A 13-yer-old hiker was air lifted from the Chapel Brook reservation in Ashfield Saturday afternoon after he slid 80 feet down a steep slope near Chapel Ledge.

Dave Canton | dcanton@repub.com 

Conway Deputy Fire Chief Adam Baker said the boy slid about 80 feet down a steep slope next to the 100-foot high ledges, and was conscious when first responders got to him, according to the Greenfield Recorder.

Witnesses told the paper that the boy was hiking with his family on Pony Mountain at about 3 p.m. when the accident happened. The boy apparently lost his footing and slid down the slope, but did not respond to calls from his family.

Rescuers from police and fire departments in Conway, Ashfield, Goshen, Greenfield, Turner Falls and the Massachusetts State Police responded to the scene. Members of the Western Massachusetts Technical Rescue Team also responded.

The boy was carried to the trail head and transported by the Highland ambulance to a nearby field where a LifeFlight helicopter was able to land. The boy was flown to a local hospital for treatment. His condition was unknown.

Three New York men were arrested with almost 1,000 gallons of used cooking oil allegedly taken from a Sheffield restaurant.

GREAT BARRINGTON— Three New York men were arraigned on charges they broke into a Sheffield restaurant and took nearly 1,000 gallons of oil used to deep fat fry foods.

The Berkshire Eagle reported William Garciarosario, 24, of New York City, and Federico Ferreira-Germosen, 30 of Yonkers, were released on $200 bail after their arraignment Friday. Jonathan Garces, 21, also of Yonkers, was ordered held without the right to bail as he has an outstanding arrest warrant in New York.

Great Barrington police said they were tipped off by Sheffield police on August 9 that a large white box truck may have been used in the theft of the oil, which can be converted to biodiesel fuel for diesel vehicles.

Patrolling officers saw the truck later that morning and after a brief investigation, arrested the three men. The cooking oil was returned to the restaurant.

Police say this is not the first time they have investigated the theft of cooking oil from restaurants. Officer Jonathan Finnerty told the Eagle, "It's actually a big problem around here. We've had several situations where people break into restaurants and steal their cooking oil."

Under the leadership of Commissioner John Barbieri, the Springfield police department has devoted more resources to proactive, community-based policing. The C-3 initiative, which fights gang activity through an intelligence and public engagement driven approach inspired by military anti-insurgency tactics, has won national attention for crime reductions in targeted neighborhoods. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD -- Officer Dan Billingsley did not want to be known as the guy who picked up the snow cone machine.

Standing by the basketball courts at Springfield's Johnny Appleseed Park on a warm July evening, Billingsley conferred in hushed tones with his commanding officer, Sgt. Reggie Miller. Miller, the leader of a newly-formed community policing unit tasked with reducing crime in a volatile section of Forest Park, had scraped together department funds to buy the snow cone maker after a rented one proved a hit at the unit's last-day-of-school event in June.

Children who might otherwise have been skeptical of talking to police crowded around the officers, learning their names and building what Miller describes as the trust necessary to stop gang activity and violent crime. That reasoning, however, was not likely to play well in department roll call. Billingsley, assigned to get the machine from a Best Buy outside city lines, was seeking permission to call in his errand on his cell phone rather than the general police radio, where listening officers could put him in line for some serious ribbing.

"A city like this, and we're buying a snow cone machine?" Billingsley said. "We'd be the joke of the department."

It is that attitude that Miller, a broad-shouldered Springfield native with close-cropped hair befitting his military background, is trying to change. His hand-picked unit, an extension of the C-3 anti-gang squad that city leaders have credited with dramatically reducing violence in the North End, is made up of officers who understand the benefits of policing with a human touch, he said. And, according to Miller, it is a shift for a department which, like many, can be resistant to change.

"You've got to like talking to people," Miller said. "You have some people who just want to do their eight hours, respond to calls and go home. It does take a special person."

Under the leadership of Commissioner John Barbieri, the Springfield police department has devoted more resources to proactive, community-based policing. The C-3 initiative, which fights gang activity through an intelligence and public engagement driven approach inspired by military anti-insurgency tactics, has won national attention for crime reductions in targeted neighborhoods.

Miller's unit is an expansion of the C-3 program that began in April, targeting a jagged stretch of residential streets northeast of Forest Park. The sector, made up of narrow single-family homes and townhouses, was chosen for its high number of calls for service, juvenile delinquency cases and elevated crime statistics.

While the department's crime analytics cannot yet break down the numbers for the unit's specific area, the overall Forest Park neighborhood has seen three homicides, 43 robberies and 127 felony assaults this year, according to department crime statistics. Those numbers are on pace to exceed, or have already surpassed, the area's 2014 crime rate.

His unit's neighborhood is a particular hotspot, Miller says, and it will likely take a year and a half before the initiative's impact can be evaluated by the numbers.

Miller, an 18-year veteran of the force, said the department's first push for community policing in the 1990s was quashed by budget cuts in the early 2000s. The resurgence since Barbieri was appointed commissioner relies on street-level communication with residents, even as recent high-profile killings of unarmed people by officers across the country have led to greater scrutiny of how police interact with minority and lower-income populations.

