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attic mattress tent sale!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 Local stories
Yesterday’s
question
Your opinion
Weather
Today’s question
Should teens
compete in
life-threatening
extreme sports?
Has the end result in Iraq
been worth the price paid by
the U.S.? See story on
this page, then go to
telegram.com to vote.
Bright, sunny
WORCESTER
LEICESTER
Man gets 7-8 years in shooting,
Page B1
Police: Tow truck driver hit officer,
Page B1
OXFORD
WORCESTER
Barton Center buys Camp Joslin,
Page B1
Officials grapple with flood
prevention, Page B1
High 92, Low 70
Page A2
MONEY
A new approach
to rolling your own
Page B8
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
Earl
barrels
toward
the US
Obama:
‘Turn page’
from Iraq
to jobs
By Emery P. Dalesio
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. — A powerful
Hurricane Earl threatened to
sideswipe much of the East
Coast just ahead of Labor Day,
worrying countless vacationers
who planned to spend the traditional last week of summer at
the beach.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency warned people
along the Eastern Seaboard to
prepare for possible evacuations and islanders in the Turks
and Caicos hunkered down in
their homes Tuesday as the Category 4 hurricane steamed
across the Caribbean with
winds of 135 mph.
Earl was expected to remain
over the open ocean before turning north and running parallel
to the East Coast, bringing high
Turn to Hurricane/Page A8
0
350 mi
0
UNITED
STATES
8 a.m.
Fri.
350 km
Hurricane
Earl
Category 4
MOVEMENT
WNW 14 mph
8 a.m.
tomorrow
MAX WIND
135 mph
Atlantic
Ocean
BAHAMAS
8 a.m.
today
11 a.m.
yesterday
CUBA
President formally
ends combat role
By Ben Feller
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
T&G Staff Photos/RICK CINCLAIR
Second-grader Michael Valutkevich finds his locker yesterday and, below, second-grader Amy Canavan talks to new
classmates on the first day of school at Walter J. Paton School in Shrewsbury.
Time for lessons
Doors open
to new
season of
learning in
area schools
JAMAICA
SOURCE: NOAA; ESRI
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WEEPIN’
Shrewsbury,
WILLIE’S
Rt. 9 across
from (Spag’s) Building 19
www.weepinwillies.com
LAND O’LAKES
AMERICAN CHEESE
$
2.49 lb.
Everyday Low Price
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WED. THRU FRI.
By Elaine Thompson
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Likely with visions of summer still in their heads during a late summer heat
wave, thousands of
children throughout
Central Massachusetts returned to
class this week.
“We could not have
had a smoother opening,” Grafton School Superintendent Joseph F. Connors said yesterday. Grafton students in Grade 9 and kindergarten
through Grade 6 returned to school Monday. They were joined by students in prekindergarten and remaining grades yesterday.
Because of unprecedented millions of
dollars in federal funds, the state’s school
districts are in much better fiscal condition than in previous years. School
officials across the state are
working out how to best use
$250 million in federal Race
to the Top funding and $204
million from the federal
Education Jobs Fund.
“Right now for us, these
are the best of times,” said
Fitchburg School Superintendent Andre Ravenelle. “The
five years I’ve been here, when
school starts each year, we’re looking at
what are we going to do without. This
year, I’m looking at what resources will
we choose and how will they enhance or
WASHINGTON — Fiercely opposed to the
war from the start, President Barack Obama
formally ended the U.S. combat role in Iraq
after seven long years of bloodshed, declaring
firmly Tuesday night: “It is time to turn the
page.” Claiming no victory, he said the nation’s
most urgent priority now must be fixing its
own sickly economy.
From the Oval Office,
where George W. Bush
first announced the 5 ‘Nothing’s
invasion that would
changed!’: The word on
come to define his presiIraqi
streets, Page A3
dency,
Obama
addressed millions who 5 More dead: Six
were divided over the soldiers die in
war in his country and Afghanistan, Page A3
around the world. He
said the United States
“has paid a huge price” to give Iraqis the
chance to shape their future — a price that now
includes more than 4,400 dead, tens of thousands of troops wounded and hundreds of billions of dollars spent since March 2003.
In a telling sign of the domestic troubles
weighing on the United States and his own
presidency, Obama turned much of the emphasis in a major war address to the dire state of
U.S. joblessness.
In his remarks of slightly less than 20 minutes, only his second address from the Oval
Office, Obama looked directly into the TV camera, hands clasped in front of him on his desk,
family photos and the U.S. and presidential
flags behind him.
Turn to Doors open/Page A8
Turn to Combat ending/Page A6
Typing at the wheel
Ban doesn’t apply to data terminals in cruisers
By Kim Ring
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
When they got their first
look at a new law that will
ban texting while driving in
Massachusetts after Sept. 30,
some law enforcement personnel wondered if it meant
police would be restricted
from using mobile data terminals in their cruisers
while moving.
But most now agree that officers may continue to use the
computers because they are
permanently affixed inside
the vehicles and don’t meet
the definition outlined in the
law of a “handheld device.”
As the new law stands, police officers apparently will
be allowed to enter data into
computers mounted next to
them, even while the car is in
motion.
“I think it’s (under the law)
OK, from a police standpoint,
to use the MDTs,” Spencer
Police Chief David B. Darrin
said. “But I still have a policy
which basically says, ‘Driving is your No. 1 concern
when you are on patrol. Ev-
Going
on Now!
Turn to Cruisers/Page A6
ATTIC & MATTRESS TENT SALE!
25 -75 Off
%
%
Sgt. Michael
Befford of the
Spencer
Police
Department
is seen in a
cruiser with
one of the
data terminals.
$
1,000,000 of Inventory in the
Main Store, Attics & Tent!
T&G Staff/JIM COLLINS
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CROSSWORD .........C6
DEATHS ................B4
EDITORIALS...........A9
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MONEY ................B8
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STOCKS...............B9
TELEVISION..........C5
News e-mail: [email protected]
tips Phone: (508) 791-9245
Home
delivery Phone: (508) 791-4600
Weather
Yesterday’s
question
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Has the end result
in Iraq been worth
the price paid
by the U.S.?
Sunny and hot
Your opinion
Yes, we have
greater influence
in the region
14.7%
Today’s question
Are you taking any storm
precautions as Hurricane Earl
approaches? See story on this page,
then go to telgram.com to vote.
No, the instability
there will only get worse
85.3%
High 94, Low 67
Page A2
WorcesterU
.com
Local
stories
WORCESTER
City in compromise on
window signs, Page B1
WORCESTER
Brazilian singer enthralls
at DCU Center, Page B1
telegram.com
Our
144th
year
Inside, a special addition to GO!
for the region’s college students
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
Coast prepares for hurricane
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Barack Obama and Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas leave the Oval Office Wednesday.
‘Too much
blood has
been shed’
Mideast talks convene
By Robert Burns
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jay Farley installs covers to a homeowner’s oceanfront window Wednesday as Jason Wheeler, below, looks on while Hurricane Earl heads toward the
eastern coast of Atlantic Beach, N.C.
WASHINGTON — Struggling to break decades
of hostility, President Barack Obama hosted an
ambitious new round of Mideast peace talks
Wednesday and told Israeli and Palestinian leaders they faced a fleeting chance to settle deep
differences.
“This moment of opportunity may not soon
come again,” Obama said at the White House before being joined by Israeli Prime Minister BenjaTurn to Mideast /Page A10
Officials get ready for possible direct strike
0
0
By Lyle Moran
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — A hurricane watch
was issued for Cape Cod and the
islands and tropical storm
watches for other
stretches of the Massachusetts
coast
Wednesday, as state
officials prepare for
a direct hit from Hurricane Earl this
week.
telegram.com
The National Hurricane Center issued the hurricane watch for the area from
Woods Hole to Sagamore Beach,
including Nantucket and Mar-
Slideshow
online
5 Predictions: Forecasting hurricanes
has come a long way, Page A9
tha’s Vineyard. The tropical
storm watch covers the Atlantic
coast from Sandy Hook, N.J., to
Woods Hole, including Block
Island and Long Island Sound,
and from north of Sagamore
Beach to the mouth of the Merrimack River.
Massachusetts officials are
hoping that Hurricane Earl veers
away from the state’s coast, but
are preparing for much worse.
“Everyone is poised and ready
to pull the trigger if Earl turns
west, but our hope is that this
thing goes out to sea and we’re all
golfing this weekend,” said Peter
Judge, a spokesman for the state
Emergency Management Agency.
The state Emergency Operations
Center in Framingham will be
open around the clock beginning
Friday.
The category 3 storm is forecast
to pass about 100 miles southeast
of Nantucket on Friday, bringing
no more than heavy seas, high
winds and rain to the region.
The state is prepared for the
storm, Gov. Deval Patrick said,
Turn to Hurricane/Page A9
8 a.m.
Sat.
350 mi
350 km
UNITED
STATES
Hurricane
Earl
8 a.m.
tomorrow
Category 3
MOVEMENT
NW 17 mph
MAX WIND
125 mph
8 a.m.
today
BAHAMAS
CUBA
Atlantic
Ocean
11 a.m.
yesterday
SOURCE: NOAA; ESRI
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Illegal aliens
on the decline
By Hope Yen
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. has dropped for the first
time in two decades — decreasing by 8 percent
since 2007, a new study finds. The reasons range
from the sour economy to Mexican violence and
increased U.S. enforcement, which has made it
harder to sneak across the border.
Much of the decline comes from a sharp drop-off
in illegal immigrants from the Caribbean, Central
America and South America attempting to cross
Turn to Illegal/Page A9
Schools off to a sizzling start
Worcester’s new
charter opens
Lock in a low
price for 2 years.
By Jacqueline Reis
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER — School
opened yesterday for most
Worcester public school chil-
dren, and buses also rolled to
the city’s newest charter
school, the Spirit of Knowledge
Charter School, which opened
its doors for the first time.
The charter school marked
its entrance at 10 Irving St. with
green and brown balloons (the
colors symbolize the school’s
commitment to environmentalism and the Earth) and
posted makeshift signs to help
students, parents and visitors
navigate the labyrinthine
space it is renting at All Saints
Church. The school opened
with 156 students in Grades 7-9
and plans to expand to Grades
7-12 over several years.
Otuwe Anya, 14, of WorcesTurn to School/Page A12
See our ad for details.
T&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR
Going
on Now!
ATTIC & MATTRESS TENT SALE!
25 -75 Off
%
Principal Maureen Binienda
answers questions yesterday
from students
and teachers
from the lobby
of South High
Community
School on the
first day of
classes.
%
$
1,000,000 of Inventory in the
Main Store, Attics & Tent!
ANNIE’S MAILBOX.C8
BRIDGE................C9
CLASSIFIED..........C8
COMICS ...............C6
CROSSWORD........C6
DEATHS...............B4
EDITORIALS ........A11
HEALTH .............A6
HOROSCOPE .......C9
LOTTERIES .........A2
MONEY...............B6
MEDICAL MEMOS A6
STOCKS .............B7
TELEVISION ........C5
News e-mail: [email protected]
tips Phone: (508) 791-9245
Home
delivery Phone: (508) 791-4600
Yesterday’s
question
Weather
Your opinion
Friday, September 3, 2010
Today’s question
Are you taking
any storm
precautions
as Hurricane Earl
approaches?
Should some Bush-era tax
cuts be allowed to expire?
See story on this page, then
go to telegram.com to vote.
Rain and wind
High 80, Low 62
Page A2
LOCAL
MONEY
Burger King sold,
looking for
growth overseas
STURBRIDGE
Dog escapes death row,
Page B1
Our
144th
year
WORCESTER
Grand St. bar license revoked,
Page B1
Page B12
telegram.com
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas ...
Large waves crash Thursday around the
Oceanana Fishing Pier as Hurricane Earl
approaches Atlantic Beach, N.C.
Tax
hike
for rich
may fail
Plan daunted
by economy
By Stephen Ohlemacher
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
All eyes on Earl
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nantucket in storm’s path; officials fear turn to west
By Mark Pratt
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — The projected path of Hurricane
Earl shifted closer to the island of Nantucket on
Thursday as the storm weakened slightly but
still threatened the New England coast, where
officials were wary of a turn farther west.
“We’re preparing for the worst,” said Nantucket’s assistant town manager, Gregg Tivnan.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval L. Patrick declared
a state of emergency ahead of the storm’s arrival,
saying the declaration would allow officials to
respond quickly. He also urged people living in
low-lying areas prone to flooding to consider
leaving their homes by Friday afternoon.
“We’re asking everyone: Don’t panic,” Patrick
said. “We have prepared well, we are coordinated
well, and I’m confident that we’ve done everything that we can.”
The National Hurricane Center in Miami on
Thursday issued a hurricane warning for the
Massachusetts coast from Westport to Hull,
including Cape Cod and the Islands, with Nantucket expected to be the hardest hit.
A tropical storm warning was in effect from
New Haven, Conn., to Westport, including Block
Island, R.I. A tropical storm watch was in effect
from Hull, Mass., to Eastport, Maine.
Turn to Hurricane Earl/Page A9
Turn to Tax/Page A8
Closings, uncertainty
start holiday weekend
Steve Donahue, of Roy’s
Marina on
Southwest
cutoff in Worcester, prepares a boat
for delivery
and use this
weekend. The
customer will
try out the
craft on local
waters
because of
the impending
storm.
By Lisa Eckelbecker
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
T&G Staff/JIM COLLINS
The last blast of summer starts
today under a cloud.
Hurricane Earl is roaring
through the Atlantic Ocean and
toward New England just as the calendar is signaling it’s time to rest,
play, hit the road, fire up the barbecue and maybe take a moment to
WASHINGTON — Congress seems
increasingly reluctant to let taxes go up,
even on wealthier Americans.
Worried about the fragile economy
and their own upcoming elections, a
growing number of Democrats are joining the rock-solid Republican opposition
to President Barack Obama’s plans to let
some of the Bush administration’s tax
cuts expire.
Democratic leaders in Congress still
back Obama, but the willingness to raise
taxes is waning among the rank and file
as the stagnant economy threatens the
party’s majority in the House and Senate.
“In my view this is no time to do anything that could be jarring to a fragile
recovery,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly of
Virginia, a first-term Democrat.
The most sweeping tax cuts in a generation are due to expire in January, and
that’s setting up a showdown when lawmakers return from their summer vacations this month. By waiting to act on the
tax cuts until just before congressional
elections in November, Democratic leaders have raised the stakes, politically
and for taxpayers.
Potential tax hikes
appreciate the working man and
woman.
All of which means Labor Day
weekend 2010 might get off to a
dampened or delayed start.
“We would urge people to keep a
close watch on the weather forecast,” said Mary M. Maguire, Massachusetts spokeswoman for AAA
Turn to Holiday weekend/Page A9
2011 taxable income
Tax returns
Average
increase
Less than $10,000
$10,000-20,000
$20,000-30,000
$30,000-40,000
$40,000-50,000
$50,000-75,000
$75,000-100,000
$100,000-200,000
$200,000-$500,000
$500,000-1Million
$1 Million and over
28,681,000
24,383,000
18,523,000
15,679,000
13,001,000
23,972,000
15,245,000
16,885000
3,757,000
608,000
315,000
$70
$410
$756
$893
$923
$1,126
$1,837
$3,672
$7,187
$18,092
$101,587
Source: Joint Committee on Taxation
T&G Staff/STACEY ARSENAULT
Foley, Bove have vastly different qualifications
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ROTMANS
By Lee Hammel
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
CAMPAIGN
2010
WORCESTER COUNTY
SHERIFF
the state Senate, on the lam.
Scot J. Bove has been an official in the Worcester County
Jail and House of Correction for
27 years, rising through the
ranks to be an assistant deputy
superintendent. Even when
other supporters of the former
sheriff, who was defeated by the
current sheriff, left the jail with
their defeated boss, Mr. Bove
stayed and had his responsibilities doubled by the new sheriff.
He has specific plans to
increase programming while
decreasing the budget.
Yet, very little of this finds its
way into the conversation
around the race for the Democratic nomination for Worcester County Sheriff.
Instead, the candidates face a
shower of criticism over how
they got into the race to begin
with.
Mr. Bove, son of the late
Alphonse Bove, chief deputy
sheriff under former Sheriff
John M. Flynn, is criticized as
telegram.com/election
What’s a candidate to do?
Thomas J. Foley has been
head of the Massachusetts State
Police, running a department
six times the size of the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department. He also led one of the highest-profile organized crime
investigations in state history,
one that ended with mobsters
and a highly decorated ex-FBI
agent in prison, bodies of longago murder victims found in
hidden graves, and James
“Whitey” Bulger, a brother of
the former president of the of
Mr. Bove
Mr. Foley
the product of nepotism and favoritism.
And Mr. Foley is confronted
with the fact that he left the state
police with a disability pension
paying a tax-free $112,000 per
year and now wants to be paid as
sheriff as well.
Asked about thriving in a sys-
tem that many voters see as rotten, Mr. Bove, 44, said, “that was
the system that was in place. It
doesn’t work, and I’ve seen a lot
of good people get passed over
for promotions.”
He said he would improve the
system by changing the promotion tests — which did not exist
until Guy W. Glodis instituted it
after his election as sheriff six
years ago — from pass-fail to
weighted grades. But he also
would increase the importance
of interviews, evaluations by supervisors, and commendations.
Mr. Bove said he thinks the
disability pension of Mr. Foley,
Turn to Sheriff/Page A10
ANNIE’S MAILBOX..C8
BRIDGE .................C9
CLASSIFIED...........C8
COMICS ................C6
CROSSWORD .........C6
DEATHS................B6
EDITORIALS..........A11
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ENTERTAINMENT ..B8
HOROSCOPE .........C9
LOTTERIES ...........A2
MONEY ...............B12
NATION/WORLD ....A3
STOCKS ..............B13
TELEVISION ..........C5
News e-mail: [email protected]
tips Phone: (508) 791-9245
Home
delivery Phone: (508) 791-4600
Local stories
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Yes, the revenue
will help reduce
the deficit
No, the nation
38.1%
still needs them
Yesterday’s
question
Should some
Bush-era tax cuts be
allowed to expire?
61.9%
Your opinion
Weather
Today’s question
Were any of your weekend
travel or outdoor plans disrupted by Hurricane Earl? See
the stories on this page, then
go to telegram.com to vote.
Much better
REGION
MENDON
McGovern’s war chest at more
than $1 million, Page A3
Parents start fund to address
school budget shortfall, Page A3
CLINTON
WESTBORO
Economic development officer resigns Military camp in Afghanistan
after scrutiny, Page A3
named for local man, Page A5
High 78, Low 52
Page A2
NATION/WORLD
Major earthquake rattles
New Zealand
Page A12
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
UMass
to cut
70-80
jobs
Memorial to ax
28-bed unit
By Lisa Eckelbecker
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER — UMass
Memorial Health Care, the dominant health care system in Central Massachusetts, will cut
about 70 to 80 jobs over the coming weeks and shut down an
inpatient medical-surgical unit
with about 28 beds at the Memorial campus as part of an effort
to reduce costs, UMass Memorial officials said yesterday.
The system, which was running a $48 million surplus as of
July 31, is making the cuts and
taking other actions in an effort
to slash $80 million from the
budget for the fiscal year that
will start Oct. 1, according to
UMass Memorial President and
Chief Executive Officer John G.
O’Brien. Higher costs and lower
payments from some insurers
are driving the moves, he said.
“We’re having a halfway
decent year, but we, like probably every hospital in the country, are looking at environmental factors for the coming year,
and it is informing us that we
have to do business differently,”
Mr. O’Brien said.
UMass Memorial operates a
sprawling nonprofit system that
includes the HealthAlliance
hospitals in Leominster and
Fitchburg, hospitals in Clinton,
Marlboro and Palmer, a physicians’ practice and other busi-
Firefighters charged in 3 house fires
By Gerard F. Russell
and Kim Ring
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
PALMER — Saying they were “bored
because they were not getting any fires to
respond to,” five Brimfield and Holland
call firefighters were arraigned yesterday in connection with three fires that
were set in those towns this summer.
In police interviews with the men, they
readily admitted their involvement and
detailed a series of failed attempts to light
the fires in the early morning hours on
three Tuesdays, and talked of text messages to each other that detailed their
plans.
Patrick K. Elliott, 19, of Power Station
Road, Charlton, a Brimfield firefighter;
Brian S. Findlay, 18, of 85 Armitage Road,
Ashford, Conn., a Brimfield and Holland
firefighter; Jordan R. Frank, 18, of 19
Cross St., West Brookfield, a Brimfield
firefighter; Dylan J. Lajeunesse, 18, of 21
Union Road, Holland, a Holland firefighter; and Donald C. Moores, 20, of 3
Forest Drive, Brimfield, a Brimfield and
Holland firefighter, were released on $250
Fire marshal laments betrayal
Mr. Elliott
Mr. Moores
Mr. Frank
bail. Their cases were continued to Oct. 8
for a pretrial conference. Not-guilty pleas
were entered on their behalf by Judge
Michael Goggins in Palmer District
Court.
The five men each face a single felony
charge of burning a building, which if
convicted could put them in state prison
for up to 20 years. Assistant Hampden
District Attorney James M. Forsyth said
the men face additional charges and the
cases will go to a grand jury for indictment.
Mr. Findlay
Mr. Lajeunesse
The five young men, some of whom
come from families in the firefighting service, were arrested Thursday night by
Massachusetts State Police detectives in
the Fire & Explosion Investigation Section. The arrests were in connection with
fires set in abandoned homes June 15 at
153 Paige Hill Road in Brimfield, June 22
on 151 Washington Road in Brimfield and
July 13 at 6 Chandler Road in Holland.
In a press release yesterday, state Fire
Marshal Stephen D. Coan said, “A firefighter accused of deliberately setting
Vacations
disrupted
or cut short
By Bob Salsberg
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
said yesterday, indicating rain that
seemed to be ending at the time, “that’s
fine, and once it goes through, it’s gone.”
As the National Weather Service was
announcing Hurricane Earl was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane and
was expected to be down to tropical
storm strength as it passed Nantucket
sometime Friday night, the Spencer
Fair kicked off its annual long weekend
of agricultural displays, rides, games
CHATHAM — A weakened Tropical Storm Earl dumped wind-driven
rain on Cape Cod’s gray-shingled cottages and fishing villages Friday
night, disrupting vacations on the
unofficial final weekend of the short
New England summer.
The storm swirled up the Eastern
Seaboard after sideswiping North
Carolina’s Outer Banks, where it
caused flooding, but no injuries and
little damage. The storm passed wide
of New York City, Long Island and the
rest of the mid-Atlantic region, but
brought rain and high winds as it
passed just off Cape Cod, Nantucket
Island and Martha’s Vineyard late
Friday night.
Vacationers pulled their boats from
the water and canceled Labor Day
weekend reservations on Nantucket,
the well-to-do resort island and oldtime whaling port. Shopkeepers
boarded up their windows. Swimmers in New England were warned to
stay out of the water — or off the beach
altogether — because of the danger of
getting swept away by high waves.
