BETHEL — Assistant District Attorney Joe O'Conner said there was not enough evidence to bring charges against either the town's code enforcement officer or a local road builder and housing developer after a dispute between the two at a local restaurant recently ended in a fistfight.
Bethel Code Enforcement Officer Bob Folsom told the town manager he punched developer Rick Savage but no witnesses beyond the men involved filed official statements with police about what happened.
Accounts of the incident differ, but it did involve at least one punch being thrown, with Folsom hitting Savage in the mouth.
The men's accounts of what led up to the punch also differ dramatically, O'Connor said.
The affair, which arose from an argument over road standards, began at the Crossroads Diner & Deli lunch counter, spilled out onto its deck, and ended up on O'Connor's desk.
"Essentially," O'Connor said, "with a criminal charge you have to be able to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, and when you've got two very conflicting stories the evidence just isn't there. We don't decide whether anybody's guilty or not, but we have to see that there's enough evidence that a jury could find somebody guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."
Town Manager Jim Doar also said he did not anticipate any disciplinary action being taken against Folsom.
Thursday's encounter was not the first between Savage and Bethel officials.
In 2007 he was charged with criminal threatening following a heated argument with then Town Manager Scott Cole in the Bethel Town Office.
The case was filed and Savage was ordered to have no contact with Cole, outside of public meetings, for a year.
In a letter to the editor printed in the Bethel Citizen newspaper on Wednesday and signed by Rick Savage and his brother Ron Savage, who own a land-development company, the men stated they were satisfied with the town manager's decision and considered the incident behind them.
". . . we have decided that spending time addressing these issues is taking us away from the focus of our company, which is to build quality homes and subdivisions," the Savage brothers wrote in the letter.
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It is getting to the point
It is getting to the point where some positions of public service like code enforcement require a body guard. This guy is just doing his job and in this case it was with the outside engineer they had the beef but took it out on a town emplouyee while he is off dury eating his breakfast in a public restaurant. Savage has a lengthy history of this type of behavior just ask the folks in Newry if the court record wasn't enough. He ought to be running out of free passes. In the meantime every municipal employee or elected official better watch their back and be sure never to be alone with this guy.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.How would it be if this was
How would it be if this was a domestic dispute? Last I knew if one was places blame on the other-even with no witnesses and marks-they would cart both parties off to jail???
"Small minds discuss people, Average minds discuss events, Great minds discuss ideas"~E. Roosevelt
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.With domestic disputes the
With domestic disputes the odds of circumstances repeating without intervention are very high, probably not the case here
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.I would never even consider
I would never even consider going to Quality Homes after this. This is so far from professional behavior...I'd be too embarrassed to have their sign on my front lawn! I'd be too afraid of being threatened or assaulted!!
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you think they ever threatened or assaulted someone for not paying a bill ?
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Quality homes and Rick and
Quality homes and Rick and Ron Savage, that is like oil and water.
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They build nothing but trash. And Rick would be nowhere without Ron.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Oh yeah....when I want a
Oh yeah....when I want a quality home, the developer I'm going to call is the one who's been charged with criminal threatening of a town manager and gets into a fistfight with the local code officer. That's definitely the kind of professional behavior I'm looking for in the guys responsible for building my house. Ha! Good one!
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