Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 17

67 THE HARTFORD COURANT MONDAY, DECEMBER 8,2003 B3 METRO HARTFORD Fire Chiefs To Give DUI Tests Detect Drugs 71 Jii iMb As? ONE COLD SHOWER his friend Greg Cingliano, 13, not pictured, "Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of attendance at our meetings. Any way that we can bring out our message and bring the meetings to the general public I'm alt in favor of it." JAMES WYSKIEWICZ CITY ALDERMAN as Wednesday's resolution only authorizes the mayor to enter into an agreement with Nutmeg Television. Stewart estimates the cost to the city would be several thousand dollars. The money, he said, would come from the budget of the mayor's office. He plans to partner with New Britain High School's audio-visual department Students would videotape and package the meetings for the public access program and get credit toward their community service hours, which are required for graduatioa "Ifsagoodthingfor the taxpayers and everyone in this community to find out what's going on in their government" said Stewart who noted that this would be only his first step toward opening the city'shallsof government to the people it thousands of people.

Now the belt the creation of city artist Wendy Black-Nasta and her local apprentices is home again. From Wednesday through Dec. 23, the belt will hang in Middlesex Community College's MIDDLETOWN Founders Hall, before a new caretaker takes it on the next leg of its world journey to Korea and Vietnam. Black-Nasta, a jewelry designer, has taught at Middlesex for the last five years. Some of her students helped create the belt in her studio off Ridge Road.

A wide mesh of silver chain with dan- JOE ADAMS, 13, of Newington, reacts as Sunday. Plan Would Deliver Look At The Process Recipients Went Beyond The Call Of Duty WEST HARTFORD A quick-thinking crew who administered CPR to an ailing patient A group of gutsy firefighters who' rescued a car crash victim from a vehicle precariously perched on a snow0 covered embankment along 1-84. WEST HARTFORD And a quartet of Ore department members who whisked an unconscious elderly woman out of her burning apartment They all are among the honorees scheduled to receive awards at a third annual departmental ceremony Tuesday. Chief William Austin will present the citations. Firefighter Mark Bassett will be named the firefighter of the year, an award that recognizes exceptional performance by a department mem-, ber who goes above and beyond the call of duty.

Mark Bassett will be -named the firefighter of the year for exceptional performance. Apparatus operator Christopheri Pettinelli will receive the Gene Tj Hoffman Award, which is given to the! department member who displays! professionalism, diligence and a wilS lingness to share his or her knowl-' edge. The following people will receive the bronze star for their role in rescu-; ing a motorist who crashed on a snowy embankment in January: Battalion Chief John Oates, Capts. John Brice and Walter Blair, Lts. Lawrence Cox, John Deckers, John Griffin Jr.

and Nancy Quish Benware, apparatus operator Wayne Dunham and firefighters Bassett Elisabeth Werner, Brian Topolski, Keith Albert and Marsha McCurdy. The bronze star will also be given to the crew of Engine 1 for reviving an unresponsive person on Park Road injury: Lt Gary Schaff, apparatus operator Todd Lingard and firefighters. RobbZiemiecki and McCurdy. Certificates of commendation will, be presented to Lts. John Sokolowski, and William Kali as well as firet, fighters Albert and Bassett for rescue ing an elderly resident of Kingsley; Court during a fire in May.

Also receiving certificates of com-, mendation are members of the crew that responded to a fatal car crash on Tunxis Road in May. The crash killed a 17-year-old student and was both physically and' psychologically demanding for emer- gency workers. The crew included Oates, Benware, Dunham, Topolski, Kali and Bassett along with Capt Sean Shoemaker, Lt John Deckers, apparatus operator Keith Byrne and firefighters Wayne Campbell, David McCombe, Robert Michalak and Gre. goryHilL The citizen award will be presented-to Charles "Skip" Smart of McKenzie. Automotive in West Hartford.

Smart, will be honored for helping fire rescue a person trapped in an overturned car on 1-84 in July, commitment to peace into this belt and sent it out into the world." Founders Hall is open Monday! through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., I Friday from 8 am. to 4:30 p.m., and Sat-! urdayfrom9a.m. to Thedisplay will be in "the glass case. Black-Nasta said she couldn't have predicted the amount of interest the belt has sparked, or the rapid growth of Art- ists for World Peace, the Middletown- based group that was formed to raise money for the peace belt project as well i as for charities in the city and beyond.

Recently, Black-Nasta was contacted by a woman from Greece interested in the belt for the 2004 Summer Olympics, STEPHANIE REITZ LOCAL MOTION With the holidays right around the corner, we're hearing a lot about the state's efforts to curb drunken driving. In a downtown Hartford lab, there's some other unsung work going on, too: new analysis procedures and equipment that let Connecticut chemists pinpoint other substances in people's blood or urine that may impair their driving. Marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine, opiates, tranquilizers, barbiturates and PCP are among the drugs being found in the urine or blood of some suspects, often in potent combinations. Until receiving a federal grant last year, the state did not have the equipment or resources to test every sample fordrugs. If a sample exceeded the DUI threshold, the testing usually stopped there and that's what a person would be prosecuted on.