"I walk around. If I see some kids playing, I'll stop and throw the ball around with them, talk to their parents. We're trying to really get involved in the community, build a bond of trust," Miller said. "We're just portrayed the wrong way and if that's all kids are seeing, that's all they're going to perceive. But if they see me and go, 'I know that cop, he came and played with us,' that changes things."

MassLive accompanied Miller on two recent shifts, and observed that philosophy in action. On one evening, Miller leaned against the chain fence of the basketball court at Johnny Appleseed Park and traded banter with a group of teenage boys playing pickup. They asked him to join the game, a challenge he begged off on account of his court-unfriendly uniform and work shoes. He pledged to come back, though - with the rest of his unit as his team.

On another, rainier night, Miller cruised his beat in his unmarked cruiser. A call came over the radio; officers had chased a drug suspect into an apartment building. When Miller arrived at the scene, he was not the only backup. A group of nearly a dozen officers stood on a streetside patch of lawn, waiting as the arrest was completed.

That kind of strength in numbers is now standard practice for arrests in densely populated areas, Miller said; on numerous occasions, officers have found themselves hemmed in by crowds they feared could become unruly as a suspect was taken into custody.

What Miller wants, he says, is communication, not tension. The department has detailed, block-by-block intelligence on where gang members live and where gangs operate, Miller said; what is lacking are the phone calls from residents reporting crimes as they are committed.

"You wonder why drug dealers never hang out on corners in Longmeadow?
Because people will call the cops on them," Miller said. "Gang members and criminals look for depressed areas where people don't say anything."

On Saturday afternoon, the unit's territory was quiet. Residents traveled in ones and twos, on bikes or walking with headphones on, through the small commercial strip on Dickinson street, past a laundromat, an autobody shop and an Italian restaurant, a sign reading "closed for the summer" hanging in its front window.

Ram Karki, a resident of Springfield's Hollywood neighborhood, bought the convenience store at the corner of Dickinson and Oakland Streets two and a half years ago and quickly encountered violence. On the evening of December 11, 2013, two men - one in a mask, one with his shirt pulled over the bottom half of his face - robbed his store at gunpoint while he and his wife were at the counter, Karki said.

"I just looked up, and he was putting a gun to her head," he said.

The masked man ordered him to the ground while the robbers went behind the counter and took money from the register. Karki said he reported the incident to police, but the men have not been apprehended.

The robbery fractured their sense of security. Karki considered buying a gun, but dropped that idea when his wife objected. Since the robbery they have kept their store locked during the evenings, only opening the door to trusted customers. It is not good for business, but it is a necessary safety measure, he said.

The man in this security footage still robbed Ram Karki's convenience store in 2013, Karki said. He now locks his door each night, only allowing trusted customers in after sunset.Courtesty Ram Karki 

Since Miller's unit began patrolling the neighborhood, Karki has noticed and welcomed the increased police presence. He has intended to participate in the unit's weekly community meetings at the Italian Bread Shop, but is unwilling to leave his wife alone in the store during the evening.

"Right now, it's a little better," he said. "Cops can sit over there all day, I don't mind - I like it that way. Right now, more cops are coming this way."

Joshua Gonzalez, 20, lives in the North End but spends time in Forest Park, he said while walking through the neighborhood Saturday afternoon.

"It's been quieter - things have been more calm with the shootings and stuff like that," Gonzalez said. "I think they're doing a pretty good job, the police. There's always a trooper around here - every time I walk around there's a couple. There's more than there usually were."

Neighborhood resident Raiza Delvalle, 18,  said she has not noticed much of a change since the unit was launched in April.

"They're always in their cop cars because there's a lot of violence here," Delvalle said. "They're always watching, but they don't stop to talk to us or anything." 

Miller hosts weekly meetings with community members at the Italian Bread Shop on Orange Street. A crowd of residents fills a circle of folding chairs in the bakery's back room, backed by shelves of paper towels and plastic utensils. Miller listens to their concerns - trespassing and petty theft from one man's backyard, rowdy neighbors, door-to-door solicitations - and gives out information: recent crime statistics, the names of newly released violent offenders, advice on keeping doors and windows locked to deter burglars.

The audience at these meetings is receptive and growing, Miller said; when he first started holding them earlier this year, the members of his unit outnumbered regular attendees. Now, upwards of 20 people might show up on any given week.

But reaching the people committing the offenses is more difficult. The audience at the meeting skewed older, with most people there above the age of 35. The young men whose names litter the department's police reports, and who are both the most common victims and perpetrators of the city's 13 homicides this year, are less eager to talk with police, Miller said.

Springfield has a legacy, both historical and current, of tension between police and residents. The 2009 beating of black motorist Melvin Jones III by white former Springfield police officer Jeffrey Asher led to Asher's conviction on assault and battery charges, and a $575,000 settlement with the city. This April, a group of activists protesting police killings of black people shut down traffic at the X intersection in Forest Park; police arrested 15 protesters during the demonstration.

Reducing mistrust between police and residents will not be easy, Miller said. But he hopes that each conversation, referral to a social service organization or snow cone given to a neighborhood kid might count as progress.

"The more they see you when you're walking around, waving, chatting with the community, they think 'oh, he's not like those other guys,' " Miller said. "It's going to take us time to win them back. We're fully aware of that."

When gang violence spiked in the North End in 2009, community leaders and city officials were to see less violence in their neighborhoods.

