Probation Chief's Kin Gets Preferential Treatment in 'Hit-and-Run' Case

Courtroom Cover-Up: Nilan 'Hit-and-Run' Hearing Closed to Public
Pittsfield's GOB Democrats Protecting Their Own
Hearing Date Kept Secret -- Patronage Appointee Speranzo Presiding
Probation Chief Nilan 'Pulling Strings' AGAIN?

by G.M. Heller
Published: Saturday, January 14, 2012

PITTSFIELD -- "The date of that hearing is not being made public," according to blogger Dan Valenti referring to the magistrate's hearing in the case involving Meredith Nilan, 24, a risk assessor at Berkshire Bank and daughter of Superior Court probation chief Clifford J. Nilan, alleged to be the driver of an SUV involved in a hit-and-run accident that severely injured a local jogger, Peter Moore, and tore fur from Moore's dog.

The accident left Moore broken and bleeding on a neighborhood street in Pittsfield the evening of December 8, 2011 (see below for a list of Moore's reported injuries detailed by blogger Valenti).

Writing in this past Thursday's (January 12) edition of PlanetValenti.com, Valenti also reports that the court hearing, which will determine whether a criminal complaint should issue against Ms. Nilan, "apparently, will not be open to the public."

According to Valenti, the Pittsfield Police Department took more than a month to issue a citation against Ms. Nilan for the accident that took place along Winesap Road not far from where the subdivision road meets East Street. The citation is dated January 10, 2012; the alleged hit-and-run occurred December 8, 2011.

> Clifford J. Nilan, chief probation officer, Berkshire Superior Court, alleged owner of SUV involved in hit-and-run that severely injured jogger Peter Moore and his dog early in the evening December 8, 2011. >

According to The Berkshire Eagle, the accident vehicle, a 2001 Subaru Forester, is registered to Ms. Nilan's father, Clifford J. Nilan, whose official title is Chief Probation Officer for Berkshire Superior Court Probation Department in Pittsfield.

In 2010, Mr. Nilan, was one of those investigated by the Massachusetts Probation Department in the 'pay-for-play' scandal alleging improprieties, patronage hiring, and other irregularities in MPD under the administration of longtime commissioner, John J. O’Brien.

According to The Eagle's published report from November 11, 2010 written by reporter Conor Berry, Mr. Nilan was "admonished for mishandling the case of Angelo C. Stracuzzi, the former CEO of Greylock Federal Credit Union."

Berry wrote: "The Supreme Judicial Court appointed Paul F. Ware, a high-profile Boston attorney, to lead an independent probe of the (probation) department after a May (2010) report by the Boston Globe (Spotlight Team) uncovered alleged improprieties in the Probation Department."

In a statement issued at the time by the Mass. Probation Department and reported in The Eagle, MPD's investigators wrote: "The (Stracuzzi) case was misclassified and did not follow probation standards, which require avoidance of any actions that suggest or imply a lack of impartiality and avoidance of any conflict of interest."

Berry reported: "Stracuzzi resigned from the Pittsfield-based (Greylock Federal) credit union in June (2010) after The Eagle exposed his criminal background and personal and professional relationship with (Clifford J.) Nilan, a member of Greylock's board of directors while Stracuzzi was on probation with Nilan's department."

Berry also wrote: "Although Nilan was reprimanded for failing to follow proper protocol, state Probation Department officials in Boston declined to divulge details of his punishment, which they stated remains a confidential personnel matter. Nilan is still employed by the Massachusetts Trial Court."

According to Berry, "Following a review of Stracuzzi's case, which was transferred from Maine to Berkshire Superior Court in 2005, probation officials now acknowledge the case 'was not handled in compliance with the practices, policies and guidelines of the Office of the Commissioner of Probation.'"

< Meredith Nilan, alleged driver in hit-and-run that severely injured jogger Peter Moore and his dog early in the evening December 8, 2011; daughter of Berkshire Superior Court probation chief Clifford J. Nilan .

Fast forward 13 months to January 2012 and Clifford J. Nilan, referred to by blogger Valenti as a Pittsfield "Good Ol' Boy," is back in the news, apparently taking "actions that suggest or imply a lack of impartiality" and failing yet again to avoid appearance "of any conflict of interest," this time in a matter closer to home -- literally -- involving his eldest daughter and a vehicle registered to him alleged to have struck a pedestrian before speeding off.

