This Day In History

Aug 30 1974
153 passengers are killed and 60 injured when a Belgrade - Dortmund express train jumps the tracks pulling into Zagreb terminal at full speed. It is Yugoslavia's worst rail disaster.

August 30th 1976
Tom Brokaw becomes news anchor of Today Show.


August 30th 1993
150,000,000 millionth visitor to Eiffel Tower. (pretty sick, imagine today!)

This Day In History

Aug 29 1958

Michael Jackson born in Gary, Indiana.

...Coincidentally,

Aug 29 1996
California becomes the first state in the nation to require the surgical or chemical castration of persons who have committed two or more sexual assaults on minors.

Aug 29 2005
Category 3 storm Hurricane Katrina attacks the Gulf coast with 145-mph winds. Cities in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi are declared disaster areas. Parts of New Orleans are submerged, some residents are left to scramble to their rooftops awaiting rescue. News organizations report widespread panic and looting, crowds abandoned on elevated freeways, and rumors of rape in the Superdome.

(Amazing pictures here...)

This Day In History

Aug 28 1985
Joseph DeCarlo III is born. BALLIN!! I love you, happy birthday baby.

Aug 28 1988
Three Italian fighter jets from the precision flight team Frecce Tricolori collide while attempting their "Pierced Heart" stunt during an air show at Ramstein Air Base in West Germany. The wreckage of one plane tumbles into the crowd and explodes, killing 40 spectators and seriously injuring hundreds more. The death toll reaches 69 two months later.

This Day In History

Aug 27 1967
While The Beatles are away in Bangor, Brian Epstein is found dead in his home. Officially, the cause of death was accidental overdose of sleeping pills, but many believe it was suicide. He was becoming increasingly depressed over his lack of involvement with the Beatles and also his personal turmoil caused by trying to keep his homosexuality a secret.



Aug 27 1968
TV newsman Dan Rather gets beaten up in front of cameras on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The reporter is trying to interview a delegate being dragged off the floor when the bruisers suddenly turn on the Rather. "He lifted me right off the floor and put me away. I was down, the breath knocked out of me, as the whole group blew on by me... In the CBS control room, they had switched the camera onto me just as I was slugged."



Aug 27 1979
The IRA assassinates Louis Earl Mountbatten by placing a bomb on his yacht off the coast of Ireland. Mountbatten was the Queen's cousin, a war hero, and one of the most respected people in England.

Aug 27 1990
Blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan is killed when his Bell 206B helicopter crashes into a man-made ski hill near Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

This Day In History

Aug 24 1812
The White House and other public buildings in the District of Columbia are torched by the British.

Aug 24 1981
Mark David Chapman sentenced to 20 years for killing Beatle John Lennon.

This Day In History

Aug 23 1305
Scottish patriot William Wallace ("Braveheart") hanged, disemboweled, drawn, and quartered. His head was displayed on London Bridge.




Aug 23 1926
Rudolf Valentino dies.





Aug 23 1968
The Youth International Party designates Pigasus as their choice of candidate for U.S. President. The boar hog is introduced at a press conference outside the Chicago Civic Center, with the slogan "They nominate a President and he eats the people. We nominate a President and the people eat him." The gathering is broken up shortly thereafter when the Chicago PD takes into custody the Yippie organizers and their pig.






Aug 23 1994
Inside an abandoned boathouse on the Scottish island of Jura, two members of the band KLF set fire to 20,000 fifty pound notes in front of witnesses. It takes two hours to burn all UKP 1,000,000.



Aug 23 1995
Dwayne R. Goettel, member of industrial music band Skinny Puppy, dies of a heroin overdose in a bathroom at his paents' Edmonton, Alberta home.



Aug 23 1995
St. Petersburg resident Ilshat Kuzikov arrested in his apartment in connection with the murders of Misha Bochkov and Edik Vassilevsky, whose severed heads were found in city streets. Discovered in his apartment were jars of pickled human remains, bags of ears, a pair of arms and legs, and a partially eaten "casserole".

This Day In History

Aug 22 1992
FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi fires a rifle shot that kills unarmed Vicki Weaver, at the Ruby Ridge standoff. Horiuchi claimed he was trying to shoot another man in the back. The FBI also killed Weaver's fourteen year old son Sam, and the son's dog.

Aug 22 1995
David Gahan, lead singer of rock group Depeche Mode, was hospitalized after trying to commit suicide by slashing his wrist. Gahan was found in his Hollywood home with a two-inch slit in his wrist.

Aug 22 2001
A star circus performer known as Smiley the Clown was convicted of molesting and sodomizing his teenage assistant. Smiley AKA Christopher Bayer was convicted of third-degree sodomy, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a young clown. The boy's father became suspicious that Bayer might clowning around with his son and subsequently installed a hidden camera which captured the clown in the act.

This Day In History

Aug 20 1968
The Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia.