SPRINGFIELD -- When gang violence spiked six years ago in the North End, community leaders and city officials demanded to see less violence in their neighborhoods.

Massachusetts State Troopers Michael Cutone and Thomas Sarrouf suggested implementing military tactics they once used to win the hearts and minds of locals in Iraq. State Police partnered with the Springfield Police Department to developed Counter Criminal Continuum Policing, better known as C3 Policing. The officers encourage residents to take back their neighborhoods by taking preventative steps to not be victims of crime and reporting unlawful acts when witnessing them.

"The essence of C3 Policing is to leverage existing resources, separate gangs and drug dealers from their cause and support," police say in their C3P mission statement. "The mission is to detect, deter, degrade and dismantle criminal gangs and drug dealers."

The North End Unit began in Memorial Square, one of the city's smallest neighborhoods, and included blocks of Brightwood. It has since expanded its perimeters in the North End and other C3 policing units began operating in the South End, Forest Park and Mason Square.

During a recent community meeting in Forest Park, Supervision Sgt. Reggie Miller told neighborhood residents his unit does not expect to see statistical results for at least a year, if not two. Several years after the North End Unit began operations, have their efforts made a difference?

In a neighborhood where drug dealers were once seen riding motorcycles while carrying semi-automatic rifles, police report progress.

Crime is down 21 percent in the North End district, when comparing 2008 to 2014 statistics. 

Police saw the largest drop in aggravated assault, with 28 less reported last year - a 38 percent decrease. 

During interactions with the community, C3 officers encourage citizens to properly secure their homes by locking their doors, securing air conditioners and other precautions. Such efforts appear to have helped with decreases in larcenies and breaking and entering. The number of house break-ins dropped from 79 to 56 - a 29 percent decrease - and larcenies fell 23 percent, from 212 to 164. 

There was an increase in reported crimes in two areas: robbery and stolen motor vehicles. Robberies increased by 43 percent, with 40 reported last year. 

Three dozen vehicles were reported stolen in 2014, an increase of one when compared to 2008. The most common reason for stolen cars, Miller said, is residents leaving their keys in the car - especially in winter to allow the car to warm up - and leaving car doors unlocked. 

Three rapes were reported seven years ago while none were in 2014. No murders were committed in the area either year. 

Springfield native Sgt. Reggie Miller runs a community police unit in a city that has declined economically since his childhood.

SPRINGFIELD -- The Springfield that Sgt. Reggie Miller grew up in is far different from the one he patrols now, as the leader of the Springfield Police Department's new community policing unit in Forest Park.

The son of a truck driver and a medical assistant, Miller grew up in Mason Square during the 1970s and 1980s - a time, he said, that lacked much of the tension between police and residents that his community police unit is currently trying to resolve.

"Cops would talk to us then, but it was friendly," Miller said. "Back then if you did something wrong, the cops would bring you home and you didn't want that. I know I never wanted that."

Miller's childhood coincided with further economic decline in Springfield, as the city's once-strong manufacturing sector shed jobs and closed plants. From 1980 to 2007 the city's poverty rate increased from 18 percent to 28 percent, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

The Mason Square of his childhood was safe, and interactions with police were rare - a sharp contrast to the Forest Park neighborhood his unit now patrols, which was chosen for its elevated crime and juvenile delinquency rates.

"We really didn't have that much interaction with [police.] It was a lot different then. Less crime," Miller said. "When I was growing up, none of my friends ever got locked up. Now we have kids 12, 13 years old who can't say that."

Miller, who graduated from Central High School, was stationed in Korea for the U.S. Army and obtained a master's degree in criminal justice administration from Western New England University, worked as a security agent for federal judges before joining the Springfield Police Department 18 years ago.

He worked for years in the department's ordinance unit, which he described as good preparation for his current community policing assignment. Ordinance officers would focus on low-level, quality of life issues that often escape police attention.

"Basically what we did was enforce the city code violations that we had on the books but never enforced. You deal with the public on that, they call you and you try to handle the concerns they have," Miller said. "A lot of our complaints -- even with multiple recent murders -- will be about cars driving too fast down the street and too loud of music. A lot of the things that really affect people are quality of life issues."

Miller was promoted to sergeant and was working the midnight shift when the department decided to expand its C3 initiative, the anti-gang community policing project that has been credited by city officials with reducing violent crime in Springfield's North End.

The new unit in Forest Park launched in April with Miller as its leader. While it will take time for results to show up in the crime statistics, Miller said, he believes his unit is already making progress.

"We're trying to really get involved in the community, build a bond of trust," Miller said.

 

Fran O'Connell is running against Mayor Alex B. Morse and City Councilor Anthony Soto in the preliminary election Sept. 22.

HOLYOKE — In discussing his newly released economic development plan, mayoral candidate Fran O'Connell emphasized how landing a job can transform someone.

"It changes the whole dynamic," when someone gets a job, O'Connell said in a phone interview on Friday.

"I do think that a program of economic development and job creation, it spins off. You can see the link to education, you can see the link to public safety," said O'Connell, who owns the business O'Connell Care at Home.

O'Connell's eight-point economic development plan unveiled Thursday includes establishment of a grant writer to pursue funds to help the city and formation of a committee he would lead to execute an economic revitalization.

