Mirror - Vol. 08, No. 18 - January 17, 1985

              "The Image
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Fairfield"
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Volume 8, No. 18 Thursday, January 17, 1985 Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut 06430 Incorporated 1977
Beach House Destroyed In Holiday Inferno
by Chris Tyler
Fire struck the beach area over the holiday
break, completely destroying one home and seri-ously
damaging two others in the early morning
blaze. The fire, which was reported at seven
minutes past midnight on Friday December 28,
was fought for over five and one half hours by the
Fairfield Fire Department.
The location of the three buildings created
problems for firefighters according to Lt. Kessler
of the Fairfield Fire Department. "Proximity of the
structures caused problems for us because it
helped the fire to spread to other residences," said
Lt. Kessler. He added, "It's a good thing there
wasn't a strong breeze coming from offshore
otherwise it would have made the job a lot more
difficult."
According to Lt. Kessler the total amount of
damage to the three structures is approximately
$72,000. Kessler said, "The house that was com-pletely
destroyed at 2149 Fairfield Beach Road
was estimated at $40,000 (in damages). The
house to it's left as you look towards the Sound
(2143 Fairfield Beach Road) was estimated to be
$10,000 and the house at 2155 Fairfield Beach
Road has an estimate (of damages) of about
$22,000."
There were no residents in any of the houses;
and two of the three houses were being rented
to Fairfield University students. The house des-troyed
by the fire (2149), known as the caboose,
was being rented to Ed Bradley, Phil McCarthy,
Mike McKeever, Pat Sheerin, and Jim O'Connor.
Mr. McKeever said that a new house had been
located for them. "We had been working with a
realtor and Student Services. They helped us find
a new house that just opened up," commented
Mr. McKeever. He also added that an additional
ten to fifteen thousand dollars in personal belong-ings
had been lost in the fire.
"The house was fully involved when fire fighters
arrived on the scene," said Lt. Kessler. He added
that the response time for the Fire Department
was six minutes and that the intense heat of the
house required that neighboring houses be hosed
down in order to prevent their catching fire as well.
Mr. McKeever commented on the fire's destruc-tion
by saying, "The house is completely
gone...we lost everything." Headded, "All I found
was the frame to a bicycle that had been partial-ly
melted and some empty kegs." Mr. McKeever
went on to add that the nature of the belongings
lost in the fire were mostly clothes. "The house
came completely furnished, so we lost a minimal
amount of furniture. We lost a stereo, a TV., but
mostly a lot of clothing," commented Mr.
McKeever. He added that they did not have any
smoke detectors at their home, but had gotten
some for their new residence. Recovery from in-surance
is a possibility that will be looked into.
The Fairfield Fire Department has filed a report
on the fire in which they name the cause of the
blaze to be a short circuit in the electrical outlet
in the living room area of the home. Mr. Lowell
Barker, the leasor of the residence stated that he
planned to rebuild the house if possible and that
the old house and the wiring were very old. Said
Mr. Barker, "That house is probably from the
1930's within about ten years."
Fire destroyed one house rented to Fairfield University students while two others were damaged in a blaze that occured over the
Christmas holiday [Photo by Stephen J. Humes]
More Burglaries Hit Beach Area
by Chris Tyler
Once again the Fairfield beach area has been
plagued with a series of burglaries. According to
police authorities, most of the burglaries occurred
during the Christmas break when it is common
knowledge that Fairfield University Students who
FUSA To Stage Election Primaries
by Tim Keefe
Procedures for the upcoming F.U.S.A. elec-tion
were announced this we« < by Kim Hale, as-sistant
director of university activities. As it now
stands, a primary will be held on Tuesday Febru-ary
5 in order to narrow down the number of can-didates
running for F.U.S.A. president to 2. The
primary will be held on the first Tuesday of Febru-ary
in the Oakroom, and regular voting booths,
as used in local elections, will be utilized for the
F.U.S.A. primary. The voting hours for the primary
are from 10:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M.
After the primary limits the running field to only
2 candidates, the F.U.S.A. presidential election
will be held one week from that day, on Tuesday
February 12. The presidential election will also
be held in the Oakroom and voting booths will
be used for this as well. Hours for voting are the
same as for the primary, from 10:00 A.M. to 7:00
P.M.
