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Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial: How much are jurors paid?

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With a $40-a-day stipend, some jurors are saying they will face financial hardship if they are chosen to serve.

BOSTON - As jury selection enters its third week in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man accused of setting a bomb near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon, potential jurors must grapple with weighty issues like whether they can impose the death sentence. But they also face a more mundane question: Can I afford to serve on the jury?

Jurors in federal court in Boston are paid $40 for a seven-hour day. They are reimbursed 56 cents per mile for travel expenses and will be paid back for parking fees.

The median worker in the state earns $21 an hour, or $168 for an eight-hour day. Assuming the person does not work on the days he is on the jury, he would lose $128 a day.

In the Tsarnaev case, jurors will serve from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The trial is expected to last three or four months.

Federal law prohibits an employer from firing an employee for serving on a jury. But the law does not require an employer to pay an employee for the time they are serving - though some employers may do so.

Under federal law, U.S. District Court Judge George O'Toole will excuse a juror who faces "undue hardship," though interpreting that is up to the judge.

The financial dilemma is particularly acute for people who are self-employed, contract employees, or those paid on commission.

One self-employed potential juror who fixes phones and computers for a living said "things are tight now" financially. If he were on the jury, he said he would not be able to work much other than some remote work in the evenings. "It would be a pretty big hit, " he said. "If I was on the jury, I'm expecting it to be pretty tough."

A software programmer who works under contract told the judge that jury service could cost him $20,000.

People who work for companies are not immune from financial hardship either.

A woman who works in the office of a manufacturing plant said she will lose her salary if she serves. Asked if she had asked her employer about it, she responded, "I don't have to. I know the answer. It's a definite no."

Another woman said she is paid hourly for working 32 hours a week and gets employer-sponsored health benefits. If she is chosen for the jury, her boss told her she will have to repay the company for the cost of her health insurance. "I was like, for me doing my civic duty I owe thousands of dollars back? But that's what she told me," the woman said.

Jury selection started two weeks ago, when 1,350 jurors filled out questionnaires. On Thursday and Friday, 34 jurors returned for individual questioning, a process that will continue this week until 12 jurors and six alternates are selected.


Holyoke old and new to be displayed in pictures at mall, medal of honor recipients to Merry Go Round

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Three Holyoke recipients of the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor will be represented in photographs to be displayed at the mall.

HOLYOKE -- Old Holyoke and New Holyoke will be represented in photographs to be placed inside a display case next month at the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside.

"We're working on a display case at the mall for the month of February, displaying upbeat, positive pictures of Holyoke," Historical Commission Chairwoman Olivia Mausel said last week.

The display case will be outside the Best Buy store and is being provided by the mall for free, she said.

Among people, sites and subjects she expects will be shown on the pictures in the display case are local recipients of the U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor Raymond Beaudoin, after whom the Beaudoin Village apartment complex is named, John Mackenzie, after whom Mackenzie Field is named, and Joseph Muller, after whom the Muller Bridge is named; the CanalWalk at night, Holyoke Transportation Center, High Street near City Hall, the City Hall stained glass windows, Queen Anne-style homes from Fairfield Avenue and the Holyoke Merry Go Round, she said.

Donate canned food, get a free meal, at East Longmeadow eatery

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Coughlin's Place will give the food to Gray House, the Friends of the Homeless or Open Pantry Community Services.

Want to do a good deed and get a free meal at the same time?

For the rest of month, if you bring one of the following four groups of food to Coughlin's Place in East Longmeadow, your breakfast, or lunch that day, will be on the owners.

You may donate:

  • Four 16 ounce jars of peanut butter.
  • Four 24 oz. jars of Prego or Ragu spaghetti sauce and 2 boxes of pasta.
  • Eight cans of Progresso soup.
  • Ten 5 oz cans of tuna.

Ann Marie Duffy, co-owner of Coughlin's Place, at 182 North Main St., says this is the sixth or seventh year that she, and co-owner Dennis Madden have held their Canned Food Drive. It runs now until Jan. 31

2 Coughlin's  12015.jpgCoughlin's Place is seen at 182 North Main St., East Longmeadow. 

Duffy and Madden, in turn, will give the food to the Gray House, the Friends of the Homeless or Open Pantry Community Services, all in Springfield.

You will be given a free breakfast or lunch -- your choice -- Duffy says, on the day you bring in your food.

This year's drive, like most, Duffy says, has started off slowly, but if history is any indication, a lot of people will be taking advantage of it this week and next.

The restaurant will have been in business 27 years next month.

War on Poverty: Former Springfield Mayor Charles Ryan calls effort strong, positive, beneficial

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The War of Poverty in Springfield included the creation of the Springfield Action Commission, the city's anti-poverty agency that continues today under a new name.

SPRINGFIELD — Former Mayor Charles V. Ryan, 86, remembers the start of the national War on Poverty.

He should. He was on the front lines.

Ryan, the only mayor in Springfield history to serve multiple terms over the span of multiple decades, was mayor in 1964 when then-President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the War on Poverty. Ryan served three, two-year terms starting in January 1962 and another two terms beginning in January 2004.

Some observers still criticize the effort, saying poverty remains as deeply rooted in America today as it was in 1964, despite investments of billions of dollars.

Ryan has a different take, saying the War on Poverty was “very strong, very positive and very beneficial, and for the hundreds of cities across the nation, I think it has got to be a very significant help as it was here in Springfield."

Johnson did some “magnificent things” early in his administration, and the War on Poverty was one, Ryan said.

“I suppose that President Johnson felt he wanted to make an attack on something that would be a dramatic situation so he talked about a War on Poverty,” Ryan said. “Thing is, he went on further and really talked about its elimination or cure or (we) would make it a distant memory. That really didn’t happen.”

But people and families across the nation have benefited from the programs that grew out of the effort, and still do, ranging from Medicare to improvements in Social Security at that time, Ryan said.

090512_charles_ryan_wife_1963.JPG Charles V. Ryan and his wife, Joan, celebrated his re-election as mayor of Springfield in this November 1963 file photo. Ryan would be sworn in for a second term in January 1964, the same month President Lyndon Johnson talked about the War on Poverty in his State of the Union address to Congress.  

“Sometimes you can set your bar so high that you cannot achieve what you are talking about,” Ryan said. “In the long run, looking at the relationship between the federal and local government, one of the exciting bright spots in the last 50, 60 years, was Mr. Johnson’s so-called War on Poverty and the effects it had.”

