The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 4

A THE BURLINGTON FREE PRESS SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 1994 VERMONT POLICE: Officer plans 4 to stay in Northfield jerks. But I like to think I helping people, doing something for the community." The rewards are small. Recovering a stolen car two weeks ago before it could be wrecked or stripped brought a "thank you" from the owner. "But I want to work here said Pillsbury, who grew up between Northfield and Randolph, 12 miles south of town. "If I wanted to work in Montpelier, I would have applied in Montpelier.

I want to work here." Pillsbury's former boss said he is painfully aware of the pressures on all six members of the department. "I know that must be tough," O'Neill said. "But always been tough. What we are is a training ground for police officers." Pillsbury said theJessons have been hard to "At this point I'm not willing to defend them anymore," he said of the four accused officers. "We know that Ken; put bullets into that (Bill Oren's) store.

He said so." Charles who as Northfield's elected grand juror passed along complaints that Vermont State Police built into a case against the officers, said he has tried to offer encouragement. "I've told them all to hold their heads up," he said. "They have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of." Photos fey ALENN RUSSELL, for the Free Press Jim Martin, who cuts hair in his downtown barbershop six days weekly, was a harsh critic of the police at the time of the arrests. Three months later, he said he's had his fill of the matter. "A lot of people are getting tired of hearing about it," he said.

"Especially me. I have to stand here and listen to it all day." Continued from Page 1A the Northfield force, Pillsbury is doing some of the toughest police work in Vermont. No one in the state's law enforcement circles has any envy for a cop who spends his shift behind the wheel of a cruiser marked with a North-field police shield. "You feel like you're under a magnifying glass," he said. "For a while you could feel it.

You could just feel it driving through town. There were people who would say, 'When are you going to jail? Are you A measure of public scorn is only part of the price that Pillsbury and five other members of Northfield's police force pay for their jobs. Other costs are more tangible, like the outlays that each made for his personal equipment before he could be hired. Pillsbury paid $325 for a service pistol, $150 for a holster and belt, $200 for uniforms. A flashlight, an engraved nametag, even the "NPD" collar insignia brought his costs to more than $800.

"They give you this," he said, tipping his badge upward with a thumb and forefinger. He makes $6.70 an hour. It's a start, he said, to a career he has always wanted. Before the arrests, he worked 15 to 20 hours weekly. He now puts in 40 to 50.

"Sometimes I wonder," he said. "Why the hell do I do this? I get lousy pay. I have to deal with Timeline of March 11: Vermont State Police sweep into Northfield and arrest four of the town's police officers, including Chief Michael O'Neill. At arraignment, Officer Tim Trono, 28, pleaded Innocent to simple assault in the repeated use of a stun gun on a prisoner on New Year's Day. Officer Brian Elwell, 21, denied a simple assault charge for holding the man, Raymond Boyce, while Trono used the stun gun.

Officer Kenneth. Falcone, 25, denied a charge of shooting two bullets Into a store owned by William Oren during the early morning of Sept. 5. O'Neill pleaded innocent to felony obstruction of Justice for telling another officer to conceal information about the shooting. All are released on bail.

The Washington Sheriff's Office provides officers for short-staffed department. March 19: Montpelier Police Chief Douglas Hoyt agrees to serve as part-time interim police chief, overseeing the remaining staff of one full-time and six part-time officers. March 25: Trono is arrested and charged with tampering with evidence and threatening a witness In the case. He was released on conditions, including that he remain at his parents' Burlington home. abuses the police might have committed.

"I told Bill Oren to his face at a meeting, i can't afford you, said Sally Davidson. "I can't blame Bill. But, on the other hand, this is our com- NORTHFIELD: Town split by arrests Continued from Page 1A no contest to a mischief charge and is cooperating with prosecutors. Residents diligently compile scrapbooks of news clippings about the cases against the officers, with some of the most recent stories among the more bizarre: Court records indicate Falcone told investigators that the three other officers swore to a suicide pact, vowing to die before implicating one another. "I firmly believe that's something he saw on a TV show somewhere," said O'Neill, who served 19 years on the Northfield force, the last six as chief.

"That is movie and TV stuff." Political fallout from the crisis peaked in May, when voters at a special town meeting cast advisory votes on whether to oust town manager Kevin O'Donnell. The vote, 198-188 to remove him, was a dead-on measure of the split within the town. Acting on the voters' wishes, the select-board sought and received O'Donnell's resignation. Residents now worry that their tax bills will shoot up, not to fund classrooms, but to pay lawyers' fees and settlements to people who have filed or are contemplating lawsuits. More ominous, the kinds of malicious acts that some townspeople attributed to a few bad cops continue even now.

