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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

MORE PROBLEMS AT HARTFORD'S DISPATCH CENTER

The Hartford Emergency Dispatch Center continues to be the focus of internal problems. The Dispatch Center was severed from the Police Department several years ago by an act of the Hartford City Council and the separate "Department of Emergency Telecommunications" was formed. Another department created in a cash strapped City, complete with its own Director at a $100,000 plus annual salary and a City car to take home at night.

Where that home is also continues to be a large question as the Director, retired Hartford police sergeant Andrew Jaffe had promised both Mayor segarra and the previous Hartford City Council that he would establish residency in Hartford after accepting the position. Jaffe did purchase a condominium at 30 Woodland Street last year, but I would challenge anyone to find his City vehicle with the "HFD" municipal parked there at night. I have tried on numerous occasions and have not seen it there once yet.

So back to the most recent problem. It seems that one of Jaffee's dispatchers had loaned her personal vehicle, registered to her, to her fiancee and her brother apparently. That vehicle was then apparently used in some sort of criminal or questionable activity in Manchester. Manchester PD contacted the Hartford Dispatch Center in an attempt to locate the car and its occupants. Another dispatcher ran the plate given by Manchester PD and realized that it belonged to Dispatcher Kim Walton.

That eventually began a chain of events in which Walton was caught on video allegedly using the NCIC computer database to check on her fiancee and her brother, both of who had outstanding warrants.

The HPD arrest warrant application for Walton's arrest is below. After an investigation by HPD'sInternal Affairs Division, Walton was arrested and charged with Computer crimes 3rd degree and was arrested. Walton's arraignment was yesterday at GA14 at 101 Lafayette and was continued to February 14, 2012 according to a representative in the Clerk's Office at the Court.

No information was available on her current status as a City of Hartford employee although she is still listed as a Supervisor in the City's Emergency Telecommunications Dispatch Center according to City records.
Wtp Kim Walton Arrest Application

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

TOMORROW ON "WE THE PEOPLE"

Just a little tease for two postings coming for tomorrow.

Who are the latest city employees to be arrested at 50 Jennings Road? You might be surprised by the answer, and why has it been kept so quiet? Very few people were even aware of the arrest when I talked to them today. Learn more here tomorrow.

And also at 50 Jennings Road, find out who's touching who. This one will read like a segment from "Beverly Hills 90210" and you will most likely be shaking your head in disbelief that these are the same people responsible for your Public Safety. And at least one of the "touchy feely" leaders was the recipient of a "DKR headed out the door pardon" when their promotion probation was ended a couple months early to head off any possible demotions.

Check in tomorrow for all the details and more.

"WE THE PEOPLE" , OUR PUBLIC ACCESS PROGRAM

Our "We the people" program has been on Hartford Public Access, Channel 5, for a while. This week though we changed our set and graphics. I have received requests from people outside of Hartford asking how they could view the program. I will try to post it here weekly for those that would like to watch it.

This week we discussed Hartford's crime statistics, the Mayor's Board of Education picks and how the City Council responded and a little bit about the Superbowl where I played with my editing software to add a little variety to the program.

Here is the program below:

Saturday, January 28, 2012

FUNDRAISER FOR ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARADE TO BE HELD SUNDAY


The 2012 Saint Patrick's Day parade Committee will be holding a Hartford fundraiser tomorrow at Damon's Tavern on Prospect Avenue in Hartford from 1:00 to 5:00pm.

A donation of $25.00 always promises a good time, good company and always good music by "Two for the Road". The event also includes drink specials, raffle prizes and a buffet.

Location: Damon's Tavern
310 Prospect Ave

Thursday, January 26, 2012

A TOUGH ONE TO WRITE

I guess it is about time to write this posting because I am getting more and more e-mails and phone calls asking why the blog has been so quiet.

This is a difficult one to write, but I am more optimistic about the future than I was a couple weeks ago.

During November and December I noticed that my vision was getting worse almost daily. I wear contacts and my corrected vision has always been very good and my prescription hasn't changed in years. It got to the point where I went to CVS and bought the "cheater glasses" so I could read things like the newspaper and use a computer.

That helped for a couple weeks, but even that became useless after a couple weeks. I went to my optometrist and was told that it was just "old age" creeping up on me.Around Christmas the "old age" really began moving fast and I didn't even feel comfortable driving. I wasn't looking forward to "old age" if things deteriorated this quick.

I just wasn't comfortable with the "old age" diagnosis and looked up "opthamologist's" on Google. An optometrist can test your eyes and vision, but an opthamologist can prescribe medications and perform surgery and diagnose problems with the eyes. I made an appointment with an opthamologist in Farmington and on January 6th I met with him for an eye exam.

