06/31/02 - June Obituaries

Obituaries

Elena Amelio, 88,
Elena "Helen" Amelio, 88, of Port Chester, N.Y., died Sunday, June 2, at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, N.Y.

Austin Gillig Cragg, 85,
Austin Gillig Cragg, 85, of Hilton Head Island, S.C., a former longtime town resident, died Saturday, June 1, at the Preston Health Care Center in Hilton Head Island.

Myrtle Clare Motyer Maclaren, 84,
Myrtle Clare Motyer Maclaren, 84, a Greenwich resident, died May 11. She died of natural causes, according to her family.

Marilyn Nisbet, 97,
Marilyn Nisbet, 97, a Greenwich resident, died May 21 at The Nathaniel Witherell nursing home on Parsonage Road.

John Paul Schmaling, 87,
John Paul Schmaling, 87, a lifelong Greenwich resident, died Sunday, June 2, at The Nathaniel Witherell nursing home.

Hubert M. Tibbetts, 77,
Hubert M. Tibbetts, 77, a Greenwich resident and former president of the Thomas J. Lipton Corp., died Sunday, June 2.

Thomas C. Thompson, 83,
Thomas C. Thompson, 83, a Norwalk resident, died Saturday, June 1, at Norwalk Hospital.

Eileen Amy McCarroll, 86,
Eileen Amy McCarroll, 86, of Delray Beach, Fla., a former longtime Greenwich resident, died Thursday, May 30, at Bethesda Hospital in Boynton Beach , Fla.

Friday, June 14, 2002 - Skakel verdict a product of striking contrasts

Joe Pisani

Skakel verdict a product of striking contrasts

Dorthy Moxley began her day with a simple prayer, the same one she's said countless times since her daughter was murdered in 1975: "Dear Lord, again today, like I've been doing for 27 years, I'm praying that I can find justice for Martha....

June 13, 2002 - Jerry Dumas - Will Y's handball court exist only in dreams?

Will Y's handball court exist only in dreams?

After we had talked for a few moments, he revealed the main purpose of his call. He had, just before he woke up, a vivid dream. In it, he and I were playing racquetball on the Greenwich YMCA handball and racquetball court. We have actually done that quite often whenever he has managed to come home for a visit. He said that after we had finished a point, I walked away a bit unsteadily, mumbled something, then collapsed to the floor.

In the dream, he was now faced with a dilemma: Should he begin to work on me or should he call 911? The problem was that there was absolutely nobody else around, and he didn't want to leave me. But his training told him that he must call 911 and get an ambulance and equipment on the way, so he ran out of the handball court and up the stairs to the gym, where there were two guys playing one-on-one at the far end.

He says that he called to them to run to a phone, but the chilling part was that he wasn't sure they understood, or if the did, were going to bother to do anything about it. He then turned and started running back down the stairs, and that is where his dream ended, as those dreams usually do. Something in our brains switches off, not wanting anything to do with endings.

He realized, however, that the phone call to me was a sort of catharsis, a way of exorcising the dream; once he told me about it and heard my voice, he felt the whole thing was then finally concluded. And just maybe he had to find out that it has not really happened after all.

His right foot is in a cast at the moment, so he and I are unlikely to be playing any sports when he comes up from Florida this July. And I told him that by the time he gets up here a second time, perhaps sometime next year, there probably wouldn't be any handball-racquetball court. I said the YMCA had received permission from the town to double its size, and the court stood in the way of the proposed Olympic-sized swimming pool, according to the architect, and would have to be torn down.

"How can they do that?" John said. (I love this boy.) "Isn't it a historic court? Isn't the Greenwich Y court where racquetball was invented?"

I told him that he certainly brought up an interesting point. The YMCA had got permission to build a much larger structure than allowed because of something called "historic overlay." That is, the board of directors gets the rules bent in return for a promise to keep the existing historic structure as it is.

The main building is truly lovely and should be preserved at all costs. (I was a member of the YMCA board of directors 20 years ago when the board was split almost 50-50 between those of us who wanted to preserve and beautify the present structure and those who wanted to sell the building and its property to a developer for the now-mind-numbing sum of $2 million.) But I am not aware that anything historic ever happened in the beautiful main building. The only truly historic part of the YMCA is its almost 70-year-old handball court, and although many are not aware of it, that is the only part of the building scheduled for demolition.

The court is, incidentally, in wonderful shape, except for its somewhat subdued lighting. I once had the U.S. handball champion, John Bike, and the Canadian national champion, Danny Bell, come to play at the Y with us, and they later pronounced it one of the best courts they had ever played on. (They don't make 'em like this anymore, and all that.)

A new court, which will still be the only court in town, is earmarked for inclusion as part of the new gym, but it's anybody's guess whether the court will be strong and sound or flimsy and dead, or when it will become a fact.

In the end, I told John that I'm still here, and the historic court is still here. I told him to keep his fingers crossed for both of us.

Jerry Dumas, who lives in Greenwich, writes and draws the comic strip Sam and Silo and contributes gags to Beetle Bailey. His articles have appeared in Smithsonian, The Atlantic Monthly and other periodicals.

June 6, 2002 - Jerry Dumas - How does this resonate with your funny bone?

How does this resonate with your funny bone?

Before very long I'll be participating in a luncheon gathering of fellow observers of the good life and whatever good times one can manage to scare up. It's the sort of happy and expectant soiree that more or less demands that each member contribute two or more stories that have never been heard before and that will result in general laughter and good feelings all around.

This assembly will take place at a small distance, and I know for certain that those present do not see this newspaper. Therefore, I feel safe in trying out a story or three here in this space.

Sometimes I think a story is new, and it isn't. Sometimes I think a story is old, and it's new to everyone to whom I tell it. Here are some I am considering, stories I guess most people will not have heard. If any reader has a strong negative opinion, an "Oh-God, Please-Don't-Tell-That-One" reaction, there will be time to let me know before I make a mistake.

*

The 18th century philosopher Moses Mendelssohn was walking down a busy street in Berlin one day when he accidentally collided with a stout Prussian officer.

"Swine," shouted the officer.

With a courteous bow, the philosopher replied, "Mendel-ssohn."

*

A chemist invented a new deodorant. It's called "Vanish." When you rub it on, you disappear. Then everybody wonders where the smell is coming from.

*

A rich young Greenwich woman had an earache. The doctor examined her and found a piece of string dangling from her ear. The doctor began pulling it out, and the more he pulled, the more the string came out. He struggled and kept pulling, and finally, to his amazement, out fell a bouquet of roses.

"Good heavens," said the doctor. "Where did this come from?"

"How should I know?" said the young woman. "Why don't you look at the card?"

*

"She gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket." (Raymond Chandler, "Farewell, My Lovely")

*

In Brooklyn in 1932, an elderly woman was caught shoplifting. The butcher did not press charges.

He said, "Just pay for the chicken, and we'll forget what happened."

Tears of gratitude ran down her face, and she kissed the butcher and said, "I don't know why I did it, and I swear I'll never do it again. I'll be glad to pay for it, but not a your prices, you crook."

*

In Lucca, Italy, a cartoonist named Carlo Chendi said to me, "Do you remember Castelli and Silvestri, who come to your home in Connecticut last year? They return to Italy and they say to me, 'He is nice man. He just like us. He prefer to do today's work tomorrow.'"

*

A true story: Young couple in Manhattan. Like many other working couples, they routinely telephone out to have dinner delivered rather than cooking in their tiny kitchen. They didn't give this practice a second thought until they noticed that their 18-month-old was climbing into his high chair every time the doorbell rang.

