Terry Cowgill

Who’s the Dummy Now?

Wow. How could an experienced public figure make such a gaffe and be so imprecise with language? No, we’re not talking about Sir Malaprop (a.k.a. George W. Bush) but about the guy Democrats told us was Bush’s intellectually superior opponent in the 2004 presidential election, Sen. John Forbes Kerry.

In a speech Kerry gave at Pasadena City College in California on Monday, the brilliant senator said, “You know, education — if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

Kerry said later it was a botched delivery and he was actually referring to the president “getting us stuck in Iraq,” not to the poor American souls who are mired in that hellhole. I’m no fan of Kerry’s, but to be fair, he probably was talking about Bush. I can’t believe he would be stupid enough to cast aspersions on the intellect of those who are putting themselves in harm’s way over there.

Continue reading Who’s the Dummy Now?…

The Eco-Unity Platform

Amid the polarizing din that passes for political discourse these days, it is encouraging anytime a subject emerges that has even the remote possibility of uniting left and right. And speaking of common ground:

My colleague Tom Shachtman wrote a very interesting piece on the op-ed page of last week’s Lakeville Journal. In case you missed it, Tom took a look back at a 1967 essay by a UCLA historian arguing the roots of much of the earth’s environmental problems were the result “the Judeo-Christian tradition that gave man permission to dominate the earth and all the creatures in it.” The historian’s theory was that man’s hegemonical tendencies had their roots in Genesis 1:28. That would be the same verse in which man is given “dominion over the earth.”

I can already hear my conservative friends shaking their heads in disbelief at such heresy (is it possible to hear heads shaking?). Not to worry. Tom is nothing if not fair. He uses the professor’s thesis as a springboard to examine a growing trend among conservative Christian leaders to take “up the cudgels of environmental issues,” such as global climate change, because they see a moral imperative to do so. And they see a responsibility for preservation in man’s “dominion over the earth.” A sort of Christian take on environmental stewardship.

Continue reading The Eco-Unity Platform…

Air America Bottoms Out

Well, it’s happened. As I all but predicted in a column three and half years ago, Air America, the liberal talk radio network, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

While I was on what I kindly refer to as my sabbatical from The Lakeville Journal Company from 2001 to 2005, I continued to write a semi-monthly column for the paper’s op-ed page. When I heard a group of investors was considering starting a “progressive” talk radio network to counter the success of conservative hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, I wrote that the project was doomed to failure.

But before I pat myself on the back too heartily, it should be noted that it didn’t take an M.B.A or a marketing expert to figure out that both the business model and the format would be a tough sell.

Since its modern inception in the 1970s, talk radio has always been a reactionary medium providing an answer to the mostly left-leaning fare that dominated the network news divisions, NPR, the glossy news magazines and the big-city papers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Continue reading Air America Bottoms Out…

Forum Offers Window Into A Brilliant Mind

[Photo of Ahkil Reed Amar with Salisbury Forum President Franck A. de Chambeau courtesy of my Fujifilm S 5200 digital camera]

Last night I went to the Salisbury Forum’s first offering of the season. The subject — the history of the Constitution and the balance of powers — didn’t seem like the kind of lively lecture that would bring a couple hundred people into the Salisbury School chapel, perched high on a wind-swept hilltop on this ugly and blustery night.

Here’s the short version of my take on the event. We got a window into the mind of a brilliant man — Yale Law School Prof. Ahkil Reed Amar — who could very well wind up with a seat on the highest court in the land.

Continue reading Forum Offers Window Into A Brilliant Mind…

A Chronology of the Reilly-Gibbons Case

The Barbara Gibbons Case: A Chronology

As it appeared in the 03-17-2005 Lakeville Journal

Connecticut Commissioner of Public Safety Leonard Boyle has agreed to give Peter Reilly access to state police files that could help him discover who murdered his mother, Barbara Gibbons, after more than 30 years. For decades, Reilly himself was the prime suspect for the police — in part because, after two days of interrogation without sleep, food or an attorney, the 18-year-old youth was induced to sign a confession saying he killed and sexually assaulted his mother. Reilly was not convicted of the crime but his name was never completely cleared, either. With the help of journalist Donald Connery, a Kent resident, and The Lakeville Journal, Reilly has been able at last to get access to the police files on the case.

Searching through those files is likely to be a time-consuming endeavor, though. In 1983, The Lakeville Journal ran a chronology of the events up to the point of the investigation. The introduction to that listing notes that, “No other criminal case in Connecticut history has been so thoroughly investigated by so many people for so long a time. …State’s Attorney Dennis Santore speaks of the principal investigative file on the case as something occupying not filing cabinets but whole closets.

