ENFIELD VERNON WINDSOR LOCKS Page B5 CONNECT. MONDAY, JUNE 22, 1981 THE HARTFORD COURANT B1 Critics Bedevil Demonologist, Attorney in Slaying Case By JOHN B. HARRIS Courant Staff Writer BROOKFIELD It has been four months since the demons of Brookfield became international news, since psychic researchers Ed and Lorraine Warren told the world that the devil had possessed an average, small-town young man and forced him to stab his best friend to death. It has been almost that long since criminal lawyer Martin Minnella took over the case and announced that he would use an unprecedented "demon-possession" legal defense to try to clear 19-year-old Arne Johnson of murder charges. But even months later, the phone rings incessantly at the Warrens' house in Monroe and at Minnella law offices in Waterbury as reporters seek out the noted couple he a demonologist, she a self-described clairvoyant and the suddenly prominent attorney to ask them about demons, exorcists and the law.
The Warrens and Minnella have appeared separately on the "Good Morning America'' television show, participated in documentary films, given lectures and talked to scores of people about Johnson, who will be tried this fall on charges that he killed Alan Bono, 40, his next-door neighbor. The burst of publicity since the Feb. 16 stabbing has made celebrities of the Warrens and Minnella, but it has also exposed them to charges from their peers that they are exploiting a tragedy for their own gain. While both insist they are sincere, others wonder. Typical of the criticism of the Warrens are comments by mentalist George Kresge, better known as The Amazing Kreskin, who argues that the Brookfield case is simply a means for the couple to prey on the superstitions of the public and build up their annual lecture revenues.
"They have an excellent vaudeville act, a good road show. It's just that this case more involves clinical psychologists than it does them," Kreskin said. At Johnson's trial, Kreskin wants to testify against the existence of demons, telling the jury "why the climate is so ripe for people to make these kinds of claims." The criticism of Minnella is also direct. "Marty Minnella is handling this case for Marty Minnella," said one New Haven attorney. Lawyers around the state, he said, can't believe Minnella's defense is even being proposed, and question whether it is in his client's best interest.
"This case is not being treated seriously by the legal community," defense lawyer David Golub of Stamford said. Lawyers know that it's extremely unlikely that a Connecticut jury will accept a demon-possession defense." The Warrens and Minnella bristle at their peers' criticisms. "We've spent 12 years on the college lecture circuit," said Lorraine Warren. "You don't stay there that long if there's nothing to what you say. a you were just in it for the sensationalism and to get your name in the papers, you wouldn't last long." Minnella insists that I took this case because I believe in it," and charges that some of his critics refuse to try any defense that's new.
"They told Columbus that the world was flat, but that didn't stop him," he said. Despite the disclaimers, this is one murder case in which the victim and the accused aren't the headline performers. Bono, a kennel manager, was virtually unknown in Brookfield; Johnson, still being held in Bridgeport Correctional Center despite efforts to pay his $125,000 bond, has had nothing at all to say. See Critics, Page B3 Psychic researchers Lorraine and Ed Warren of Monroe Woman Wins Battle For Day Care, But Too Late To Help Son pifc COURANT PHOTO BY TONY BACEWICZ from Canaan Airport Sunday. Cannan Airfield Neighbors By NEAL E.
YATES Courant Staff Writer ASHLEY FALLS, Mass. For most people the rare sight of gliders soaring silently aloft Or a vintage biplane twisting its way across a summer sky brings visions of romance and of daring and, perhaps, a twinge of excitement. But for the people who live in this otherwise peaceful hamlet in the Berkshires, such sights above their rooftops conjur up visions of noisy weekends and dropping property values. And the only twinge felt here is one of fear. The village, officially part of Sheffield, abuts Connecticut, where its nearest neighbor is the Canaan-Airport in North Caanan.
Originally licensed only for occasional use by its owners, the private airfield has seen increased use over the last 15 years and has been given conditional approval to become a facility at the end of this year. The people in Ashley Falls remember the two air crashes that 'residents also charged that the limited-use restriction of the field was being violated. "People look at you funny when you complain about the noise the gliders bring," one Ashley Falls resident said. "People say gliders don't make any noise but they don't get up there with a rubber band." One woman reportedly logged a tow plane either landing or taking off from the airport every five minutes during a half-hour period one Sunday afternoon several years ago. It's not as bad as it used to be, some residents conceded, but they fear granting the field a commercial license will spur activity beyond all previous levels.
