9:15 p.m. Thursday when a
man who was shot in his lower body walked into Waterbury Hospital, police
have said. The man was sitting in his car, which was parked at Colonial
Avenue and Lester Drive near the Watertown line, when that shooting
occurred.
"Thursday night was extraordinary in that you had a murder called
in at about 8 p.m., and at 8:25 p.m. we learned of another serious
shooting. Shortly after that, there was a robbery on Boyden Street, and
then at about 9:15 p.m., a man walks into Waterbury Hospital to be treated
for a gunshot wound," said Lt. Neil O'Leary, who heads the detective
bureau.
"You had four major instances happen in an hour," he said.
All available detectives 24 in all were summoned to work
Thursday night and remained on the job throughout the night and all day
Friday, O'Leary said.
"Every detective who's not on vacation is here and will be working
well into the night," he said.
O'Leary would not comment on the status of the Gaymon and Tonkins
investigations, and everything else including the 9:15 p.m. shooting
and the robbery, which occurred just before that at 9:10 p.m. in front of
852 Boyden St. is on hold until those cases are solved, O'Leary said.
Gaymon, who had recently moved to Waterbury from Bridgeport, is the
fifth homicide victim in the city this year, police said.
The last homicide in the city occurred April 9, when a woman allegedly
stabbed her estranged boyfriend in the chest when he drove to Waterbury
with a friend to collect his belongings from her apartment on Violet
Street.
Prior to that homicide, there were three others, the first of which
occurred Jan. 28 at 80 Willow St.
Wallace Wiggins, 25, of Waterbury, was riddled with bullets in a
relative's third-floor apartment. Police arrested Paris Palmer, 30, the
next day after a hostage standoff across the city on Wolcott Street.
Palmer on Thursday was declared competent to stand trial for murder in
Wiggins' shooting death.
Twelve hours later, police found themselves investigating an unrelated
homicide that occurred on Wall Street: an Ansonia man had been shot
between the eyes in an apparent dispute over an incident that had occurred
the night before. The alleged shooter and two friends tried to escape, but
detectives traced them to Florida and arrested them about two weeks later.
Their cases are pending in Waterbury Superior Court.
And on Feb. 16, an Albanian man still angry that his wife had an affair
with his brother-in-law, allegedly ambushed and shot his brother-in-law,
Subi Redzepi, 48, on East Main Street. Pulump "Paul" Alka, 44,
was arrested at the scene by police.
and police arrested Alka minutes later. He is charged with murder, and
his case is also pending in Waterbury Superior Court.
Hillside district, police fight oldest problem
Tuesday,August 22, 2000
By Darlene McCormick
© 2000 Republican-American
WATERBURY Thursday and Friday nights are supposed to be prime time
for street walkers in the Hillside Historic District.
That's when customers known as "johns" come calling after
work, flush with a week's worth of pay.
But on this Thursday evening things look slow around Grove Street, a
hard-scrabble strip of asphalt and concrete. Women wearing strappy tank
tops and short shorts walk the street, but don't appear to be looking for
action.
Just a few blocks away, children and parents crowd around an ice-cream
truck and people take pride in their vintage homes. The smell of freshly
cut grass rises from expanses of long, tapering lawns that seem impossibly
green in the evening sun.
Residents around the Hillside Historic District say things have been a
little quieter recently since the latest prostitute sting by Waterbury
police in July.
But after 20 years or so of fighting the prostitute problem, no one
expects it to go away soon.
"They're like cockroaches, you know," said Tom Ferrare, a
four-year resident of the neighborhood and member of the executive board
of the Hillside Historic District Neighborhood Association.
Ferrare doesn't cut the hookers any slack.
He gets in their face. He tells them to leave: "Some get a little
crazy and start swearing at you."
When he sees johns cruising around, he confronts them and takes down
their tag numbers. Two years ago, he saw a man in a company truck pick up
a prostitute, so Ferrare called the company to complain.
"We get pretty forceful," Ferrare said.
But for all his efforts, those of other residents and police, the
prostitutes keep coming back. Theories abound
as to why. Some residents believe it's because many of the grand old
homes have been converted into multi-family homes that breed crime. Others
think the problem stems from not being able to overcome a reputation as a
locale for prostitutes.