That 1983 special section also noted that, “In the process, however, there has been much public confusion about what happened, and who did what to whom, and why the case went on and on like an Icelandic saga…So many were the events and so mountainous the data that even insiders and diligent observers often lost their way.”

To help readers understand the scope of the investigation and trial, The Lakeville Journal offers this abbreviated version of that chronology.

1973

Sept. 28: At some time between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m., Barbara Gibbons, 51, is murdered in her Falls Village home, probably by more than one assailant and almost surely while she puts up a fight for her life. She is stabbed many times and almost beheaded by deep throat slashes. Her nose, three ribs and both thigh bones are broken. Her body is mutilated and internal injuries are inflicted by the sexual use of an unknown weapon. There is a great loss of blood.

The victim’s son, Peter A. Reilly, 18, returns home from a youth center board meeting at Canaan Methodist Church just moments after the assault. Discovering his mother’s body on the bedroom floor, he makes five telephone calls for medical assistance. The calls bring a state police cruiser and the Canaan volunteer ambulance as well as friends within minutes.

As other police personnel arrive, led by the Canaan barracks commandant, Lt. James Shay, Peter Reilly is regarded as a suspect. He is questioned and searched. After his constitutional rights are read to him, a statement is taken down, including his estimation that he arrived home at 9:50-9:55 and his belief that, as he saw his mother on the floor, “She was having problems breathing and she was gasping.” He states, “I didn’t touch my mother but went straight to the telephone.”

Sept. 29: Soon after 2 a.m., four hours after the homicide, Reilly is taken from his home to the Canaan barracks. He waits four more hours until Lieutenant Shay arrives to again read him his rights and begin an hour and a half interrogation. Reilly asks, “Am I actually a suspect?” He is told that he is. Perceiving that his story is not believed, he volunteers for a “lie detector” and is told that one will be arranged.

After 25 sleepless hours, Reilly is permitted four hours rest in a barracks bedroom. Meantime, a six-hour autopsy of the victim’s body is underway, conducted at Sharon Hospital by Dr. Ernest M. Izumi. He and the state medical examiner, Dr. Elliot Gross, had earlier examined the body at the murder scene. Dr. Izumi’s opinion that some of the blows and wounds were inflicted after breathing had stopped reinforces Lieutenant Shay’s suspicions of Reilly because the suspect said he thought he heard his mother breathing.

At noon, Reilly is driven to Hartford for a polygraph test that is coupled with a tape-recorded interrogation by Lieutenant Shay and three other officers that continues for some eight hours until almost 11 p.m. Statements that he slashed his mother’s throat with a straight razor and jumped on her legs before phoning for emergency aid are put in writing. After signing the confession, he is arrested, fingerprinted and driven back to Canaan.

Sept. 30: After arriving at the Canaan barracks at 12:30 a.m., Reilly is driven to the Litchfield Correctional Center. An hour later, in cell 32, he goes to sleep.

In the afternoon, acting on the advice of fellow prisoners, he calls friends in Canaan for help in obtaining an attorney. Several families that had attempted to locate him since the murder take actions on his behalf that mark the beginning of a citizens’ defense committee.

Nov. 7: A grand jury indicts Reilly for murder of Barbara Gibbons.

Mid-December: In Litchfield Superior Court, police testify and tapes of Reilly’s interrogation are played in open court for several days as Judge Anthony Armentano considers a pretrial defense motion to suppress Reilly’s written and oral statements. [Defense attorney Catherine] Roraback asserts that Reilly’s statements and admissions were taken “under coercion” and in violation of his constitutional rights.

1974

Feb. 19: Armentano denies motion to suppress confession.

Feb. 20: Reilly trial begins with jury selection in Litchfield Superior Court, Judge John A. Speziale presiding.

Feb. 21: After nearly five months in jail, Reilly is released on $50,000 bond raised by supporters. He joins the Meyer Madow family of East Canaan.

Late February-early April: State’s Attorney John Bianchi stresses confession and other Reilly statements, offers kitchen knife with residue of blood as murder weapon, portrays Reilly’s home life with difficult, argumentative mother as background to his explosion of violence. Highlight of prosecution is three-day testimony of Dr. Izumi and color slides of victim and wounds. Interrogation tapes are played by defense to demonstrate psychological coercion. Roraback emphasizes lack of time for Reilly to commit murder and hide evidence, absence of blood on his clothing, and Reilly’s close relationship with his mother. Testifying in his own defense, Reilly describes his movements on Sept. 28, 1973, and denies killing his mother.

