Record-Journal from Meriden, Connecticut • 11

Record-Journal Meriden Conrt Tuesday April 21 SOUTHINGTON Old friends reunite in a new country New flea market will need zoning OK town says By Joyce Cohan Record-Journal staff By Brian Trotta Record-Journal stiff prankster immediately called him up He left a message with Flores-cu's young cousin: Call John Florescu was intensely curious to see who John eras "My little cousin paid me a visit and said named John called for you He said you can call at any I asked my cousin 'He has an accent or speaks like an He said think I dial the number and said I speak with Mr John Florescu was thunderstruck to find his friend on the line Firimita visited Florescu at his Hartford apartment where the two talked for hours and hours about art and the present and the past As teen-agers the two practiced English and spent vacations at Red Lake in Moldavia They played on the basketball team in school because they were both tall disagree" said Firimita very good friends totally different We were very challenging even with girls The only fight I got into ever in my life was with him It was really stupid both hyper both of us I look back and think that was The two went to different art schools and lost touch When Firimita fled Romania he know whether any of his friends were dead or alive Firimita who has few family ties to his homeland no longer misses SOUTHINGTON Artist Florin Firimita who immigrated to the United States to escape the oppression in his native Romania has' been here for nearly two years He is finding that life is good He is studying play production applying for art scholarships and preparing for gallery shows He is using brighter colors in his paintings That's because he has been inspired by South American Indian art and also because he is happy used to use grays" he said "That had to do not only with my training but my world I Eat a bright red on my canvas in oniania I just couldn't" another bright spot in Fi-rimita's world now Just weeks ago he was unexpectedly reunited with a dear friend from his boyhood in Bucharest Barbu Florescu Florescu who also fled to find freedom settled in Hartford where he has relatives An art teacher of at Central Connecticut State Universi- ty mentioned that a new Romanian artist was affiliated with the Artworks Gallery in Hartford "I thought it's 100 percent I don't know said Firimita "It's impossible to know But the teacher showed Firimita a catalog and he -saw his name" Firimita ever the David KooiRecord-Joumal clude any reference to for-profit flea markets an ammendment detailing when and where they are permitted is needed Schneidermeyer said The regulations already allow nonprofit groups such as civic organizations and churches to run flea markets provided they get a special exception permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals The proposed ammendment which the PZC is-expected to discuss when it meets tonight at 7: 30 pm in the Town Hall Council Chambers would allow for-profit flea markets antique shows and craft fairs on weekends between April 15 and Nov 15 provided they are held in an area that is zoned for business Before a flea market could open promoters would be required to obtain a favorable recommendation from the town planner engineer and the police chief in addtion to a special exception from the ZBA Fred Serafino a member of the PZC said the special exceptions would have to be renewed for each event until the promoter establishes a track record with the town Thus the Perakos' would need a special except tkm for each weekend they planned to hold the event Schneidermeyer said the town would have to issue a cease and desist order to the if the flea market opened before the zoning regulations could be changed Barbu Florescu and Florin Firmita look over a few canvases that Florescu brought from Romania Both painters are from Romania SOUTHINGTON The owners of the Southington Drive-In are adding a weekend to their evening schedule of movies Sperie Perakos co-owner of the theater said he plans to offer a flea market with up to 300 exhibitors at the theater on Saturdays' and Sundays from I am to 4 pm Perakos said several non-profit organizations had inquired in the past about using the theater site for a flea market but he and his brother John Perakos decided they could promote the events themselves is something that we can do in addition to the drive-in that might create additional interest in the Perakos said But town officials say Saturday's scheduled premier may be a bit premature and the flea market may have to be scratched Town Planner Melvin Schneider meyer said the flea market can not open until an ammendment to the zoning regulations allowing such operations is reviewed by a regional planning agency and approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission Because the zoning regulations are a land use is prohibited unless the regulations specifically allow it and do not in his country That's not the case for Florescu whose wife Camelia remains in Bucharest He hopes to send for her soon Florescu describes his art as expressionist "Here I can express he said try to express what I feel in that very moment I try to avoid to enter into some kind of rules I hate rules I hate preconceptions A viewer asks me what does that mean I say you have to explain like a classical music concert you have to explain the musical work will soon be on display it Artworks in a group show called of Firimita shows his paintings at Gallery 53 in Meriden In July a selection of them will be at the Southington Savings Bank are very happy that we are together and have plana for the future to make exhibition said Florescu Town Crier Council to get $65m budget Apple Fest pipes Columbus aboard By Joyco Cohen Record-Journal staff AUCTION St Paul's Episcopal Church will conduct an auction at 