*

Second true story: George S. Getnick is telephoning an insurance client at her home. The phone is answered by the woman's 5-year-old son, who reports that his mother is unavailable. Mr. Getnick asks the child if he would please write down the caller's name, and give it to his mother when she returns.

"OK," says the little boy.

"I will spell it for you," Mr. Getnick says. "The first letter is G, the second letter is ..."

"Wait," the young voice commands. A brief pause. Then: "How do you make a G?"

Jerry Dumas, who lives in Greenwich, writes and draws the comic strip Sam and Silo and contributes gags to Beetle Bailey. His articles have appeared in Smithsonian, The Atlantic Monthly and other periodicals.

06/02/02 - Bernie Yudian

• Descriptions of events have a familiar ring

Welcome to the initial program of "Smart Talk." We're pleased to have as our guest Dr. Manfred Q. Finster, noted cliché expert. Welcome, doctor.

A. Proud as punch to be here with you. Happy as a clam.

Q. Could you tell us how you got into this unusual specialty?

A. Yes indeedy. Growing up I was fascinated by stories appearing in the New Yorker magazine by a brilliant humorist named Frank Sullivan, who wrote these interviews with a Mr. Arbuthnot, cliché expert.

Q. So you were inspired to follow suit. Have you enjoyed it?

A. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick (ha ha). I've made out like a bandit.

Q. I see. You look well.

A. Fit as a fiddle.

Q. Let's talk about the Skakel case. Any views?

A. The case was problematic from the start. The prosecution did a bang-up job.

Q. And the defense?

A. They had a tiger by the tail.

Q. What was the turning point?

A. That private investigation into the murder that put the spotlight on Michael. That let the genie out of the bottle.

Q. It's that serious?

A. Hey, once you squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube �

Q. Right, I get it. What about the defense trying to pin the rap on the teacher, Ken Singleton? Do you think he was involved?

A. You believe that and I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.

Q. How do you think the

jury was persuaded?

A. The prosecution connected the dots.

Q. That seems to be the Cliché du Jour, doesn't it?

A. That it is.

Q. You think there's more to come in this Skakel case?

A. Looks like a done deal to me.

Q. Remarkable, the decision, since the testimony was all circumstantial.

A. Yes. No smoking gun.

Q. I understand the courtroom was stunned when the verdict came in. How was the tension?

A. You could cut it with a knife.

Q. What kind of a gasp was there?

Q. An audible gasp, of course.

Q. On another subject, what's your take on the president's spectacular government reorganization plan?

A. Just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Q. You don't sound like a fan of our government people. Why?

A. Politicians feed at the public trough while talking out both sides of their mouth.

Q. A neat trick, that.

A. And they spend money like a drunken sailor.

Q. Have you ever been in

public service?

A. Been there; done that.

Q. You have had quite a career.

A. Yes, a well-rounded one. And I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Q. You sound off in public quite a lot?

A. Of course. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Q. Have any trouble getting to the studio today?

A. I-95 was a parking lot.

Q. We've got a transportation problem in this area, haven't we?

A. It's a can of worms.

Q. Our officials can't seem to figure out how to improve it.

A. They run around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Q. You listen to weather-givers on radio and TV. Any comment?

A. I'll say so. I heard one goofy guy say where he was, the hail was as big as ping-pong balls!

Q. What's wrong with that?

A. That's a no-no. Any idiot knows hail stones are always as big as golf balls!

Q. What about floods?

A. That's easy. Rivers are always rampaging.

Q. Do you pay attention to the lighter things in society?

A. Oh yes, I'm no stick-in-the-mud nerd. I like to watch these older wealthy guys bustling around with young chicks.

Q. Those women are called ...?

A. Arm candy. And if they snare the rich geezer, they become trophy wives.

Q. I can see you're up on what's going on these days.

A. You can bet your bottom dollar on that. Keeping your eyes peeled -- that's the bottom line.

Q. Your business must be stressful.

A. It is, but at the end of the day, I sleep like a log.

Q. That's great.

A. Yes, at this point in time, clichés abound.

Q. And that's good for your science?

A. Bet your bippy. For me, it's a win-win situation.

Q. To get back to the trial, what did it bring?

A. Closure.

Q. That's a real faddish word and relatively new in the lingo, isn't it?

A. Search me.

Q. How did you feel when that verdict came in?

A. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

Q. And what's your prediction on the ultimate outcome of this matter?

A. That remains to be seen.

Q. Well, time's up. It sure went by a fast.

A. Like a bat out of hell.

Q. Thanks for coming doctor. I hope we can do this again some day and talk about some Greenwich clichés.

A. That would be peachy. Have a nice day.
Bernie Yudain, whose column appears Wednesdays and Sundays, is a public affairs consultant and a former managing editor of Greenwich Time.

May 30, 2002 - Jerry Dumas - Winning our fencing match with the deer

Winning our fencing match with the deer

I would like to submit a report on progress at our place since, as I mentioned recently in a column about something else, we have completed our installation of deer fencing. The deer are free to roam the front yard, but can't get into the back or most of the side yards anymore.

It is becoming clear that the fencing is a success. Now that vegetation has leafed out, we can see what a difference having no deer chomping non-stop through the night can make. Take a rose bed, for instance. I had no idea our roses could bloom in such profusion. In past years I could see, as I walked around in the morning, where deer had bitten off buds and new soft growth at the tips of canes, but I really had no idea of the extent of the damage. It is possible that the weather has been just right for roses this spring, but more likely it is the fact that those voraciously graceful four-legged eating machines are around the corner eating someone else's roses.

My sunflowers are also doing nicely. Last year the deer left them alone, and I figured that sunflowers don't make it with a deer's taste buds; they left them alone, that is, until the 10-inch diameter flowers approached their maximum beauty, at which point the deer chomped them off, stomping the asparagus below as they dined.

We used to see as many as seven or eight deer in the back yard, and when we got up in the morning it was always both interesting and disheartening to look at them. They are such lovely creatures that it's a shame, like certain girls you knew in college, they leave such destruction in their wake.

One winter we arose one morning to find that two inches of snow had fallen, and at least one deer had taken a walk across the pool cover, puncturing it with its hooves in four or five places. It surprised me, because I had thought that deer, being sensitive creatures, would have backed off with the first shaky step. But that's the mistake we make when we think about wild creatures: We think of them as being all alike. It may be, as with humans, there are smart deer and stupid deer. Until the pool cover incident, a costly mistake (to me, not to the deer), I hadn't considered that in each deer family there was always one dim-bulb, one who never learned, the one the rest of them knew would never amount to much.

One of the main problems with our place is that we have every single thing that deer love to eat. We have dozens of crab apple tress, and I've seen deer, after devouring all crab apples on the ground and on lower branches, stand on their hind legs for minutes at a time to get those once thought beyond their reach. We have oak trees; deer, I can attest, think acorns are the nectar of the gods. We have one peach tree, two pear trees and we used to have a plum tree, and when deer had done away with whatever fruit they could grab, they ate the twigs as a side dish.

I won't even go into what's been happening to the door frames and the stucco, except to say that it vexes me when my wife defends them, saying they're just restless.

