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July 6, 2007

A lucky day for a wedding? It's up to you

7/7/07.

It’s coming. Tomorrow. And people have been planning: picking flowers, choosing gowns, writing vows.

We're halfway through a 12-year run of chronologically repeating dates, 1/1/01 through 12/12/12, we’re approaching the second and last to occur on a Saturday. The first was 2/2/02, when most people were thinking about groundhogs, not nuptials.

This time, however, for couples wanting an auspicious date for their weddings, well, this is it for some time.

Still, Doris Ann Bridgehouse of Smithfield, who specializes in numerology, said in May:

“There is no good day or bad day to get married. If you’re talking about numbers, no one number is better or worse than another.”

The date, she says, is not as important as the people in the wedding.

“Everything boils down to the spirit within the person. You have to have reflection on what your actions are and why you are doing these actions.”

-- From Journal staff writer Bryan Rourke's To have and to hold on 7/07/07

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 6:49 PM | Comment

Photo: Art from Westerly's past on sale in Watch Hill

Journal photo / Bob Thayer
Sam Pearlstein and his son Aaron, 7, of New Jersey, admire original cartoons by Chon Day, a Westerly resident who was a New Yorker cartoonist. The cartoons are among rare drawings, postcards, prints and photographs, mostly from the Westerly area, at a sale and auction tomorrow at the Watch Hill Chapel on Bluff Avenue in Westerly, starting at 10 a.m. The auction begins at 5 p.m. The most valuable piece is said to be an 1850 pen-and-ink and charcoal drawing of the Watch Hill Lighthouse.

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 6:36 PM | Comment

Weather update: Strong thunderstorms moving in

A line of strong thunderstorms has moved in from northern Connecticut into eastern Rhode Island, the National Weather Service warns.

At 4:48 p.m. Doppler radar indicated scattered storms from Exeter and Pawtucket into Attleboro, Mass., moving southeast at 25 mph.

The weather service predicts the thunderstorms will be near Warwick by 5 p.m., Warren and Bristol by 5:30 p.m., and Tiverton and Prudence Island by 5:20 p.m.

These storms have the potential to produce wind gusts to 40 mph, small hail, frequent lightning and heavy rain, the weather service says.

See their progress via live radar, and get the latest forecast at http://projo.com/weather.

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 5:10 PM | Comment

Health Dept. closes 3 Bay beaches to swimming

With temps in the mid-80s to low 90s predicted for this weekend, take note if you’re planning to bask in the sunlight on Rhode Island’s beaches.

The state Department of Health today recommended closing Conimicut Point Beach and Oakland Beach in Warwick and Warren Town Beach to swimming because of high bacteria counts.

Still closed is the Ginny-B Campground Beach in Foster, which the department closed last Thursday because of high bacteria counts.

To check the status of any beach for swimming, go to the state Department of Health’s beach-monitoring siteor call (401) 222-2751 for recorded information.

If you’re looking for marine weather information, check out the National Weather Service’s interactive coastal marine map for this region.

Also, for all your nautical needs, visit the Maine Harbors site, which is packed with tide charts, marine weather news, information on fishing tournaments and links to local boat builders, charter operators, lighthouses and publications. The tide charts on this site are so well done that boaters rave about them. Check out Rhode Island’s chart.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 4:45 PM | Comment

Suspect toothpaste pulled from Pawtucket Building 19

A state health inspector found ``60 to 70’’ tubes of suspected tainted toothpaste at a Building 19 store in Pawtucket today, prompting the store chain to pull the product from all the shelves of its several local stores, said Andrea Bagnall Degos, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health.

The state health inspector was sent out today to search discount stores in Rhode Island for tainted toothpaste after about 160 tubes of the Chinese-manufactured paste were found in Massachusetts. The questionable brands found in Rhode Island today: Dentakleen and Dentakleen Jr.

Read the public health advisory issued by the Department of Health.

-- Journal staff writer Tom Mooney

The toothpaste may contain diethylene glycol, a chemical used in antifreeze, which Chinese manufacturers use as a cheap alternative to the sweetener glycerin.

Inspectors from a dozen Massachusetts communities confiscated the toothpaste tubes in several discount stores.

The Rhode Island inspector searched stores such as Building 19, Ocean State Job Lot and several dollar stores.

Posted by Peter Phipps at 4:39 PM | Comment

Little Compton teen killed in Tiverton car crash

TIVERTON -- A 17-year-old Little Compton youth died when Thursday night after his car struck a cement culvert and went airborne.

“At this point, it seems that excessive speed was a factor,” Deputy Police Chief Nicholas Maltais said today. The car left the road at a curve.