Airlines canceled dozens of flights
into New England, and Amtrak suspended train service between New
York and Boston.
No large-scale evacuations were
ordered for Cape Cod, where fishermen and other hardy year-round residents have been dealing with gusty
nor’easters for generations.
“We kind of roll with the punches
out here. It’s not a huge deal for us,”
Turn to Spewncer Fair/Page A7
Turn to Earl/Page A7
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fires betrays the public’s trust and destroys the credibility of the fire service.”
He also said, “Firefighters as arsonists
is not as uncommon as it should be.”
Moments before yesterday’s noontime
Earl storms out to sea in a huff
Turn to UMass Memorial/Page A7
3 Piece Bedrooms
T&G File Photo/DAN GOULD
Firefighters hose down hot spots after the
July 13 fire at 6 Chandler Road in Holland.
Hope Belford, 3, of Spencer, runs with her umbrella yesterday as she and her family brave the rain at the start of the Spencer Fair.
Storm no big deal at Spencer Fair
By George Barnes
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
SPENCER — Looking a bit like
Katrina or Camille earlier in the week,
Hurricane Earl was expected to be a
mellow dude by the time he made his
way past the Massachusetts coast last
night.
In Central Massachusetts, the uncertainty of the story was worse than the
reality.
“We were concerned. I think everyone
was, because you don’t know,” said E.
Allan Walker, president of the Spencer
Fair.
Mr. Walker said that when he went
home with his wife from setting up the
fair earlier in the week, he turned on the
Weather Channel. When he saw there
was the possibility of a hurricane, he
couldn’t believe it. The weather has
been so good this summer, it seemed like
bad luck that it would rain during the
fair.
“But if this is all we’re going to get,” he
Weather
Your opinion
September 5, 2010
Yesterday’s
question
SmoAre V
E
than
$co4up4ons.i6nsi5
de
Sunshine on
our minds
High 70, Low 53
Page A2
Today’s
question
Who’s Earl?
40%
No, it was a minor
inconvenience.
Were any of your
weekend travel or
outdoor plans disrupted by Hurricane Yes, reservations were
Earl?
canceled or changed.
56.4%
Is the jobs market on the
rebound in Massachusetts?
See story below and go to
telegram.com to vote.
3.6%
ONLINE
TODAY
Local stories
telegram.com
ASHBURNHAM
Man’s 90th birthday creates Web furor, Page B1
Our
144th
year
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WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
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Fun at the fairs
Jobs
Woodstock and Spencer fairs
are popular draws this weekend.
See video of the Woodstock Fair
on Telegram.com
Dems
brace for
midterm
elections
Light in
the tunnel
Massachusetts campaign 2010
Politics Blog
Shaun Sutner
telegram.com/electionnet
Party hopes to save
seats ‘one by one’
SLIDE
SHOWS
By Jeff Zeleny
And Carl Hulse
SPORTS
THE NEW YORK TIMES
College football gallery
Slideshow of photos from yesterday’s Holy Cross-Howard,
Worcester State-Anna Maria,
Becker-Utica and UMass-William & Mary football games.
Treasure
trove
Historical
Green family
heirlooms to
be auctioned
at DCU Center. See
slideshow.
T&G Staff/CHRISTINE PETERSON
Conservation Services Group of Westboro, an energy services company, has hired 163 people this year for its various
locations. Looking at project plans are Peter Hubbe, left, and Will D’Arrigo, project managers; Caitriona Cooke, program
manager/new construction; and Gabriel Baldwin, home energy and green rating professional.
By Martin Luttrell
106
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
104
What’s in it for U
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WASHINGTON — As Democrats
brace for a November wave that threatens their control of the House, party
leaders are preparing a brutal triage of
their own members in hopes of saving
enough seats to keep a slim grip on the
majority.
In the next two weeks, Democratic
leaders will review new polls and other
data that show whether vulnerable
incumbents have a path to victory. If
not, the party is poised to redirect
money to concentrate on trying to protect up to two dozen lawmakers who
appear to be in the strongest position to
fend off their challengers.
“We are going to have to win these
races one by one,” said Rep. Chris Van
Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the
Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee, conceding that the party
would ultimately cut loose members
who had not gained ground.
With the midterm campaign entering its final two months, Democrats
acknowledged that several races could
quickly move out of their reach, including re-election bids by Reps. Betsy Markey of Colorado, Tom Perriello
On the rebound
WORCESTER — Last week’s stock market
Intuit Small Business
uptick and reports that manufacturing continEmployment Index turns
ues a slow, steady growth don’t offer much joy 102
up in Massachusetts
for Stan F. Choinski.
The laid-off teacher has been job hunting for 100
two years and spends much of his time going
to job fairs, answering help-wanted ads and 98
gathering discarded cans to redeem. Prospective employers have offered pay too low to 96
live on or tell him he is overqualified, he said.
“I’ve got a master’s degree and I collect 94
cans,” he said last week, while leaving the
downtown office of the Workforce Central 92
Career Center. “I answer ads for teachers.
Most of the time they don’t hire subs, but call 90
J F MA MJ J A S O N D J F M AM J J A S O N D J F MAM J J A S O N D J F MAM J J A
back the teachers they already let go. I have no
2007
2009
2008
2010
income.”
Mr. Choinski, who was recently turned
T&G Staff/STACEY ARSENAULT
down for jobs as a parking valet and tree planter on Burncoat Street, is one of more than
Jarrod Gomes,
312,000 unemployed in Massachusetts, a state
left, president of
that has held for two months at 9.0 percent
Certified Connecunemployment, up from 8.7 percent in July
tions Inc., Worces2009.
ter, shown with
While the state added 19,000 jobs in July,
company saleseconomic conditions indicate there could be a
man David Goodslowdown in job growth, and some economists
hue, said more
warn of a double-dip recession. The U.S. Labor
construction proDepartment said productivity fell in the
jects would allow
spring by the largest amount in nearly four
him to add emyears, while labor costs rose, indicating that
ployees. The comcompanies may have reached the limits of
pany supplies
their ability to squeeze more work out of their
telecommunicareduced work forces.
tions wire, cable
Even as the nation celebrates the Labor Day
and components.
weekend, the climate for American workers is
Turn to Jobs/Page A6
Turn to Midterm/Page A7
Muslims
fear 9-11
reprisals
Security heightened;
loyalty to US declared
By Rachel Zoll
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — American Muslims
are boosting security at mosques, seeking help from leaders of other faiths
and airing ads underscoring their loyalty to the United States — all ahead of a
9-11 anniversary they fear could bring
more trouble for their communities.
Their goal is not only to protect Muslims, but also to prevent them from
retaliating, if provoked. One Sept. 11
protest in New York against the proposed mosque near ground zero is
expected to feature Geert Wilders, the
aggressively anti-Islam Dutch lawmaker. The same day in Gainesville,
Fla., the Dove World Outreach Center
plans to burn copies of the Quran.
“We can expect crazy people out
there will do things, but we don’t want
to create a hysteria” among Muslims,
said Victor Begg of the Council of
Islamic Organizations of Michigan.
Turn to Muslims/Page A7
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Monday, September 6, 2010
Is the jobs market
on the rebound in
Massachusetts?
Sunny
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Weather
No, the stats
are too
small to
be meaningful
I’ll believe it
when I get a job
19.8%
Page A2
SHREWSBURY
High XX, Low XX
Boy escapes fall into well with minor injuries,
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Our
144th
year
Do you think the tea party
rallies will help or hurt
Republican candidates in
Massachusetts? Go to telegram.com to vote.
LOCAL
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holiday!
ONLINE
TODAY
Today’s
question
15%
65.2%
High 76, Low 59
Your opinion
Hopefully, and
it’s about time
CHARLTON
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Charter group says change is needed, Page B1
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
Big tea party activity likely
Local groups working hard on getting out the vote
By Priyanka Dayal
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
SPORTS
At a venerable 63, Bill
"Spaceman" Lee baffled
the Tornadoes.
Complete local and
national scores online
at telegram.com
With anti-incumbent sentiment running high, local tea
party groups are likely to play a
major role in mobilizing voters
to support conservative candidates this election season.
As they did in January, when
Scott P. Brown won a surprising victory over Martha Coakley for the open U.S. Senate seat
in Massachusetts, tea party
members are working to sway
voters to choose small-government-loving conservatives.
“I think they will be very
much active,” said David L.
Schaefer, professor of political
science at the College of the Ho-
more effective than
‘a It’stelevision
commercial.
It’s more effective than
‚
a robo-call.
DANIEL KLINGHARD
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL
SCIENCE, HOLY CROSS
ly Cross. The same concerns
that drove the election of Mr.
Brown are even more widespread now.
“In Massachusetts, as far as I
can tell, the tea party can be of
considerable assistance to a Republican candidate. Given the
uphill battle that any Republican in this state faces, a Republican candidate needs all the
support he can get.”
But as tea party organizers
have shown already this year,
they will not stick with a Republican who violates tea party
principles. The same tea party
members who helped elect Mr.
Brown to the U.S. Senate later
protested his vote for a bill that
will regulate the financial services industry.
“When he voted for bigger
government and more spending
and more regulation, the tea
party was there to criticize
him,” said Kenneth J. Mandile
Turn to Tea party/Page A4
T&G Photo/JIM COLLINS
Martin A. Lamb, right, who hopes to oust U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, is shown at a rally in May by tea party supporters of the Arizona
immigration law. Tea partiers were facing off with opponents of the
law, including Gordon Davis, left, of Worcester
SLIDESHOWS
LOCAL
FAIRS
Combat
ends but
US still
in battle
Policeman injured in ’91 is 60
Woodstock rocks!
In the pony pulling contest,
top prize was taken by Tom
Avery, left, and Parker Moon,
with their team of three pulling
ponies. See slideshow online.
Militants breach
security in Baghdad
By Barbara Surk
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
T&G Photo/RICK CINCLAIR
Peter Kneeland gets a kiss from his brother Timothy Kneeland, left, during his 60th birthday celebration on Sunday.
Spencer soars!
Jessica Furtado, 9, and Juliannah Kolfsky, ride the Flying
Bobs ride, above. Below, racing
pigs await competition. More
photos online at telegram.com.
Never forgotten
Drunk
driver hit
officer
By Scott J. Croteau
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
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WORCESTER — Media reports of
law enforcement officials being hit by
drivers — either drunk or driving
recklessly — still make the family of
Peter Kneeland cringe.
It was a drunken driver who left the
now retired Worcester police officer
with lifelong injuries.
At a celebration for Mr. Kneeland’s
60th birthday inside Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center
on Plantation Street yesterday, the
retired officer sat in his wheelchair
with his brand new Worcester police
baseball cap.
“When I see either on the news or a
news article about someone being hit
or when I am driving down the road
they have those signs, ‘Police officer
Obama to ask for more tax credits
75
3 Piece Bedrooms
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79
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Proposal meant to spur economic growth
WASHINGTON — Seeking ways to
spur economic growth ahead of the
November elections, President
Barack Obama will ask Congress to
increase and permanently extend
research and development tax credits for businesses, a White House offi-
cial said Sunday.
Obama will outline the $100 billion
proposal during a speech on the
economy Wednesday in Cleveland,
the official said. The announcement
is expected to be the first in a series of
new measures Obama will propose
By Julie Pace
497
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up to
Twin Headboards
starting at
ahead,’ I think of Peter,” said his sister Kathleen M. DelloStritto.
Paralyzed in his right arm area and
unable to speak, Mr. Kneeland kicked
his legs when one city officer’s radio
at the party began to crackle with
police activity.
It is a sound familiar to Mr. Kneeland, a sound he heard often during
his 14 years on the job.
While working a paid police detail
on Cambridge Street on Sept. 18, 1991,
Mr. Kneeland was struck by a hit-andrun driver, who was arrested several
days after the incident and was,
according to officials then, driving
drunk when he hit the officer.
Mr. Kneeland suffered serious head
and other injuries and was in critical
condition for more than 24 hours after
the accident.
The city covers the cost of his care.
He retired in 1998.
News of law enforcement officials
being struck by drivers became prevalent this year.
In July, a Holden-based trooper was
struck by an alleged drunken driver
as he directed traffic at the intersection of Monsignor O’Brien Highway
and Land Boulevard in Cambridge. A
BAGHDAD — Days after the U.S. officially
ended combat operations and touted Iraq’s ability to defend itself, American troops found themselves battling heavily armed militants assaulting an Iraqi military headquarters in the center
of Baghdad on Sunday. The fighting killed 12
people and wounded dozens.
It was the first exchange of fire involving U.S.
troops in Baghdad since the Aug. 31 deadline for
formally ending the combat mission, and it
showed that American troops remaining in the
country are still being drawn into the fighting.
The attack also made plain the kind of lapses in
security that have left Iraqis wary of the U.S.
drawdown and distrustful of the ability of Iraqi
forces now taking up ultimate responsibility for
protecting the country.
Sunday’s hourlong assault was the second in
as many weeks on the facility, the headquarters
for the Iraqi Army’s 11th Division, pointing to the
failure of Iraqi forces to plug even the most obvious holes in their security.
Two of the four attackers even managed to
fight their way inside the compound and only
died after running out of ammunition and detonating explosives belts they were wearing.
The American troops who joined the fight and
provided cover fire for Iraqi soldiers pursuing
the attackers were based at the compound to
train Iraqi forces, said U.S. military spokesman
Lt. Col. Eric Bloom. Iraqi forces also requested
help from U.S. helicopters, drones and explosives
experts, he said. No American troops were hurt,
Bloom said.
Under an agreement between the two coun-
President Obama
this fall as the administration looks
to jump-start an economy that the
president himself has said isn’t
growing fast enough.
In addition to making the research
Turn to Tax/Page A4
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Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Mostly sunny
High 82, Low 64
Page A2
ONLINE
TODAY
Yesterday’s
question
Today’s question
or hurt Republican
candidates in
Massachusetts?
Are you more likely or less
likely to vote this year in
primary and final elections?
See stories on this page, then
go to telegram.com to vote.
58.2%
41.8%
Your opinion
Local
REGION
telegram.com
After chase, 4 charged with shoplifting, Page B1
REGION
Our
144th
year
‘No-idling’ signs at some schools, Page B1
telegram.com
FITCHBURG
Word’s out, city towing abandoned cars, Page B1
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
President assails Republicans for creating hard times
Obama’s
$50B jobs
program
Marlboro parade
Marching to the beat on Labor
Day. Watch our online video.
By Darlene Superville
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Slideshow
online
Fill shelves, Kindles
In our Lifestyle section, see a
story about the books that will
become bestsellers this fall.
CAMPAIGN
2010
Election 2010
Get the latest on the candidates. Find out where to vote.
Our election section keeps you
informed.
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election
SPORTS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Barack Obama shakes hands Monday after speaking at the annual Milwaukee Area Labor Council Laborfest.
On telegram.com
More than 700,000 unique visitors
per month
1. Labor’s error
2. Big tea party activity likely
3. Muslims fear 9-11 reprisals
4. Labor leaders prepare to defend local Democrats
5. Embalming leaves her cold
6. Letter: Muslims a varied
group, and peaceful
7. Letter: Candidate is illogical
on Muslim issue
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Dems gritting teeth,
readying for fight
U.S. Rep.
James P.
McGovern
listens Monday
while Robert
Haynes, president of the
Massachusetts
AFL/CIO,
speaks during
the Central
Mass. AFL/
CIO Labor Day
Breakfast at
Coral Seafood
in Worcester.
By Jacqueline Reis
See our ad for details.
Sen. Scott P. Brown and the popularity of the tea party movement are mounting challenges to
such local Democrats as Lt. Gov.
Timothy P. Murray and U.S.
Rep. James P. McGovern. And
then there’s Friday’s announcement that UMass Memorial Medical Health Care will cut 70 to 80
jobs and the fact that a laborfavored bill that would have
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
T&G Staff/TOM RETTIG
WORCESTER — The annual
Central Massachusetts AFL-CIO
Labor Day Breakfast is typically
an event for local Democrats to
celebrate their strength. This
year, labor leaders seemed to be
gritting their teeth and readying
for a fight.
Republican candidates emboldened by the success of U.S.
Turn to Democrats/Page A6
Baker: Inefficiency,
taxes hurting Mass.
By Sandra Quadros Bowles
CORRESPONDENT
WORCESTER — An inefficient
and spendthrift state government
stands in the way of a successful
and prosperous Massachusetts,
Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker said yesterday morning at the Republican
Labor Day breakfast at the Elks
Lodge.
Candidate for
governor Charles Baker addresses a GOP
Labor Day
breakfast Monday held at the
Worcester Elks
Lodge.
Massachusetts has every other
ingredient for economic success,
he said, including an educated population, infrastructure and technology.
Restrictions and taxes imposed
by state government hold down economic growth, he said. “We solve
that, and this place will boom,’’ he
said.
Mr. Baker, former chief execuTurn to GOP breakfast/Page A6
T&G Staff/TOM RETTIG
NATO requests 2,000 more troops for Afghanistan
Half will be trainers for rapidly growing Afghan security forces
ENTERTAINMENT....B6
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Labor Day dealings
Golf at its best
View our slide show featuring
the top players in the Deutsche
Bank Championship.
MILWAUKEE — A combative
President Barack Obama rolled out
a long-term jobs program Monday that
would exceed $50 billion to rebuild roads,
railways and runways,
and coupled it with a
blunt campaign-season
assault on Republicans
telegram.com
for causing Americans’
hard economic times.
GOP leaders instantly assailed
Obama’s proposal as an ineffective
one that would simply raise already excessive federal spending.
Many congressional Democrats
By Christopher Bodeen
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Afghans burn an effigy of Dove World Outreach Center’s pastor Terry
Jones during a demonstration Monday against the United States in
Kabul. Hundreds of Afghans also called for President Barack Obama’s
death.
KABUL, Afghanistan — The
top U.S. and NATO commander
in Afghanistan is asking for
2,000 more soldiers to join the
140,000-strong international
force here, NATO officials said
Monday. It was unclear how
many would be Americans.
Coalition officials said nearly
half will be trainers for the
rapidly expanding Afghan security forces and will include
troops trained to neutralize
roadside bombs that have been
responsible for about 60 percent
of the 2,000 allied deaths in the
nearly 9-year war.
The officials, who spoke on
5 Years ahead: Billions needed
through 2015, Page A8
condition of anonymity because
they were not supposed to talk
about the issue with media, said
the NATO-led command had
been asking for the troops even
before Gen. David Petraeus
assumed command here in July.
Petraeus recently renewed
that request with the NATO
command in Brussels. The alliance has had trouble raising
more troops for the war effort,
with at least 450 training slots
still unfilled after more than a
year.
With casualties rising, the
war has become deeply unpopular in many of NATO’s 28 member countries, suggesting the
additional forces will have to
come from the United States. In
Europe, polls show the majority
of voters consider it an unnecessary drain on finances at a time
of sharp cuts in public spending
Turn to More troops/Page A8
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Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Yesterday’s
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Less likely:
The candidates
are uninspiring
Are you more
likely or less likely
to vote this year
in primary and
final elections?
19.2%
T-storms
High 81, Low 56
Page A2
ENGL
NEW
ONLINE
TODAY
AND
NON-
DAILY
PUBL
ICATI
Inside:
Westboro
er motivator
Grant mast
. . 16
.
Division 1C . . . stron
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. 20
continues
Tom Murphy QB tradition
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Northbridg
. 24
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Division 2B. . . Grasi
s
y’s
David Prout le trouble
twins are doub
Division 3A. . . .
. 28
telegram.com
BONUS
SECTION
Local
Hometeam High
School football
preview edition,
Inside
Mom arrested,
children taken
into custody,
Page B1
Divisio
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Letourneau
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It’s time for picking apples in
Central Mass. Watch our video.
www.massmoms.com
$1.00
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Taxes, spending spur debate
By John J. Monahan
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Give it the boot
St. Peter-Marian meets Holy
Name in soccer. View the action
in our photo gallery.
T&G Staff/STEVE LANAVA
Laura Lenahan and her daughter, Rhane Lenahan, 7, sit in the back row of the City Council chamber
last night as they await the vote on a proposed dog ordinance.
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WEBSTER
Gov. hopefuls
clash at forum
Celebrate Fall
Business@Noon
Should the Rev. Terry Jones
be prevented from holding his
Quran-burning event?
See story on this page, then
go to telegram.com to vote.
80.8%
Division 3B. . . .key
Division 3C. . . .
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More likely:
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0
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Richard Ro nked
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LL PRE
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YEAR
F THE
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Your opinion
BOSTON — The four candidates for governor clashed over
tax cuts, spending, job creation
and immigration in their first
televised debate last night,
which saw candidates link all of
those issues to the state’s severe unemployment problems.
Republican Charles D. Baker
Jr. took aim at both incumbent
Democrat Deval L. Patrick and
independent candidate State
Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill
and drew fire from both, while
Green Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein was left out of
much of the crossfire.
The one-hour debate on
WBZ-TV Channel 4 is also
slated to be aired nationally on
C-SPAN.
In one of the more animated
exchanges, the governor hit Mr.
Baker for his role in the Weld
administration for writing the
Big Dig cost overrun bailout
plan in the late 1990s, which the
governor said “is still a great
big albatross around the neck
of the commonwealth.”
“You can’t blame things on
the past,” Mr. Baker said, adding the project was developed 20
Turn to Debate/Page A8
Pit bull rules
Dangerous-dog ordinance OK’d
Cover it live
Follow reporter
Shaun Sutner’s
live blogging
today of a
forum with the
three Democratic candidates
for auditor, starting at 1 p.m.
www.telegram.com
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ection
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is available ram.com/
www.teleg
comics
By Lee Hammel
WARL acting director, said after the meeting
that the organization needs time to digest all of
the amendments added to the proposal last
WORCESTER — The City Council last night night.
passed an ordinance that will regulate the liAmong the amendments adopted was one
censing and ownership of pit bulls and “other exempting dogs trained and relied upon as a
dangerous” dogs in the city.
service dog or assistance dog by a person with a
The ordinance will take effect April 1. The disability. It also exempts dogs that complete a
vote was 9-2 with Councilor-at-Large Michael training program from a nationally accredited
J. Germain and Mayor Joseph C. O’Brien facility or trainer.
opposed.
Those amendments were
The ordinance had been
proposed by District 5 Councidrafted initially aimed only at
lor William J. Eddy, one of the
pit bulls, but last night all of
primary sponsors of the prothe councilors except for
posal. Councilor-at-Large FreMayor O’Brien agreed with
derick C. Rushton said it will
Councilor-at-Large Kathleen
be meaningless without furM. Toomey’s amendment to
ther definition, but he was
include other “dangerous
unsuccessful in getting the
dogs.” Ms. Toomey’s proposal
proposals sent to a council
to establish a task force to
committee.
determine what other dogs POLICE CHIEF GARY J. GEMME
Mr. Eddy cited updated stawould come under the new
tistics from the Police Departordinance was stymied, at least for last night, ment and the city clerk’s office showing that
by District 3 Councilor Paul P. Clancy Jr.