But while willing to discuss how he would try to improve the city's economy, O'Connell, 56, offered nothing more in the phone interview about a controversy that erupted last week, again refusing to confirm or deny a crude, attention-generating comment attributed to him about a female city employee that had critics saying he demeaned a woman.

Angela Gerhard, who worked as a researcher for the O'Connell campaign from June 22 to July 27, discussed what she said happened at a dinner meeting she attended on June 23 with O'Connell and two male advisers at a Springfield tavern. O'Connell in discussing the city Department of Planning and Economic Development said he was unable to focus on what a certain female city employee says because of the size of her breasts.

According to Gerhard, O'Connell said of development specialist Tessa Murphy-Romboletti:

"That Tessa, smart girl, but I can never hear half of what she's saying because I can't stop looking at her big tits."

O'Connell said in the phone interview that he won't comment on the issue beyond the statement that public relations consultant Market Mentors of West Springfield released on his behalf Tuesday.

"I issued a statement. I have no further comment," O'Connell said.

Here is the statement Market Mentors released for O'Connell:

"These accusations come from a disgruntled former paid staffer who was terminated to which I have no comment. Anyone who knows me knows I have the utmost respect for women. I am a father of three daughters and husband to a beautiful wife. The chief operating officer of my company is a woman who I have worked with for the past eight years. I have a wonderful working relationship with her and hundreds of other women with whom I have been privileged to work with over my 30-plus year career."

O'Connell is competing against Mayor Alex B. Morse and Anthony Soto, the Ward 2 representative on the City Council, in the preliminary election Sept. 22. The top two vote-getters will proceed to square off on Election Day Nov. 3.

Gerhard, 38, a metal smith and enamel jewelry artist and teacher, said she went to work for O'Connell as a researcher because she believes Morse is a poor mayor and should be replaced.

"I really wanted to like him. I wanted to be able to support him," Gerhard said of O'Connell in an interview Tuesday.

She said she decided to speak out, knowing that toxic comments would be aimed at her, because it was important for voters to have this information about O'Connell and to spur discussion about how women are treated. She spoke first with Murphy-Romboletti, who gave permission to use her name, she said.

"There's nothing in it for me," Gerhard said.

She was employed by the O'Connell campaign at $300 a week for 15 to 20 hours a week, she said.

Gerhard was informed by email July 27 she was ousted from the O'Connell campaign. The reason given was that policy and research would be done by a professional organization, she said.

Gerhard also talked about O'Connell campaign strategy that she said included discussion about whether it was proper to say one thing during a campaign and do the opposite once elected, with the priority being to get O'Connell elected.

Also, strategy included ensuring advisers and consultants surround O'Connell with a buffer to guard against his tendency for blunt speech, she said.

Murphy-Rombolleti has said she has no interest in an apology or explanation from O'Connell, and said the only positive part of the issue is perhaps it will prompt discussion about the need to treat women with respect.

"We have to have that kind of conversation," she said.

Here are the features of O'Connell's ecomic plan:

• Establish Mayor's Executive Committee on Economic Development to meet weekly with public- and private-sector members to create and oversee the execution of a detailed action plan for economic development in the city.

• Establishment of a full-time grants coordinator in Department of Planning and Economic Development to oversee efforts of all departments to ensure maximum access to the millions of public and private dollars earmarked to spur economic development.

O'Connell said he was not sure what the grants coordinator's yearly salary would be. The pay likely will based on experience in seeking grants, he said.

• Begin Business Retention and Expansion Program that would include regular meetings with existing businesses to address their needs.

This step unlikely would require the hiring of additional employees because participants in such meetings would be existing staff, representatives from the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce and business owners, he said.

"I don't expect to hire any more folks. We have very qualified people already employed by the city of Holyoke," O'Connell said.

• Fostering an educated and job-ready local workforce by driving the improvement of the academic performance of Holyoke students by connecting businesses, learning institutions and community agencies.

This comes with the Holyoke public schools in an extraordinary plight. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted April 28 to take over the schools here because officials said they were chronically underperforming despite years of warnings from the state to improve.

The takeover resulted in Mitchell D. Chester, commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), on June 1 appointing Stephen K. Zrike as receiver of the Holyoke school system. The receiver has complete authority over school personnel and other decisions, supplanting the superintendent and School Committee.

O'Connell said the mayor and School Committee must still have roles in trying to improve the school system. That's the case even with the state-appointed receiver in control, such as in trying to establish this part of his economic development plan, he said.

"I expect to work closely with Dr. Zrike," O'Connell said.

The key remains helping unemployed people get jobs in a city with a more than 30 percent poverty rate, and part of that involves training students and others with skills that businesses need employees to have, he said.

"That's a big part of why I threw my hat into the ring and want to run for mayor," O'Connell said.

• Ensuring efficient and predictable business-friendly permitting processes.

• Creating and sustaining a safe, "green," or environmentally friendly, and fiscally sound business environment.

• Promoting Holyoke's central location, prime business sites and water and energy infrastructure.

• Recruiting new businesses through tax incentives and a marketing plan to promote Holyoke that includes advertisement in trade journals and attendance at trade conferences of targeted industry sectors.

The Springfield City Council is considering approval of a trampoline park in the North End just two months after granting a permit for a similar indoor facility on St. James Avenue.