The accident killed Jonathan S. Smith, 17, of Wordell Lane, and badly injured his passenger. Maltais declined to identify the second occupant, but said he was a 17-year-old from Portsmouth. The passenger was in stable condition today in the intensive care unit of Rhode Island Hospital.

Police received a 911 call at 6:48 p.m. yesterday about the accident at 225 Stone Church Road, which is off East Road and about 1 ½ miles from the village of Adamsville.

-- Journal staff writer Richard Salit

Maltais said that Smith’s 1998 Ford Mustang left the southbound lane, crossed into the northbound lane and then left the roadway.

Maltais said the vehicle left skid marks, but he couldn’t say how long they were. He couldn’t immediately say how fast the car is estimated to have been traveling. The speed limit on the road is 25 mph. There were witnesses to the accident, he said.

The investigation is not yet complete, Maltais said.

The road was dry and “it was a little hazy” at the time of the crash, according to Maltais. He said there is “no indication of alcohol or drugs” being a factor.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 4:10 PM | Comment

Another fire at the 'stump dump' in Richmond

A fire at an illegal "stump dump" in Richmond was extinguished shortly after 3 p.m. today some 11 hours since firefighters were called to the site, said Frederick A. Stanley, chief of the Hope Valley-Wyoming Fire District.

It was the second response to the site in as many days. Yesterday, firefighters battled another fire at the site from 7 to 11 p.m.

Another fire was reported at the site a week earlier.

Standley said fire officials suspect the fires may have been intentionally set, noting the last fires appeared to burn from the top down.

Kingston and Carolina fire departments assisted today with a Hope Valley ambulance on stanby, Stanley said. Last night, Carolina, Ashaway, and Exeter assisted.

Town and state Department of Environmental Management officials have been negotiating a remediation of the site's cleanup with its owner, Richard Romanoff.

The dump was also the site of a fire in 2003 that burned for several days.

The dump off Skunk Hill Road, which has been operating for years, last year led the state to redefine discarded tree stumps as solid waste.

Posted by Peter Phipps at 3:43 PM | Comment

Update: Police detail ordered at site of slaying

PROVIDENCE – The nightclub that was the scene Wednesday night of the city’s seventh homicide is now required to provide a three-member police detail each night it’s open, pending the results of a show-cause hearing before the city’s Board of Licenses that will begin July 11.

La Rumba, at 1206 Broad St., did not have any police detail working the night that Darren Reagans, 18, was fatally stabbed outside the club.

However, the nightclub wasn’t required to have police detail and had hired its own private security.

City police asked the Board of Licenses today to require the police detail, prompting the vote to do so.

After the hearing, Police Maj. Paul C. Fitzgerald said the police intend to ask the board to revoke the nightclub’s liquor license at the upcoming show-cause hearing.

No new details about Reagans’ death are available at this time. Fitzgerald said the homicide remains under investigation.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson and Journal staff writer Gregory Smith

The nightclub has been before the city’s Board of Licenses before, both under its current name and ownership and under its past ownership, when it was known as La Fragrancia.

La Fragrancia was the site of a number of violent incidents, which led to a number of disciplinary actions. Since the club ownership and management changed in 2005, and the club became La Rumba, there has been nothing as serious as when the club was La Fragrancia.

However, the city’s Board of Licenses had fined La Rumba $250 last year and ordered the club to have a mandatory police detail after some incidents, including a June 2006 incident when a man was assaulted during a disturbance that included bottles hurled at the police. The Board of Licenses canceled that mandatory police detail last October.

Another violation against La Rumba came this March, when the club was caught serving alcohol after hours and was fined $500.

A spokesman for the club, Mario Mancebo, said in an interview today that La Rumba runs a safe establishment and is “very sorry” about the murder.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 3:43 PM | Comment

Update: Convicted murderer sentenced to 2 life terms

PROVIDENCE – If Alonzo P. Shelton was trying to avoid being sent back to prison by attempting to a kill a woman threatening to implicate him in a drug case, the plan backfired.

At his sentencing in Superior Court this morning, Shelton was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison, ordered to serve the remaining 17 years of an earlier conviction for assault with a dangerous weapon, and ruled a habitual offender, a ruling that resulted in his getting another 25 years behind bars.

Judge Robert D. Krause ordered that Shelton served the four prison sentences consecutively, the Attorney General Office spokesman, Michael J. Healey, said.

The consecutive sentences mean that Shelton, 29, will have to serve a minimum of 72 years in prison , Healey said, even if he is granted parole.

An ex-convict with a lengthy criminal record, Shelton was found guilty May 9 of murder, conspiracy to murder, assault with intent to murder, and discharging a firearm, death resulting.