3.75 percent of the city’s licensed dog populaMr. Clancy held her proposal under privi- tion comprises pit bulls, while dogs attributed
lege, which prevented it from being discussed. to that breed are responsible for 46 percent of
It will be taken up at the next council session, the dog bites reported to police. Those statisSept. 21.
tics for the year ended June 30 are even higher
The Worcester Animal Rescue League has than the ones from a couple of years earlier
threatened to stop accepting all dogs that the showing that pit bulls are 2 percent of licensed
city’s animal control officers turn over to it if dogs,
but
responsible
for
25
the council passes the ordinance. Asked
Turn to Dogs/Page A6
whether that will happen now, Allie Simone,
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
you look
‘at When
these numbers,
something has
‚
got to be done.
On telegram.com
GOP candidates
grill each other
Victor to face McGovern in 3rd
By Priyanka Dayal
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WESTBORO — For the first
time, five Republicans hoping to
represent the 3rd Congressional
District were allowed to ask
each other questions last night
in a public forum, and Martin A.
Lamb took full advantage of the
opportunity.
Mr. Lamb, a real estate lawyer
from Holliston, saved both of his
allowed questions for his top
opponent, Brian J. Herr of Hop-
By Mitch Stacy
Turn to GOP/Page A6
US warns action could endanger troops
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Rev. Terry Jones at the Dove World Outreach
Center in Gainesville, Fla.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The government turned up the pressure
Tuesday on the head of a small Florida church who plans to burn copies
of the Quran on Sept. 11, warning him
that doing so could endanger U.S.
troops and Americans everywhere.
But the Rev. Terry Jones insisted
he would go ahead with his plans,
despite criticism from the top U.S.
general in Afghanistan, the White
House and the State Department, as
5 Local response: Clergyman condemns
Quran burning, Page A8
well as a host of religious leaders.
Jones, who is known for posting
signs proclaiming that Islam is the
devil’s religion, says the Constitution gives him the right to publicly
set fire to the book that Muslims
consider the word of God.
Gen. David Petraeus warned
Tuesday in an e-mail to The Associated Press that “images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly
be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to
inflame public opinion and incite
violence.” It was a rare example of a
military commander taking a position on a domestic political matter.
CLEARANCE CENTER EVENT
NOW
THROUGH
SUNDAY
kinton. Mr. Lamb asked Mr.
Herr to explain why he was
more than three months late in
filing a financial disclosure
form to the U.S. House clerk’s
office — despite spending thousands of campaign dollars on
compliance lawyers and consultants.
Mr. Herr, an executive for an
electrical supply company, said
he filed for an extension when
he knew he wouldn’t make the
Pastor affirms plan to burn Qurans
Most read stories
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4. Baker: Inefficiency, taxes
hurting Mass.
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6. Alleged attempted shoplifting
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arrested
7. Surprises mark Patriots’ cutdown
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Massachusetts Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles D.
Baker, left, independent Timothy Cahill, second left, moderator and
political analyst Jon Keller, center, Gov. Deval Patrick, second right,
and Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein are seen last night.
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Thursday, September 9, 2010
Should the Rev.
Terry Jones be
prevented from
holding his
Quran-burning
event?
Breezy day
High 72, Low 54
Page A2
ONLINE
TODAY
Your opinion
No, he has Yes, it will incite
the right to violence and
do it.
hatred.
50.1%
49.9%
Today’s question
How should parents prevent
their children from
becoming overweight?
See story on Page A4, then
go to telegram.com to vote.
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DUDLEY
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WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
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City
moves
to cut
staff
Trio of plans to spur job growth, invigorate economy
Pet Rock Festival will be the
12th annual event to benefit animal care organizations.
SLIDESHOW
Early retirement
program OK’d
By Nick Kotsopoulos
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Fitness first
First lady Michelle Obama participates in the Let’s Move! Campaign to promote exercise and
fight childhood obesity.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
On telegram.com
Most read stories online
1. Parents facing charges
2. Athletes accused of
sex assault
3. Worcester adopts pit bull
rules
4. Bachelorette revisits ‘Clarkie’
life
5. Unreal traffic control
6. Courthouse records
7. Truck and boat slip into Lake
Quinsigamond
Inside
Today
SPORTS
Ready for the opener
But no talk of contract extension
for Tom Brady — at least, not
right now.
MASSACHUSETTS
President Barack Obama delivers remarks Wednesday on the economy at Cuyahoga Community College in Parma, Ohio.
Obama: Fiscal tough talk
End tax cuts for wealthy; boost businesses
By Julie Pace
and Tom Raum
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CLEVELAND — Politically
weakened but refusing to
bend, President Barack
Obama insisted Wednesday
that Bush-era tax cuts be cut
off for the wealthiest Americans, joining battle with Republicans — and some fellow
Democrats — just two months
before bruising midterm elections.
Singling out House GOP
leader John Boehner in his
home state, Obama delivered a
searing attack on Republicans
for advocating “the same philosophy that led to this mess in
the first place: cut more taxes
for millionaires and cut more
rules for corporations.”
Obama rolled out a trio of
Study: More than 30% of students in 80 school districts are
overweight or obese. Page A4
A good start would be ...
‘freezing
‚
all tax rates.
JOHN BOEHNER
HOUSE GOP LEADER
PRESIDENT OBAMA
Boehner
new plans to help spur job
growth and invigorate the
sluggish national economic
recovery. They would expand
and permanently extend a
research and development tax
credit that lapsed in 2009,
allow businesses to write off
100 percent of their investments in equipment and
plants through 2011 and pump
$50 billion into highway, rail,
airport and other infrastructure projects.
The package was assembled
by the president’s economic
team after it became clear that
the recovery was running out
of steam. There was a political
component, too: With Democrats in danger of losing control of the House in November,
Obama is under heavy pressure to show voters that he
and his party are ready to do
more to get the economy moving and get millions of jobless
Americans back to work.
However, none of Wednesday’s proposals, nor Obama’s
call for allowing tax rates to
Turn to Tough talk/Page A11
BP and partners trade blame for oil leak
Critics call company’s report self-serving
By Harry R. Weber,
Michael Kunzelman
and Dina Cappiello
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Overweight kids
We should not hold
‘middle
class tax cuts
‚
hostage any longer.
NEW ORLEANS — BP took
some of the blame for the Gulf
oil disaster in an internal report
issued Wednesday, acknowledging among other things that it
misinterpreted a key pressure
test of the well. But in a possible
preview of its legal strategy, it
also pointed the finger at its
partners on the doomed rig.
The highly technical, 193-page
report attributes the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history and
the rig explosion that set it off to
a complex chain of failures both
human and mechanical. Some
of those problems have been
made public during the past 41⁄2
months, such as the failure of
the blowout preventer to clamp
the well shut.
The report is far from the
definitive ruling on the cause of
the catastrophe. For one thing,
government investigators have
not yet begun to fully analyze
the blowout preventer, which
was raised from the bottom of
the sea over the Labor Day
Turn to BP /Page A11
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The Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer is lifted out of the Gulf of
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Glodis
misses
forum
Young Democrats
hear Bump, Lake
By John J. Monahan
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
BOSTON — As the Young
Democrats of Massachusettssponsored debate for state auditor was about to
start yesterday,
only two of the
three Democratic candidates
were
there.
Moderator
Mara
Dolan
announced to
reporters
assembled for Mr. Glodis
the 1 p.m. forum
that Worcester County Sheriff
Guy W. Glodis’ campaign had
just called, saying he could not
attend because of “an incident”
Turn to Glodis/Page A12
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WORCESTER — The City
Council has approved an early
retirement program for nonpublic safety municipal employees with at least 20 years of service.
City Manager Michael V.
O’Brien said notices of the program were going out immediately to eligible employees.
The early retirement incentive will be offered to as many as
100 employees — 80 city workers
and 20 school employees. The
city hopes to generate a $2 million budget savings through the
program.
But in order to realize that
savings this fiscal year, Mr.
O’Brien said, the employees’
retirement will need to be effective by Nov. 1.
“With this council vote, it is
our intention to immediately go
ahead with this early retirement incentive,” Mr. O’Brien
told the City Council Tuesday
night. “It is fairly important
that we move expeditiously on
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Friday, September 10, 2010
Yesterday’s
Encourage physical
question activity
and exercise
How should
parents prevent
their children
from becoming
overweight?
Sun, breezy
High 70, Low 54
Page A2
Your opinion
Set a healthy
example
43.5%
41.6%
Keep the
junk food out
of the house
14.9%
ONLINE
TODAY
Today’s question
Should the media have
ignored the Rev. Terry Jones
and his Quran-burning plan?
See stories on this page
and A7, then go to
telegram.com to vote.
Local
BROOKFIELD
telegram.com
Planned bridge closing upsets officials, Page B1
WORCESTER
Our
144th
year
Collector’s paradise
The Brimfield Antique & Collectibles Show is on through Sunday. See a video and photo gallery online.
telegram.com
Police nab 17 in prostitution sting, Page B1
WORCESTER
Fetus-snatching suspect given DNA test, Page B1
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00 ..
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
City’s revenues slipping
Foreclosures cut tax collections
By Nick Kotsopoulos
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER — Though the fiscal year
is only a little more than two months old,
city officials already have grave concerns
about how municipal and state revenues
are tracking.
The big fear at City Hall is that real
estate and motor vehicle excise tax collections could end up running well below
what this year’s municipal budget is built
on, thus throwing the budget out of whack.
“Our revenues are challenged, to say the
least,” said City Manager Michael V.
O’Brien.
The city historically has had a very high
collection rate for real estate taxes — often
in the vicinity of 99 percent. But Mr.
O’Brien said there are indications that the
city’s tax collection is showing signs of
strain because of foreclosures and the
challenges of the local real estate market.
Last fiscal year, the city’s real estate tax
collections totaled $204.64 million, compared to the $204.75 million in tax collec-
tions that the city had based its budget on,
according to City Auditor James A. DelSignore.
For this fiscal year, the city’s budget is
based on real estate tax collections of
$214.9 million, but Mr. O’Brien acknowledged that figure may be difficult to attain
because of all the foreclosures that have
occurred.
Turn to Revenues/Page A6
Gaining ground
QURAN BURNING CONTROVERSY
Auburn’s Nick Sullivan tackles
Shrewsbury’s Pat Theodoss at
Auburn H.S. Thursday. See a
photo gallery of the game online.
Pressure for peace
On telegram.com
Most read stories yesterday
Declining city revenues
For the year ended June 30
Budgeted
Collected
PROPERTY TAXES
$204,753,010
$204,640,465
MOTOR VEHICLE EXCISE TAXES
$12,100,000
$11,059,137
MEALS TAXES
$1,491,000
$1,120,251
HOTEL/MOTEL TAXES
$925,000
$610,949
Source: City auditor’s office
T&G Staff/DON LANDGREN JR.
Court OKs
stem cell
financing
By Pete Yost
and Lauran Neergaard
1. After morning crash, Brady
attends practice
2. Embezzler of $2.5 million
gets 2 years
3. Police investigate Worcester
shooting
4. Glodis misses forum
5. Bus drops off boy at wrong
place
6. Courthouse records
7. Police arrest suspect in string
of break-ins
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The government may resume
funding of embryonic stem cell research for now, an
appeals court said Thursday, but the short-term
approval may be of little help to research scientists
caught in a legal battle that has just begun.
It is far from certain that scientists actually will
continue to get federal money as they struggle to
decide what to do with research that is hard to start
and stop.
After U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth
issued a preliminary order barring the funding on
Aug. 23, the National Institutes of Health suspended
work on funding new research projects on
embryonic stem cells. While NIH didn’t immediately comment Thursday on the temporary stay
Turn to Stem cell /Page A7
Inside
Today
SPORTS-STATE
Safe and sound
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tom Brady escapes injury in car
crash. See the news account on
Page A5 and Rich Garven’s
Patriots column on Page C1.
ENTERTAINMENT
The Rev. Terry Jones, right, of the Dove World Outreach Center, is surrounded Thursday by the media after he held
a joint news conference with Imam Muhammad Musri, far left, of the Islamic Society of Central Florida.
Dominican band performs to
benefit many in need. Page B8
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By Richard Duckett
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
After call from Gates, pastor backs off threat
By Antonio Gonzalez
Defense Secretary Robert Gates took the extraordinary step of calling Jones personally.
Standing outside his 50-member Pentecostal church,
the Dove Outreach Center, alongside Imam Muhammad Musri, the president of the Islamic Society of
Central Florida, Jones said he relented when Musri
assured him that the New York mosque will be moved.
Musri, however, said after the news conference that
the agreement was only for him and Jones to travel to
New York and meet Saturday with the imam overseeing plans to build
a
mosque
near
ground zero.
Hours later, Jones
said Musri “clearly,
clearly lied to us.”
“Given what we
are now hearing, we
are forced to rethink
our decision,” Jones
said. “So as of right
now, we are not canceling the event, but
we are suspending
it.”
Jones did not say
whether the Quran
burning could still be
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Men on a mission
Auction takes
bids on history
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — An anti-Islamic preacher
backed off and then threatened to reconsider burning
the Quran on the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks,
angrily accusing a Muslim leader of lying to him
Thursday with a promise to move an Islamic center
and mosque away from New York’s ground zero. The
imam planning the center denied there was ever such a
deal.
The Rev. Terry
Jones generated an
international firestorm with his plan to
burn the Quran on
Saturday, the ninth
anniversary of the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, and he has
been under intense
pressure to give it up.
President
Barack
Obama urged him to
listen to “those better
angels” and give up
his “stunt,” saying it
would endanger U.S.
troops and give
Islamic terrorists a Protesters rally in Multan, Pakistan, Thursday in reaction to the
recruiting
tool. Rev. Terry Jones’ plan to burn copies of the Quran.
Turn to Quran/Page A7
WORCESTER — Lot 1. Antique 22’’ Reinforced
Wax German Doll Circa 1860s.
The doll, once no doubt prized by a Worcester
girl but then packed away among many boxes and
taken up and down New England, was the first
piece up for bid last night at a four-day auction at
the DCU Center Convention Center.
It was one of 2,365 items of an accumulated
collection spanning more than 250 years. The auction is of the estate of the legendary Andrew
Turn to Auction/Page A6
T&G Staff/CHRISTINE PETERSON
Auctioneer Richard Oliver, right, looks for another
bid as runner Jamerson Allman holds an old coal
truck that sold for about $300.
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Yesterday’s
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Today’s
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Should the media
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Rev. Terry Jones
and his Quranburning plan?
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High 74 Low 56
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ONLINE
TODAY
With everything else that’s
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Local
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telegram.com
Goddard MCAS scores questioned, Page A3
WORCESTER
Our
144th
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telegram.com
Four indicted in drug probe, Page A3
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Obama urges religious tolerance
Flick picks
Before heading to the movies,
check out what’s playing. See
link from home page .
‘Inalienable rights’ of Muslims defended
By Helene Cooper
THE NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON — President
Obama gave an impassioned
call on Friday for tolerance and
better relations between Muslims and non-Muslims at home
and abroad, defending the
“inalienable rights” of those
who worship Islam to practice
their religion freely.
Mr. Obama made his statements as protests and violence
continued in Afghanistan, set
off by a Florida pastor’s plans,
now suspended, to burn Qurans
today, the ninth anniversary of
the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, and against the backdrop of the controversy in New
York over a proposed Islamic
center near ground zero.
With relations between the
United States and the Muslim
world perhaps at their most
frayed since the invasion of Iraq
71⁄2 years ago, the president
sought to appeal to America’s
core founding principles.
President
Barack
Obama at
yesterday’s
news conference in the
White
House.
Mr. Obama said it was imperative for people in this country
to distinguish between their
real enemies and those who
have the potential to become
enemies because of continued
vilification of Islam in the
United States.
At a time when polls suggest
that a substantial number of
Americans erroneously believe
that Mr. Obama is Muslim, the
president cited his own Christian faith at one point.
“We have to make sure that
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Honoring Lunenburg man killed in 9-11 attacks
‘Kevin’s Gate’
Need a good laugh?
The comics section is available
on the Web at www.telegram.com/comics
Memorial
keeping
name alive
Inside
Today
By Lisa D. Welsh
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
THE NATION
Highest honor
President Barack Obama to
award the Medal of Honor to
Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore
Giunta. Page A10
ED COLLIER
The Kevin T. Szocik Memorial Gate will be dedicated at 3 p.m. today at Lunenburg High School.
ENERTAINMENT
‘Thirteen Assassins’
Japanese director Takashi
Miike remakes a classic for a
younger generation. Page A8
People seek path to understanding
Weekend gatherings to urge peace
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ROTMANS
By Bronislaus B. Kush
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Many hope today’s Sept. 11
commemorations will bring
together, at least for a while, a
nation fractured by polarizing
issues and concerns about its
future.
For months, societal observers and pundits — bolstered by
various poll findings — have
maintained that the country is
in a foul mood. Partisan politics, a high unemployment rate,
the lingering and bloody military commitments in Iraq and
Afghanistan, concerns about
the economy’s future, the Wall
Street and automotive industry
bailouts, the sharp divisiveness
over immigration and healthcare reform and even the Gulf
oil spill have soured Americans, they say.
“To say people are dissatisfied would be an understatement,” said Ken Mandile, a
Webster resident who heads the
Worcester tea party. “People
are losing trust in our institutions. They are looking differently at the government, the
corporations, the political parties and the unions. The anger
has been building for some
time. I think, however, that people from all sides will be thinking over the weekend about
what happened on Sept. 11.”
Meanwhile, Muslims — in the
wake of the recent contentious
debate about situating a
mosque near Ground Zero and
the on-again, off-again plan by a
small evangelical church in
T&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR
People gather for the Rally for Solidarity and Peace yesterday at
Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester.
Florida to burn Qurans — are
hoping the anniversary will
remind non-Islamic Americans
that they are not the enemy and
that they also suffered on Sept.
ND
E
K
EE
W
L
A
N
I
F
11, 2001.
“People sometimes forget that
we are a part of this country. We
Turn to Rallies/Page A7
LUNENBURG — Ground
zero is 200 miles and worlds
away from the athletic fields at
Lunenburg High School, but
Kevin T. Szocik easily moved
between them.
According to his lifelong
friends, Jeremy A. Kullman of
Watertown and Barry C. Smith
of Westminster, Mr. Szocik was
the same “selfless, kind, fun,
funny guy” at 27 as when he was
football captain and member of
Lunenburg High School’s class
of 1992.
Mr. Szocik ascended
the
heights
of
world finance
as vice president of equity
research
at
Keefe, Bruyette
& Woods Inc.
investment
bank. KBW’s
New
York Mr. Szocik
offices were in
Building 2 World Trade Center.
When United Airlines Flight
175 flew into the South Tower on
Sept. 11, 2001, it destroyed floors
85 through 77. Mr. Szocik’s
office was on the 89th floor,
above the crash site.
“When you are in high
school, you never think you are
going to build a memorial to
your buddy,” Mr. Kullman said.
Nicknamed “Kevin’s Gate,”
two brick columns, a lighted
walkway and landscaped area
now welcome athletes and fans
to the fields behind the high
school.
The spot was chosen because
Mr. Szocik spent much of his
childhood at the field, first as a
youth football player and later
in high school.
The Kevin T. Szocik Memorial Gate will be dedicated at 3
p.m. today. Many of the young
athletes playing this afternoon
Turn to ‘Kevin’s Gate’/Page A7
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TODAY
With everything else
that’s going on, are
you ready for some
football?
Your opinion
Today’s
question
Which primary contest is
most interesting to you? See
stories in today’s paper and
go to telegram.com to vote.
Local stories
telegram.com
WORCESTER
Canalfest a potpourri of history, culture, Page B1
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
GARDNER
Program gives students early college start, Page B9
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$2.50
...
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Sorrow
marks
9-11
rituals
A brighter future
Monday is the official kickoff
ceremony for the transformation
of the Worcester Common Outlets mall into CitySquare II. See
our video of the project at telegram.com.
Peaceful but
tense protests
Canal
Diggers
5K
By Verena Dobnik
and Beth Fouhy
Bryan Quitadamo, Barbara McManus win Fallon Community Health
Plan Canal
Diggers 5K.
See slideshow
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
telegram.com/election
NEW YORK — Rites of
remembrance and loss marked
the ninth anniversary of the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,
familiar in their sorrow but observed for the first time Saturday in a nation torn over the
prospect of a mosque near
ground zero
and the role of
Islam
in
society.
Under a flawless blue sky
that called to PAGE B1
mind the day
itself, there were tears and song,
chants, and the waving of hundreds of American flags. Loved
ones recited the names of the
5 Local
Scouts mark
9-11
,
Voters get their say
in Tuesday primary
By Shaun Sutner
St. John’s-Holy Name
Turn to 9-11/Page A10
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
An unpredictable Central Massachusetts electorate heads to the polls Tuesday to take part in a host
of primary contests, including six Republican primaries, the most in recent memory in a single election.
While interest in politics appears high amid economic uncertainty and a general mood of voter
anger, turnout is still
expected to be relatively
light, as in most primaries.
The exception would be in
areas with the highest-proPAGE B1
file runoffs, such as the 13th
Worcester District, where
six Democrats are vying to
run to succeed state Rep.
PAGES B5, B6, B7
Robert P. Spellane, D-Worcester.
Also expected to boost
turnout on Election Day is
PAGE B4
a county-wide Democratic
primary for Worcester
County sheriff, which is
PAGE B7
being vacated by Guy W.
Glodis, one of three Democrats vying for the party’s nomination for state
auditor.
“I don’t think it will be a total snoozer,” said Ellen
C. Gaboury, town clerk in Auburn, Mr. Glodis’
hometown. “While we should have a pretty good
turnout because we have a local candidate, towns
that don’t have a local candidate might not get as
good a turnout.”
On the GOP side, congressional districts that
include significant portions of Central Massachu-
Senior QB Dan Light throws five
TD passes as the top-ranked
Pioneers defeat the Naps, 40-0.
See slideshow.
5 Hot contest for
Worcester County
sheriff,
5 Check out our
local state rep races,
5 Auditor, treasurer
races of local interest,
WPI-Worcester State
5 POLLING PLACES,
The Engineers scored 24 unanswered points in the second half
and overtime to stun the Lancers. See slideshow.
FINAL DAY!
TENT SALE!
ROTMANS
Turn to Election 2010/Page A10
Lock in a low
price for 2 years.
Mall site
changes
abound
Ceremony set
for CitySquare
By Martin Luttrell
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER — Looking
across Foster Street at the former Worcester Common Outlets mall entrance provides a
view of the city’s past and a
glimpse into its future.
Affixed to the weather-beaten
facade of the mall is a banner
nearly 30 feet square depicting
the future Mercantile Street,
which will be built through the
mall property over the next two
years as part of the first phase of
the CitySquare II project. The
scene shows automobiles
parked on the side of the street,
the sidewalks bustling with pedestrians and a woman pushing
a stroller across a crosswalk.