SPRINGFIELD - The City Council has a hearing scheduled Monday night to consider approving a special permit for an indoor trampoline park proposed in a warehouse building on Avocado Street in the North End.

Launch, a chain of trampoline parks co-owned by former New England Patriot Ty Law, is proposing the trampoline facility at 87 Avocado St., also known as 147 Avocado St., according to a Planning Department report.

The council meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the council chambers at City Hall.

Special permits are needed for "indoor places of amusement."

This is the second trampoline park planned in Springfield.

In June, the council voted unanimously to approve a special permit that will allow Bounce! Trampoline Sports to open a trampoline park at the closed Entertainment Cinemas building on St. James Avenue, adjacent to the Springfield Plaza.

The two trampoline projects are separately proposed and unrelated, officials said.

The proposed trampoline park on Avocado Street will involve the use of large-format trampolines for various purposes. Including "slam dunk" basketball hoops and foam pits. Other uses include trampoline dodge ball courts and party rooms.

"The petitioner has indicated that this facility caters to families, large groups for parties, camps, schools and other special events," the planning report states.

The trampoline park will be located in one side of the building, according to plans. Most of the building is vacant, according to the report.

The Planning Department is recommending approval of the permit, saying the project offers "a unique re-use of a vacant property and one that will not have a negative effect on the surrounding neighborhood."

The council will accept comments from representatives of the business and the public during the public hearing, and can vote immediately after the hearing, if desired, under council rules.

The petitioner is listed as F&F Springmass Inc., whose officers are from New York, according to corporate records. The president is listed as Linda Ferguson, of Middle Grove, N.Y.

The Springfield Library held a Summer Reading Program party at Forest Park in Springfield on Saturday. Ed Popielarczyk performed some tricks from his magic show. Food and games were also featured. According to the Springfield Public Library website Over 60,000 books have been read this summer by children, teens and adults in Springfield City Library's Summer Reading Club. Just eight...

The Springfield Library held a Summer Reading Program party at Forest Park in Springfield on Saturday. Ed Popielarczyk performed some tricks from his magic show. Food and games were also featured.

According to the Springfield Public Library website Over 60,000 books have been read this summer by children, teens and adults in Springfield City Library's Summer Reading Club. Just eight weeks ago Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and School Superintendent Daniel J. Warwick challenged city children and teens to read this summer.

As a Morehouse College student, Bond helped found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and as its communications director, he was on the front lines of protests that led to the nation's landmark civil rights laws.

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Julian Bond, a civil rights activist and longtime board chairman of the NAACP, died Saturday night, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

He was 75.

Bond died in Fort Walton Beach, Florida after a brief illness, the SPLC said in a statement released Sunday morning.

The Nashville, Tenn. native was considered a symbol and icon of the 1960s civil rights movement. As a Morehouse College student, Bond helped found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and as its communications director, he was on the front lines of protests that led to the nation's landmark civil rights laws.

Bond later served as board chairman of the 500,000-member NAACP for 10 years but declined to run again for another one-year term in 2010.

The SPLC said Bond was a "visionary" and "tireless champion" for civil and human rights.

"With Julian's passing, the country has lost one of its most passionate and eloquent voices for the cause of justice," SPLC co-founder Morris Dees said in a statement. "He advocated not just for African Americans, but for every group, indeed every person subject to oppression and discrimination, because he recognized the common humanity in us all."

Bond also served in the Georgia state legislature and was a professor at American University and the University of Virginia.

"Very few throughout human history have embodied the ideals of honor, dignity, courage and friendship like Dr. Julian Bond," said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign. "Quite simply, this nation and this world are far better because of his life and commitment to justice and equality for all people. Future generations will look back on the life and legacy of Julian Bond and see a warrior of good who helped conquer hate in the name of love. I will greatly miss my friend and my hero, Dr. Julian Bond."

Bond is survived by his wife, Pamela Horowitz, a former SPLC staff attorney; his five children, Phyllis Jane Bond-McMillan, Horace Mann Bond II, Michael Julian Bond, Jeffrey Alvin Bond, and Julia Louise Bond; his brother, James Bond; and his sister, Jane Bond Moore.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Ryan Putnam 

Ryan E. Putnam, 24, passed away on Wednesday. He was born in Wilbraham and raised in Westfield. He graduated from Westfield High School. He earned his CDL license and was a delivery driver for the Lumber Center in Westfield. He enjoyed weightlifting, sports, the outdoors, his family and the beach.

Yelena Timoshenko, 30, who in March was sought by Westfield police on ten open warrants, has been sentenced to 11 months in jail for heroin possession.

Timoshenko pleaded guilty to the charge in Westfield District Court Friday. In December 2014, a Westfield police officer found Timoshenko slumped over in a running car in he parking lot of the Mobil gas station at 181 Elm Street.

She was taken to Noble Hospital Emergency Room. Inside her car, officers found an open packet of heroin, a hypodermic needle, a lighter and a spoon police said was used for cooking heroin, according to a police statement of fact.

Timoshenko missed her initial Feb. 12 arraignment, has been in custody since July 16 and will receive credit for time served.

In March, Westfield police issued a public appeal in their search for Timoshenko, who was wanted on ten warrants from three different courthouses. Timoshenko, formerly known as Yelena Kostyushko, was wanted primarily for past larcenies, according to police.