But all that is a thing of the past. In the first weeks after the fencing went up, I would see hoof prints in the soil on the outside of the fence as they shifted uncertainly from hoof to hoof (I can read their little minds like a book), wondering what happened to a passage they had once trod so freely. Then the rains came and washed away their hoof prints, and in the weeks that followed no new prints were seen. And wonder of wonders, rose bushes and butterfly bushes and sedum that were on their side of the fence remained untouched. They had stopped coming to the front yard.

I came to realize they felt that if they couldn't stop, have a snack and go on through, they weren't interested in the area at all. Deer don't like to be backed into a corner or against a wall; they want the freedom to move in any direction.

As do we all.

Jerry Dumas, who lives in Greenwich, writes and draws the comic strip Sam and Silo and contributes gags to Beetle Bailey. His articles have appeared in Smithsonian, The Atlantic Monthly and other periodicals.

May 23, 2002 - Jerry Dumas -The chassis is old, but is it good for parts?

The chassis is old, but is it good for parts?

It's that time of life again. Time to get rid of a beloved old car. It seems as if I just did this.

Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - Greenwich Time Editorial

EDITORIALS

Tuesday, April 16, 2002

An earlier start for the allergy battles

Flowers, trees and shrubs are in bloom, the days are warm, and spring is here in all its glory. Along with it comes the sneezing, runny noses and itchy eyes that plague so many of us when the pollen starts to fly.

Sunday, March 24, 2002 - Largest Easter Egg Hunt On The East Coast?

Hunt is on at annual event

Haley Brown placed 12 pastel-colored eggs inside a Tiffany & Co. shopping bag that doubled as a basket yesterday during a Lions Club-sponsored Easter Egg Hunt that organizers claim to be the largest on the East Coast.

Greenwich Time Photo Here:

Sandra Hernandez, right, of Greenwich holds the hand of her daughter, Selena, 2, left (Bob Luckey Jr./Staff photo)

More Local News:

Parishioners weigh in on controversy
Neil Vigdor

• Leaving town Residents have mixed reaction to compost plan

• Bodyguard plays central role in Skakel case

• Now ear this: Caring for rabbits requires attention

03/14/02 Officials narrow murder evidence: Investigators meet with Margolies family for update

By Lindsay Faber - Greenwich Time

Investigators working on the 18-year-old Matthew Margolies murder case have narrowed down their evidence to a collection of crucial pieces that are now undergoing a second round of forensic testing, a state lab director said yesterday.

"Right now we're at the more technical second layer, so to speak, on the testing," said Major Timothy Palmbach, director of scientific services at the Department of Public Safety forensic science lab in Meriden.

The update was well-received yesterday when Maryann Margolies and her daughter Stacey met for three hours with investigators, including Deputy Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano, Inspector Jim Rovella, Greenwich Police Sgt. Timothy Duff and Detective Gary Hoffkins, at the office of Greenwich attorney Tom Williams, who represents the family.

Matthew was 13 on Aug. 31, 1984, when he was stabbed, strangled and suffocated. His body was found five days later on a wooded hillside not far from his Pilgrim Drive home.

For more than a year, the investigative team that met yesterday has been turning up new leads as it re-investigates the unsolved homicide.

None of the meeting participants felt it was appropriate to discuss details of what took place at the meeting, but Williams said he was satisfied with how the case has progressed in recent months.

"I was pleased with the meeting and that's all I can say for now," Williams said.

Family members declined to comment at length about the meeting but Matthew's sister Stacey said she, too, was heartened by recent developments.

"We just don't want to disrupt what's going on right now," she said. "But it's encouraging."

Palmbach said the Margolies case is one of the top 40 cases being prioritized by the state.

"The process takes a lot of time," he said. "At any crime scene, a tremendous amount of evidence is gathered that ultimately proves to be extremely meaningless."

Palmbach added that there have not been definitive results on the testing at this point.

Morano, who is leading the investigation of the case, said the group has not had to deal with any major roadblocks and the case is proceeding as planned.

"We now know what we want to look at and we're in the process of doing so," Morano said. "We intend to conduct a thorough investigation. If and when we make an arrest, we want it to be a case we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt because that's the ultimate objective here."

Morano would not say how far the team was from making an arrest, nor would he comment about the pieces of evidence being looked at more thoroughly.

Matthew's body was discovered beneath a pile of rocks, branches and leaves, stripped to his undershorts and stabbed more than a dozen times with a knife. He had been strangled with his own clothing and suffocated with dirt that was forced down his throat. Police later determined that the young victim had been tortured before he was killed.

Eight people who either lived or worked in the Glenville area at the time of the boy's death were identified as suspects during the initial investigation, police said. They remain under suspicion.

Morano has said that the forensic science aspect of the renewed investigation holds promise because physical evidence from the homicide scene was well-preserved. Forensic scientists are employing the latest in DNA testing techniques, he said.

02/27/02 Forget About The Greenwich Time: Independant Journalist Kevin F. McMurray Says Juvenile Margolies Murder Suspect Has Criminal Record

A Greenwich resident thought to be a primary suspect by the Greenwich Police Department in the disappearance/murder of 13-year old Matthew Margolies had a criminal complaint filed against him a few weeks prior to the 1984 Labor Day weekend murder of the Margolies boy.

The 16-year old individual was arrested on an assault charge after allegedly beating up another 13-year old boy not far from where the Margolies family resided.

The suspect and the young victim had gone to a vacant house owned by the suspect's family on his suggestion that they get some sodas. Ordered into the bathroom by the older boy the victim refused whereupon he was grabbed by the neck, throttled, then forced into the bathroom and punched in the face. What transpired afterwards was not publicly revealed at the time but it was reported that the boy was told by his assailant to explain that his injuries were a result of a bicycle accident.

When the police followed up on the complaint by the victim's family the suspect told them he had taken the younger boy to the house to clean up the wounds suffered by the purported bicycle accident. Due to the fact that the suspect was a juvenile adjudication of the charges were sealed.

No one has been indicted or arrested in the 18-year old murder of Matthew Margolies.

02/24/02 Forget About The Greenwich Time: Independant Journalist Kevin F. McMurray Says There Is A Possible Break In The Margolis Case?

A source in the Port Chester Police Department (PCPD) revealed that a retired detective from the department will be speaking with detectives of the Greenwich Police Department (GPD) on Monday, February 25th, regarding an arrest of a former PCPD officer on charges of pedophilia in Texas.

The former officer in custody of Texas authorities had links to the unsolved 1984 murder of 13-year old Matthew Margolies in the Glenville section of Greenwich. The retired PCPD detective who will be meeting with GPD detectives was involved in the case almost 18 years ago.

The arrested pedophile, Roger Bates, was a close family friend and neighbor of a juvenile who was questioned by GPD about his whereabouts and knowledge of the events of Labor Day weekend 1984 when the Margolies boy disappeared from near his home in the Pemberwick section of town. Matthew Margolies’s body was found less than a mile from where he was last seen on a wooded hill overlooking Pemberwick Road five days later. Although never officially acknowledged the Margolies boy’s murder has long been considered sexual driven in nature. The juvenile suspect had a police record and was known to frequent and fish in the area of the Byram River where Matthew Margolies lived. The suspect was also a known acquaintance of the victim and of other juveniles questioned in the disappearance and murder of the Margolies boy.

Bates, a PCPD officer at the time, was an obstacle in the questioning of the Port Chester suspect. Allegedly, it was Bates who convinced the suspect and his family from having him submit to a polygraph given by the GPD whose focus was the Margolies murder. It has been suspected that Bates has knowledge that could be useful in the pursuit of an arrest of a suspect in the crime.

