Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 138

B2 THE HARTFORD COURANT Sunday, September 10, 2000 Lightning Injures 12 At Fair Crash Trooper Injured As Car Slams Into Cruiser On 1-91 the community as a whole." Hinman, whose brother Danny is a sophomore at the school, was remembered Saturday as a gentle and sensitive teenager whose love for soccer was evident to all who watched him play. "He was fearless and competitive when he played soccer," Gula said. "Off the soccer field, though, he was the most peaceful and gentle spirit, rather quiet and almost shy." Members of Hinman's senior class will meet Monday morning when they return to school, and counselors will continue to be available for any-' one who needs support. Canton police are still investigating the accident in which Hinman was killed No one else was in his truck at the time of the crash. a surge of electricity went through the electrical system of the fairgrounds in Rye Street Park.

Although the carnival rides and people on them were not affected, witnesses said several people were jolted while leaning against metal railings or sitting on metal chairs. In addition to the six people treated at area hospitals, six other fair-goers were treated at the scene or were checked and declined further treatment, police said. The fair was closed temporarily so the fire marshal and electrical specialists could check the system. SOUTH WINDSOR Twelve people were injured when lightning hit a pole Saturday afternoon at the Wapping Fair, sending a powerful jolt through the fair's electrical system. None of the injuries was considered serious, but six people were taken to local hospitals by ambulance after complaining of numbness, nausea and chest discomfort, officials and witnesses said.

The lightning strike came around 2 p.m. in the midst of a heavy rain. When the utility pole was struck, sitting inside when another southbound car approached in the left lane. That driver tapped his brakes and tried to move to the center lane, but lost control on the wet road and spun into the back of the cruiser, police said. The cruiser was pushed into the rear of the car in front of it, which had been in the minor accident Meehan was investigating.

The car's occupants, a woman from East Hartford and her daughter, were not injured in either incident. Chad M. Nelson, 35, of 101 Lighthouse Hill Road in Windsor, the driver of the car that struck Mee-han's cruiser, was given a citation for driving too fast for the rainy conditions. He and his passenger, 34-year-old Nike Agman of the same Windsor address, were both treated for minor injuries. How Connecticut lawmakers voted fif 12 3 4 1.

Larson (D) NYYY 2. Gejdenson (D) 3. DeLauro(D) NYYY 4. Shays (R) 5. Maloney(D) 6.

Johnson (R) 1 ESTATE TAX REPEAL The House failed, 274-1 57, to achieve a two- thirds majority necessary to override President Clinton's veto of a bill to repeal estate taxes in 2010. A yes vote was to override the Clinton veto and repeal the federal estate tax. (HR 8) RAILROAD RETIREMENT Members OK'd. 391-25, a bill allowing private investment of assets in the taxpayer-backed Railroad Retirement System, which provides benefits to 700,000 persons in lieu of Social Secunty. A yes vote backed the bill.

(HR 4844) CHILD SUPPORT Members passed, 405-1 8, a bill allowing families leaving welfare to receive all of the child support funds collected for them by states. The bill includes grants for programs promoting fatherhood. A yes vote was to pass the bill. (HR4678) CIVIL RIGHTS Members defeated, 249-1 75, a bid by Democrats to deny 1 grants to certain faith-based programs for promoting fatherhood. A yes vote opposed funding religious groups that refuse to hire individuals of other faiths.

(HR 4678) Continued from Page B1 2000 president Thomas "Tommy" Ryan who also was also a soccer player died unexpectedly in March. One month later, 1999 graduate Shyla Burditt died of complications after receiving a lung transplant. Canton Junior-Senior High School has about 700 students in grades 7 through 12, and its senior class numbers about 115, Gula said Many stu-dentsknewall three of the teens who died. "It's a very small town, and we look after each other," he said. "At this point, I think the kids are in a state of shock.

