Archive - News Article
July 16th, 2011
WOONSOCKET – A second nighttime shooting in the city in two days has police beefing up patrols of local neighborhoods as a precautionary measure.
The latest incident occurred at around 11 p.m. Friday at a residential home on Sayles Street, Police Lt. Eugene Jalette said Saturday.
Officers arriving at 147 Sayles St. found a 24-year-old male sitting in the yard with a gunshot wound to the torso, Jalette said.
The man was conscious but critically hurt, Jalette said. He was taken by Woonsocket Rescue to Rhode Island Hospital where he remained in critical condition on Saturday.
WOONSOCKET — In a surprise move, Governor Lincoln Chafee has filed a legal brief in support of Jason Wayne Pleau's appeal to quash a court order for him to surrender on federal charges stemming from the murder of a gas station manager – charges that could carry the death penalty.
WOONSOCKET — The four loud bangs heard just before 8 p.m. Thursday sounded like fireworks to Zuleyma Neco, 22, of 44 Florida St. But the noise actually turned out to be gunfire and Neco, in her apartment with her own small children and those of her mother, saw the aftermath of a crime when she looked out the window.
A car had backed into the side of her next-door neighbor’s home after its 27-year-old driver was shot twice by someone in another car.
“It scared us,” said Neco, who had been caring for her three children and her mother’s two children.
July 14th
WOONSOCKET — A Blackstone man is in critical condition at Rhode Island Hospital after being assisted by passing motorists and rescue personnel at the scene of a fiery single-car crash on Route 99 Thursday afternoon.
John Leclaire, 38, of 198 Farm St., Blackstone, was driving north on Route 99 past Sayles Hill Road just before 1 p.m. when his red Kia Sportage veered suddenly to the right, left the roadway and collided with an outcropping of ledge, according to State Police Lt. Douglas Newberg.
July 13th
NORTH SMITHFIELD – Divers recovered the body of a Providence man from the Slatersville Reservoir late Wednesday night after a search that lasted almost three hours.
The body of Johnny Oun, 22, was located at 10:06 p.m. near the base of the Upper Dam, not far from where he was last seen, said North Smithfield Fire Chief Joel Jillson.
Oun was reported missing by several friends with whom he had been swimming, said Police Capt. Bradley Aubin. Oun disappeared after they all jumped off the waterfall together and tried to swim back to shore.
WOONSOCKET — City Planner Jane Talbot is trading her seat behind a desk at City Hall for one on a farm tractor in the Great Plains.
Talbot, who got married on July 4, is quitting her city job at the end of the month to join her husband, who runs a big cattle and grain spread in Oklahoma.
“I'm going to miss a lot of people around here,” she says. “This was my childhood home.”
NORTH SMITHFIELD — It's called the “black money” scam, a popular fraud that has apparently snared a victim in North Smithfield.
North Smithfield Police Captain Bradley Aubin said a person who lives in town came to the police station on Wednesday to report that he had been victimized by the scam, in which the scammers show the victim several black pieces of paper which they claim is cash that has been dyed. The scammers tell the victim they need money for a special chemical solution to clean the bills and make them usable again.
WOONSOCKET — Retail giant Wal-Mart might not shut down its outmoded Diamond Hill Road store as soon as the company had originally predicted.
The store is on track for retirement when a bigger, modern Wal-Mart Supercenter, under construction in North Smithfield's Dowling Village, opens for business. Store officials had been shooting for a switchover by the end of next month, but the construction project is taking longer than originally expected.
Bucci Development of Warwick, the company building Dowling Village, now says it could be the end of the year before the Supercenter opens.
WOONSOCKET — The pair of bicyclists heading up Social Street Monday evening had a bit more on their minds than a little summer recreation.
And even though their outfits might have been more fitting for a ride on the Blackstone River Bikeway, Patrolmen Michael Flood and John Raymond were still on duty and fully equipped as police officers.
Their four-hour shift on the bikes was part of the Police Department’s community policing efforts and was putting the two officers in closer contact with the residents they serve.
July 11th
WOONSOCKET — In this era of scant resources and shrinking government, being mayor of the state's seventh largest city isn't as glamorous as it used to be. But it looks like Mayor Leo T. Fontaine will get to keep the job for another two years without a fight, if he wants it.
And he does.
“I never really had any doubts about it,” said Fontaine. “I'm not going to be one of these guys that's around for 20 years, but clearly we've started some things I think need to be continued.”