Speculation is that the current GPD detectives in charge of the long dormant Margolies case will travel to Texas to interview the former Port Chester police officer. Conceivably, in exchange for information on the Margolies case, some leniency might be extended to Bates on his Texas charges. Bates is looking at a long sentence in the Texas penal system as a pedophile.

October 21, 2001 - While They're Protecting Us, Who's Protecting Them? - New York Times

JEFF WALSH of Rockville, a member of the 143rd Military Police Company of the Connecticut National Guard, was on his way home from a wedding in New York the afternoon of Sept. 29 when he got a call from his unit commander to report for guard duty at Groton-New London Airport the next morning at 4 a.m. He managed to get only a couple of hours sleep before rising at 1:30 the next morning to get ready and make the trip.

He called and left a message on the answering machine at New England Building Products, where he works installing gutters on new homes. He knows this is a busy time of year for the company, because so many contractors are putting the finishing touches on homes built over the summer, but no one could control the timing, he said with a shrug.

''I had health insurance, but it came out of my check, and if I don't work I don't get paid, so I don't know what's going to happen with that,'' Mr. Walsh said. And while one of his supervisors has told him the company will hold his job for him, he also knows that his co-workers will not be able to keep up if someone is not brought in to replace him.

''If they hire someone else, I'm not going to fight to get a job back where someone doesn't want me,'' Mr. Walsh said. ''I like my job, and the money is great, but I guess I'd have to go someplace else.''

Throughout the state, workers who have been called up for emergency Guard and Reserve duties, and their employers, are struggling with the same questions. While federal law requires companies to hire these workers back when they return, it is up to each company to determine how to pay them while they are gone. Some companies keep paying salaries while the soldier is away, others pay nothing.

''Last night, I got a call from a Guardsman who works for the state, and he's quite upset because he's going to lose a big chunk of money because he has been called up,'' said Carl R. Venditto, Connecticut chairman of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, an advocacy group for the Reserve. ''It would be nice if they're not hurt financially by the recall.''

Some 600 Guardsmen in Connecticut are currently deployed, the largest deployment of the Guard since the Korean War. Many were called up before Sept. 11, including an Army Reserve unit that left for peacekeeping operations in Kosovo this month, and an Air National Guard unit enforcing sanctions against Iraq. The Guard and Reserve now make up more than half of the nation's military forces and are being more heavily used than any nonwar period in the past.....

......But there are occasional employment-related disputes about reservists being called to active duty. Sean P. O'Donnell, a Greenwich police officer and member of a military police unit in Orangeburg, N.Y., is involved in a labor dispute over the way the town handles call-ups. In the Gulf War, he said, Greenwich paid the difference between military pay and the employee's salary from the town. He said the town did not do it when he was called up to go to Bosnia for eight months in 1999 and 2000.

''When the flag came out waving, it was the politically correct thing to pay the individuals who got deployed,'' Mr. O'Donnell said. ''You run into the same financial difficulties whether you get called up for a popular war or something that doesn't get as much attention. If we can't take care of ourselves or, worse, our families, how are we going to stay in the job?

''This is a structural issue they're going to run into with all the Guard and Reserve members who are going to be called up,'' Mr. O'Donnell said. ''If the United States is going to rely so heavily on Reserve and Guard units, and leave the people hanging out there financially, you're going to lose very valuable, and very resourceful, soldiers, which is going to leave the whole country in a predicament.''

Lt. Michael A. Pacewicz, president of the Silver Shield Association, the town's police union, said while the policy in Greenwich calls for an unpaid leave, the policy was augmented during the Gulf War, and the union contends that should set a new standard.

''Officer O'Donnell was in Bosnia, he was called up by the military, he did exactly what you would expect of a patriot, and the town isn't treating him the same way as they did the people called up for the Gulf War,'' said Mr. Pacewicz. ''What they did in Desert Storm was a great thing, but you can't treat people differently if they were called up for Bosnia instead of Desert Storm, and we're afraid that they'll take the same position now.''

Greenwich officials did not return repeated telephone calls seeking comment. Mr. Venditto said people who are called up are covered by the Uniform Services Employment Re-employment Rights Act, which basically requires that if a member of the reserves is called to service, the company must let them go and keep the job open for them when they get back.

There is also a provision that employees come back with all the benefits such as vacation, sick time and insurances that they would have had on the day they left.

''Simple as it is, a lot of employers, companies and municipalities, interpret it differently,'' Mr. Venditto said. ''We do have, occasionally, a problem with some people who don't understand the law. In those cases where an employee calls us with a concern, we refer them to an ombudsman, a mediation service that we use......

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Sept. 30, 2001 - Doctor Epstein Severly Injured

Dr. Fred Epstein, 67, a Greenwich resident and the founding director of the Institute for Neurology and Neurosurgery at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, suffered severe internal head injuries, paralysis and other permanent injuries.

04/01/01 BOSTON GLOBE: Greenwich's other murder 1984 case reopened amid spotlight on Moxley slaying

By Lisa Prevost, Boston Globe Correspondent

GREENWICH, Conn. - Maryann Margolies has long accepted that the unsolved murder of her son can't compete for public attention with the fatal bludgeoning of fellow Greenwich teen Martha Moxley.

The killings were startlingly similar: Moxley was just 15 when she was found dead in the backyard of her family's estate in affluent Greenwich. Matthew Margolies was 13 when he was slain near his home in the Glenville neighborhood.

But the media appeal of the Moxley case has - as far as the Margolies investigation was long concerned - made all the difference in the world.

While Margolies was raised in an unremarkable working-class neighborhood, Moxley lived and died in exclusive Belle Haven.

More importantly, her suspected killer is her former neighbor, Michael Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy.

''The Moxley case has gotten the amount of attention it has primarily because of the Kennedy connection,'' said Maryann Margolies, a nursing director who still lives here. ''And that's a fact of life. That's reality.''

But more than 16 years after his murder, Matthew Margolies is about to get equal time.

Though they appear to have no new evidence to go on, Greenwich police and the state's attorney's cold case unit have come back to the Margolies case - a case that has long been known here as Greenwich's other unsolved murder.

Greenwich Police Chief Peter Robbins, who was a lieutenant detective when Margolies was murdered, has vowed to bring the case to some conclusion. The police recently enlisted renowned forensics expert Dr. Henry Lee to reexamine the evidence.

Though it's hardly common for police to reopen an investigation after so many years, the media frenzy driven by Skakel's arrest and impending trial - 25 years after Moxley's death - made it increasingly difficult for police to leave the Margolies murder alone.

The local newspaper, Greenwich Time, turned up the heat on police last year when it published a severe editorial: ''Another Old Murder Waits To Be Solved.''

And a local man has helped raise the Margolies murder's profile by maintaining the Web site www.matthewmargolies.com.

Greenwich native Tom Alessi launched the site a few years ago because, he says, he was frustrated by a widespread lack of attention to Margolies's murder.

The Margolies site averages an impressive 1,000 hits a day, although they may be primarily click-through traffic from Alessi's more popular sibling site: www.marthamoxley.com.

''I thought it was sort of wrong that there was all this interest in Martha's case and there was still a second murder that was just as important and not getting as much media attention,'' he said.

By reopening the Margolies case, police are hoping to capitalize on media interest in the Moxley murder, a case that has been profiled on television's ''Unsolved Murders'' and the subject of or thinly veiled in salacious novels.

At a press conference last month, the Greenwich police more than doubled the reward they had been offering for new information in the Margolies case, from $20,000 to $50,000. They also established a hotline for tips (203-532-1949), and brought Maryann Margolies forward to make an emotive plea.

