HARTFORD — Since it was first put on display in December 2009, the modern bronze copy of “The Genius of Connecticut,” with its steely face, prominent wings and flowing robes, has been a major attraction on the daily tours of the State Capitol.
Northeast
Car tied to wealthy NY couple missing for 44 years pulled from murky pond
A wealthy New York couple vanished without a trace in Georgia 44 years ago, but it appears it took a pair of volunteer divers just seven minutes to discover what are likely their car and remains submerged in a murky pond near a hotel they had been staying in.
Retired oil executive Charles Romer, 73, and his wife Catherine, 75, disappeared with their 1978 Lincoln in the spring of 1980. The Scarsdale, New York, couple were returning home from Miami Beach, Florida, and checked into a Holiday Inn in Brunswick.
Hotel employees were concerned that their bed had not been slept in and reported them missing. Fears were raised that the couple, known to carry expensive jewelry, had been victims of foul play and robbed.
WOMAN IDENTIFIED IN GEORGIA COLD CASE OF HUMAN REMAINS FOUND IN SUITCASE 35 YEARS AGO
Charles and Catherine Romer are seen in the top right along with photos of their purported car and divers extracting pieces.
The hotel is situated next to a pond which, diver Mike Sullivan tells Fox News Digital, had been searched many times before, but terrible visibility had hitherto prevented searchers from making a breakthrough.
But the cold case suddenly heated up on Friday when Sullivan and his brother, John Martin, searched the pond in their tiny 6-foot-long boat and their specialized sonar equipment pinged a vehicle at the bottom of the pond.
Sullivan says he quickly dived to the bottom of the lake and pulled the nose from a 1978 Lincoln. He says human remains and a spate of jewelry were also found in the car.
“We got to the pond at about 10 a.m. in the morning and we found the car by 10:07 a.m., seven minutes later,” Sullivan says.
The pair, who operate Sunshine State Sonar, a Florida-based volunteer search and rescue organization, then called the police, who arrived on the scene.
The submerged Lincoln as the pond is drained. (Sunshine State Sonar)
The Glynn County Police Department and the Camden County Dive Team then tried to pull the Lincoln from the water and in doing so, spun the car around and ripped the axle off the car, video provided by Sullivan shows.
He says police then drained the pond to reveal the badly deteriorated car, which he says they eventually removed.
“The vehicle is similar to the description of a vehicle that Charles and Catherine Romer were believed to be driving when reported missing in April, 1980,” Glynn County Police Department said in a statement. “At this time there is no conclusion about the identity of the remains that were found.”
Police did not say what happened to the car or the people found inside.
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The back seat of the car they discovered had the initials “C.R.R” embroidered, left, and an axle with a wheel, right. (Sunshine State Sonar)
Sullivan is convinced the remains are those of the couple and believes that they may have inadvertently reversed into the pond while trying to park and drowned in a tragic accident.
Sullivan says that the couple’s Lincoln was custom-made and the back seat of the car they discovered had their initials “C.R.R” embroidered.
The Romer’s checked into the Holiday Inn along Interstate 95 and U.S. 341 just before 4 p.m. on April 8, 1980, and took their belongings to their room. At around 5 p.m., a Georgia Highway Patrol officer saw the couple’s car south of Brunswick near some restaurants and neither the Romer’s nor their car was seen again.
“It looks as if they were parking at the diner and he accidentally stepped on the gas pedal when he was parking and they backed into the lake,” Sullivan says. “He must have had the car in reverse, and he stepped on the gas because the headlights are facing the shore. He backed into the lake accidentally.”
Sullivan says police found diamonds worth tens of thousands of dollars wrapped in the carpet of the trunk.
“We also found a diamond ring, necklace, a gold purse, a gold diamond purse. We also found stuff with their initials on it and stuff,” he says.
The closeness of the pond to the hotel and the length of time it has taken to make a breakthrough in the case has raised questions as to why a discovery was not made earlier.
“The pond has been checked many, many times throughout the years because it was literally a hundred yards from their hotel room. The problem is the sonar technology was not available back in 1980,” Sullivan says.
