(Monday August 30, 2004)
LAWRENCE -- Jeffrey "Jeff" W. Ness, 45, a 14-year member of the Lawrence Fire Department, died Aug. 28, 2004 in Hampstead, N.H.
Born in Methuen, he had attended Northern Essex Community College, and was a member of the Lawrence British Club. He enjoyed golf and was a great lover of animals.
He is survived by his parents, William and Cynthia (Kent) Ness of Methuen; brothers Michael and his wife Gail of Methuen, Rev. Scott C. Ness, OSA, of Merrimack College and John and his wife Tara of Methuen; two nieces Amanda and Amy Ness; a special friend Barbara DeFrancesco; and an aunt and several cousins.
Friends are invited to a funeral Mass on Wednesday at 10 a.m. at St. Mary's Church in Lawrence. Burial will follow. Friends may call on Tuesday from 5 to 9 p.m. at Dewhirst & Conte Funeral Home, 17 Third St., North Andover.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Lawrence Fire Fighters Fund, P.O. Box 533, Lawrence, MA 01842.
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Crash survivor in critical condition
By O'Ryan Johnson
Staff Writer
Relatives of Barbara DeFrancesco said she is clinging to life today following a Hampstead, N.H., motorcycle crash that killed her firefighter boyfriend.
DeFrancesco, 44, of Salem, N.H., the mother of five children, three in their 20s and a set of 10-year-old twin girls was airlifted to UMass Medical Center in Worcester, where she is listed in critical condition.
"She's holding her own right now," her sister Deborah Brust of Salem, N.H. said. "It's a day-by-day situation, touch and go."
DeFrancesco's older children are staying at a hotel near the hospital.
Her boyfriend Jeffrey W. Ness, 45, a 16-year veteran of the Lawrence Fire Department, was killed in the crash. New Hampshire State Police said they do not know what caused Ness to lose control of his motorcycle. His mother, Cynthia Ness, said her son was known as a cautious driver.
Ness and DeFrancesco were headed to Portsmouth for dinner Saturday when they crashed, Brust said.
DeFrancesco graduated from Lawrence High School in 1977 and went to school at Northern Essex Community College. Brust said her sister and Ness were inseparable during the five years they dated.
"I believe they were talking about (marriage)," she said. "They got along very well."
Brust said the two enjoyed hiking and walks with DeFrancesco's children and Ness' dog Lucy. DeFrancesco works part time as a bartender at Uno's Chicago Grill in Haverhill, and owns her own housecleaning business.
"He was fantastic with her kids," Brust said of Ness. "Taking them to a lake in North Andover. He'd take his dog Lucy and her dog for walks. They did that a lot."
The couple were also regulars at the British Club, a popular firefighter bar in South Lawrence. A picture hanging in the bar of Ness on his motorcycle was taken down yesterday so that it could be used at his memorial services.
"They were both known and both very well-liked by members here," said British Club manager Michael Fielding, also a city councilor. He said members of the club are discussing plans to do something special to remember Ness, but have not worked out any details.
New Hampshire State Police said they believe Ness may have lost control by swerving to avoid an animal and that he did not collide with another vehicle. The accident was on Route 111 at East Road in Hampstead. Police said Ness was not wearing a helmet, but DeFrancesco was.
Ness was pronounced dead of head injuries at Parkland Medical Center in Derry, N.H.
The death of Ness hit hard at Engine 7, the Park Street firehouse where he worked nearly all of his career. Popular with fellow firefighters as well as children in the community. Ness was remembered as an animal lover with a heart of gold.
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Deadly intersection is about to get fixed
By John Basilesco
Staff Writer
HAMPSTEAD -- The Route 111 motorcycle crash that killed a Lawrence firefighter and seriously injured his girlfriend was no surprise for Joseph Guthrie.
What surprised the former selectman is that more people haven't been killed in crashes at the same intersection where Lawrence firefighter Jeffrey W. Ness was killed in a motorcycle crash Aug. 28.
The intersection of Route 111 and East Road -- labeled for years by town officials and police as one of the town's most dangerous intersections -- is about to get a major fix-up in the form of turning lanes and full traffic lights to replace the blinking lights there now.
But it comes a little too late for Ness, said Guthrie, who worked with other town officials for years to turn the intersection improvement project into reality.
"We're probably fortunate that we haven't lost any more people there," Guthrie said. "It was identified as one of the worst intersections in town some five years ago. It's an accident waiting to happen and it still is until the project is finished."
The intersection is plagued by accidents caused when motorists on East Road get impatient and pull out into fast-moving oncoming traffic on Route 111, according to police.
Since 2000, there have been 46 crashes at the intersection, including many with serious injuries. This year alone, with three and a half months to go, there already have been 11 crashes, including last month's motorcycle fatal and a roll-over last Monday.
Some 14,000 motorists travel on Route 111 near East Road daily and that number is expected to reach 18,500 in the next 20 years.
Hampstead Police Chief Joseph Beaudoin Jr. said he's happy the long-awaited project is about to get underway.
"I think it will make a tremendous amount of difference toward making the intersection safer," Beaudoin said. "It's too bad the work wasn't done sooner. When the town decided to present warrant articles to voters to raise money for the town's share of the cost, we were told that would expedite the project. That was four years ago. We didn't think it would take four years before the work would begin."
Following four separate votes by Hampstead residents, including a vote last March, to cover the town's share of the $685,000 project, work is expected to begin soon, but the traffic lights are not expected to be installed until early next year.