Looming on the left side of the
illustration is the future
Turn to CitySquare/Page A11
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Today’s
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Which primary
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Mostly cloudy
What did you think of
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after the Patriots game? See
story on this page, then go to
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High 65, Low 53
Page A2
ONLINE
TODAY
Local
REGION
telegram.com
Chiefs walk in memory of late colleague, Page B1
WORCESTER
Our
144th
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Pet lovers throng college campus, Page B1
telegram.com
WORCESTER
Guard unit gets new commander, Page B3
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Congress
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Local Muslims proud to be part of America
Off to a good start
View a Patriots game-day photo
gallery and read the full transcript online of post-game comments by Randy Moss.
CAMPAIGN
2010
Election 2010
Get the latest on the candidates. Find out where to vote.
Our election section keeps you
informed.
www.telegram.com/
election
Little major action
before Nov. 2 likely
By Jim Abrams
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
T&G Staff/TOM RETTIG
Muslims pray at The Islamic Society of Greater Worcester during a recent afternoon prayer service.
Faith in US
Best of the weekend
Hate speech seen as bigotry
View a photo gallery of the top
weekend shots from across Central Mass. by our photo staff.
By Thomas Caywood
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
On telegram.com
Most read stories
1. Mall site changes
2. NFL: Patriots looking to turn at
least 10
3. Motorcycle crash injures 2 on
Baker Pond Road
4. Golf: State’s high rollers cash
in with new MGA series
5. Voters get their say Tuesday
6. Return from surgery
7. Foley, Bove both touting experience
Inside
Today
WORCESTER — Dr. Amjad
Bahnassi’s fingers trembled a bit
as he perched his reading glasses
on the tip of his nose and pulled a
folded-up newspaper clipping
from his wallet.
Friday afternoon prayers had
just finished at his mosque on
Laurel Street. He sat at a folding
table by a row of windows.
In a solemn voice spiced with
the resonant Mediterranean
tones of his native Syria, the
50-year-old psychiatrist from
Shrewsbury read out loud a passage from the Telegram &
Gazette about a debate late last
month among the Republican
primary candidates vying to run
against U.S. Rep. James P.
McGovern in the general election this fall.
In the passage, a candidate
expresses what he considers a
grave concern for America:
“We’re just passively watching
as Islam is expanding.”
Dr. Bahnassi glanced up from
Turn to Muslims/Page A6
Turn to Congress/Page A5
Patriots
corral
Bengals
T&G Staff/PAUL KAPTEYN
Dr. Amjad Bahnassi of Shrewsbury talks about life as a Muslim in the nine years
since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In the background is, from the left, Pirmar
Marifatshah of Worcester and Dr. Bahnassi’s son, Ayham Bahnassi of Shrewsbury.
Compared with other religions, Islam...
By Bill Doyle
July 2005 August 2010
Favorable
41%
30%
Unfavorable 36%
38%
Don’t Know 23%
32%
August 2009 August 20
Is more likely than others to encourage violence
38%
35%
Does not encourage violence more than others
45%
42%
Neither/Don’t know
16%
24%
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
T&G Sta
Source: The Pew Research Center
To the highest bidder
MONEY
On the job
Read about the career of an
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Page B7
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Tea-partiers rally
People
gather Sunday at the
Capitol in
Washington
for a
"Remember
in November" rally to
express
opposition
to government
spending.
Small-govt. activists gather in capital cities
By Kevin Freking
and Robin Hindery
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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WASHINGTON — Tea party activists gathered in capitals on each
coast Sunday to spread their message of smaller government and
focus their political movement on
the pivotal congressional elections
in November.
From the grounds of the Washington Monument, with the Capitol looming at one end of the
National Mall, Michael and Judy
AN EVENING WITH
THE HANOVER THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Moss speaks bitterly
after 38-24 victory
Opinion of Islam
LOCAL
Auction of the extensive Green
estate brings some surprising
results. Page B1
WASHINGTON — Congress returns
this week with embattled Democrats torn
between trying to show they have the economic answers and
fearing the further
wrath of voters over 5 Tax plan: House
new government pro- GOP leader John
grams.
Boehner would vote
It appears the fears for President Obama’s
will win out.
plan to extend tax
The inbox is over- cuts only for
flowing as lawmak- middle-class earners,
ers end their summer
not the wealthy, if that
recess and undertake
were the only option.
four weeks of writing
Page A5
and trying to pass
bills before leaving
town ahead of the Nov. 2 election: Bush-era
tax cuts are set to expire at year’s end;
annual spending bills await action; and
President Barack Obama has just come out
with a new plan to stimulate the econo-
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or go to the Hanover Theatre Box Office
Celebrating the new release of SQUIRREL SEEKS CHIPMUNK, arriving this Fall!
Parsons-Power of Decatur, Ala.,
said lawmakers had lost touch
with the people they were elected
to represent.
“It wouldn’t bother me to make a
clean sweep,” said Michael Power,
endorsing term limits for members
of Congress. “There are some good
ones, but we can lose those.”
Thousands of people were
expected to rally in Washington,
St. Louis and Sacramento, Calif., as
tea party leaders try to energize
FOXBORO — The Patriots did just
about everything right yesterday in manhandling the Cincinnati Bengals, 38-24, in
their season opener at
Gillette Stadium.
Wes Welker returned
from major knee surgery
eight months ago to catch
two touchdown passes to
tie a career high.
Tom Brady threw for
258 yards and three
scores to show why the
Patriots last week made Moss
him the NFL’s highest
paid player.
Gary Guyton returned 5 Down by
an interception and down: Game
Brandon Tate returned coverage, Page C1
the second-half kickoff
for touchdowns.
Even the maligned Patriots’ defense did
its part, outscoring the high-scoring Bengals in the first half, 7-3.
Everything went according to the game
plan — until Randy Moss stepped up to
Turn to Patriots/Page A6
Turn to Tea party/Page A5
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Tuesday, September 14, 2010
He spoke
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Good for him.
What did you
He picked the
think of comments
wrong time
by Randy Moss after
to
complain
the Patriots game?
Partly sunny
High 72, Low 49
CAMPAIGN
2010
Today’s
question
33%
Will you make it to the
polls Tuesday? See story on
this page, then go to
telegram.com to vote.
67%
Page A2
Your opinion
Local
telegram.com/election
Today’s primary
election
WEBSTER
Neighbors lash out at Douglas wind farm, Page B1
Polls open: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Polling sites at telegram.com
ATHOL
Online Today
■ Early morning updates on voting
■ Live blogging by T&G staff
■ Election results as they come in
throughout the evening
Our
144th
year
Auditor
REPUBLICANS
Mary Z. Connaughton
Kamal Jain
DEMOCRATS
Suzanne M. Bump
Guy W. Glodis
Mike Lake
Friends mourn woman found dead, Page B1
telegram.com
MILFORD
University re-examines policy after suicide, Page B1
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
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Primaries
offer many
choices
Treasurer
DEMOCRATS
Steven Grossman
Stephen J. Murphy
U.S. Rep. 2nd District
REPUBLICANS
Jay S. Fleitman
Thomas A. Wesley
U.S. Rep. 3rd District
REPUBLICANS
Robert J. Chipman
Robert A. Delle
Brian J. Herr
Martin A. Lamb
Michael P. Stopa
Galvin anticipates
spotty voter turnout
U.S. Rep. 5th District
REPUBLICANS
Jonathan A.Golnik
Sam S. Meas
Robert L. Shapiro
Thomas J.M. Weaver
By John J. Monahan
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Worcester County Sheriff
DEMOCRATS
Scot J. Bove
Thomas J. Foley
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
1st Middlesex
REPUBLICANS
Sheila C. Harrington
Cornelius F. Sullivan
DEMOCRATS
Jane L. Morriss
Jesse Reich
Anthony J. Saboliauskas
T&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR
Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray and the city of Worcester break ground Monday for the CitySquare project.
CitySquare fanfare
13th Worcester
DEMOCRATS
Margot R. Barnet
Gina M. DiBaro
John J. Mahoney
Michael C. Perotto
Donald P. Sharry
Joffrey A. Smith
WORCESTER — Primary day has arrived,
and voters today have plenty of choices on
which candidates to advance to the final election in races for U.S. Congress, Worcester
County sheriff, state auditor and treasurer, as
well as a handful of state legislative primary
contests.
While many are expecting a relatively low
turnout overall across the state, higher vote
totals are expected to come out of places such as
the Worcester area, where there are numerous
contests on the primary ballot.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. It is too
late for unregistered voters to sign up to vote
today, but anyone uncertain about where to
vote can get that information by typing in their
Turn to Primaries/Page A8
Groundbreaking buries years of false starts
6th Worcester
REPUBLICANS
Peter J. Durant
Michael Jaynes
By Martin Luttrell
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
2nd Worcester
DEMOCRATS
Amy Feeley-Knuuttila
Patrick Gerry
WORCESTER — As city and state
officials hailed the beginning of demolition that officially starts development on the long-awaited CitySquare project, the lead investor said
yesterday developers are close to
acquiring the adjacent Notre Dame
des Canadiens Church at Salem
Square to incorporate into the project.
2nd Franklin
DEMOCRATS Table 5
Denise Andrews
Lee Chauvette
Martin McGuane
David R. Roulston
Roxann Wedegartner
Yesterday’s hourlong
groundbreaking ceremony packed the plaza at
the north entrance to the
former Worcester Common Outlets mall with a
telegram.com standing-room-only
crowd, as city and state
officials celebrated the perseverance
and public/private partnership that
moved the project forward.
The vacant mall and part of an
adjacent parking garage will be
Video
online
demolished over the next year while
a 214,000-square-foot, eight-story
office building is constructed for
Unum Group, which will move its
Worcester operations there under a
17-year lease. At the same time, a new
city street, to be named Mercantile
Street, will be built through where
the mall now stands, connecting Foster and Front streets.
Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray, who,
Turn to CitySquare/Page A7
GOP leader
says keep
all tax cuts
By David M. Herszenhorn
THE NEW YORK TIMES
ONLINE
TODAY
Local architect made CitySquare happen
telegram.com
By Nick Kotsopoulos
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER — While local
architect Daniel R. Benoit may not
be considered the father of CitySquare, he is close to it because he
was instrumental in hatching the
concept behind the project.
Just about 11 years ago to the day,
Mr. Benoit first broached the idea of
reconnecting Front Street to Washington Square by tearing down part
of the Worcester Common Outlets
mall.
It was his feeling
that the city made a
major
mistake
when it allowed the
downtown shopping mall to be built
some 40 years ago
because it eliminated the Front
Mr. Benoit
Street connection to
Washington Square, thus effectively
cutting off the downtown to the
city’s East Side.
To re-establish that link, he felt it
was essential to extend Front Street,
and that necessitated tearing down
the outlet mall and part of the parking garages — those structures
essentially between the two office
buildings.
While Mr. Benoit’s idea was
scoffed at by many, including some
of the powers-to-be at City Hall,
then-Mayor Timothy P. Murray was
more than intrigued by it.
Turn to Benoit/Page A7
WASHINGTON — The Senate Republican
leader proposed legislation Monday to continue all of the Bush-era tax cuts indefinitely, testing the willingness of Democrats to allow a tax
increase on the wealthiest Americans in a weak
economy and making clear that a partisan fight
will extend deep into the campaign season if not
beyond.
The proposal by the Senate leader, Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky, came a day after the
House Republican leader, John A. Boehner of
Ohio, suggested a potential compromise, saying he would vote for President Barack Obama’s plan to extend the cuts only for households
earning less than $250,000 if he had no other
choice.
In part, McConnell’s proposal illustrated the
greater leverage that Republicans enjoy in the
Pats chat at 1 p.m.
Turn to Tax cuts/Page A10
Join T&G reporter Rich Garven
today at 1 p.m. for a live online
chat about Randy Moss, Tom
Brady and a host of other hot
Patriots topics.
‘Old Nellie’ keeps on chugging
Legendary 1931 Model A still driven daily
By Paula J. Owen
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LUNENBURG — Gibby L.
Lashua, 73, is best known for
sharpshooting
with
his
.22-caliber Winchester rifle and
masterful skill with an accordion. He is less-known for his
1931 Model A, legendary as the
being the longest-driven Model
A in the country.
He bought the car in 1959, and
has since replaced the motor
himself 13 times, worn out the
speedometer three times and
replaced the front end just as
often. He’s gone through countless mufflers, he said. In the
1980s, the car had been driven
more than 1 million miles, he
said.
Signs on the outside of the
black Ford A sedan, which he
calls “Old Nellie,” read, “Longest driven A ‘In the USA’ Hell, I
was there!” and “Squeeze Box
Favorites” for his traveling
accordion show.
The antique horn in the car
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still bellows the distinctively
old-fashioned “ooogah” sound.
“It’s hard to let it go,” Mr.
Lashua said. “I bought it when I
was a kid before I was married.
It’s been on the road 75 years.”
Mr. Lashua has owned the car
since he was 18, he said. To pay
for it, he worked three months
for the Ashburnham farmer
who had owned it for more than
17 years, and also traded a secT&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR
Turn to ‘Old Nellie’/Page A8
Gibby Lashua sits on the bumper of his 1931 Model A Ford.
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Tuesday?
Partly sunny
High 70, Low 48
Page A2
Your opinion
Not very
likely.
32.9%
Yes, you couldn’t
keep me away.
If I find
the time.
57.7%
9.4%
ONLINE
TODAY
Today’s
question
What do you think of
yesterday’s primary election
voter turnout? See stories
on this page, then go to
telegram.com to vote.
Local
WORCESTER
telegram.com
Mahoney earns 13th Worcester win, Page B1
GARDNER
Looking for clues
Watch our video of an arson
investigation on Dewey Street in
Worcester.
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
Gerry wins nomination to succeed Rice, Page B1
SPENCER
Durant wins 6th Worcester GOP primary, Page B5
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
CAMPAIGN
2010
More
score
targets
missed
telegram.com/election
Election results
✔ Checkmarks denote
apparent winners last night
Auditor
REPUBLICANS
✔ Mary Z. Connaughton
Kamal Jain
DEMOCRATS
✔ Suzanne M. Bump
Guy W. Glodis
Mike Lake
State releases
MCAS results
Treasurer
DEMOCRATS
✔ Steven Grossman
Stephen J. Murphy
U.S. Rep. 2nd District
By Jacqueline Reis
REPUBLICANS
Jay S. Fleitman
✔ Thomas A. Wesley
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
U.S. Rep. 3rd District
T&G Staff/STEVE LANAVA
REPUBLICANS
Robert J. Chipman
Robert A. Delle
Brian J. Herr
✔ Martin A. Lamb
Michael P. Stopa
Activity outside of Temple Emanuel, at Chandler and May streets, was busy yesterday as campaign workers held signs.
Voter mood wary
U.S. Rep. 5th District
REPUBLICANS
✔ Jonathan A.Golnik
Sam S. Meas
Robert L. Shapiro
Thomas J.M. Weaver
Bump defeats Glodis in auditor race
Worcester County Sheriff
DEMOCRATS
Scot J. Bove
✔ Thomas J. Foley
By Shaun Sutner
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Worcester County Sheriff Guy W. Glodis
failed in his first bid for statewide office, as
former Patrick administration labor secretary Suzanne M. Bump defeated the former
Worcester legislator in yesterday’s Democratic primary for state auditor.
Ms. Bump surged a few weeks ago after Mr.
Glodis was forced to confront allegations of
campaign finance lapses and his political
committee’s failure to pay taxes.
But Mr. Glodis fought back, spending about
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
1st Middlesex
REPUBLICANS
✔ Sheila C. Harrington
Cornelius F. Sullivan
DEMOCRATS
Jane L. Morriss
✔ Jesse Reich
Anthony J. Saboliauskas
$500,000 on statewide direct
mailings and wall-to-wall radio
ads attacking Ms. Bump — who
was endorsed by many newspapers across the state — for a
1994 ethics violation. But the
effort fell short. Ms. Bump got
49 percent of the vote to Mr. telegram.com
Glodis’ 31 percent; Michael
Lake got 19 percent.
“Sue Bump ran a great campaign,” Mr. Glodis, who served eight years in the Legislature
Slideshow
online
5 Sheriff’s race: Foley leads in
tight race with Bove, Page A5
5 The debate: Candidates for
governor spend the evening
debating, Page A5
5 The loss: Glodis suffers major
loss in auditor race, Page A8
5 The votes: Ballot totals from
across the region, Pages B4-B5
Turn to Mood wary/Page A9
13th Worcester
Tea party favorite Lamb may face McGovern
DEMOCRATS
Margot R. Barnet
Gina M. DiBaro
✔ John J. Mahoney
Michael C. Perotto
Donald P. Sharry
Joffrey A. Smith
By Priyanka Dayal
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
6th Worcester
With support from tea party
activists and other frustrated
conservatives, Martin A. Lamb
of Holliston appeared to have
won the Republican primary in
the 3rd Congressional District
yesterday and was poised to face
U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern in
the Nov. 2 general election.
It would be the first serious
challenge in years for Mr.
REPUBLICANS
✔ Peter J. Durant
Michael Jaynes
2nd Worcester
DEMOCRATS
Amy Feeley-Knuuttila
✔ Patrick Gerry
2nd Franklin
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WEEPIN’
Marty Lamb
of Holliston is
embraced by
deputy campaign manager Desiree
Awiszio last
night.
Turn to Lamb/Page A9
1
$ 69
lb.
WILLIE’S
Shrewsbury, Rt. 9 across from (Spag’s) Building 19
www.weepinwillies.com
Field of many dreams
Albanian
immigrant
Mihallaq
Qeleshi
stands yesterday with
his wife,
Fehmije
Qeleshi, both
of Auburn,
while attending a naturalization ceremony at
Fenway Park.
Local residents become citizens at Fenway
By Ellie Oleson
5,200 immigrants from 136
countries, according to Denis
C. Riordan, director of U.S.
Two local families arrived at
Citizenship and Immigration
Fenway Park at 9 a.m. yesterday,
Services for District I.
not to cheer on the Red Sox, but to
“This is the largest cerebecome the newest citizens of the telegram.com
mony we’ve ever held. RouUnited States in the largest nattinely, naturalization ceremouralization ceremony ever held in nies for 400 new citizens are held at
Massachusetts.
Faneuil Hall twice a month, with addiFor the second time in its history, tional ceremonies aboard the USS ConFenway was temporarily turned into a
Turn to Fenway/Page A10
federal court to naturalize more than
CORRESPONDENT
Slideshow
online
T&G Staff/TOM RETTIG
Turn to MCAS/Page A7
Compare your town
McGovern, a Worcester Democrat and seven-term incumbent.
Mr. Lamb, who has no public
office experience, says he was
the first of the five Republicans
to jump into the race. He
announced his intentions at a
tea party gathering in April
2009.
“Our priority has always been
jobs and bringing jobs back to
the district, and giving people
T&G Staff/PAUL KAPTEYN
DEMOCRATS
✔ Denise Andrews
Lee Chauvette
Martin McGuane
David R. Roulston
Roxann Wedegartner
The state yesterday highlighted individual school and
district gains on MCAS tests,
but the overall picture shows
more schools and districts failing to meet escalating targets
set by No Child Left Behind.
The annual Massachusetts
Comprehensive Assessment
System results, available for
Grades 3-8 and 10 in English and
math and for Grades 5, 8 and 10
in science, are the foundation of
the state and federal government accountability systems.
The scores are compared
against federal targets for adequate yearly progress, and if a
school does not consistently
meet targets for all of its students and for subgroups based
on income, ethnicity and special
needs, it is assigned an accountability status.
The number of years a school
misses those targets helps determine whether it is a Level 1, 2, 3,
4 or 5 school. The state released
Level 4 (among lowest performing/least improving) schools in
February, triggering changes
such as new principals, but did
not announce the other levels
until yesterday. Worcester has
27 Level 3 schools in danger of
slipping to Level 4 status.
State percentage averages
for each grade and subject
Key:
A=Percent “advanced”
B=Percent “proficient”
C=Percent “needs improvement”
D=Percent “warning/failing”
State
Grade 3
English
Math
Grade 4
English
Math
Grade 5
English
Math
Science
Grade 6
English
Math
Grade 7
English
Math
Grade 8
English
Math
Science
Grade 10
English
Math
Science
A
B
C D
12
20
45
40
33
25
10
15
11
16
42
32
35
41
11
11
15
22
17
48
32
32
29
29
39
8
18
12
16
24
50
33
24
27
9
16
14
16
56
33
23
30
7
21
15
20
4
63
28
35
15
28
40
6
23
21
29
47
16
52
28
45
15
18
29
4
8
9
NOTE: Grade 10 science and technology/
engineering scores represent the highest score
a ninth- or 10th-grade student received on any
of the four science tests (biology, chemistry,
physics or technology/engineering).
Source: Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education
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Weather
Yesterday’s
question
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Your opinion
Those who really It was business
as usual–
too small
What do you think care made
of yesterday’s
the difference
primary election
51.9%
voter turnout?
Clouds, rain
High 66, Low 56
Page A2
ONLINE
TODAY
48.1%
Today’s
question
Should public pension
benefits be reduced to help
government contain costs?
See story on this page, then
go to telegram.com to vote.
Local
ATHOL
telegram.com
Authorities say woman was strangled, Page B1
WESTBORO
Our
144th
year
Bridge to stay open during raising, Page B1
telegram.com
REGION
Republican says he will take on Coakley, Page B1
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
Hangin’ out with Ben
States
cutting
pensions
Gary Galonek of Sturbridge and
his daughter Kristie enjoy ‘‘The
Town’’ premiere at Fenway
Park. Gary has a cameo role in
the film. See our photo gallery.
No funds to pay
‘fairy-tale’ benefits
By Geoff Mulvihill
and Susan Haigh
A fine farewell
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The end of an era and the end of
Prifti Candies after more than 40
years in Worcester. See the
photo gallery.
Live chat tonight
Join Jim Wilson at 8 p.m. every
Thursday as he talks high
school football with players,
coaches, parents and fans.
Take part in the chat or
just follow along.
On telegram.com
Most read stories
1. Foley wins sheriff primary
2. Bump tops Glodis
3. Patriots finally give up on
Maroney
4. 2 men in truck plead not guilty
in Route 9 highway worker’s
death
5. Mahoney wins 13th
6. McKenna says he reached
write-in goal
7. Raids in Webster, Dudley net
five arrests
8. Lamb takes GOP
Inside
Today
GO!
stART your engines
The city’s fastest growing arts
festival comes to the streets on
Sunday. See the GO! cover
story.
T&G Staff/DAN GOULD
Worcester County Sheriff Guy Glodis, left, and Gov. Deval Patrick share a light moment yesterday with Suzanne Bump, who defeated
Glodis in the Democratic primary for state auditor. The three participated in a unity meeting in Worcester.
Campaign fever
Hunt begins for voters’ hearts and minds
TRENTON, N.J. — William
Liberty began as a trash collector in Lindenwold 37 years ago
and worked his way up to public
works
supervisor.
Until
recently, he figured he would
hold on to the job until he turned
65.
But last week, at 62, he was
preparing his retirement papers, joining a rush among New
Jersey public employees.
