2 The Patriot, March 21, 2012 Letter from the Editor


Barbara VanReed John Zagrocki of Webster used his Capital One


business credit card to make a $24 purchase at a local merchant on March 3. He generally uses his Discover credit card for personal purchases, but this particular store didn’t accept that card. So, he used his business card instead. He used that same card again for a purchase on March 7. Capital One’s fraud alert department called him


on March 8 to notify him of possible problems and to verify his recent transactions. The first thing Mr. Zagrocki did was tell the caller that he would call Capital One back, so that he could be confident that indeed this was a legitimate call. He learned that someone had tried to use his cred-


it card number to make a $2,300 online purchase at Wal-Mart on March 5. The company told him that someone had made three attempts to use his credit card on that day, and had even called Capital One to get help in processing the payment, as apparently the user was missing some information. At the third attempt, Capital One shut down that transaction. You’ve maybe had a call like that. I have. I’m travel-


ing and my credit card company refuses to authorize a payment. They are being diligent in preventing un- authorized use of a card. They see unusual behavior and flag it. That’s all good, though maddening when you don’t have a back-up credit card with you. Mr. Zagrocki does not use this particular card of-


ten so it was easy to review the transactions; there were only the two he made legitimately and the one fraudulent attempt. He still had the card in his possession. It had not


been stolen. So what happened? Who took the infor- mation from his card and tried to use it? He’s been racking his brain and can come up with only one con- clusion, that the clerk in the store he made his pur-


Email editor@


patriotnewspaper.com A case of local identity theft


chase somehow lifted the information. He says that one way a clerk may get your card


number is during a transaction. After swiping your card, the clerk may ask to see it. He then lays it num- ber side down on a special surface that will make an impression of the numbers. Meanwhile, the clerk can read the three or four letter code on the back of the card. Some store receipts also have your name on it, so that’s all the information the thief may need to know to use the card. Mr. Zagrocki speculated on the possibility that a


store clerk may be being paid by a professional iden- tity fraud perpetrator to obtain the customer names and numbers. He plans to talk to the owner of the store where this may have happened to alert him to that possibility. There are other ways that someone can steal your


credit card information when you have it in your pos- session, such as with a special storage device when your card is being processed during a transaction, or with a special camera. Capital One canceled Mr. Zagrocki’s credit card and


sent him another one. What they cannot do, howev- er, is find out who did it. It’s not their job, they told him. Their function is to protect their customers from fraudulent transactions, not pursue cases of identity theft. Mr. Zagrocki’s reason for telling us about what hap- pened to him is to warn residents of Webster, Dud- ley and Oxford to be careful when making credit card purchases. “We read about credit card fraud and al- ways think it won’t happen to us, but it can.” And in his case, it did. The Federal Trade Commission says that as many


as 9 million Americans have their identity stolen ev- ery year. The FTC website (www.ftc.gov) has lots of good information about how identity theft occurs and when and how to report it.


The Law And You By Attorney Henry Lane, of Lane and Hamer P.C., 100 Main St., Whitinsville, MA.


TURNPIKES and a history of the Central Turnpike Recent news reports concerning the bankruptcy of


Direct Air and the cancellation of service from the Worcester Airport is a current reminder of the dif- ficulties facing transportation companies. Although airlines, including Direct Air and American Airlines as well as a number of other so-called legacy carri- ers, have recently gone through bankruptcy or other restructuring proceedings, they are only the latest in a long history of transpor- tation company failures. Starting after World War II and continu-


ing into the 1950’s and 1960’s, it was the railroads that failed, including the Boston and Maine Railroad, the New York-New Haven and Hartford Railroad, the New York Central and other northeastern New England railroads, several of which served the Webster and Dudley area. Prior to the railroads, it was the street rail-


way companies, many of which failed in the 1920’s and 1930’s with the advent of the automobile; and, before the street railway companies were the canal companies, which lasted for a very short time be- fore being upstaged by the railroads. But the first of the major transportation company failures were the turnpike road corporations. Prior to the American Revolution, the local econo-


my consisted almost entirely of rural agriculture cen- tered around small villages with very little commerce occurring between villages or regions. Since rural communities were largely self-sufficient, there was very little need for transportation between villages and towns and the roads and paths linking towns were very rudimentary. Beginning with the advent of industrialization in the very late 18th and early 19th century, the ability to transport raw materials and finished goods became much more important. However, small rural communities and existing governmental structures were not prepared to meet the need for regional transportation systems, so the New England states adopted a model borrowed from England and created public service companies to con- struct roads linking communities and regions. The model was essentially the first iteration of what has developed into the modern corporation with private shareholders raising capital from private investors to build toll roads throughout the region. The corporations were typically individually char- tered by the state legislature and authorized to con- struct a toll road from a specified city or town to an- other city or town. The turnpike corporations were also given the power of eminent domain, which al- lowed them to take private property for the purpose of building their roads. The delegation of powers of eminent domain became common in later years to fa- cilitate the construction of railroads, reservoirs, pipe lines, and public utilities, although it has become


very controversial in more recent years when it has been used to take private property to facilitate urban renewal and commercial development. Toll gates on early toll roads were similar to a turn- stile with pointed ends on the rotating bars which became known as turnpikes. The resulting road was originally known as a turnpike road, which name was shortened to “’turnpike “in common usage. Dozens of turnpikes were built in the early years of the 19th century including the Central Turnpike which linked Webster and Dudley to Bos- ton on the east and Hartford on the west. The Central Turnpike Corporation was chartered by the Massachusetts Legisla- ture in 1824, and the Central Turnpike was constructed in subsequent years be- ginning service in about 1830. Like most of the turnpikes constructed


