MIDDLEBURY — Art Howard was happily tapping away on his computer at 7 a.m. on June 21 when he heard a knock at the door. It was Middlebury Police Officer Chris Mason. “I jokingly said, ‘I didn’t do it,’” Howard said in reaction to the officer’s impromptu visit. Now 74 and temporarily confined to a wheelchair, Howard certainly hadn’t been on a crime spree. But his good-natured joshing quickly evaporated when he saw that Mason wasn’t playing along with the joke. “He looked at me and I could tell it wasn’t goo … (read more)