Ryan, at the time that he was mayor in 1964, called Johnson’s declaration “a heartening step forward,” and said it represented a new and significant attack on poverty. He does not shy from those statements today.

As mayor, Ryan set the war in motion in Springfield by first appointing 34 people – mostly residents and some city officials – to serve on a citizens committee to coordinate local anti-poverty efforts.

In related action, Ryan was among officials who formally endorsed the creation of the Springfield Action Commission, serving as the city’s anti-poverty agency. That agency provided a range of assistance and social services to the poor, and last year celebrated its 50th anniversary.

The commission, however, was renamed Springfield Partners for Community Action, and revamped in the late 1990s after mismanagement threatened its future, according to news reports at the time. It now offers 18 programs.

Another program that tied in to the war on poverty was extensive urban renewal efforts, particularly in the North End and South End. Urban renewal helped improve the quality of life in the city including the demolition of hundreds of houses that were substandard and in basically slum condition, Ryan said.

Ryan said there were basically four pillars of the national War on Poverty: Three of the four pillars involved new or expanded federal programs and initiatives that continue today and seem to have widespread support, Ryan said.

The programs are: Medicare and Medicaid; food stamps; and the strengthening of Social Security, Ryan said.

The fourth pillar is more locally oriented programs aided by state and federal grants: programs such as Head Start, Vista, economic development and work relief, Ryan said.

Ryan said he recalls presidents back to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“In all that time, while we have had strong and weak presidents, bad and good presidents, we never really have had a president who either had the interest, the desire, or the courage to take on the problems of urban American in a way that Johnson attempted to do,” Ryan said.

The War on Poverty led by Johnson was part of the “enormous activities” undertaken by Johnson for domestic America, Ryan said. Ryan and his wife personally met Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, saying he believes he was among mayors from the largest 100 cities in the country meeting with Johnson on the War on Poverty initiative.

“He was the man who got it done, and probably in retrospect, no one else was on the scene that could have got it done,” Ryan said.


Springfield Partners for Community Action

Gallery preview 

Chicopee City Council to discuss proposed allocations for Uniroyal improvements, purchase of cruisers

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Masslive will report on the meeting in the comments of the story starting at 7:15 p.m.

CHICOPEE - The City Council will be deliberating about a number of financial orders, including a request for $185,000 to secure the historic administration building at the former Uniroyal factory, at its Tuesday meeting.

The council is scheduled to meet at 7:15 p.m. in the City Council Chambers on the fourth-floor of City Hall. The meeting will be preceded by a 6:30 p.m. briefing from Mayor Richard J. Kos.

During the meeting Kos will ask for a number of allocations including $44,652 to replace police cruisers. Other amounts requested are under $10,000 and include $4,500 for a census taker, $5,066 to pay a temporary wiring inspector and $6,814 to fund equipment mainly to improve the roads for the Department of Public Works.

The Council will also discuss proposals for "do not block the box" signs for driveways at the Sunoco Station and the Big Y Plaza, both on Montgomery Street.

Masslive will report on the meeting in the comments section of the story starting at 7:15 p.m.

Chicopee City Council agenda for Jan. 20, 2015

Stolen vehicles, mystery customer jolt Southwick towing contractor

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Like his boss, Wilder said he never knew KB's full name, but met him once at a scrap yard in Chicopee.

SPRINGFIELD - The driver for JL Towing wanted to make one thing perfectly clear: While hauling those 11 vehicles from parking lots in Springfield and Chicopee, he was just doing his job.

"I had no idea that I was stealing the cars," Christopher Wilder, 32, of Westfield, wrote in a statement to Springfield police on Feb. 24.

He also had no title, registration or bill of sale for the vehicles, but his boss, John Litwak, wanted them towed anyhow for a customer named KB, Wilder told police.

"He (Litwak) was handling the paperwork and money transactions with KB and my job was just to tow the cars," Wilder said.

Litwak, 47, of Southwick, is facing 11 counts of motor vehicle larceny and 3 counts of stealing parts from a motor vehicle.

The vehicles - ranging from a 1993 Mercury Cougar to a 2005 Ford Ranger - began disappearing from parking lots and side streets in early February and were traced to Litwak's towing and salvage lot on Sam West Road in Southwick.

Litwak pleaded innocent to 14 charges in Springfield District Court in July and faces up to 15 years in prison and fines of $15,000 on each larceny count.

He is president, chief executive officer and sole director of JL Towing Inc., according to state corporation records. Founded in 2006, the company provides roadside service and towing; vehicles are also crushed and sold for scrap metal.

The charges date back to Feb. 16 when Wilder towed four vehicles parked outside an Indian Orchard auto repair shop. Reviewing surveillance video the next morning, the staff spotted the logo for JL Towing on a flatbed truck that arrived at about 10:30 p.m. and towed the vehicles away.

Two days later,Springfield police detectives Edward Cass and James McCoy found the vehicles on Litwak's lot, according to a report filed by Cass.

Litwak, who allowed the detectives to search his lot without a warrant, acknowledged towing the four vehicles for a customer he knew only as KB, the report said..

During their search, detectives found more vehicles reported stolen from Indian Orchard and discovered that two others had already been crushed for scrap metal - all at the request of KB, Litwak said.

The stolen vehicles were towed from Litwak's lot, and detectives warned him not to tow or crush any more vehicles for KB.

After offering to help find the mystery customer, Litwak stopped cooperating and never provided copies of checks or bank statements supporting the existence of KB, according to police reports.

No one else has been charged in the case, court records show.

For his part, Wilder was the only driver for JL Towing and handled about 90 percent of the calls; the owner handled the rest, according a statement he gave police.

When picking up a car being sold for scrap metal, Wilder had the owner sign the title over to JL Towing and usually paid them on the spot, he told police.

That changed once he began towing for KB, who provided no paperwork and was never present when vehicles were towed, Wilder wrote in his statement.

"My understanding was that John got the paperwork for KB and in return paid him," Wilder said.

After learning the vehicles he towed from the Indian Orchard body shop were stolen, Wilder began questioning other tows he made for KB, according to his statement.

"I felt awful and was shocked," Wilder said, after police told him all of vehicles towed for KB were stolen.

Like his boss, Wilder said he never knew KB's full name, but met him once at a scrap yard in Chicopee.