Liberty’s reason for getting
out now: He is feeling the sting
of a campaign by Republican
Gov. Chris Christie and a growing number of other public officials across the U.S. to balance
their budgets by making government employment — and
retirement — less lucrative.
Liberty’s pay has been frozen
for two years, he has been told to
take unpaid furloughs, and now,
“it’s going to get worse.” Pension proposals announced this
Turn to Pensions /Page A7
By Shaun Sutner
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Republican congressional
candidate Martin A. Lamb’s
fiery anti-Washington style
and victory in Tuesday’s primary were among the signs of
the anti-incumbent tumult
that has erupted across the
country this year, observers
on both sides said yesterday.
The Holliston lawyer will
challenge U.S. Rep. James P.
McGovern, D-Worcester in
the Nov. 2 election, a bid he
gained by overcoming favored GOP establishment
candidate Brian R. Herrand
and three other contenders.
He did so, he said, by relentlessly campaigning against
what he and his tea party
backers decry as the evils of
big government.
“People have woken up and
want to get involved, whether
it’s to get rid of over-
ELECTION
2010
Worcester primary voters by ward
State primary turnout
Registered voters
Voter turnout
795,325
1998
871,745
2002
1,024,908
2006
1,012,172
2010
597,204
92,601
Precinct
with highest
turnout
35.13%
3,047,011
1,691
WARD 3
WARD
2
1
1,055
3
9
1,213
WARD 5
WARDWARD
3,314,253
104
26.3%
3,922,412
3,901,393
26.13%
7
WARD
WARD
8
WARD
5
6
4,151,075
14.38%
Source: Secretary of State’s office
T&G Staff/DON LANDGREN JR.
Turn to Campaign fever/Page A10
Precinct
with lowest turnout
3.73%
938
WARD 7
1,717
WARD 8
607
WARD 9
By Gary V. Murray
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER — Three years
after the Worcester Trial Court
officially opened for business at
225 Main St., a custom-built
alcove in the first-floor lobby
remains conspicuously vacant.
The curved stainless steel
railing designed to keep the public at a distance serves no useful
purpose. The two overhead spot-
lights have nothing to illuminate.
The shallow recess in the wall
just inside the front entrance to
the $180 million court complex
was to have been the new home
of the centuries-old Statue of
Justice that once graced the
dome of the old Bulfinch courthouse at the north end of Main
Street. The state Division of
Capital Asset Management
agreed to incorporate the alcove
17.4%
8,368
10,088
28.3%
16.7%
12.0%
14.5%
18.9%
12.4%
7,536
9,823
8,109
Pipeline
safety
at issue
Tougher federal
oversight sought
17.5%
By Joan Lowy
7.5%
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
into the building’s plans for no
other reason than to showcase
the statue.
But the life-size wooden carving remains in disrepair at the
Worcester Historical Museum
on Elm Street, “lying in state,”
in the words of lawyer James D.
O’Brien Jr.
In the spring of 2007, several
months before the new courthouse was scheduled to open,
Mr. O’Brien, a former president
WASHINGTON
—
The
Obama administration called
for tighter federal oversight of
oil and gas pipelines Wednesday
in the wake of a deadly California gas explosion that raised
alarms about the safety of the
nation’s aging
infrastructure.
In the meantime, the head
of the National
Transportation
Safety Board
said the federal
agency responsible for the
regulation is
too accepting of Patrick Daniel
assurances
from industry that its equipment and practices are safe.
Deborah Hersman’s comments echoed what safety advocates have long called for: a pipeline agency that needs to be less
Turn to Statue /Page A8
Turn to Pipelines/Page A7
Ward 10
Precinct 4
10,795
3,087
Source: Worcester Election Commission
T&G Staff/DON LANDGREN JR.
WARD 10
685
‘Lady Justice’ needs a makeover
Fund drive launched for historic statue
8,763
1,904
WARD 6
WARD
25.94%
10,137
WARD 4
WARD
WARD
26.1%
11,513
3,254
WARD 2
WARD
50.23%
3,088,848
16,151
WARD 1
Ward 1
Precinct4
1990
1,551,644
1994
Voter turnout CITY TOTAL
Registered voters
telegram.com/election
7,469
28.6%
9.2%
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DEATHS ................B4
EDITORIALS...........A9
HEALTH ...............A5
HOROSCOPE .........C9
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MEDICAL MEMOS..A5
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Weather
Yesterday’s
question
Friday, September 17, 2010
Your opinion
Today’s
question
Should public
pension benefits
be reduced to
help government
contain costs?
Showers
High 68, Low 53
Page A2
ONLINE
TODAY
Should all the Bush-era
tax cuts be extended? See
story on this page, then go
to telegram.com to vote.
Local
telegram.com
OXFORD
Boy struck by car at bus stop, Page B1
WORCESTER
Our
144th
year
Thursday game action
View our photo gallery of Thursday night high school football
games.
Schools to ask mediator to resolve impasse, Page B1
telegram.com
STURBRIDGE
Backers hope sports site will be a draw, Page B1
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas ...
Erasing Glodis’ name comes at a cost
By Thomas Caywood
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Your opinion
Cast a vote on today’s hot topic.
See today’s poll on
telegram.com homepage
Good night,
sleep tight, don’t pick
the wrong hotel....
See cartoons
commenting on
bed bugs,
charity car
washes and
Worcester tax
revenues
telegramtowns.com
T&G Staff/PAUL KAPTEYN
A Worcester County Sheriff’s Department prisoner van displays
“Sheriff Guy W. Glodis” on the fender.
Couple lived
violent lives
Boyfriend admits choking,
biting girlfriend before death
By Scott J. Croteau
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
4 Fitchburg/Gardner/Leominster/Lunenburg/Westminster
4 Holden/Paxton/Princeton/Rutland
4 Northboro/Shrewsbury/Westboro
4 Douglas/Grafton/Millbury/Northbridge/
Sutton/Uxbridge
4 Worcester
4 Auburn/Charlton/Dudley/Oxford/Webster
4 The Brookfields/Leicester/Southbridge/
Spencer/Sturbridge
4 Clinton/Lancaster/Sterling/Bolton/Berlin (The Item)
4 Boylston/West Boylston (The Banner)
WORCESTER — Struggling to speak, Kristi M. LeClair
begged her longtime boyfriend to stop choking her hours
before paramedics would find her dead Tuesday inside a
West Street apartment.
Court records reveal that Ms. LeClair, 24, was bitten
and strangled by her boyfriend of two years, Jamaal F.
Dottin. It was the latest incident in a string of alleged
escalating assaults by the couple on each other this year.
Mr. Dottin, who lived with Ms. LeClair at 76 West St.,
Apt. 1R, was arraigned yesterday for assault with intent
to murder and domestic assault and battery for allegedly
attacking Ms. LeClair before her death.
The 29-year-old has not been charged with Ms.
LeClair’s slaying, but yesterday authorities said they
anticipate filing a formal charge against him once
Turn to Violent/Page A10
On telegram.com
Most read stories
1. Boyfriend admits to strangling
and biting girlfriend before her
death
2. Abby Kelley student waiting
for school bus hit by car in
Oxford
3. Brady: What’s wrong with our
fans?
4. Bittersweet endings
5. Fire hits Worcester threedecker
6. Foley looks forward to campaign for county sheriff
7. Management cancels nurses
appreciation night
Inside
Today
ENTERTAINMENT
The world in focus
Local photographers contribute
to ‘‘Things we project’’ exhibition. Page B8
MONEY
Transformation
Jobs and new business seen at
site of former furniture maker.
Page B12
T&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR
Jamaal F. Dottin, flanked by a court officer, is arraigned
yesterday in Central District Court.
Lamb: Debts a
time of learning
By Priyanka Dayal
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Martin A. Lamb of Holliston, the GOP
candidate for Congress promoting fiscal
responsibility, filed for personal bankruptcy in 1999 and was cleared of more
than $226,000 in credit card debt.
Mr. Lamb, who at the time had $18,000
in assets, owed thousands of dollars to
dozens of different banks and credit pro- Mr. Lamb
viders, according to court records
obtained by the Telegram & Gazette that detail his case in
U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Worcester. His credit card
debts ranged from $1,800 on a Bank One card to more than
$17,000 on an American Express account. He also owed
There will be a new sheriff in
town come January, but the old
one’s name remains plastered
across scores of Worcester
County Sheriff’s Department
cruisers, SUVs, prisoner transport vans and even the $500,000
mobile command center.
Peeling and scraping Worcester County Sheriff Guy W. Glodis’ name off fenders and doors
letter-by-letter could cost taxpayers roughly $50 per name,
depending on how easily the
vinyl letters come off and how
much glue residue is left
behind, said experts at area
sign shops.
One local sign shop owner
warned that Glodis’ name
might remain “ghosted” on the
vehicles long after his six-year
term ends because the paint under the letters won’t have faded
in the sunlight like the surrounding paint.
The three candidates vying to
succeed Mr. Glodis as sheriff in
the general election said they
would not follow the current
sheriff’s practice.
“I have no intention of putting my name all over the equipment. The Sheriff’s Department
is not about me. It’s about the
men and women who work
there,” said independent candidate Keith E. Nicholas. “He
used it as publicity, to make it
about him, so Guy Glodis would
be associated with the Sheriff’s
Department.”
Mr. Nicholas said that he sees
Turn to Glodis/Page A8
TAX CUT BATTLE
Expiring
tax cuts
hit all
Taxpayers at every level
may have to pay more
By Stephen Ohlemacher
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Here’s some pressure for
lawmakers: If they don’t reach agreement on
extending soon-to-expire Bush-era tax cuts,
nearly all their constituents back home will get
big tax increases.
A typical family of four with a household
income of $50,000 a year would have to pay $2,900
more in taxes in 2011,
according to a new analysis
by Deloitte Tax LLP, a tax 5 The people speak:
consulting firm. The same Latest poll results on
family making $100,000 a tax cuts, Page A7
year would see its taxes rise
by $4,500.
Wealthier families face even bigger tax hikes.
A family of four making $500,000 a year would
pay $10,800 more in taxes. The same family making $1 million a year would get a tax increase of
$52,300.
The estimates are based on total household
income, including wages, capital gains and qualified dividends. The estimated tax bills take into
account typical deductions at each income level.
Democrats have been arguing for much of the
Turn to Tax cuts /Page A7
Tax cuts
Tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 are due to expire in
January, unless Congress acts. Below are the tax increases
people at different income levels would face if all the tax cuts
expire, and under President Barack Obama’s plan.
Household
All cuts
Obama
Filing Status
Income
expire
budget
Single, no children
$50,000
$1,100
0
Married, 2 children
$50,000
$2,900
0
Single, no children
$100,000
$2,100
0
Married, 2 children
$100,000
$4,500
0
Single, no children
$325,000
$6,600
$6,600
Married, 2 children
$325,000
$7,400
$5,400
Single, no children $1,000,000
$48,500
$54,200
Married, 2 children $1,000,000
$53,200
$56,300
Single, no children $5,000,000
$271,700 $323,500
Married, 2 children $5,000,000
$276,400 $325,600
Source: Deloitte Tax LLP.
T&G Staff/STACEY ARSENAULT
House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio
Turn to Lamb/Page A7
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ANNIE’S MAILBOX..C8
BRIDGE .................C9
CLASSIFIED...........C8
COMICS ................C6
CROSSWORD .........C6
DEATHS................B6
EDITORIALS...........A7
ENTERTAINMENT ..B8
HOROSCOPE .........C9
LOTTERIES ...........A2
MONEY ...............B12
NATION/WORLD....A3
STOCKS..............B13
TELEVISION..........C5
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tips Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home
delivery Phone: (508) 791-4600
Weather
Yesterday’s
question
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Your opinion
Today’s
question
Should the Bushera tax cuts be
extended?
Mostly sunny
Should the underground
tank tax be restricted to its
original purpose? See the
story on this page, then go
to telegram.com to vote.
High 69, Low 55
Page A2
ONLINE
TODAY
Local
FITCHBURG
telegram.com
Woman bags 1,000-pound gator, Page A3
WORCESTER
Our
144th
year
Mother wants to retract confession, Page A3
telegram.com
ATHOL
Man’s death ruled suicide drowning, Page A3
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
Gas taxes
not going
into tanks
Under the lights
View our photo gallery for Friday
night football games with St.
Peter-Marian at Wachusett and
Clinton at Nashoba.
State siphons off
funds for cleanup
By Lyle Moran
Flicks picks
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Before heading out to the
movies, check out what’s playing in Central Mass. See link from
home page.
T&G Staff/TOM RETTIG
Massachusetts Teacher of the Year Floris Wilma Ortiz-Marrero is recognized yesterday at the statewide Latino public
policy conference at the DCU Center in Worcester. She is a teacher at Amherst Regional Middle School.
Beetle battle
The region’s encounter with the
Asian Longhorned Beetle is told
through the T&G’s coverage at
www.telegram.com/section/asianbeetle.
Inside
Today
STATE NEWS
SJC rules on GPS
Court says no GPS for sex offenders unless they violate conditions of probation. Page A10
WORLD NEWS
Dangerous voting
Taliban threaten attacks to disrupt parliamentary elections in
Afghanistan. Page A12
ROTMANS
CARPET &
FLOORING
Dividends for
the future
Report: Educating Latinos
like putting money in bank
By Jacqueline Reis
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER — Here are a few
facts about Worcester’s Latinos:
They’re young, many don’t have
much money, and they’re more
likely to drop out of school than they
are to get a bachelor’s degree.
It’s a pretty grim picture, but the
researchers who put the data
together look at it this way: education will be the key to everything
from better jobs to better health,
and given the state’s aging population and the fact that the state will
need a strong work force, spending
money on Latino education is like
putting money in a bank.
“Investment in the education and
training of younger generations of
Latinos will be a kind of bank account that will pay long-term dividends, as their participation in the
workforce will be likely to support
older generations of residents of the
state in the near future,” its authors
write.
The Mauricio Gastón Institute for
Latino Community Development
and Public Policy at the University
of Massachusetts at Boston released
the data yesterday as part of its
statewide public policy conference,
called “Securing the Dream”, at the
DCU Center. Speakers included
Gov. Deval L. Patrick, who told the
crowd he believes in governing
from a core of values, whether the
issue is education gaps or immigration. He remembered, for instance,
the humiliation he felt as a black
student at Milton Academy when
police officers questioned him on
his way to the convenience store. He
said he would never sign an Ari-
Sq. Ft.
2 1/4” Wide
3/4” Thick
T&G Staff/CHRISTINE PETERSON
3
$ 99
Sq.Ft.
Asian
Black
3.9%
7.8%
Latino
22.3%
Latino population by origin
Turn to Gas taxes/Page A7
Other Latino
Mexican
6.5%
5.4%
Brazilian*
11%
Puerto Rican
Salvadoran
51.1%
11.2%
Dominican
14.8%
*Most Brazilians in the survey did not
identify themselves as Latino. Whenever
the catagory “Brazilian” appears in one
of the figures, it includes all Brazilians,
but the catagory “Latino” includes only
those Brazilians who self-identified as
Latino.
Source: The Mauricio Gastón Institute for
Latino Community Development and
Public Policy
T&G Staff
Turn to Latinos/Page A7
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Carpet
$ 75 and
Pad
SOLID OAK
63.8%
2.2%
By Jim Kuhnhenn
“Checkpoint”
Hardwood
Flooring
White
Other Race
T&G File Photo/RICK CINCLAIR
One of two underground fuel storage tanks is
removed from a former gas station in Ashburnham
in August 2006.
Warren set to shape agency
Natty dog
STAINMASTER
SAXONY
1
Ethnic population
in Worcester
BOSTON — Massachusetts drivers are paying
an extra 2.5 cents tax on every gallon of gasoline
they buy to support an underground storage tank
cleanup fund, but more than half of the $75 million it generates each year is being diverted by
state lawmakers to other programs.
The practice has created a backlog of more than
1,700 claims from gas station owners and other
fuel tank owners awaiting reimbursement for
cleanup work they’ve already done. And it has
prompted other owners to delay tapping the fund
for its stated purpose: rectifying potential environmental hazards.
Barbara Anderson, co-founder of Citizens for
Limited Taxation, said the diversion is another
example of legislators using bait-and-switch tactics to misspend taxpayer money.
“The Legislature tricks everybody into supporting the tax and spends the money on what
they want to spend it on,” Anderson said. “They
are laughing at us all as they do it.”
The practice, which is legal, isn’t used just with
the underground tank tax, especially as the
national recession has choked off receipts from
income and sales taxes.
Legislators in Massachusetts and across the
country have diverted large amounts of a $250
billion tobacco industry settlement from 1998 to
programs unrelated to health. In Massachusetts,
they also sweep all unclaimed 5-cent bottle depos-
WORCESTER — Richard Donald trims
Chewy, a 5-month-old mixed breed, at Lake
Avenue Park on Wednesday. Mr. Donald
was training Chewy to remain still during
grooming.
WASHINGTON — In a poke in the
eye to the financial community, President Barack Obama yesterday named
Elizabeth Warren, an aggressive consumer advocate and Wall Street adversary, to oversee creation of a new
agency to regulate banks, lenders and
credit card companies.
Sidestepping a Senate confirmation
fight — for now — Obama stopped
short of nominating Warren to
actually head the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Instead,
his action will let the Harvard Law
See design associate
for details regarding
Cabot House Gift Card*
School professor and
expert on bankruptcy
move quickly to shape
the bureau.
Senate Republicans
view her as too critical of Wall Street and
big banks. The business and banking
community opposed
Warren
Warren as director of
the new bureau, contending she would
make the agency too aggressive.
Obama praised her highly.
“Never again will folks be confused
or misled by pages of barely understandable fine print that you find in
agreements for credit cards or mortgages or student loans,” Obama said,
standing alongside Warren and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in
the White House Rose Garden.
“Elizabeth understands what I
strongly believe: that a strong, growing economy begins with a strong and
thriving middle class,” the president
said. “And that means every American has to get a fair shake in their
financial dealings.”
Billed as a big help to abused consumers, the new bureau is charged
with writing and enforcing new rules
Turn to Consumer/Page A7
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ONLINE
TODAY
Yesterday’s
question
September 19, 2010
SAVE
more than
$70.05
coupons inside
No, there may
be other needs
Your opinion
9.8%
Should the underground tank tax be
restricted to its
original purpose?
Today’s
question
Are you going to participate in the Rx Drug TakeBack Day? See story below
and vote on telegram.com.
Yes, old tanks
are dangerous
90.2%
Local stories
telegram.com
WORCESTER
Our
144th
year
Correction officer’s lawsuit alleges retaliation,
Page B1
telegram.com
WORCESTER
Kyrgyzstan native gets rehab for stroke, Page B1
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$2.50
...
$3.00 in Coastal New England areas
The X
factor
Nov. 2
Mushroom delights
The fourth annual Fungus Fair in
Athol Saturday attracted more
than 150 mycologists and mushroom lovers from coast to coast.
See the slide show
on telegram.com.
ELECTION
2010
Many voters
disillusioned
telegram.com/election
44 days to go
Your vote will count Nov. 2.
Keep up with the latest
developments in the local
election scene by checking out
telegram.com each day.
By Julie Hirschfeld Davis
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
T&G Staff PHOTOS/JIM COLLINS
Todd Ugine, Cornell University entomology researcher, checks fungal bands on streets in back of Salem Covenant
Church on East Mountain Street.
stART on
the Street
Researchers keep looking
for ways to protect trees
By Lisa Eckelbecker
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Worcester’s fast-growing free
annual arts festival opens at 11
a.m. today with demonstrations,
items for sale, musicians, food
and more. See video online for a
preview of what to expect.
For any Asian longhorned beetles wandering across
certain Central Massachusetts trees this summer, one
false step could be fatal.
Researchers from Cornell University have wrapped
cloth bands coated with soil fungus around more than
100 trees in an effort to find out whether the
bands might help control infestation by
fatally infecting those insects that trot
across the spores.
There’s no guarantee the research will
lead to commercial products, but fungal
bands are already used in orchards in Japan
and forests in China to control longhorned
beetles. Cornell entomology professor Ann E.
Hajek said that paired with scents that draw in insects, the
bands might have a role in controlling Asian longhorned
beetles in certain areas.
“I definitely think this is something that could be used by
homeowners,” Ms. Hajek said. “I could see these bands
being used in parks or in high-value trees, along with
attractants to bring the beetles to make sure they get
Precisely-sized snips of fungal bands are put in
containers to take back to Cornell, where they will
be tested to see how many of the spores remain
viable since the bands were installed.
ALB eradication program
Worcester County
since August 2008
Trees surveyed
531,892
Infested trees removed
17,954
Other trees removed
10,250
Size of regulated zone 76 sq. miles
Suffolk, Norfolk counties
since July 2010
24,602
6
0
9.6 sq. miles
Source: Massachusetts Asian Longhorned Beetle Cooperative
Eradication Program
T&G Staff/STACEY ARSENAULT
Turn to Beetle/Page A10
Let the battle begin
Civil War re-enactors representing Union soldiers of New
England and the Confederate
Army of Northern Virginia are
meeting over the weekend in
Rutland and spectators are getting an idea of what the war was
like. The event continues today,
with the grounds opening at 9
a.m. and a battle scheduled for 1
p.m. Watch the video
on telegram.com.
ROTMANS
STAINMASTER SAXONY
“Checkpoint”
1
Carpet
$ 75 and
Pad
T&G Staff/JIM COLLINS
Matthew C. Murphy, assistant DEA special
agent, at Park Avenue Pharmacy.
Election
amid fear
More fraud possible
in Afghan voting
Drop-off aims at prescription drugs
It’s their unused, unwanted and
probably forgotten prescription
medications. And there’s a police
department nearby willing to take
them off their hands Saturday.
So far, 110 police departments in
Massachusetts
have
joined
more than 3,400
law
enforcement agencies
across the counPAGE A10
try in the DEA’s
first national Prescription Drug
Take-Back Day, according to Matthew C. Murphy, assistant special
agent in charge of the DEA’s New
England Field Division.
KABUL, Afghanistan — Despite Taliban
rocket strikes and bombings, Afghans voted
for a new parliament, the first election since a
fraud-marred presidential ballot last year cast
doubt on the legitimacy of the embattled government.
As officials tally votes over the next few
days, the real test begins: Afghans will have to
decide whether to accept the results as legitimate, despite a modest turnout and early evidence of fraud.
The Taliban had pledged to disrupt the vote
and launched attacks starting with a rocket
fired into the capital before dawn Saturday.
The insurgent group followed with a series of
morning rocket strikes that hit major cities
just as people were going to the polls — or were
weighing whether to risk it.
At least 11 civilians and three police officers
were killed, according to the Interior Ministry. The governor of Kandahar province sur-
Turn to Prescriptions/Page A10
Turn to Afghanistan/Page A8
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
See our ad for details.
Turn to Voters/Page A6
DEA sees danger
in medicine chest
By Lee Hammel
Lock in a low
price for 2 years.
DREXEL HILL, Pa. — Victoria Newman is a
proud Democrat who says that when she voted for Barack Obama in 2008, it was the most
excited she’d been about politics in all her 58
years. But now, Democrats grasping to keep
control of Congress will have to do without
her.