Earlier this month, Ferrare called police because a prostitute was
soliciting on First Avenue in front of his house.
"Even when you do the stings, you've got women coming in from out
of town," said Dave Walford, vice president of the neighborhood
association. "It does affect the quality of life of everybody in the
neighborhood."
Walford and Ferrare believe the way to stop prostitution is to have a
community officer 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Residents say the
prostitutes are concentrated around Grove and Hillside Avenue and Pine
Street.
Budget constraints within the police department make more manpower
unlikely, they said.
So that leaves the Band-Aid approach of occasional prostitute roundups
and reverse stings to catch johns. While it's not the perfect remedy,
Ferrare thinks prostitution has dropped significantly.
Still, many of those arrested in the recent sting are back on the
streets. Records available last week indicated nine of the 13 women
arrested for prostitution were out of jail on bail or because they had
already served time.
Waterbury State's Attorney John Connelly said he understands residents'
concerns and has pushed for cash bails to keep accused prostitutes behind
bars. Ultimately, a judge sets bail.
Of the 13 women arrested in the July sting, several had bail set at
$400 cash. But some ended up with $500 surety bonds, meaning they probably
paid $50 to get out of jail.
Waterbury Police Superintendent Edward Flaherty said stings grab
headlines, but prostitution arrests are ongoing.
"I think we have made a significant impact," he said, adding
police are seeing some of the prostitutes who usually walk the historic
district move to different parts of the city.
Street walkers are also less blatant, he said. They seem to have
stopped running up to cars.
But Flaherty is aware that prostitutes aren't out of business in the
historic neighborhood. Like others, he says there are no easy answers.
Reverse stings are helpful, but says they are time consuming and labor
intensive. Flaherty would like to increase the hours of community
officers, but wants to expand community policing to under-served areas
first.
Part of the problem is drugs. Flaherty said many of the prostitutes
turn tricks simply to finance drug habits.
One answer may be seek out new grants, such as the federal Weed and
Seed grant. It could fund additional officers and offer expertise on how
to keep crime out of neighborhoods.
In the meantime, people like Ferrare say they won't give up. He says he
will continue to work with landlords and police to rid his neighborhood of
crime.
And he says he's got a message for hookers and johns alike:
"Stay out of Hillside. It's not just for prostitutes
anymore."
Police say home items on eBay are stolen
Saturday,March 11, 2000
© 2000 Republican-American
By Robyn Adams
WATERBURY Residents in the Overlook, Willow/Plaza and Hillside
neighborhoods who are missing stained glass windows or fancy door knobs
might want to search the Internet.
On Thursday, Waterbury police executed a search and seizure warrant at
the home of Lenny Bono of 35 Chestnut Ave.
Police allege Bono was buying the stolen items and selling them on
eBay.com, an Internet auction site.
"Some items were recovered from his home, and some items had been
sold on eBay," Lt. Neil O'Leary said Friday.
Bono, who was not home when police arrived Thursday, was arrested later
in the day and charged with one count of conspiracy at burglary in the
second degree and one charge of larceny in the fourth degree.
"We were having a rash of burglaries in the Willow Street and
Columbia Boulevard area," O'Leary said during a telephone interview
Friday. "Someone was taking stained glass windows and antique door
knobs, and from the information we received, Bono was buying the
items."
Bono has a prior arrest record, O'Leary said. Additional information on
his arrest record was not available.
Superintendent Edward Flaherty said Bono was using the Internet to sell
the windows and antique household hardware.
"We obtained a second search and seizure warrant on information
that was developed in the case that he was using the Internet to sell the
items," Flaherty said. "So we are planning to seize his computer
as well."
EBay.com is an on-line service in which buyers and sellers are brought
together in an auction format. The service permits sellers to list items
for sale and buyers to bid on items of interest. All users may browse
through listed items such as antiques, door knobs, coins, stamps and toys.
The site lists the item for sale, the asking price, and, in most cases,
a picture of the item that is available for auction.