April 11: After six weeks hearing testimony, jurors begin debate at 12:56 p.m.

April 12 (Good Friday): Jury, continuing debate into mid-afternoon, announces decision. Reilly is found guilty of first-degree manslaughter.

May 24: Judge Speziale sentences Peter Reilly to six to 16 years in prison.

Reilly is driven to Somers penitentiary but returns home several hours later after his supporters raise an additional $10,000 for his new $60,000 bond.

1975

January-March: Continuing defense investigation includes review of homicide evidence by Dr. Milton Helpern, former chief medical examiner, New York City, who concludes Reilly is “the least likely suspect.”

April 20: Reilly’s new attorney, T. F. Gilroy Daly, files legal papers in Litchfield calling for new Reilly trial.

June 6: Files unsealed in Litchfield disclose the Reilly defense contention that a suspect had both motive and opportunity to kill Barbara Gibbons.

June-December: Five Canaan area families put up houses and property to secure Reilly’s bond as fundraising efforts continue. Defense team, while seeking additional new evidence, struggles with State’s Attorney Bianchi for disclosure of state evidence, saying his intransigence verges on being in contempt of court. New York Times in successive front page articles describes apparent miscarriage of justice in Reilly case. CBS films key figures in case for January 60 Minutes broadcast.

1976

Jan. 15: Hearing for a new Reilly trial begins before Judge Speziale in Litchfield.

Jan. 20: Daly announces identification of fingerprint discovered by police on side door of victim’s house during the 1973 investigation. It belongs to youth living close to Gibbons cottage. He is named as a suspect.

Late January-mid-February: Daly presents array of evidence against suspect and his brother. A succession of witnesses makes the case that robbery was the motive for the invasion of Barbara Gibbons’ home (her wallet and $100 from a check cashed that day were missing) and that there was antagonism between the suspects and the victim. New evidence tightens the time sequence of Reilly’s movements so much, according to Daly, that he had no time to commit violence.

Feb. 18: Hearing ends after six weeks with two days of testimony by psychiatrist Herbert Spiegel explaining Reilly “confession” as result of police psychological coercion.

March 25: Judge Speziale wipes out 1974 manslaughter conviction by granting Reilly a new trial, stating that “a grave injustice has been done.”

Aug. 22: State’s Attorney Bianchi dies of a heart attack. He had delayed action in re-trying Reilly.

Sept. 2: Temporary State’s Attorney Robert Beach in a “holding action” formally charges Reilly with manslaughter.

Nov. 4: The charge is dismissed, thus freeing Reilly from prosecution, as a result of the discovery by State’s Attorney Dennis A. Santore, successor to John Bianchi, of undisclosed evidence favoring Reilly in the late prosecutor’s files.

These are statements made to the state police on Sept. 29 and Oct. 4, 1973, by Frank Finney, an auxiliary state trooper of North Canaan, and his wife Wanda, about having seen Reilly in his blue Corvette at Railroad and Bragg streets in North Canaan just after they left the Canaan Drive-In movie at 9:40 p.m. This was the very time that a key prosecution witness in the Reilly trial, nurse Barbara Fenn, said she had received Reilly’s phone call from the scene of the murder.

In a motion for discovery and inspection in December 1973, Catherine Roraback had asked Bianchi for any exculpatory information and specifically for the name of “any person who saw the defendant driving his car on the night of Sept. 29, 1973, after 9:30 p.m.” Santore showed the Finney statements to Judge Speziale, who confirmed their importance. Santore, resisting pressure from state police officers and Chief State’s Attorney Joseph Gormley, decided that the statements had to be considered exculpatory and had to be revealed to the sitting judge in the Superior Court, Simon Cohen, who then frees Reilly of all charges.

Nov. 26: Governor Grasso orders the state police to re-investigate the Gibbons slaying and asks Chief State’s Attorney Joseph Gormley to inquire into possible prosecution misdeeds.

Dec. 20: In a report that some criticize as a whitewash, Gormley finds nothing improper in the police and prosecution actions in the case.

Dec. 23: Judge Speziale, at Santore’s request, names a one-man grand jury — Judge Maurice J. Sponzo — to investigate possible crimes in the handling of the Reilly case. Attorney Paul McQuillan is later selected as special prosecutor.

1977

Feb. 3: Sponzo and McQuillan begin hearing testimony in secret in Litchfield courthouse. State Police re-investigation led by Capt. Thomas McDonnell proceeds simultaneously.