Newman says she’s planning to stay home
on Election Day.
As she pays for a package of corn muffins at
a grocery store, Newman, a retired state employee who’s black, sums up her feelings
about voting in November’s congressional
elections with a dismissive flick of her wrist.
To retain House control, Democrats must
find a way to reactivate core supporters and
re-energize the independent and new voters
who handed Obama the White House and
swept Democrats into office.
It’s a tall order in dozens of competitive
districts where enthusiasm for the president
is at a low; even some of his strongest backers
aren’t motivated to go to the polls.
The challenge is boosting Republicans’
hopes of winning the 40 seats they need to
seize the House in a year when a sagging
economy and disillusionment with Obama
have created a grim outlook for the majority
party.
National surveys show Republicans are far
For folks used to hauling out of
their garage sludgy 10W-30 oil
they’ve drained from the family
Ford to the local hazardous waste
day site, the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration says there’s a lot
more dangerous stuff they should be
cleaning out of the house.
It’s probably in the medicine cabinet or stashed near the towels in the
linen closet.
It’s the cough medicine that got
them through the flu six years ago or
the pain killer that quieted the
throbbing after they needed stitches
to close that nasty gash right after
Bill Clinton defeated Robert Dole.
5 A list of sites
for Prescription
Drug Take-Back
Day,
By Heidi Vogt
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Monday, September 20, 2010
Are you going to
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Sunny, breezy
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Page A2
ONLINE
TODAY
Yes. I want the
old meds out
of the house
No, I might
need them
Your opinion
32.8%
Today’s
question
How likely are you to
examine the Worcester
municipal check register
online? See story on
this page, then go to
telegram.com to vote.
67.2%
Local
REGION
telegram.com
McKenna, Coakley gird for showdown, Page B1
WORCESTER
State to auction off old courthouse, Page B1
telegram.com
Our
144th
year
PRINCETON
Volunteers refurbishing Frisbee course, Page B8
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
Iranian
leader to
visit UN
Right in step
Marchers joined in the 350th
Quaboag Plantation Parade in
West Brookfield.
See our photo gallery
Ahmadinejad
touts the future
Gridiron greats
Another big win for St. John’s
High School football squad.
See our photo gallery
By John Daniszewski
and Edith M. Lederer
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photos/JOHN FERRARONE
Police estimate some 40,000 people visited exhibits yesterday at the stART on the Street festival on Park Avenue.
A taste of Brazil
The Brazilian Expo of New
England was held at the DCU
Center exhibition hall.
See our photo gallery
On telegram.com
Most read stories
1. Man challenging constitutionality of gun permit revocation
2. Correction officer brings lawsuit
3. Prescription drugs drop-off
4. Making your phone a football
machine
5. Millbury man killed when car
hits utility pole
6. Golf: Fran Quinn on road to
recovery
7. Beetle band aid
8. Patriots vs. Jets: Battle of
loud vs. proud
9. Millbury man killed in car
crash
Inside
Today
SPORTS
ART stART
40,000
drawn
to annual
outdoor
arts festival
NEW YORK — Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said Sunday that “the future
belongs to Iran,” and challenged the United States to
accept that his country has
a major role in the world.
The comments came in
an hourlong interview
with The Associated Press
on the first day of his visit
to the United States to attend the annual general
assembly of the United
Nations this week.
He insisted that his government does not want an
atomic bomb — something Ahmadinejad
he has said in the past —
and that Iran is only seeking peace and a nuclear- 5 No spying: Freed
weapons-free world. He woman hiker says
repeatedly sidestepped there was no spying,
questions on when Iran Page A4
would resume talks on its
disputed nuclear program,
and he said anti-nuclear sanctions against his
government would have no effect.
Appearing calm and self-assured on his seventh trip to the United States, the Iranian
president showed every sign of being in command of himself and prepared to deflect questions about his government’s harsh suppres-
By Nancy Sheehan
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Some 40,000 people took stART to heART yesterday.
The eighth stART on the Street, already the city’s largest
outdoor arts festival, was bigger than ever this
year as people packed a closed down section of
Park Avenue between Pleasant and Highland
streets. The main attraction was about 250 artists
and crafters selling their handmade work and
also included musicians and other performers,
local food vendors and kids’ activities.
“Last year it was about 30,000, but I would say
this year probably closer to 40,000 people have
telegram.com
been through here — or will be,” Sgt. Andrew
Avedian of the Worcester Police Department said
at about 3:30 p.m. What’s the big draw? “It’s just an outstanding event,” he said. ‘It’s one of the best things that
happens in the city.”
Slid h
Slideshow
and video
online
Turn to stART/Page A6
Above, Joshua
Swalec of Ferromorphics
Blacksmithing
directs his
apprentice,
Melissa Grandmaison of Worcester, to hammer a design
into a leaf they
are hand-forging. At left,
Maureen Fleming of Lonach
Farm in Milton,
N.H., spins
some wool
from her farm.
Turn to Ahmadinejad /Page A4
Spending
to go public
City’s check register
to be posted online
By Nick Kotsopoulos
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Errors beget errors
N.E. Patriots lose their momentum, and the Jets end up with a
28-14 win. Page C1
MONEY
More people voting early
Candidates try to map out
winnable election strategies
The master of suds
Go On The Job with Dave
Howard, the brewmaster for
Wachusett Brewing Co.
Page B7
ANNIE’S MAILBOX ..C8
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, left, casts his early vote
for the state’s primary election in Baltimore, as his
official photographer Jay Baker takes photographs.
WASHINGTON — Candidates of all political stripes are
latching on to the tantalizing reality that a huge — and growing
— chunk of voters casts ballots well ahead of Election Day.
They know it’s big. They know it requires different campaign strategies. They just don’t agree on how to do it.
Some are spending more money earlier. Others are trying to
gradually dole out their stash of cash.
Some are courting loyal supporters first. Others are trying to
lock in unreliable voters.
Some are rushing out ads. Others are pumping up early
phone contacts.
Whatever the strategy, more candidates are keenly aware
their campaigns must have a smart early-vote program.
“If they don’t, the manager should be sued for malpractice,”
says Dave Boomer, campaign manager for Rep. Lee Terry, a
Nebraska Republican in a competitive race this fall.
More people, too, are figuring out that early voting has
benefits for them beyond the convenience of voting at the time
Turn to Early voting/Page A6
WORCESTER — In an unprecedented move,
the city will soon post its check register online,
giving the public more of an opportunity to see
how local tax dollars are being spent.
City Manager Michael V. O’Brien said the
online check register will be available for public
viewing on the city’s website (www.worcesterma.gov) beginning next month.
He said residents will be able
to search the register by vendor
name, account type, or check
date range.
Mr. O’Brien said Worcester
will become the first municipality in the state to post its
check register online.
Results will display a check
number, date of check
issuance,
vendor
name,
Mr. O’Brien
amount and account description, he said.
Payment history would be displayed for 180
days.
Councilor-at-Large Konstantina B. Lukes has
been pushing for this as a way to increase transparency on how local tax dollars are spent.
“I want to recognize the leadership of the City
Council for bringing forth this request, as well
as the city’s Technical Services Division and the
Turn to Check/Page A6
Weather
Yesterday’s
question
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
How likely are
you to examine
the Worcester
municipal check
register online?
Sunny
High 67, Low 55
Page A2
Your opinion
Unlikely.
Who has
the time?
57.6%
Very likely.
It’s great
information.
42.4%
ONLINE
TODAY
Registration is easy. Go to
upper right corner of
Today’s
question
Do you support the GOP’s
effort to repeal all or part of
the health care law?
See story on this page,
then go to
telegram.com to vote.
Local
telegram.com
WORCESTER
‘Anti-snob’ law said to be good for city, Page B1
Our
144th
year
Moving the mussels
See our photo gallery of
the mussel-moving project under way on the French
River in Webster.
telegram.com
Reporter
Shaun Sutner
keeps you in
the know with
his daily blog
on campaign
politics.
www.telegram.com/
electionnet
Man admits to large weapons cache, Page B1
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
Four to spar in gubernatorial debate tonight
Televised showdown with a live audience
ELECTION
2010
By John J. Monahan
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
ElectionNet
AUBURN
telegram.com/election
BOSTON — With more people relying
on news websites, blogs, talk radio and
paid ads for their information, it may
seem that televised debates are not as
important as they once were in political
campaigns.
But don’t tell that to U.S. Sen. Scott
Brown, whose come-from-behind victory
seemed to turn on one now-memorable
line delivered in a live televised debate
Jan. 11, when he said, “With all due re-
spect it’s not the Kennedys’ seat. It’s not
the Democrats’ seat. It’s the people’s
seat.”
And with that in mind, all four gubernatorial candidates will be looking to
spark their campaigns tonight in the first
post-primary live television debate in the
final phase of the campaigns.
There have been several radio and one
studio TV debate earlier in the race, but
Mr. Patrick
each successive debate becomes more
important in a statewide election campaign, officials said.
“With 43 days left, a lot more people are
tuning in and it is a good opportunity for
people to pop on the TV and kick the tires,”
Join
T&G
reporter Rich
Garven today at
1 p.m. for a live
online chat
about the Patriots, their recent
loss to the Jets and many
other hot football topics.
On telegram.com
Most read stories
1. Man challenging constitutionality of gun permit revocation
2. State to auction old courthouse
3. Courthouse records
4. City offers tough love to
teachers
5. Busy street
6. On the job
7. Correction officer brings lawsuit
8. McKenna, Coakley gird for
November showdown
9. Traffic report: Slow-going on
290, 190
India to Worcester
Oscar-winning composer is
bringing his tour to the DCU
Center. Page B6
ANNIE’S MAILBOX ...C8
BRIDGE ..................C9
CLASSIFIED ............C8
COMICS..................C6
CROSSWORD ..........C6
DEATHS .................B4
EDITORIALS ............A7
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HOROSCOPE ..........C9
LOTTERIES............A2
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STOCKS ................B9
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said Rick Gorka, spokesman for Republican Charles D. Baker Jr.’s campaign.
“There are a lot of folks who still don’t
know who Charlie is,” and debates offer
Turn to Debate/Page A6
Tactic is to withhold
administrative funds
By Robert Pear
THE NEW YORK TIMES
billion.
Netezza, whose appliances are used
by a variety of businesses to analyze
large volumes of data, was founded in
2000, and went public three years ago at
$12 per share — less than half the $27 per
share now being offered by IBM, based
in Armonk, N.Y. The offer represents a
nearly 11 percent premium on Netezza’s
Friday closing price of $24.60
The sale, slated for completion in the
fourth quarter of this year, is subject to
WASHINGTON — Republicans are serious. Hopeful of picking up substantial numbers of seats in the
congressional elections, they are developing plans to
try to repeal or roll back President Barack Obama’s
new health care law.
This goal, although not fleshed
out in a detailed legislative proposal, is much more than a cam- 5 New plan: GOP
paign slogan. That conclusion will unveil new
emerged from interviews with a election-year agenda
range of Republican lawmakers, Thursday, Page A4
who said they were determined
to chip away at the law if they
could not dismantle it.
House Republicans are expected to include some
specifics in an election agenda they intend to issue
Thursday. Although they face tremendous political
and practical hurdles to undoing a law whose provisions are rapidly going into effect, they are laying the
groundwork for trying.
For starters, Republicans say they will try to withhold money that federal officials need to administer
and enforce the law. They know that even if they
managed to pass a wholesale repeal, Obama would
veto it.
“They’ll get not one dime from us,” the House
Republican leader, U.S. Sen. John A. Boehner of
Ohio, told The Cincinnati Enquirer recently. “Not a
dime. There is no fixing this.”
Republicans also intend to go after specific provisions. U.S. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, a senior
Republican on the Finance Committee, has introduced a bill that would eliminate a linchpin of the
Turn to Netezza/Page A5
Turn to Repeal/Page A4
T&G Staff/TOM RETTIG
WESTMINSTER — Joe Werner of Westminster drives a load of firewood down Baker’s Grove Road to his house
yesterday, stocking up for colder weather. He heats his home primarily with firewood.
ENTERTAINMENT
Ms. Stein
GOP seeks
to repeal,
hamstring
health law
Getting ready for winter
Pats chat at 1 p.m.
Inside
Today
Mr. Cahill
Mr. Baker
IBM to buy Netezza for $1.7B
Big win for Marlboro technology firm
By Martin Luttrell
Netezza
Corp.
Headquarters: Marlboro
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Products: Data warehousing appliances
for business intelligence
Formed: 2000
Employees: 425
Revenues for fiscal 2010: $223 million
Net income: $9.6 million
Stock symbol: NZ
Source: Netezza Corp.
T&G Staff
MARLBORO — For the second time
this year, a Marlboro technology firm has
become the acquisition target of a major
U.S. computer and information technology company. International Business
Machines Corp. announced yesterday
that it would buy data warehousing
appliance maker Netezza Corp. for $1.7
Clark will pay city $6.7 million
University giving $262,000 annually for library, Main South
By Nick Kotsopoulos
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
News e-mail: [email protected]
tips Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home
delivery Phone: (508) 791-4600
T&G Staff/CHRISTINE PETERSON
City Manager Michael V. O’Brien and Clark President David P. Angel
are seen at Clark to announce the PILOT.
WORCESTER — Clark University has become the third
local private college to step up
and agree to make annual payments to the city in lieu of property taxes.
Clark President David P.
Angel and City Manager
Michael V. O’Brien announced
the agreement yesterday, hailing it as a new chapter in the
college’s longstanding partnership with the city in addressing
mutual goals.
Upon full implementation of
the 20-year voluntary Payment
in Lieu of Taxes agreement,
Clark will make annual payments of about $262,000. That
amount will increase by 2.5 percent annually over the term of
the agreement.
Clark’s overall payments to
the city will total more than $6.7
million over 20 years.
The money will be used to
directly support the Worcester
Public Library and enhancements to the Main South neighborhood, including public
safety
and
much-needed
improvements to University
(Crystal) Park.
Mr. Angel and Mr. O’Brien
said the agreement also forges a
partnership to improve public
safety and the continuity of the
Clark campus.
The college and city will be
cooperatively pursuing the necessary approvals to discontinue
a short section of Downing
Street that runs through the
Clark campus — from Florence
Street to Woodland Street — to
create a pedestrian plaza for
Turn to Clark /Page A5
Weather
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Yesterday’s
question
Your opinion
Today’s
question
Do you support
the GOP’s effort to
repeal all or part of
the health care law?
A nice day
High 80, Low 61
Could you get through the
day without a computer and
other personal electronic
devices? See the story on
this page, then go to telegram.com to vote.
Page A2
ONLINE
TODAY
Local
Registration is easy. Go to
upper right corner of
LANCASTER
telegram.com
Atlantic Union losing its accreditation Page B1
WORCESTER
Our
144th
year
Fire on Vernon Hill
A two-alarm fire heavily
damages a three-decker
on Lund Street, displacing six
adults and six children.
See the video at telegram.com
telegram.com
CSX petitions put on hold, Page B1
DUDLEY
Driver re-sentenced in double fatality, Page B1
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
Finance
rules
ignored
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
ELECTION
2010
telegram.com/election
GOP’s McKenna
will refile reports
By Glen Johnson
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Order in the court
When it comes to counting
clicks, one of telegram.com’s
most popular features is courthouse records.
www.telegram.com/
courtrecords
Out sister site, MassMoms, lets
you know that you’re not alone.
Inside
Today
THE NATION
BOSTON — The former prosecutor
who shocked even the Massachusetts
Republican Party by winning a
write-in bid to be his party’s nominee
for attorney general did so, in part,
with a race that skirted state campaign finance laws.
State campaign
finance
records
show
James
McKenna of Millbury spent less than
$1,600 in succeeding
to become, apparently, the first candidate in state political
history to win a
statewide nominaMr. McKenna tion via a write-in
campaign.
He will be on the Nov. 2 general
election ballot against Martha Coakley. She was derided by Democrats
across the country in January after
she surrendered her party’s traditional advantage in the state and lost
to Republican Scott Brown in the special election to succeed the late Sen.
Edward M. Kennedy.
Yet in an interview with The AssoTurn to McKenna /Page A6
Tuesdays
turn back
the clock
One day a week,
school bans high tech
By Bradford L. Miner
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CNN reporter John King, center, explains the rules to Democrat Gov. Deval L. Patrick, left, independent Timothy P. Cahill,
Republican Charles D. Baker and Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein before last night’s debate.
Candidates unleashed
No punches pulled in debate
By John J. Monahan
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
In their most contentious confrontation to date, the three leading candidates for governor threw pointed criticisms and accusations at one another
over taxes, spending cuts, the Big Dig,
school standards and the economy in a
televised debate last night.
Throughout the one-hour debate, Republican Charles D. Baker attacked
Democrat Deval L. Patrick for raising
taxes and not cutting spending enough,
while admonishing independent Timothy P. Cahill, the state treasurer, for
not speaking out against the governor’s
fiscal policies.
But Mr. Cahill swung back, accusing
Mr. Baker of lying in ads that blamed
him for tax hikes, even though he had no
say on them as treasurer.
He also criticized Mr. Baker for tax
hikes when he was a Swampscott selectman and health insurance rate hikes
when he was head of Harvard Pilgrim
Health Care.
For his part Mr. Patrick, the incum-
Asian longhorned beetle battleground
Regulated area as of Sept. 21
Regulated area as of Feb. 22
Additional land added to ALB regulated zone
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’
Senate Republicans block effort
by Democrats and the White
House to lift the ban on gays
from serving openly in the military. Page A3
BOYLSTON
HOLDEN
Borders expand
in beetle fight
By Steven H. Foskett Jr.
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Additional discoveries of
trees infested with the Asian
longhorned beetle have
prompted state and federal officials to expand
once again the regulated area that delineates the presence of the
invasive species in the
area.
The state Department of
Conservation and Recreation
yesterday announced that
more trees infested with the
tree-boring beetle have been
found in Boylston and Holden, forcing the expansion of
Y
WORCESTER
GRAFTON
AUBURN
Source: USDA
MILLBURY
Starting at
299
WESTBORO • 272 Turnpike Rd. RT. 9 East • 508-366-9595
the area in those towns. That
expands the regulated area by
18 square miles, creating a
federal and state quarantine
zone that is now 94 square
miles. In addition to
part of Holden and
Boylston, the regulated
area includes Worcester and West Boylston
and parts of Shrewsbury.
According to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture,
the most recent detections
were on Monday and yesterday in West Boylston, at
Shrewsbury and Hartwell
Turn to Beetle/Page A5
T&G Staff
CLEARANCE! LEATHER CHAIRS
$
Turn to Debate/Page A5
More infested trees discovered;
periphery widens in area towns
BUR
Turn to No-Tech/Page A5
Wachusett
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WOODSTOCK — Most mornings,
the computer lab in Annhurst Hall
has standing room only, according to
Hyde School senior Caitlyn Colley.
Yesterday, the room was empty.
The screens were dark.
It must be Tuesday.
In simplest terms, No-Tech Tuesdays mean just that, according to
Miss Colley and fellow seniors Hope
Eldridge and Rudwan Bakhsh.
Drawing a line of demarcation at
the year 1980, anything in use before
that date is still allowed on No-Tech
Tuesdays. Any technology developed since is not.
Laura Gauld, head of the school,
said the monthlong experiment is
meant to re-explore human interaction, as well as understanding the
role technology plays in the daily life
of Hyde School. The idea had its
skeptics when first proposed at a
school meeting.
“It may well be harder for some
faculty members than for students,”
she said, admitting that she had
neglected to leave her BlackBerry at
bent, challenged the Republican for a
lack of oversight of the Big Dig as the
state’s finance chief at a time when massive project cost overruns were being
covered up, leading to steep turnpike
toll and MBTA fare hikes.
Mr. Patrick fended off a barrage of
criticism, citing actions to cut thousands of state jobs and curb spending
while protecting health care subsidies
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DEATHS.................B4
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News e-mail: [email protected]
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Home
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Weather
Yesterday’s
question
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Could you get
through the day
without a computer
and other personal
electronic devices?
Partly sunny
High 73, Low 61
Page A2
ONLINE
TODAY
Your opinion
Yes, but
In a heartbeat. it would be hard.
38.2%
39.6%
No, I’m
too wired.
22.2%
Today’s question
Are you worried about
consuming genetically engineered food? See the story on
this page, then go to telegram.com to vote.
Local
Registration is easy. Go to
upper right corner of
GARDNER
telegram.com
Mother’s trial gets under way, Page B1
WORCESTER
Manet at the WAM
"The Dead Torreador"
arrives at the Worcester
Art Museum in an exchange
that sent "The Brooding
Woman" to the Tate Modern in
London.
GO! video
City and manager agree on contract, Page B1
telegram.com
Our
144th
year
PHILLIPSTON
Voters reject housing on Town Common, Page B1
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
Boone sees progress and hope for city schools
‘
Worcester
public schools
will be a part
of this
renaissance.
‚
MELINDA J. BOONE
SUPERINTENDENT OF
SCHOOLS
By Steven H. Foskett Jr.
said. And in the face of many
obstacles to student achievement — from family poverty to
language barriers — the district
must continue to strive, she said.
“Whatever the perceived challenge, we do not have an option
to lower our heads, bemoan our
circumstances, and say we could
if the sun, the moon and stars
aligned,” Ms. Boone said. “Wishing for results and perfect circumstances won’t accomplish
expectations, but focus, align-
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER — Touting
gains and acknowledging challenges, Superintendent Melinda
J. Boone used her first “State of
the Schools” address at Worcester Technical High School last
night to lay out her vision for the
city’s schools.
Public education must compete to retain its market share of
student enrollment, Ms. Boone
ment, coherence and accountability will.”
Ms. Boone touched on some of
that accountability when she
highlighted positive results
gleaned from recently released
Massachusetts Comprehensive
Assessment System testing
results.
For the first time since 2002,
the district this year saw a
double-digit increase in the perTurn to City schools/Page A11
JOHN FERRARONE
Pretty and gritty
Seven local artists capture the pretty and gritty
sides of Worcester in
"Paint the Town," opening
tomorrow at the Print and the
Potter Gallery on Highland
Street.
T&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR
These acorns from a yard in Ashburnham are typical of this year’s
crop.
Acorns
usher in
autumn
Your opinion
Cast a vote on today’s hot topic.
See today’s poll on
telegram.com home page
Inside
Today
By Bill Fortier
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
SPORTS
File Photos/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pelting people and cars like
stones, big and abundant acorns
are falling with a loud thud this
year.
“This is what our arborists
call a big mast year for acorns,”
said Wendy Fox, press secretary
for the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Today is the first day of fall,
and for many people that means
pumpkins, apples and the
changing colors of leaves.
Cooler weather is surely on the
way, but yesterday the region
was treated to temperatures
reaching into the 80s, and
tomorrow the mercury may be
pushing 90 degrees.
However, the buzz this season
A cow with an ear tag eats on a government farm in Nova Canaa do Norte, Brazil, where the growing of crops, cattle and timber are
integrated in an attempt to protect the Amazon from deforestation..
