Review by John J. Daley, Book Editor
Reprinted with permission from the Waterbury Republican-American,
Waterbury, Ct.

Aug. 4, 2002

In the daily newspapers, we don't have the time to focus on every misdeed or injustice. The crush of events makes it hard to give everything its due. Andy Thibault, who writes the "Cool Justice" column for the weekly Connecticut Law Tribune, has the extra time and a Jimmy Breslin punch to take a different look at some issues and people in the news.

Thibault's subjects are often crime or cops, the law or lawyers, though there's plenty on issues of everyday concern. His aim is justice in his latest book, "Law and Justice in Everyday Life," a collection of his columns and other writings just out this month. It means you'll find many egos deflated and fat cats whipped as he separates the good guys from the bad. But beyond that, there's some wonderful writing by a man who truly has that talent.

You'll read about Woody and Mia and Litchfield County State's Attorney Frank Maco. You'll read about Connecticut's grand and late state poet laureate Leo Connellan, who considered himself a working man's poet. You'll get to meet his successor, Marilyn Nelson, a woman of extraordinary talents. You'll run into a woman locked in a tower weaving a tapestry of life when you meet the Wadsworth Atheneum's "The Lady of Shalott." You'll love every minute you spend with them.

He writes of crimes that have made a mockery of the justice system, such as the Showalter hit-and-run coverup in New London, the town where Thibault grew up. Kevin Showalter, a 20-year-old Mitchell College student, was struck and killed by a car as he changed a flat tire on a well-lighted street. The motorist drove off. Everyone played dumb in the case. The police barely investigated, and what little evidence they collected, they tainted. The state's attorney didn't want it investigated. The presiding judge turned out to be best friends with the leading suspect, a former New London mayor and multimillionaire jeweler, Harvey Mallove.

Here he is on the high profile investigation by our famed chief forensic investigator on the death of Vincent Foster: "On page 485 of his report to Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, Dr. Henry Lee details why he cannot offer a complete reconstruction of the death of former White House Council Vince Foster. The way I read it, this core element of the report screams: 'Don't blame me because there was no real investigation.'"

Here he is on Title IX complaints: "An old rule in journalism goes something like this: If your mother says she loves you, get a second source. Here's a new guideline, not just for journalists, but also for parents, athletes and their lawyers: When school administrators say, 'We're in compliance with Title IX,' don't believe it for a second."

There is much here of local interest, from Michael Skakel, Peter Reilly, the Troopers Mark and Kathleen Lauretano and the notorious Duntz brothers to the fight to reconstruct Harriet Beecher Stowe's family's house in Litchfield.

You'll just love some of the sentimental moments, such as when Thibault takes us back to his Catholic high school:

"These were our Wonder Years: girls with knee–socks, white blouses and gray skirts concealing the mysteries of life; all our Beatle albums and great 45s sucked up by the mission drive; nuns, most of whom looked more like Joe Frazier than Sally Field and could whup Frazier, too. The scenes keep coming back, with greater frequency, after I walked into a New London restaurant a few weeks ago and said, 'Who the hell are all those old guys at the bar?'

"Take a look in the mirror," one of the old goats responded. We were the deadbeats who didn't make it the night before to the official 30th high school reunion."

If you wonder how Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim will fare in his corruption trial, just take a look at his lawyer, Richard Meehan Jr., who has managed in the past to pull off some courtroom miracles.

Of course, we are all concerned about getting to the beach in Greenwich, if we can ever afford to park there. We'll let Thibault close this review by doing our shouting:

"It struck me when I saw a bunch of Greenwich locals freaking out on TV the other day, saying that parking fees of $10 to $30 a day — and additional entrance fees to boot — weren't high enough to keep out the infidels. What a bunch of slobs. I couldn't see anything that makes these people any more hifalootin than say, their brethren in East Haven."

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Andy Thibault is a columnist for Law Tribune Newspapers and co-author of several business books. He teaches courses in journalism at the University of Hartford and communications at IMPAC University in Punta Gorda, Fla. Thibault also serves as a member of the Board of Education in Litchfield, Ct., as a Fellow of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy Studies, and as a member of the Advisory Board for Western Connecticut State University at Waterbury. He manages a non-profit foundation that awards $19,000 annually to young writers in Connecticut, and is President-Elect of the Litchfield-Morris Rotary.

Law and Justice in Everyday Life is available from local bookstores and from TNT Publishing, P.O. Box 1415, Litchfield, CT 06759
(Fax) 860-567-9119
tntcommllc@compuserve.com

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