Oxford Hills
Developer says punch was unprovoked
BETHEL — The brother and business partner of a man involved in fisticuffs with the town's code enforcement officer at a local restaurant Thursday says the dispute is based on a long-standing issue of town officials favoring some road developers over others.
Ron Savage, the brother of Rick Savage, who was punched in the face by Code Enforcement Officer Robert Folsom at the Crossroads Diner & Deli on Route 2, said his brother did not provoke the attack. Ron Savage said Rick would not talk to the press on the advice of his lawyer.
Francis Dumont, another local developer and contractor, said he witnessed the altercation and was shocked to see Folsom punch Rick Savage.
"Bob's a good guy and (the Savage brothers) are my competition," Dumont said. "But in this case I've got to tell you what I saw and I think it could have all been avoided."
Dumont said people will think it was provoked by Rick Savage but that's not what he saw.
Dumont said he arrived at the restaurant after Folsom and Savage, and when he walked in the two men were talking in a conversational tone.
"It was not real heated, but I said to them, 'Hey guys, you shouldn't be talking business at the restaurant,'" Dumont recalled Friday.
He said Savage was sitting at the counter with his stool turned to face Folsom, who was sitting at a nearby table. The men appeared to be having a disagreement over a silt-fence, which is used to help prevent erosion on road-building projects. "At one point Rick turned around with his back toward Folsom and said, 'You're right, I'm wrong.'"
Dumont said he believed the disagreement would have ended right there but Folsom kept speaking to Savage and referenced a phone call Savage may have made to him. Folsom told Savage if he ever called and spoke to him that way again he would "shut down his jobs."
According to Dumont, Savage then turned toward Folsom and, uttering an obscenity, made two steps toward Folsom. Dumont said Savage did not appear to be threatening, but Folsom then stood up, walked toward Savage and punched him in the face.
"Bob is a really nice guy but it appeared he just lost it," Dumont said. "He's a great guy and a really good code enforcer, too, but there was no need for that — he should have got up and left."
Ron Savage said he and his brother had been "holding (the code officer's) feet to the fire" over why roads being built by their competitors were not held to the same standards as the roads their company builds. Ron Savage, who was not at the diner when the altercation occurred, said he thinks that's what set Folsom off.
"We've been fighting with words and he couldn't stand it any longer," Ron Savage said.
"We had been putting pressure on him to make them build their roads to standards," Ron Savage said. He alleged that one road builder, also a town selectmen, was often allowed to build substandard roads and that Folsom would sign off on the roads allowing house lots to be sold.
"It would be like having two baseball teams playing a game and one team gets two strikes while the other gets three," Ron Savage said.
He said it costs more to build roads to standards so their company has to charge more for house lots in their various subdivisions.
But Town Manager Jim Doar, who had his home built by the Savages in one of their subdivisions, said the brothers haven't been treated any differently than other developers in town. He said the road standards are enforced by a third-party engineer and not the code enforcement officer.
Doar also said the police report on the incident included statements from Folsom and Rick Savage with opposing stories and each man blaming the other for the altercation. As the incident remains under investigation, the report was not being made available, Doar said. It had been forwarded to the district attorney's office for review. No arrests were made by police on the day of the altercation.
Doar also corrected an error in a Sun Journal report Thursday, saying he did not speak to Rick Savage about the incident but garnered his information from the police report.
He did speak with Folsom Thursday, but only because Folsom was a town employee. Doar said Folsom's account of the incident involves Rick Savage charging the length of the lunch counter at Folsom. Doar also said Folsom was expected to return to work on Monday and whether he is disciplined for his actions depends on the outcome of the investigation.
Ron Savage said he and his brother asked that state police take over the investigation because the incident involves a town employee and they feel the town police may be biased.
Doar confirmed that the brothers made that request, but the police report was already in the hands of the district attorney, who would determine whether any charges would be brought.
Phone messages left for Folsom were not returned Friday.
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When you start naming names
When you start naming names you are going to get sued!!
this sounds like a case of naner naner
The savages got ran out of
The savages got ran out of this town many years ago, Then they got ran out of the folk's, an now ther back with ther nose stuck in everywaya. Dont get me wrong, rick is a good, hard worker,but has his moments, an for u ron soprano, Im the god father!
verified Hi SLD, You should also hold
Hi SLD,
You should also hold yourself to a higher standard being a member of the towns budget committee. I didn't say that you were in financial trouble, I said perhaps. Big difference. I know nothing about the construction of roads in the town of Bethel, I leave that up to those who know what they are supposed to be doing and inspecting. From what I read from the article, the Town Manager is the one that said all developer's are treated equally so I took my info from there. In the paper you had said a selectman who is a developer. Now you have personally named him in your comments. I am just suggesting that perhaps you might want to be careful with who you name, because no names were given in the paper and if you are accusing this person of unfair treatment by the town, there could end up a liable suit. I have known you also for quite awhile, and I have nothing personally against you, I think everyone needs to let whoever deal with all this deal with it. If you have issues with this other developer than you should take it up with the town instead of publicly in the paper. What will be will be.
