4A THE SUNDAY REPUBLICAN L W SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2011

LOUGHNER: ‘Peace out’ N-WORD: Wrangling over controversial play

Continued from Page One
in many ways reflect his scat-
tered mind.
It would all play out within a
few miles from the modest, sin-
gle-story home where he grew up
and lived all his life — save for a
brief attempt he made at living in
an apartment by himself.
The chaotic night, according
to the official law enforcement
chronology, began at 11:35 p.m.
when he dropped off a roll of 35
mm film at a Walgreens.
In the next hour he stopped at
a Circle K gas station/conven-
ience store and checked into a
Motel 6, a $37.99-a-night spot
popular with truckers near a
Long John Silver’s and other
fast-food restaurants.
If he slept at all that night, it
wasn’t for long.
At 1:45 a.m., he was back out-
side his parents’ home, where he
ran into Martinez and her friends.
At about 2 a.m., Loughner
called an old friend, Bryce Tier-
ney. They had been confidants
in high school but hadn’t talked
for months — another in a se-
ries of friends with whom
Loughner severed ties amid his
increasingly bizarre behavior.
Loughner used to bang the
drums in Tierney’s garage
while his friend jammed on the
guitar. They used to talk philos-
ophy and get high, as police
found out when they pulled the
two over in September 2007 and
Tierney admitted they smoked
a joint in a van on the way back
from a convenience store.
Early Saturday, Tierney was
up watching a real-life ghost
chasers show on TV. When his
cell phone rang, the incoming
number was listed as blocked,
so he didn’t answer.
Tierney picked up the mes-
sage immediately. It had a
melancholy tinge: “Hey Bryce,
it’s Jared. We had some good
times together. Peace out.”
After the call, Loughner head-
ed back to the Walgreens, where
— at 2:19 a.m. — he picked up
the developed photos. And 15
minutes later, he stopped to
make more purchases at yet an-
other convenience store.
At 4:12 a.m. Loughner was at a
computer keyboard in an un-
known location, typing a farewell
bulletin on his MySpace page —
“Goodbye friends.” Authorities
said the photo included in that
posting was from the shots devel-
oped at Walgreens hours earlier.
After one additional stop, at
another Circle K, Loughner be-
gan his quest for ammo. His first
stop, a Walmart between his
house and the scene of the shoot-
ing, doesn’t sell bullets before 7
a.m. It was only 6:12 a.m. He re-
turned at 7:04 a.m., but left the
store without making a purchase.
He then drove 5 miles west to
a Walmart superstore, where he
purchased 9 mm ammunition
and a black, backpack style dia-
per bag. It was now 7:27 a.m.
Just three minutes later, he
was pulled over for running a
red light in his 1969 dark gray
Chevy Nova.
Loughner was cooperative,
and the officer from the Arizona
Game and Fish Department
took his driver’s license and ve-
hicle registration information.
Loughner had no outstanding
warrants and was let go with a
warning. And without a search.
The only thing the officer saw
in the car was fast-food wrappers.
Around 8 a.m., Loughner had
returned home. And there was
his father, Randy, who had
questions for his son.
The confrontation happened
in the driveway.
The son pulled a black bag
from the trunk of the Nova;
Randy Loughner demanded to
know what was going on.
“The father went out and said,
‘What’s that?’ and he mumbled
something and took off,” Sheriff
Clarence Dupnik said.
Loughner was desperate to
escape. He hustled toward the
corner where he used to catch
the school bus with his neighbor
Martinez, then hung a right and
a quick left before entering a
sandy wash that runs behind the
houses on the other side of his
street, North Soledad Avenue.
Winding his way through the
desert scrub and cactus, Lough-
ner arrived at a dry tributary
300 feet later that dead-ends
into a bigger wash. His father
jumped into his truck to catch
up with his son, but he had dis-
appeared from view. Jared
Loughner was alone again.
The only clue about the desert
pursuit that has turned up is the
black bag recovered Thursday
at the intersection of the two
washes. Inside, they found the
same caliber of ammunition
Loughner bought at Walmart.
Eventually, Loughner re-
turned to the Circle K he’d visit-
ed three hours earlier.
He was carrying two extend-
ed pistol clips that hold up to 31
bullets, along with two 15-round
magazines, a four-inch buck
knife, a Visa card, his driver’s li-
cense and cash in a plastic bag.
Authorities said a cab picked
him up at 9:41 a.m.
His destination was a Safeway
store — and a violent confronta-
tion with Gabrielle Giffords.
Continued from Page One
part of his award-winning 10-
play cycle covering the black
condition during different
decades of the 20th century.