Ashley Falls people also fear for their own safety. Most of the time, prevailing' winds blow north to-south at the airfield, which means most planes taking off from Canaan Airport pass right over Ashley Falls. The possibility of more ta-keoffs, particularly by students pi-See Gliders, Page B2 By MONICA McKENNA Courant Staff Writer NEWINGTON In October 1977, Marcia Metzler saw the day-care center across the driveway from her Faith Drive apartment in the South-field complex as an important step toward making her family independent. With her children in school or in day care, the divorced mother of three could return to work and get off the welfare rolls. She never dreamed that getting her middle child, who has cerebral daisy, into the Southfield Children's Center would turn into a four-year struggle a struggle she has won now thatshan-non, 67ib too old to go there.
The federal Office for Civil Rights in Boston agreed with Metzler: In a recent order, it said the day-care center, the town of Newington and the state had discriminated against Shannon because of his handicap, and the center was given 90 days to find a solution to the problem. Except for the state Office of Protection and Advocacy, the state agencies she dealt with had urged her to institutionalize her son. "I won't give him up," she vowed, "but how much longer will it last?" She said Shannon may still be too young to understand fully what his mother's fight with the bureaucracy entailed or that she had to quit a job and go back on welfare because state agencies sided with the local center, but the fight was not without benefit. "Shannon has a view of me as an advocate. He knows I've testified before the (General) Assembly for regulations on handicapped parking, but to tell him how bitter people can be (in blocking his admission), I just couldn't do it," she said.
"They never saw him as a child," she said of the center workers who refused to admit him full time. "They saw only his wheelchair." The non-profit center said it could not accept Shannon because his handicap would require special equipment and staff the center could not afford. The town was involved in her complaint because it helps the center get federalfunds. "I don't like my back up against the wall," Thompson said, his lips barely moving. His fellow guests were dressed casually, some in bluejeans.
Strictly speaking, Thompson also does not practice T'new journalism." Gonzo journalism is the name he has Thompson arrived 90 minutes late, carrying a black motorcycle jacket and a brawn leather pouch. He wore dark-colored glasses, AUrStar sneakers and a Hawaiian shirt given to his brand of reporting a sort of drug-crazed, lurid ramble through a subject with annotations, corrections and cutting observations by Thompson. He drank margaritas, beer, a double shot of scotch and inexpensive white wine during the one-hour dinner, the food included cream of mushroom' A tow plane pulls a glider aloft Frown on took four lives in the late 1960s. Now, they say, they must endure the constant weekend drone of tow; planes dragging gliders aloft. Residents fear the commercialization of the small airfield will mean increased use, added noise and an greater chance of catastro- fihe.
A commercial license will alow airport owners to offer flying lessons, aircraft repair and aviation fuel to the public. The owners of the airport won't say what changes may come with a commercial license, but Calvin Kendall, a North Canaan photographer and the unpaid, part-time airport manager, said he doesn't expect any major expansion of operations. He said he doesn't believe the owners are prepared to spend the more than $100,000 needed to pave the grass runway. The facility couldn't be expanded very much even if the owners wanted to, he said. "I honestly don't see any radical changes coming," Kendall said, "except that they'll be a lot more rules.
Aerobatics will go and won't slippers with a gold crest on each toe, Buckley flashed his famous grin as he was introduced to dinner guests. He had reqeusted a black-tie dinner because he is more comfortable in a formal setting, a university official said. Dressed in a tuxedo, a white oxford button-down shirt and black velvet slippers with a gold crest on each toe, Buckley flashed his famous grin as he was introduced. University officials had their fin- fers crossed as they waited for hompson to show up for his 5 p.m. dinner Wednesday at the Avon Old Farms Inn.
They also wondered what condition he would be in. Thompson, a self-proclaimed self-indulgent consumer of drugs and alco UofH Journalism Offers Tale of Two Styles be allowed, I think, for about a five-mile radius." Stanley Segalla, one of the four airport owners, is a not-' ed aerobatic pilot, appearing in his World War I-era Tiger Moth biplane in air shows throughout the area. "The airport manager will have a lot more power," Kendall said, "but the only noticeable change at the field will be the gas pumps." Residents remain unconvinced, however, saying they find it difficult to believe the commercializa-, tion won't lead to increased use. Gary Dellert, whose parents own a 250-acre Ashley Falls farm abut-ing part of the airport, said the problem is "property values and noise, mostly." Tow planes for gliders, he said, are "in and out all the time on weekends." The Fairfield County Glider Club began using the field about eight years ago, and now has six gliders and two powered airplanes based-there. Their presence brought a series of complaints about noise from Ashley Falls residents and a smattering of the same from some North Canaan people.
