This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

'Summer of the Shark' Epilogue

Is there a shark in Candlewood Lake? There is in "Summer of the Shark," which takes place in a lake just like Candlewood. The story concludes this Sunday morning.

Epilogue

A week later an unmarked moving van pulled up to eighty-two North Lakeshore Drive. Men dressed in white coveralls removed the contents of Pasternak’s control room, much of it sensitive, secret equipment. The shark’s controls were hauled off along with all the furnishings to an undisclosed location. Carpenters followed within a few days and opened the control room’s hidden wall to the rest of the family room. The entire interior was then repainted.

Outside, the culvert hiding the shark was removed along with the controls leading into it. The antenna was taken down from the roof.

Find out what's happening in Stamfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

*

Sally Benson met with an attorney who said she represented George Pasternak for the sale of his home on Arrowhead Lake. The woman had been designated as executor of his estate and was authorized to receive money for the sale when it occurred. After signing several documents, the woman left and Sally did a check on her. She turned out to be a prominent Washington real estate attorney.

Find out what's happening in Stamfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The woman was an FBI agent.

*

Two months later Piccolo received a letter from Attorney General Hewlett stating that Pasternak had been found guilty and sentenced for all charges brought against him. He received one year for the five manslaughter charges to be served at a minimum security prison farm in West Virginia. For the lesser charges of real estate fraud and stock manipulation, he received a suspended sentence, but would be confined under house arrest for six months at a location to be determined.

It was far less than what Piccolo and Tillitson wanted.

But they took some satisfaction in Pasternak having to serve at least some time in prison albeit a minimum security location. They had done their best to get him more hard time, but the government was not going to lose his genius to the penal system for any more than a year. Tillitson’s comment upon hearing the news was, “the sonofabitch will be happy on the farm. That’s where he grew up.”

*

Connecticut Attorney General Roehrig brought charges against James Dolan and the five surviving firefighters involved in setting fire to Dale Puckett’s barn that resulted in his death. Each was charged with arson and second degree manslaughter. They were all sentenced to ten years in prison, by contrast a much greater penalty than Pasternak received. 

*

As a result of efforts by Connecticut senator Matson, the federal government declared the purchases made by the Swiss account as fraudulent. They seized ownership of all Arrowhead properties whose deeds were deposited in Switzerland. Lakeshore owners who had sold at reduced values due to the shark scare were compensated for their losses. Many bought their houses back. 

Gary Piccolo is serving his second term as Fairfield County sheriff having been reelected by a landslide in November 2009.

Author’s Note

Many Connecticut readers will recognize my fictional Arrowhead Lake as Candlewood Lake, the beautiful man made sixteen mile body of water in the western part of the state.

 In 1926 Connecticut Light & Power created it by pumping water from the Housatonic River. When needed, this water would flow back down through a turbine which produced electricity. It took the company twenty six months to build three dams and flood 5,420 acres of farmland , forests and a small community. Four thousand five hundred acres of woodland were hand cleared by 1,400 laborers over a two year period.

Thirty-five families owned property in the areas to be flooded to which Connecticut Light& Power held the right of eminent domain under which private property can be taken for public use. Most families willingly sold their land to the company, but a few refused and some lake bed property is still privately owned. This was the basis for my story.

Today Candlewood is used by boaters and hosts hundreds of fishing tournaments. Fisherman come from far and wide to catch prize winning large mouth bass, trout, perch and other popular species of fish. No one has ever seen a shark. But had there been a Dale Puckett and a vengeful son Tom, who knows what could have been.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?