Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 107

gr Jtaftfofu goufimt INSIDE CONNECTICUT page B3 WEDNESDAY MAY 13. 1987 Eastern Edition Tolland council waives bidding for school addition Civil rights in state aided by a Quaker The three-room addition, estimated to cost $131,500, is intended to fend off overcrowding while the town prepares to build another school. plan for what to do if the addition is not completed in time. He said two additional classrooms could be freed up at Parker by having the art teacher and remedial mathematics teacher travel from room to room. Another three classrooms could be made available at Tolland Middle School by splitting up the art room and home economics room with temporary dividers, and by adding a classroom to the library.

"Even with the three classrooms, we may want to use at least one of those spaces," Matava said. Council members Robert W. Bass and Marlin Knight Jr. voted against waiving the bidding process. "I hate to find that someone sues us because he wasn't in your small group of bidders," Bass told Harkins.

Knight said he fears a negative public perception of Harkins negotiating with just a few builders. The council also decided to impose $500 a day in penalties on the eventual contractor for delays in completing the project. Superintendent of Schools Joseph T. Matava said he has prepared a two from Vernon. He said he will get in touch with them as early as today and will take the lowest off er.

Waiving the bidding procedure, Harkins said, will speed up the project at the elementary school by two weeks. Heavy construction will not begin until after school ends, but the contractor would have the extra time to order steel The three-room addition, estimated to cost $131,500, is intended to fend off overcrowding while the town prepares to build another school. The council Tuesday also vot- By PETER BALDWIN Courant Staff Writer TOLLAND The town council r. Tuesday voted 4-2 to waive competitive bidding for construction of an addition to the Parker Memorial School to help get the work done before the start of school Sept 2. Instead" of taking bids, the council decided that Town Manager John B.

Harkins should negotiate directly with' local buUders. Harkins said he has three contrac-Z tors in mind, one from Tolland and IWindham ed to form a nine-member building committee to plan the new school approves I 7W 1 A it A I budgets I $25.1 million plan for town, schools, Willimantic passes By BILL KEVENEY Courant Staff Writer WINDHAM Voters Tuesday approved town budgets totaling $25.1 million by a ratio of nearly 2-to-l, accomplishing in one day what took four months and three ref erendums last year. The referendum featured three i separate budgets. All voters cast i ballots on the $14.7 million school budget proposal and the $7.18 mil-' lion general government budget; SMALL TALK Frank Kaufman, of Vernon, seated, chats with a group of teenagers Tuesday afternoon outside Vernon Town Hall. The Dan Haar The Hartford Courant youths are, from left, Samantha Champagne and Irene Diaz, both of Vernon, and Lori Anderson and Mike Franklin, both of Somen.

Group accuses suburbs of restrictive zoning Diana Ross McCain EASTERN CONNECTICUT 4L Prudence Crandall was a pariah in the town of Canterbury in the spring of 1833. No merchant would sell her any goods; no apothecary would supply her with medicine; no physician would go to her big house on the town green. Vandals pelted her windows with stones and rotten eggs and contaminated her well Finally, on June 27, 1833, the 29-year-old Quaker woman was arrested and imprisoned in the Windham County jail in nearby Brooklyn, Conn. What horrid crime had Prudence Crandall committed to bring down upon herself such public spite and legal action? She had opened a school in Canterbury to teach young black women and girls reading, painting and music. Only 18 months earlier, Crandall had been a highly respected resident of Canterbury.

She had established in town a private school for girls that was patronized by prominent Canterbury citizens eager to secure good educations for their daughters. Cran-dall's school quickly attained a statewide reputation for excellence. That good will evaporated when, in January 1833, Crandall admitted to her school a 20-year-old black woman, Sarah Harris, who hoped to obtain an education she could use to teach others of her race. Crandall knew such a step would quite likely cause an uproar. Slavery still existed technically in Connecticut, although all but 20 of the state's more than 8,000 black residents were free, and black children were permitted to attend the public or "common" schools.

Prejudice and discrimination against blacks was common across the country, and racial equality was an ideal espoused by few people. But Sarah Harris's desire to be educated so she could help others so impressed the Quaker schoolmistress that Crandall decided to take the risk. The instantaneous reaction by most of the parents of Crandall's students was to pull their daughters out of the school, expecting Crandall would quickly change her mind. Crandall answered prejudice with defiant dedication to idealism, declaring she would change her school into one exclusively for black girls. It opened in April 1833 with more than a dozen students from Connecticut and several other states.

