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Yahoo
06-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Navy commissions latest Virginia-class submarine in Groton ceremony
Groton — In the 1960s, 82-year-old Navy submarine veteran Bob Kirby was part of the crew of USS Entemedor and remembers hopping on the USS Nautilus on a regular basis to get to his New London-based submarine. It would be years later during a return trip to Connecticut that he would discover that the Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, is now a museum. Kirby was back in Connecticut on Saturday to witness the latest in submarine technology — modern submarines are bigger, faster and quieter than the diesel-powered submarine Kirby served on — at a commissioning ceremony for the Virginia-class USS Iowa (SSN 797). The 377-foot long nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine docked in the Thames River at the Navy submarine base served as the background for Saturday's celebration, attended by hundreds of onlookers, including a large contingent of Navy veterans and Iowans. Kirby said he wasn't surprised by the turnout, especially among submarine veterans, because there's a mutual respect and camaraderie among submariners, regardless of whether they wear silver or gold dolphins — symbols that differentiate enlisted from officers. 'They've worked together. They're in that steel tube together,' Kirby said. Kirby, who lives in Iowa, attended with a group of members of the Submarine Veterans of Iowa. The Iowa group's president, retired submariner Paul Jensen, served in the Navy from 1989 to 1998 and was at one point stationed in Groton aboard the USS Billfish. During a night out at the Outer Light Brewing Company in Groton this week, Jensen said he ran into shipmates he hadn't seen in 25 years. 'We're all here in support,' Jensen said. Saturday's ceremony was attended by dignitaries that included U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, U.S Rep. Joe Courtney and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. Secretary of the Navy John Phelan was on hand for his first submarine commissioning. Phelan credited the 'world class public-private partnership' between the navy and shipbuilder General Dynamics Electric Boat and called it a 'fitting tribute to Groton's history of maritime excellence.' 'This is not just a milestone for the USS Iowa, but a crucial step forward in strengthening our Navy and ensuring America's global maritime dominance. The president and I are deeply committed to revitalizing our shipbuilding and maritime investment base. This commissioning is just the beginning of that effort,' Phelan said. 'We need to modernize our acquisition and procurement systems to deliver the capabilities our Navy deserves without unnecessary delays or overruns.' Courtney, ranking member of the bipartisan House Seapower Subcommittee, said Groton's navy base is home to 15 fast attack submarines, 8,000 sailors and officers and hundreds of civilians who are operating at 'heel-to-toe tempo.' Courtney recited a list of upcoming submarine deliveries and said, in a prepared statement, 'this torrent of post-pandemic deliveries is a powerful rebuttal to some armchair naysayers in Washington who disparage the men and women of our nation's submarine industrial base.' 'They are wrong. Since 2018, Congress has stepped up investment in workforce, facilities and supply chain all across the country, including Iowa — and its working,' he said. The USS Iowa is the 24th Virginia-class submarine to be commissioned and the first specifically designed to accommodate women. The ban on women serving aboard submarines was lifted in 2010 under Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates. Julia Panepinto, 26, of Buffalo, N.Y., is the supply officer for the USS Iowa and said she's been sailing on the Iowa during its sea trials for the past year. 'At this point, there are so many women on board it's par for the course,' Panepinto said. The USS Iowa was christened on June 17, 2023, at Electric Boat in Groton by its sponsor Christie Vilsack, wife of former Iowa governor and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Vilsack on Saturday made the traditional 'man our ship and bring her to life' announcement that led Iowa's crew to run and board the submarine. The USS Iowa has a crew of 15 officers and 117 enlisted and carries torpedoes and Tomahawk missiles with a range of 1,200 miles. It is the first submarine, but third naval vessel, to be named Iowa. The previous vessels named Iowa were battleships. Iowa's commanding officer, Commander Gregory Coy, in his closing remarks on Saturday, promised he would take the USS Iowa 'to the frontline, continuing the Navy's overwhelming display of undersea dominance and lethality.'
