Top Stories - August 28, 2006

Historian’s home destroyed by fire: Nancy and Joseph Bertrand, kids OK

Left: A four-alarm fire caused extensive damage to the home of Joseph and Nancy Bertrand at 7 Shumway Circle. (Photo by Robert Branch)

A four-alarm fire that started at 5:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 24, and burned for nearly two hours caused extensive damage to the home of Joseph and Nancy Bertrand at 7 Shumway Circle.

Only the smoke alarm saved Joseph, Nancy and two of their four children. The Bertrands have two other college-age children who were not in the home at the time of the fire. Two of the family’s cats perished in the blaze, although several others were rescued.

Tenants sought for Harvard Mill space

Peter Carbone would like to fill the vacant space in the Harvard Mills buildings on Albion Street sometime soon.

Right now, over 136,228 square feet of space is available. The buildings are located on the corner of Albion, Foundry and Lake streets. Edgewater Technologies, Inc. and Vedior North America currently occupy parts of the property, but Carbone, the property owner and property manager Mark R. Reardon of CBRE New England would like to bring more business to Wakefield as soon as possible.

In the east wing of the building, Vedior occupies 31,228 square feet on the second floor and Edgewater occupies 30,000 square feet on the first floor, but the third floor — 31,228 square feet — is unoccupied.

Rev. Rivers defends response to rape allegation against staffer

A defiant Rev. Eugene Rivers III today defended his handling of an alleged rape at the Ella J. Baker House and challenged city and state leaders to join him in re-evaluating the organization’s efforts to serve the city’s poorest children.

“When we heard that a young person may have been violated in any way, we were devastated and attempted to take every measure possible to address the issues raised by the allegations,” Rivers said of the alleged Jan. 5 rape of a 17-year-old girl by a Baker House staffer.

Rivers said he and senior administrators took quick action to help the girl, but he said he did not immediately contact police, opting instead to reach out to the girl’s family.

“Our first response was to the parent, and we reached out immediately to pray with the mother and begin the process of doing whatever needed to be done to make sure that this young person was dealt with in a fair and compassionate way,” Rivers said.

Prosecutors drop case in Ramsey slaying

BOULDER, Colo. --Prosecutors abruptly dropped their case Monday against John Mark Karr in the slaying of JonBenet Ramsey, saying DNA tests failed to put him at the crime scene despite his insistence he sexually assaulted and strangled the 6-year-old beauty queen.

Just a week and a half after Karr's arrest in Thailand was seen as a remarkable break in the sensational, decade-old case, prosecutors suggested in court papers that he was just a man with a twisted fascination with JonBenet who confessed to a crime he didn't commit.

"The people would not be able to establish that Mr. Karr committed this crime despite his repeated insistence that he did," District Attorney Mary Lacy said in court papers.

(Sources: Wakefield Item, Wakefield Observer, Boston Globe, Boston Herald)