February-May: Virtually all the individuals who testified in the 1974 trial as well as new witnesses and suspects — 92 persons in all — appear before Sponzo and McQuillan during 48 days of hearings.

June 1: Judge Sponzo reports his grand jury findings. While concluding that no crimes were committed by police or prosecutor, he severely criticizes the state’s handling of the case and virtually clears Reilly as a suspect in the murder. A secret list of five suspects who had the motivation, capability and opportunity to commit the the crime is provided State’s Attorney Santore and the state police.

Sept. 26: Captain McDonnell’s re-investigation report is delivered to Santore. The conclusion that Reilly is the murderer according to a new scenario of the crime (”the car theory”) is leaked to the press and widely published and broadcast.

Oct. 12: Santore rejects McDonnell reports as “contrived,” subjective and lacking evidence worthy enough for prosecution. His view that Gibbons case remains open and unsolved is challenged by State Police Commissioner Edward Leonard, who declares the case closed and the crime solved.

Oct. 13: Gov. Ella Grasso asks Paul McQuillan to investigate the conflict.

Oct. 20: After making the full text of the McDonnell report public and giving it his blessing, Commissioner Leonard, following meetings with Governor Grasso and McQuillan, backtracks and “wholeheartedly” declares his support of Santore’s position.

Nov. 22: Judge Sponzo in Litchfield frees Reilly from any further prosecution by adding the words “with prejudice” (against the state) to the dismissal of the manslaughter charges ordered a year earlier.

1978

Jan. 19: Governor Grasso, having rejected calls for Commissioner Leonard’s resignation in December, declares that the Gibbons case is still open and announces creation of a civilian State Police Advisory Committee. Paul McQuillan, named to head the citizens group, says it should be able to prevent “future Peter Reilly cases.”

Feb. 1: Peter Reilly files $2 million damage suit against Commissioner Leonard and Captain McDonnell.

Oct. 3: Governor Grasso authorizes $20,000 reward for Gibbons case information.

November-December: A new informant, Wallace (”Butch”) Wilcox, indicates willingness to provide evidence. Behind-the-scenes efforts to secure a new investigation are made by Donald Connery and Lakeville Journal editor Robert Estabrook, who meet with new Chief State’s Attorney Austin McGuigan and Paul McQuillan. McGuigan agrees to launch probe outside of state police.

1979

Jan. 16: McGuigan persuades McQuillan to serve as a special assistant state’s attorney and have sole charge of a new Gibbons case investigation.

Jan. 19: A sworn statement made by Wallace Wilcox to his attorney, Alan Neigher, and private detective James Conway is published in The New York Times and other newspapers. Wilcox states that he saw two brothers running from the Gibbons cottage at about the time of the murder in September, 1973, and that one of them admitted the murder to him some weeks later while they were working on a farm. Both suspects deny any involvement in the slaying.

January-September: Paul McQuillan conducts an investigation centering on the suspects named in the secret addendum to the one-man grand jury report.

Sept. 25: Three days short of the sixth anniversary of the Gibbons murder, McQuillan announces at a Litchfield press conference that there is not enough evidence to warrant seeking a grand jury indictment of any suspect in the Gibbons murder. He states, however, that there is evidence of perjury by certain witnesses before the one-man grand jury and recommends that the state’s attorney follow up and consider prosecution.

Early December: Santore brings perjury charges against Timothy Parmalee, 22, of Falls Village.

Dec. 17: Parmalee pleads guilty in Torrington Superior Court to the state’s charge that in 1977 he lied to the Sponzo grand jury. He is released on $1,500 bond pending sentencing. Parmalee had twice told Judge Sponzo that he had not stolen a wallet containing $120 from the Gibbons home about a week before her murder, but after other witnesses implicated him he acknowledged to state police that he had committed the theft and lied to the grand jury.

1980

Jan. 22: Parmalee receives a one-year sentence, to be suspended after six months, and probation for two years.

2000

July: Peter Reilly asks the state police to conduct DNA tests on strands of hair found in his mother’s hand at the time of her death.

2001

May: The state police say the hairs are too decayed for standard DNA testing.

2004

January: Reilly, Donald Connery and The Lakeville Journal file a Freedom of Information request for state police files on the Gibbons murder. The commission rules that Reilly can see all files dated after 1977, the date of his exoneration. Appeals are filed by the three as well as by the state police.

From December: Judge Speziale, James Conway, playwright Arthur Miller (a supporter of Reilly) and Paul McQuillan all die within a few months of each other.

2005

January: Public Safety Commissioner Leonard Boyle agrees to give Reilly access to all the files relating to the murder investigation.