Snead, interviewed Tues-
day, doesn’t argue the merits
of the play, which he says
might be fine in other venues.
But he says there’s no room for
any activity that requires a
student to use the N-word.
Ever.
“It’s one thing for that play
to be performed on Broadway.
It’s another for students to be
using that word on a public
school stage,” Snead said.
Most of the student cast is
black. They hear the word all
the time, in the hallways and
elsewhere, used by students as
a term of endearment. They
argue they’re not offended by
the term and say the debate
over it has overshadowed the
play’s theme of finding one’s
own voice.
“They’re making too much
of a little word that doesn’t
mean anything to anybody,”
said 16-year-old Shakye Gask-
ins. “They say we need to bury
the word, but we use it every
day. If they cover up our histo-
ry and what we are supposed
to know, it’s like they’re steal-
ing our education.”
Shakye said he has heard
the term used as an insult and
has brushed it off. It just
demonstrated the user’s igno-
rance, he said.
The Rev. F. Lydell Brown
III, pastor of Burning Bush
Family Life Center, wasn’t al-
ways able to show as much re-
straint. Brown, 48, remembers
childhood fights after being in-
sulted with the term.
“At the time, if someone
called you that, those were
fighting words,” Brown said.
“Today, some folk use it as a
term of endearment.”
Brown said he has fielded
dozens of calls from concerned
residents this week. Most peo-
ple have been strictly opposed
to use of the term in a school
play. Brown hasn’t made up his
mind. He would object if the
word were used just to draw at-
tention. But if the play is edu-
cational, he might support it.
Brown said the city’s
African-American clergy will
discuss the issue prior to Mar-
tin Luther King Day celebra-
tions Monday at Rehoboth
Church of God in Christ Jesus.
Rehoboth pastor Bishop
Raymond Berger, 69, has al-
ready made up his mind.
ABOUT THE PLAY’S AUTHOR
Born Frederick August Kittle Jr. in Pittsburgh on April 27, 1945, August Wilson was the son of a
German immigrant baker and an African-American cleaning woman. Largely self-educated, he
earned numerous honors, including seven New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for best play and
two Pulitzer Prizes.
Wilson is best known for a cycle of 10 plays, including “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” chronicling the
African-American experience throughout the 20th century.
The Virginia Theater on Broadway was renamed in Wilson’s honor shortly after his death in 2005.
Source: African American Literature Book Club, aalbc.com.
IF YOU GO
The Board of Education is scheduled to determine whether to allow Waterbury Arts Magnet School’s
production of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” to continue during its meeting at WAMS on Tuesday
after hearing from members of the public. Public speaking comes shortly after the open of the 6:30
p.m. meeting, but board debate on the play is slated to take place after several other topics on the
agenda.
POINT/COUNTERPOINT
“IT’S ONE THING FOR THAT PLAY TO BE PERFORMED ON BROADWAY. IT’S ANOTHER
FOR STUDENTS TO BE USING THAT WORD ON A PUBLIC SCHOOL STAGE.”
DAVID SNEAD
WATERBURY SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT
“WE ARE LOOKING AT IT LIKE A CELEBRATION OF HOW MUCH WE’VE GROWN.”
ADIEONNA FISHER, 17
WAMS STUDENT AND CAST MEMBER OF THE PLAY “JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE”
Berger grew up in a deeply dearment during the Harlem palled by efforts to use racial
segregated town in central Vir- Renaissance of the 1920s, and fears to distract people from
ginia. There were separate a term of respect and tough- real problems in the schools.
drinking fountains and bath- ness by many black militants “We need to teach our young
rooms for blacks. They had to in the 1960s, Ogbar said. people the truth about our his-
sit in the balcony at the movies Growing up in Los Angeles, tory,” Griffin wrote, “not
and in the rear of public buses. Ogbar said he used it with sweep it under rug for it to be-
If those buses were crowded, friends. come nastier and hidden, so
they had to give up their seats One change, perhaps accel- that they never have to chal-
to whites. He still carries the erated by hip-hop culture, is lenge it through academics,
childhood pain of former white that young black people are culture and the arts.”
friends calling him the N-word. more likely to use the term Opinion on the school board
“I grew up in the South and openly, in front of people of is divided. Karen Harvey, the
saw a whole lot of wrong that other races, while many racist only African American on the
was done to our people,” Berg- whites are no longer comfort- 10-member board, stands with
er said. “This is why I stand able using it in public, Ogbar Snead. Board President
along with people who are op- noted. Patrick Hayes Jr. believes the
posing (the play).” Still, everyone understands play can be a teaching tool and
Berger said he cringes when the N-word still carries a pow- doesn’t want to meddle with it.