Pilgrimage honored New Hampshire native Jonathan Daniels.

The Right Rev. Douglas Fisher, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts, participated Saturday in the annual pilgrimage for slain civil rights worker and Episcopal seminarian Jonathan Daniels in Hayneville, Ala.

This year's pilgrimage marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the Keene, N.H. native who had originally traveled to Alabama in response to Martin Luther King Jr.'s call for clergy to support the voting rights marchers in Selma in the spring of 1965. Daniels, a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, decided to remain as a civil rights worker. He was fatally shot, in Hayneville, on Aug. 20, 1965, by a part-time deputy sheriff as he and a Catholic priest attempted, with two black teens, to enter a store to buy sodas in the the segregated South.

Jonathan DanielsFILE 

Daniels pushed 16-year-old Ruby Sales away as the sheriff's gun fired, killing Daniels and then critically wounding the Rev. Richard Morrisroe as the priest tried to get the teens to safety. The men, along with others, had been arrested and jailed for a week for picketing stores that discriminated against blacks.

Fisher is quoted on the Alabama website, Al.com, as saying that the pilgrimage is a reminder that "we haven't graduated from the Civil Rights struggle."

"Racism is a challenge for us in the North, and we need to increase awareness.," Fisher told reporter Kay Campbell. He referenced undocumented immigrants as "people living the shadows in America" where they "get taken advantage of and they experience prejudice."

Bishop Doug FisherRepublican file 

According to Campbell's report, more than 800 people shouting "Will you march for your rights? Certainly Lord," participated in a walk that retraced Daniel's last steps, and also honored others killed in the state for their civil rights work.

Fisher was among more than a dozen Episcopal bishops present. Morrisroe, critically injured in the shooting that killed Daniels, was also said to be in attendance. Keynote speaker for the event was the Right Rev. Michael Curry, who will be installed as the Episcopal Church's first African American presiding bishop in November.

Daniels, who is buried in Keene, had been accepted as a graduate student in literature at Harvard University, when he decided instead to enter ministry. He was a student a the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, when he went to Alabama. He was killed during the same month President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The sheriff, Thomas L. Coleman, was acquitted of manslaughter charges about five weeks after Daniels death by an all white, all male jury. Coleman had told the grand jury, that reduced the charges against him from murder to manslaughter, that Daniels had threatened him with a knife. Others said that what Daniels had was a coin in his hand to purchase a soda.

The Episcopal Church has honored Daniels with a feast day, Aug. 14, the day of his arrest.

A second drunk driver rolled his vehicle and took out a utility pole on River Road

DEERFIELD -- Police arrested 3 for drunken driving over the weekend, including a man who was caught driving a moped down the middle of Sugarloaf Street Saturday night with no lights or reflectors, according to a post on the department's Facebook page.

Early Sunday, police pulled over a motorist on Greenfield Road after he was clocked at 78 mph in a 35 mph zone, according to the Facebook post. That driver, a 33-year-old Northampton man, pulled over about 2 a.m., also had an outstanding warrant.

About 30 minutes later, according to the post, police arrested a 19-year-old Greenfield man after he rolled his vehicle and took out a utility pole on River Road. He was taken to Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield for treatment of injuries.

The drunken moped rider, a 29-year-old Deerfield man, was charged with operating under the influence of alcohol (second offense) and operating a with a revoked driver's license.

The Greenfield man who crashed on River Road will be summoned to Greenfield District Court for OUI, speeding, operating to endanger, and a marked lanes violation.

The post does not name the arrested drivers. Police were not immediately available to comment Monday morning.

Motorists are advised that a Springfield Water and Sewer Commission main interceptor rehabilitation project is planned in the vicinity of Mill Street in the South End, from Main to Chester Street.

File photo 

SPRINGFIELD -- The Springfield Water and Sewer Commission has provided the following traffic advisory for the week of Aug. 17.

Long Term Projects

Main Interceptor Rehabilitation project - Work will take place in the vicinity of Mill Street in the South end from Main Street to Chester Street

Short Term Projects

Sewer Cleaning - Arch Street

NORTHAMPTON -- City drivers should keep their eyes peeled for closed roads and detours this week, as the Northampton Department of Public Works has a bevy of construction projects in the make. On Monday and Tuesday, the city will pave one lane starting at Shephards Hollow on Chesterfield Road and proceed down Reservoir Road to the bridge near Musante beach....

NORTHAMPTON -- City drivers should keep their eyes peeled for closed roads and detours this week, as the Northampton Department of Public Works has a bevy of construction projects in the make.

On Monday and Tuesday, the city will pave one lane starting at Shephards Hollow on Chesterfield Road and proceed down Reservoir Road to the bridge near Musante beach. Both lanes will be paved alternately. Woodlawn Avenue and Maple Street from Pine to Nonotuck streets will also be paved on Tuesday, according to the DPW.

Maple Street will be closed Monday and Tuesday between North Main Street and the fire station as the Northampton Water Department installs a water service there.

The city will pave North Elm and Massasoit Streets on Thursday, and Prospect and Finn Streets on Friday. There will also be paving and construction on Pine and Florence Streets Monday through Thursday.

Trees will be cleared near the Leeds portion of the MassCentral Rail Trail starting at Grove Avenue and stretching a half-mile toward Williamsburg. The 0.1-mile section of trail from Grove Avenue to Florence Street will be closed until winter while improvements are made, the city said.