KB was a "black and skinny male in his 30s" riding in a red mini-van driven by a Hispanic woman, Wilder said.

"Unfortunately, I have no idea what the true identity of KB is," he wrote.

During a pre-trial hearing last week, defense lawyer John F. Kavanaugh said
Litwak was an honest, if disorganized, business man duped by a dishonest customer.

Assistant District Attorney Daniel Daly disagreed, saying that Litwak victimized the vehicle owners and tied up law enforcement on a complicated, time-consuming case.

Judge Jacklyn Connly continued the case to March 10.

 

Islamic State group threatens to kill 2 Japanese hostages unless they receive $200M

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The Islamic State group threatened to kill two Japanese hostages Tuesday unless they receive $200 million in 72 hours

CAIRO (AP) -- The Islamic State group threatened to kill two Japanese hostages Tuesday unless they receive $200 million in 72 hours, directly demanding the ransom from Japan's premier during his visit to the Middle East. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to save the men, saying: "Their lives are the top priority."

However, Abe and other Japanese officials declined to discuss whether they'd pay the ransom for the captives, identified in an extremist video as Kenji Goto and Haruna Yukawa. Their kidnapping immediately recalled the 2004 beheading of a Japanese backpacker in Iraq, carried out by the Islamic State group's predecessor over Japan's involvement in the U.S.-led war there.

Tuesday's video, identified as being made by the Islamic State group's al-Furqan media arm and posted on militant websites associated with the extremist group, mirrored other hostage threats it has made. Japanese officials said they would analyze the tape to verify its authenticity, though Abe offered no hesitation as he pledged to free the men while speaking to journalists in Jerusalem.

"It is unforgivable," said Abe, now on a six-day visit to the Middle East with more than 100 government officials and presidents of Japanese companies. He added: "Extremism and Islam are completely different things."

In the video, the two men appear in orange jumpsuits with a rocky hill in the background, a masked militant dressed in black standing between them. The scene resembles others featuring the five hostages previously beheaded by the Islamic State group, which controls a third of Iraq and Syria.

"To the prime minister of Japan: Although you are more than 8,000 and 500 kilometers (5,280 miles) from the Islamic State, you willingly have volunteered to take part in this crusade," says the knife-brandishing militant, who resembles and sounds like a British militant involved in other filmed beheadings. "You have proudly donated $100 million to kill our women and children, to destroy the homes of the Muslims ... and in an attempt to stop the expansion of the Islamic State, you have also donated another $100 million to train the (apostates)."

The militant's comments likely refer to money Abe pledged while in Egypt to help Iraq's government and aid Syrian refugees.

Abe said he would send Yasuhide Nakayama, a deputy foreign minister, to Jordan to seek the country's support and to resolve the hostage crisis. The premier also said the Israeli government, which Japan promised Sunday to cooperate with on counterterrorism, are sharing information to aid in the hostage crisis. The Israeli prime minister's office declined to comment.

Speaking in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga also declined to say whether Japan would pay the ransom.

"If true, the act of threat in exchange of people's lives is unforgivable and we feel strong indignation," Suga told journalists. "We will make our utmost effort to win their release as soon as possible."

Yukawa, a 42-year-old private military company operator, was kidnapped in Syria in August after going there to train with militants, according to a post on a blog he kept. Pictures on his Facebook page show him in Iraq and Syria in July. One video on his page showed him holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle with the caption: "Syria war in Aleppo 2014."

"I cannot identify the destination," Yukawa wrote in his last blog post. "But the next one could be the most dangerous." He added: "I hope to film my fighting scenes during an upcoming visit."

Nobuo Kimoto, an adviser to Yukawa's company, told Japanese public television station NHK that he had worried "something like this could happen sooner or later."

"I was afraid that they could use Yukawa as a card," Kimoto said.

Goto, 47, is a respected Japanese freelance journalist who went to report on Syria's civil war last year.

"I'm in Syria for reporting," Goto wrote in an email to an Associated Press journalist in October. "I hope I can convey the atmosphere from where I am and share it."

The Islamic State group has beheaded and shot dead hundreds of captives -- mainly Syrian and Iraqi soldiers -- during its sweep across the two countries, and has celebrated its mass killings in extremely graphic videos. The group also beheaded American hostages James Foley and Peter Kassig, Israeli-American Steven Sotloff, and British captives David Haines and Alan Henning.

The group still holds British photojournalist John Cantlie, who has appeared in other extremist propaganda videos, and a 26-year-old American woman captured last year in Syria while working for aid groups. U.S. officials have asked that the woman not be identified out of fears for her safety.

Tuesday's video marks the first time an Islamic State group message publicly has demanded cash. The extremists requested $132.5 million (100 million euros) from Foley's parents and political concessions from Washington, though neither granted them during months of negotiations before his killing, U.S. authorities say.

The Islamic State group has suffered recent losses in airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition, and with global oil prices being down, their revenue from selling stolen oil likely has dropped as well. The extremists also have made money from extortion, illicit businesses and other gangland-style criminal activity.

Its militants also recently released some 200 mostly elderly Yazidi hostages in Iraq, fueling speculation by Iraqi officials that the group didn't have the money to care for them.

Japan relies on the Middle East for most of the crude oil it needs to run the world's third-largest economy. It also has been working to build wider economic ties in the region, like with Abe's current Mideast tour.

This is Abe's second Mideast hostage crisis since becoming prime minister. Two years ago, al-Qaida-affiliated militants attacked an Algerian natural gas plant and the ensuing four-day hostage crisis killed 29 insurgents and 37 foreigners, including 10 Japanese who were working for a Yokohama-based engineering company, JCG Corp. Seven Japanese survived.

In 2004, followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq beheaded Japanese backpacker Shosei Koda and wrapped his body in an American flag over Japan having troops in Iraq doing humanitarian work. A video by al-Zarqawi's group, which later became the Islamic State group, showed Koda begging Japan's then-prime minister to save him.

Feminists cheer as bare breasts disappear from UK tabloid The Sun

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The Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid has featured topless models on its third page for almost 45 years, but none has appeared in the paper since Friday.

LONDON (AP) -- Feminists are rejoicing at the disappearance of bare breasts from the British tabloid The Sun -- though the newspaper is not confirming whether the decision to ditch its infamous "Page 3 girls" is permanent.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid has featured topless models on its third page for almost 45 years, but none has appeared in the paper since Friday.

