War, corruption top Connecticut news year

A survey of state newspaper and broadcast editors ranked the war in Iraq and the deaths of Connecticut troops as the top story of the year. Two Marines and six soldiers with state roots died in the war on terrorism in 2003 -- one in Afghanistan, the others in Iraq.

"He was a proud Marine, and we are the proud parents of a Marine," said Tan Patchem, mother of Cpl. Kemaphoom Chanawongse of Warerford, one of two Marines killed in a firefight March 23.

Army Staff Sgt. Richard S. Eaton Jr. of Guilford died of an illness Aug. 12 in Iraq. He had returned to active duty after his usual office in the Pentagon was struck by the hijacked airliner on Sept. 11, 2001.

Eaton was working as a civilian for the Department of Defense at the time of the attacks. That area of the building was being remodeled and Eaton was in a temporary office away from the Pentagon on Sept. 11.

"He loved the military," said his father, Richard S. Eaton. "He loved this country, and this was his life and in many respects his identity."

An accelerating scandal surrounding Gov. John Rowland and the convictions of two big-city mayors also ranked high on the list.

Rowland's former deputy chief of staff, Lawrence Alibozek, pleaded guilty in March to accepting gold and cash in return for steering state contracts. The probe widened as investigators looked into several large state contracts involving a politically connected New Britain contracting firm, the Tomasso Group.

Then Rowland admitted Dec. 12 that he had lied when he had insisted 10 days earlier he and his wife paid for all the improvements to a lakeside Litchfield County vacation home. In fact, Rowland admitted, friends and state contractors had paid for some of the work.

The governor apologized but said he would not resign. Five Connecticut newspapers called for Rowland to step down; a handful of Democrats in the legislature discussed impeachment, an idea legislative leaders downplayed.

As the year wound to a close Rowland's Republican colleagues in Congress said they wanted a meeting with him in January to discuss whether the governor could effectively serve the three years remaining on his third term.

"I frankly don't know how John is able to survive, how he can maintain his position as governor with the authority to lead," said Rep. Christopher Shays. "It's evident there is still more to this story, and I don't know how he can continue to stay in office."

Tied with the Rowland scandal for second on the list was the March 25 conviction of former Waterbury Mayor Philip Giordano on charges he violated the civil rights of two young girls by repeatedly sexually abusing them.

Giordano admitted that a prostitute -- the mother of one of the girls and the aunt of the other -- had performed oral sex on him while the girls were able to see from another room. He adamantly denied touching the girls.

"I did not do anything criminal," Giordano testified. "The only jurisdiction for what I have done is my wife and my God."

Both girls and the prostitute testified against him. Giordano was sentenced to 37 years in federal prison; he still faces state charges. He has appealed the federal conviction.

The corruption conviction of then-Bridgeport Mayor Joseph P. Ganim was fourth in the survey. Ganim was convicted of 16 federal charges after a parade of former friends and associates testified about his demands for money and luxury goods in exchange for city business.

Ganim, a Democrat who had harbored ambitions of running for governor, was sentenced to nine years in prison. He also plans to appeal.

Fifth in the survey was the protracted budget crisis that led to layoffs of state employees and held up a budget agreement until weeks after the new fiscal year began July 1.

Rowland was bitterly condemned by state employee unions, who waged a largely unsuccessful battle to persuade the Democrat-controlled General Assembly to rescind the layoffs. However, many of the workers were later rehired.

An early morning fire that killed 16 people and forced elderly and infirm nursing home patients to flee into subfreezing temperatures was sixth on the list.

A patient at the Greenwood Health Center was charged with starting the Feb. 26 fire by setting her bedding afire, but a judge ruled in August she was not competent to stand trial.

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination tied for seventh on the list with the 2003 national champion Huskies.

Lieberman's campaign continues, although he trails front-runner Howard Dean and was stung when his running mate in 2000, former Vice President Al Gore, endorsed Dean.

The Huskies set a new mark for consecutive victories -- 70, counting from 2002's undefeated season -- and defended their national championship with a 73-68 victory over archrival Tennessee on April 8. With all five starters back this season UConn was once again atop the weekly polls.

A sweeping power outage Aug. 14 knocked out electricity to 50 million people, including portions of Connecticut. Officials credited quick action at ISO New England, the regional power distribution authority, with preventing more widespread outages. But bad feelings linger between Connecticut and New York over activation of a power cable that runs along the bottom of the Long Island Sound.

The Oct. 6 conviction of a Meriden woman, Judith Scruggs, in the suicide of her 12-year-old son, was 10th on the state list. Scruggs was convicted of risk of injury to a minor after prosecutors said she had failed to provide the boy with hygiene needs; she said her son hanged himself because he was bullied at school.