Kingsbury Construction Co. will continue to remove vegetation and make repairs from Venturers Field Road toward Hockanum Road. Venturers Field Road as part of the Connecticut River levee repair project, which will continue through September.

One-way traffic will be maintained for this routes, but drivers should seek alternate routes or expect delays, especially on Chesterfield and Reservoir Roads and Prospect, Finn, North Elm, Florence, Woodlawn, Massasoit and Pine Streets, the DPW said.

Police had only one arrest – a domestic for which records are unavailable - but answered calls for neighborhood disputes, a loose cow, a cheetah siting among the more than 100 calls the weekend.

AMHERST - Police had only one arrest - a domestic for which records are unavailable - but answered calls for neighborhood disputes, a loose cow, a cheetah sighting among the more than 100 calls the weekend.

Olympia Oaks management will have to settle the dispute between a neighbor whose migraines are exacerbated by her neighbor's sound surround system.

The man with the music refused to cooperate with his neighbor, according to the police report. He told police he pays rent and has every right to have a surround sound system.

Police told the woman that the noise was not unreasonable and they would help mediate. She said she would contact management and be looking for a new apartment in November.

Police also helped with traffic when a cow got lose on North East Street. 

The reported cheetah sigthing could not be verified. Police suspected that the animal seen by a resident was likely a bobcat or a fisher cat.

Police ended an ice cream truck vendor's afternoon Sunday when they found the driver did not have a permit to vend his ice cream bars and cones.

When asked to produce his permit, the driver only could show a list of violations he had to address before being reinspected for a new permit, according to the police report.

The driver said he would go to Town Hall Monday to sort things out.

Several parties were informed about the town's noise bylaw and a stargazer at Mount Pollux was told the town run conservation area is not open at night and he was sent on his way. 

And there is a good Samaritan walking the streets, according to police reports.

Sunday afternoon, someone turned in a wallet found on South Pleasant Street new La Veracruzana to police containing $592 in cash.

Police said that's unusual. Typically wallets are found in the trash with no cash at all.

The owner was called and came in to retrieve it.

Mary Dionne, a retired administrative assistant to the superintendent, calls the proposal "cruel" to district retirees.

WILBRAHAM - A public hearing scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the Minnechaug Regional High School auditorium is expected to draw a strong turnout of retirees in the school district and current teachers.

The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee is considering a proposal to switch the school district retirees from the Government Insurance Commission health plan to the Scantic Valley Regional Health Trust plan, which the teachers currently employed in Wilbraham and Hampden have.

School Committee member Peter Salerno said that under the plan retirees would go from paying 15 percent of their health insurance premiums to 35 percent over a 20-year span. He said the average retiree premium would increase by $140 each year for 20 years.

Mary Dionne, a retired administrative assistant to the superintendent, said that according to information she has received, her supplemental health insurance premium for her and her husband would increase by $124.80 per month if the switch is made to the Scantic Valley plan.

There are retired teachers who live out of state who would experience a more severe increase in their health insurance costs, Dionne said.

Dionne called the treatment of retired school district employees "cruel."

A vote by written ballot also is scheduled on the hearing agenda.

Salerno said the change to Scantic Valley Health Insurance for retirees would save the school district $1 million a year in actuarial numbers and would help the school system reduce its unfunded liabilities.

According to state law, retirees can be made to pay 50 percent of their health insurance premiums, he said.

The annual $1 million savings can be used to preserve school programs in a time of declining enrollment and declining school revenues, Salerno said.

Salerno said that school retirees, when they turn 65, are eligible for Medicare. He added that most private industry does not pay health insurance premiums for retirees.

14 Main, beneath its siding and porch, is actually a historic home from the 1700s.

EASTHAMPTON -- Two downtown Easthampton apartment buildings, one falling apart and boarded up, are now officially for sale.

The listing appeared online a week after The Republican / MassLive reported that the city has been sending quarterly bills to two generations of dead people in an effort to collect past-due taxes on the properties.

The multi-family buildings at 14 and 16 Main St. belong to the estate of David H. Russell, who died in July 2014 at the age of 73, with no children, no spouse and without a will. The estate is being administered by Easthampton lawyer John J. Moriarty.

On paper, 14 Main St. still belongs to Emma Russell, David Russell's mother, who died in 2000 at the age of 93. Emma Russell was predeceased by her husband Howard Russell. David Russell reportedly lived at 16 Main St. with his parents for years, and stayed in the apartment upon their deaths, acting as landlord for both properties.

The 14 Main St. property is the subject of an order from Fire Chief David Mottor to secure the building and clear vegetation for fire safety purposes, Mottor said. At least on the surface, the 16 Main St. property appears to be in better shape.

The side-by-side apartment buildings at the Easthampton rotary are currently listed with the Taylor Agency for $199,500. Combined, the two abutting parcels equal .26 acres, are zoned for downtown business and abut the downtown Easthampton Savings Bank. The properties appeared on the Multiple Listing Service on Thursday.

"Two abutting parcels with two vacant multi family buildings to be sold as a package. Zoned Downtown Business, this is an excellent location on the rotary in the center of Easthampton," reads the real estate listing.

The property is not without potential issues.