Food tinkering
Some urge caution
By Seth Borenstein
and Malcolm Ritter
Faulk out for season
Patriots running back and team
captain Kevin Faulk is officially
out for the season after tearing
the anterior cruciate ligament in
his right knee. Page C1
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — We’ve
always played with our food —
even before we knew about genes
or how to change them.
For thousands of years,
humans have practiced selective
breeding — pairing the beefiest
bull with the healthiest heifers to
start a new herd. That concept
was refined to develop plant hybridization and artificial insemination. Today we’ve got tastier
corn on sturdier stalks, bigger
turkeys and meatier cattle.
Now comes an Atlantic salmon
that is genetically engineered to
grow twice as fast as a regular
salmon. If U.S. regulators
approve it, the fish would be the
first such scientifically altered
animal to reach the dinner plate.
Scientists have already determined that it’s safe to eat. They
are weighing other factors,
including environmental risks,
after two days of intense hearings.
Whatever the decision on salmon, it’s only the start of things to
come. In labs and on experimen-
Farmers and
students protest the production of
genetically
engineered
potatoes in
Mannheim,
Germany, in
April.
Turn to Acorns/Page A11
Summer 2010
Average mean temperature
The average of the
high and low temps
for each
month
74°
Normal
2010
70.1°
67.4°
Turn to Genetics/Page A10
70°
68.3°
64.7°
June
Lt. gov. hopefuls echo running mates
July
61.7°
August
Sept.*
Normal precipitation
4.19”
4.36”
4.09”
4.02”
ELECTION
2010
By John J. Monahan
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Go faster with
Charter
Internet™
BOSTON — The leading candidates for lieutenant governor
drew different pictures of the
state’s economy in their first
debate yesterday.
Republican challenger Sen.
telegram.com/election
Richard R. Tisei described a
“terrible business climate” in
the state. Incumbent Lt. Gov.
Timothy P. Murray pointed to
seven months of job growth as a
sign the state’s economy is
rebounding.
It was one of many differences
sketched out among four candidates that largely mirrored the
postures of their gubernatorial
running mates.
Green Rainbow Party candidate Richard Purcell made a
case for “more democracy” and
greater protection of poor towns
and people in the state, while
independent Paul Loscocco
complained that “people are
tired of the two-party system
and what it has brought.”
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June
July
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GiantTENT
2.94”
2.59”
Source: National Weather Service
T&G Staff/DON LANDGREN JR
ANNIE’S MAILBOX...C8
BRIDGE..................C9
CLASSIFIED............C8
COMICS .................C6
COMMENTARY ......A12
CROSSWORD..........C6
DEATHS.................B6
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Weather
Yesterday’s
question
Friday, September 24, 2010
Are you worried
about consuming
genetically
engineered
food?
Warm breezes
High 84, Low 65
Page A2
ONLINE
TODAY
Your opinion
If it tastes
good, I’ll eat it.
Today’s question
11.0%
No, we
already do.
Yes, it’s not
natural.
32.8%
56.2%
Do you think the response
level to the discovery of
mercury at the Grafton Street
School was appropriate? See
the story on this page, then go
to telegram.com to vote.
Local
Registration is easy. Go to
upper right corner of
GARDNER
Witnesses testify about toddler’s bruises, Page B1
telegram.com
WORCESTER
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
Candidate loses in recount, Page B1
WEBSTER
Woman sought in bank heist, Page B2
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas ...
Medicare
drug costs
will rise
Moon Festival today
Keeping Southeast Asian
traditions alive
telegramtowns.com
Fungal bands?
Seniors face hikes
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
T&G Staff/TOM RETTIG
Making noise to rid trees
of Asian longhorned beetles
telegramtown.com
Inside
Today
Bags containing clothing and other items brought to the Grafton Street School by students yesterday wait
to be checked for mercury contamination.
State widens search
for mercury
Decontamination
goes on, students bused
What is mercury?
Fatal bullying case
Three South Hadley teens will
ask judge to dismiss grand jury
indictments based on insufficient evidence in fatal bullying
case. Page A3
Sound strategy
Defense Secretary Robert
Gates says that
the Obama administration’s
redrawn
Afghanistan
war strategy is
sound. Page A10 Gates
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Mercury is a naturally occurring metal
which has several forms. Elemental
mercury (also known as metallic
mercury) is a shiny, silver-white, odorless
liquid at room temperature. If heated, it is
a colorless, odorless gas.
How can you be exposed?
When spilled or a device containing
mercury breaks, it can vaporize and
become an invisible, odorless, toxic
vapor. Exposure primarily occurs by
inhalation of mercury vapors that are
released into air.
How can mercury affect health?
Short-term exposure to high levels may
cause effects including, but not limited to:
nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, increases in
blood pressure or heart rate, skin rashes,
eye irritation, metallic taste in the mouth,
and irritation of the respiratory system.
Are there tests to show
exposure?
Urine or blood samples are used to test
for exposure. Urine is most useful for
testing for potential inhalation exposure.
Source: Massachusetts Department of Public
Health
T&G Staff
By Linda Bock
and Jacqueline Reis
got under way.
Building 1, which houses students in pre-kindergarten
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
through Grade 2, is operating as
WORCESTER — Two days usual. The district will continue
after a student brought nearly a to bus students in Grades 3 to 6 to
pint of mercury to Grafton Street the Fanning Building on
School, local and state author- Chatham Street today and Monities widened their efforts from day.
the school itself to the homes and
If Grafton Street’s Building 2 is
day cares of 11 students
not ready by Tuesday, the
found with mercury on
district will have to find
their shoes.
another site for the stu“It’s an ongoing investidents, Worcester schools
gation. We’ll be going to
Chief Academic Officer
their homes today,”
Jeffrey J. Mulqueen said.
Edmund J. Coletta Jr.,
Students have had more
spokesman for the state
than a change of scenery
telegram.com
Department of Environto keep them busy. Stumental Protection, said
dents and faculty in the
yesterday.
building, plus secondThe home of the sixth-grader graders who entered Building 2
who brought the mercury to to have lunch, had until 6 p.m.
school Tuesday is also being yesterday to voluntarily have
investigated.
their urine tested for mercury
Meanwhile, the district bused exposure. Mercury leaves the
about 240 students in Grades 3 to body quickly, so testing after a
6 away from Grafton Street’s certain window doesn’t make
Building 2 yesterday as a multiTurn to Mercury/Page A7
agency decontamination effort
Video
online
WASHINGTON — Millions of seniors face doubledigit hikes in their Medicare prescription premiums
next year unless they shop for cheaper coverage.
A new analysis of government data finds that premiums will go up an average of 10 percent among the top
plans that have signed up some 70 percent of seniors.
That’s according to Avalere Health, a private research
firm that crunched the numbers.
Marketing for next year’s drug plans gets under way
Oct. 1, and seniors will see some of the biggest changes
since the Medicare prescription benefit became available in 2006. More than 17 million are enrolled in private
drug plans offered through Medicare.
“People are just going to have to get on top of this and
shop around,” said Dan Mendelson, president of AvalTurn to Medicare /Page A7
Obama: It’s
peace time
Mideast challenge issued
By Ben Feller
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNITED NATIONS —
Grasping for Mideast peace,
President Barack Obama on
Thursday challenged a pessimistic world to overcome decades
of
shattered
promises
and help
Israelis
and Palestinians
PAGE A5.
close a historic deal
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
within a year. “This time will
Barack
be different,” he declared, offer- President
ing a now-or-never choice be- Obama addresses the
tween Mideast stability and per- United Nations.
petual bloodshed.
To a hushed audience of global leaders, Obama made
Mideast peace the dominant theme of his yearly address
to the U.N. General Assembly, a sign of the fragile state
of the latest talks and the importance he attaches to
5 Iran’s president implies Sept.
11 attacks a fraud
,
Turn to Peace/Page A8
Baseball love lingers
Clark University history professor Janette
Greenwood
holds a
copy of the
PBS video
“Baseball”
by filmmaker Ken
Burns.
Sport’s glory, messy history in Clark course
By Bill Ballou
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER — Even in this age of Twitter and tweet, where secrets are exposed
every day and reality rules, baseball
retains a nostalgic wholesomeness, like a
Labor Day picnic.
Alas, those who seek to uncover some
inner truth about the game that goes deeper
than fair or foul, safe or out, ball or strike —
they risk having the fairy tale destroyed.
Clark University history professor
Janette Greenwood has not set out to
demolish her students’ love of the game’s
history and traditions, but in telling the
truth, takes them dangerously close to the
edge.
She grew up in Western Pennsylvania, a
Pirates fan back when they were good. “I
Turn to Baseball/Page A7
T&G Staff/MARK C. IDE
ANNIE’S MAILBOX...C8
BRIDGE..................C9
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DEATHS.................B6
EDITORIALS ...........A9
ENTERTAINMENT....B8
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LOTTERIES.............A2
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News e-mail: [email protected]
tips Phone: (508) 793-9245
Home
delivery Phone: (508) 791-4600
Weather
Yesterday’s
question
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Yes, children
were in danger
Do you think the
response level to the
discovery of mercury
at the Grafton Street
School was appropriate?
Mostly sunny
High 80 Low 51
Page A2
ONLINE
TODAY
No, people
overreacted
Your opinion
Today’s
question
35.8%
How likely are you to
vote in the Nov. 2 general
election? See the story on
this page, then go
to telegram.com to vote.
64.2%
Local
GARDNER
Registration is easy. Go to
upper right corner of
Witness says mother vague about daughter’s
injuries, Page A3
telegram.com
LANCASTER
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
Trial of three in beating case postponed to
December, Page A3
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
Homes
inspected
for
mercury
Clark’s 9th president inaugurated
Under the lights
Among last night’s high
school football games
were Doherty versus
Marlboro and Gardner at
Shrewsbury, featured in our
photo gallery.
telegram.com
Flicks picks
Before heading to the movies,
check out what’s playing in
Central Mass. See link from
home page.
Inside
Today
70 students’
belongings tainted
T&G Staff Photos/RICK CINCLAIR
Clark University President David P. Angel acknowledges the applause yesterday during his inauguration.
By Jacqueline Reis
TELEGRAM& GAZETTE STAFF
Angel takes helm
WORCESTER — Environmental investigators
will visit dozens of homes this weekend after the
belongings of approximately 70 students tested
positive for high levels of mercury.
Officials are asking Grafton Street School families whose children were in Building 2 on Tuesday to ventilate their homes as a precaution.
Short-term exposure to mercury
vapors can cause
vomiting, coughing and a sore
throat. High-level
exposures to mercury can lead to
central nervous
system damage
and to liver and
kidney damage.
A sixth-grade
student brought
nearly a pint of
mercury to Grafton Street School to show a teacher on Tuesday,
prompting a multi-agency health and environmental investigation. The district bused about 240
students in Grades 3 through 6 from Grafton
Street’s Building 2 to the Fanning Building on
Chatham Street Thursday and yesterday and will
do the same Monday, although preliminary tests
show decontamination work has made a difference at Grafton Street School.
On Tuesday, the teacher poured a bit of the
substance onto her hand before she suspected it
could be mercury and put it back in the container.
At some point, drops spilled in one of the classrooms and the substance made its way onto some
students’ shoes.
The school asked parents to bag the backpacks
and clothes students had with them on Tuesday
and Wednesday and drop them off Thursday, and
Will work
to strengthen
liberal arts ed
The teams that are
checking people’s
houses are doing so
by appointment, and
each visit takes one
to two hours.
By Jacqueline Reis
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
He said, he said
President Barack Obama and
Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad trade heated remarks on
the subject of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as hopes appeared
to fade for a quick resumption of
talks on Iran’s suspect nuclear
program. Page A12
Don’t ask, don’t tell
A federal judge rules that a decorated flight nurse discharged
from the Air Force for being gay
should be given her job back as
soon as possible. Page A10
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WORCESTER — Clark University inaugurated its ninth president yesterday, as
David P. Angel was formally welcomed to the job
he has held since July.
Richard Freeland, the
state’s commissioner of
higher education and a former Clark professor, noted
that Mr. Angel has worked
telegram.com
at Clark for 23 years and is
no stranger to the school.
“David is the complete package, and he
does love this place. This is not the blind
date,” Mr. Freeland said. “This is a marriage.”
Mr. Angel, who was born and raised in
England and earned his Ph.D. at the University of California at Los Angeles, is an
expert in economic geography. But before
Slideshow
online
Clark University faculty, above,
and students
at yesterday’s inaugural ceremony
for new president David P.
Angel.
Turn to Angel/Page A7
Turn to Mercury/Page A7
GOP’s fervor tops Dems’
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Voters eye both parties critically
WASHINGTON — A political
enthusiasm gap is helping Republicans in their effort to roll
up big gains in the congressional elections. GOP supporters are a lot more interested in
getting their party’s candidates
elected than Democrats are in
electing theirs, a new AP-GfK
poll shows.
Democrats struggling to defend their control of Congress
have lucked out in one way: Re-
publicans are at least as unpopular as they are, the poll shows.
Yet GOP voters are more fired
up, leaving the Democrats little
more than a month to energize
their supporters.
How? They’re using President
Barack Obama and his Cabinet.
Al Gore, too. And until Election
Day dawns on Nov. 2, the Democrats will try to refocus voters
from their anger over the stubbornly limp economy to the
By Alan Fram
risks of putting Republicans in
charge on Capitol Hill.
It’s a common theme: A TV ad
by Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid, D-Nev., accuses his
GOP opponent of a proposal that
is “not just extreme, that’s dangerous,” while one by Rep.
Larry Kissell, D-N.C., says his
challenger would shield tax
breaks for companies that ship
Turn to Republicans/Page A7
&GOUCPF)12FKUNKMGFD[OQUV
While 59 percent are unhappy with how Democrats are handling the
economy, 64 percent are upset by the GOP’s work on the country's
top issue.
Q: Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Democrats in Congress
are handling the economy?
Approve
39%
Disapprove
59
Q: Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Republicans in Congress
are handling the economy?
Approve
34%
Disapprove
64
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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ANNIE’S MAILBOX...A8
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COMICS .................B6
CROSSWORD..........B6
DEATHS.................A4
EDITORIALS ..........A11
ENTERTAINMENT....A8
HOROSCOPE...........B7
LOTTERIES.............A2
MONEY ..................A9
RELIGION..............A10
STOCKS.................B9
TELEVISION ...........C5
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ONLINE
TODAY
Your opinion
Yesterday’s
question
How likely
are you
to vote
in the Nov. 2
general
election?
What’s the point
Somewhat 2.8% 9.8%
likely
Very
likely
87.4%
Today’s
question
Have you cut back on
buying lottery tickets? See
story below and go to telegram.com to vote.
Local
WORCESTER
Registration is easy. Go to
upper right corner of
Commerce High’s class of ’45 reunites, Page B1
telegram.com
MARLBORO
Our
144th
year
Treatment center gets new name, Page B1
telegram.com
REGION
Parley promotes green careers, Page B1
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$2.50
...
$3.00 in Coastal New England areas
Miles
from
earth
4-alarm fire
Stratosphere
AIR
TEMP.
26°F
23
A more-than-a-centuryold mill building in Orange was destroyed yesterday.
See slideshow online.
2010
22
21
Carrots and sticks
20
Felix Baumgartner
plans to break
Joseph Kittinger’s
records and free fall
120,000 feet
rushing toward
Earth at supersonic
speed before he
parachutes to the
ground. The fall will
last 5- 1/2 minutes.
Free falling
from
space
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Told to eat vegetables,
America eats fries.
telegram.com/health
Felix Baumgartner and members of the Red Bull Stratos
project visited David Clark several times for fitting and
production of the qualification suit and two “full-up” suits
that will be available for the jump. In photo below, Baumgartner tests high altitude jump in equipment made by
David Clark.
Free fall
from
heaven
Last dog days
of summer
telegram.com/pets
Local company suits up
world record attempter
INSIDE
TODAY
ORCESTER — When fighter pilot Capt.
Joseph Kittinger was preparing for his record-setting high-altitude parachute jump in
1960, the U.S. Air Force went to David Clark
Co., its provider of test pilot G-suits.
The Worcester company produced a pressurized suit that Capt. Kittinger wore during his free fall
from a balloon gondola at 102,800 feet, protecting him
from extreme cold and speeds over 600 mph.
Some 50 years later, Austrian daredevil and skydiver
Felix Baumgartner, backed by Red Bull, an energy
drink company, is enlisting the help of David Clark
in providing a fully pressurized suit and helmet for
his
planned
recordattempt jump from a
helium balloon at more
than 120,000 feet.
The project, called Red
Bull Stratos, aims at having Mr. Baumgartner, 41,
be the first person to break
the sound barrier — about
690 mph — during a free
fall.
A Red Bull spokeswoman said Mr. Baumgartner later this year will
DAN MCCARTER
ascend to the fringes of
PROGRAM MANAGER AT DAVID
space in a pressurized capCLARK
sule attached to a highaltitude helium balloon.
He will jump from the capsule, wearing a specially
modified full-pressure suit and helmet, parachute, and
chest pack containing communications equipment and
data recorders.
After about 35 seconds he is expected to break the
speed of sound before parachuting to the ground. The
descent of the capsule and balloon will be triggered
remotely. A team of scientists and physicians will analyze data and release findings for the benefit of the
research community, Red Bull said.
Red Bull spokeswoman Maddy York-Stephens
declined to comment on the cost of the project, which
W
Tufts University journalism-nonfiction teacher’s new book looks
at when moral vigilantes battled
social evils. See Living section.
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Upper limits of tropopause
Aug. 16, 1960
18
17
16
Joseph Kittinger
jumped 102,800
feet. He was in free
fall for 4 minutes,
36 seconds,
reaching 614 mph.
At 18,000 feet he
opened his
parachute; the total
time from jump to
landing was 13
minutes, 45
seconds.
‘
I’m looking forward
to seeing Felix
succeed
‚
AIR
TEMP.
-4°F
100,000 ft.
14
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
13
Full-pressure suit
Nov. 16, 1959
Designer-manufacturer:
Joseph Kittinger
jumped from an
altitude of more
than 76,400 feet.
David Clark Co.
Worcester
Construction:
Made of lightweight synthetic
materials with innovations
including enhanced mobility.
The uninflated suit, without
the helmet and visor, weighs
approximately 28 pounds.
12
185 students give
urine samples
By Gary V. Murray
Felix Baumgartner
is expected to break
the sound barrier
and fall faster than
the speed of sound
(690 mph) just 35
seconds into his
descent
15
WORCESTER — Teams of environmental and
public health workers continued to screen the
homes of Grafton Street School students yesterday after an accidental spill of mercury Tuesday
at the elementary school.
The home screenings, which were expected to
continue today, were prompted by the discovery
of high levels of mercury on the belongings of 60 to
70 students, according to Catherine Young, an
on-scene coordinator with the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA is one of
several federal, state and local agencies responding to the spill.
Parents of students who were in Building 2 at
the school at the time of the spill were asked to
bring their children’s clothing and backpacks to
the school Thursday for testing.
Turn to Mercury/Page A6
Protection against ...
Ebullism: In which body
11
fluids would begin to “boil”
from lack of atmospheric
pressure. The inside of the
suit is filled like a bladder
with gases to provide
pressurization.
By Martin Luttrell
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Censorship
19
Mercury
testing
goes on
10
Decompression sickness:
9
Upper limits of troposphere
AIR
TEMP.
-61°F
8
Designed to provide pressure
equivalent to the environment at 35,000 feet.
Heat and extreme cold: The
suit is made of a material
that is both fire retardant and
an insulator against extreme
cold.
T&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR
Gina Quinn talks about lottery sales from behind
the counter at the Broadway in Worcester.
Helmet:
7
Features a sunshade, a
heated visor to prevent
fogging, and a two-stage
regulator that supplies 100%
oxygen at all times. The
helmet weighs
about 8 pounds.
6
35,000 ft.
5
4
Altitude
of jet
planes
3
18,000 ft.
2
Parachute
opens
1
High-altitude balloon
A 30-million-cubic-foot balloon
partially filled with helium is launched
with a capsule holding Baumgartner.
The trip takes two to three hours.
Material: Polyethylene film that is only
0.0008 inches thick. Thinner than
sandwich wrap,the balloon covers 40
acres and weighs about 3,000 pounds.
Shape: At the time of launch, the
balloon has a long, reverse-teardrop
shape. As the helium gas expands, the
balloon shape becomes a round sphere.
Size:
The height of the balloon at launch is
close to 615 feet. As its elongated
shape expands to a sphere as the
balloon rises to 120,000 feet, the
diameter at jump altitude is roughly
400 feet across.
NOTE: Jet, balloon and man not shown to scale
Sources: Red Bull Stratos; NASA
T&G Staff/DON LANDGREN JR.
AIR
TEMP.
72°F
Economy
scratches
lottery
Uncertainty hurts play
By Thomas Caywood
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
The persistent economic downturn that cost
thousands of locals their jobs, and left many more
worried they could be next, has taken a sizable
bite out of the region’s appetite for gambling on
state lottery games, figures show.
Over the last three complete fiscal years, lottery
sales in Central Massachusetts fell $37 million, or
6 percent, from $605.1 million in fiscal 2008 to $568
million in fiscal 2010, according to a Telegram &
Gazette analysis of Massachusetts State Lottery
figures.
The drop, which was even more pronounced in
affluent suburbs such as Shrewsbury and Northboro, mirrors an overall state trend of flat or
Turn to Record-attempt/Page A17
Turn to Lottery/Page A16
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Weather
Monday, September 27, 2010
Yesterday’s
question
I gave up
Have you cut
playing the
back on buying
lottery
years ago
lottery tickets?
Rain, cooler
55.1%
High 60, Low 58
Page A2
Your opinion
Yes, I don’t
have a lot
of money
Today’s
question
32.2%
No, I’m hoping
to hit it big
12.7%
ONLINE
TODAY
How aggressively should
the new texting while driving
law be enforced? See story
on this page, then go to
telegram.com to vote.
Local
Registration is easy. Go to
upper right corner of
WORCESTER
telegram.com
Mercury-hit school may reopen tomorrow, Page B1
WEST BOYLSTON
telegram.com
Our
144th
year
Honoring officers
The annual Police
Memorial ceremony is
held in Worcester. See our
photo gallery.
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
Texting-driving ban near
Police, drivers gear up for new law
By Lyle Moran
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Flags flying high
Miniature horse’s fate left up to judge, Page B1
BOSTON — April Baker
admits she often texts her
friends while driving, even
though the habit has caused her
to nearly crash into other vehicles in front of her on a few occasions.
But Baker says she’s working
to break her texting habit
because of a new state law banning the practice that goes into
effect Thursday.
“I am trying to put my phone in
my bag so it is not visible and I
cannot reach it,” said Baker, 23, a
student from Hamilton. “I also
put it on silent so I can’t hear it.”
Baker and other Massachusetts drivers who are caught texting while driving will face fines
ranging from $100 for a first
offense and up to $500 for repeat
offenses. Massachusetts is the
30th state in the nation to introduce a texting ban as more states
5 The penalty: Drivers caught
texting while driving will face fines
from $100 for a first offense and up
to $500 for repeat offenses.