This past Thursday, January 12, PlanetValenti.com reports:
"(Meredith) Nilan was cited with two misdemeanors. A clerk magistrate will conduct a hearing to determine if there’s enough evidence to charge Ms. Nilan. Clerk Mag (sic) of the Central Berkshire District Court -- Superior Court -- is none other than Chris 'No Show' Speranzo. As you recall, this was one of the scenarios outlined as a concern when No Show quit as state rep to walked into a stacked vote to receive his lifetime $110,000 job: That he would be a GOB friend on the inside for just such situations, that is, if the GOBs needed a favor from inside the courts. THE PLANET is not suggesting that Speranzo is incapable of making an honest and fair judgment. He should understand, though, that all eyes will be upon him to render justice, not inside favors, for the daughter of a GOB’s GOB. The magistrate will determine if there is enough evidence to send it to trial. If not, it just goes away, no harm, no foul."

> Christopher N. Speranzo, newly-appointed Clerk Magistrate, Central Berkshire District Court in Pittsfield; a Democrat patronage appointee of Gov. Deval Patrick. >

Valenti goes on to report:
"(Meredith) Nilan’s father is Central Berkshire probation chief Clifford 'Cliffy' Nilan. THE PLANET considers instructive this piece of recent local history: When (Clifford) Nilan learned that his buddy, then president of Greylock Federal Credit Union, Angelo Stracuzzi, had been arrested in July 2005 on consecutive days, charged by Biddeford, Maine, police with four counts involving the molestation of teenage boys, (Clifford) Nilan said and did nothing, either as an officer of the court or as a member of the Greylock board. (Clifford) Nilan said nothing. We know this from the testimony of Greylock VP John Bissell. Bissell said when the story broke and — as far as we know, continues to say — that for five years, the Greylock Board had no idea their chief had become embroiled in scandal."

Valenti then poses this question, "Did Nilan use his influence to obtain favorable ..... treatment for a friend?"

Valenti lists what he alleges are "facts" in the case alleging Meredith Nilan's hit-and-run:
-- "Police issued a criminal citation for two misdemeanors: leaving the scene of a personal injury accident and negligent operation of a motor vehicle."
-- "Moore lost a large amount of blood, a broken leg, broken vertebrae, bruises, trauma to the left side of his body, a concussions (sic), and cuts all over his body. In short, he suffered catastrophic injuries. This was no brush-by, oops, sorry, see ya’ later. A man was almost killed."
-- "Though Ms. Nilan was the driver, her father owns the car. A Pittsfield detective source tells THE PLANET that 'charges could be coming against [Cliff Nilan]. Ms. Nilan’s lawyer, Tim Shugrue (former candidate for District Attorney), admits that his client and her father went back to the scene of the accident, looking for evidence." Valenti poses what he calls a "fair question": "Did they remove, alter, hide, or in any other way tamper with evidence?"

Valenti asks more questions: "As reported by the Berkshire Eagle, photos of the vehicle showed a head-sized hole in the windshield and dents in the hood. (Clifford J.) Nilan called police at 9:30 on the night of Dec. 8, 90 minutes after the accident. He told them his daughter hit 'either a dog or deer.' Why did he make that phone call? Ms. Nilan is of age. She holds a responsible job. She’s an adult. Why didn’t she get on the blower to speak to the police? Was she too discombobulated? Was she too upset? Was she too inebriated? Was she too used to daddy cleaning up her messes? Was it something else?" asks Valenti.

Valenti asks: "Was there alcohol involved? It has been reported that Ms. Nilan’s speeding, northbound car 'swerved' into the southbound lane. Is 'swerve' code for DUI? That same evening, Dec. 8, Berkshire Young Professionals, a sub-group of the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, had a 'Networking Social' at Allium Restaurant in Great Barrington. Was she drinking? The social has listed hours of 5 to 7 p.m. The accident occurred that night at about 8:15 p.m. Have police interviewed people who were there?"

Valenti: "The police account of the accident and Ms. Nilan’s differ in many respects. She says it occurred at 9 p.m. Police say 8:15. She says it took place on East Street and McIntosh Road. (Berkshire Blog editor's note: The Eagle reports "Meredith Nilan told police she was on her way to meet her boyfriend for dinner about 9 p.m., when she hit either a dog or deer near the intersection of Winesap Road and McIntosh Drive.") Police found no evidence there. Moore, the victim, said it happened at the corner of East and Winesap. There, police found lots of blood and some dog fur. Who is telling the truth?" asks Valenti.

