On Sunday, March 08, 2009, at Fort Shantok, Uncasville, Connecticut, an Uncasville woman was allegedly attacked by two people. It was a beautiful sunny day with the temperature in the 60's.
Eleni Vourtsis, 56, was walking her little 10 pound dog with her two grandchildren when she was attacked by two individuals. The woman claims, that sometime between 3:30 P.M. and 4:30 P.M., the assailants came up from behind he swearing obscenities about her having a dog at Shantok. The man allegedly grabbed Mrs. Vourtsis by both arms and shook her. He then allegedly threw her to the ground in front of her grandchildren.
The assailant and woman who accompanied him ran to a white car and took off.
The attacker was described as a white male in his twenties about 5' 6" tall, stocky build wearing black clothes. The assailant was accompanied by a woman in her 20's who was also dressed in black.
Vourtsis was treated at William W. Backus Hospital for her injuries and was released. Her injuries were described as bruises on both arms, a hip and and thigh.
eleni Vourtsis said, "It was a very bad experience. I hurt everywhere. It's hard to breathe. I'm upset. I never thought something like that would happen to me."
The Connecticut State Police and the Mohegan Tribal Police are investigating. If you have any information, please contact the State Police at 860-848-6500.
There are a few signs at Shantok that do say it is illegal to have dogs at Shantok. However, no one should be assaulted for walking at Shantok with their little dog and two grandchildren.
Maybe it is time for the Mohegan Tribal Government to reconsider having full time security at Shantok? Maybe we (the Mohegan Tribe) should have our own parks department? Is Shantok safe? What do you think?
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5 comments:
I personally find the No Dogs allowed rule assinine. I can understand the cemetary part, but the whole park? It's a PARK! No one is complaining about the squirrels, deer, skunks, etc that are peeing and pooping all over the place. And I bet more humans are desicrating the graves than any dog ever would. Can we just get off our high horse already? We are no better than anyone else!!!!
I think what happened to the woman at Shantok was very scarey. Luckily she wasn't seriously hurt. You bring up a good point about better security at Shantok. This has been a concern with some folks for awhile. Because of the tribal government restructuring recently, there are several people with not much left to do. They were heads of departments, but the people under them were let go. Why not create a "parks department" that they could direct. This would keep Shantok a safe place, and give these people jobs to go to everyday.
Maybe it's time to have a parks department. There are employees in the Tribal Government whose positions are somewhat in limbo. Now may be a good opportunity to move them to another area where there is a real need. We can kill two birds with one stone.
Bill thanks for all you do and for caring about the little people.
Hang in there! It will get better because the little people are starting to pay attention to details.
Maybe the question should be, is Shantok just a park? The State of Connecticut decided back in the 1920s' that's what it should be. In those times,there wasn't much to be said about its future or the means to resist the State taking it over. In 1998 the tribe made the decision to buy it back from the State. In my opinion this was one of the best decisions we have made in recent times with our financial success. The State was also happy to unload the park because of the cost involved to maintain it, but were we simply buying a park, or is Shantok something much more?
According to history, Shantok is where Uncas and his followers settled after they split from the Pequots to make a new life. It was here that they chose to take back their clan name Mohegan, meaning wolf people. It was at Shantok where the birth of this tribe began. Thus is Shantok only a park, or can we say it is our ancestral homeland. Therefore, a place to protect along with a few rules, by the people today, to watch over for the people of tomorrow. Then it will become their turn to decide. Park... or something more.
MX
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