Demolition worker electrocuted at store

September 10, 2008

A 47-year-old man was killed yesterday when he was electrocuted while doing demolition work inside a Wal-Mart in Walpole, police said. The man, a native of Brazil identified as Romulo Santos, was killed about 1 a.m., said Deputy Chief Scott Bushway of the Walpole Police Department. A construction crew renovating the Wal-Mart had severed an electrical wire, and Santos was trying to reattach it when he was electrocuted, Bushway said. He was pronounced dead at Norwood Hospital.

The EPA has criticized General Electric Co.'s cleanup plan for a stretch of the Housatonic River south of Pittsfield. The EPA's Boston office said yesterday that GE's plan to clean up PCB contamination does not adequately address the effects on the ecosystem and recreational use of the river. In March, GE submitted a report proposing a 10-year project to dredge a stretch of the river and remove sediment contaminated by its manufacturing plant in Pittsfield. Connecticut-based General Electric used PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, at its plant until 1977. GE has 90 days to address more than 150 concerns raised by the agency. (AP)

The Coast Guard said it rescued three men after their vessel sank near Stamford shortly after 10 p.m. Monday. All three men were wearing life jackets and had been in the water for about 45 minutes before they were rescued. Petty Officer Second Class Eric Crawford, a rescue boat crewman at Coast Guard Station Eaton's Neck who responded to the scene, said the men were located within five minutes of receiving the call. It's not known what caused the boat to sink. (AP)

Prosecutors have told a federal jury that former hospital executives bribed a Rhode Island state senator for political favors and concealed the true purpose of his job from the public. But a defense lawyer argued yesterday in an opening statement that former senator John Celona did legitimate consulting work for Roger Williams Medical Center. He said the job was approved by the state Ethics Commission. Robert Urciuoli and Frances Driscoll are being tried for allegedly hiring Celona to do the hospital's bidding at the State House. This is the executives' second trial. The first in 2006 ended with convictions, but a federal appeals court overturned them because of flawed jury instructions. (AP)

Separate and unrelated child rape charges have been brought against a 20-year-old Tyngsborough man and a former youth counselor at a Wareham church. The former youth counselor was freed on $5,000 bail Monday after his arraignment in Wareham District Court on charges that he raped a teenage member of the church and assaulted another teenage church member. John Murray, 40, of Lakeville is charged with rape of a child under the age of 16 and indecent assault on a child 14 or over. Murray is due back in court Oct. 6 for a pretrial hearing. In Tyngsborough, a 20-year-old man was charged with two counts of rape of a child with force and one count of indecent assault on a child under 14. Deputy Police Chief Richard Burrows said that the alleged assault took place last week and that the victim and her alleged attacker knew each other. Burrows said Mark Michael Brunet was arrested Monday following an investigation and was held overnight without bail. Brunet was scheduled to be arraigned yesterday in Lowell District Court. (AP)

An independent candidate who lost a place on the Maine ballot after a court challenge of his petitions is launching a write-in campaign for US Senate. Herbert Hoffman said he hopes to build a coalition among progressives, Greens, independents, disaffected Democrats, and disgruntled Republicans. He faces incumbent Republican Senator Susan M. Collins and her Democratic challenger, Representative Tom Allen. Courts ruled that there was a problem with the way some signatures were collected for Hoffman's nominating petitions. (AP)