Robert Davidson, on his way into town from his home on Northfield's outskirts two Sundays ago, had traveled less than a mile when the left rear wheel of his pickup truck came loose and bounded off the road. Police concluded that the lug nuts that secure the wheel had been removed. "I usually hit the interstate every morning early on my way to work, so I have to wonder," Davidson said. A nonpartisan in the controversy surrounding the police arrests, he said the wheel tampering was directed at his more vocal wife. Sally Davidson, a small, bright-eyed woman who is a regular at Northfield Selectboard meetings, said the incident reflects a growing intolerance.

"This business has really divided the town, and that's too bad," she said. "The sad thing is that you are not allowed to express your opinion anymore without being criticized." Impact overblown? Not everyone agrees that the community's wounds are permanent, or even that they are grievous. Plenty of residents say the police arrests are a small, sad chapter in the affairs of the town, a temporary wrinkle from which Northfield will soon recover. At Norwich University, the staid, ivy-laced military college that holds much of the land in southern Northfield, the police scandal seems remote, a faculty member said. "It's a tempest in a teapot," said Robert Rotondi, an accounting professor at Norwich.

"I'm from New York City, so this seems like nothing. Child's play," he said. "I think most of us feel that it's been blown way out of proportion." Town officials, who face the prospect of fending off lawsuits related to the case, wince at the mention of the arrests, worry about the future, but mostly hope for the best. "This thing's being made out Northfield real estate broker Joe Kingston said he fears the damage that the town will suffer in the aftermath of the arrests. "I'm a big supporter of Mike O'Neill," he said.

"Always have been. You see a beautiful little community here. It just kills me to see it torn apart like this." Rick Smith, a community activist and pamphleteer who publishes an occasional newsletter, said the police arrests are "the tip of a much larger iceberg" of political corruption in town. "The status quo is dying in this thing, and they're dying hard," he said. the town and the package service spelling out details of the suit, said it resulted from "an informal and unauthorized investigation" by the Northfield police.

Chouinard said he was aware of "about 20" other lawsuits that were in the works. David Blythe, a lawyer and president of the Northfield Business and Professional Organization, said the limits of the town's insurance coverage could be easily exceeded if what Chouinard says is true. "If Barry is anywhere near right, if there are that many suits out there, the issue of insurance coverage might be irrelevant," Blythe said. "Unfortunately, these things tend to acquire their own momentum. It's the snowball effect." Even partisans who criticized the town's police department in the months leading up to the arrests realize that the cost of court remedies could have consequences worse that whatever "I don't back up.

I don't back down. I stand up and fight," William Oren said. "The problem with this town is that people are more worried about who's going to stop and say good morning to them when they walk down the street than in doing what is right or wrong." Northfield businessman Barry Chouinard, whose fast-growing T-shirt firm is one of the town's most successful businesses, said last week his lawyer would soon file suit on his behalf against the Northfield Police Department and a nationwide package delivery service. The complaint will allege the two collaborated in warrantless searches of package shipments addressed to his company. "It's not my nature to do something like this.

I don't go around suing people unless it's really, really serious," Chouinard said. Chouinard's lawyer, Stephen Craddock, who has sent letters to as though we have an armed camp in the town, and that people could pop out of the bushes and take a shot at somebody," Selectboard Chairman Richmond Moot said. "That's just not how it is. Our intent is to get back to normal as quickly as possible." Lawsuits may abound Given the numbers of lawsuits that townspeople talk of filing against the police and the town, it might be years before court dockets are clear of the residue of the March arrests. Moot said he had no knowledge of lawsuits pending against the town, other than one filed June 16 in U.S.

District Court in Rutland by William and Wanita Oren. Their federal civil rights and racketeering suit seeks unspecified damages and accuses North-field police of firing bullets into the couple's store, an incident that capped a decade-long pattern of harassment that the suit says police engaged in. Three of the four officers arrested in March also face crimini-al charges in connection with the shooting. Raymond Boyce, a Northfield man who on New Year's Eve was subdued with an electric "stun gun" while in police custody, has said he is preparing a civil action against the police. In that case, too, police await trial on criminal charges.

events May 2: Falcone's lawyer says his client is negotiating a plea bargain with prosecutors. May 18: Northfield residents vote, 198-188, to tell the selectboard to fire or suspend Town Manager Kevin O'Donnell. June 1: Falcone pleads no contest to charges of unlawful mischief and receives a suspended four- to six-month sentence. He is granted immunity in exchange for his testimony about other officers. June 3: O'Donnell resigns following criticism of his handling of the police crisis.

June 6: Based on Information provided by Falcone, additional charges are filed against O'Neill, Elwell and Trono. Court records cite a "death pact" among the three, indicating they would kill themselves or each other before cooperating with investigators. June 16: William Oren, owner of the store that was the target of Falcone's gunshots, files a federal civil rights and racketeering lawsuit against the police and the town. June 20: Judge Shireen Fisher orders Trono jailed for violating conditions of his release, tampering with evidence, and intimidating witnesses. munity.

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