Full-spectrum testing for illegal and prescription drugs usually took place only if the DUI threshold had not been met, yet the driver's behavior suggested he or she was impaired by something. Now, all samples are tested for alcohol and drugs. "It's amazing, some of the combinations that come through here," said Jane Codraro, a chemist in the state police lab where the testing takes place. "We get some samples in here that make you wonder how that person is even still alive." State transportation planners will use the results to get a better idea of the effect on illegal and prescription drugs on Connecticut drivers, and what kind of public information or enforcement campaigns would work best "In the future, we're going to be one of the leaders among the states in this issue because of what they're doing at the lab," said Susan Maloney, head of the state Department of Transportation's highway safety division. Early results from the past six months of testing in Connecticut suggest we should heed the concerns about drug use among motorists on our roads.

In 40 percent of the samples, the person was impaired only by alcohol. But in 50 percent, they were impaired either solely by drugs or by a combination of drugs and booze. In fact, drugs alone accounted for one-quarter of the impaired drivers. The remaining 10 percent of drivers had no illegal substances in their systems, but were impaired by fatigue, prescription medications they had taken improperly or other factors. State and federal safety advocates are especially concerned about use of marijuana among teenage drivers in light of several polls that found many teen drivers admit to smoking pot and don't think it impairs their abilities behind the wheel Science says that's not the case.

A federal study a few years ago estimated that a person with a .04 blood-alcohol content actually performs as if he or she has a 0.14 blood-alcohol content when combining marijuana with alcohoL The Governor's Prevention Partnership in Hartford is one of the agencies trying to spread that information, hoping teens and their parents will take the risks seriously. The studies provide a good argument for adding "Don't Puff and Drive" to "Don't Drink and Drive." State police Capt Paul Krisavage, who oversees the testing and lab as director of the department's scientific services division, said drivers on drugs have often ingested one or more of what police sarcastically call the "party marijuana, cocaine and PCP. "We really wanted to know what kind of combinations we're seeing out there, and having the additional equipment really speeds up our turnaround time for testing," he said. Stephanie Reitz writes about transportation issues and commuting. Comments may be sent to or to The Courant, 80 Darling Drive, Awn, CT 06001.

Her phone number is 860-284-7316. MARC-YVES REGIS I THE HARTFORD COURANT sprays him with a blast from a snowblower serves. He said he would like to update New Britain's municipal website to make it more interactive and informative. Council meetings were televised in 1995 after the New Britain Area League of Women Voters won a grant for a pilot program from the New Britain Foundation for Public Giving. But at the end of the year former Mayor Lucian Pawlak chose not to continue the practice, citing the cost and the tendency for council members to draw out meetings with the camera on.

"It wasn't unusual for someone to face the camera, not the chair, when they were making comments," Pawlak said in 2002. "I have no doubt if the cameras were back, the meetings would be much longer." But council members who campaigned on open government have said it's a small price to pay for giving the public another vehicle to keep tabs on city matters. Some admit thefirstfewtel-evised meetings may go long, but think council members will settle down quickly Alderman James Wyskiewicz, who authored the resolution with Alderman Michael Trueworthy, the council's majority leader.said televising the meetings has been a long time coming. "Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of attendance at our meetings. Any way that we can bring out our message and bring the meetings to the general public "It's just a new start and a new way of doing business in city hall that a lot of us campaigned on." gling strands of coins and gemstones, the belt left for India as soon as it was finished in September.

Its caretakers are artists and filmmakers who are friends of Black-Nasta's. They are documenting the tour in words, still photos, and film. A marks the journey. Black-Nasta's only requirement is that the ritualistic dancers who wear the belt pray for peace. "Well also be posting photos of the India trip and stories of the belt and Wendy's vision for it" Lucinda Patrick, professor of art and curator of exhibits at Middlesex, said Sunday.

"It's beautiful to look at and it's such a wonderful idea. Wendy has wrapped her passion and Council To Vote On Televising Public Meetings By JOANN KLIMKIEWICZ COURANT STAFF WRITER NEW BRITAIN City residents soon will have a chance to watch local government in action from the comfort of their homes if the common council Wednesday approves a proposal to televise its public meetings. NEW BRITAIN Backed by Mayor Timothy Stewart, who campaigned on a promise of open government, the plan could deliver council meetings into New Britain residents' homes as early as January. "For years, while I sat on council, we were denied our right to speak, we were denied our right to be part of the process," Stewart said Friday. "Open government has been near and dear to me for many years, and I consider televising meetings a very important part of that" The details have not been worked out College To Display Peace Belt ByJOSHKOVNER COURANT STAFF WRITER MIDDLETOWN Shake, rattle and travel Middletown's peace belt made of twinkling coins and gems from the world over, spent the last 10 weeks slung on the hips of dancers across India, appearing in a peace march with tens of.