Gunshots kill man inside city apartment
February 04, 2000
© 2000 Republican-American
By Kimberley Thomsen
WATERBURY A 25-year-old city resident was shot to death late Friday
night in a relative's third-floor apartment in the Hillside Historic
District, police said. He is the city's first homicide victim this year.
Police did not identify the victim pending notification of his family.
No arrests had been made early this morning, and few details about the
homicide were available.
The shooting occurred at 9:50 p.m. in a third-floor apartment at the
rear of The Carrollton apartment building at 80 Willow St., police said.
Police had not yet determined whether the victim lived in the apartment,
which sits just inside the southwest corner of the Hillside Historic
District, or was visiting his relative, police said.
The victim was shot several times and was dead when police got there,
police said.
Detectives interviewed witnesses early this morning, and police
broadcast a pick-up for a car and a suspect. Lt. Neil O'Leary was heading
the investigation and said about six detec-
tives had been called in to help throughout the night.
Police cruisers, with their lights flashing red and blue, lined the
sidewalk on Willow Street outside the apartment building, on the corner of
Willow and Pine streets. Another cruiser was parked in a driveway at the
back of the property, on Pine Street.
Patrol officers interviewed neighborhood residents and others who were
in the area about what they saw and heard prior to the homicide, trying to
glean clues as to what events lead to the shooting and who might have
fired the gun. Detectives arrived soon after to continue the
investigation.
The homicide is the first since late August, when Shawn Howard, 32,
became the last of the city's three homicide victims last year. Michelle
McMasters, 32, and Richard Rivera, 21, were also killed in unrelated
murders in March and May. McMasters' murder is still unsolved.
Police have also been investigating the death of a black woman whose
skeletal remains were discovered in early December in the South End. But
the medical examiner's office has been unable to rule on the cause or
manner of her death because of a lack of conclusive evidence in that case.
Lower Willow Street residents seek ways to reduce crime
November 16, 1999
© 1999 Republican-American
By Kimberley Thomsen
WATERBURY One Willow Street resident wasn't making small talk
Monday night when he told a group discussing crime in the neighborhood
that his garden didn't produce this summer.
And it wasn't because of the drought, said Tom Kotch, of 263 Willow St.
"They stole the vegetables right out of my garden," Kotch
said. "I was going to harvest my plants, and they were gone .... I
was quite surprised, very disappointed and bitter."
Petty thievery was just one of the issues Kotch and about a dozen other
residents raised and put on a laundry-list of crimes and other problems
that have been occurring in the lower Willow Street neighborhood, which is
bounded by West Main, Sperry, Johnson, Willow and Prospect streets and
Hillside Avenue. Drugs and prostitution headed the list as the area's
biggest problems, followed by burglaries, shootings, muggings, abandoned
buildings, squatters, pan-handlers and domestic violence.
Bea Lurie, president of Crime Reduction Strategies, a consulting
company based in Brooklyn, N.Y., led the group in discussing how to help
residents assess their quality-of-life concerns. She will be meeting with
many residents individually to help flesh out the problems and brainstorm
for possible solutions.
"The first thing I'll do is go into a neighborhood like this and
do a crime-reduction analysis," said Lurie, who has driven through
the neighborhood at different times of the day and seen some of the
problem areas. She encouraged residents to share their perspectives and
concerns Monday night so that she can gain a comprehensive grasp of the
problems in the area and some of the reasons they are occurring.
"This shouldn't be about me talking; this is about you
talking," she said at the start of the meeting.
Lurie, who has also worked with the Walnut-Orange-Walsh Neighborhood
Revitalization Zone, will also help residents living in the Willow Street
area develop and implement comprehensive crime-reduction strategies.
Carol Nardi, a resident at 261 Grove St. for eight years, complained of
a parade of drug dealers and prostitutes who stay in the building.
"There's drugs coming in and out of the building 24 hours a
day," she said. "I call the police; they do nothing on it. The
landlord doesn't care."
Lt. James Egan, who heads the Police Department's Vice &
Intelligence Division, said Monday night after the meeting that he
disagreed with Nardi's assessment. Police frequently conduct drug raids in
the area, including one on Friday night when police seized about $2,000 in
crack cocaine and arrested three people, Egan said.