It's almost a surreal experience for them, as well as for Refuge Continued from Page B1 husband, Basil Rauch, both architects, moved to the island and built a home protected by shoreline rock, according to Jennifer Brown, outdoor recreation planner for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 1995, Hird donated the island to the fish and wildlife agency in memory of her late husband for the purpose of "protecting the island's natural resources, and to provide continued access to the island for educational and research activities," as stated in the island brochure. Hird was not in her waterfront home during Saturday's tours, and her health has been failing, according to wildlife workers. The home Teal Continued from Page B1 the building, rather than actually starting a fire inside, burning hay and wooden pallets.

Other features of the facility are a five-story tower for climbing practice, cars that can be set afire and extinguished and classrooms. The main building was dedicated to former Deputy Chief of Training William J. Kenny. Teale said he encouraged other departments to use the facility so firefighters would obtain training and learn how to safely fight fires. It took only minutes Saturday for firefighters to start a blaze using the hay and wood.

At one point, smoke billowed from the cracks of red wooden windows on the first and second floors as Farmington firefighters climbed 1 CHINA TRADE Senators rejected, 67-30, a bid to deny permanent, normal American trade with the People's Republic of China unless the president certifies there is religious freedom in China. A yes vote was to adopt the amendment. (HR 4444) Key: Yea Nay A Absent or did not vote Present SOURCE: Roll Call Report Syndicate 7TA rwrTvrrr mSSHtt-Hjfcft ukeK6 igh.iib, wb'iiith-tffm 'tmMmvfoU wmiSmwl i A state trooper was injured Saturday when a car slammed into his cruiser while he was investigating an accident on 1-91 in Hartford. Three people, including Trooper Patrick Meehan, were taken to St. Francis Hospital Medical Center in Hartford for treatment of back and neck pains.

Meehan, who is assigned to Troop in Hartford, also received stitches for cuts on the back of his head. None of the victims' injuries was considered severe. Meehan was investigating a one-car accident on southbound 1-91 near Exit 27 about 3 p.m. Saturday when the incident occurred, police said. He had returned to his cruiser on the road's left shoulder and was Sleuth Continued front Page B1 suspect and the victim and time enough to have committed the crime.

Rovella and his team of detectives had a good time line; there was more than an hour between Cusano's phone call to the escort service and McAnhur being seen on Magnolia Street What the detectives didn't have was the corpse or, for that matter, the suspect. The case slowed. "It was within our grasp, yet so far away," Rovella thought. The detectives went back to the tedious work of interviewing anyone who might know something about the case. "Nine out of 10 people don't tell you anything, and on a good day, you get a little something from the 10th," he said.

One had something, a number from a pay phone in Boston. Rovella notified Boston police. They ran McArthur's picture and prints. He hadn't been arrested. Yet.

As the lead detective, Rovella also began to study McArthur, to learn everything he could about the man he was after. McArthur had a long criminal history that included several arrests and one conviction for sexual assault. But, as with a fair number of sexual predators, he was intelligent, shrewd, a smooth talker. He always testified in his cases, and beat a couple of them that way. Rovella called the victims in the earlier cases and read the testimony.

In August of 1998, a "Daniel Dukes" was arrested in Boston and charged with rape. It was really McArthur. He'd tried to hide his Connecticut driver's license under the seat of the patrol car, but an alert Boston cop found it. Dukes is McAr thur's uncle. Rovella went up and interviewed McArthur.

The two sparred. "He was trying to learn everything about me, and I about him. He was a competitor," Rovella said. McArthur offered an alibi, though he changed details as he put it together. In essence, McArthur said he and Cusano were set upon by drug dealers in a North End parking lot.

He was beaten and stabbed. The dealers, whom he couldn't describe, drove away with Cusano. "We were closer. We had his alibi," Rovella said. Either it was true or it wasn't.

Rovella's detectives went back to the street. Fortunately, people are out late in the North End. They found a witness who'd been in the parking lot where McArthur claimed to have been jumped, at the time the incident supposedly took place. Never happened, said the witness. Hartford detectives continued to press for more evidence.