Aug 20 1979
Social studies teacher Albert Fentress of Poughkeepsie New York lures an 18-year-old boy into his basement, ties him up, murders him, and then cooks and devours the boy's genitals. Fentress is found totally nuts and is sentenced to psychiatric care.

Aug 20 1986
Rather than submit to being fired, part-time letter carrier Pat Sherrill shoots 14 coworkers at his Edmond, Oklahoma post office.

Aug 20 1998
President Clinton orders cruise missile attacks against terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan suspected of making chemical weapons.

Sentencing Postponed for Greenwich Man in Daughter's Death

GREENWICH - Sentencing was postponed today for a former Greenwich man who pleaded guilty to killing his daughter.

Police say Adam Dobrzanski fatally slit his 20-year-old daughter's throat at the estate where he worked as a landscaper in Dec. 2009. They say he then attempted to commit suicide.

According to prosecutors, the 56-year-old was experiencing psychological problems and was upset because his wife wanted a divorce.

The hearing was rescheduled for Sept. 16. Dobrzanski faces 40 years in prison.

Woman Dies When Tractor-Trailer Wheels Hit Car; Police Search for Witness

PORT CHESTER — A 62-year-old woman died on Interstate 95 Tuesday afternoon after two rear wheels of a tractor-trailer flew off and crashed into her car, police said.

Adele Mancuso of Toms River, N.J., and formerly of Larchmont, was driving to her sister's Connecticut home to dog sit about 2:45 p.m., when the trailer's wheels came loose as it exited I-95 onto Interstate 287 at Exit 21. Police said the wheels traveled across three southbound lanes, striking Mancuso's car in the far left northbound lane.

"The tractor-trailer lost the whole rear axle with two wheels attached," state police Investigator Joseph Beccera said. "The entire axle compartment went airborne about 100 yards and crashed into the windshield and roof of the northbound vehicle."

Mancuso, formerly of 1299 Palmer Ave., Larchmont, had recently moved to Toms River to live with her boyfriend. She was killed instantly, Beccera said, noting the axle and wheels that struck her weighed well over 200 pounds and likely caused lethal injuries to her head and neck.

Police said Mancuso's mother, an 84-year-old Constance Casalina of Larchmont, was a passenger in the car and sustained what Beccera described as "miraculously" minor injuries. She was taken to Stamford Hospital, where she was treated for cuts to her arm.

After the crash Tuesday afternoon, the car involved, a Chevrolet Cavalier, was partially covered with a yellow tarpaulin. The roof was almost entirely collapsed and the windshield crushed.

Police said the driver of the tractor-trailer did not stop, but that investigators, using a license plate provided by someone at the scene, were able to locate him Tuesday evening in New Jersey.

Police had not charged the tractor-trailer driver with any wrongdoing in the crash by press time, but were questioning him, Beccera said.

His name was not released.

Police are asking for the public's help in locating a Hispanic male witness who might have stopped the tractor trailer on I-287 and informed the driver of his missing wheels.

Police said the tractor trailer drove off after speaking with the Hispanic driver.

All three northbound lanes were closed for about an hour and a half. The right lane was reopened for travel shortly after 4:30 p.m., but hours later, traffic remained at a near-standstill and was backed up far to the south.

The damaged car was sitting atop a flatbed tow truck at 6:15 p.m. as investigators continued their work. A crowd watched from a nearby overpass.

Patricia Carriere, 41, of Port Chester walked from her home to view the scene from the Grace Church Street overpass.

"Since I live right here, I just came to see," she said. "I just feel bad for the person that died."

Carriere said her husband uses I-95 often as a truck driver and that she has ridden along in his 18-wheeler. In her opinion, it was possible the driver of the tractor-trailer never realized a pair of wheels came off.

"If it was two middle ones," she said, "I don't even think you could notice."

Jose Lopez, an employee with Hannigan's Towing in Port Chester, said he towed Mancuso's Cavalier to the state police barracks in Tarrytown about 7:20 p.m.

Lopez said that during his 15-year career as a tow truck driver, he had seen numerous incidents similar to Tuesday's crash.

"That's why I've got to wake up and kiss my wife every day before I leave for work," he said. "You never know what's going to happen out there."

Shortly before 9 p.m., police reported all northbound lanes on I-95 had been reopened.
If you have information about the crash or the witness police are searching for, please contact the State Police at 914-524-0223 or 914-524-0229.

Car VS. Train, Darien

An elderly man was hurt in a car versus train crash in Darien... They are saying he's in his early 90s. Another one!

Check out these pictures... Apparently he is going to be OK after being taken to the hospital..

Is it just me or does it look like the steering wheel is on the right side, like a British auto? lol..

This Day In History

Aug 15 1969
Woodstock begins on Max Yasgur's farm in upstate New York. Tickets are $18 for three days of counterculture musical acts, including Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and Sha-Na-Na.