The Sun has declined to comment on the change, but the Murdoch-owned Times of London reported Tuesday that the feature had been dropped from the paper's print edition. It said the Sun website would continue to feature topless models.

Labour Party lawmaker Stella Creasy said she was glad to see the end of a feature that told women "that what mattered, frankly, were our breasts, not our brains."


Vermont State Police: Proctor man, arrested for domestic assault, rolls out of cruiser enroute to Rutland barracks

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The incident began shortly before 9:30 p.m. on Monday.

PROCTOR, Vt. -- A 31-year-old Proctor man, arrested by state police on a charge of domestic assault and other charges Monday night, somehow managed to unlatch his seatbelt and a cruiser door and roll out into the street at a stop sign as he was being taken to the Rutland barracks for processing.

State police regained custody of the suspect without incident and this time he was placed into a cruiser with a rear cage.

The suspect, however, began banging his head head against the windows and shattered one of them after repeatedly kicking it, state police said.

The incident began shortly before 9:30 p.m. when troopers were summoned to a domestic dispute in which the suspect assaulted a female and broke a phone a telephone to prevent her from calling 911.

The suspect, Matthew Hathaway, fled in a vehicle before troopers arrived but returned after they left and attempted to break into the home, state police said

The suspect fled again before troopers returned to the home. He was arrested, however, about 30 minutes later near the female's home.

Hathaway was charged with domestic assault, unlawful mischief, escape and interference with access to emergency services. He was held overnight in lieu of $25,000 cash bail.

Boston police make arrest in slaying of artist

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Ritcher Baez is facing a murder charge in connection with the death of 40-year-old Pippin Roe.

BOSTON (AP) -- Boston police have made an arrest in connection with the mysterious death of an artist last summer.

Police say 24-year-old Ritcher Baez was arrested Monday in New York City.

Baez is facing a murder charge in connection with the death of 40-year-old Pippin Roe.

Roe's body was found in a wooded area of Boston's Roxbury neighborhood on July 13. Although the body showed no obvious signs of trauma, her death was ruled a homicide.

According to her obituary, Roe had studied in Boston and Amsterdam and graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute. She had recently won an award from the Fitchburg Art Museum.

It's unclear when Baez would return to Massachusetts. It was not known if he has a lawyer.

Mark Wahlberg's victims divided over his pardon request

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Victims of one of Mark Wahlberg's racially motivated attacks as a teenage delinquent in segregated Boston in the 1980s are divided over whether he should be granted a pardon for his crimes.

PHILIP MARCELO, Associated Press
RODRIQUE NGOWI, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) -- Victims of one of Mark Wahlberg's racially motivated attacks as a teenage delinquent in segregated Boston in the 1980s are divided over whether he should be granted a pardon for his crimes.

Kristyn Atwood was among a group of mostly black fourth-grade students on a field trip to the beach in 1986 when Wahlberg and his white friends began hurling rocks and shouting racial epithets as they chased them down the street.

"I don't think he should get a pardon," Atwood, now 38 and living in Decatur, Georgia, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"I don't really care who he is. It doesn't make him any exception. If you're a racist, you're always going to be a racist. And for him to want to erase it I just think it's wrong," she said.

Mary Belmonte, the white teacher who brought the students to the neighborhood beach that day, sees things differently. "I believe in forgiveness," she said. "He was just a young kid -- a punk -- in the mean streets of Boston. He didn't do it specifically because he was a bad kid. He was just a follower doing what the other kids were doing."

Wahlberg's VictimsView full sizeIn this Dec. 15, 2014 photo, Mary Belmonte reviews newspaper clippings she had collected about Mark Wahlberg at her home in Westwood, Mass. Belmonte, a retired teacher, spoke about a 1986 incident where she was escorting 9- and 10-year-old students to Savin Hill beach when Mark Wahlberg and his friends attacked them with rocks and racial epithets. Belmonte said Wahlberg should be considered for a pardon for a separate attack two years later on a pair of Asian men, if he apologizes to his victims. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) 
The 43-year-old former rapper, Calvin Klein model and "Boogie Nights" actor wants official forgiveness for a separate, more severe attack in 1988, in which he assaulted two Vietnamese men while trying to steal beer. That attack sent one of the men to the hospital and landed Wahlberg in prison.

Wahlberg, in a pardon application filed in November and pending before the state parole board, acknowledges he was a teenage delinquent mixed up in drugs, alcohol and the wrong crowd. He points to his ensuing successful acting career, restaurant ventures and philanthropic work with troubled youths as evidence he's turned his life around.

"I have apologized, many times," he told the AP in December. "The first opportunity I had to apologize was right there in court when all the dust had settled and I was getting shackled and taken away, and making sure I paid my debt to society and continue to try and do things that make up for the mistakes that I've made."

Court documents in the 1986 attack identify Wahlberg among a group of white boys who harassed a school group as they were leaving Savin Hill Beach in Dorchester, a mixed but segregated Boston neighborhood that had seen racial tensions during the years the city was under court-ordered school integration.

The boys chased the black children down the street, hurling rocks and racial epithets including "Kill the n-----s!" until an ambulance driver intervened. Wahlberg was 15 at the time.

Atwood still bears a scar from getting hit by a rock. No one was seriously injured, but the attack left other invisible -- and indelible -- scars.

"I was really scared. My heart was beating fast. I couldn't believe it was happening. The names. The rocks. The kids chasing," Belmonte told the AP.

Wahlberg and two other white youths were issued a civil rights injunction: essentially a stern warning that if they committed another hate crime, they would be sent to jail.

In 1988, Wahlberg, then 16, attacked two Vietnamese men while trying to steal beer near his Dorchester home.

According to the sentencing memorandum, he confronted Thanh Lam, a Vietnamese immigrant, as he was getting out of his car with two cases of beer. Wahlberg called Lam a "Vietnamese f------ s---" and beat him over the head with a 5-foot wooden stick until Lam lost consciousness and the rod broke in two.

Documents say Wahlberg ran up to another Vietnamese man, Hoa Trinh, and asked for help hiding. After a police cruiser drove past, he punched Trinh in the eye. Later, he made crude remarks about "slant-eyed gooks."

Wahlberg ultimately was convicted of assault and battery, marijuana possession and criminal contempt for violating the prior civil rights injunction. Trinh declined to be interviewed by AP, and efforts to locate Lam were unsuccessful.