“Divers would go in the pond and swim around and feel for the car but with zero visibility it is very difficult to find a car doing that. Sometimes you get lucky, it’s very difficult. But they tried, you know, they probably came within feet of the car but just didn’t find it.”
Sullivan says they were initially called to the scene about a tip about a Ford sedan which had reportedly gone into the water. He says no bodies were found near that vehicle.
He says that the work of Sunshine State Sonar is done for free.
“Nobody hires us. We work with law enforcement agencies on cold cases and we take these cases on for free, pro bono,” Sullivan says. “We specialize in underwater sonar and we are also a dive team.”
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Divers in the water at the scene. (Sunshine State Sonar)
“We have a database of all cases of people missing with their vehicles. These are specific types of missing persons cases where the victim’s vehicle has never been recovered. And so what we do is we go to the area of their last known whereabouts and we search all the water where these people were last known to be.”
“And the reason we were at that pond is because that is the pond in front of the hotel that they were staying at.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Connecticut
‘The Genius of Connecticut,’ an allegorical statue, may never ‘return’ to the top of State Capitol
Brian Pencz, facilities administrator for the state Office of Legislative Management, which runs the 14-acre State Capitol complex, in a file photo in 2024. A statue called ‘The Genius of Connecticut’ has no skeletal body inside, ‘so it’s not stable enough to go up on top of the Capitol,’ said Pencz.
While thousands have seen the 18-foot-tall sculpture up close and personal, the goal of Capitol historians and preservationists has been to put the replica atop the gold dome. The original ruled over the building’s Gothic architecture from 1878 until damage to its base was found after the Hurricane of 1938, when the statue was dismantled and removed piece-by-piece.
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Now, though, the discovery of a lack of interior framing inside the 5,500-pound daemon, the allegorical protector of Connecticut, is making the administrators who run the 14-acre State Capitol complex worry whether it would be safe to put the sculpture atop the 274-foot-tall gold dome after a $50 million rehabilitation of the building begins late this year.
“There’s no skeletal body inside, so it’s not stable enough to go up on top of the Capitol,” said Brian Pencz, facilities administrator for the Office of Legislative Management in Hartford. “That is what the X-rays that we had done show.”
‘The Genius of Connecticut’ statue in the central atrium on the State Capitol, in Hartford, Conn., on Sept. 28, 2023. A plan to move it to the top of the dome may not move forward because of structural concerns about the statute.
The half-million dollars budgeted to hoist “The Genius” atop the dome — with its crown of oak leaves representing the state tree, a wreath of dried flowers in her right hand and mountain laurel, the state flower, in the left — could increase dramatically if the 20 pieces have to be taken apart, an armature inserted and the pieces welded back together, he said.
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That’s the issue before the State Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commission. The advisory panel, along with the Office of Legislative Management, considers a remounted “Genius” the culmination of the $50 million cleaning and repair program at the Capitol that includes applying a 3/1000ths-inch of gold leaf on the dome and rehabilitating 522 windows.
That cost doesn’t include necessary repairs to the original base of the “Genius,” above the dome in the area called the “lantern” of the Capitol, itself a tribute to the nation’s role in the American Civil War.
Complicating the work on the “Genius” is that the Polich Tallix Foundry of Rock Tavern, N.Y. — where it was cast, based on the 2007 advanced laser imaging of the plaster copy of the original that resides in the Capitol’s north lobby — has been sold to another company.
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Pencz recently told the Capitol Preservation Commission that it will have to wait a year or more to see whether adding a new skeleton or armature is even possible.
“I reached out to that company and a competitor of theirs to have them come in and look at it so we can at least get the process started, and I have only heard back from one and they’re out until mid-summer next year,” he said.
‘The Genius of Connecticut,’ a copy of an identical statue that was atop the State Capitol between 1878 and 1938, is a regular stop for tours under the Capitol’s 257-foot-tall rotunda. Plans to move it to the dome are threatened by a structural assessment of the sculpture.
State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, co-chair of the legislative Appropriations Committee who leads the Preservation Commission, said she would like to know the cost of a skeletal component for the “Genius.”