One thing Valenti forgets to mention is that The Nilan residence is just down the street from where Mr. Moore and his dog had their alleged run-in with the Nilan's SUV; it's a neighborhood where Meredith Nilan has been raised for the past 22 of her 24 years.

According to Yahoo! Maps, the distance from The Nilan's driveway to the spot where Mr. Moore and his dog were allegedly struck by the Nilan SUV going north (traveling at what Mr. Moore said was "a high rate of speed" and swerving) measures approximately o.2 miles -- 1,056 feet -- a spanse that takes just 20.6 seconds to cover at 35 miles-per-hour.
SEE: Yahoo! Map showing site of alleged hit-and-run involving Nilan SUV relative to location of the Nilan residence.

To the list of facts and questions posed by Mr. Valenti, add the following observation: The Nilans have lived at their Winesap Road address for more than 22 years, moving in when daughter Meredith was about two years old. Ms. Nilan has therefore grown up in this small neighborhood, a subdivision known as 'The Orchards'.

As such, the lady likely knows the neighborhood as well as anyone else who's lived in The Orchards for over two decades.

Ms. Nilan’s statement to police that she believed she "hit either a dog or deer," when in fact it was a dog and a man, could be construed as de facto admission by Ms. Nilan that she was, for as yet unexplained reasons, impaired and highly disoriented that night.

What factors caused Meredith Nilan to be in such condition at quarter after 8 on a Thursday eve? <<<<<

SEE:
"MORE QUESTIONS RAISED IN MEREDITH NILAN HIT-’N-RUN CASE"
by Dan Valenti, PlanetValenti.com, January 12, 2012.
ALSO SEE:
"Alleged: Pittsfield Probation Chief's SUV in Hit-and-Run; Daughter a Suspect"
by G.M. Heller, Berkshire Blog, January 08, 2012.

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Reprinted from The Berkshire Eagle:

Police connect SUV to hit-and-run accident

By Andrew Amelinckx, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Wednesday, January 11, 2012

PITTSFIELD -- Police say they have connected an SUV owned by the county's chief probation officer and driven by his daughter to a hit-and-run accident last month that seriously injured a man jogging with his dog on a city road.

Police believe Meredith Nilan was heading north in her father Clifford Nilan's 2001 Subaru Forester on Winesap Road the evening of Dec. 8 when she swerved into the southbound lane and struck Peter Moore, who was headed north, according to a Pittsfield Police accident report.

"We have a driver, we have a victim and we have a vehicle," said Pittsfield Police Capt. John Mullin.

A criminal citation for two misdemeanors -- leaving the scene of a personal injury accident and negligent operation of a motor vehicle -- were lodged against Meredith Nilan in District Court.

The case will go before a clerk magistrate for a show-cause hearing to determine if there's enough evidence to charge Meredith Nilan. If no probable cause is found, the charges would be dismissed. If probable cause is found, a court arraignment would take place. The hearing date, as well as the hearing itself, is not public information.

Nilan's and Moore's accounts of where and when the accident took place on Winesap Road differed, but police determined Moore's description of the accident site was correct. Police used a search warrant to inspect the car during their investigation.

About 8:15 p.m. on Dec. 8, Peter Moore was hit by a car while jogging with his dog on Winesap Road near East Street. He suffered a fractured calf bone and a broken vertebrae, a bruised colon, trauma to the left side of his body, a concussion, and abrasions "from head to toe."

Meredith Nilan told police she was on her way to meet her boyfriend for dinner about 9 p.m., when she hit either a dog or deer near the intersection of Winesap Road and McIntosh Drive.

Her attorney, Timothy J. Shugrue, said on Friday that she isn't sure what she hit and that she went back to the site with her father, but they couldn't find any evidence of what she may have hit. Clifford Nilan later called police to report the accident.

The intersection where Meredith Nilan told police she struck something is south of where police say they found a large amount of blood and dog fur and where Moore said he was struck by a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed. Moore was unable to give a description of the vehicle that hit him.