"The vice squad spends a good amount of time on the prostitution
and drug problems in the Grove-Hillside area," Egan said. "The
Waterbury Police Department is investigating other avenues to combat drugs
and prostitution in that area of town and the entire city of
Waterbury."
Shooting riles neighborhood leaders
Man hospitalized after being shot in Willow Street burglary try
Monday, May 10, 1999
By Kimberley Thomsen
© 1999 Republican-American
WATERBURY A city man who was shot in the leg Saturday night during
a street robbery was listed in good condition Sunday at Waterbury
Hospital.
Police are investigating the shooting and robbery that occurred about
midnight.
According to police: Rodney Fry, 22, and his cousin were sitting and
talking in a car parked outside the Overlook Barber & Beauty Salon,
427 Willow St. While the two men were talking, three men approached the
car. One of the three had a gun and demanded that Fry and his cousin hand
over their wallets. The man shot Fry in the leg when Fry tried to get out
of the car.
Police and residents speculated Sunday that the shooting, which
occurred within feet of the Fire Department's Engine 6 firehouse, is one
of the first if not the first since city and police officials
opened the First Precinct on Willow Street at Hillside Avenue in early
April 1997.
"To the best of my knowledge, this may well be the first shooting
in that area since the precinct opened," Lt. Neil O'Leary said.
David Walford, vice president of the Hillside Historic District
Neighborhood Association, agreed that the shooting was the first in the
neighborhood since the precinct opened.
But Rafael Herrera, president of the Willow-Plaza-St. Margaret
Neighborhood Revitalization Zone, said that he remembers someone was shot
last fall across the street from St. Margaret's Church, 289 Willow St.
Police records were unavailable Sunday night to confirm Herrera's
recollection.
Herrera said he isn't surprised to learn of the shooting because he and
other neighborhood residents have heard shots being fired along Woodlawn
Terrace and Ridgewood Street, where Herrera said some gang members live.
Sgt. Jay Clary, who heads the Gangs Task Force, was not available for
comment Sunday night.
"The neighborhood isn't much different today than it was five
years ago, and shooting continues," Herrera said. "I've
complained, and the police know about these things because they've been
there."
In January 1997, a drive-by shooting in the same area, outside Family
Grocery on Willow Street, spurred city officials to open the precinct. A
28-year-old woman and a 14-year-old boy, who had no connections with the
gunmen, were wounded.
While the precinct has helped the neighborhood groups and residents
open the lines of communication with the police, it hasn't done much to
curb crime, Walford and Herrera said.
Superintendent Ed Flaherty on Sunday said he had no comment.
All that the precinct has done is push the drug dealers off the street
corners and down the street, Walford and Herrera said.
"They can see (drug deals) from their window. What the drug
dealers did is they just moved half a block down," Herrera said.
While officers are stationed in each precinct, they are unable to
respond to calls. The officers act mainly as liaisons between the public
and the police department.
"We're trying to do our best to deal with it and to get a
concerned police presence in our neighborhood," Walford said.
Saturday's shooting comes as business owners in the Willow corridor are
set to meet with Mayor Philip A. Giordano this morning to discuss several
ways to improve the neighborhood.
"This area is a focus area, and unfortunately this shooting is
going to bring more of a focus on it, a negative focus," Rep. Joan V.
Hartley, D-73rd District, said Sunday night. Hartley was also expected at
today's meeting, but due a death in her family, she will be unable to
attend.
Hartley, who pushed for the city to open the precinct after the January
1997 double shooting, said she was dismayed to learn another had occurred.
She said the area has a zero-tolerance policy designed to prevent
loitering.
"I want to know, if we are at zero tolerance, what's being done to
ensure it is fully enforced," she said. "We've got to go back
and reassess what's going on in the police precincts. We've got to ensure
the police precinct is a viable operation, that it is a working police
unit."
Smith House part of UConn's plan
School pays $170,000 for Waterbury home
Saturday, February 13, 1999
By Randal Edgar
© 1999 Republican-American
WATERBURY The decades-long wait for four-year programs isn't over,
but one lengthy wait is.