He was accused of killing 24-year-old Jessica Imran and attempting to kill her friend, 27-year-old Julie Lang, after Lang, a former girlfriend, was arrested for possession of crack cocaine and pressured Shelton to say the drugs were his.

The murder took place in the early hours of the morning on July 27 in Imran’s apartment on Lawn Avenue in Pawtucket. The murder weapon, a small submachine gun, was never found.

But Lang survived the shooting, despite being shot four times and suffering five bullet wound – the fifth an exit wound in her neck.

At Shelton’s trial before a jury of four men and eight women, she offered dramatic testimony, describing how Shelton and his 20-year-old nephew, Barry Offley, burst into Imran’s apartment and opened fire.

Shelton and Offley were arrested in Ocala, Florida, six weeks after the shooting.

Offley, who had his case severed from Shelton’s, is being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston on charges of murder, conspiracy to murder, and discharging a firearm, death resulting. Healey said the case is expected to be tried during the fall.

-- John Castellucci, Journal staff writer

Posted by Jack Perry at 2:43 PM | Comment

Update: Red Cross assisting 4 after Providence fire

PROVIDENCE -- The Red Cross has been called to assist three adults and one child displaced by a fire in a three-story building on Broad Street that is now under control.

Occupants of the building at 1363 Broad St. have gotten out safely, according to James Taylor, chief of communications for the Providence Fire Department.

The three-story building has commercial space on the first floor and apartments on the second and third floors, according to Taylor.

At 1:39 p.m., the Fire Department received a report of smoke from the third floor. Firefighters found fire between the second and third floors, Taylor said. The fire was under control by 2:01 p.m., he said.

Posted by Jack Perry at 2:27 PM | Comment

No sign of West Nile virus and eee

For another week this summer, the state's tests for West Nile virus and eastern equine encephalitis came up negative.

The state health department today announced that the samples collected June 25 did not contain mosquitos carrying the two diseases.

This most recent test took samples from 96 mosquito pools and 40 traps around the state.

Posted by Peter Phipps at 2:04 PM | Comment

Traffic update: Crash, roadwork on 95S cleared

PROVIDENCE -- A crash and emergency roadwork that combined to jam traffic on Route 95 south in the metro area have been cleared, according to the state Transportation Management Center.

The TMC announced that traffic was back to normal, shortly before 2 p.m.

Delays had stretched from Exit 21 at Atwells Avenue to Exit 19, for Eddy Street. Two left lanes on Route 95 south were closed at Exit 19 because of the crash.

Emergency roadwork had closed two right lanes at Exit 16, for Route 10, to Exit 18, Thurbers Avenue.

Route 195 heading west into Providence had also backed to the East Providence line.

Check for the latest incident report, and area traffic cams, at the state TMC site.

-- With reports from Journal reporters

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 1:50 PM | Comment

New executive director of Administration Dept. named

PROVIDENCE -- Ronald N. Renaud of North Smithfield has been named executive director of the state Department of Administration, it was announced today.

He fills the spot left by Governor Carcieri's decision last December to move the previous executive director, Jerry Williams, over to the position as director of the state Department of Transportation.

Renaud was the director of technology solutions consulting for Sansiveri, Kimball & McNamee, LLP of Providence, a public accounting and business consulting firm. He has more than 23 years of experience in business and finance, according to the announcement by Administration Director Beverly Najarian.

“Ron Renaud brings significant private and public experience to this position,” Najarian said. “He can manage projects and people, he has developed and administered complex municipal budgets, and he knows how to solve problems.”

Renaud will be responsible for six operating units within the department, including accounting, internal auditing, facilities management, central business office, sheriffs, and the Capitol Police.

For more on Renaud, see his profile on his former company's Web site.

Prior to that position, Renaud worked for Fleet Financial Group as the vice president of its business development group where he developed corporate marketing, sales, and technical initiatives to support multiple lines of business. He also worked for 10 years at Digital Equipment Corporation as an account manager and marketing and sales manager.

Renaud served on the North Smithfield Town Council from 1981 to 1995, serving as president for 10 years, and again from 2001 to 2004, serving as president for one year.

He also served as the town’s Public Safety Director in 1996 and 1997, managing its police and fire departments, negotiating contracts with the unions, and handling staffing issues and resident concerns.

He was appointed to the State Planning Council in 1988 and served until 1992. In 2006, Renaud was appointed to the Industrial Facilities Commission.

Renaud is a graduate of Mount St. Charles Academy and received a B.S. in Business Administration from Bryant College. He also attended Bryant College’s MBA Management Program.