he listens to young people use erful negative connotation, Og- Commissioner Paul D’Angelo
the N-word. bar said. said he’ll take his cue from the
“If they had grown up in that “People say it is no longer African-American community.
time period, they would find it offensive,” Ogbar said. “If a Commissioner Ann M.
offensive,” Berger said. “Noth- white police officer pulls you Sweeney said she would can-
ing is offensive to them nowa- over and says ‘(N-word) get cel the play to prevent danger
days. We weren’t called out of the car!’ there is no en- to the students. Harvey, on
colored people that much. We dearment in that.” Monday, insinuated there
weren’t called black people, And while the debate in Wa- would be protests.
but we were called the N-word terbury has been framed in Adieonna Fisher, 17, one of
and it still hurts.” generational terms, it isn’t the play’s cast, said she has
Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar, a Uni- simply a case of young versus never been insulted with the
versity of Connecticut history older. term, but recently heard it used
professor specializing in Monroe Webster, immedi- by a white man against a black
African-American culture, ate past president of the man in at the Brass Mill Center
says Waterbury is experienc- NAACP’s waterbury branch, mall. And it was hurtful.
ing another chapter in a very has spoken in support of the Still, Fisher is proud to be in
old debate. play. So has community ac- a play by a black playwright.
“You can go all the way back tivist Jimmie Griffin, who has “We are looking at it like a
to the 1830s and find African recently been at odds with celebration of how much we’ve
Americans protesting the word Webster politically. grown,” Fisher said. “We all
and African Americans using In an e-mail sent to the see how people can take of-
the word,” Ogbar said. It was Board of Education Friday, fense, but we see how people
used as a popular term of en- Griffin wrote that he’s ap- can learn from it.”

PORSCHE: Naugatuck man sued for car scam, still must pay $330,000
Continued from Page One
This Car” meets “Punk’d,” a
bizarre string of occurrences
that suggest there never was a
buyer for the car. Or a restorer.
Or even a Porsche.
Trouble at Burger King
To Goggin, the deal seemed
ironclad.
“It’s a very stylish design,” he
said of the car, “and Porsche
has a significant racing history
and, beyond that, I am into cars
enough to be aware that there is
a legion of Porsche fanatics out
there,” Goggin said. “Someone
would have bought it.”
Burkman, who lives at 95
Gail Drive, was a quiet, even
shy man, who Goggin knew to
be in the business of restoring
vintage and high-end cars, Gog-
gin said. An Internet search
yielded no reported scams or
complaints about Burkman, so
Goggin had no reason to doubt
the deal.
Now Goggin is suing Burk-
man for at least $680,000 in Wa-
terbury Superior Court,
claiming fraud. A breach of
contract claim was judged in
Goggin’s favor Jan. 3.
“I’m kind of sad that this is a
scam, because it would have
been pretty cool to see that race
car,” Goggin said.
In an e-mail exchange that
Goggin provided to the Repub-
lican-American, Burkman
claimed the car arrived Dec. 6,
2009, from Europe. A man
named Pete Kelly was sup-
sandwich, Burkman got coffee,
they talked about cars — and
waited. About two hours
passed, Goggin said
“Paul made a big show of try-
ing to call Pete and leave him
messages,” Goggin said. “He
was agitated, and annoyed and
sweating.”
Eventually, someone called
Burkman’s phone to say Kelly’s
son had fallen down some
stairs, so they left, Goggin said.
“After the Burger King thing,
I was definitely starting to wor-
ry,” Goggin said.
‘Fake a heart attack’
Something did work out in
Goggin’s favor. Burkman,
claiming he had sold the Speed-
ster, paid Goggin his investment
on that car April 7, plus $30,000.
Burkman sent photos May 13 of
what looked like a Porsche 718
RS supposedly being restored at
Kelly’s shop, and later asked
that the deadline for that project
be extended to July 1.
Goggin, still concerned that
he had never met Kelly, replied,
“I would like the opportunity to
see the car and verify both its
authenticity and the status of
the renovation.”
Via e-mail, they arranged for
Kelly to deliver the car to an-
other restoration shop in Strat-
ford in early June, and when
that didn’t happen, to a vintage
car garage in Bedford Hills,
N.Y., later in the month. Burk-
man copied Goggin on e-mails
to a Hotmail address for Kelly,
begging the car restorer to
“I think what he was going to
do is fake a heart attack,” Gog-
gin said.
When Goggin remained im-
passive, Burkman began to cry,
Goggin said.
“He said, ‘Please don’t tell
my wife. I don’t know why I did
this,’” Goggin said.