11 am on Sat urday The preview will begin at I am Those seeking more information may call 628-64S6 CHICKEN DINNER The Southington Grange will sponsor a chicken barbecue dinner at noon Sunday in the Grange hall To make reservations call Rita McDonough at 628-6663 CAR SHOW The Southington High School student council will sponsor a car show from 10:30 am to 4 pm Sunday at the high school Registration is at lO am Admission is free month The budget passed last night is the result of three nights of workshops held by the beard last week The cuts made during those meetings were finalized Monday along with an overall cut to the Board of Education's budget "Unless otherwise noted these all are board member Philip Pomposi said as he read off each of the changes made to the budget The board slashed $17 million from the school board The remaining $1 million came from the other town government departments The board has avoided resorting to layoffs as a way of minimizing the budget increase But the money for two new firefighters requested by the Fire Department got cut Other major budget reductions included $55000 for a new computer system for the Police Department A number of department heads will also have their wages frozen under the board's proposed budget Board members all said the spend- Min they are sending to the coun-s cut spending to the absolute minimum Cuts to the school budget ranged from $145 million proposed by Jeanne Carey to $2 million suggested by Pomposi Board cut $2 9m from proposal By Km Byron Record-Journal staff SOUTHINGTON The Board of Finance will send a proposed budget of 165111005 to the Town Council for its final approval The proposed spending plan which was approved Monday is $29 million less than what was proposed by the town manager who had suggested a budget of $68011005 The council will review the recommendation and must approve a budget next ing smoothed out For example some of the token booths will be in different locations Last year onetoken booth was especially crowded while another one was overlooked Zion Lutheran Church will sponsor the fritter booth This year however the booth might be a trailer and it might have three fryers instead of two certain times there's a need for it (the extra fryer)" said Bill Leach chairman' of the fritter booth used to have two-hour The budget for the festival which is sponsored oy the Greater Southington dumber of Commerce is $85000 to $90000 STATEREGI0N SOUTHINGTON The Apple Harvest Festival will join the rest of the nation in recognizing the 500th anni-venary of Christopher Columbus' trip across the ocean blue The theme for the 1992 festival is to 1992 A Salute to The Apple Harvest Festival committee which met Monday night is firming up its plans for the 24th annual autumn event to be held Oct 3 4 8 9 10 and 11 The committee doesn't want things to change much from last year except for the weathpr which was abysmal "This is a year of maintain- ing some of our tradition" Mid Anthony D'Angelo one of the chairmen One addition will be a series of min- iature golf tournaments starting Sept' 13 at the Caddy Shack new course And the hostess tradition is under going evolution Last year for the first time the eight hostesses were 1 oined by two hosts This year eight ilgh school seniors will be chosen as hosts or hostesses with no regard for gender One of them will be crowned queen or king at the Apple Harvest Festival dance to be held at the Elks Club op Sept 19 A fow hitches from last year are be Conspiracy alleged in RI murder case By Michael Tight Associated Press1 On The Record roues hoitm SOUTHINOION Th following people were charged by police April Alta April IS: Kenneth Stotion 46 el 35 South End Road unllcemed dog 3:55 pm' Curtlt Prochow tkl 39 at 636 WolhoroH St Manchester third-degree larceny 3 pm Aha April 14: Lucia Danton 30 iofSS Broad It Piain-villo issuing bad check I am Jason Moskowitx 31 of 4S2 Lake Avo Bristol speeding 1:05 am Hilda Santoni 44 137 Jubilee St New Britain failure to appear 10:20 am- are being forced or have been forced to cut the pieces of the puzzle to he said Jurors listened to about five hours of-arguments in Superior Court and will be given about 90 minutes of instructions on Tuesday by Judge John Bourcier before beginning deliberations Tempest 39 a beer deliveryman is charged with murder for the Feb 19 1982 bludgeoning' and strangling of Picard 22 Tempest allegedly killed Picard after she walked in on him while he was beating her landlord Su- un Laferte 37 Laferte suffered severe head injuries in the attack and has testified she remember it Laferte and Raymond Tempest allegedly were having an affair at the time The statute of limitations has run case took 10 years to get to the point where we are Ryan rebutted Dimitri's casting of suspicion over the witnesses of theM people came running to the police he Mid in for them? No deals no Ryan also recounted the testimony of witnesses who uw Raymond Tempest Sr at the crime scene the day of the killing and Gordon Tempest at the scene the next day Gordon Tempest could have hidden the metal pipe that police believe was used by his brother In the attack could have wiped prints from the pipe and could have taken police photos on the care from a lab Ryan said the'ties of this defendant to the police department not Ryan Mid out on attack The trial has probed the influence exerted on witnesses and investigators by one of Woonsocket's best-known families Tempest's brother Gordon Is a suspended Woonsocket detective The father of the two men is Raymond Tempest Sr a former Woonsocket chief of detectives and former Providence County high sheriff Prosecutor James Ryan Mid Tempest benefited from his influence in police circles pointing to Gordon questioning his brother after the crime was committed and saying the police officer may have altered evidence