I had a gut feeling from the start that it wasn't going to be a good appointment, the deterioration of my vision was just progressing too fast to be normal aging. I went through several tests with technicians in his office and eventually met with the opthamologist. As he examined my eyes through the high tech equipment he had an assistant with him that he was dictating the specifics of the exam to and she was taking the notes.

He was giving her a lot of information and numbers and reading that meant nothing to me on my right eye, then he went to the left eye and continued his dictating. The first words as he peered into my left eye was "massive edema". I knew right away that didn't sound good. He went on for a few more minutes with the exam and then explained that he wanted to do more testing and I returned to the waiting room for the next test.

Thank goodness for smart phones and I started "googling" edema. I thought it meant a bruise or swelling and that is basically what I found on google, it means swelling.

Bottom line is I went through a few more tests, the most important one was a test where they inject yellow dye into my veins as a technician takes a rapid series of photos of the retina. Apparently the pictures show the vessels of the eye and where those vessels are leaking causing the swelling on the back of the retina.

My opthamologist then gave me the bad news. The official term is apparently called "macula edema", it is one of the side effects of diabetes, and according to what I found on the Internet, is the number one cause of adult blindness in American adults.

I was pretty much given three options. Do nothing and the odds were good I would be blind within a year. Undergo laser surgery and hopefully that would seal the vessels that were leaking and stop the progression of any damage. And number three just made me cringe, a series of steroid shots directly into the eyeball. I told the opthamologist to avoid number three at all costs, it just made me nauseous to think of a needle in the eye.

It is not very comforting to think about not having vision. To make the matter worse, the initial appointment was January 6th, the same day my father died 8 years ago. I left the doctor's office with my head spinning as to how my life would change if I lost my vision. We take a lot for granted, many things you would never think about in every day life. As an example, and I know it sounds trivial in the greater picture, but even things like signing a credit card receipt in a restaurant and filling out the tip.

The bottom line is that I had the laser surgery on my left eye last Friday. The opthamologist says that it could be three months before it is known whether it was successful or not. It will possibly take that long for the swelling of the back of the eye to go down, although he was hopefully optimistic and said worse case they could repeat the laser surgery and the steroid injections were still an option as a last resort.

I guess at a time like this you realize what needs to take priority and my vision is that priority. I apologize for the lack of postings but I fully intend to ramp that up again and I'll keep those interested in what I hope will be a very positive outcome as I face this problem.

I didn't share the information with a lot of people before the laser surgery, but for those who have called and offered support, I really appreciate it. The support of my friends has been very comforting, even as you think about the worse case scenario. To my closest friend Joe who knew when to get me out of the house and unwind and my mother who did what mother's do with her reassurance that everything would be ok, even as I knew it was taking its toll on her, it puts everything into perspective.

Other's called to offer to make sure my dog was walked or to offer rides or pick up food and prescriotions or just to offer reassurance that it would all work out. Thank you for your support.

Life goes on.

Monday, January 16, 2012

THE "NEW" COUNCIL AND THE RIGHTEOUS APONTE

The first regular meeting of the "new" Hartford City Council was held last Monday and the public comment session was interesting. I wasn't able to attend in person and I just watched the recording of the beginning of the meeting, the public comment session.

I hope that Council President Shawn Wooden doesn't fall into the "Cal Torres Syndrome" as he gets comfortable in his new role. Torres had a way of treating the public with disrespect when it came to shutting them down if they were delivering a message he didn't like. Wooden seemed to fall prey to that as the session dragged on and he made numerous attempts to cut off one person who is a regular at meetings.

The real fireworks began though when one resident who is also a regular at meetings, Alyssa Peterson, raised legitimate and well documented credibility issues regarding Councilman Alexander Aponte. Aponte has had complaints filed and sustained against him for his practice as an attorney.A panel of his peers concluded that Aponte had engaged in behavior that they called "dishonesty, fraud and deceit". Aponte shot up in his chair and urged Wooden to shut down Peterson's comments when she questioned Aponte's integrity.

Read the original Aponte vs. Statewide Grievance Committee posting by clicking here

Aponte claimed that Peterson's comments were a "personal attack" and forbidden by Council rules. The charges and resulting decisions by the Statewide Grievance Committee are well documented and a matter of public record. As an attorney, Aponte should be well aware of the difference between "personal attacks" and legitimate documented actions. I think we call that "history" and if Mr. Aponte does not want his history quoted, he may not want to create it in the first place.

I realize that this was Mr. Wooden's first time in the President's seat, but he needs to be reminded that those members of the public who take the time to go to Council meetings to speak are his constituents and it is important that the Council listen to what they have to say and that they are treated with respect.

And since Ms. Peterson was shouted down by a belligerent Aponte, below are the documents she was referring to. You can read them and make your own decisions about Aponte's character and integrity.

Aponte Grievance Panel Finding of Probable Cause