Groton Utilities commissioner resigns over controversial Kentucky Derby trip

DeMuzzio steps down, calls 2016 junket ‘an error in judgment,’ but not ‘unethical’

Groton — Groton Utilities Commissioner Edward DeMuzzio resigned on Monday and the Groton City Council voted to accept the recommendations of the Board of Ethics critical of DeMuzzio and two other Groton Utilities officials for attending a 2016 trip to the Kentucky Derby.

The ethics board had recommended that DeMuzzio resign or be removed from his positions on the Groton Utilities Commission and the Bozrah Utilities Commission by Dec. 31. But before the City Council could vote on the board recommendation Monday, DeMuzzio stood before the council and resigned immediately from both boards. He said he would also voluntarily contribute $7,500 to the charity of his choice.

The Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative hosted the Derby trip, which cost $342,330 for 44 participants.

DeMuzzio defended himself and his colleagues, GU General Manager of Utility Finance David Collard and GU Director Ronald Gaudet. They made an error in judgment and were unfairly classified as unethical, DeMuzzio said.

“I served the United States Coast Guard for over 25 years and saved 36 lives,” DeMuzzio said. “I’ve served the City of Groton at CMEEC for over 10 years and during that time, the estimated savings to our ratepayers was over $36 million. I think it is a travesty to classify an error in judgment as unethical.”

“David Collard and Ron Gaudet did not deserve that classification. David has served the City of Groton and the City of Bozrah for over 44 years. And now by participating in CMEEC-sponsored events, is being reprimanded. I find that difficult to accept,” DeMuzzio said.

The recommendations approved Monday recommend that DeMuzzio and Collard pay a $100 fine to the City of Groton, pay $7,500 to Groton Human Services programs to support needy families by Dec. 31, and that a letter of reprimand be placed in their personal files for violation of the ethics code. Collard would remain in his job.

Gaudet, who attended the trip but only for one day, would be fined $100 to the City of Groton, and pay a recommended $3,250 to Groton Human Services by Dec. 31, and have a letter of reprimand placed in his file for violating the ethics code under the recommendations approved by the City Council. Gaudet would remain

Boston — American college students attacked with acid at a train station in France have offered compassion and prayers for their assailant, who authorities say suffers from a mental illness.

French authorities have said they don’t believe extremist views motivated the 41-year-old woman arrested in the attack on the four Boston College students, who are studying abroad.

One of the students, Courtney Siverling, said in a post on Facebook that she was not injured and that all the women are “safe.”

“I pray that the attacker would be healed from her mental illness in the name of Jesus and receive the forgiveness and salvation that can only come from Him,” said Siverling, of Chester Springs, Pennsylvania.

The four women intend to remain in Europe to continue their studies, the spokesman for Boston College told The Associated Press.

The four were attacked Sunday morning at the Saint Charles train station in the southern French city of Marseille. Police in France described the suspect as “disturbed” and said the attack was not thought to be terror-related, according to a statement from Boston College, a private Jesuit school.

College spokesman Jack Dunn said the women were released from the hospital and expected to return to Paris on Monday.

Michelle Krug said she was one of two who got hit in the eye with “a weak solution of hydrochloric acid.” She asked friends to “please consider thinking about/praying for our attacker” so she can receive help.

“Mental illness is not a choice and should not be villainized,” Krug, of White Plains, New York, wrote, adding she planned to continue her “incredible opportunity” to study in France.

Kelsey Kosten said on Facebook that all the women are doing much better and that she is looking forward to returning to Copenhagen to continue her studies abroad. Her father, Phillip Kosten, told The Boston Globe at his Winchester, Massachusetts, home that his daughter is “fine” and asked for privacy for his family. in his position.

The ethics board found that Collard also violated the ethics code by attending a trip to the Kentucky Derby in 2015, and the penalties for both violations were folded into a single recommendation approved by the council.

The ethics board recommended that the City Council dismiss a complaint about participation in a retreat to the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia in October 2015, a complaint about “free Thames Valley Cable service” and a complaint about a 2013 Kentucky Derby trip. The council accepted the recommendations and dismissed those complaints.