Record-Journal from Meriden, Connecticut • 9

1 Tuaiday September 12 1995 Pag 9 a H(TGOixlrJou nil 1 i Local tattoo artist draws praise trophies By David Kanny Record-Journal staff WALLINGFORD Troy Talmadge has been making tattoo for only two years but he wanted to see how his work would stack up against statewide competition And by the time a weekend contest was over Talmadge had won eight trophies for his work including two for first The competition was sponsored by a Clinton motorcycle shop American Iron Gallery was pretty surprised to win anything so it felt really great to get eight" said Talmadge 25 a Meriden resident who works at Tattoo International on Chester Avenue Talmadge said he is most proud of the first-place award he won for a tattoo of a whale he put on Holly Hunter's back "That came out really nice" he said came in with an idea of what she wanted and I came up with the idea of what it would look like I was really happy with that Talmadge also won four second-place trophies and two third-place trophies Judging was done by the people who wear the tattoos of the contestants Talmadge became involved in tattooing two yean ago when he visited Tattoo International because he admired the work of owner Mark Savaikas went there with the idea of asking for a job and as soon as I walked in I was Talmadge said When Talmadge came looking for a job he had a portfolio that showed artistic talent Savaikas said I decided to bring him in for a six-month apprenticeship and see how he worked Talmadge learned fast Savaikas said really happy with the way coming Talmadge has an artistic talent' and he also has an equally important ability to re- late to customers Savaikas said lot of people can be a good artist but if they can't work with the customers ChrisAngHwVRaoonKlounwIj tattoo artist Troy Taimadge who works at Tattoo International in Wallingford won eight trophies including two for first place in a weekend competition One! Please see Tattoo 10 of his award-winning tattoos is on the thigh of Hollie Bragg A colleague described Talmadge's style as town miss out on 135m mistake nets suspension for town official 1 i By Ken Byron subsidiary Connecticut Light and Power Co has toric Preservation Forty" states participate but Record-Journal staff $20000 to hire consultants Connecticut is the first tp have its program spon- the nine communities who applied for as- ored by a private corporation rather than the state Meriden and Southington lost their bids to par- sistance through the Connecticut Main Street pro- government ticipate in die Connecticut Main Street program gnun these four communities were chosen unani- More municipalities at a rate of about five' a Northeast Utilities officials announced Monday roously by the selection committee because they year will be chosen Ranniello said At any one The' winners are East Hartford New London were clearly the most united prepared and com- tunC he said the utility wants 20 municipalities Simsbury and Torrington said Bruno Ranniello a to reyrtahzauon effort in their Qg application Was filed spokesman for Northeast Utilities Those four Uu Coordna' by the Greater Southington Chamber of Corn-municipalities arc now ieligible! for help from NU Ior 8tte program merce which will apply again next year said during die next five years in efforts to revitalize The Connecticut Main Street program is part of Mark Scioto who helped write the 42-page appli- their downtowns They must have a full-time a national program started 15 years ago by the manager to run the project but NU through its Washington DC-based National Trust for His- Please see NU funds 10 Richard Lee and Wayne D'Orio Record-Journal staff PZC gives its OK set in JL 46 mmiicipalities 5f' 1 'f in the next month or month and he said At Monday Council meeting councilors' queried Braasch about the error Council Chairman Andrew Meade said Braasch' biggest mistake wu not reporting the er-ror to Weichsel when he first dis- covered it After Weichsel said Braasch not a computer -council member Edward Mal- I czyk said old dogs have to lean) new tricks I do want to see a full review of this It could happen again" Weichsel promised a report' saying not glossing over it" Braasch opened the discussion by apologizing to Weichsel the -council and the town cha- grins me greatly that this hap-pened I agree it wu unprofessional and my he said In late August Braasch told -Weichsel 'that in February his -staff had difficulty transferring information regarding the property values of new construction projects into the Micro- i solve computer program Aa a result 1500 properties had to be added individually to' the computer records Braasch said he believed all the corrections had been detect- ed but two