Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 58

THE HARTFORD COURANT: Soturdoy, August 17, 1991 B9 i- ei Man gets 5-year term for death of woman during 'rough sex' By STEVE JENSEN Courant Staff Writer A Manchester man received a five-year prison sentence Friday in the death of Evelyn Schmeelk, whose nude body was discovered in December near the Pavilions at Buckland Hills. Schmeelk, 44, of Ellington, died shortly after she and Lance Valentine engaged in what he later said was "rough sex" at his apartment last November. Lack of evidence had prevented the state from pursuing a murder charge against Valentine, 26, who pleaded guilty to sec ond-degree manslaughter and tampering with evidence the woman's body. "I am sorry for what happened to Evelyn," Valentine told Superior Court Judge Richard A. Damiani, wiping away tears.

"I understand I acted badly; I'm sorry." The judge, however, described Valentine's behavior in the incident as cold and calculated. "I can't close my eyes to that," Damiani said. Before the sentencing, prosecutor James Thomas said there was a "very good" chance Valentine was getting away with murder by stran gulation. But public defender Yvonne Ro-driguez-Schack said Valentine, a graphic artist, played no criminal role in the woman's death. "There's not been a shred of evidence, either circumstantial or medical," to prove Valentine harmed Schmeelk, she told Damiani.

In a statement to police, Valentine said he had placed his hands on Schmeelk's neck and chest during intercourse at his apartment, but did not believe he had injured her. He said he had fallen asleep on the floor next to Schmeelk, and, when he awoke, noticed she had stopped breathing and had a small amount of blood under her nose. Valentine later told police he had hidden Schmeelk's naked body in woods near his apartment the night she died and dumped her car and clothes in Bolton the next day. By the time her body was found nearly three weeks later, decomposition and damage by animals prevented medical authorities from finding a cause of death. That forced the state to drop a murder charge against Valentine.

Schmeelk, who had a history of mental illness, lived with her parents in Ellington. No relatives spoke in the courtroom on her behalf Friday. Later, by telephone, Schmeelk's mother, Esther Kaiser, said: "It's not much, but nothing can bring my daughter back. We're just letting the authorities do what they have to." The night Schmeelk died, she met Valentine at David's, a Manchester bar near Valentine's apartment in the Town Pavilions complex. As on two other occasions, the pair went to Valentine's apartment and had sex.

After having intercourse and discovering that Schmeelk was dead, Valentine dragged Schmeelk's naked body by the ankles through the hallway of the apartment building and left it in swampy woods nearby, covering it with weeds, Thomas said. The next morning, Thomas said, Valentine fixed himself a plate of waffles before driving Schmeelk's small car to Bolton, where he scattered her clothes, some of his own clothes, and other items belonging to Schmeelk. "Those are not the actions of an innocent man," Thomas said. About 25 of Valentine's relatives attended the sentencing, and several asked Damiani for leniency. They called the incident with Schmeelk an abberation by an otherwise nonviolent and trustworthy man.

Fee system puts price on wordiness Festival park found in contempt rises $500 for each succeeding concert in which violations are recorded. In the July incident, Joseph Pulaski, noise-control expert for the state Department of Environmental Protection, recorded the three sound-level violations between 10:15 and 10:25 p.m. from the lawn of a Panthorn Trail home. They came during the final song, called "Feels Good," of the Club MTV show, performed by Tony! Toni! Tone! Of the three violations, one reached 70 decibels, and the two others slightly exceeded 65 decibels, Pulaski said. Standards say sound from the park cannot exceed 65 decibels after 10 p.m.

Before 10 p.m., the limit is 75 decibels. 'Z Music from Lake Compounce mostly affects Southington residents on Panthorn Trail and Mount Vernon Road because the concert stage, at the Bristol-Southington line, faces Southington. time in three months that the park was found in contempt of a court order. In June, Superior Court Judge Robert F. Stengel set up a penalty process after finding the park in contempt of an August 1990 court order that required it to comply with state noise limits.

Under the process, the park would be fined $1,000 a second for its next violation of noise limits. The park subsequently had three sound-level violations at a Club MTV show July 14 and, when it failed to pay a $3,000 fine, the state attorney general's office filed a contempt motion Aug. 9 in Superior Court in Hartford. Except for a Guns N' Roses concert scheduled Sept. 28, no other concerts remain this year.

But if a sound-level violation is recorded at Guns N' Roses, the penalty for each second rises from $1,000 to $1,500, based on the penalty scale the court set in June. The penalty By MAXINE BERNSTEIN Courant Staff Writer SOUTHINGTON Lake Com-pounce Festival Park was found in contempt of a court order Friday for failing to pay $3,000 it owed the state as a penalty for sound-level violations at a July concert. The park did not contest the ruling, but asked for extra time to pay the fine, citing financial problems. A Sept. 30 deadline was set.

