REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

Local News
DAILY DIGEST
WAT E R B U R Y

SECTION

CLASSIFIED 9-12B

Train service resumes on Waterbury line Sept. 24

Bus service on the Waterbury branch of MetroNorth Railroad will continue through Sept. 23. Train service will resume on Sept. 24. Initially, the substitute bus service was scheduled to continue through Sept. 2, but unanticipated work associated with (maintenance) projects has required the extension of bus service on the branch for an additional three weeks, according to a news release from Metro-North. During the branch outage, the state Department of Transportation is completing an overheard catenary wire replacement in Bridgeport and rehabilitating four bridges over rivers and streams in Seymour, Beacon Falls and Naugatuck. Metro-North is using the track outage to install five miles of continuous welded rail south of Derby-Shelton, upgrade several switches, refurbish several grade crossings and resurface the track for the entire line. The changes should result in a smoother ride, according to Metro-North. During the outage, substitute buses are replacing trains, resulting in travel times of up to 15 minutes longer. PROSPECT

Football violations called

School board gets report on coach, booster club president
BY ALIA MALIK
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

NAUGATUCK Former Naugatuck High School football coach Rob Plasky and Franklin Johnson Jr., president of the football booster club, committed a recruiting violation when they gave the mother of two prospective transfers $1,000 to help pay her sons tuition at Sacred Heart High School, according to an investigation report submitted Tuesday to the Board of Education. The report also shows Plasky

and Johnson advanced $355 for three Sacred Heart football players Javon Martin, David Coggins and Xavier Woods to attend a football camp at Central Connecticut State University while the three athletes were considering a transfer to Naugatuck. Attorneys concluded that was another violation of Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference rules. The occurrences, whether motivated by well-meaning individuals engulfed by a combination of exuberance over obtaining a top-rated player,

poor judgment, or sympathies for a family in certain distress, necessitate the imposition of structural changes in the relationship of the school ... and, at least, football-related booster clubs, wrote attorneys Edward G. Fitzpatrick and Alicia K. Perrillo of borough-based Fitzpatrick Mariano & Santos. The CIAC also received the report Tuesday night and will decide on possible penalties for Naugatuck High School at its Sept. 20 board meeting, ExecuSee VIOLATIONS, Page 8B

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Plasky
>> Visit rep-am.com to read the 32-page report on the alleged recruiting violations at Naugatuck High School.

7 ticketed for riding ATVs on private property

The Resident State Troopers Office issued tickets to seven men after police said they were found riding all-terrain vehicles on private property without permission on Labor Day. The seven men were given tickets for simple trespass and operating unregistered ATVs. All have to respond to the tickets by Sept. 28. According to state police, the vehicles were being ridden near Pond Place Medical at 166 Waterbury Road. The property where they were being used is owned by three developers, and they do not allow any ATV or other use of the property, Comeau said. The following were ticketed: Carlos Estrada, 39, of 376 North Walnut St., Waterbury; Andrew Duval, 19, of 123 Tosun Road, Wolcott; Kyle Fiedorczyk, 18, of 831 Spindle Hill Road, Wolcott; Robert Lanzara, 28, of 4 Devonshire Road, Wolcott; Pablo Rivera, 36, of 3460 East Main St., Waterbury; Francisco Medina, 39, of 933 Rubber Ave., Naugatuck, Apt. 8B, and Luis Natal, 39, of 409 West Rockland St., Philadelphia, Pa. CONNECTICUT

BLIGHT GOES DOWN TO SMILES

State board rules against tuition for magnet preschools

The state board of education on Wednesday voted unanimously to uphold a ruling made last month that area school districts dont have to pay the tuition for children in their districts who attend magnet preschools in the Hartford area. In a lawsuit last year, Region 10 school district of Harwinton, Region 16 of Beacon Falls and Prospect, Barkhamsted Board of Education, New Hartford Board of Education, along with Newington and Ellington school districts, challenged the bills they were receiving from the state education department to fund magnet preschool programs in Greater Hartford. Both sides agreed to resolve the case out of court and last month, an officer ruled in favor of the school districts. School districts will still have to pay the entire tuition for resident students who attend part-time regional arts magnet school programs. Attorney Mark J. Sommaruga, who represented several school districts and boards of education, said the ruling is not retroactive, meaning the money paid to the state for the magnet school tuitions in previous years will not be paid back to the districts.