Moore walked home and went to bed without reporting what happened. Early the next morning, he went to Berkshire Medical Center where he was treated for his injuries and released nearly a week later.<<<<<

SEE:
'Police connect SUV to hit-and-run accident'
by Andrew Amelinckx, The Berkshire Eagle, Wednesday, January 11, 2012
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Write to G.M. Heller at editor@berkshirerecord.com

'War on Christmas' comes home - A Response to The Berkshire Eagle's editorial

For once, FOR ONCE, The Berkshire Eagle actually puts a name to one of the out-of-touch Liberal effete who writes its Lefty psycho-babble editorials.
And brother, is this particular editorial distinctly out of touch!
The guys up there in The Eagle's nest just don't get it (and it's doubtful they ever will, at least not until circulation bottoms out at 57 -- the number who actually work for the paper -- and that time doesn't appear too far off).
Editorial writer Michael Scott Leonard refuses to admit that Bill O'Reilly is actually on to something, and that the Great Barrington Selectmen stepped in it bigtime with the cameras rolling for all to see on national television.
(The heck with the hundreds of cable operators across the USA that receive O'Reilly, even Time-Warner in North Adams transmits The O'Reilly Factor program and the entire county got to see close-up just how dumb the GB Selectmen made themselves look.)
Worse, each of these "representatives of the people of Great Barrington" has wimped out by saying no to O'Reilly's invitation to appear on The Factor to confront Ol' Bill himself head-on (not the mere minion sent to GB).
When given the opportunity to give GB's side of the story -- if there was one -- South County's 'Fabulous Five' blew it (again)!
If O'Reilly is such a blowhard, Selectboys and girl, why not just say it to his face on national television?
You could've really showed him what you're made of!
Instead, you've shown Berkshire County exactly what stuff that is.
Just for this, Great Barrington ought now to raise next year's Chrismas light budget to $1 million and flood the streets 24/7 with colorful, dancing lights -- and ask Al Gore to officiate at the big lighting ceremony.

'War on Christmas' comes home
By Michael Scott Leonard
Friday, December 21
STOCKBRIDGE
Who knew our sleepy, rural county would land the first volley in third annual War on Christmas — the Shot Heard Round the Blogosphere.
Bill O'Reilly officially fired back against the parasitic secularism of Great Barrington's heathen Selectmen, shining the national spotlight on the town's decision to conserve energy by dimming its Christmas lights at 10 p.m. with a three-minute segment on his Fox News program, "The O'Reilly Factor." The oasis of socialist heresy that is Taxachusetts must make an inviting target for a paragon of faith, small government and Middle American values like O'Reilly, but no one could have imagined he would deign to condescend to our modest region.
Never mind that Derek Gentile's article on the subject ran nearly a month ago; O'Reilly realized that Americans were too stuffed on Thanksgiving turkey at the time to muster the requisite outrage. Instead, his show waited to broach the subject.
He must know his public. The Eagle received antagonistic letters from all over the Deep Red South, including one from a Texan threatening to string extra Christmas lights to "carbon-offset" Great Barrington's green initiative.
All joking aside — and notwithstanding the size of the town — this is a moment that should have slipped well below the radar of the culture war. Thursday's Eagle editorial was right to draw a distinction between Great Barrington's "legitimate" environmental concerns and political correctness. Indeed, while calling Christmas lights "holiday lights" may be silly, banning them without just cause is a clear violation of the First Amendment. But the Selectmen voted to allow the lights, with a qualifying condition that rationally addressed a compelling concern.
The O'Reilly piece took pains to portray the Selectmen as overweening latté liberals, "rich elitists ... imposing their ideology on this small town." But dimming Christmas lights — whatever you call them — when no one is around to see them is not a political gesture; it is simply responsible.
Still, making that point doesn't require abstaining from the question O'Reilly's contrived, carpet-bagging hysteria raised. Yesterday's editorial concedes too much in implying that proactively secular statements should be held to a different standard than sensibly environmental gestures.
First, there is the small issue of ours being an avowedly — indeed, foundationally — secular country.
But just as importantly, it's not the fear of offending shrill liberals or the apocryphally domineering PC-police that has led many mainstream groups — civic, corporate and otherwise — to replace "Christmas" with more broadly applicable terms like "holiday" whenever reasonable. In fact, these substitutions are made in the quintessentially American — and Christian — spirit of ecumenical pluralism.
Are there times and places at which to replace "Christmas" with the generic "holiday" would be verbally cautious to the point of silliness? Sure. "Holiday lights" may qualify, or it may not. When you're wished "Happy Holidays" at Midnight Mass, maybe it's time to ring Bill O'Reilly. Altered lyrics to Bach's Liturgies should set off alarm bells.
Until we get there, however, O'Reilly is simply pandering to what the Philadelphia-based journalist Randy LoBasso (full disclosure: a friend of mine) once called "the phony outrage base" of America's right wing.
The phony outrage base consists of "pundits," "commentators" and other reactionary blowhards and bloviators seeking to distract Americans from the serious issues our country faces by appealing to the worst in people and stirring up irrational, often hateful passions. O'Reilly and his ilk don't find and exploit "wedge issues," as the conventional wisdom holds. They conjure them out of thin air.
In this case, the specter against which the phony outrage base hopes to mobilize public sentiment is the very spirit of pluralism embodied by an inclusive holiday greeting. Intolerant insularity — fear of "the other" — is the animating, if unspoken, principle underlying most of the far right's pet causes: xenophobic opposition to illegal immigration; our holy wars in the Middle East; hostility to the First Amendment rights of the secular or moderately religious; institutional homophobia; and the paranoid anti-intellectualism that has bred hostility toward all science, particularly environmentalism of the sort exhibited by the Great Barrington Selectmen.
Like other self-styled culture warriors of the right, O'Reilly relies on straw men to make his case. His claim — repeated by his guest, producer Jesse Watters — that the town Christmas lights draw sorely needed tourist dollars is not actually outlandish. It's just bogus — and all the more insidious for its plausibility.
Accoutrements like Christmas lights are, indeed, part of Great Barrington's quaint appeal. But, unlike Bill O'Reilly, I've been to Great Barrington. It's not Times Square: There is precious little shopping after 10 p.m., the hour at which the lights must be extinguished — a consideration the Selectmen obviously took into account when drafting the regulation. Anyone intent on shopping for trinkets or curios at 11 p.m. on a Tuesday won't be discouraged by the absence of conspicuous holiday cheer.
There may be more practical and direct ways of reducing energy consumption than enforcing a curfew on Christmas lights. But as long as the inconvenience is phony, it couldn't hurt.
Michael Scott Leonard is a Berkshire Eagle staff writer.