Financial problems have beset one of Lake Compounce's managing partners, Joseph Entertainment Group of Milwaukee, all season. Fifteen of 33 scheduled concerts this summer have been canceled, and the park has several unpaid bills, including more than $500,000 in Bristol property taxes and $91,000 in state concert sales taxes. A lawyer representing the park, Michael Kurs, declined to comment about the ruling Friday. The ruling marked the second "This is a very unique approach," Hoben said. Unique, and potentially costly, some say.

Marlborough's business association, which is proposing about eight pages of changes to the town's zoning regulations for signs, could pay about $2,500 for its proposal, if the town's current sign regulations were taken out and the proposed changes were substituted. The town is considering waiving the character fee for the business organization, said Donald Rittman, association president. Some town officials defend the fee and the charge for characters, pointing out that state statutes allow each town to develop its own fees, requiring only that they be "reasonable." But Marlborough Town Planner Joseph P. Gall said he plans to consider whether the fee for characters should be dropped. Not only could the fee be costly, but the town's fee schedule is vague about whether a board would refund money if a proposed change is paid for but not implemented.

towns said they never heard of charging for characters. Columbia Town Planner Mary Hocevar laughed upon hearing about the fee. "My question is, who does the counting?" she said. Hocevar, who lives in Marlborough, said she thought the fee for characters could discourage people from trying to change the rules. Not that Marlborough has the highest cost.

West Hartford, for example, charges $300 for applications to change its planning and zoning rules. Hebron, Mansfield and Bolton charge $150 for amendments to its planning and zoning regulations. East Hartford charges $75. In some towns, some rule changes are free. It costs nothing, for example, to propose changes to inland-wetlands rules in Hebron or Mid-dletown, or to propose changes to any land use regulations in Glastonbury.

Bruce Hoben, president of the state chapter of the American Planning Association, said he never came across a fee for characterswhen helping other towns set their fees. By LAURA UNGAR Courant Correspondent MARLBOROUGH If you want to change the letter of the law in Marlborough, it will cose you. In addition to paying $200 for every application to change land use rules, you will have to pay for every letter or number you want to put in or take out of the regulations of the planning, zoning and conservation commissions. The charge is $10 for every 100 characters and $10 more for remain-, ing characters, up to 100. The $10 charge also applies to a change of fewer than 100 characters.

It may be i the only such fee in Connecticut, say planning and zoning specialists statewide. Marlborough officials say the fee covers the cost of a clerk, printing and publishing the information in a local newspaper. It also discourages people from proposing changes on a whim and wasting the time of land use commission members, First Selectman Allan Shusterman said. But zoning specialists in other Torrington man charged in crash that killed teen and operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. Acker was held in lieu of a $5,000 bond for a court appearance late Friday.

Court information was unavailable Friday. Police said the truck was demolished. Ringsted was pronounced dead on arrival at Winsted Memorial Hospital. Acker and another passenger, Charles Brazer, 23, of 61 Berry Torrington, were treated at Winsted hospital and released. The third passenger, Noah J.

Blais, 20, of 230 East Main Torrington, was taken to Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington, where he was treated and released. Police said the sharp curve near the Winsted road services garage has been the site of many accidents. WINSTED The driver in an accident in which a Torrington man was killed early Friday was charged with drunken driving and second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle, police said. Winsted police are blaming alcohol and high speed for the death of Robert Ringsted, 18, of 230 East Main Torrington, in the 12:30 a.m. accident.

4 Ringsted was one of three passengers in a pickup truck that failed to make a sharp curve on Route 800 and sideswiped a utility pole. The truck was traveling faster than the posted 40 mph limit, police said. The driver, Michael K. Acker, 24, of 236 Harwinton Torrington, was charged with second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle NORWALK- ORANGE QANBURY -MANCHESTER BLOOMFIELD -WATERBURY MANCHESTER 725 KIddb Tpke. 643-G195 BLOOMFIELD 725 PARK AVE.

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It is In your atmosphere. It has been noticed by few, but the few seek not to bring fear to the hearts of mankind. They do not know that it is the Eternal Father who now will guide that Ball. HOMOSEXUALITY SHALL NOT BE CONDONED "As in Sodom and Gormorrah, mankind had gone down and given itself over to satan. I ask you now.

My children, to turn back from your road to destruction, for you will be surely destroyed as was the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. Homosexuality shall not be condoned. It is an abomination in the eyes of the Eternal Father, and as such, is condemning many to hell." (to be cont.) CHRISTIAN ACTION: Please pray for the Judge and prosecutor in "The West Hartford Rescue Case." (Lord touch helr hearts.) NEXT VIGIL BUSES: Aug. 21, Sept. 9.

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