DARLENE DOUTY REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Marc Zappone of Ocean Trace Demo demolishes a blighted house at 6 Taft Ave. in Watertown on Wednesday morning. The house sat vacant and dilapidated since an arson fire in 2007.

Neighbors glad to see burnt-out Watertown home disappear

BY LARAINE WESCHLER
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

MORE NEWS INSIDE

Naugatuck to get school aid
Naugatuck public schools should soon be receiving $635,149 in state funds to improve education programs under the new education reform law. PAGE 2B

WATERTOWN Neighbors celebrated Wednesday as an excavator tore down an eyesore they had lived with for half a decade. The burnt-out house at 6 Taft Ave. was a pile of blackened wood and crushed siding by late Wednesday morning. A charred mattress sat atop the rubble. Today, the demolition company plans to return to remove the remains of the house from the lot. Im glad. Its almost like a load off my mind. Every time I go out, I see that and my heart falls, said neighbor Carl Ama-

dio of Ball Farm Road. He said it took about an hour to raze the home Wednesday morning as neighbors looked on. The homes new owner, Blerim Prevalla, is the nephew of the former owner, Mefail Prevalla. Blerims uncle gave him the property recently and the bank that held the mortgage quit claim on the property. Mefail Prevalla pleaded no contest to a charge of arson after a fire destroyed the home in 2007. I heard the explosion and I saw the black smoke, Ball See EYESORE, Page 8B 6 Taft Ave. in Watertown is seen last month.

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN ARCHIVE

Developer says age-restricted community cant work today

Poor economy prompts change request
WOLCOTT When the developers of Watercreek at Wolcott began building their 63-unit age-restricted housing development off Wolcott Road near the Waterbury line, the economy was peaking. They built six houses, three of which are occupied. Then the economy fell into recession. After the original owners went into foreclosure, Keith Mahler, of Mahler Realty Advisers, bought the parcel in June with hopes of reviving its potential. Since July, he has been petitioning the Planning and Zoning Commission to remove the age restriction that
W olc ot t

Man accused of raping, biting, choking woman

BY JONATHAN SHUGARTS
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Taking a ride in a fortress

World War II-era warplanes will be making their annual return to Waterbury-Oxford Airport this week. PAGE 2B

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Watercreek at Wolcott (Liberty Wolcott)

Nichols Rd

Middlebury to switch antenna

Middlebury officials plan to switch the site of an antenna in an effort to improve emergency communications for the local police department. PAGE 5B

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STEVE RAGGIE REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

>>> DEATHS ON PAGE 2B >>> BIRTHS ON PAGE 5B

was placed on the property when the commission approved his predecessors site plan in 2005. Mahler, under the name LibSee HOUSING, Page 6B

Rd

BY ANDREW LARSON

WOLCOTT

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her apartment. The woman dated Candelario, but was trying to call WATERBURY A 27- the relationship off, accordyear-old New Britain man is ing to an arrest warrant being held on a released Wednes$500,000 bond day after he was after he was arraigned in charged with rapWaterbury Supeing a woman durrior Court. ing a brutal The woman, assault that a whose name is not judge described as being released, chilling. told police she met Roberto X. CanCandelario on delario, of 303 Facebook, started REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN High St., 2N, New dating him, but Candelario Britain was eventually told charged with firsthim she only degree sexual assault after a wanted to be friends. woman in her mid 20s told But Candelario arrived at police he bit her in the face, choked her and raped her in See ARREST, Page 8B

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