Town man making waves in water sport
By Colin Gustafson Staff Writer
Greenwich native Matt Sexton, 23, is making a name for himself in a little-known water sport that only recently began gaining its own name recognition.
The sport is paddle boarding, an ancient Hawaiian pastime with elements of surfing and kayaking that is growing in popularity among both hardcore surfers and novice leisure seekers.
Sexton, a Greenwich High School graduate and senior at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., is now emerging as a person to watch in this once-obscure sport - both as a promoter and as a competitor.
Please Read The Full Greenwich Time StoryBy Colin Gustafson
Staff Writer
In Greenwich, it's illegal for a real-estate agent to post a "For Sale" sign in front of any home - and, The New Yorker's Nick Paumgarten argues, that's probably all for the best given the increasingly dire state of the housing market.
"The absence of such signage has been a blessing as the town's brokers and homeowners have sought to maintain, in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary, that they are immune to the ravages of the credit crisis," Paumgarten writes.
"If brokers' signs were allowed, the town might look, from the right distance, like a giant and very expensive tag sale," he writes in his latest New Yorker article, "A Greenwich of the Mind," which is due to hit newsstands Monday.
In his nine-page article, Paumgarten suggests that the sub-prime fallout, once thought to be relegated to lower- and middle-income areas, has crept into the town's wealthiest enclaves in the wake of a speculative mansion-building boom.
As evidence, he points to the ill-fated foray of one commercial real-estate developer, Antares Investment Partners, into the backcountry market....
In January, Antares also failed to attract enough buyers for its plans to convert two Greenwich apartment complexes into high-end condos.
With a worsening outlook, the company in April sold its remaining vacant lots for $9 million - a move that sparked a lawsuit from investors accusing the company of breach of contract. That sparked a countersuit by Antares, which was later settled this month, Paumgarten writes.
Just this week, the Lake Carrington property, which originally went on the market for $28 million, was purchased for $13.75 million.
Full Read The Full Greenwich Time StoryBehind The Times - Please See:
08/18/08 EASING THE $QUEEZE Nick Paumgarten examines the impact of the subprime mortgage fiasco in on Greenwich a place he calls more prime than sub
ALSO:
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
For What It's WorthNew Yorker Article on Greenwich
There's a terrific article in the New Yorker this week by Nick Paumgarten that captures the town nicely - its Old money (which was new not so long ago) its new boors and their flashy houses and all of us middle class schnooks in between. The article is not available on line but, and I would almost never say this, the piece is worth the news stand price of the entire magazine. Read it.
AND:
Friday, August 22, 2008
The Greenwich Time has discovered Nick Paumgarten's article on Greenwich. Paumgarten's tone may be a bit pessimistic on the current state of our real estate market (could be because he spent too much time talking with me) but I think he's right on, naturally. Leave it to our local paper, however, whose last revenue source is real estate advertising, to seek out and quote those Realtors still capable of whistling past the graveyard.
But local brokers say that explanation only gives part of the picture. While it's true Greenwich's upscale market is not as robust as it once was, it's certainly not bad enough to doom a well-planned project to failure, many said.[Coldwell Banker - isn't that the firm that got your column axed for saying mean things about real estate? Ed. Why yes, I believe it was]
"I don't think Greenwich has been that hard hit," said Jackie Hammock, a real estate agent for Coldwell Banker. "There are still plenty of these houses that are selling."
While I'm delighted that there are still optimistic agents working the beat and while I don't believe that the market has died forever, I personally stopped whistling awhile ago.
The Greenwich Time has discovered Nick Paumgarten's article on Greenwich. Paumgarten's tone may be a bit pessimistic on the current...
By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
For years Cornell Abruzzini and Jim Hirsch remained confident that the Dinnertime Bandit would eventually pay his tab in hard time.
Between Alan Golder's disappearance from New York in 1997 and his capture in Belgium in 2006, Abruzzini and Hirsch would talk almost weekly about the fugitive,convinced their prime suspect, Alan Golder would pop up...
"My ideal of a burglary detective is to be like a dog who is digging for a bone buried in the backyard," said Hirsch, who retired in 1999 and now is director of security for multi-billion dollar hedge fund Tudor Investments. ".......Golder will make a motion for a new trial, his lawyer, Public Defender Howard Ehring said, but the cops who dogged him believe justice has been done....
..."Here it is 12 years later and it is coming to a conclusion," Abruzzini said of the case. "Even early on in the investigation, some of our colleagues and even police from other police departments were very cynical about us pursuing this case and if we'd get Golder.