The New Hampshire Governor's Executive Council gave its blessing to the project Tuesday when it approved awarding the contract to Busby Construction of Atkinson, the low bidder with a $685,000 price tag. In addition to the intersection improvements, the project includes some unrelated guardrail work on Route 111.
While Ness is the only one who has lost his life in a crash at the intersection, another Massachusetts man was killed on his motorcycle when he crashed about a third of mile from the intersection. A cross in memory of Robert Irving of Arlington, Mass., still marks the site of that crash on the side of the road in front of Village Square shopping plaza.
Guthrie said last month's fatal motorcycle crash affected him personally because he knew Ness' father, whom he played high school football with in the 1940s in North Andover.
State Police Sgt. Gary Wood said police are still trying to figure out what caused the motorcycle crash involving Ness.
"There was no collision," he said. "It is still being investigated. We still have witnesses to talk to. I don't want to speculate on the cause."
Beaudoin said Ness' girlfriend, Barbara DeFrancesco, should be able to shed light on what happened when she is well enough to talk about it.
DeFrancesco, 44, of Salem and Ness, 45, were thrown from his Harley-Davidson motorcycle at the intersection of Route 111 and East Road Aug. 28. The two were discovered lying on the pavement at about 7 p.m. by police responding to an anonymous phone call. Ness was pronounced dead of head injuries at Parkland Medical Center in Derry. DeFrancesco was airlifted to UMass Medical Center in Worcester, where she remains in serious condition. Authorities said Ness was not wearing a helmet and DeFrancesco was.
Like other town officials, Selectman Rick Hartung said he had hoped a full set of traffic lights at the intersection would have been installed by now. Currently, there is a blinking yellow light at the intersection for motorists traveling on Route 111 and a blinking red light for motorists on East Road.
Even though the lights won't be installed until early next year, the construction work itself to widen and add turning lanes should slow the traffic down on Route 111 and help reduce accidents.
Sgt. John Frazier said while the traffic lights will definitely make the intersection safer, there will still be accidents there. But the severity of the accidents will be dramatically reduced, he said.
"The number of accidents probably won't drop that much, but the severity of the injuries will," he said. "It will be the difference between a fender-bender and someone rolling his car over on Route 111."
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Family seeks answers in Lawrence motorcyclist's death
By John Basilesco
Staff Writer
The family of a Lawrence firefighter killed in an Aug. 28 motorcycle crash on Route 111 in Hampstead, N.H., is posting a $5,000 reward for help in catching the person who caused his death.
Jeffrey W. Ness, 44, a veteran firefighter, and his friend Barbara DeFrancesco, 44, of Salem were thrown from his Harley-Davidson motorcycle on Route 111 at East Road, and were discovered lying on the pavement about 7 p.m. by police responding to an anonymous phone call. Ness was pronounced dead with head injuries at Parkland Medical Center in Derry. DeFrancesco was airlifted to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, where she was in fair condition yesterday. She was initially in critical condition.
Ness' brother, John Ness, said the family believes someone caused Jeffrey Ness -- described as an experienced, cautious motorcycle driver -- to lose control, and they hope someone will step forward with information that will lead to the conviction of whomever caused the fatal crash.
The Ness family has posted reward notices at several Hampstead businesses -- including Hannaford Supermarket -- offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to a successful prosecution.
John Ness said police have told him they interviewed a motorist who saw the accident in her rearview mirror. The witness described a light-colored car traveling west on Route 111 turning left at the intersection onto East Road in front of Jeffrey Ness.
The motorist in the light-colored car fled from the accident down East Road toward Atkinson, according to the witness, John Ness said.
Hampstead Police Chief Joseph Beaudoin Jr. confirmed that a driver did tell police the day of the crash that she saw a light-colored car turning left onto East Road from Route 111 as Jeffrey Ness approached in his motorcycle. Beaudoin said he wasn't sure how close Ness was when the car made the left-hand turn.
John Ness said he hopes more witnesses will come forward with more information to help police solve the case.
The family is offering the reward to the first person who provides information that leads to the criminal conviction of the person that caused the accident and left the scene, John Ness said.
"Obviously, we want to find out who killed Jeff," his brother said. "Definitely, we want closure. I don't know how anybody could sleep with themselves at night knowing they did this."
There were dry conditions on the day of his brother's accident and it was still daylight when it happened.
"He was an experienced motorcycle driver, driving for about the past 25 years," Ness said. "He was an extremely cautious driver, who always traveled at the back of the pack on the far right-hand side of the road, always staying out of the middle of the road."
He was extra careful anytime anyone was riding with him, Ness said.
Three weeks ago, more than 500 friends, relatives and firefighters sat through a two-hour funeral service for Ness, a 16-year veteran of the Lawrence Fire Department. His younger brother, the Rev. Scott Ness, an Augustinian priest, delivered the homily, remembering his brother as someone who "did his good deeds in humble quiet ways."
John Ness said he and his family hope there's someone out there who saw his brother's fatal crash, or saw the car that caused it fleeing the scene who might come forward with information to solve the case.
Anyone who witnessed the crash, but didn't contact police, may believe they would get in trouble if they contacted police now. But, that's not the case, Ness said, and their information would be welcome.
"Please help us solve this crime" are the final words on the reward poster, which includes a color photograph of Ness' brother and DeFrancesco.
It's such a heavily traveled road, Ness said he hopes one or more people may have information that can help police. Anyone with information is asked to call Ness at the family business in Methuen at 978-683-5335.
The intersection of Route 111 and East Road is about to undergo a major change in the form of turning lanes and full traffic lights to replace the blinking lights there now. The intersection is plagued by accidents caused when motorists on East Road get impatient and pull out into fast-moving traffic on Route 111.
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