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TOWN BY TOWN
WAT E R B U R Y

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2012

2B

YMCA Fitness Fun Day and food drive to benefit Sandy victims
The Greater Waterbury YMCA is hosting a food drive and Fitness Fun Day to benefit the victims of Hurricane Sandy. On Saturday, Nov. 10, classes will be offered at the YMCA 136 West Main Street, from 7:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. A $10 donation payable at the front desk is requested along with a non-perishable food or toiletry item. Donation bins will be placed in the group fitness studio, spinning room and front lobby. The event is open to non-members as well as YMCA members, and non-members are asked to show their licenses upon arrival. Participants can attend as many classes as theyd like. The schedule is: 7:15-8:15 a.m. Spinning with Robin 8:15 - 9:10 a.m. Pilates with Mary 9:15-10:15 a.m. Cardio Challenge with Alicia & Tricia 9:30-10:30 a.m. Spinning with Russell 10:15 - 11 a.m. Zumba Party with Michelle 11- 12 p.m. Turbo Kick with Kristen D. 12-1 p.m. Bootcamp Challenge with Missy For more information, call the YMCA at 203-7542181. WAT E R B U R Y

District picks new provider

Wolcott firm splintered from past contractor
BY ANDREW LARSON
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Volunteer truck driver sought to deliver pet food for program

New Opportunities Inc. is looking for a volunteer truck driver to use his vehicle to deliver pet food for its Animeals program. The driver would work 60 to 90 minutes on Wednesdays to voluntarily pick up two or three pallets of pet food from Bozzutos in Cheshire and deliver it to NOI headquarters in Waterbury. The Animeals program delivers pet food to the senior citizen recipients of NOIs Meals on Wheels program. Many of the homebound seniors who depend on Meals on Wheels have household pets, but the seniors cannot easily shop for pet food themselves. Delivery of the pet meal helps ensure 100 percent of the seniors meal for that day is eaten by the senior. For more information or to volunteer, call NOIs Elder Services at 203-757-7738 or email Elder@NewOpportunitiesInc.org. WAT E R B U R Y

WOLCOTT The school district has ended a contract with its longtime technology support provider, switching to a 19month contract with a competing firm founded by a former employee of that provider. The Trifection Group took over technology support services for Wolcott Public Schools on Nov. 1, in place of ACES, which had managed the districts computers and servers for seven years. ACES, an acronym for Area Cooperative Education Services, is a North Haven-based group that provides technology support and other services to districts throughout the region. The Trifection Group was founded by Gregory J. Dandio, who resigned as chief technology officer of ACES on Oct. 10. He placed a bid, on behalf of his own company, for the school

districts technology contract the day after his resignation. Bidding closed on Oct. 12. The Board of Education awarded the contract to Trifection, which was the low bidder, at its Oct. 22 meeting. The school board voted 5 - 1 to approve Dandio the contract. The boards three Democrats, along with two Republicans, Gloria Gubitosi and Patricia Najarian, voted in favor of awarding the contract to Trifection. Republican Mary Kelly voted against it; Republicans Roberta Leonard and Kimberly Lumia abstained. Dandio is the chairman of the Republican Town Committee and a former candidate for the Board of Education. Trifections bid was $167,000 from Nov. 1 to June 30, 2013. In addition, the company bid

$250,000 from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014. The district will only pay $242,500, however, based on an early commitment to purchase next years technology services from Trifection. In comparison, CONTRIBUTED ACESs bid was $394,572 for a oneyear contract. Trifection and ACES were the only two bidders. Choosing Trifection will result in a $152,072 savings to the district during the 2013-14 school year. Weve got to stay competitive and get the best bang for our buck, said Superintendent of Schools Joseph P. Macary, noting that ACES always provided good service. For us, it was a no-brainier, Macary said. The people (working for Trifection) know the schools already, were sav-

ing money and supporting a Wolcott business, Macary said. The Trifection Group includes two other former ACES employees as its principals, Don Metz and Pamela Lopa, who also did work for Wolcott Public Schools. The school board has renewed yearly contracts with ACES since 2005. This year, the district issued a request for proposals for the technology contract to see if it could save money, Macary said. Dandio said there were no improprieties in the bidding process. He said he wasnt involved in crafting the ACES bid, despite the fact that he left the company only two days before the bids were due. I didnt even know they bid until I went to the bid opening on Friday (Oct. 12), Dandio said, adding that he was not under any non-compete agreement with ACES. Craig Edmondson, executive director of ACES, declined to comment after consulting legal counsel.

Schools 90th anniversary Hearing set for Gunnery

BY RICK HARRISON
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Winter clothing donations sought by Junior Republic

Donations of preferably new winter clothing, outerwear and accessories, sporting goods and toys for youth ages 11 to 18, and monetary donations, are sought by Connecticut Junior Republic, 80 Prospect St., for its Dec. 19 holiday party. Donations will be accepted through Dec. 19. For information, call Regina Kijewski at 203-558-9644. N A U G AT U C K

Library hosts concert to benefit Bob Veillette Recovery Fund

A concert to benefit the Bob Veillette Recovery Fund will be held on Sunday at 2 p.m., at the Howard Whittemore Library, 243 Church St. The concert will feature the Naugatuck Community Band Combo, Ed Kamienski on chromatic harmonica and Joe Masulli and Friends, guitar and vocals. Refreshments will be served after the concert. Donations will be accepted. WAT E R T O W N
CHRISTOPHER MASSA REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

From left, Ray OToole of Oakville and honorees Vinny and Mary DeVico of Waterbury and Al Spezzano of Waterbury chat during the 18th annual Sacred Heart High School awards dinner and silent auction Monday night at the Aqua Turf in Southington. The school was also celebrating its 90th anniversary.