Three times they searched 694-acre Keney Park. They believed McArthur had taken an earlier victim there. In the final search, divers went into the pond. The body wasn't there. Nonetheless, in February of this year, Rovella and his team applied for a warrant for McArthur's arrest on charges of murder, felony murder and first-degree robbery.

It was granted. They waited for McArthur's trial in Massachusetts, where he was found guilty of assault and auto theft and given 13 years in prison. McArthur chose to come back to Connecticut, to answer the murder charge. He may have thought he could talk his way out of it. Rovella picked him up in Concord a week ago Friday.

They didn't talk about much on the way down. For the first three or four hours after he got here, McArthur more or less stuck to his story. But effective lying is an art that requires concentration. McArthur couldn't remember details he'd made up. Rovella would correct him from time to time.

McArthur came to think Rovella knew as much about the case as he did. When McArthur was on a roll, Rovella interjected something about 1 1 veR jBt.V-'fTftAilA Mm 00 P(DC5tDG3 was not open to visitors. At the center of the rocky island between trees, vibrant flowers and cactuses, are solar panels, which power the 15-by-20-foot public guest house and Hird's home. Phone service is provided by underwater cable, and fireplaces provide the only heat. There is one public rest-room, about as wide as outstretched arms.

Educational activities on Outer Island and its access are coordinated between the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge and the Connecticut State University System. The island is managed by the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, and is periodically guarded by wildlife law enforcement. Signs throughout the island clearly mark off closed areas where birds such as the endangered roseate tern and piping plover are nesting.

up a ladder to open a roof-top hatch. They had checked the temperature inside the building, which climbed to 114 degrees. Others went inside the front door with hoses and extinguished the blaze. Putting out the fire and rescuing a plastic dummy took about 20 minutes. Periodically during the four-hour training, Teale, 45, put on his yellow gear and white hat and walked around the building to make sure safety officers were in place.

"This is a well-organized group," he said. City council member Steven M. Harris dropped by when he saw the smoke to chat briefly with Teale. He said people he saw in the community Saturday seemed to accept Teale's approach to handling questions about the payments and still have faith in his leadership. -lw rfS.

-iK rffe rtft J0f Jfcffl SWUM blood in the car. "Annie wasn't bleeding," McArthur blurted out. OK. McArthur offered to take Rovella for a ride, to where the various events took place. Gradually, McArthur admitted that he had trouble sleeping at night.

If there was some kind of moral presence there, weird and distorted as it might be, Rovella would probe it. He suggested that maybe it wasn't good for McArthur to be out on the streets. McArthur seemed to agree. The two men talked for a few more hours. Finally, McArthur agreed to take police to a rural, secluded spot in Suffield.

He had some trouble remembering the exact location. The state police dogs were of little help, because they are trained to find flesh, not bone. But McArthur eventually remembered the place, and, indeed, a skeleton later identified as Cusano's was there. McArthur came back and confessed to strangling the woman after an argument, and taking the body in the trunk of the car to Suffield. "A lot of it was just sitting and listening to him," Rovella said.

Rovella is now verifying the elements of the confession, knowing the case isn't over until it's been to court. It may well be his last case. Rovella, of Wethersfield, is about to retire, and is a leading contender for investigative jobs with other government agencies. He credits the teamwork of Hartford's detectives, as well as officers in Shelton, Suffield, Boston and the state police, fcr solving the case. True, said his boss, Lt.

Mark Pawlina of the major crimes squad, "but the job Jimmy did in pulling it together was absolutely fantastic." Pawlina is not given to hyperbole. sCXO f. jbW jGt ri 1 1. Dodd(D) 2. Lieberman (D) A The Hartford Couram mm flrffc eflt -r46k i0vft i4t "ftS! 4 SPECIAL fillip 7 PC FUTON SET "sI'lW Includes: Futon Sofa, 'X atj '-f0 Futon Mattress, 2 Xj if I Cfl jVj Ceramic Lamps, 2 End SS Tables, 1 Coffee Table r-yC i LlCjrCr ggjji mmm hihwi MwLjn tot Ib-NotDisturb Mattress mk jC (tH pius our Famous Vtafib, nm M.

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