testimony about (Gordon Tempest) as a police lieutenant is Ryan said submit to you a living Illustration of why this PROVIDENCE RI Family ties to the Woonsocket police may have helped Raymond Tempest Jr avoid murder charges for years a -prosecutor said Monday in closing arguments at Tempest's trial But the attorney defending Tempest who is on trial for the 1982 slaying of Doreen Picard said the charges Tempest faced were the product of overzealous police work Investigators were so eager to convict Tempest that they coerced wit nesses to alter their stories William A Dimitri Jr said being fooled The theory just doesn't hold Dimitri raid during a three-hour argument Public library announces new book acquisitions Stab wound to throat killed Mass store clerk Soak of Poetry" Volen: Explorers Everett "Get Me a Story to Tell" Lee "Christa McAuliff: Beaching far the Stan" Martin "The Heroine ofthe Titanic" Bias Anderson "The Voyages of Columbus" Humble: "Christopher Columbus" Krensky: "First Lady of the Sonata" Gould 'libel Velar Lawyer" Bryant: "A Young Painter" Cheng "Hooray for Peace Hurrah far Jantien "Exploring the Bismarck" Ballard: Vayoges of Columbus" Hills "Sett Ion an the Eastern Shore" Scott: "The War For Independence" Marrim "Marching Toward Freedom SOUTHINGTON The Southington Public Library has added the following mater lals to its collection JUVINU NON-FICTION "A Modioval Caltiodral" MacDonald: Can Draw Comict and Cortoon" Smith by Maurice Sondak" Sondak "I Can Draw Dinosaurs" Bonfort: 1 Can Draw Animals" Tallarl "I Can Draw Sharks and Wholss" Spain "Guinnoss Book of Olympic "All About Basketball" Sullivan: "Classic Treasury of Christmas" Farris "A' Boa of Fapparmints" Stopple "The Voyage of the Ludgate Hill" Willard: Watch Somers guard stops two from escaping Campbell refused Monday to comment on any clues inside the store whether a murder weapon was found or whether police had any pects The body wu found shortly after 2 pm Sunday behind an industrial park in Agawam a Springfield suburb of 27500 on the Connecticut border Authorities worked with spotlights into early Monday to collect evidence at the scene Ziegert was last seen alive Wednesday night at her part-time Job at Brittany's the card shop in a small shopping plaza off Route 147 Police said she spoke with the owner of an adjacent carpet store about 7:35 pnv and shop customer at 8:20 pm AGAWAM Mass (AP) A 24-year-old store clerk whose body was left in the woods died of a stab wound in the throat police Mid Monday A passerby discovered the body Sunday off a road about two miles from the store where the victim worked The clerk Lisa Ziegert vanished from that card and gift shop four days before while working alone on evening shift Lt Robert Campbell of Agawam town police Mid Monday that autopsy reports Indicted the victim was killed by the knife wound in her throat Authorities Mid earlier they were treating the disappearance as an ab You are invited to a Pool (Care Sustain8 Seminar WED APRIL 22 7-9 PM THE AGENDA FOR TROUBLE-FREE POOL CARE: The Sustain Pool Care System Proper Water Balance Algae Control (Guaranteed) Water Testing "The bottom line Is the system worked and 4ft no way was the security of the prison Flower said James Dolan president of the1 union representing correctional officers at the prison Mid the incident underscores the need to reopen guard towers at the "prison Dolan said that if the towers had been open' guards would have spotted the inmates as they crossed the roof The towers were ordered closed by Gov Lowell Weicker Jr as a cost-Mving measure in February 1991 Murderer Frank Vandever apd career burglar Ronald Rutan escaped from Somers on New Eve after sawing through window bars in a room off of the kitchen and clipping through the prison's fences undetected The two inmates were recaptured two weeks later On Feb 6 inmates Leroy Harris and Brian NiBlack cut through bars on a chapel window made their way to a prison roof then attempted to mingle with visitors who were leaving the prison but were stopped SOMERS (AP) Two Somers State Prison Inmates were thwarted in an escape attempt early Monday when a guard caught them trying to steal ladders to vault chain-link fences James Davis- 22 and Donald Williamson 43 were discovered by a guard at about 3:20 am in the woodworking shop of the prison's industries area according to Correction Department spokesman William Flower The inmates told prison officials they were trying to steal ladders so they could climb over the prison's chain-link fences Flower Mid Flower Mid the ladders are kept locked up and it was unclear how the inmates planned to get the ladders or how they planned to make their way to the fences without being seen Davis who is serving a 51-year sentence fos first-degree robbery and Williamson who is serving a 20-to-40-year prison term for rape apparently crawled through vents in their cells into air ducts leading onto the roof Flower Mid The two then made their way from the roof to the industry area NY councilor denies gay bias kEW YORK (AP) A city councilman on Monday denied a news report that quoted him as Hying the city could limit the spread of AIDS by permitting disCrimination against homosexuals Enoch Williams of Brooklyn who is chairman of the Council's Health Committee Mid the story in Monday's New York Post was "a complete distortion of my views on any bias against any persons or groups or the limitations of any group or individual's civil rights for any reason" Williams told a City Hall news conference The article Mid that according to Williams people are dying of AIDS because the city is too tolerant of homosexuals It quoted him as saying of us in the black community believe if we condone homosexuality AIDS will eoMO Hunter's CALL FOR RESERVATIONS POOL CENTER INC 263 Church Street (RL 68 150) Yelesvllle CT 06492 269-2183'.