''The media attention is already there because of the Moxley case,'' said James Walters, the Greenwich Police Department's deputy chief for criminal investigations. ''It sure helped the turnout at the press conference.''

But the odds of solving such an old case are not favorable.

Obtaining enough evidence to secure an arrest and conviction is very difficult in any cold case, acknowledged Deputy Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano.

''We are very clear when we meet with victims' families that we don't have any more answers than anyone else,'' Morano said. ''But what we do have is time to look into the case.''

The state's cold case unit has obtained arrest warrants in seven of the 15 cases it is working on, he said. So far, only one of the arrest warrants has led to a conviction.

Dr. Harry Bonell, chief deputy medical examiner in San Diego and a consulting expert for the national advocacy group Parents of Murdered Children, found that as few as 10 to 15 percent of cold cases are ever solved. But those 10 to 15 percent, he said, provide crucial hope to grieving families.

On Aug. 31, 1984, Matthew Margolies was stabbed repeatedly with a boning knife and suffocated with dirt that was forced down his throat. Five days passed before police found the body in a wooded area not far from a nearby river where he often went fishing.

Though police had a roster of suspects, no arrest was made.

Officials now hope advances in forensic science will enable them to identify Margolies's killer. ''We've always felt the case was solvable,'' Walters said. ''We believe the DNA analysis is going to be instrumental.''

According to Walters, work on the Margolies case slowed to a stop between 1990 and 1996.

Then, in 1998 - about a year after Robbins became chief and about the same time a one-man grand jury was appointed to consider evidence in the Moxley case - Robbins assigned two detectives to go through the 1,000-page Margolies file. Last November, the Greenwich police asked the cold case unit to join the probe.

As with the Moxley case, Greenwich police have been long and loudly accused of mishandling the initial investigation. In a 1986 report, an outside consultant faulted the Greenwich force for, among other things, failing to assign a detective to the case until after Margolies's body was found - and then only assigning one detective to view the crime scene.

''I think that if the police had had more experience and had involved the detective division, and had listened more closely to the things we had to say, they would certainly have not gone for that length of time without finding him,'' Maryann Margolies said in a recent interview.

But from Morano's perspective, the Greenwich police may have salvaged the case - albeit years later - with their conscientious handling of the evidence.

All crucial pieces of evidence were sealed after they were last viewed in 1984. All police reports are in the file.

And, rather presciently, the Greenwich police took hair samples from their suspects. Considering that in 1984 few in law enforcement had ever heard of DNA analysis, it was either far-sighted or inadvertently fortunate, Morano said.

Maryann Margolies says the ups and downs in the investigation of her son's murder have become increasingly hard on her.

This time, she says, she needs the case to be either solved or resolved.

''It's more painful each time it resurfaces than it was at the time of the murder,'' she said. ''With the passage of time, you've started to get your life back in some semblance of order and normality.''

And while legal closure may not mean emotional closure, ''it has to be less painful.''

03/09/01 Reward doubles; officials look to DNA for clues in '84 murder

By J.A.Johnson Jr. - Greenwich Time

Matthew Margolies' mother stepped to the microphone-adorned podium, looked straight at the television cameras and pleaded for help in finding her son's killer.

"Please, I beg you to help me find some level of closure," Maryann Margolies said yesterday at a press conference convened by law enforcement officials to elicit the public's assistance in their renewed push to solve the 1984 homicide.

Deputy Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano, who since November has headed a combined state and local "cold case squad" that is probing the murder, announced that the state has more than doubled its share of the reward money for the Margolies case. He said Gov. John Rowland authorized an increase from $20,000 to $50,000. With $10,000 in private funds, the reward now totals $60,000.

Officials also announced that anyone with information about the murder can call a newly established 24-hour telephone tip line: (203) 532-1949.

In addition to unveiling measures to elicit greater public cooperation, Morano revealed that technicians at the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory in Meriden are preparing to use the latest in DNA testing on physical evidence from the case.

The evidence includes hair that Margolies' killer may have left at the crime scene.

The testing will be done at the direction of retired state public safety commissioner Dr. Henry Lee, one of the nation's preeminent forensic experts.

Of Lee's involvement in the Margolies case, Morano said, "That makes me the luckiest cold case prosecutor in the country."

While cautioning against unduly high expectations, Morano said he is optimistic about a positive outcome of the renewed probe because the original investigation was well-documented by police and physical evidence has been well preserved.

"All relevant and crucial pieces of evidence have been sealed since 1984 and have not been pawed by well-meaning individuals," Morano said, adding that the integrity of the evidence can ward off possible future claims of tampering or contamination.

Morano, the state's second highest-ranking prosecutor, said the Margolies case is unique for an old homicide case in that police had taken and retained DNA samples from suspects during the initial investigation.

"We have a veritable database, for lack of a better word, of suspects," he said.

In an interview last week, Lee said cold case investigators collected additional DNA samples from suspects who voluntarily supplied hair and saliva, and search warrants may be sought to obtain DNA from uncooperative suspects.

Margolies was killed Aug. 31, 1984, in a wooded area off Pemberwick Road, not far from his home on Pilgrim Drive, in a neighborhood of the Pemberwick section of Glenville known as "The Valley."

According to the autopsy report, Margolies had been stabbed more than a dozen times and was suffocated by dirt shoved down his throat. The boy's body was concealed under a pile of brush, rocks and leaves and, despite an extensive search, was not found for five days.

Eight people who either lived or worked in the Glenville area were identified as suspects during the initial investigation, police said, and all remain under suspicion.

The case was actively investigated through 1988, but as the killer's trail grew colder, leads trickled to a stop.

In early 1999, two Greenwich detectives were assigned to conduct a complete reinvestigation of the case. After a year of preliminary work, which included a careful review of the nearly 700-page case file, the detectives began conducting interviews in March 2000. Since then, state forensic scientists have been reviewing physical evidence in the case and DNA testing is expected to begin soon.

More leads surfaced after Greenwich Time published a five-part series about the Margolies case in early September. A month later, Greenwich police applied to have the case assigned to the state cold case unit.

Police Chief Peter Robbins said yesterday that the Margolies case file has grown to include more than 1,000 pages of police reports.

"The Greenwich Police Department has never diminished its resolve to solve this case and bring closure to the loving family members over their loss," he said.

Yesterday's press conference, Robbins said, "is yet another stage in the process to bring this case to what is hoped will be a successful solution."

But with her daughter, mother and husband looking on, Maryann Margolies held center stage yesterday as she remembered her slain son.

"He was respectful, considerate, loving and caring," the 61-year-old Pemberwick woman said. "He valued life and knew how to live it. Matthew brought us much happiness. He loved to joke and have fun.

"I wasn't able to hold him as he was dying, to take away his fear and ease his pain. What can I do? I can continue to offer him dignity and see that justice takes place. I have always felt that someone knows something and is not coming forward. Please, I beg you to help me find some level of closure. Look into your heart and soul. It takes courage to do what is right."

In addition to using the tip line, anyone with information about the Margolies case can call Greenwich police Detectives Timothy Duff, at 622-8080, and Gary Hoffkins, at 622-8037, or e-mail the state cold case squad at cold.case@po.state.ct.us .