errors were not caught Both condominiums had Please see Assessor 10- HARTFORD (AP) Voters in 46 communities will head to the polls today to choose who will represent the Democratic anRepublican parties in this fall's municipal elections Five incumbear mayors all Democrats faced challenges in the primaries In 20 other towns voters were to choose candidates for first selectmen PbUf are opert from 6 am to 8 pm 4 In Wattidr Mayor Edward Benin' who has held the office for 14 of the last 20 years Is being chsl-lenged by Fred Msscolo a member of a prominent law first-term Mayor Mike Peters is being challenged by Coundlwotnan Elizabeth Horton Sheff If Horton Shelf loses she will have another shot as an SOUTHINGTON Town Manager John' Weichsel said Monday he will suspend Tax Assessor Herbert Braasch for two weeks because of a tax error that led to a $135 million budget shortfall Braasch failed to correct inflated assessments on two condo- miniums meaning the town will get $135 million leu in taxes than expected Braasch however will be out of wok for only one week and lose me week's pay said Weichsel who said he made the deci- sion late Friday afternoon permanent record' will show a two-week suspension a part of his permanent record certainly not good Weichsel said The town manager said he could have discharged Braasch the town's tax assessor since 1987 did not think at this time discharge wu Braasch said Monday afternoon that he understood why Weichsel took the action certainly could have been much worse It wu due to my oversight" he said The suspension will not be immediate Braasch and Weichsel will determine when the suspension is served will be at the least critical time period perhaps study expanded Route 5 be accommodated without adversely effecting the central section of Route 5 and traffic on adjacent streets such as North Main Street North Main Street Extension and North Raids Industrial Road? The commission discussed the contract at a special meeting last Thursday Com-1 nission member Robert DeMarco who is a lawyer said then he was worried because the contract lacks an exact completion date and does not specify what would happen if die study were not finished or were not finished on time DeMarco said Monday he was satisfied that Adam Mantzaria the town's corporation counsel had answered his concerns from the special meeting But -DeMarco asked that the commission be able to meet regularly with the firms to confirm what percentage of work on the study has been completed Commission Chairman Janies Fitzsimmons supported DeMarco's suggestion but he asked that the commission sdU vote to approve the contract He said the firms are willing to work closely with the PZC far as I'm concerned a minor issue" Fitzsimmons said to Route 5 By John Pettit Record-Journal staff 1 1 WALLINGFORD The Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously Monday to sign a contract for a $43010 land-use and traffic study of Route 5 The contract outlines seven tasks that the -firms hired to do the study Milone ft MacBroom Inc of Cheshire in association with Harrall-Michalowski of Hamden plan to complete The purpose of the study which will take between 18 to 20 weeks to complete is to examine the potential future growth on Route 5 by producing a land use and traffic study and by offering suggestions to protect and enhance the character of the sections of Route 5 according to the contract The study will also examine die following issues: Can the town take steps primarily through land-use regulation to protect andor enhance the character of the sections of Route Could the road be expanded to four lanea and could an expanded road handle traffic for developments already in place and those being built? Could traffic from new commercial development on an independent in the Nov 7 election 7 Both Democrats and Republicans are fighting for pots on die November ballot in Middletown First-term Democratic Mayor Thomas Serra is opposed by atior-ney Mtria Madseo Holzberg in a rematch Former city Councilman Emanuel Pattavina and political -watchdog Frank LoSacco are slugging it out in GOP mayoral primary In New Britain former six-term mayor William McNamara and former city clerk and treasurer Lucian Pawlak are battling for the right to take on Republican Mayre Linda A Blogoslawsld in the general election NeusQuote Inside Meriden: Ballot position may count for everything or nothing for candidates 1 1 Wallingford: David Houde Memorial Dinner will benefit organ donation drive 1 3 "You old dogs have to loam now tricks11 Southington Town Council member Edward Malczyk referring to the error that netted a $135 million tax shortfall A Southington: Council adopts enterprise zone plan 16 i 1 I I fclifc1 ifc-l-il Ini I if.