Judith Beals, a former state prosecutor involved in the cases, said Wahlberg's crimes stand out because he violated the injunction with an even more violent attack on people of yet another race.

"It was a hate crime and that's exactly what should be on his record forever," Atwood said.

___

AP reporters Johnny Clark in Atlanta, Steve LeBlanc in Boston and John Carucci in New York contributed to this report.

State police continue to investigate pickup truck accident that fatally injured 50-year-old man on Swamp Road in Richmond

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The accident was reported about 7:50 p.m. on Sunday night.

RICHMOND -- State police continue to investigate a pickup truck accident that fatally injured a 50-year-old Richmond man on Swamp Road Sunday night.

State police identified the victim as Michael Renzi. The accident was reported about 7:50 p.m.

The Associated Press reported that Renzi was thrown from his pickup, a 2013 Ford F-150.
Emergency personnel performed CPR on Renzi before taking him to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, where he died, according to the Associated Press.

Lip-syncing 'Taylor Swift' cop drives Internet wild (Video)

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The video, a public affairs production of the Dover Police Department, shows Master Cpl. Jeff Davis singing along with Taylor Swift as he drives around town.

Police and cameras don't always get along.

We know too well, that some police actions bring out protesters by the droves.

But a Police Department in Delaware has posted a hysterical of lip-synching cop rocking to the tune of Taylor Swift's latest pop hit, "Shake it Off."

As of Saturday, more than 1.3 million views had been recorded on YouTube, and countless others were seeing it via Facebook, Twitter and other websites, according to the New York Daily News.

When cuing up the video you see the following message:

"While reviewing in car cameras, we tend to see some "interesting" things ...

"We decided to share some of them with you in a new series called ...

Dash Cam Confessionals"

The video, a public affairs production of the Dover Police Department, shows Master Cpl. Jeff Davis singing along with Taylor Swift as he drives around town.

According to the Daily News, the Police Department made the video to show that police are human, just like everyone else and are friends to the community, despite all the controversy that has erupted in places like Missouri, New York and Cleveland.

MassLive's sister website, NJ.com, noted yesterday that the number of YouTube hits had grown to over 14.6 million as of Monday.

Davis, a native of Woodbury, N.J., said the video was originally produced and recorded to create some local publicity. No one anticipated the kind of reaction it ultimately received, he said.

"It's been a little crazy around here -- a bit of a whirlwind for me and my family -- but we're taking it one day at a time," Davis told NJ.com. "The video was something the department wanted to do just for the 10,000 people who've liked us on Facebook. But we never thought it would get so viral."

Davis said he was chosen to star in the video because "I'm kind of a goofball, and everyone knows me as the funny person in the department."

"What could be funnier than a 48-year-old fat guy jamming to Taylor Swift," public affairs officer Mark Hoffman told the Christian Science Monitor. "Jeff Davis is kind of the class clown of the force and I knew he'd be game to do it."

While the officer said he is a Taylor Swift fan, the reason he knows all the words to the song is because of his 10-year-old daughter, Gabrielle.

"My daughter's a bigger fan of her, but I've listened to the songs all the time with her, so I knew all the words already," he said.

Davis is seen in full uniform, sitting behind the wheel of his cruiser, with music blaring from its speakers, and he sings:

"I stay out too late. Got nothing in my brain. That's what people say, mmm-mmm. That's what people say, mmm-mmm."

Yes, he lip-synchs, and his head tills and he rolls his eyes while covering his chest with his hand. He's practically dancing in his seat.

Every now and then, he sees someone passing by and gets serious for a second. Then, he's right back in character with the singer.

The video took 45-minutes and two takes to make, with very little editing, Hoffman told the Monitor.

And what does Swift, herself, think of all the hoopla?

Well, according to another of MassLive's sister websites, Syracuse.com, she loves it.

"LOLOLOLOL THE SASS," she posted on Twitter late Sunday night.

Western Mass. lawmakers want to study Boston to Springfield high-speed rail

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A bill sponsored by newly elected State Sen. Eric Lesser, a Longmeadow Democrat, would require the Department of Transportation to study "the costs and economic, social and cultural benefits" of a Boston-Springfield rail line.

A coalition of lawmakers from Western Massachusetts is pushing for a study of the feasibility of expanded Boston to Springfield high-speed rail.

A bill sponsored by newly elected state Sen. Eric Lesser, a Longmeadow Democrat, would require the Department of Transportation to submit a report by Aug. 1, 2015, that includes "an examination and evaluation of the costs and economic, social and cultural benefits" to the Greater Springfield region and the state, according to a bill summary.

Lesser said Western Massachusetts has not experienced the same economic growth as the rest of the state over the last several years. A rail link, he said, could be a catalyst for growth. "We look at what are the big things we need to do to keep ourselves competitive, and one of most essential is we need to better integrate ourselves in the growing economies we have all around us, to our east, our south and our north," Lesser said. "If greater Springfield was better linked to those centers of economic opportunity, it will bring more benefits to us, allow us to bring and grow more jobs here and to raise property values."

Lesser has secured support from 16 senators and representatives from Western Massachusetts, of both political parties, and from state Sen. Thomas McGee, a Lynn Democrat who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee.

McGee said he thinks the study is part of a larger conversation the state needs to have about its transportation plan for the next five or 10 years. "We need to, as a commonwealth, talk about what do we see as our future, what investments we feel we should make to make sure our economy grows, and transportation is a part of that discussion," McGee said. McGee said he thinks it is important to talk with regional leaders and explore the impacts of the east-west rail line on Western Massachusetts and statewide.

Today, there is a single daily passenger train, Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, running between Boston and Springfield on its way to Chicago. The train ride takes 135 minutes – which in many cases is longer than a bus takes running along the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Train service is limited by the condition of the tracks and by the decision of CSX, the rail company that owns the tracks, to prioritize freight service so passenger trains have to wait for freight trains to pass. Timothy Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, called the existing rail line "antiquated," and said it is a circuitous track that would need a lot of work for a train to safely travel faster.

There used to be more rail service. In 1960, there were five trains a day between Boston and Springfield. Trains have come and gone over the years.

There have already been upgrades along part of the route. The state purchased tracks between Worcester and Boston in 2010, and track upgrades are expected to be finished by the summer. There is now regular MBTA service along that route.