5 The provisions: The law also
prohibits scanning the Internet on a
phone or mobile device while driving
and bans anyone younger than 18
from talking on a cell phone while
driving.
have decided to crack down on
distracted driving.
The new law also prohibits
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Turn to Texting-driving/Page A6
A sign over the Massachusetts Turnpike in Boston alerts motorists to
the new state law banning texting while driving.
Marching bands in
Gardner honor the
memory of late band
director. See the photo gallery.
Detainee
damages
unpaid
On telegram.com
Most read stories
1. Economy scratches lottery
2. Mass. green economy is second in US
3. Woman who ‘found’ card
charged with credit theft
4. Free fall from heaven
5. Baseball: Lowell deserves to
be admired
6. Bomb found in Sturbridge
7. Golf: Korean announcer
enjoys quiet round
8. Four-alarm fire destroys mill
9. Worcester police nab man
alleged to be major crack dealer
10. Jumbo emerald’s ‘owners’
face off in court
Inside
Today
High Court ponders
Abu Ghraib case
By Pete Yost
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
T&G Staff/PAUL KAPTEYN
James Cremens of Fitchburg gives his son Thomas, 5, a ride yesterday on Belmont Street in Worcester during
the 12th annual Walk to Cure Cancer.
Walk for a cure
14,000 help cancer research
SPORTS
Pats get past the Bills
Tom Brady threw for 252 yards
and three touchdowns and a
38-30 win. Page C1
By Priyanka Dayal
5 The expense: Cost of some cancer
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
care is sky high, Page A4
WORCESTER – If
she had known earlier, maybe things
would have been different.
But Jeryl Anderson
learned of her pantelegram.com
creatic cancer only
months before she died, on Aug.
16, 2009. She was 45.
She couldn’t be at yesterday’s
Walk to Cure Cancer, but her
friends and family were there,
thinking of her.
“She was a wonderful wife and
mother,” Laura Anderson-Hennessey of Worcester said of her
friend from Millbury. “She never
complained a day. All she wanted
was to make sure her kids would
Video
online
be OK.”
The women, who shared a last
name but were not related, were
lifelong friends. When they grew
up and had children, their children, too, became friends.
The ultimate goal of the cancer
walk is to find a cure, but until
that happens, Ms. AndersonHennessey is hoping the walk
raises enough money to help
researchers find better ways of
Turn to Walk/Page A4
WASHINGTON — Fending off demands that he
resign over the Abu Ghraib prison scandal,
then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told
Congress in 2004 that he had found a legal way to
compensate Iraqi detainees who suffered “grievous and brutal
abuse and cruelty
at the hands of a
few members of the
United
States
armed forces.”
“It’s the right
thing to do,” Rumsfeld said. “And it is
my intention to see
that we do.”
Six years later,
the U.S. Army is File Photo/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
unable to docu- Defense Secretary Donald H.
ment a single pay- Rumsfeld rubs his eyes while
ment for prisoner testifying in 2004 about Abu
abuse
at
Abu Ghraib.
Ghraib.
Nor can the more than 250 Iraqis or their
lawyers now seeking redress in U.S. courts.
Their hopes for compensation may rest on a
Supreme Court decision this week.
The Army says about 30 former Abu Ghraib
prisoners are seeking compensation from the
U.S. Army Claims Service. Those claims are still
being investigated; many do not involve inmate
abuse.
Turn to Abu Ghraib/Page A6
ON THE JOB
Being on call
Barron running against polarized two-party politics
A Q&A with an Oxford call fire- Independent challenging
fighter and emergency medical
technician. Page B7
By Priyanka Dayal
McGovern in 3rd District
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
50% OFF SALE
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SHREWSBURY Route 9 AUBURN 64 Auburn St.
For years, no conservative challenged
U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern. This year,
there are two, but only one has an R next
to his name.
Patrick J. Barron, an independent
from Worcester, is running a low-budget,
ELECTION
2010
telegram.com/election
low-profile campaign with the hope of
unseating Mr. McGovern, a Worcester
Democrat and seven-term incumbent.
In many ways, Mr. Barron is a conser-
Mr. Barron
vative, but he said he’s
so disgusted with the
hyper-polarized twoparty system that he
chose not to run as a
Republican.
On the Nov. 2 ballot,
he’ll be competing for
votes with Martin A.
Lamb of Holliston, the
Constitution-loving
Republican running in the 3rd Congressional District. Both men face a formidable battle, but Mr. Barron even more so,
because he lacks the support of a party.
Mr. Barron, director of the Community
Transition Program at the state Department of Mental Health, said he was so
repulsed by partisan politics that he
didn’t vote at all for 10 years. In January
Turn to Barron/Page A4
ANNIE’S MAILBOX ...C8
BRIDGE ..................C9
CLASSIFIED ............C8
COMICS..................C6
CROSSWORD ..........C6
DEATHS .................B4
EDITORIALS............A5
ENTERTAINMENT ...B6
HOROSCOPE ..........C9
LOTTERIES............A2
MONEY .................B7
NATION.................A3
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ONLINE
TODAY
Registration is easy. Go to
upper right corner of
Your opinion
Yesterday’s
question
Today’s
question
How aggressively
should the new
texting while driving
law be enforced?
How will you vote on
reducing the state sales tax?
See story on Page A9, then
go to telegram.com to
offer your opinion.
Local
telegram.com
WORCESTER
Pair arraigned in college student’s death, Page B1
Our
144th
year
GARDNER
telegram.com
Mayor wants elected officials off health plan, Page B1
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
Pakistan
bombing
escalates
Crosstown rivals
North High met South
High in soccer at Foley
Stadium. See our photo gallery.
Weekend’s best
CIA is ramping up
deadly drone attacks
See our photo gallery of
weekend images from
events around Central Massachusetts.
By Mark Mazzetti
and Eric Schmitt
On telegram.com
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Most read stories
1. Men invade tattoo parlor,
shoot employee 3 times
2. Pair arraigned on charges
connected with college student’s death
3. Walk for a cure
4. Fire destroys barn in Grafton
5. Evangelidis backers seek
focus on Foley pension
6. Britney’s dad finds site for
Haiti orphanage
7. Horse’s fate in hands of judge
8. Courthouse records
Inside
Today
ENTERTAINMENT
Not-so-round table
Monty Python’s ‘Spamalot’ is
hoofing its way to the Hanover
this weekend. Page B8
T&G Staff/PAUL KAPTEYN
From left, Worcester Public Schools superintendent Melinda Boone, Commissioner of Public Health Dr.
Leonard J. Morse, and DEP emergency response chief Nicholas Child discuss the mercury contamination.
Toxic tests negative
School pronounced
safe again for class
By Bronislaus B. Kush
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER — Students at the Grafton Street
School received a clean bill of health yesterday from
authorities — about a week after they were exposed
to nearly a pint of mercury brought to the old brick
schoolhouse on lower Grafton Hill by a
sixth-grader.
Dr. Leonard J. Morse, commissioner of
the city’s Public Health Division, said urine samples taken from students tested
negative for the material.
The school, which was closed Thursday
to
allow emergency response workers to
telegram.com
scrub the building of the toxic substance,
will reopen this morning.
Its 240 or so students had been bused for classes
during the three school days to the School Department’s Fanning Building on Chatham Street.
“The building is indeed safe and the students can
return,” Dr. Morse said.
Last Tuesday, a 6th-grader brought the mercury,
stored in a large old bottle, to the school to show a
teacher. The instructor poured some of the substance onto her hand before she suspected it could
WASHINGTON — The CIA has drastically
increased its bombing campaign in the mountains of Pakistan in recent weeks, U.S. officials
said, strikes that are part of an effort by military
and intelligence operatives to try to cripple the
Taliban in a stronghold being used to plan attacks
against U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
As part of its covert war in the region, the CIA
has launched 20 attacks with armed drone aircraft
in September, the most ever during a single
month, and more than twice the number in a
typical month. This expanded air campaign
comes as top officials are racing to stem the rise of
U.S. casualties before the Obama administration’s comprehensive review of its Afghanistan
strategy set for December.
The strikes also reflect mounting frustration
both in Afghanistan and the United States that
Pakistan’s government has not been aggressive
enough in dislodging militants from their bases in
the country’s western mountains. In particular,
the officials said, the Americans believe the
Turn to Drones/Page A10
Videos
online
T&G Staff/TOM RETTIG
Above, U.S. Coast
Guard Atlantic Strike
Force members
Chris J. Messenger
and Rob Alvarez test
for mercury at a
Grafton Street
School staff member’s house. At left,
the bottle of mercury.
Turn to Tests/Page A8
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Confusion
during spill
harmed trust
Government response
called ‘a lot like Custer’
By Seth Borenstein
and Dina Cappiello
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONEY
Almost finished
Heywood Hospital’s $37 million
expansion is nearing completion. Page B10
Patrick: Recession rattled confidence
Globe poll calls race for governor a dead heat
By Glen Johnson
5 The funds: Spending bill called urgent,
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick
said Monday the gubernatorial race
is close because people have been battered by the recession and that’s rattled their confidence in the future.
Yet the Democrat said a good leader
remains optimistic, as well as confident in his actions. And Patrick
believes he’s set the state on the trajectory to recovery faster than most
other states.
“Folks are hurting,” the governor
Page A9
5 Sales tax: Voters split on sales tax cut,
Page A9
Gubernatorial Election
Poll Results
Don’t know/
Jill Stein other
16%
4%
Deval Patrick
35%
Tim Cahill
told reporters after a meeting about
fisheries issues. “They’ve been hammered, everybody, every household,
every business large and small. It’s
done a number on folks’ income and
11%
Charlie Baker
34%
Source: www.boston.com
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration’s repeated low estimates of the huge BP oil
spill undermined public confidence in the government’s entire cleanup effort,
leaders of a White Houseappointed commission declared
at an investigatory hearing
Monday. One likened the mistakes to Custer’s disastrous decisions at Little Big Horn.
Federal officials botched the
government’s response, a local
official and government and university scientists contended as
the commission focused on the Graham
questions of who was in charge and how much oil
spewed out of the well into the Gulf of Mexico.
Eventually, U.S. officials said the spill was
about 60 times bigger than originally estimated.
Instead of 42,000 gallons a day, the volume of
leaking oil was closer to 2.4 million gallons a day.
“It’s a lot like Custer,” said panel co-chairman
T&G Staff
Turn to Panel/Page A8
Turn to Race/Page A9
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Wednesday, September 29, 2010
High 76, Low 63
Page A2
ONLINE
TODAY
Your opinion
Against the
reductions
Today’s
question
29.4%
How will you vote
on reducing the
state’s sales tax?
Some sun
In favor of
the reductions
70.6%
How do you feel about
your family’s economic
future? See story on
Page B10, then go to
telegram.com to vote.
Local
Registration is easy. Go to
upper right corner of
WORCESTER
telegram.com
Students back at school that had mercury, Page B1
MILLBURY
Your opinion
Cast a vote on today’s hot topic.
See today’s poll on
telegram.com homepage
Yesterday’s
question
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
Scouts’ embezzler must pay restitution, Page B1
LEOMINSTER
Mayor holds hearing on pay-cut decision, Page B1
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
CAMPAIGN
2010
Recession rips
at marriages as
pay gap grows
Election 2010
Get the latest on the candidates. Find out where to vote.
Our election section keeps you
informed.
www.telegram.com/
election
By Hope Yen
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tracking toxics
See the video of city
officials discussing the
Grafton Street School mercury
incident.
On telegram.com
Most read stories
1. Soccer crowds nasty
2. 4 dead, including child, 1
clings to life after shooting
3. Unique pair puts Patriots on
the run
4. Courthouse records
5. ‘We’re here to help’
6. Back to school
7. Woman admits to stealing
from Scouts
T&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR
Worcester Art Museum Director James A. Welu, left, and Board of Trustees President Cliff Schorer
talk yesterday about the Edouard Manet painting ‘‘The Dead Toreador,’’ on loan to the museum.
‘The next step’
Art museum director
trading the helm
for ‘emeritus’ status
Skating along
Holy Cross hockey star Jordan
Cyr is testing the ice with the
Sharks. Page C1
Worcester Art Museum’s director is stepping down after 36 years at the institution,
but it’s not quite time yet to say “Adieu,
Welu.”
James A. Welu announced yesterday that
he will leave the directorship of the museum,
but stay on in the newly created position of
director emeritus. The museum’s board of
trustees has hired an
executive search firm
to help find a successor and Welu, 66, will
continue as director
until a new person is
hired. The search is
expected to take from
three to six months,
but could last as long
as a year, Clifford J.
Schorer III, president
of the museum’s
board of trustees,
ELAINE
said.
PUSATERI-COWAN
Welu has been
SPEAKING OF MR. WELU
museum director
since 1986. He began at the museum as assistant curator in 1974. He began speaking with
trustees about succession three years ago, he
said.
“We did planning and analysis and we really saw there were so many things I could do
for the museum if I didn’t have the day-to-day
operation,” Welu said. “So it was very comforting to me and in a way I’ve been preparing
for 36 years to do the next step.”
That will include special projects most of
which in some way involve raising funds for
the museum, which has been buffeted by a
weak economy, like most other institutions.
He also will be involved in improving the
museum archives, writing a history of the
museum, and organizing an exhibition of
European paintings acquired by the museum
during his tenure.
“This gives us a great opportunity,”
Schorer said. “Jim can do the projects that
really interest him and we’re going to have
Jim here so we get the benefit of both worlds.”
Going social on us
‘The Social Network’ takes a
look at Facebook culture and
networking. Page B8
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SHREWSBURY Route 9 AUBURN 64 Auburn St.
Title: Charles-Auguste d’Allonville,
2. Judith Leyster
Title: A Game of Tric-Trac
Year: circa 1631
Medium: Oil on panel
Year acquired: 1983
3. Andrea del Sarto
He loves this
‘place.
This is
Title: Saint John the Baptist
Year: circa 1517
Medium: Oil on panel, transferred to
his home and
you can really
feel that.
Year acquired: 1984
‚
ENTERTAINMENT
1. Hyacinthe Rigaud
Marquis de Louville
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
SPORTS
During his 24-year tenure as director of the
Worcester Art Museum, James Welu helped
acquire more than 7,000 works of art. Some
paintings in order of the year acquired ...
Year: 1708
Medium: Oil on canvas
Year acquired: 1980
By Nancy Sheehan
Inside
Today
Welu’s favorite acquistions
canvas,
4. Anders Zorn
Title: Opal
Year: 1891
Medium: Oil on canvas
Year acquired: 1986
5. Joseph Wright of Derby
Title: Portrait of Sarah and Ann Haden
Year: circa 1796
Medium: Oil on canvas mounted on
WASHINGTON — The recession seems to be socking Americans in the heart as well as the
wallet: Marriages have hit an
all-time low while pleas for food
stamps have reached a record
high, and the gap between rich
and poor has grown to its
widest ever.
The long recession technically ended in mid-2009, economists say, but U.S. Census
Bureau data released Tuesday
show the painful, lingering
effects. The annual survey covers all of last year, when unemployment skyrocketed to 10 per-
5 Tax fight: Dems break ranks on
tax cuts, Page B10
5 More worries: Americans have
grimmer view of economy, Page B10
cent, and the jobless rate is still
a stubbornly high 9.6 percent.
The figures also show that
Americans on average have
been spending about 36 fewer
minutes in the office per week
and are stuck in traffic a bit less
than they had been. But that is
hardly good news, either. The
reason is largely that people
have lost jobs or are scraping by
Turn to Recession/Page A10
Morgans give
$2.1M to WPI
By Lisa Eckelbecker
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER — The Morgan
family and two related charitable organizations have
donated $2.1 million to Worcester Polytechnic Institute to
endow its center promoting
teaching excellence.
The center will now be known
as the Morgan Center for Teaching and Learning, and the funding will go to programs and
services to help WPI faculty and
graduate teaching assistants
improve their teaching.
“The education and training
of faculty members provides us
with deep knowledge of our disciplines and develops us as
scholars but doesn’t always provide us with training in teaching, so centers like the Morgan
Center give faculty the tools,
the inspiration, the knowledge,
the support to
help their students achieve
the type of
learning that
they’re aiming
for,” said Chrysanthe Demetry, director of
the center and
an associate
Charles H.
professor
of
Morgan
mechanical
founded Mor- engineering at
gan Construc- WPI.
tion in 1888.
The money
was donated by Morgan-Worcester Inc., the philanthropic
foundation of the former Morgan Construction Co., the BeagTurn to Morgans/Page A7
O’Brien contract
extended to 2015
Year acquired: 1991
panel
Rushton casts lone opposing vote
6. Pierre-Auguste Renoir
By Nick Kotsopoulos
Title: Coco Eating His Soup (Coco
mangeant sa soupe)
Year: 1905,
Medium: Oil on canvas
Year acquired: 1991
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
7. Frans Hals
Title: Frans Post
Year: circa 1655
Medium: Oil on panel
Year acquired: 1994
Turn to Museum/Page A10
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL Talk about it!
Every Thursday at 8 p.m., join the live chat
with Jim Wilson, T&G sports reporter, on:
telegram.com/hometeam
Plus, follow our live Twitter feed for updates, highlights and final results.
WORCESTER — City Manager Michael V. O’Brien has
been given a three-year contract extension and will remain
as the city’s chief executive
through March 2015.
Mayor Joseph C. O’Brien
announced the contract agreement and its details last night
after the City Council met in
executive session for nearly 90
minutes. The vote on the contract extension was 10-1, with
Councilor-at-Large Frederick
C. Rushton casting the lone
vote against it.
Mr. Rushton
said his only
objection to the
contract was
its severance
provision,
which he felt is
overly generous and far
Mr. O’Brien
more than the
average person would receive if
they lost their job.
Under the terms of the extension, City Manager O’Brien’s
annual salary will be adjusted
Turn to O’Brien/Page A7
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Weather
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Yesterday’s
question
More optimistic
than last year
How do you feel
about your family’s Less optimistic
economic future? than last year
Soggy day
High 76, Low 62
32.3%
67.7%
Page A2
ONLINE
TODAY
Your opinion
Today’s
question
Should the state have
authority to site wind farms
anywhere in Massachusetts?
See story on this page, then
go to telegram.com to vote.
Local
Registration is easy. Go to
upper right corner of
GARDNER
telegram.com
Suspect said girl fell in playground, Page B1
WORCESTER
Live chat at 8 p.m.
Join Jim
Wilson
tonight for a live
chat about high
school football.
Our
144th
year
telegram.com
City hopeful on deal with Holy Cross, Page B1
FITCHBURG
Burbank closing mental health unit, Page B1
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
$1.00
$1.50 in Coastal New England areas
Terror
plot in
Europe
probed
PARENTS, OFFICIALS MEET ABOUT CONTAMINATION
A gridiron guru
See our photo gallery of
Notre Dame football
coach Brian Kelly, a graduate of
Assumption College.
Pakistan strikes
target suspects
By Paisley Dodds
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Driving safely
Watch our video of high
school students testing
their skills on the road.
On telegram.com
Most read stories
1. A refund for bikers
2. Robbery suspect identified
3. Courthouse records
4. Ex-boyfriend testifies against
mother in 2-year-old’s death
5. Bolton Flats expansion celebrated
6. Sox eliminated
Inside
Today
REGION
T&G Staff Photos/STEVE LANAVA
Worcester School Superintendent Melinda Boone and Worcester Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Leonard Morse field questions last
night regarding the recent Grafton Street School mercury incident.
Mercury fears linger
Boone promises full review
of hazmat response time
By Steven H. Foskett Jr.
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER — Superintendent Melinda J. Boone told
a gathering of Grafton Street
School parents in the basement meeting room of St. Stephen’s Church that she wanted
to have an open forum to seek
closure as the school’s mercury contamination cleanup
wraps up.
But parents seemed to think
the issue was far from over,
and voiced concerns over everything, including confusion
over the returning of belong-
ings taken for mercury testing,
addressing gaps in the response, and what sort of discipline the sixth-grade student
will face after he took a bottle
of the toxic substance to school
last week.
After the boy took nearly
half a pint of mercury to school
Sept. 21, a massive response
from local, state, and federal
public safety officials started a
cleanup and follow-up effort
that included decontamination of the building; getting 185
urine samples of students and
Trish Collins, right, a parent of a second-grade student at Grafton
Street School, poses a question to the officials.
Turn to Mercury/Page A10
LONDON — Police increased
their guard around Buckingham Palace and other landmarks Wednesday as security
officials monitored what they
described as a fledgling terror
plot to wage Mumbai-style
shooting sprees or other attacks
on Britain, France or Germany.
At least some of the recent
CIA strikes in Pakistan were
aimed at al-Qaida operatives
suspected in the plot, U.S. officials said. European officials
said the plot was still in its early
stages and not considered serious enough to raise the terror
threat level.
Still, the Eiffel Tower in Paris
was briefly evacuated Tuesday
— the second time in two weeks
because of an unspecified threat
— and French police were on
alert.
A heavy police presence was
seen Wednesday around Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar
Square and Big Ben. Victoria
Station was briefly evacuated
after an unusual smell was
reported.
“This plot was in its
embryonic stages,” a British
government official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because of
the sensitivity of his work. He
said the plot had preoccupied
the security community more
than other recent threats, but
did not merit changing the security threat level from severe to
critical.
Turn to Terror plots/Page A9
Endangered buildings
Wind proposal gets blowback ‘Goldilocks’ planet
could support life
Board votes not
Go faster with
Charter
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to accept money
Temperatures close
to those on Earth
By Kim Ring
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
By Seth Borenstein
BRIMFIELD — After hearing
three hours of mostly opposing
comments from residents, selectmen last night voted unanimously not to accept $30,000
from First Wind, the company
hoping to build several turbines
in town.
The funds would have been
used to study the financial
impact of a wind energy facility
on West Mountain, near Steerage Rock.
About 160 people attended the
public hearing at Brimfield Elementary School, most speaking
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JOHN FERRARONE
Thomas C. Marino, chairman of the Brimfield Board of Selectmen,
gestures last night during a meeting about the proposed wind farm.
in opposition to the project that
would site eight to 10, 400-foot
wind turbines on the ridge just
north of Route 20, and express-
ing concern that taking the
money would allow First Wind
Turn to Brimfield/Page A9
WASHINGTON — Astronomers say they have for the first
time spotted a planet beyond
our own in what is sometimes
called the Goldilocks zone for
life: Not too hot, not too cold.
Juusst right.
Not too far from its star, not
too close. So it could contain liquid water. The planet itself is
neither too big nor too small for
the proper surface, gravity and
atmosphere.
It’s just right. Just like Earth.
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
This artist rendering shows a new
planet, right, that may be just
right for life.
“This really is the first Goldilocks planet,” said co-discoverer R. Paul Butler of the CarneTurn to ‘Goldilocks’/Page A10
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Historic structures in Central
Mass. are among the most
threatened buildings in the
state. Page B1
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