After several years of foreclosures and haggling over the price, the
University of Connecticut has purchased a 71-year-old, three-story home
adjacent to its Waterbury campus.
Located at 47 Buckingham Street, the so-called "Smith House"
will be renovated and used for office space, said Francis Brennan, who
became interim director of the campus last month. UConn paid $170,000 for
the 5,000 square-foot, 20-room home located on just under three-quarters
of an acre, Brennan said.
Though the purchase was planned as part of the $1 billion UConn 2000
plan to rebuild the school's campuses, Brennan said the timing may stem
from recent publicity about declining enrollment and indecision by the
state Board of Governors for Higher Education on plans to offer four-year
programs to the campus by linking it with campuses in Torrington and West
Hartford.
"I think it's a direct result of the last two months,"
Brennan said. "If it wasn't for the heavy emphasis on the condition
of the campus, we wouldn't be standing here today."
UConn Vice Chancellor Fred Maryanski, who oversees the school's
regional campuses, called the purchase a step in the right direction.
"We're happy to have obtained the property at a fair price. This
is another step on behalf of the campus," he said.
With $150,000 to spend on renovations, Brennan said work on the grounds
will begin as soon as weather permits. The home has porcelain floors on
the ground level and a "map room" in which an entire wall shows
the layout of southern Connecticut and Long Island. The interior mostly
needs cosmetic repairs. The home, last renovated in 1990, was used for
office and apartment space in recent years.
When the work is finished, offices now located in the historic Benedict
Miller House on Hillside Avenue relocate to the Smith House, allowing a
planned $500,000 renovation of the Benedict Miller to begin, Brennan said.
"I'd like to have it for occupancy by September, but the end of
the year is probably more realistic," he said.
City police nab 16 on prostitution charges
06/26/98
By Kimberley Thomsen
© 1998 Republican-American
#QUE#30891#EQUE#
WATERBURY Police arrested 15 women and a man on prostitution
charges Wednesday in an attempt to rid the Hillside Historic District of
such solicitation.
Vice squad detectives and officers with the Tactical Narcotics Team
stepped up efforts Wednesday night in that neighborhood, which police have
targeted since Superintendent Edward Flaherty attended a May 7 community
meeting of the Hillside Historic District Neighborhood Association.
Residents said prostitution is devaluing their neighborhood and affecting
their quality of life.
Flaherty said that although the department has concentrated on
Hillside, police have not neglected other areas of the city where
prostitution is prevalent.
"Its not just Hillside," Flaherty said. "Obviously,
the thrust is there right now, but were going to get them wherever they
are."
Mayor Philip A. Giordano praised the department for its efforts.
"Im well aware that the residents of the neighborhood are
concerned about the safety of their families and their living
conditions," Giordano said Thursday.
"They have pride in their neighborhoods, and they have a right to
demand that criminals are kept out. The city is committed to wiping out
these crimes and we will continue these sting operations as long as we
have to," Giordano said.
Community service officers and patrol officers have continued to target
potential customers by running unannounced motor-vehicle safety checks in
the Willow Street and Hillside Avenue area of the city. They hope the
increased enforcement and large fines will keep prospective customers
away.
The vice squad, which has run several prostitution stings in the last
year in response to resident complaints, also targeted prospective
customers May 22, when they ran a two-part prostitution sting along Grove
Street and took the prostitutes off the streets before baiting the
"johns" with undercover women officers.
In the Wednesday night sting, vice-squad detectives and TNT officers
targeted only prostitutes when they hit Grove and Cherry streets about 5
p.m.