The state's current capital plan, released under former Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, in 2013, envisions spending $362 million on expanded passenger rail between Boston and Springfield along the so-called "inland route." (The plan is the state's transportation vision but is only meaningful once it is funded.)

Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, has not yet taken a position on the rail line. He told The Republican/MassLive.com during his campaign that "it is worthwhile to explore the possibility of expanded passenger rail through a public-private partnership."

Brennan said he anticipates the final cost could be two or three times the amount included in the capital plan, due to the condition of the track. "This is going to be an expensive proposition," Brennan said.

Brennan said he thinks a study is necessary to measure the costs and benefits. While the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission until now was focused on getting a north-south rail line up and running, "We never wanted to lose sight of the fact that a connection to Boston would also be extraordinarily advantageous," Brennan said.

"Sen. Lesser is responding to the same things we heard, that there's keen interest about that opportunity and how it could open up economic development and job opportunities for the western portion of the commonwealth," Brennan said.

According to a Massachusetts Department of Transportation presentation, the 98-mile inland route could include stops in Boston, Framingham, Worcester, Palmer and Springfield. State transportation officials have said travel times could range from 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours and 18 minutes depending on the speed of the train and how many stops it makes. The route could also connect to an Amtrak route running to New York.

Currently, transportation departments in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont are conducting a study of the opportunities and impacts of more frequent and higher speed rail on the inland route and on a Boston to Montreal route. That group is looking at a variety of alternatives regarding how to implement rail – things like whether to upgrade train cars or buy new ones, whether to upgrade tracks and to accommodate what speeds, frequency of service, and whether to run express or local trains.

Lesser said his study would complement that broader study by focusing exclusively on the Springfield to Boston spur.

Lesser said the upcoming building in Springfield of an MGM casino resort and of a factory to build train cars, as well as the opening of a University of Massachusetts satellite center in the city, all make it more important for there to be a strong rail system.

Springfield is currently renovating Union Station.

Amtrak also recently started running one train daily along the "Knowledge Corridor" from Greenfield to Springfield. There has been talk among transportation advocates about trying to add more service to make taking that train feasible for commuters.

Additionally, Boston has been selected as the United States' bid city for the 2024 Olympics. Rail advocates in New Hampshire are already talking about an Olympic bid spurring movement on passenger rail between Boston and Concord, according to the Concord Monitor. Western Massachusetts advocates say the Olympic bid makes a Springfield to Boston rail line more urgent as well.

"It's something I think many people have talked about for awhile, and now is the time," said state Sen. James Welch, a West Springfield Democrat.

With the expansion of an east-west rail link, Lesser said, "You really have an opportunity to reestablish Springfield as the crossroads of New England."

Josh Ostroff, outreach director of Transportation for Massachusetts, a transportation advocacy group, said he wants to make sure the two Department of Transportation studies are not duplicative. But, Ostroff said, "In broad terms, we're very enthusiastic about any legislative initiative to study and fund improved rail transportation. Whether it terminates in Springfield or Pittsfield, we want to make it easier for people to move around the state."

Wet Pets at Barking Bubbles Dog Spa in Granby: Photos

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Assistant groomer Denise Sarna can spend her day bathing over a dozen pooches, some as small as a football and others that need two people for a lift into the tub.

GRANBY, Mass. — Some dogs love the water. Others, not so much. But they all end up lathered up and soaking wet when they go for a grooming at Barking Bubbles Dog Spa.

Assistant groomer Denise Sarna can spend her day bathing over a dozen pooches, some as small as a football and others that need two people for a lift into the tub.

Always checking that the water is temperate, Sarna directs the nozzle over each Fido and whispers sweet nothings to them. Most of the time her clients are calm and compliant, but almost every bath is interrupted by that "get this water off of me" shake that all dogs do. When that happens, Sarno turns her head, the dog shakes away, and things get back to normal.

Sporting names like Astro, Harmony, Harley, Bentley, Cali, and Cooper, they all take on a new look when the water meets the fur. Most appear to have lost a few pounds as their fur loses its fluff. As Sarna lathers them up a certain comical mask takes over, many looking like a bearded man about to shave.

A few minutes of blow drying and the pups are ready for their final haircuts.

Shop owner Angela Gaj has the scars to prove that it's not always fun and games at "The Spa". Currently sporting scratches from dog nails on her hand, the 26-year-old says the only reason she hasn't been bitten on the job is because she still has quick reflexes.

Gaj has been in the business for nine years and likes to talk about the satisfaction she gets when a dog comes in for a grooming that is long overdue and is in rough cosmetic shape. When she hands a gorgeous, perfectly coiffed pet back to its owner, all the scratches, nips and water shakes seem worth it.


War on Poverty: Efforts earn mixed reviews from state Rep. Benjamin Swan of Springfield

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By the time the federal government declared its war on drugs, the optimism that marked the early days of Johnson’s anti-poverty campaign had long since faded.

SPRINGFIELD – When the War on Poverty was rolled out in 1964, community activist Benjamin Swan had mixed feelings about the landmark government campaign to help the poor.

More than 50 years later, he still does.

The city “is not as bad as it was and it’s not as good as it should be,” Swan, who is serving his 11th term as a state legislator, said summing up the program’s impact on Springfield.

Launched by President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of the Great Society initiative, the War on Poverty expanded education, health, housing and economic opportunities for the more than 20 percent of American living in poverty in the early 1960s.

“The richest nation on earth can afford to win it. We cannot afford to lose it,” Johnson said while announcing his anti-poverty campaign during his January 1964 State of the Union address.

“Our aim is not only to relieve the symptoms of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it," he added.

But the ambitions of the Johnson administration quickly collided with reality of the 1960s, from political and racial unrest to the rapid escalation of the Vietnam War.

By the decade’s end, the Vietnam War was a top national priority, siphoning money and momentum from the Johnson’s anti-poverty initiative.

benjamin_swan_state_house.JPGState Rep. Benjamin Swan, who began serving as a representative from Springfield in 1994 and continues today, appears in this undated photo in front of the Massachusetts State House. 


As a young civil rights activist, Swan watched programs like Head Start, Job Corps, Vista, and Model Cities come to life in Springfield, funded by the newly created U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity and governed by community boards.

On a national level, Medicaid, Medicare and an expansion of Social Security benefits – three of the best-known elements of the campaign – were designed to help a cross-section of Americans. Along with winning passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts, they are considered the crowning achievements of Johnson’s presidency.

