Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 99

Friday, January 5, 2001 THE HARTFORD COURANT A3 Co Judge James Higgins, 69, Dies MIDDLETOWN Superior Court Judge James Michael Higgins died Thursday at Middlesex Hospital. He was 69. A versatile jurist, he presided over civil and criminal matters during his 26 years on the bench. "Judge Higgins was a wonderfully kind, dedicated and compassionate judge," said Judge Robert Holzberg, the head of the Connecticut Judges Association. "He also was instrumental in the development of many, many lawyers in Middlesex County and across Connecticut." "He will be deeply missed," added Holzberg.

"He had a very distinguished career." The Connecticut Judges Association recently honored Higgins during a retirement party by naming its scholarship fund after him. Higgins was approaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 for Connecticut judges. Among his notable decisions, Higgins last year awarded $1.1 million to a severely retarded Middletown man who claimed he was repeatedly abused at a state-run group home five years ago. Higgins also found that the parents of Steven Pattavina should be compensated for the pain and anguish they suffered upon learning of the abuse of their son. Experts say Higgins set a precedent in Connecticut by ruling that parents can receive damages even if they do not witness the abuse of their mentally retarded children.

Higgins was also on a panel of judges that presided over the murder case of a worker at a Clinton nursery who killed his boss in 1995. Born in Manchester, Higgins was the son of Dr. Edwin C. and Mary Quinn Higgins. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1952.

Upon graduation, he joined the U.S. Navy and served in the Korean War. He left the Navy in 1954 and entered University of Connecticut Law School. Higgins was admitted to the Connecticut Bar in 1958 and maintained a private practice in Manchester and Hartford for 10 years. He served as an assistant attorney general from 1968 to 1974.

Higgins was appointed a juvenile court judge in 1974. In 1978, when the courts were merged, he became a judge of the Superior Court, sitting in Middletown. Higgins served on the Judicial Review Council from 1978 to 1993 and on the rules committee of the Superior Court for the past five years. The Haddam resident is survived by his wife, Joan Schoonmaker; three sons, James M. Higgins Jr.

of Norwich and John M. Higgins and Timothy M. Higgins, both of Manchester; a daughter, Lisa H. Dyer of Herndon, nine grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. The funeral will be Monday with an 11 a.m.

liturgy at St. Francis of Assisi Church, 10 Elm Middletown. Burial will be in St. James Cemetery, Manchester. Please see JUDGE, Page A4 By JON LENDER Ousted Investment Officer Attacks Nappier's Motives In a letter of her own to the Investment Courant Staff Writer visory Council on Dec.

20, Nappier had Flanigan's charge strikes at the heart of the reformer's image Nappier has gained in the past two years after taking over an office troubled by the bribery-and-kickback scandal surrounding her predecessor, Paul J. Silvester. The letter drew an emphatic denial Thursday night from Nappier's deputy treasurer, Howard G. Rifkin. "These wild allegations about the treasurer acting on behalf of friends and contacts unsubstantiated" and are "not found in any document or any exchange -other than the fantasies that this letter represents." Thursday's public explosion followed three weeks in which both Nappier and Flanigan had been fairly tight-lipped.

His lawyers had been quietly trying to negotiate a severance settle- Treasury Firing Disputed "Mr. Flanigan's persistent unresponsiveness, ment that might avoid a wrongful-termination absence of follow and unauthorized lawsuit, but that now seems in jeopardy as the policy forays" as reasons he had to go. two officials who were exchanging verbal Flanigan denies all those allegations and bouquets only three months ago are now Eldergill has demanded a retraction. In Thursmired in ever unpleasantness. day's letter to advisory council chairman SteOne of two lawyers Flanigan has retained ven W.