Symposium on drug addiction sponsored by Watertown police

The Watertown Police Department and Michael Anthonys Project is sponsoring a free symposium on the disease of drug addiction Nov.15 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Watertown High School Lecture Hall. The presentation will include a look at drugs and addiction from various perspectives. Topics discussed will include drugs in our community, substance abuse recognition, and prevention and recovery. The public is invited. Contact Lt. Spencer Cerruto at 860-945-5200 with any questions. WOLCOTT

Police nab suspect in break-in attempts

BY JONATHAN SHUGARTS
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Wolcott womans club offers low-stress workout regimen

Farmingbury Womans Club of Wolcott, GFWC will meet today at 7 p.m. at St. Maria Goretti Church Hall, 1300 Woodtick Road. The program will be Nia Fitness, a low-stress workout for mobility, balance and cardiovascular fitness. Nia integrates modalities from dance, martial arts, and healing practices. Classes are choreographed to music. Members are asked to bring non-perishable food items for the local food bank. For more information, visit www.farmingbury.org or farmingbury@yahoo.com.

WATERBURY Police arrested a 20-year-old Town Plot man after a witness told them he was trying to break into two houses on Southwick Avenue early Saturday. A 13-year-old girl was asleep inside one of the homes, according to a witness statement to police. Douglas Palomino, of 178 Hutchinson St., was charged with attempted first-degree burglary after police chased and caught him when he was spotted on a street near the homes. A man returning home from work told police he spotted a

man in the bushes near an man, followed Palomino after abandoned home on the street calling police. An officer arrested him in the near midnight. backyard of a Manor Palomino was then Avenue home after a seen trying to open brief chase. the window and Police say Palomifront door of the no was intoxicated home, which was when they found locked. him, claiming he was Palomino went to trying to get to a another home on the friends home. He street, trying to open couldnt name his a window on the side CONTRIBUTED friend, nor give that of the home, but ran Palomino persons address, off when a car according to police. passed, police reported. Palomino was held on a A family sleeping inside the home later told police they $30,000 bond. He doesnt have didnt know Palomino, and had a criminal record, but has criminal cases, left a window unlocked by mis- pending including risk of injury to a take. The witness, a 22-year-old child and criminal trespass.

WASHINGTON, Conn. The Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing Nov. 26 on an addition to The Gunnerys administrative building. The 162-year-old private boarding school has proposed building a 1,300-square-foot extension to its Bourne Building for new college placement offices and accessibility for people with disabilities. Students visit the college placement offices constantly, the schools application for a zoning variance states, therefore it is vital to have these offices in a fully-accessible and safe environment. The Zoning Board of Appeals granted a variance Oct. 18, approving a .002 percent increase in lot coverage for the 21.7-acre parcel, bounded by routes 47 and 199, Kirby Road and Ferry Bridge Road. The Historic District Commission granted a certificate of appropriateness for the project Sept. 25. Since its construction in the late 1800s, the Bourne Building has been used for offices, faculty apartments, classrooms and dorms, but it does not have bathrooms or entrances compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act passed in 1990. In addition, the school aims to provide six offices and a conference room for its crowded guidance staff, spread on two floors connected to the original building by a corridor. In July, the Zoning Commission approved an application for The Gunnery to build soccer fields on its South Street property, but neighbors Marjorie and Michael Stern have appealed that decision in Litchfield Superior Court. A hearing in scheduled for April.

Alleged driver in Bass case pleads guilty

Deaths 4-5B
Barnes, Mrs. Carmella A., 93, of Torrington. Butts, William L., of Litchfield. Gomez, Lillian U.D., of Prospect, Watertown native. McDermott, William J., 90, of Woodbury. Piekos, Peter, 88, of Torrington. Pranulis, Michael, 53, of Naugatuck, Waterbury native. Quinn, Mrs. Ruth E., 94, of Beacon Falls. Scoville, Ellen M., of Woodbury. BY ALIA MALIK
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

HARTFORD The best friend of multimillionaire Anne Basss ex-butler pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges of attempted extortion and conspiracy in connection with the 2007 invasion of Basss home in Kent. Michael N. Kennedy, 33, was supposed to drive the getaway car from Basss 1,000acre estate after her former butler, Emanuel Nicolescu, and at least two other men invaded her restored farmhouse with guns and knives, seeking millions of dollars on a stormy April night, according to prosecutors. The masked men blindfolded Bass and her boyfriend,

Julian Lethbridge, tied them to chairs and injected them with a substance the intruders said was a deadly virus. The intruders told Bass and Lethbridge they would administer the antidote if the couple produced $8.5 million dollars in 24 hours. Bass and Lethbridge said they could not get such a sum in the middle of the night without arousing suspicion, and after a prolonged argument the men drugged the couple with a sleep aid and left. Kennedys Honda Civic, meanwhile, had broken down, and he had it towed to Queens, N.Y., where he and Nicolescu lived, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors and testimony from Nicolescus March trial described Nicolescu and his

friends stealing a Jeep Cherokee from the Bass estate. Kennedy drove to meet them at a Home Depot parking lot in New Rochelle, N.Y., in a Cadillac Escalade that Nicolescu used for his job as a driver for Jill Bikoff, whose husband owned the company that invented Vitaminwater. Kennedy also helped plan the invasion, researched and bought two-way radios, stun guns and fake pistols used in the crime, according to prosecutors. Kennedy, who also goes by the name Nicolae Helerea, left for his native country of Romania after the invasion but came back to face the charges and was arrested Oct. 23, according to the U.S. Attorneys office.

CONTRIBUTED

An architectural drawing of a proposed addition to the Bourne Building on The Gunnerys campus in Washington, Conn.

IF YOU GO
The Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing on The Gunnerys application for an addition to the Bourne Building at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 26 at Bryan Memorial Town Hall.