Posted by Andrea Panciera at 11:18 AM | Comment

Boxer Peter Manfredo Jr. charged with vandalism

Peter Manfredo Jr., the boxer from Providence who was runner-up in the first season of the reality show The Contender, faces a misdemeanor charge of vandalism/malicious injury to property for allegedly throwing a rock through the window of his tenant’s Chevy Blazer.

Arrested by the Johnston Police for the incident that apparently began as a dispute over unpaid rent, Manfredo has been released with a summons to appear July 18 in Third District Court, in Kent County, Johnston Lt. Robert J. Voas said this morning.

The incident began around 1 p.m. on Monday, when Manfredo went to a home he owns at 2800 Hartford Ave. in Johnston to collect past rent from his tenant, Gary Burley, who allegedly owed Manfredo $1,800., according to the Johnston Police arrest report. Once there, Manfredo noticed a broken window in the home, which Burley said his girlfriend broke when the two couldn’t get into their apartment.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

When Burley told Manfredo he didn’t have the rent money, Manfredo became so upset that Burley called the Johnston police. He told the police he feared the confrontation might escalate out of control, Voas said.

While Burley was on the phone, he later told the police, he heard the window on his vehicle smash. When he went outside to check, he found the driver’s side window on the 1994 Blazer smashed.

Burley’s 14-year-old son, Kyle, told the police he saw Manfredo pick up a rock and throw it through the window after yelling, “You want to break my window, I’m going to break yours.”

Soon afterward, the police arrived on scene, observed the damage to the truck, took a witness statement from Kyle Burley and arrested Manfredo on one charge of vandalism, Voas said. Manfredo denied throwing a rock through the window and said it was already broken when he arrived at the apartment, Voas said.

Manfredo, 26, is ranked 11th in the world in the super middleweight class by boxrec.com.

Posted by Kate Bramson at 11:00 AM | Comment

Rower, aiming for Atlantic record, rescued off Cape

A 26-year-old French rower who left Cape Cod Wednesday hoping to break a record for rowing across the Atlantic Ocean was rescued last night by the Coast Guard.

Charlie Girard, who had set out alone from Orleans in a 23-foot custom-made boat, was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter crew about 50 miles east of Provincetown, the Coast Guard said.

Girard had encountered 5- to 8-foot seas and 15-knot wind last night, and the boat had rolled over seven to eight times, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer Luke Pinneo.

Girard had set out to break the record of 62 days, 19 hours for crossing the nearly 4,000-mile route, according to information on the Web site Atlantique2007.com.

Girard had designed the boat himself, according to the Web site, which notes that he's an engineer, not a sailor.

Girard contacted an acquaintance, Richard Williams, of Orleans, Mass., around 7:20 p.m. and said he wanted to be taken off the boat, according to the Coast Guard.

A Coast Guard helicopter launched from Air Station Cape Cod at 8:15 p.m. and hoisted Girard to safety at about 9 p.m., the Coast Guard said.

The rower was brought back to Air Station Cape Cod and transferred to an ambulance.

"He was thrown around quite a bit and said he slammed into the side of the boat and that his lower back was bothering him," said Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class John Hughes, the helicopter's medical corpsman.

Girard was treated at Falmouth Hospital and released early this morning, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The Coast Guard issued a warning to mariners about the drifting rowboat.

Posted by Jack Perry at 10:51 AM | Comment

Possibly tainted toothpaste found in Mass. stores

BOSTON -- The concern about tainted toothpaste imported from China has spread to Massachusetts, where public health officials issued a consumer warning yesterday after suspect products were found in stores in nearly a dozen communities.

Officials urged consumers to avoid any toothpaste labeled "Made in China," any toothpaste labeled "Colgate" that is manufactured in South Africa and any toothpaste without English language labeling.

Read the full Associated Press story.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:01 AM | Comment

Today's front page

Today's front page features a photograph and story about a Rhode Island National Guard unit heading for Iraq.
There's also photographs and a story about the stabbing death of an 18-year-old in Providence man whose brother was also a slaying victim nine years ago.

Download a copy of today's front page.

Posted by Jack Perry at 7:00 AM | Comment

The Weather Service hits a trifecta

This time of the year the trifecta consists of: a hazardous-weather advisory, a high-surf advisory and a small-craft warning.

Two advisories and a warning. That's a July trifecta -- all caused by a hot, muggy and unstable air mass.

Specifically, the National Weather Service says there's a chance between noon and 6 p.m. for a "severe" thunderstorm with heavy rain and flooding.

The high-surf advisory is in effect until 7 p.m. Rounding out today's card, the weather service warns that the swells will be running 4 to 6 feet today. (That's good news if you're a surfer, bad news for families with young children.)

Tomorrow will be hot and partly cloudy with a high of 84. It will be hotter Sunday.

Posted by Peter Phipps at 6:57 AM | Comment