Hart, Flanigan said he felt compelled by concerning his firing, Kathleen Eldergill of Nappier's correspondence "to set the record Manchester, declined comment Thursday on straight." the prospects for a lawsuit. "Ms. Nappier's actions have left me with the Nappier was unavailable Thursday night, impression that my presence at the fund as but in an interview earlier this week she had chief investment officer was intended to serve justified the firing by saying of Flanigan: "He not the interests of the fund, its beneficiaries wasn't a good administrator." She also said, and Connecticut taxpayers, but rather those of "He didn't want to listen to me. He didn't want Ms. Nappier and minority manager friends and to take any direction or instruction from me, contacts who might benefit from being afforded and he showed a total disregard to our policies and our administrative procedures." Please see TREASURER, Page A4 New Principals Face Exams Test To Measure Ability To Rate Teachers, Learning By RICK GREEN Courant Staff Writer For years, Connecticut has aggressively tested the competency of students and teachers.

State officials say it is now time for a closer look at the school principal. Later this year, the state Department of Education will start testing all would-be school administrators to make sure they are capable of running a school. The test will assess a person's skill at judging effective teaching and learning as well as the ability to create an overall school improvement plan. "We are looking to improve the quality of school leaders," said Abigail Hughes, associate commissioner of education. ensures that across all districts the people they are hiring are going to have these sets of skills.

These skills are directly related to improving student performance." The new test comes at a time of increasing demand for school accountability and improvement, and principals are viewed as the essential education leaders for school districts. The new "Connecticut Achievement Test" is part of a strategy to make sure the most competent people have these jobs, Hughes said. It is linked to 12 broad "school leader standards" detailing what administrators should know. Among the skills a modern principal must have is the ability to take the reams of detailed data about student performance from the Connecticut Mastery Tests and use it to devise a long-term strategy for improving achievement at a school. Working with teachers to help them use this information about what students are learning is critical, state officials say.

Because current principals and other school administrators have already been licensed under old certification standards, they will not face taking the new test, which was approved by the State Board of Education this week. Instead, the exam will be given to graduate students, typically veteran teachers, who are studying for advanced degrees in the school leadership programs at colleges around the state. Students will be able to take portions of the test while in school following completion of appropriate coursework and internships. Just a few states are testing the competency of aspiring administrators. Connecticut is the only one that has developed its own test.

But with testing becoming increasingly frequent, educators say it was only a matter of time before principals and administrators had to face a more demanding assessment of their abilities. "The government has an obligation for purposes of assuring equity that there is a competent and highly qualified individual the said Raymond L. Pecheone, Please see PRINCIPALS, Page A4 Adcited When state Treasurer Denise L. Nappier abruptly fired chief investment officer Thomas E. Flanigan on Dec.

12 less than two months after he was hired for the newly created, $180,000 job she cited differences over his approach to "communications and administrative process" in managing the $22 billion state employee pension fund. But now Flanigan in an explosive letter Thursday to the head of the Investment Advisory Council that monitors Nappier's office says that's not the real reason. He said he thinks the true cause of his ouster was that he was becoming an impediment to opportunities for Nappier's "friends and contacts" whom he did not name- -to make money by managing investments of pension fund money. TOM BROWN 1 THE HARTFORD COURANT FATHER JUSTINIAN RWEYEMAMU, who works at St. Bernard's Church in Rockville, has been selling handcrafts made in his home village in Tanzania.

The hand-carved pieces are to help raise money for education, health care and business options for his people in Africa. HELPING A VILLAGE RAISE CHILDREN he mamu Catholic Rev. Connecticut has priest Justinian for worked in nine B. as eastern Rweye- years, a but his heart has always remained with his home in Tanzania. When he visited his home village in 1997, Rweyemamu felt saddened by the many sick and hungry children living without family support.

Malnutrition, malaria and the AIDS epidemic ravaging Africa were taking their toll on the village of Buguruka, near Lake Victoria. Tomake matters worse, about 1,000 people from the village had died that year when a ferry sank in the lake. "There were so many orphans, it made me cry," he said. As he prayed for guidance, Rweye- Spanish Media Group Buys City TV Station By PETER DOWNS Courant Staff Writers The nation's largest Spanish-language media corporation has bought Hartford-based television station WHCT-TV and plans to convert it to Latino programming as early as March. California-based Entravision Communications with 30 television stations nationwide, said Thursday it has purchased WHCTTV, Channel 18, for $18 million.

