Contributing op-ed columnist Terry Cowgill lives in Lakeville, blogs at ctdevilsadvocate.com and is news editor of The Berkshire Record in Great Barrington, Mass. Follow him on Twitter @terrycowgill.
It is a sad day when struggling communities have to look to state government for sustenance and rejuvenation. But such is the case with Torrington, a once proud mill town in the upper Naugatuck Valley.
It seems that in the state of Connecticut, a new government building paid for with borrowed money is what passes for economic revival. To wit, the announcement last week that the state is moving the cramped district courthouse from the bucolic Litchfield green to gritty Torrington, where the Judicial Branch will enjoy an $81 million, spanking-new regional headquarters.
Granted, no one wants to look a gift-horse in the mouth. And Torrington does need a boost. The closing of mills and manufacturing plants over the last few decades has devastated the city, as it has several other places up and down the Route 8 corridor from Winsted to Waterbury to Derby.
The idea of moving the courthouse has been floating around for 40 years. The plan was first proposed by the late Judge John Speziale, a Torrington resident and a personal hero of mine for his role in ultimately exonerating Peter Reilly, the young Falls Village man who was falsely accused of murdering his mother after he was coerced into confessing during a State Police brainwashing in 1973.
See the complete story at CT News Junkie.
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