When the campaign of social and physical intimidation failed to break the spirit of Crandall and her new students, her opponents turned to the General Assembly. They convinced the legislature to pass a law making it' illegal for anyone to establish a school to teach non-resident blacks, unless approval was granted in writing by a majority of the civil authority and selectmen of the town in which the school was to be located. It was for violating this bigoted "Black Law" that Crandall was arrested and jailed in June 1833. Crandall and her students had powerful friends in their fight William Lloyd Garrison of Boston supported them in the pages of his radical abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator. Arthur Tappan, a wealthy abolitionist from New York, bankrolled establishment of a new weekly newspaper, The Unionist, in Brooklyn, and dedicated it "to the advocacy of all human rights in general and to the defence of the Canterbury school and its heroic teacher in particular." Letters and tokens of support were sent to Crandall from as far away as Great Britain.

Crandall's first trial'for the crime of teaching black girls ended with a hopelessly deadlocked jury. At a second trial, she was convicted of the offense, but that verdict was overturned on a technicality when the case was appealed. 1 The court cases left the larger issue unresolved. Public animosity toward Crandall culminated first in an attempt to burn her out of her school, and in an assault on the house. Crandall, recently married, finally decided -to give up her crusade and left the state with her new husband.

Crandall would live to see some of what she had struggled for be achieved. "In 1858 the Connecticut legislature repealed Vie obnoxious 'Black and Prudence Crandall had the added pleasure of learning that several of the legislators who had voted for the measure in 1833 publicly apologized for their action at that time," noted Philip Foner in his biographical sketch of Crandall in the book, "Three Who Dared." The house in which Crandall and her students made their stand against bigotry is maintained by the Connecticut Historical Commission as a historic site open to the public. "If the housing crisis is not solved, it is clear to us that the economy of Hartford will not be able to prosper," Miles said. "Our figures significantly understate the magnitude of the crisis we face." The task force will present the group's conclusions to planning commissions at a meeting in June, Miles said. Members of the housing task force plan -to work with local officials to solve the housing problems, said Ted Carroll, president of Leadership Greater Hartford.

"In one way or another, we will be involved and we will try to get the community leaders involved as well." Leadership Greater Hartford officials said Manchester was selected for the group's presentation because it has undertaken several initiatives to create affordable housing, including phasing-in taxes for apartments built in the formerly abandoned Cheney mill complex. "We felt that there were more innovative affordable housing ideas here than in many other towns," said Paul McCary, a member of the task force. By PETER WARN Courant Staff Writer MANCHESTER Restrictive zoning practices in communities around Hartford are contributing to a shortage of affordable housing that threatens the region's economy, a civic group said Tuesday. The housing task force of Leadership Greater Hartford, a private, nonprofit organization of business and government leaders, reviewed government statistics and surveys of area officials and concluded that planning and zoning commissions must undertake concerted actions to increase the supply of housing for low-and middle-income people, "It's very clear the suburbs are not doing' their fair share for affordable housing," said Roxanne Silverstein, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Hartford County who spoke to the task force. The results of the group's research were presented during a meeting at Manchester Community College by Wilford Miles, dean of the University of Hartford's business school and a member of the task force.

"Zoning restrictions and zoning board actions in suburbs around Hartford are the single biggest barrier to affordable housing in Greater Hartford," Miles said. The task force said that some towns place housing costs out of the reach of people with low incomes by unnecessarily requiring low-density housing or improvements including sidewalks and granite curbs. "We are concerned that the zoning regulations are used not to improve the towns' aesthetics, but rather that they have a restraining effect on the availability of affordable houses," Miles said. The task force determined that increases in housing costs in the Hartford region outpaced increases in the median income in the area by 113 percent in the past decade. More than 80 percent of the workers coming to the region to fill new jobs make significantly less than the region's median, the task force said.

i voters in the Willimantic section also cast ballots on a $3.2 million spending package for police and fire services there. i If an increase in state aid is ap- proved by the General Assembly, as town officials expect, Windham's tax rate would remain at 35.5 mills. In the Willimantic section, which I supports its own fire and police de- partments, the tax rate will rise 2.1 mills to 54.5 mills. The education budget passed by vote of 735-389, and the general gov- eminent spending plan was ap- proved 840-429, Joseph Buisson, Democratic registrar of voters, said. "Yes" votes more than doubled "no" votes in the Willimantic voting dis- trict, while the tally was only slight- ly closer in the Windham district, Buisson said.

Willimantic voters approved that section's budget 448-208, Buisson said. "We're very lucky that this budget went through," Buisson said, ex- plaining that last year's referen- dums cost the town considerable time and money. Turnout was low Tuesday, with only 10 percent of registered voters casting ballots, Buisson said. Although three budgets were ap- proved Tuesday, voters in the Wind- I ham voting district will go back to the polls May 26 to decide on a proposed $279,000 budget that would include hiring a resident state troop-; er, Buisson said. Except for Willi- mantic, the town is covered by pa-' trols from the Colchester state police barracks.