Not all the early programs survived, however – Model Cities was abolished in the mid-1970s, and the Office of Economic Opportunity was overhauled by President Richard Nixon and scrapped by President Ronald Reagan.

By the 1980s, the root causes of poverty were changing, as the crack cocaine epidemic proved. Once peaceful neighborhoods were transformed by drug violence, broken families and boarded up homes – creating social and economic turmoil that Johnson administration had never envisioned.

“Fifty years ago, I knew one junkie – everybody knew who he was” said Swan, adding that drug-related burglaries and home invasions were equally rare.

“You could go away for the weekend and not worry about somebody breaking in and stealing your television,” he added.

By the time the federal government declared its war on drugs, the optimism that marked the early days of Johnson’s anti-poverty campaign had long since faded.

Still, many of the programs – from Head Start and Job Corps to the so-called Title 1 federal funding program for low-income school districts – have endured, though few associate them with the War on Poverty, the Springfield legislator said.

To Swan, the campaign’s real value was getting people involved in their community – whether serving on governing boards of local anti-poverty agencies, joining the civil rights movement or participating in local politics.

“People started advocating for what they believed in; they started speaking up,” Swan said.

“And that was a good thing,” he added.

42 Design Fab Studios in Springfield builds wonderlands with lions, trees and Celtics greats

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The company's projects include an ATM on Route 2 in Greenfield and displays at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

SPRINGFIELD — In the world of 42 Design Fab Studio, playful lion cubs light up as inquisitive children approach, money doesn't grow on trees but is dispensed through trees, Celtics great Bob Cousy is forever driving to the hoop and the worlds of nature, history and sports come alive through a setting that invites visitors to touch, experience and learn.

"We use a physical environment to tell a story," said 42 Design Fab Studio co-owner Todd Harris.

And soon, that story will be Springfield's story. The owners and mangers of the Springfield Riverfront Redevelopment that includes the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame building has hired 42 Design Fab Studio to build rolling kiosks to replace the storefront William C. Sullivan Tourist information Center at the Hall of Fame's main concourse. The tourist center space has been taken over by an office tenant, and building management has hired 42 Design Studios to build the rolling kiosks with graphic displays to replace the hastily arranged literature racks put up when the Sullivan Center closed.

42 Design Fab Studio, located at the Indian Orchard Mills complex, makes exhibits, themed environments and customer creations. Clients include museums and other institutions; homeowners, including someone who wanted a realistic stone waterfall for an indoor pool; and businesses seeking marketing exhibits for trade shows, corporate lobbies and showplaces. 42 Design Fab Studio builds dioramas and interactive electro-mechanical exhibits.

The company does its own wood and metal working, metal casting and fiberglass and acrylic work. Many creations are done in carved foam.

Founded four years ago by Harris, an engineer, and artist Jack Kacian, 42 Design Fab Studios has seven employees.

Business is good, Harris said. Museums have restarted projects and renovations they shelved when the recession hit. Institutions doing new exhibits or expansions are calling on 42 to get building.

"The philanthropy money is flowing now," he said. "All those organizations that pulled back when the recession hit are moving forward."

The displays they can build for trade shows can take just about any shape or size.

"If you want your ball valve blown up to 100 times its normal size and made into a 3D model so everyone can see it, we are your people," Harris said.

The company has two locations within the Indian Orchard Mills complex. Upstairs they have design studios, offices and a workshop. Downstairs, Kacian was sculpting playful lion cubs a few weeks ago.

He'd eventually form the cubs as hollow sculptures using a rotary molding machine. The lion cubs are destined for the new children's wing at the Boston Public Library. A play on the famous lion sculptures out front, these guys will stalk and climb on oversize wooden books to add a bit of whimsy.

Once installed, the lion cubs will have lights, Harris said. Some will be triggered by motion: As a child approaches, the lion cub will change color. Or, librarians can change the light on the cubs to coordinate programming. Imagine a librarian going on the public-address system:

"It's story time ... meet me by the blue lion," Harris said by way of example. "The blue lion is having story time in a few minutes."

The company has worked for the Basketball Hall of Fame before, creating wall-sized displays featuring Cousy and other greats.

As Hall of Fame broadcaster Dick Vitale, himself the subject of a 42 Design Fab Studio display, would exclaim: "That's awesome, baby, with a capital A!"

42 Design Fab Studio built a huge Rube Goldberg collection of ramps and augers so children at the SEE Science Center in Manchester, New Hampshire, can learn about physics. They worked with Small Corp. in Greenfield to build displays for the Hall of Humans and "Lizards and Snakes: Alive!" at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Greenfield Savings Bank wanted something different for an ATM on the Route 2 Mohawk Trail. So 42 Design Fab Studio built an ATM that looks like a giant tree. For added fun, Kacian included dozens of "Easter egg" sculptures in the tangle of tree roots.


Superintendent welcomes state education officials to Holyoke; review conducted in city schools through Friday

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State education officials arrived in the Paper City Tuesday morning for the first day of the Holyoke Public Schools review.

HOLYOKE -- State education officials arrived in the Paper City Tuesday morning for the first day of the Holyoke Public Schools review.

Though the state was scheduled to review the progress of Holyoke Public Schools late in the school year, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education moved the review up from April to this month.

During the four days in Holyoke, the review team will meet with public school administrators, members of the school committee, local officials, school parents and visit several city classrooms.

On Tuesday morning, the group met with Superintendent of Schools Sergio Paez. During the meeting, Paez said he showcased changes in the district since he was appointed 18 months ago.

Such changes include the Holyoke Early Learning Initiative (HELI,) which seeks to increase early literacy rates in the city, and more professional development for Holyoke teachers. HELI was named a 2014 Gateway Cities Innovation award winner in September. This year the amount of professional development training undergone by teachers doubled - increasing from 24 hours to 48. Paez said he also proud of the decreased suspension and dropout rates, 45 percent drop and 38 percent decrease respectively.

At the Holyoke School Committee meeting Tuesday night, Paez spoke of meeting Massachusetts Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Mitchell D. Chester.

"His first message to me was that we need some radical changes in Holyoke," Paez said, of the conversation.

Since then, Paez said he believes he has been aggressively attempting to make positive change but that it has been "too short of an amount of time to turnaround the district."

Additionally, he said he doesn't believe that if the state placed the district in receivership, it could make such changes in a similar timeframe.