Police arrested the following women and charged each with a count of
prostitution: Cynthia Taylor, 18, of 294 Mill St.; Helen Haxton, 28, of
240 Orange St.; Jennifer Puente, 39, of 80 Linden St., 1st floor; April
Hovey, 37, of 48 Waterville St., 1st floor; Courtney White, 22, of 42 Pine
St.; Mary Moore, 34, of 1615 E. Main St., 2nd floor; Stephane Tardy, 25,
of 42 Pine St.; Alexia Vasquez, 29, of 168 E. Main St., Apt. 1A; Diane
Snyder, 27, of 416 Mill St.; Doris Martell, 27, of 14 Colley St.; Yadiera
Vasquez, 39, of 330 E. Main St.; Vanessa Stafford, 23, of 18 Dikeman St.;
Elena Ruiz, 25, of 95 Hillside Ave.; Karen Kreidel, 27, of 4 Glenridge
St., Apt. A; and Patricia Rivera, 29, of 335 Bishop St., 1st floor. Police
said Synder and Martell are twins.
Police said they also arrested Jeffrey Duckett, 38, of 14 Dikeman St.,
and charged him with promoting prostitution. Everyone was held on a $475
cash bond until they were arraigned Thursday morning in Waterbury Superior
Court.
City arrests 16 for prostitution
Police target Hillside neighborhood
06/26/98
By Kimberley Thomsen
© 1998 Republican-American
#QUE#30891#EQUE#
WATERBURY Police arrested 15 women and a man on prostitution
charges Wednesday in an attempt to rid the Hillside Historic District of
such solicitation.
Vice squad detectives and officers with the Tactical Narcotics Team
stepped up efforts Wednesday night in that neighborhood, which police have
targeted since Superintendent Edward Flaherty attended a May 7 community
meeting of the Hillside Historic District Neighborhood Association.
Residents said prostitution is devaluing their neighborhood and affecting
their quality of life.
Flaherty said that although the department has concentrated on
Hillside, police have not neglected other areas of the city where
prostitution is prevalent.
"Its not just Hillside," Flaherty said. "Obviously,
the thrust is there right now, but were going to get them wherever they
are."
Mayor Philip A. Giordano praised the department for its efforts.
"Im well aware that the residents of the neighborhood are
concerned about the safety of their families and their living
conditions," he said.
"They have pride in their neighborhoods, and they have a right to
demand that criminals are kept out. The city is committed to wiping out
these crimes and we will continue these sting operations as long as we
have to," Giordano said.
Community service officers and patrol officers have continued to target
potential customers by running unannounced motor-vehicle safety checks in
the Willow Street and Hillside Avenue area of the city. They hope the
increased enforcement and fines will keep prospective customers away.
The vice squad, which has run several prostitution stings in the last
year in response to resident complaints, also targeted prospective
customers May 22, when they ran a two-part prostitution sting along Grove
Street and took the prostitutes off the streets before baiting the
"johns" with undercover women officers.
In the Wednesday night sting, vice-squad detectives and TNT officers
targeted only prostitutes when they hit Grove and Cherry streets about 5
p.m.
Police arrested the following women and charged each with a count of
prostitution: Cynthia Taylor, 18, of 294 Mill St.; Helen Haxton, 28, of
240 Orange St.; Jennifer Puente, 39, of 80 Linden St., 1st floor; April
Hovey, 37, of 48 Waterville St., 1st floor; Courtney White, 22, of 42 Pine
St.; Mary Moore, 34, of 1615 E. Main St., 2nd floor; Stephane Tardy, 25,
of 42 Pine St.; Alexia Vasquez, 29, of 168 E. Main St., Apt. 1A; Diane
Snyder, 27, of 416 Mill St.; Doris Martell, 27, of 14 Colley St.; Yadiera
Vasquez, 39, of 330 E. Main St.; Vanessa Stafford, 23, of 18 Dikeman St.;
Elena Ruiz, 25, of 95 Hillside Ave.; Karen Kreidel, 27, of 4 Glenridge
St., Apt. A; and Patricia Rivera, 29, of 335 Bishop St., 1st floor. Police
said Synder and Martell are twins.
Police said they also arrested Jeffrey Duckett, 38, of 14 Dikeman St.,
and charged him with promoting prostitution.
Everyone was held on a $475 cash bond until they were arraigned
Thursday morning in Waterbury Superior Court.
Power failures hit Waterbury at two sites
06/25/98
#QUE#30891#EQUE#
WATERBURY Residents in two city neighborhoods spent a substantial
part of Wednesday night in the dark.