March 9: The Freedom of Information Commission vacates its earlier decision, allowing the state police to give Reilly access to the files.

Sneering at Kansas

There is a dreadful piece in the New York Times today that looks at the reactions of people in Kansas attending a Republican fundraiser headlined by Vice President Cheney.

It is on the front page and is not marked as commentary or analysis. While the comments of the little girl who is fascinated with Cheney are amusing, the rest of the piece is a sneering, patronizing slam at people who support the current administration. I don’t have the time to go through it line-by-line, but take a look at it yourself.

This is a perfect example of why right-wing talk radio and Fox News have succeeded in capturing the imagination of people in the Heartland who are tired of being condescended to by pointy-headed journalism school graduates in suits.

It’s also a good example of why people like me have turned away in droves from the Times (I think I stopped reading after the 17th article on the great outrage of our era: the failure of the Augusta National Golf Course to admit women as members).

Continue reading Sneering at Kansas…

P&Z Delivers Pizza Permit

At a special meeting last Wednesday and by a vote of 4-1, the Salisbury Planning & Zoning Commission approved a special permit for Dean Diamond, who wanted to open a pizzeria on Millerton Road (Route 44).

The permit was undoubtedly a relief to Diamond, who bought the building next to Argazzi art gallery in August. The commission had held a public hearing on the permit earlier this month but adjourned the hearing to further consider the application after P&Z member Dan Dwyer and several people in the audience, including Argazzi owner Judith Singelis, raised questions about ambiance, parking and traffic concerns.

A full story will appear in this week’s print edition of The Lakeville Journal. Stay tuned …

‘Useful’ is a Sight to Behold

Take a walk into Kids Time on a busy weekend and it’s a sight to behold. There are local people with their children enjoying a useful business and not having to pay an arm and a leg to do so. There are screams of joy and the unmistakable sounds of little stocking feet in a hurry.

The fact that there is an indoor kids’ playground in our small community is remarkable enough. In fact, I am told there is nothing like it within an hour’s drive of Lakeville or Millerton. What a godsend to parents looking for something to do with their youngsters on a rainy day — or any day, for that matter.

A former garage, the safe, clean and secure 12,000 SF space features a jump house, obstacle courses, an arcade, a huge toy horse and lots of slides. It’s good exercise and it sure beats television or a Gameboy. Since there are also a couple of bright utility rooms with big tables, you can hold your child’s birthday party there, as a friend of my daughter’s did today.

Located on Route 44 at the state line between Lakeville and Millerton, Kids Time has been a phenomenal success since it opened last year. That in itself would be worth reporting. But as is often the case, there is a back-story and it’s a pet peeve of mine, at that.

Continue reading ‘Useful’ is a Sight to Behold…

Johnson vs Murphy; Life of the Tracker

There was an amusing piece in yesterday’s L.A. Times about a relatively new phenomenon in high-profile political campaigns. Sam Howe Verhovek wrote a nifty profile of a “tracker” — one of those young 20-something campaign workers who trails the opponent’s campaign with a video camera hoping for some kind of dreadful gaff that will serve as fodder for an attack ad.

But more importantly, such footage can be uploaded almost immediately to Youtube or one of the other websites that allows almost anyone with a computer to post video footage that can be viewed by anyone else with a computer. Call it the hunt for a “Macaca Moment,” but it has changed the face of political campaigning in this country.

On a far more important political note, the only scheduled debate of Connecticut’s 5th district Congressional race is set for tomorrow, Oct. 14, at 3 p.m. on the campus of Central Connecticut State University. The Murphy campaign tells me it will be televised on the Connecticut Network (CTN), which is the Nutmeg State’s local equivalent of C-SPAN. That’s channel 99 on Comcast.

But I can’t find any indication on the CTN program schedule that it will be televised. In fact, the schedule lists a debate between two other Connecticut Congressional candidates during that same time slot. What gives? I’ll ask around.

We Can Hear You Now (maybe)

[Photo of the Salisbury tower under construction in May by me]

After months of aggravating delays in getting utilities to the site, Salisbury has finally joined the 21st century (or something close to it). The cell tower in the center of the village now works — that is if you happen to live close enough to the tower to throw a brick at it.

Steve Ohlinger, who owns the Auto Shop behind Labonne’s, called us late yesterday to tell us the wireless phone of one of his employees rang around 6 p.m. Of course, that had never happened before, since most of the town has lain in a black hole ever since the nationwide advent of cell phone service in 1980s.

Continue reading We Can Hear You Now (maybe)…