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“I think it’s important for us to kind of get there. Personally, I’d like to see the ‘Genius’ get back where it belongs,” she said. “That’s where I’ve been along and I’d like to see that happen.”
Before the 1938 hurricane, the original statue had previously been hauled down in 1903, for about a year, when officials were concerned about damage from high winds, according to a 2021 article by Central Connecticut State University Professor Matthew Warshauer.
Warshauer, in a phone interview Monday, said he would also like to see the new version of the “Genius” atop the dome. But Warshauer also said he’d prefer that a statewide, grassroots citizen-fundraising effort pay for it, rather than state funds. He cited the importance of civic engagement, particularly in this semiquincentennial year of celebrating — and discussing — the 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
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“I wholeheartedly support raising the ‘Genius’ to the center of the Capitol and its towering heights,” Warshauer said. “But what will such an action mean if it’s done only by the General Assembly and not the public? Today we have to decide what our symbols are and what they can mean. It’s up to the people to decide, with the help of civic leaders and historians. It’s more meaningful if done with intention by the people and different groups of people.”
A woman died Monday after a fire on East Main Street in Fort Kent.
Woman Died after Fire in Fort Kent
Fort Kent Fire and Rescue said “Upon arrival, Chief Pelletier was unable to confirm that all tenants of the apartment building were accounted for.”
Fire at the Front of the Building and Second Floor
Firefighters battled the blaze at the front of the building and another crew attacked the second floor.
First Floor Fire Put Out
The fire on the first floor was quickly extinguished.
Crews Learned Someone was Still in the Building
Crews got information that there was someone inside the building.
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Woman was Located in the Building and First Responders Tried Resuscitation
“Shortly thereafter, firefighters located a civilian victim and rescued her, unfortunately resuscitation efforts by ASI and Fort Kent firefighters were unsuccessful,” said Chief Pelletier with Fort Kent Fire and Rescue.
Maine Fire Marshal’s Office Investigating the Cause of the Fire
The Maine Fire Marshal’s Office responded to the scene and is investigating the cause of the fire.
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Name and Age Not Released Pending Family Notification
The woman’s name and age were not released pending notification of the family.
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Multiple Agencies Responded and Assisted with the Fire
Assisting Fort Kent Fire and Rescue were the Eagle Lake Fire Department, ASI, Fort Kent Public Works and the Red Cross.
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From casserole-night favorites to full-on beige-on-beige comfort, these American dinners fell out of fashion — but could they be on their way back?
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
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Massachusetts
More than half of Massachusetts voters say they’ve weighed leaving the state, new Suffolk/Globe poll finds. Here’s why. – The Boston Globe
Roughly one in four of the 500 voters polled said they’ve “seriously considered” a move and another 28 percent said they’ve weighed it from time to time. That’s despite the vast majority — at least 70 percent — also saying they had enough money to live comfortably right now or weren’t concerned about losing their jobs.
The seemingly contradictory results could be explained by what David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, referred to as the United States’ “K-shaped economy,” in which different economic classes experience different financial outcomes. In Massachusetts, the gap is widening between the state’s richest and its lowest-paid workers.
Voters in lower income brackets were more likely to say they had seriously considered moving, and they were far more likely to be very concerned about losing their jobs.
“The people who are making low incomes are really being punished by inflation and the high cost of food and groceries,” he said.
Those financial concerns were especially pronounced among respondents in the 35-49 age category, whom Paleologos said are “really being pulled in a lot of different directions” by juggling careers, children, and aging parents.
About 40 percent of those who weighed leaving cited the cost of living as their primary issue, while another 18 percent pointed to Massachusetts’s taxes. Some business groups are simultaneously pushing a ballot question this fall that would slash the state’s income tax — and, lawmakers warn, could prompt deep cuts in the state budget if passed.
That proposal is nonetheless proving popular: Nearly 66 percent of poll respondents said they would support the measure, compared to 21 percent who said they would oppose it.
The Suffolk/Globe poll was conducted over five days last week, and its margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Live callers reached respondents via mobile and landline phones, and the Globe spoke with several of those respondents after the poll was conducted.