An equipment failure of an underground cable knocked out electricity to
1,915 customers in the Willow and Grove street areas about 7:40 p.m.,
Northeast Utilities spokeswoman Susan Millerick said Wednesday night.
Utility crews managed to restore power to the area three hours later.
The repair workers then traveled to a power outage that struck the
Highland Avenue area at 9:05 p.m., Millerick said. The cause of that
blackout was not known shortly before 11 p.m., but the two power failures
were unrelated, she said.
As of late Wednesday night, 560 Northeast Utilities customers in the
Highland Avenue area remained without electricity.
Preacher reaches for folks who live in the night city'
CITY: Preachers help people of the night
Tuesday, September 29, 1998
WATERBURY
s Maner Tyson and another minister strolled down one of the city's
grimier neighborhoods late one recent Friday night, a woman yelled to
Tyson from half a block away.
"I know who you are," she called loudly.
She stood swaying on the sidewalk in front of a sloping porch on Grove
Street as she watched the men walk toward her from Willow Street.
When they got close, she threw her arms around Tyson, banging her bony
face against him with a roughness that made him flinch slightly her
nerves were cushioned in a cloud of drunkenness, the odor hanging from her
body.
As Mike Arsenault, a minister from New Life Christian Church, and Tyson
handed out fliers that spread Jesus's word on one side and offer free hot
dogs on the other, they encouraged the woman and about a dozen people
assembled on the porch to get free hot dogs down the street at Tyson's
Waterbury Baptist Ministry on West Main Street.
A puppy with dirt-laden fur tumbled at the men's feet.
Tyson started making his summertime weekly trek through downtown about
three years ago to "pray with the hookers and the johns" and
offer people food and fellowship.
"Some times I'll go to shake a hand and they'll put their crack
vial in the other hand to shake my hand," Tyson said.
He calls his Friday night tradition "Nick at Night," after
Nicodemus, a Jewish leader who came to Jesus during the night.
"God did not send (me) into the world to condemn the world, but in
order that the world might be saved through (me)," Jesus told
Nicodemus, according to the Bible's book of John.
Tyson got the idea for "Nick at Night" as he was driving home
three years ago from his ministry's first Christmas eve service.
He was singing carols in his car when he got to the corner of Johnson
and Willow streets. Through the windows of a store-front church, he saw
children putting on a Christmas pageant.
He looked across the street and saw a lone prostitute watching the
pageant.
The woman, in Tyson's mind, is part of Waterbury's "night
city."
"In Waterbury there are two cities. There's a day city and a night
city. Lots of churches are reaching the day city, but not the night
city," he said.
Tyson vowed to reach the night city by venturing into it.
After meeting up with the drunk woman on Grove Street, Tyson and
Arsenault continued with their mission, sometimes getting politely waved
away, sometimes sparking some interest in free hot dogs.
When Arsenault and Tyson got back that recent Friday night to Tyson's
store-front church building which once housed a gay disco about 20
people were in the front room.
Tyson's "night city" residents were sitting on old couches or
gathered around folding tables eating and talking.
The sermon room, in the innards of the ministry, had the feel of a
merry-go-round in a dungeon.
The balcony where gay men used to drink and watch the dance floor still
hangs from the ceiling by metal poles but is now painted pink and white
and overlooks folding chairs facing a pew and piano.
The room is windowless.
A pregnant girl that Tyson had met on the street that night was
leaving, and he took her aside to tell her about programs that could help
ease her into motherhood.
Some of the people attracted by the hot dogs and social atmosphere had
missing teeth and wild eyes.
They talked urgently, as if they needed to make a very important point
right away, but then rambled tensely to nowhere, mentioning people and
places that are familiar only to them.
Several people waited for a hint that Tyson was free, then walked up
and rapidly unpacked their problems.
A daughter got caught for shoplifting and, much to the mother's
chagrin, she had the Holy Bible with her at the time. A son refused to
finish his high school equivalency program and can't find a job.
"I'll talk to him, I'll talk to him," Tyson said soothingly.
Coale Parker Anderson covers courts.
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Crime in The Hood