A Look at 'The New Puritanism': Gt. Barrington's 'War on Christmas'

Photos - Top: Fox News Commentator Bill O'Reilly of The O'Reilly Factor.
Middle and Bottom: Great Barrington's entire Christmas light display crossing Main Street and Railroad Street. Per order of the town Selectmen, curfew for the light show is 10 PM. (Middle photo by Will Whitehorn, The Berkshire Record newspaper)
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly!
The local newspapers, especially The Berkshire Eagle, hate it when an observant, media-connected outsider (meaning someone from outside Berkshire County) draws attention to (and pricks) the little bubble of fantasy that so many Berkshire locals choose to live in.
It's especially galling for it to happen before a national TV audience showcased on a program like The O'Reilly Factor.
One misconception I wish to correct. You claim that 'rich elitists from New York City' are moving up here and 'imposing their ideology on this small town.'
The fact is that most second-home owners (the bulk from New York and New Jersey) and 'snow-birds' (retirees who fly to Florida in Winter) refuse to register to vote here. Thus, they don't get to choose Selectmen or influence decision-making. (They just have the privilege of paying the lion's share of local property taxes.)
No, Bill, this isn't outsiders moving to the Berkshires and imposing a point of view.
What is happening can be called 'The New Puritanism'. It's home-grown. It's about blue Massachusetts, and it thrives right here in the heart of bluer Berkshire County.
It's political correctness, good intentions, and the Liberal Left's agenda run amok.
I look forward to seeing if any of the Selectmen will have the gonads to defend their latest bit of silliness done in the name of 'social consciousness'.
So far, though, it doesn't look as if any of these local paragons are going to appear on The Factor to defend or to debate ideology. Selectman co-chairman Ronald Dlugosz claims he is "not a fan of Fox". This is the man's rationale for not appearing on a national stage to defend his integrity or the logic of his Luddite point of view.
And so the man makes himself and the other Great Barrington town officials (and by geographical connection, the rest of Berkshire County) a laughing-stock across the country.