CARJAR you should realize
CARJAR you should realize that Jack needs to hold himself to a higher standard since he is a selectman. It is widely known in the Bethel area that he cuts corners and gets away with it . It is easy to see this. All you have to do is drive down the street from your house and look at Eagle Ridge road that we built to town standards, then look at Hillside Lane just down the road that Jack "the selectman" built. It isn't even 12 ' wide . That road should be 18' wide with 2' shoulders. Is that fair? I don't think so! I understand Jack is your friend but you know the truth, you dealt with alot of this stuff as a banker and understand what this unfair treatment does to the bottom line of any business. You mentioned that my back is up against the wall financially. You are far from the truth. I currently have 11 houses waiting to be built. Take the time to review the building permits year to date at the town office and I think you will see even in tough times Savage Contracting is BOOMING.
hey candiceanne, read this
hey candiceanne,
read this and do your homework before you talk!
The Bethel Code Enforcement Officer shall enforce this article. The Code Enforcement Officer, upon finding that any provision of this article or any condition of approval issued under this article is being violated shall notify the municipal officers. The municipal officers, or their agent, are authorized to institute legal proceedings to prevent further violations of this article.
[Amended 6-11-2008]
ref: http://ecode360.com/?custId=BE2000
I have absoltely no idea
I have absoltely no idea what this is about Ozweego. My comments have been strictly limited to the information in the two articles in SJ. This does not seem to have anything to do with either article and I have no idea what it has to do with my comments. I would welcome an explaination.
verified Hey Ozweego. Retired banker
Hey Ozweego. Retired banker of 30 years and was very good at what I did.
You all should try to
You all should try to remember that the Savages are attached to other family members. Maybe you're mistaking the message that they are trying to convey. They are passionate about their work and the standards that they assumed Bethel had. It's sad to see that it has come to this point. Maybe you should stop pointing fingers and look at the facts.
We only have the facts that
We only have the facts that have been presented by SJ in the articles of the previous two days which also include witness statements, the statement of Mr. Savage's brother, Mr. Savage's criminal history and of course anyone could look up past articles. We have also had some comments from folks who claim first hand knowledge. I also found it most informative to learn how inspections of road projects are handled by an independent expert engineer and not the CEO.
Perhaps you can enlighten us with other information. We can only go by what we are given and what we have been given thus far seems to be very straight forward and unemotional just the facts.
If Mr. Folsom went after Mr.
If Mr. Folsom went after Mr. Savage from behind, how did he punch him in the face? From what I understand, both of the Savages know how to complain, threaten and other interesting things that should be obvious to their reputations. There are other options than Savages.
hahaha oh my god, I was
hahaha oh my god, I was reading this article and all your responses and I never post on news papers articles but I have to say people you have nothing better to do but get online and try to slam a situation that you know nothing about, carjar95 try to not to make false statements about other peoples financial situations when I am sure you live in a 10x10 shack as I read your profile it says you are a banker?????hahahahaha!
verified I have to say that the
I have to say that the objectivity of candiceanne was very good. If someone reading this article garnered the differences in the stories, then what will a lawyer do. I think that perhaps the Savage's are starting to feel the squeeze that everyone else has been feeling and have overextended themselves and the pressure is getting to them. This is also a long standing argument with the Savage's and the Town. They always cry wolf when they are backed into a corner. With all the developer's in the town of Bethel you don't hear any of the other ones doing this type of stuff. The town is also correct in not commenting or disciplining their CEO until all the facts are in. You have to stand behind your employees until proven otherwise and I hope the town does this.
Looks to me like Mr. Dumont
Looks to me like Mr. Dumont corroberated Mr. Folsom's account that Mr. Savage charged him and he was defending himself. Mr. Folsom was certainly aware of Mr, Savage's propensity for violence since he was code enforcement officer at the time of the case involving the previous town manager. I would imagine he was also well aware of the situation with Ms Blair. He probably new of incidents that were not reported as well and may have had previous altercations with Savage that Savage did not push quite so far. As proven in his criminal record, the fact he has a case hanging over him from December 15 that stipulates he can not be in any trouble for 1 year and it has not been a year would worry me in dealing with him. Mr. Dumont's statement is exactly opposite Mr. Savage's, that he, Savage, was leaving and Folsom jumped him from behind. In my opinion this article does not help the Savages' cause and Mr. Savage should have also taken his brother's attorney's advuce and not spoken to the press. I also found it interesting that an outside engineer does the road construction inspections. I am pleased that an expert in that feild is doing this, it would be a lot to ask the code enforcement officer to do this very techical work. It also kills the arguement Mr. Folsom was singling out on Savages road projects as they have been complaining so bitterly about since the inspection are not conducted by Mr, Folsom or even a Bethel employee but an out side expert engineer. I feel I learned a lot about what happened in this matter, what has really gone on with the Savages's operation and how the Town operates and I am comfortable and pleased with the Town's and town employee action and performance at this point. I learned a lot this morning. Thank you SJ.
I think the only way for it
I think the only way for it to be even is to have Bob punch Ron also!
Yeah, Northwoods, you drop
Yeah, Northwoods, you drop your bomb and let the other guy drop his to call it square. Hmmmm, isn't that the way wars are started?????
This is funny but I think I
This is funny but I think I have a solution let Rick punch Bob in the face and call in square. I dont see why charges need to be pressed they got into an argument and one got smacked.
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