Abruzzini credited the assistance of other investigators who targeted Golder for Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey jewel burglaries in 1996 and 1997, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York State Division of Parole for helping him continue to build the case in Golder's absence....
...Hirsch and Abruzzini first suspected Golder in the burglaries in mid-November 1997, after a tip from Golder's Queens, N.Y. parole officer that Golder had committed similar burglaries during the 1970's, and was now a free man. ...
..."As soon as I heard that I knew we weren't chasing a ghost anymore," Hirsch recalled. "We knew who we were after."
The Greenwich charges were not pursued when Golder went to jail....
...Both officers were dismissive of efforts by Ehring at trial to raise speculation about whether the the Dinnerset Gang, "Silver Thief" Blane Nordahl, or another individual or group of top-notch burglars might be responsible for the Greenwich break-ins.
Like Golder, the other burglars touted by Ehring all preyed on affluent homes and adhered to a strict set of procedures, Abruzzini said.
Last week under questioning from Ehring, Abruzzini tried to debunk Ehring's theory that Nordahl was the Dinnertime Bandit, explaining that he and Hirsch ruled out Nordahl because he always stole sterling silver and struck in the middle of the night....
..."Any theory that those others were credible suspects was just baloney and we ruled them out."....
It looks like the Greenwich Time Forgot About It's Previous reporting.
Why didn't Martin "I Am The King Of Incomplete Crime Reporting" Cassidy ask Cornell Abruzzini about the shoe print at the cellar door that was never linked to shoes that Golder wore or the partial finger print that could not be linked to the Dinnertime Bandit.
Golder case not open and shut
QUOTES:
"Because they don't have footprint or fingerprint proof, they produce a witness who alleges he sold a lot of jewelry for the guy at the time," said Stephan Seeger A Stamford criminal defense attorney , who is not involved in the case. "It all goes to credibility of the witness and when a like this takes the stand it undermines the state's case."
"The trial will not be decided based on his past or all the information and background known about him," said Todd Fernow, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law. "From what I hear there seems to be reasonable doubt everywhere and the state has a very tough row to hoe in this case."
"People assume he is the bandit because he has done it before, but I don't think a jury will convict him simply upon their past if the evidence in the immediate case is not there," said Mickey Sherman, a Stamford-based criminal defense attorney.
THE STORY:
The questionable credibility of a prosecution witness and the lack of eyewitness identification could lead to the acquittal of Alan Golder of charges that he was the Dinnertime Bandit who stole jewels from town mansions a decade ago, according to Stephan Seeger, a Stamford criminal attorney.
Prosecution witness Robert Liebman testified last week that he drove Golder to Greenwich for burglaries and helped sell jewelry stolen from town homes.
He also admitted he lied to police for two years to protect the man who actually purchased the jewelry - a Manhattan jeweler who dated Liebman's sister....
...Also troubling for the prosecution is Judge John Kavanewsky Jr.'s ruling that evidence about Golder's past crimes as a prolific cat burglar who swiped millions of jewels from wealthy estates from 1975 to 1980 is inadmissible and prejudicial...
...Prosecutors also lack a firm identification of Golder. In court last week, a woman who was eight at the time of a 1996 burglary said she had picked out a profile photo of Golder shortly after a 1996 burglary of her home, telling police that his nose was similar to the burglar's.
But Kavanewsky warned the jurors that picking out a similar facial feature was not a positive ID of the suspect....
...Last week, Assistant State Attorney Joseph Valdes argued that a similar technique in all four burglaries points to a single perpetrator, noting the burglaries were committed in the early evening hours.
But Cornell Abruzzini, the retired Greenwich detective who investigated the case and obtained warrants for Golder, acknowledged that a shoe print found on a cellar door at the scene of one of the burglaries was never linked to shoes that Golder wore.
A partial fingerprint also could not provide identification, Abruzzini said.
Abruzzini declined comment Friday....
Please Read The Full Greenwich Time Story:
Please See:
- Disparate And Lazy Prosecutor Joseph Valde Wants The Associated Press To Save The Poorly Investigated Greenwich Police Department Case.
- ”If people knew that every time they talked to a reporter they'd be talking to a state prosecutor, they'd stop talking to reporters,” New York attorney David Schulz said. “The state is trying to get the benefit of a reporter doing his job covering this case. That's exactly what the shield law does not allow.”
- “It's a fishing expedition.”said Howard Ehring, Golder's public defender.
PLEASE ALSO SEE:
08/01/08 Judge John Kavanewsky Jr Would Be A Fool To Try And Weaken Connecticut 2006 Reporter Shield Law
- Judge John Kavanewsky Jr had better tell the Connecticut States Attorney to have the Greenwich Police Department to hit the bricks and uncover another states witness. Otherwise Judge Kavanewsky is going to find his overturned decission in featured in law school text books.