Burkman admitted he had
never bought the car and had
spent Goggin’s $250,000. Goggin
drove him to their attorney’s of-
fice in White Plains, N.Y., where
they signed a settlement stating
that Burkman intended to bor-
row from family members to pay
Goggin $340,000 by July 31.
Fairly soon after the deal fell
apart, an acquaintance of Gog-
gin found on a Volkswagen fans’
message board the photos
Burkman had sent of the car be-
ing restored. They had been
posted Jan. 29, 2010, by some-
one from England building a
Porsche 718 replica from Volk-
swagen parts.
To begin repayment, Burk-
man sent Goggin an e-mail July
21 claiming to have wired
$200,000 from Webster Bank
and including a reference num-
ber, but the money never ar-
rived, Goggin said.
Under the name of his invest-
ment company, Blue Sturgeon
Holdings, Goggin filed his law-
suit against Burkman five days
later in Waterbury Superior
Court. The court granted Burk-
man an extension to defend
against the fraud claim, and
Burkman on Wednesday asked
for another 30-day extension.
Burkman’s attorney, Stephanie
McLaughlin of Sandak, Hen-
nessey & Greco in Stamford,
claims the money Goggin paid
Burkman is not an investment
but a predatory loan to be paid
back at an impossibly high 36
percent interest rate, court docu-
ments show.
‘A lot of excuses’
The settlement Goggin and
Burkman signed in June is
“void due to duress and undue
influence,” McLaughlin wrote
in a disclosure of defense docu-
ment. Neither Burkman nor
McLaughlin would comment.
Burkman paid Goggin
$10,000 several months ago, but
is still responsible for the re-
maining $330,000.
“I’ve heard a lot of excuses
for why there’s going to be mon-
ey in the near term, but there is-
n’t any today,” Goggin said.
“One of his excuses at one point
was that he had the money, but
it was in Canadian dollars.”
Goggin now wonders whether
Kelly ever existed. As for the
money he got from the Speed-
ster deal, “it’s quite possible that
it’s all a Ponzi scheme and I got
paid back with my own money or
someone else’s money,” he said.
Burkman’s company, Perfor-
mance Outfitters Group, went
bankrupt a few months ago,
said Matt Jackson, owner of Af-
ter FX Customs, another car
restoration company that
bought Performance Outfitters
Group’s assets.
Jackson refused to buy the
company outright, although he
hired the installers and the
sales staff after they re-applied
for their jobs, he said. Jackson
did not want Burkman or his
two co-owners to have any part
in the new company, especially
after he heard Burkman owed
NON-Surgical
Treatment
Treatment
of
• Spider Veins
somebody a car, he said.
“My legal team said, ‘You
can’t have anything to do with
this company,’” Jackson said.
“Paul was let go because we
could not keep that situation.”
No other lawsuits or criminal
charges have been filed against
Burkman in Connecticut. The
Naugatuck Police Department is
not investigating the case because
no transactions occurred in the
borough, department spokesman
Lt. Robert Harrison said.
Goggin brought the case to
Stamford police, but was told
they would not investigate, he
said.
If Goggin gets his $330,000, he
will drop the lawsuit, he said, but
he does not expect to get paid.
“If the guy doesn’t have any
money, you can’t collect,” he
said. “I’m sort of doing this on
principle. I don’t think I’m ever
going to get anything out of
Paul. I just want to make sure
no one else gets ripped off.”
• Leg Pain Swelling

posed to restore the car at his
shop in Torrington, along with a
Porsche 356 Speedster that
Goggin had also agreed to in-
vest in, Goggin said. Goggin re-
ceived e-mail exchanges
between Burkman and Kelly as
they tried to figure out a date
for Goggin to visit Torrington
and see the cars being restored.
They settled on a dreary
morning in February. After
driving the long haul from New
York City, Goggin sat with
Burkman in a Burger King in
Torrington, waiting for Pete
Kelly to arrive, Goggin said.
Burkman claimed not to know
where Kelly’s shop had moved
to. Goggin ordered a breakfast
THE Y IS FOR
make arrangements for Goggin
to pick up the Porsche.
“THIS IS A REAL PROB-
LEM!” Burkman wrote to Kelly
in large blue letters.
By the last day in June, Gog-
FAMILIES!
gin says, he was convinced that
Kelly had stolen the car or the
whole thing had been a scam.
He arranged for Burkman to
meet him at a rest stop in
Darien. Sitting in McDonald’s,
Burkman said Kelly had moved
his shop and would not give the
car back, Goggin said. Goggin
suggested they file a police re-
port in Torrington, and as they
were walking across the parking
lot to Goggin’s BMW, Burkman
started convulsing, Goggin said.
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