LNG company to pursue offshore berth

July 18, 2008

The company hoping to build a liquefied natural gas terminal in Fall River is focusing on an alternative plan for an offshore berth in Mount Hope Bay to receive tanker deliveries. Weaver's Cove Energy announced its new plans yesterday. Its original proposal depended on tankers traveling up the Taunton River to Fall River. Critics, including Fall River officials and members of the state's congressional delegation, worked to block the original proposal, saying it poses unacceptable risks to the heavily populated area. That plan was also opposed by officials in nearby Rhode Island. Under the new plan, tankers would unload LNG offshore into a 4-mile underwater pipeline to Fall River. (AP)

The Supreme Judicial Court will hear the case of a Beverly police officer convicted of vehicular homicide for a fatal crash. The full court decided Wednesday it will hear the appeal of Stuart Merry during its next session, which begins in September. In March, a jury in Peabody District Court found Merry guilty of vehicular homicide for crashing his police cruiser into a parked car and killing Bonney Burns, 61, in January 2007. He was sentenced to three years of probation. The trial judge later set aside the verdict, but he refused to declare Merry not guilty based on insufficient evidence. The officer is appealing the judge's ruling to the top court. Merry is on unpaid leave and has lost his driver's license. (AP)

The Norman Rockwell Museum will use a $225,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to continue its online archiving project. The museum's director, Laurie Norton Moffatt, said the goal is to archive not just Rockwell's paintings, but also his photos, letters, fan mail, news clips, and other items. The grant announced Wednesday will fund two years of management of the project, which will begin with the archiving of Rockwell's collection of 18,000 negatives, 7,000 slides, and 26,000 photos. (AP)

Former New Hampshire congressional candidate Gary Dodds was back in jail yesterday, after a trip to the hospital when jail officials found him unresponsive in his cell. Dodds had been in jail since July 3, following his arrest on charges that he assaulted his wife. He was convicted previously of faking a disappearance to boost a lackluster congressional campaign. Strafford County Attorney Thomas P. Velardi said yesterday that he does not know what prompted Dodds's behavior, but he said the disappearance episode showed that Dodds has a history of faking medical and psychological maladies. He said rescuers reported at that time that Dodds would shut his eyes and stop talking when asked questions he did not want to answer. (AP)

Police have recovered about 750 feet of heavy chain that was stolen for scrap from a cemetery in Franklin. Zachary Parent, 20, of Belmont is charged with stealing the chain that fenced off the Webster Place Cemetery. Acting Police Chief Rod Forey said two tipsters called Franklin's Crimeline after Alex Ray, owner of Common Man restaurants and the Webster Place Recovery Center offered a $500 gift card reward. Forey said the reward inspired the tips. He said Parent sold the chain for $88.50 to Advance Recycling in Concord. (AP)

The former stepfather of a 12-year-old Vermont girl found dead earlier this month was indicted Wednesday on child pornography charges. A grand jury indicted Raymond Gagnon on charges of transporting child pornography in April 2007 and possessing a computer containing child pornography on July 1, the US attorney's office said. The San Antonio man is the former stepfather of Brooke Bennett, who went missing June 25 and was found a week later buried in Randolph, Vt. Gagnon, 40, faces obstruction of justice charges in the girl's disappearance. Michael Jacques, Brooke's uncle, has been charged with her kidnapping. No one has been charged in her death. (AP)