03/06/11 Announcement Expected in Margolies Case

By J.A. Johnson Jr. - Greenwich Time

State and local law enforcement officials are planning to hold a press conference this week to announce new measures to advance the investigation into the 1984 slaying of Glenville teenager Matthew Margolies. Although not expected to publicly release details about the investigation itself, the chief state's attorneys office and Greenwich Police Department said they will announce plans which will help the public assist with the investigation.

"We feel there are people who know things and are hoping they will come forward and assist by providing what they know," Deputy Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano said on Friday. "The purpose of this press conference will be to reach out to the general public and see what assistance can be provided by them."

Morano, who has headed the Margolies investigation since November, said the appeal for help was not due to a lack of progress by the investigative team, which is composed of detectives from the Greenwich Police Department and the state's cold case unit, as well as forensic scientists.

In fact, the prosecutor said new information about the formerly dormant case has reinforced the belief that the case can be solved.

Morano said the measures to be announced at the Thursday afternoon press conference at Cole Auditorium in Greenwich Library, are part of the investigative team's strategy.

Members of the victim's family met with Morano and other team members for the first time Wednesday to be briefed on the investigation and work out details of the press conference. Maryann Margolies said she came away from the meeting feeling hopeful about her son's case.

"I was pleased," she said yesterday. "I am confident that through the efforts of this team we will reach some form of closure." Although they declined to disclose what will be announced, officials have compared the news conference to one held a decade ago concerning the 1975 Martha Moxley beating death.

In 1991, Chief State's Attorney John Bailey, flanked by local police officials, came to Greenwich to reveal that a re-investigation of the Moxley case had begun. Bailey also announced a doubling of the reward money for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the 15-year-old Greenwich girl's killer, as well as the establishment of a 24-hour tip line.

Seven years later, in 1998, and based on information gathered during the re- investigation, a grand jury was convened to further probe the crime and use its power to subpoena reluctant witnesses. After 18 months of work, the grand jury issued a report that was used in January 2000 to obtain an arrest warrant for Moxley's alleged killer, Michael Skakel.

It is expected that the officials on Thursday will announce an increase in the $30,000 reward that has been in place for the Margolies case.

Margolies was four months shy of his 14th birthday when, on Aug. 31, 1984, he was brutally slain in a wooded area off Pemberwick Road, not far from his home on Pilgrim Drive in a section of Glenville known as "The Valley." According to the autopsy report, Margolies had been stabbed over a dozen times and was suffocated by dirt the killer shoved down his throat. The boy's body was concealed under a pile of brush, rocks and leaves, and despite an extensive search was not found until Sept. 5

Eight people who either lived or worked in the Glenville area were identified as suspects during the initial investigation, police said, and all remain under suspicion.

The case was actively investigated through 1988, but as the killer's trail grew colder, leads trickled to a stop.

Then, in early 1999, two Greenwich detectives were assigned to conduct a complete re-investigation of the case. After a year of preliminary work, which included a careful review of the nearly 700-page case file, the detectives began conducting interviews in March 2000. Since then, state forensic scientists have been reviewing physical evidence in the case and testing is expected to begin soon.

More leads surfaced after Greenwich Time in early September published a five- part series about the Margolies case, which included many previously unreported details obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. A month later, Greenwich police applied to have the case assigned to the state cold case unit.

Anyone with information about the Margolies case can call Greenwich detectives Timothy Duff , at 622-8080, or Gary Hoffkins, at 622-8037, or e-mail the state cold case squad at: cold.case@po.state.ct.us.

01/01/01 2000 Year in Review: Police make gains in unsolved cases

By J.A. Johnson Jr. - Greenwich Time

The year 2000 began with an arrest in a 25-year-old Greenwich murder mystery, and it came to and end with a local man being charged with homicide only a day after allegedly committing the crime.

In between the arrests of accused killers Michael Skakel in January and Joseph Benton in December, 2000 saw new life breathed into the investigation of another long unsolved Greenwich murder, that of 13-year-old Glenville resident Matthew Margolies in 1984.

Others who find themselves in this, the least enviable of Greenwich year-end compilations, include Blane Nordahl, who in October was sent to prison nearly five years after his arrest for breaking into the Greenwich residence of Ivana Trump and into the homes of other rich or famous victims; and William P. Benedict Jr., who in September pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the driving death of a promising young Greenwich woman.

Another notable in the Year In Crime review is former Greenwich resident Martin Frankel. He was more in the news a year earlier, when his alleged fraud scheme that authorities said was used to embezzle more than $200 million from insurance companies dominated local headlines and was news around the nation. But after fleeing the country in May 1999 and being caught as a fugitive in Hamburg, Germany, four months later, Frankel spent all of 2000 languishing in a German prison cell awaiting his expected extradition to the U.S. to face dozens of federal and state charges ranging from racketeering to money laundering.

As 1999 ended, there was an air of great expectancy concerning whether an arrest would finally be made in connection with the Halloween Eve 1975 slaying of Greenwich teenager Martha Moxley. In December 1999, a Bridgeport grand jury completed an 18-month investigation into the 15-year-old girl's death and issued a report that on Jan. 18 was used to arrest Michael Skakel. At his arraignment three months later, as he waited his turn to file out of a packed Stamford courtroom, Skakel stunned the victim's mother when he walked up to Dorthy Moxley and said, "Dorthy, I feel your pain, but you've got the wrong guy."

The events led to a summer of more courtroom drama, beginning with a hearing lasting several days to determine whether there was sufficient evidence for Skakel to stand trial. After hearing from witnesses who claimed to have heard Skakel confess to the crime, Judge Maureen Dennis ruled in a courtroom packed with journalists from around the world that Skakel's case was indeed headed to trial.

But, as 2000 comes to a close, it remains unresolved whether 40-year-old Skakel will be tried as a juvenile before a juvenile court judge or as an adult before a jury of his peers for a crime he allegedly committed when he was 15 years old. A hearing to address the issue of the proper trial venue was held in October, and Judge Dennis has until mid-February to make her ruling.

Earlier this month, on Dec. 9, firefighters responded to a house fire at 37 Prospect St. in central Greenwich. No one was believed to be home at the time, but, as investigators picked through the smoldering rubble, they found behind a shut bathroom door the body of 22-year-old William DeWitt Romig. It was determined the fire had been deliberately set by one of Romig's six housemates, 42-year-old Joseph Benton, who was charged with arson murder.

In a confession to police, Benton said he lit a couch on fire because he was angry with his landlord over the $1,200 monthly rent he was being charged. Said by his attorney to be mildly retarded, Benton is to undergo a competency hearing Tuesday in state Superior Court in Stamford. If found competent to stand trial, Benton would face a possible sentence of life without parole if convicted.

On Sept. 26, 20-year-old William P. Benedict Jr. pleaded guilty to manslaughter in what authorities had called the alcohol-related automobile accident on Cat Rock Road that killed one of the three other teens Benedict had been driving home from a party early the morning of July 24, 1999. The victim was Monique Da Lan, an 18-year-old Greenwich High School graduate and National Honor Society member who was looking forward to returning to Loyola College for her sophomore year.

Benedict had been arrested on two counts of manslaughter, one count of which was dismissed because conviction would have hinged on a legal finding of intoxication. Benedict's blood-alcohol level at the time of the accident was 0.09, just below the legal limit of 0.10. Under the remaining manslaughter count, he had faced a possible 10 years in prison, but under a plea agreement, the prosecution will ask a Superior Court judge to sentence Benedict to six years in prison, and suspend that sentence after three years. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 8.