This Day In History

Aug 14 2126
The next scheduled perihelion for the "Doomsday Rock," also known as the Swift-Tuttle Comet. The six-mile-diameter mass is thought to be roughly the same size as the asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs and will probably come within 15 million miles of planet Earth.

BOINGO ALIVE

Awesome CD...Great versions of some of my faaaaavorite OB songs!

Coincidence...

What a strange coincidence.. I posted in my last entry about the 71 year old woman killed on Route 7 when her father drove her in front of a dump truck... That happened a few days ago and now I learn of *another* 71 year old dying on Route 7 Wilton after hitting a dump truck HEAD ON....This one was a man.... What are the chances, two 71 year olds...Dying after accidents with dump trucks...On the same stretch of road... And within the same week. Bonkers!!

Another small and strange detail.. A witness who was interviewed in that article was also 71. What the french?

-Check out video *here*-

HIATUS

I've taken quite a hiatus haven't I? I Don't thik there's anyone out there anyway who takes interest in my blog.. But I don't care... This is *my* vault of memories...

I think this has been quite the summer for local shocking news... Especially in the Stamford and Greenwich areas.

I'm going to sit back and reminisce, try to catch up on any noteworthy news..

Earliest local news that comes to mind was a few months back when a 2 year old, Massimo Furano and his grandmother, Anna S. Furano, were found drowned in their koi pond over on Fox's Lane in Greenwich...Very tragic.

Joe Schiano, who was slightly younger than me and had mutual friends in common with me, passed away after serving two terms in the Marines.. Unfortunatley he died in a car accident in New York after returning from duties.

I believe a few days after that I learned of a car with two women driving on I-95 in Cos Cob over the Mianus Bridge... A bolt fell off of a dump truck in front of their car, and it flew threw the window into the passenger's head, killing her. Can you imagine?

As the summer goes on all you hear about, sadly, is all the murders in Bridgeport, Stamford and Norwalk... Then, more noticible news again out of Stamford- on Bedford Street behind the diner (very close to an apartment I work sometimes) was found a 39 year old man hanging from a tree in the back part of the parking lot.

Close in time to that was another suicide of a 2o year old Stamford junior volunter firefighter, his body found in a Belltown grass field.

Jasmine Brown, an inspiring fashion designer from NY was high on PCP, climbed a tree naked and fell out of it, killing herself. Imagine that horrible scene..

In a bit of national news- as we all know, over the weekend a helicopter full of Navy Seals (3o) was shot down. One of them, Brian Bill, was from Stamford. Thank you for paying the ultimate price while fighting for our country....

A 92 year old man, trying to park in a handicapped spot, accidently floored his Honda, plowing threw a pole and proceeding to crash 20 feet into Cafe Oo La La on Summer Street (Ridgeway Shopping Center), sending people flying all over the place. Miracously no one was killed, but a baby and a pregnant woman were injured in all the mess. Thus sparks the debate again on modifying driving conditions for elderly drivers. Is it really all that hard for the DMV to put in place a system where the eldery driver would have a simulated road test say at the person's physician's office or even at the DMV itself? God forbid we spent any on insuring people can stay safe on the roads and keep clear of crazy old grandpa who's too proud and dementiated to take himself off the road. They are actually charging him ... Not sure for what but good for them! His family shouldn't have let him drive.

The next day, which I believe was Tuesday, I heard of a poor woman on route in Wilton who must've not even seen it coming when a dump truck hit her Ford Taurus, killing her and injuring three others (including a six year old) in the car. The car pulled out from a church, right into the path of the dump truck that couldn't stop in time. The driver of that car was 91, and was the victim's father. Her grandaughter was next to her, and probably saw her die.

Why did these people have the grandfather drive??? He could've killed his six year old grandaughter as well...Bad enough now he has to live knowing he killed his daughter. Sad and tragic, shouldn't have happened.

This morning I read that a car hit into a construction site, killing the driver, a 23 year old Greenwich resident, Michael Defruscio. Two years younger than I am, but I do not recognize the name..

It's sad but true that most news we hear of is depressing and negative, but if it wasn't something so shocking it wouldn't be newsworthy. There is some news lately that's been amusing and some news that actually is postive.

A month or two ago a mountain lion was spotted in Greenwich, and then a few days later found dead in Milford on the turnpike. It was found out that the mounatin lion had actually migrated from North Dakota, something that was unheard of for mountain lions until now! Apparently there were two new sightings this past Sunday... So are there more or what??

Here's a picture of my Uncle Mike, middle, on duty and it looks like he's with a search for the lion. (lol)

Remember Charla Nash, the poor woman who had her face pretty much torn off by that ape in backcountry Stamford? She succesfully completed a 20 hour facial transplant a few days ago, and unveiled her new face for all to see in both national and local articles. Good for you, Charla!