The purchase is part of a two station, $65.5 million acquisition that creates the nation's 14th-largest market for Hispanic viewers and advertisers, the company said. The combined market has a Hispanic population of about 553,000. Entravision is the largest affiliate of Univision, the largest Spanish Ianguage network in the Western Hemi- By LEE FOSTER Courant Staff Writer sphere. Currently an affiliate of the shopping network Valuvision, Channel 18 is expected to begin broadcasting as an Entravision affiliate March 1 with the new call letters WUVN-TV. Included in the sale was WUNI-TV, Channel 27, in Boston, which Entravision, based in Santa Monica, acquired from the Jasas Corp.

for $47.5 million. WHCT-TV was purchased from Astroline Communications Co. and Two If By Sea Broadcasting Corp. "With the addition of WUNI and WHCT, Entravision instantly creates a powerful platform serving one of the fastest-growing Hispanic regions," said Walter F. Ulloa, chairman and CEO of Entravision.

"This New England cluster marks our entry into the Northeast region, provid- Please see MEDIA, Page A4 UGANDA KENYA Lake Victoria Bukoba District TANZANIA Ocean Dar Es Salaam Indian AFRICA DETAIL AREA mamu heard an answer. "Something told me to reach out," The children needed immediate help with health care and education, and for long-term improvement it would be crucial to develop business opportunities to help the villagers become self sufficient, he decided. Rweyemamu often refers to the old proverb: "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he can feed himself for life." To get help reaching these goals, he organized Buguruka Orphan and Community Economic Development a nonprofit, nondenominational, volunteer organization. Father Justinian, as his parishioners at St.

Bernard Church in Vernon call him, has made a crusade of speaking to groups about the situation in Tanzania and approaching businesses for help. The slight man with the warm personality has persuaded dozens of people from Africa and America to spend their time, money and labor on the residents of Buguruka. The organization's board of directors includes state Rep. Mary McGrattan, D-Ledyard; Jack Blackwell, a vice president of Fleet Bank; and Judy Lewis, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Already, it has made a difference in the village.

The organization has built a kindergarten and a medical dispensary. The dispensary was temporarily housed in three army surplus tents near the shores of the lake. Termites shredded the tent canvas until a permanent brick building was opened this summer. In October alone, the new dispensary, with its 10-person Please see HELPING, Page A4 Pupils' Campaign For Crandall Seeking A Monumental Result Samantha Rutka and Erica Schwab were not optimistic when they sat down with classmates last June to write letters to state legislators asking for a statue of Prudence Crandall at the state Capitol. The pair then fourth-graders at Ellen P.

Hubbell School in Bristol worried that busy elected officials wouldn't listen to kids or that their letters would get lost. Thursday, they discovered how potent their pens and voices could be. Spurred by their campaign and lots of lobbying by state Rep. Elizabeth Boukus, D-Plainville, the Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commission approved the statue in concept, clearing the way for planning and fund- raising. "I didn't think this was really going to happen like this," said Erica, 10, after hearing about the meeting at school.

"Our school feels really special because of what we did." The seeds of the students' quest were planted last February when Boukus and Secretary of the State Susan Byslewicz visited the West Washington Street elementary school. The class was immersed in a unit on By LORETTA WALDMAN Courant Staff Writer state government and discussed topics ranging from the Constitution to the state bird. During a visit to the Capitol in June, Samantha and Erica noticed something missing. In the East Wing of the Capitol stood a statue of state hero Nathan Hale, but not one of Crandall. "It wasn't really fair," said Samantha, 11.

"She did something good, too." "If you have one of a state hero, you have to have a heroine, too," said Erica. Teacher Pauline Madenjian encouraged students to put their thoughts on paper. Using a lesson on letter writing as a springboard, she helped students produce about 20 letters that were sent to Boukus, whose district covers Bristol, and other members of the local legislative delegation. A Quaker from Rhode Island, Prudence Crandall was named the state heroine by the legislature in 1995. A complex, stubborn woman, she established an academy for African American girls in Canterbury, in the 1830s- a time when blacks and Native Americans were not considered citizens.

Please see PUPILS, Page 44.