The end of the Nordahl saga came perhaps fittingly in a year that saw Greenwich burglaries at a 10-year low. Greenwich historically has attracted the best among the criminal class because of its wealth, and from time to time burglars who go on costly breaking-and-entering sprees are given nicknames by police, the media, or both. The latest in this spectrum of notoriety that includes the Dinnertime Bandit, Coastal Bandits and Social Register Bandits, is Blane Nordahl, dubbed Burglar to the Stars.

While others who preceded him snuck into backcountry mansions while residents were busy having supper, or arrived at their waterfront targets in Zodiac inflatable boats, or culled victims from the Social Register, Nordahl's specialty was ripping off his wealthy victims sterling silver service items. Among the loot taken from the 40-room Vista Drive mansion of Ivana Trump, ex-wife of real estate billionaire Donald Trump, were 24 silver dinner plates worth $30,000, 12 antique French show plates worth $14,000, and 32 pairs of salt and pepper shakers valued at $120 each.

Altogether, authorities have said, Nordahl admitted to stealing silver items worth more than $500,000 in the seven Greenwich burglaries he committed between August 1995 and August 1996. He is believed to have stolen millions more in break-ins all along the East Coast - including the homes of rock star Bruce Springsteen and sportscaster Curt Gowdy - until his spree came to an end in October 1996, when arrested on a Greenwich warrant in his native Wisconsin.

Much legal wrangling and confusion over a plea bargain stalled judgment day for the 38-year-old defendant, who was finally sentenced Oct. 26 in federal court in Central Islip, N.Y. When ordering Nordahl to a prison term of five years, U.S. District Judge Jacob Mishler credited Nordahl with "time served," meaning the burglar can be freed as early as this October.

When he fled his Lake Avenue mansion in May 1999 with suitcases full of cash and diamonds - assets which authorities said were products of money laundering - Martin Frankel was several steps ahead of federal investigators who were zeroing in on Frankel's Liberty National Securities, the bogus brokerage firm Frankel allegedly used to funnel more than $200 million in embezzled assets from nearly a dozen insurance companies in seven states.

But it was other players in Frankel's alleged criminal enterprise who made headlines in 2000, most significantly Tennessee businessman John Hackney, who on Sept. 22 admitted in U.S. District Court in New Haven to having acted as Frankel's front man in diverting more than $200 million in stolen insurance funds through Liberty National Securities and into Frankel's Swiss bank accounts. Hackney, 51, had been installed by his alleged co-conspirator as head of each of the insurance companies which Frankel secretly controlled.

Hackney pleaded guilty to racketeering and money laundering for his role in Frankel's scheme, and he could be sent to prison for as long as 40 years when sentenced March 14.

Crime related stories are almost never positive, but developments that arose during 2000 concerning the unsolved 1984 murder of 13-year-old Matthew Margolies of Pilgrim Drive in Glenville could hardly be seen as anything but encouraging.

After years of dormancy, the homicide probe was revived when two Greenwich police detectives were assigned to reinvestigate the case on nearly a full-time basis. Police officials said there had been no new leads that caused them to revive the investigation, but the Margolies murder was so brutal, and many advances in forensic science had been made in the past 16 years, that they thought it was worth the time and effort to try to solve the case.

Then in September, Greenwich Time published a series of stories on the Margolies case, based on interviews, the autopsy report, and previously unreleased police reports obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The stories contained information about the crime itself as well as the eight "key" suspects that detectives had identified and other facts never before made public. Previously, police had only publicly said that five days after Margolies disappeared his body was found in a shallow grave about a mile from his house in Glenville's Pemberwick section, and that the boy had died as a result of multiple stab wounds and asphyxiation. As a result of the newspaper's series, the public found out just how brutal the murder had been, that not only had Margolies been stabbed more than a dozen times, but there was evidence of torture as well. According to the autopsy report, a stick and dirt were forced down the victim's throat - while he was still alive.

One theory investigators have been pursuing is that the murderer was a teenager who lived near Margolies and possibly held a grudge against the victim for having blamed Margolies for telling police about a marijuana patch he was growing along the Byram River. At the time of the fatal Aug. 31, 1984, confrontation, according to the theory, the murderer was possibly under the influence of a hallucinogenic drug.

About a month later, in mid-October, a state investigative unit that specializes in old, unsolved homicides agreed to assist the Greenwich Police Department with the Margolies case. The "cold case" unit operating out of the chief state's attorney's office in Rocky Hill assigned a squad - consisting of a veteran homicide investigator, prosecutor and forensic scientist - to coordinate efforts with the two local detectives on the case.

Greenwich Police Chief Peter Robbins and Deputy Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano both confirmed the combined state and local effort would involve the forensic testing of physical evidence, but they would not be specific.

News of the state's involvement in the case had been greeted with great enthusiasm by the victim's mother.

"I think it's a very positive move," Maryann Margolies said in an Oct. 31 interview. "The Greenwich police are asking for a fresh pair of eyes to look over the material, to look over the evidence, and maybe they'll see something or find something by looking at it from a different perspective."

12/02/00 History Of Greenwich

Greenwich Connecticut is world-renowned for its mystique, coveted beauty and image of affluence. Diverse in its appeal, Greenwich holds a highly distinguished place in American history. Many of the names and places around town have great historical significance, unbeknownst to many who scurry by during their daily routines.

The icon of perfection that Greenwich is today came to fruition during the twentieth century with the social and economic boom of the town. This growth was achieved by the corporate and social leaders who have come here most recently as well as by the many families in town who are descendents of Greenwich¹s early settlers. Operating under a traditional New England town government and blessed with a sophisticated network of dedicated volunteers, Greenwich is like no other place in the world.

Over fifty square miles in size, Greenwich is bordered by Stamford on the east, the Long Island Sound on the south, and Westchester County, New York on the north and west. The town has many distinct sections, each with its own personality and past. The historical development of each of these sections is the story of how Greenwich evolved from the coastal farming and fishing community of the early American colonists to the bustling and intriguing waterfront town that it is today.

Historical Facts

Laddin's Rock Sanctuary is the site of the legend of Dutch settler, Cornelius Labden. In 1642, Ladben rode his horse off a cliff to avoid capture by the Indians who had just tomahawked and scalped his wife and daughter right before his eyes. Today, Laddin's Rock is an 18-acre preserve on the Greenwich/Stamford border.

Post Road Iron Works on Putnam Avenue is the site of a former toll gate for wagons and carriages traveling from New York to Boston between 1792 and 1854. Putnam Avenue at that time was called Toll Gate Road.

The Second Congregational Church on the Post Road was designed in 1856 by Jewish architect, Leopold Eidlitz, inspired by the design of the historic synagogue in his boyhood home of Prague.

In 1884, a group of capitalists purchased land in anticipation of developing Greenwich's first residence park. The price of the land was $46,000. Today this part of town is known as Belle Haven. Among the investors were Nelson Bush, Augustus Mead, John Barrett, James McCutcheon, Robert Bruce, Thomas Mayo, Nathaniel Witherell and Julian Curtiss.

Armstrong Court is the site of the former switch station for the Greenwich Trolley, which ran through town between 1901 and 1927.

The Greenwich High School playing fields are the site of the former Ten Acres, a big open pond where long-skirted ladies and their escorts would arrive by Trolley for a day of ice skating in the early 1900's.

Saks Fifth Avenue on Greenwich Avenue is the former site of both F.W. Woolworth and the Greenwich Library.

Greenwich Avenue, originally called the Road to Piping Point, was paved with soft-colored bricks in the early twentieth century and given the nickname "Yellow Brick Road".