John Borders, a 49-year-old insurance analyst from Stow, praised Massachusetts’ governance in several areas, including “services for individuals,” public safety, and “pretty good job opportunities.” But Massachusetts’ high cost of living is one area he doesn’t feel the state’s elected officials have handled “much at all.”
As a parent of two high-school-aged kids, however, Borders said he’s been reluctant to leave Massachusetts and its highly regarded public education system for cheaper states to the south.
“As the kids get a little older, the taxes in Massachusetts are a little bit high . . . and it’d be nice to maybe look into an area that didn’t quite have the same kind of taxes,” said Borders, an unenrolled voter.
Many Massachusetts voters, similar to Borders, held a much more optimistic view of their state as compared with the country at large: More than half of respondents, or about 51 percent, said they believed Massachusetts was headed in the right direction. Meanwhile, less than 20 percent said they believed that to be true for the United States as a whole.
But they also had a somewhat dimmer view of the state’s financial footing. Just 5 percent said they considered Massachusetts’s economy to be excellent — 71 percent said it was either “good” or “fair” — and 60 percent said they were very or somewhat concerned about their personal financial situation, indicating an uncertainty about the future.
Some voters said their feelings about politics in other states were part of what kept them from leaving Massachusetts.
Virginia Bilz, a 70-year-old Monson resident, said downsizing from her Massachusetts home feels “almost impossible,” financially speaking. She visits Florida in the summer and has thought about moving south, but ultimately weighed against it.
“I like a lot of other people in Massachusetts, and when they ask me what the biggest stress in my life is right now, I have to say it’s the federal government,” said Bilz, a registered Democrat. “The housing is a lot cheaper in Florida, and the income tax would be less, but it’s not worth it to be in that political climate.”
About 16 percent of those surveyed said their highest source of stress was inflation, the cost of living, or the economy. Another 14 percent said finances or money were most concerning.
A plurality of voters — 33 percent — pointed to the cost of food and groceries as the biggest strain on their personal finances.
What’s causing you the most stress right now?
Melissa Tarjick, a part-time educator in Cheshire, said as a parent of 11, including foster and adopted children, it has become “increasingly challenging” to raise children here.
Tarjick, a 50-year-old unenrolled voter, laid blame on the Trump administration for driving up grocery and fuel costs. But she’s “always a bit nervous” that areas where Massachusetts has been “pretty responsive,” such as child care and health care, could face cuts.
“We also receive some subsidized health care, so I am quite concerned about what changes will mean for us,” she said.
State lawmakers have tried to address financial pains that voters have for years urged their elected leaders to tackle. In 2023, for example, the Massachusetts Legislature passed, and Governor Maura Healey signed, a law promising $1 billion in tax relief by increasing tax credits for parents and seniors, cutting the state’s capital gains tax, and other measures.
But only a fraction of those surveyed in the Suffolk/Globe poll — under 10 percent — said they felt the law had helped them. More than half, or 52 percent, said they couldn’t tell if it had made a difference.
“What are the taxpayers getting? More and more taxes — it’s not even worth being here anymore,” said Albert Thomas, a 59-year-old Ashland resident who has weighed leaving the state. Thomas, an unenrolled voter, said he also has not seen the benefit of state officials’ moves to temporarily slice utility rates. “We’re sold a bill of goods saying, ‘Oh, your electricity price is going to go down with all this stuff.’ Well, it ain’t going down, it’s going up faster.”
To William Haskell, a 30-year-old insurance broker, politicians “sign bills that grab headlines but don’t do anything, and it all seems like a giant waste of money.”
“I’m making enough money to where I’m kind of getting screwed across the board by taxes, and it’s squeezing me thin,” said Haskell, a Democrat who moved to Boston nearly a decade ago. He said there are other low-tax states where he would have “$1,000 to $2,000 more in my pocket each month.”
Still, Haskell said, he’s torn.
“It’s a nice place to live in at the same time,” he said, “so it’s definitely an internal mental battle.”
Anjali Huynh can be reached at anjali.huynh@globe.com.
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