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Yahoo
Man notifies East Lyme he plans to sue detective, police over 'false arrest' involving teen girl
East Lyme — Stephen Nicholson, the man arrested and jailed by East Lyme police on assault, kidnapping and stalking charges but later released because of a flawed police investigation, notified the town Monday he's planning a lawsuit. Lawyers for Nicholson allege police detective Mark Comeau, who was originally the lead investigator, manufactured the criminal case against Nicholson because Comeau was infatuated with the alleged teenage victim, Claire Killin. It further alleges he later helped her hide evidence when the case was being re-investigated. The notice of intent to sue was filed Monday by the New London-based Strafaci Law Firm and targets not only Comeau, but the town, the police department and the Board of Police Commissioners. Attorney Joe Strafaci said evidence that will be provided in an upcoming lawsuit will reveal multiple levels of police misconduct and violations of trust." Nicholson, 35, was arrested in March 2024 and faced 11 criminal charges, including felony kidnapping, for allegedly threatening, stalking and assaulting Killin, who was his former co-worker at Dunkin in East Lyme. Nicholson was held on a $250,000 bond and spent 49 days in jail before his defense attorney, Michael Miller, raised questions about the credibility of the investigation. In addition to a personal relationship between Comeau and Killin, who used to be neighbors in The Orchards neighborhood in East Lyme, Strafaci said some of the allegations that led to Nicholson's arrest were simply untrue. Killin on Monday said she continued to be shocked by the allegations of an inappropriate relationship with Comeau and said aside from being neighbors, the relationship was always professional. She focused on her fears of Nicholson. "There was no personal relationship. He spoke to me as a detective on this case and did his duties as an officer," Killin said. "They're turning it into something it's not." State prosecutors dropped their prosecution of Nicholson last November. New London Superior Court Judge John Newson, in court, referred to it as a "troubling case in that certain people did not do their job and honor the trust we should have in them." The dropped charges led the Board of Police Commissioners to hire an outside investigator to probe the handling of the case. That investigation by the Daigle Law Group, the same law firm investigating East Lyme Police Chief Michael Finkelstein and the circumstances of how the department handled multiple allegations of domestic violence by Finkelstein's wife, is ongoing. Strafaci said he continues to gather evidence that shows Nicholson was the victim of a "targeted campaign, initiated and perpetrated by Detective Mark Comeau and member(s) of the East Lyme Police Department with the assistance of private parties, including Killin, to falsely arrest and charge him for serious felony crimes..." Calls and late night visits In addition to an undisclosed "inappropriate" relationship between Comeau and Killin, Strafaci said there were numerous phone calls between the two and that Killin would also make late night visits to Comeau's home. After Comeau was pulled from the case, Strafaci alleges Comeau instructed Killin to buy a new phone to hide past interactions between the two and hide evidence. East Lyme police confirmed the case was re-assigned to another officer. Killin, in an interview from her home in the United Kingdom on Monday, said she thinks some of the information about her visits come from a former landlord and are untrue. "It's completely false — made up. They're trying to make something out of nothing," she said. Killin also said that her phone was seized and analyzed as part of the investigation. By the time the new detective was assigned to the case, Killin said she had upgraded to a new phone but all of the information from her old phone remained. Strafaci described Nicholson as a man with cognitive limitations who was vulnerable to being taken advantage of by Killin, who was his friend, and Comeau. Nicholson was buying Killin clothes and paying her bills, Strafaci said. Additionally, Strafaci said Nicholson has experienced gender dysphoria and spent a period of time identifying as a woman. Strafaci said Comeau went out of his way, when preparing an arrest warrant, to include facts about Nicholson's gender identity seemingly to imply he was a sexual predator. He also made derogatory comments during his arrest, which is the reason, Strafaci said, that the impending lawsuit will focus on "intimidation based on bigotry and bias." "There's multiple allegations in the arrest warrant that are inconsistent with forensic evidence — that and Comeau's apparent obsession with Stephen's gender identity is just bizarre," Strafaci said. The motivation for targeting Nicholson was "Claire's desire for money and designer clothes/items and Det. Comeau's infatuation with Claire, as well as his personal animus towards Stephen," the notice alleges. Killin said Nicholson's gender identity came into play during the investigation because Nicholson had worn some of the women's clothing she purchased using Nicholson's money. Killin said she has evidence that was turned over to police that shows Nicholson threatened her so she would buy certain items that he would then wear. Strafaci said the purpose of the upcoming lawsuit, in addition to financial reimbursement, is Nicholson's desire to have what he called the "real story" become public. "Stephen has been the victim of a false arrest, false allegations and because he's faced criminal charges, he's basically been unable to tell his side of the story. Part of this is to bring his story to light and bring about some justice for all of the wrongs that have been done to him over the course of a year, Strafaci said. New York attorney Christopher Berlingieri, who represents Killin in a federal civil rights lawsuit against Dunkin, declined to comment. East Lyme First Selectman Dan Cunningham and Board of Police Commissioners Chairman Dan Price did not return calls seeking comment. Comeau could not be reached to comment.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Conn College forum explores how social standing can bar access to basic freedoms