South Windsor recommends smaller classes SOUTH WINDSOR Kindergarten classes should be smaller and should cater more to the different abilities of students, the board of education was told Tuesday by a group of committees studying early childhood education. For two years, committees composed of parents, teachers, administrators and board members have studied preschool programs, curriculums and transition classes. The committees, formed by the board in 1985, surveyed fiarents, reviewed curricu-ums at other schools and spoke with education experts to recommend changes in early education. The preschool committee found that 90 percent of the parents surveyed had children who attended a preschool program, said Jeff rey Chase, co-chairman of the preschool committee. Because preschool programs vary widely, it would be difficult to alter the kindergarten curriculum to conform with preschool learning, Chase said.

The kindergarten curriculum subcommittee recommended that the programs should do more to accommodate differences among students at that age. Teenager pleads guilty equipment to stealing computer and related equipment Later in December, Shea, John Limberger, 17, of 150 Pine and three Manchester youths under 16 were charged with the theft in November of $10,000 worth of equipment from the SNET vans. Shea and three other youths had said before they were arrested that they had used their personal computers to raudently obtain access codes to make long distance telephone calls. No charges have been filed in By DOLORES BEASLEY Courant Staff Writer MANCHESTER An Ellington teenager pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of third-degree burglary in the theft of more than $13,000 worth of of ice equipment. Thomas Shea, 18, of 131 Windermere Ave.

pleaded guilty in Superior Court in connection with a break-in at the Visiting Nurses Association in December and the theft of $10,000 East Hartford student arrested in puppy's death Suggested pay raises would cost East Hartford about $100,000 connection with those incidents. Another youth, John Oshman, 19, of 21 Shady Lane, who was charged with attempted burglary at the visiting nurses office, pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary in March. Limberger, who was also arrested in connection with the burglaries at SNET and the visiting nurses offices, was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday, but his case was continued. The court sealed the records of the other youths because of their ages. McNulty did not release any specific salary increases proposed.

Council approval of the new job descriptions would be needed for the new salaries to be implemented. Council Chairman Harry A. Egazarian has said a lump sum could be incorporated in the contingency fund of the 1987-88 budget to cover the increases. The council will hold a public hearing on the proposed $65.49 million budget tonight and is scheduled to adopt a spending plan Thursday. Both sessions will start at 7:30 p.m.

in the town council chambers. The study dealt with about 160 of the town's 470 workers. worth of equipment from two Southern New England Telephone Co. vans in November. The maximum sentence for two charges of third-degree burglary is 10 years in prison.

Shea's sentencing is scheduled for June 22. In December, six teenagers including Shea were arrested in connection with a break-in at the nursing association's offices on Porter Street Police said that at the time they were apprehended the youths had 35 items, including a According to the acquaintances, police said, Dupuis threw the puppy into the Connecticut River off a bridge near Prospect Street. The first time the dog was thrown into, the river, it floated to shore, according to the affidavit. Dupuis and a 17-year-old threw the dog into the river a second time, and it floated to shore again, the report said. After they threw it into the river third time, they dropped rocks on the puppy from the bridge, and the animal finally sank, police said.

The body of the dog was not found. Dupuis, a senior at East Hartford High School, was charged with fifth-degree larceny and cruelty to animals, both misdemeanors. He is being held on a $1,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Manchester Friday. By MICHAEL REMEZ Courant Staff Writer EAST HARTFORD Implementing a consultant's suggestions on raising the salaries of some town employees would cost about $100,000, Mayor Robert F. McNulty sajd Tuesday.

The town council received a draft of the study by John W. Thompson Associates at a closed meeting last week. Thompson was hired last year to evaluate the job descriptions and salaries of most of the town's non-uniformed employees. McNulty said his staff calculated that the salary increases proposed in the study would cost about $100,000. However, By TRACY GORDON Courant Staff Writer EAST HARTFORD A high school senior was charged Monday with stealing a 4-month-old puppy, tying its paws together and tossing it into the Connecticut River three times until it finally drowned, police said.

Police accused Raymond Dupuis, 18, of East Hartford, of stealing and killing the Doberman pinscher March 12. The dog, named Max, was owned by Joseph Mozzicato, who lived with Dupuis until the two had a fight, according to police reports. After Mozzicato reported the theft of his dog to East Hartford police, officers interviewed acquaintances of Mozzicato who said Dupuis and another man had killed the dog..