The complaining Seminar hol, had phoned the university Monday from Hawaii. Tuesday afternoon, he called from Denver, but by Tuesday1 night, he had somehow made his way to Buffalo, N.Y. When he finally walked into the restaurant, an hour and a half late, he was carrying a black motorcycle jacket and a brown leather pouch. He wore dark-colored glasses, All-Star sneakers and a Hawaiian shirt. At the last minute, Thompson had invited eight of his friends, including his lawyer, Bill Dixon, and business manager, Mark Lipskv, to the dinner.
The university added names to the guest list as it grew from 10 to 18 people. Two waitresses dressed in black taffeta shirts and white blouses removed the 2-foot-high floral arrangement from the talie. University President Stephen Joel'Trachtenberg and his wife, Francine, took their seats next to the guest of honor. She told Buckley a story about her youngest son. Buckley smiled politely, but appeared to be slightly about his lecture.
He did not like the idea of being the first speaker in a course called "New Journalism." COURANT PHOTO BY MARA LAVTTT Marcia and Shannon Metzler outside their Newington home. In her complaint, Metzler argued that, with the addition of a ramp for his wheelchair, Shannon could participate fully in the center's programs and that, since the center was federally funded, it was subject to Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973. That law requires that handicapped people must be able to get to any federally funded programs. When the Southfield center refused to build the ramp, she appealed to the board of directors that governs both See Handicapped, Page B2 soup, chicken with wild rice and half-frozen peas and carrots and ice cream with chocolate sauce. "Please call me Bill," Buckley told a guest who had asked about his books.
"Ill be finished with my contract (to write books) in 198S. "Anyone mind if I light a cigar he asked. No one objected. "Gotta get this scum off my pants," Thompson announced as he left the ta-'ble to wipe off salad dressing he had spilled on bis beige chinos. Later in the evening, he chewed out some of his friends and faculty members for not telling him he had grease on his forehead: "Don't you people have manners? "That was lovely, said professor Roger Desmond Buckely smiled graciously.
He quietly excused himself and went to the drawing room. Few of the guests noticed his absence until they heard an obscure classical piece flawlessly played on the piano. "Dr. Thompson. Call me Dr.
Thomp- See Seminar, Page B2 Buckley, the editor of the conservative political magazine National Review and a syndicated columnist, considers himself a practitioner of old journalism. The upper echelon of the university, dressed in tuxedos, and floor-length evening gowns and jewels, smUed frequently as they sat around the 18-foot, linen-covered dining room table. The dinner was croustades of seafood, spinach soup pernod, blue fish marinated in fresh ginger and seal-lions with sauieed broccoli and steamed potatoes, fresh avocado and tomato salad and afrangelico tart A 1979 California Chardomiay was served. The meal was prepared by David Green and arranged by Marvin Paige. They are, respectively, the chef and owner of Claire's restaurant in Key West, Fla.
The university flew them to Hartford to cater the dinner. Thompson refused to take a seat with his back against the window in the tavern room of the inn, opting instead for one beneath a lithograph of a kneeling George Washington. By STEPHANIE SEVICK Courant Education Writer The invitation for dinner with William F. Buckley Jr. was on eggshell-colored parchment paper with gold lettering.
The invitation for dinner with Hunter S. Thompson was scrawled on a piece of brown wrapping paper stuffed into a Budweiser beer can. Both invitations came from the University of Hartford, which both writers visited last week as guest lecturers for the university's "New Trends in Journalism" summer course. Dining with these legendary American journalists dished up an insight into their personalities. inis is now ine iwo dinners pru- Buckley arrived promptly at 5 Monday night for co*cktails and an elegantformal dinner at the university's ASK House.
The house, donated by the Auerbachfamily, is a gracious old brick Georgian mansion on Prospect Avenue in Hartford. It is frequently used for receptions and to ac-. commodate overnight guests. Dressed in a tuxedo, a white oxford button-down shirt and black velvet.