New London — A panel of local community leaders met Monday on the Connecticut College campus to discuss how entrenched policies and institutional biases can prevent marginalized residents from attaining even basic housing, educational and health needs. That conversation touched on issues related to gentrification, success barriers and even the college's own relationship to the city. The forum, 'From the Grassroots: (Un)Freedom and Community Advocacy,' was the first of four planned speaking events scheduled through March and sponsored by Conn College professors and the Eastern Connecticut Centers for Affordable Housing group. Monday's forum in the college's Blaustein Humanities Center featured panelists Mayor Michael Passero; Cathy Zall, executive director of the New London Homeless Hospitality Center; David Morgan, president and chief executive officer of the New London-based Team Inc. anti-poverty group; Jennifer Paradis, executive director of Milford's Congregation Beth El; and Trina Charles, leader of the Step Up New London social justice organization. The event focused on the concept of 'unfreedom, a term used by forum hosts to describe the state of marginalized people denied human rights despite them being ostensibly free. Panelists, when asked to describe their experiences with both freedom and unfreedom, pulled examples from their work with the homeless, those without adequate health care options and the Black and brown community. 'We've never really had freedom; it's something we're still fighting for,' said Charles, whose group works to promote social and economic equity for the city's minority residents. 'But unfreedom means not having housing, or proper educational opportunities or proper health care.' Zall said she considered herself fortunate to have butted up against few impediments in her career, while also being lucky enough to cultivate mentors and role models who enabled her to know her value. She said simply removing a barrier, such as those blocking an individual's access to housing or medical care, while a crucial start, isn't the endgame. 'It's also about building community and giving people a chance to feel they're part of something bigger,' Zall said. Morgan called freedom the ability to reach a person's fullest potential, regardless of circumstances, though he noted the 'deep reality' of that process is fraught with challenges created by an individual's ZIP code and position in society's pecking order. 'They need a seat at the table, a voice, but in many cases these people are not even in the room, let alone at the table,' Morgan said. Paradis said freedom is often taken for granted. '(Freedom) is the ability to dream, to be curious about something and be able to pursue it relentlessly,' she said. 'But for too many, that ability to dream has been stripped away and life has become about survival. Or they're forced to lose a part of themselves when pursuing a dream — people are dying sooner because they don't have access to basic needs.' Passero called New London a city of 'split personality' with a rich maritime history and pleasing geography marred by past instances of blatant segregation. 'We want a city where everyone has a fair shot,' he said, touting his administration's work in creating hundreds of new housing units and making the city a welcoming place for waves of incoming Electric Boat workers. 'It's a slow, hard process bridging that gap between freedom and unfreedom.' A question from one of the 70 or so audience members on the dangers of gentrification prompted Passero to recall the 'white flight' decades earlier when affluent city residents pulled up stakes and moved to the suburbs. 'Many of them are returning now, hopefully with better attitudes,' he said, adding it's crucial to have a balance of residences — market-rate, affordable and everything in-between — to make a city viable. Charles said the construction of several market-rate housing complexes in the city did amount to gentrification, in which the apartments were built to specifically attract higher-income tenants. 'And even then, they're not all rented out,' she said. 'We have 400 New London public school students classified as homeless and single mothers living in hotels.' The speaking series is part of the (Un)Freedom Colloquium project, which aims to explore 'freedom, inequity and resistance in New London's past and present.' The forums in turn are part of a larger right-to-housing project that includes a planned traveling exhibition, a digital publication and community–based research. The three-year pilot program is being funded by a $500,000 public dialogue and research grant awarded to the college last month by the Mellon Foundation. When students asked what practical steps they could take to address the issues of inequity, Zall said to "get proximate." "Get out there at some level and get involved, she said.