Greenwich Academy, founded in 1826 and originally coeducational, is the oldest girls' school in Connecticut.

The locations of Greenwich High School have been The Board of Education Havemeyer Building (1891-1906), the low-income housing building on Mason Street (1906-1926) and the Town Hall building on Field Point Road (1926-1970). The present High School is located on Hillside Road, at the bottom of the famous Putnam Hill. High school students living in Old Greenwich in the early twentieth century attended school in the building that is now the Old Greenwich Elementary School.

Robert Kennedy and Ethel Skakel were married at St. Mary Roman Catholic Church on Greenwich Avenue.

The Eagle Hill School Boulders property was the former home of Charles William Post of the Postum Cereal Company.

The name Semloh Farm, on the arched entry to the Stanwich Club, is the backward spelling of the name Holmes, a former owner of the property.

In 1957, Montgomery Pinetum (meaning collection of Pines) was dedicated as a park in Cos Cob with 80 specimens of conifer (cone-bearing) plants on the land dedicated to the town by Colonel Robert Montgomery.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were married in the Hunt club, formerly located on Riversville Road in Glenville. Today, the location is a private residence.

Chickahominy, a small community of Italian descendants was reportedly given its name by Civil War veterans who fought in Virginia in the valley of the Chickahominy River.

The Belle Haven Club was founded in 1889 by the residents of this luxury waterfront area. It was originally called The Greenwich Casino Association and later called The Beach Club. The name Casino was chosen based on an original meaning of the word - a social gathering place - not one which provided gambling.

The Greenwich Library building was once a Franklin Simon department store.
Binney Park in Old Greenwich was donated by Edwin Binney of Binney & Smith, makers of Crayola crayons.

The Greenwich Representative Town Meeting (RTM) was organized in 1933.

WGCH Radio began broadcasting in 1964.

Prior to 1970, Greenwich Avenue had two-way traffic.

On June 28, 1983, the Mianus River Bridge collapsed, killing three and causing serious injuries to others.

The Merritt Parkway ceased toll collections in 1988.

In 1990, Greenwich celebrated its 350th birthday.

In 2001, a state Supreme Court ruling overturned Greenwich's residents-only beach policy.

After a long, highly-publicized lawsuit filed against the town by Stamford resident, Brenden P. Leydon, the court concluded that such a restriction was constitutionally prohibited by both the United States and Connecticut Constitutions.

Greenwich Neighborhoods

Byram
Cos Cob
Glenville
North Mianus
Old Greenwich
Pemberwick
Riverside

11/05/00 New hope for the Margolies case

By J.A. Johnson Jr. - Greenwich Time

Chiu San Wong didn't understand the English command to "lie still," so when he looked up at the men who were robbing the Fortune Restaurant, Wong was fatally shot.

A year after the robbery-murder occurred in New Britain in March 1997 local police found themselves at a dead end - the same place Greenwich police seemed to be in their probe of the 1984 murder of 13-year-old Matthew Margolies.

None of the customers in the restaurant could identify the gunman because he and his two accomplices wore ski masks. The only evidence recovered from the crime scene was the bullet that killed the 26-year-old restaurant worker.

"There comes a point in an investigation where leads dry up," New Britain police Capt. Michael Sullivan said. "The case was just kind of sitting there."

Then, in 1998, New Britain detectives teamed up with a squad from the newly formed cold case unit operating out of the chief state's attorney's office in Rocky Hill. The joint effort led to new approaches to investigating the crime and, ultimately, arrests of the alleged gunman and two accomplices.

Greenwich police are hoping for a similar outcome in the Margolies murder investigation now that the state cold case unit is assisting.

"I think they think it can be solved, so we're happy," Police Chief Peter Robbins said last week.

The Greenwich Police Department earlier this year assigned two officers full-time to re-investigate the Aug. 31, 1984, stabbing and suffocation murder of Margolies. Those officers, Sgt. Timothy Duff and Detective Gary Hoffkins, are now coordinating their efforts with the state cold case squad.

New Britain detectives investigating the Fortune Restaurant homicide informed their new partners that they had tried unsuccessfully to match the recovered bullet to a gun through the state police ballistics identification system. But the computerized system was not networked with other state's databases, so the search for the gun used to kill Wong was limited to Connecticut, Sullivan said.

The prosecutor assigned to the cold case squad for the Wong murder, Assistant State's Attorney Joan Alexander, suggested that the bullet be run through the Integrated Ballistics Identification System, a national database shared by 28 states.

The investigative team agreed to give IBIS a try, and brought the bullet that killed Wong to New Jersey, which is part of the IBIS network. There they got a hit - the bullet appeared to have come from the same gun used in another robbery-murder, in Patterson, N.J., for which an arrest had been made.

"There was a brainstorming process," Sullivan said. "Alexander devoted a lot of her time to this case looking into other forensic avenues. It helps to have extra eyes" looking at a cold case.

The man in custody in New Jersey, Gino Gentile, was subsequently identified as the shooter by the cold case squad, and earlier this year Gentile agreed to be extradicted to Connecticut to stand trial after his trial for the double homicide in Patterson is over. Once Gentile was identified, the cold case squad was able to track down and charge his two alleged accomplices.

The state's cold case unit is headed up by Deputy Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano, who said the four prosecutors and six inspectors who work full-time for the unit are investigating 17 old homicides, including that of Margolies.

"One of our inspectors, who retired from the Hartford Police Department, has over 300 homicide cases under his belt," said Morano, a Greenwich native.

The prosecutor said the unit "borrows" veteran homicide detectives from New Haven, Hartford and other large cities when they are needed.

"Our approach is to utilize the detectives that have worked on the case from the local department and have them work as a team with the attorneys and inspectors from the prosecutor's office who are able to provide their legal and investigative experience," Morano said.

When the state unit accepts a case for investigation, the case is assigned to a squad that is composed of a prosecutor, a state inspector, and at least one detective from the local police department.

In addition to the homicide experts, the cold case unit is assisted by the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory in Meriden, which Morano called "one of the best forensic labs in the country." Although badly backlogged with cases, the laboratory will expedite evidence analysis when the request comes from Morano, the state's second-highest-ranking prosecutor.

Another benefit the unit enjoys is that Dr. Henry Lee, the pre-eminent forensic scientist who retired this year as Connecticut's public safety commissioner, has signed on as an unpaid consultant.

"I'm probably the luckiest cold case prosecutor in the country - I have Dr. Lee's cell phone number and can call on him any time," Morano said. "He's always willing to help and to view things when we need it."

Another of the cold case unit's success stories involves the 1973 stabbing murder of Concetta "Penney" Serra in a downtown New Haven parking garage.

After an on-again off-again investigation that saw the emergence of three suspects - one of whom was exonerated through blood evidence on the eve of his trial - the Serra murder languished in the case files of the New Haven Police Department until pressure from the 21-year-old victim's family prompted the chief state's attorney's office to take it over.

Again using advanced methods of forensic science, members of the cold case squad last year secured an arrest warrant charging 57-year-old Edward Grant of Waterbury with Serra's murder.

The victim's sister, Rosemary Serra, praised the cold case unit for their diligence and compassion.

"This group of individuals the state has put together is a Godsend for these unsolved crimes," Sera said. "To put closure to my sister's case is their first and foremost objective."

Anyone with information about the Margolies case or any other unsolved homicide can contact the state's cold case unit by e-mail at: cold.case@po.state.ct.us.