While highlighting what he considers significant progress in the district since he became superintendent, Paez said he's "not making any excuses" for low performance reviews.

For the past four years, only one in three Holyoke Public School students have scored proficient or above on Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exams.

Though dropout rates have decreased, graduation rates are still much lower than the state average, 84.7 percent according to 2011-2012 numbers. Overall in Holyoke, the graduation rate for that school year was 52.8 percent. Latino students - which make up a large portion of the public school student population - have a graduation rate of 42.6 percent. Students with disabilities graduate at 26.1 percent and 23.1 percent of English language learner students graduate high school.

Internal turnaround efforts focus on raising achievement levels of students learning English and those with disabilities. The key to doing so, according to Paez's plan is through professional development training teachers to better help such students.

Through such efforts, Paez said he sees progress. "I believe we are transforming Holyoke."

 

Bail set at $25,000 for pair charged with possessing 25 pounds of marijuana

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Serrazina's lawyer said she had no criminal record, and worked until recently with the state Department of Mental Health.

SPRINGFIELD - A judge set bail at $25,000 Tuesday for two defendants arrested when police raided a basement marijuana growing operation, seizing more than 25 pounds of marijuana, a rifle and fireworks from an East Forest Park home.

Daniel Duncan, 31, and Diane Serrazina, 30, pleaded innocent to manufacturing a Class D substance, marijuana; possession of marijuana with intent to distribute; possession of firearm without a license, and possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card during their arraignment in Springfield District Court.

Assistant District Attorney Jill O'Connor said the defendants lived at 147 Garland St. and conducted a sophisticated marijuana-growing operation in the basement.

In addition to 168 marijuana plants in different stages of growth, two large bags of marijuana weighing 23 pounds and seven bags of marijuana packaged for street sales, narcotics detectives found hydroponic lights, timers, blowers, ballast boxes, scales and packaging material, the prosecutor told Judge William Boyle.

More than $12,500 in cash, a .22 caliber Mossberg rifle and ammunition, and several boxes of fireworks were also seized Monday during the raid, according to O'Connor, who asked the judge to impose $25,000 cash bail for each defendant.

But Duncan's defense lawyer said his client knew nothing about the rifle, and Serrazina's lawyer said she had no connection to the drugs or the gun.

Both defendants were kept in an upstairs bedroom while police searched the home, and the rifle was found in a downstairs bedroom, possibly belonging to Duncan's father, lawyer Jon Helpa said.

Duncan lost his job with a plumbing supply outlet and now ears about $750 a month working for a vending machine company, according to Helpa, who said his client has no criminal convictions.

"What you have here is a marijuana distribution case," he said.

Serrazina's lawyer said she had no criminal record, and worked until recently with the state Department of Mental Health. Before her arrest, she was planning on enrolling in the nursing program at Springfield Technical Community College.

Serrazina lives in Ludlow, and had no role or even knowledge of the marijuana plants in the basement, the lawyer said.

Boyle granted the prosecutor's request and set bail at $25,000 for both defendants.

Bakers disagree on whether to make cakes for gay-marriage ceremonies

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While a baker in Denver is refusing to write anti-gay marriages on cakes, in Lakewood, another is refusing bake cakes for such ceremonies.

Maybe it's something the good people of Colorado are smoking. Maybe it's the thin mountain air.

But whatever it is, two bakers have taken opposite stances on whether to bake cakes to commemorate gay weddings.

In Denver, one baker under investigation for discrimination. But before you jump to the conclusion that he is being accused of discriminating against gay people, be prepared for a 180 degree turn.

According to USA Today, the owner of the Azucar Bakery is being investigated because he refused to write anti-gay words on a cake.

Owner Marjorie Silva told the newspaper that in March, a customer requested several cakes in the shapes of Bibles from her bakery.

She said the customer wanted messages like "God hates gays" decorated on his cakes. She said the customer also wanted an image of two men holding hands with an "X" on top.

The customer wouldn't allow her employees to make a copy of the paper, and for that matter, would not repeat the words out loud himself, she said.

"After I read it, I was like 'No way,'" Silva was quoted by the newspaper as saying. "'We're not doing this. This is just very discriminatory and hateful.'"

In a statement to a KUSA-TV, NBC9 in Denver, Bill Jack, a founder of Worldview Adacemy, which, according to its website is a "non-denominational organization dedicated to helping Christians think and live in accord with Biblical views," maintained he is being discriminated against.

So Jack filed a discrimination complaint with the civil rights division of the state Department of Regulatory Agencies. If the agency feels Jack was discriminated against, the case could move to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

When the television station asked him some questions about the order he wanted to place, he refused to reply, but issued the following statement:

"I believe I was discriminated against by the bakery based on my creed. As a result, I filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights division. Out of respect for the process, I will wait for the director to release his findings before making further comments."

Not far from Denver, a baker in Lakewood, Colo., took an very different stance. Jack Phillips refused to bake a cake for a male couple who were getting married.

According to the New York Times, Phillips makes lots of different kinds of cakes. But he won't make a Halloween themed cake at his Masterpiece Cakeshop. He won't erotic-themed cakes and won't bake cakes for same-sex weddings because his faith believes that homosexuality is wrong.

And guess what: He's headed for court because of his refusal to bake a cake for two men in 2012.

"The refusals by the religious merchants -- bakers, florists and photographers, for example -- have been taking place for several years," the Times reports. "But now local governments are taking an increasingly hard line on the issue, as legislative debates over whether to protect religious shop owners are overtaken by administrative efforts to punish them."

In Phillips' case, the state Civil Rights Commission determined that he had violated state law banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation "in places of public accommodation," according to the Times.

The commission ordered Phillips produce a quarterly report detailing any orders he refuses. As a result, he has stopped taking orders for any wedding cakes until the case is settled.

"I do like doing the wedding cakes," he told the Times. "But I don't like having the government tell me which ones I can make and which ones I can't make, and trying to control that part of my life."

Other instances of businesses refusing to provide services for same-sex weddings, according to the Times, include a photographer in New Mexico, a florist in Washington State, a bakery in Oregon, an inn in Vermont, wedding chapels in Idaho and in Nevada and a wedding planner in Arizona.

The only thing that seems clear in all of this is that the debate over gay marriage will undoubtedly continue even after Unites States Supreme Court rules on the issue.

 
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