Please also read:
07/17/08 When asked if anyone in the court room appeared to be the person that she described to police she said no.
- Howard Ehring Says Greenwich Detective's Police Work Does Not Meet Judicial Standards
- Patricia Solari identified Alan Golder a decade ago from an array of eight photos as the intruder who robbed her home in 1997. She said she only saw him for a few seconds and that he wore a ski mask and gloves.
- "We have a photo array here that really does not meet the standard," said Howard Ehring, a public defender representing Golder.
- Ehring said Golder's photo had a background distinctive from the other seven photos and that police presented Solari with all the photos at once, alloing her to quickly eliminate all but two based on eye color. Ehring also said the lead investigator should not have shown her the photos because of the potential for bias.
- Solari only saw the intruder for a few seconds and was not certain of his eye color, Ehring said. He also said she felt badgered to make an identification.
- Solari said last week she eliminated six of the eight photos quickly because their eye color was not blue or green.
- Asked if anyone in the court room appeared to be the person she described to police, she said no. Golder, who has blond hair and blue eyes, was in court.
John L. Coloma, 30, of 60 Wilbur Peck Court, was arrested Aug. 7 and charged with illegal use of a credit card and identity theft in connection with ordering food delivery using stolen credit card numbers, according to a police report.
On June 16, Greenwich police received a complaint from a Chinese restaurant in town that Coloma may have used other people's credit card numbers, according to the report.
The victims were not aware of the charges until they were contacted by police, according to the report.
Coloma was charged with six counts each of illegal use of a credit card, sixth-degree larceny, criminal impersonation, five counts each of receiving goods from illegal use of a credit card, and third-degree identity theft, according to the report.
He was released on $1,000 bond, and was scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford last Friday, Aug. 15, according to the report.
*******************************************
A 16-year-old town boy was arrested Tuesday evening at his Armstrong Court residence and charged with disorderly conduct in connection with a fight with his sister, according to a police report.
The 18-year-old sister alleged that during an argument her brother, who is much larger, shoved her in the head, according to the report.
Police withheld the boy's name because of his age.
The boy was released on $1,000 bond and was to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford yesterday, according to the report.
Please Read The Full Greenwich Time Story
Talking 'Top Design': Greenwich native to appear on Bravo reality show
By Beth Cooney
Staff Writer
Martha Stewart herself must have packed Eddie Ross' suitcases for Los Angeles. How else can the Greenwich native and senior editor at Martha Stewart Living explain the sterling butler trays and exquisite vintage silverware he just happened to have on hand when he competed recently in the second season of Bravo's "Top Design....
... "I think I paid 70 dollars. I walked out the door of that store and felt guilty, like I was stealing. I knew what I had and it was a major find." He took them to a silversmith to have them engraved. "And then they were a perfect match."
Will he have that kind of luck on "Top Design?"
"Watch Bravo and see what happens, that's all I can say. The experience was wonderful. Grueling, but absolutely wonderful."
Please Read The Full Greenwich Time StoryNo matter what energy aid plans eventually emerge from the special session of the state General Assembly scheduled to begin today, lawmakers should consider channeling a portion of that aid to public school districts.
In typical state Capitol fashion, just before the session was slated to open there were myriad proposals being floated by majority Democrats, minority Republicans and Gov. M. Jodi Rell on how the state should utilize the projected state surplus that has been pegged at $75 million. ...
Please Read The Full Greenwich Time Editorial
Hospitalists need to put patient care first
To the Greenwich Time editor:
If the hospitalists are to take on the important role of inpatient care at Greenwich Hospital, they must have the experience and skills necessary to maintain a high quality of patient care that Greenwich Hospital has come to represent.
In order to ensure high-quality hospitalists, they must meet standards set by experienced and dedicated physicians. To have anyone else determine an incoming hospitalist's ability would suggest that they were more qualified than the experienced physicians, or that a different agenda was at the forefront.
At Greenwich Hospital it is not the experienced physicians who choose the hospitalists. Instead, it is the hospital administration and its employees who choose the hospitalists. The hospital administration is concerned with the bottom line, i.e. economics first. If those concerned with economics are choosing, who will care for the patient? Perhaps bottom-line concerns have eclipsed concern for patient care.
Who would you rather have take care of you or a loved one in the hospital for a serious and potentially life-threatening situation? Someone your primary care physician determines is a qualified caregiver or someone from the hospital administration with help from a physician staff employee who figures they can do the right thing?
Anthony P. Redmond
Greenwich
The writer is a retired physician.
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