Volume 10, Number 16
www.northhavencitizen.com
Your Town, Your News
Friday, July 17, 2015
Spalding gets four years Middle By Ken Liebeskind
The North Haven Citizen
NEW HAVEN — On July 16, 2014, John Liquori, a 20-year-old North Haven resident, was jogging when he was struck by a pickup truck driven by retired New Haven firefighter Theodore Spalding. Liquori died the next day. On July 16, 2015, the 73-year-old Spalding was to begin serving a four-year prison term for manslaughter and illegal operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. He was sentenced Thursday, July 9 in New Haven Superior Court as Liquori’s family and friends looked on, with some offering heart-rending comments to the judge. Lisa Liquori, John’s mother, talked about the day of the accident. When
she noticed her son didn’t return from his run, she called his cellphone. “A woman answered his phone and said, ‘We found your son, he was in an accident.’ A scream came out of me I didn’t know I was capable of,” Lisa Liquori said. She went on to describe driving to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where her son was declared brain-dead on July 17 and taken off life support. “You slaughtered my son with your truck,” she told Spalding, who was sitting nearby. “I don’t know how you can live with yourself. You killed my son and my family’s loss is so deep.” She feels Spalding showed no remorse, parking the pickup truck that See Sentencing / Page 8
school ground broken By Ken Liebeskind The North Haven Citizen
misdemeanors and a pilot program for courts to place offenders in addict rehabilitation programs to keep them out of prison. He said that he did not support “at this time” changes to the Board of Pardons and Parole, saying “more examination and investigation” is needed. Fasano “applauded” the bill’s passage in a statement.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the North Haven Middle School on Thursday, July 16, took place after ground was already broken. The Gilbane Construction Company started reconfiguration work on the parking lot and bus loop on June 29, the first Monday after summer vacation started. Phase one of the project will feature construction of a twostory 97,000 square foot classroom building which will be completed in 14 months, allowing student access at the start of the 2016-17 school year. After the new classroom building is complete, Gilbane will embark on phase two and three of the project, which includes renovating areas of the existing middle school, including the gymnasium, cafeteria,
See Legislation / Page 8
See School / Page 8
Theodore Spalding at his sentencing at New Haven Superior Court.
Sentencing reform bill applauded By Charles Kreutzkamp
sors on a modified bill. The bill makes changes to criminal prosecution of During a special session drug offenders, including June 29, the Connecticut reducing the penalty for General Assembly passed a first-time offenders to a sentencing reform bill titled misdemeanor. CGA House Majority An Act Concerning a SecLeader Joe Aresimowicz, ond Chance Society. The bill, supported by D-Berlin, Southington told Gov. Dannel Malloy, a Dem- The Citizen he thinks that ocrat, had bipartisan sup- support for sentencing report from Sen. Len Fasano, form has been building for R-North Haven, Durham, many years, noting that who was one of the cospon- many people are in jail for The North Haven Citizen
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nonviolent drug offenses. He said the bill will “make sure those charged with crimes are treated in a more appropriate manner.” Aresimowicz called the bill a “good first step,” and said that he will be monitoring the impact of it over the coming years. Fasano explained in public hearing testimony that he supported provisions to change possession of small amounts of illegal drugs to