It is a measure of Waterbury residents' anxiety that they are optimistic about the financial review board.

On the same day that Mr. Giordano was arrested, Waterbury residents began receiving their new tax bills, including a 30 percent increase, to help balance the city's budget.

So forgive Waterbury residents.

"When I was young, my mother would rock me to sleep and sing French songs," said a Waterbury resident, Robert Bifaillon, 55, whose parents are from Quebec.

Longtime Waterbury residents have also had their challenges accepting the change.

The defendant, Robert J. Breton, a 42-year-old Waterbury resident, was convicted in April of stabbing his former wife and son to death in 1987.

Some Waterbury residents said they felt little sympathy for Mr. Rowland.

Mr. Mitchner, a 21-year-old Waterbury resident, is suffering from myelodysplasia, a condition that often precedes the onset of leukemia.

The unemployed Waterbury resident whose wife, Betsy, is an Army reservist stationed in Iraq, has raised three children by himself for the past year.

Brian was a Waterbury resident and a friend of Ken Squier.