in that era, the Central Turnpike may have been an important transportation resource to the budding industrial enterprises in Webster and Dudley, but it was an economic failure. By 1836, the Central Turn- pike Corporation had abandoned its eastern end, but continued to collect tolls in Webster until 1839. After the Corporation disbanded, the road was made avail- able to the local municipalities that wished to main- tain the portion of the road within their limits. The Central Turnpike was largely accepted by the municipalities through which it passed. The route of the turnpike is still largely intact and is still called Central Turnpike in the Town of Sutton. In the west- erly part of Sutton the route turns southwesterly and travels along what is now known as Joe Jenny Road in Oxford, passing through a small corner of Douglas and into the Town of Webster where it is currently known as Sutton Avenue. From Sutton Avenue it continued past the Cranston Print Works along East Main Street through the Village of Webster, crossed the French River and into Dudley along West Main Street and eventually to the state line. A Connecti- cut charter authorized the construction of a toll road from the state line to Tolland, where it connected to an existing route to Hartford . In the 180 years that have passed since the Central Turnpike was laid out and constructed, its function as the major regional transportation link has been largely superseded. Railroads initially provided more efficient transportation and by the mid-20th century significant state and interstate highway systems had been constructed to provide even more efficient sur- face transportation to the Webster/Dudley area. But the historic route laid out by a private corporation, using the power of eminent domain, continues to be the central east/west arterial roadway for the com- munity.


From This Corner


Ginger is still a little under the weather and needs another week to recuperate. We send along our best wishes for a speedy recovery and look forward to reading your column.


by Ginger Costen On the campaign trail


Webster town commitee members elected


Webster voters elected the following people to the Demo-


cratic Town Committee on March 6. There were no Repub- lican Town Commitee members elected. DONALD BOURQUE, MATTHEW FITTON, SHAWN COLLINS, TODD ZUIDEMA, MARK DOWGIEWICZ, NANCIE ZECCO, FRANCIS CARBONNEAU, ANN OCONNELL, DEBORAH KEEFE, LISA FITTON.


Driver rescued from burning vehicle


DUDLEY - On Friday, March 16, at approximately 3:10


am, Dudley Police as well as Dudley Fire and Emergency Services personnel were dispatched to a single car motor vehicle accident on Dresser Hill Road (Route 31). The acci- dent occurred approximately ½ mile south of the Charlton town line. Upon arrival, officers discovered a 2001 Ford Taurus off the northbound side of the road. The vehicle appeared to have been traveling in a southerly direction and left the roadway at a curve. It struck a tree and later caught on fire. A passerby assisted the driver out of the ve- hicle. The male operator, Mr. Terry J. Penkala, 28 years of age, of 34 Chase Ave., Dudley, suffered serious injuries. He was treated by the responding officers and Dudley Emergency Services personnel. He was later transported to UMass Hospital in Worcester. Life Flight helicopter ser- vices were requested, however, they were unable to fly due to weather conditions. He is currently receiving treatment at UMass Medical Center in Worcester and he is in stable condition at this time. The cause of the accident is under investigation at this


point by Dudley Sergeant Paul Ceppetelli and Officer Ar- thur Ferreira, as well as members of the Massachusetts State Police and District Attorney Joseph Early’s Office.


House Post Audit / Oversight Comm. Reports on Indigent Criminal Defense Program BOSTON – State Representative Kevin J. Kuros joined


his colleagues of the House Post Audit and Oversight Com- mittee, under the Chairmanship of David P. Linsky (D- Natick) to release a report today entitled; Fair and Cost-Ef- fective – Ensuring an Adequate Defense While Protecting the Taxpayers; A Review of the Indigent Criminal Defense Program. The report reviews the Indigent Criminal De- fense Program in the Commonwealth as well as the Com- mittee’s recommendations to address the large amount of appropriated funding being allocated to Committee for Public Counsel Services every fiscal year. “The Commonwealth appropriates around $200 million


in funding to CPCS every year to provide counsel to those who are deemed indigent,” stated Chairman Linsky. “It is important to ensure residents of the Commonwealth that this appropriation is being used in the most cost-effective way so that the Commonwealth’s budget can continue to fund the many programs that so many of our citizens de- pend on.” The Bureau’s findings included a lack of any extensive


use of the decriminalization motion (MGL c277 s 70c), sub- jectivity in indigency verification, lack of statutorily pre- scribed verification tools, and disparate financial reporting on indigency fees, including instances of negative revenue recorded. The Committee’s recommendations are to extend a pi-


lot system that the Probation Department has begun in four courts into all courts in the Commonwealth and adopt statutory changes regarding the indigency verification process as proposed by the Probation Department, amend the law to eliminate court-appointed attorneys for misde- meanors cases where no incarceration will ever be sought by prosecution or imposed by a court, and implement the Civil Infraction Commission’s recommendations once they have issued their report. Included as recommendations by the Committee, Linsky presented statutory changes relative to the Probation De- partment’s governance as well as Massachusetts General Law Chapter 211D Section 2B to reverse the presumption on forty-one misdemeanors charges. Linsky stated that he is filing legislation relative to both matters. “The measures that we are proposing make a world of


sense,” said Representative Kevin Kuros (R-Uxbridge). “ If we can save the taxpayers millions of dollars while still meeting our Constitutional obligation to provide legal counsel for the indigent, we need to see this implemented sooner, rather than later.” The report is available on the Massachusetts Legisla-


ture’s website at http://www.malegislature.gov/Content/ Documents/Committees/H46/FinalHPAOBureauIndigen- tReport-2012-03-14.pdf or directly through Rep. Kuros’ of- fice at 617-722-2460.


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