In the case that only 2 candidates decide to
run for F.U.S.A. president, the primary will be
skipped and the presidential election will be held
on Tuesday February 5, with the voting hours re-maining
the same as for the primary.
The election commission met yesterday to final-ize
the rules and guidelines which the prospec-tive
candidates must follow in their campaigning
for F.U.S.A. president. An official announcement
of candidates can be expected by early next week.
The Mirror will be sponsoring a debate between
the candidates running for F.U.S.A. president, to
be held in the Oakroom on Sunday January 27.
reside at the beach have left for the holidays. Four
of the six break-ins reported during the week fol-lowing
Christmas day were at homes rented by
Fairfield University students.
According to police reports, the home of Me-gan
Sangster was burglarized and ransacked.The
report also goes on to say that the house, located
at 555 Fairfield Beach Road, was vandalized.
Police said that meat had been "scattered
throughout the house" and a mirror was
smashed. A telephone and a television were also
damaged in the break-in. Approximately forty dol-lars
in cash was also reported to be missing, ac-cording
to Miss Sangster.
Tara Fahy of 559 Fairfield Beach Road was also
burglarized during the holiday week. Police
reports indicate that the house was ransacked
and that $300 worth of jewelry was reported miss-ing
by Miss Fahy.
Gene Mauro, who rents a house at 753 Rowland
Road, reported that that home was believed to
be burglarized as well. According to the police
reports Mr. Mauro found adoor to the house wide
open. He could not tell if anything was missing.
He also stated that there were no signs visible
of forced entry into the house. One of the resi-dents
of the house said, "I don't know what was
taken, if anything, but we had a stereo, a TV., and
a bicycle in the house."
Mauro, who also lives on Rowland Road, re-ported
another one of the homes that he owns
to have been vandalized. Although no one was
living in the residence at the time, Mr. Mauro stat-ed
that personal belongings in the house were
defaced.
Fairfield Police also investigated a burglary at
575 Fairfield Beach Road. Alan Goldman, who
rents the home to Fairfield University students,
said that the home was entered over the holiday
recess. In the police reports Mr. Goldman stated
that he could not tell if there had been any van-dalism
or if any of the belongings of his tenants
were missing. Police said that a window was left
open and that the front door was unlocked. Sever-al
items that could be considered valuable were
left in plain view according to police.
The police were unable to locate any witnesses
to the break-ins and are unable to pursue any fur-ther
investigation afthis time. No particular sus-pect
is being sought for the break-ins, but police
say that some of the burglaries occurred at about
the same hour and similar methods were detect-ed.
Said Patrol Division Captain Robert Comers,
"We can only speculate, but it doesn't seem to
be just one guy. But, there do seem to have been
some repeats." Mr. Comers also added that bur-glaries
in the Beach area of Fairfield have in-creased
over the past several months. .
Governor Addresses Oakroom
Rev. Aloysius P. Kelly, S.J., President of Fairfield University, met with Governor William A. O'Neill
of Connecticut on Monday. [Photo by Kevin Wolfthal]
by Chris Tyler
Governor William A. O'Neill, commissioners
from Governor O'Neill's administration, and mem-bers
of the faculty from Fairfield University spoke
before a gathering in the Oak Room on Monday,
January 14th to discuss the economic outlook for
the state of Connecticut for 1985. In addition, the
economic environment of the New England
region of the United States was also touched
upon.
Governor William O'Neill took the podium
shortly after 3 PM in the second session of the
economic symposium. Governor O'Neill outlined
his goals for the next year which includes lower-ing
the state's sales tax from seven point five per-cent
down to seven percent. Governor O'Neill
stated that he wanted to go to the four corners
of the state to push his programs. Said Governor
O'Neill, "I hadn't planned to start here at Fairfield,
but on the urgings of Secretary Milano I decided
to make Fairfield the first of the four corners."
Governor O'Neill began his address by stating,
"The state of the State is great." He went on to
stress that his program to improve road systems
in Connecticut is vital to maintaining the quality
of transportation within the state. The Governor
also stressed that Connecticut is "the first and
only state to adopt a comprehensive, longterm
program to rebuilt the states roads and bridges."
Approximately one hundred million dollars has
been isolated for the sole purpose of being used
on road system improvements. An additional
twenty-five million dollars will be added
to the 100 million from interest earned on that
money. The Governor said that each town and
city will have to verify their expenditures by
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