Around 75 tons of contaminated soil were removed from the yard of 14 Main St. in 2009 to remediate a previous fuel oil spill, MassDEP records show. A 1,000-gallon underground fuel storage tank was removed on Nov. 18, 2008, under the oversight of Easthampton Fire Department personnel. It's not clear whether additional response actions will be required in the future.

Back taxes are owed in the amount of $5,150 for 16 Main St. and $1,908 for 14 Main St., both going back to 2014.

Titles on both properties may need to be cleared up.

Disbursement of the proceeds, after lawyers' fees and other debts are settled, is set to go to four first cousins who are David Russell's closest relatives, probate records show.

One of the cousins is 74-year-old Carolyn Harrington of West Springfield, who on Sept. 25 petitioned the Hampshire Probate and Family Court to appoint Moriarty as unsupervised personal representative of the estate. The petition was granted on Nov. 18 by Register of Probate Michael J. Carey.

A staffer in the city tax collector's office said that someone from Moriarty's office stopped by Thursday to get a copy of tax bills for 14 and 16 Main St.

Moriarty did not return several telephone calls seeking comment.

David Russell was buried at the city-owned Main Street Cemetery on Sept. 8, nearly eight weeks after his death, in a ceremony conducted by Easthampton's Mitchell Funeral Home, Harrington said, adding that she was informed of her reclusive uncle's death by Moriarty.

Harrington said she had been wondering when Moriarty would publicly list the property for sale, and felt things were moving slowly. "I was starting to get a little annoyed," she said.

Harrington said that Moriarty believes the properties would be worth more with both buildings torn down. However, it might not be possible to do that right away, because 14 Main St. is actually the historic Seth Janes House, dating back to the mid-1700s.

Easthampton has a demolition delay bylaw, where the execution of any demolition permit can be put on hold for six months at the discretion of the Historical Commission.

However, no demolition application has been filed at this time, said a staffer in the office of Building Commissioner Joseph Fydenkevez.

Besides Harrington, the other heirs to the property are Lois Justin of Westfield, Joan Larson of Wasilla, Alaska, and Edward C. Condel of Haydenville.

Mary Serreze can be reached at mserreze@gmail.com

LONGMEADOW,Jewish Geriatric Services, Inc. (Jis launching a rebranding campaign featuring the new name JGS Lifecare, a redesigned logo, website and a refreshed brand identity. Martin Baicker, president and CEO, JGS Lifecare said in a news release: "Our tradition of culture change began in the 90s, and continues today with our Project Transformation initiatives which will bring the person-centered small house...

LONGMEADOW,Jewish Geriatric Services, Inc. (Jis launching a rebranding campaign featuring the new name JGS Lifecare, a redesigned logo, website and a refreshed brand identity.

Martin Baicker, president and CEO, JGS Lifecare said in a news release:

"Our tradition of culture change began in the 90s, and continues today with our Project Transformation initiatives which will bring the person-centered small house model of care to our campus. We challenged ourselves to develop a brand that would allow us to better communicate our services as well as maintain continuity with our heritage."

The new brand reflects a broader range of services and programs for a diverse population of ages, income levels and health statuses. Using the acronym "JGS" leverages an established and respected Jewish Geriatric Services brand, while "Lifecare" sets the tone for a new point of view.

Dr. Robert Baevsky, chair, JGS Lifecare Board of Directors said in a news release:

"The name Lifecare means so much more than Geriatrics," said "With the addition of the Sosin Center for Rehabilitation and the small house model of care, we are refreshing our mission, vision and commitment as a trusted health care resource for people of all faiths and needs."

The new name and redesigned logo indicate what JGS Lifecare is and what the organization stands for. The new logo updates the existing Jewish Geriatric Services' tree mark into a beautiful and modern menorah with 'flames' of leaves.

Founded in 1912 on the Jewish principle of respecting age as a blessing, 103 years later JGS Lifecare remains committed to delivering the best elder care services to people of every faith and every background.

The Sosin Center for Rehabilitation is expected to open in the summer of 2016.

It was my second time out West, my second harvest at the orchard in Oregon. They had already picked the bartletts, an early pear, but the comice were coming up right after Labor Day.

I had never heard of the Perseid meteor shower when I set out to climb Mt. Hood. I didn't plan my climb around a clear, moonless sky either. It just happened that way.

It was my second time out West, my second harvest at the orchard in Oregon. They had already picked the bartletts, an early pear, but the comice were coming up right after Labor Day. Comice are similar to bartletts, but a little grainer, I think. It would be the year I convinced my bosses to let me stop being a checker and start being a picker. I didn't relish the role of making people who were already working harder than me work harder. I had to warn the piscadors about stem pulls (sin tupos) and punctures (pecavas). We all lived in the same camp. No one seemed to resent me, but I still didn't like it.

The Perseid meteor shower, I have learned, is associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle and appears to come out of somewhere near the constellation Perseus. It usually occurs in August.

I had climbed in the Rockies during my first swing out West, but never took on one of the Cascades. I would call the Cascades terrifying, but I only had my normal fear when I set out. Whereas the Rockies are uplift mountains that live in their own world, the Cascades are isolated volcanoes. Most have glaciers. Some are active. There are 11 Cascade volcanoes over 10,000 feet, stretching from Mt. Lassen in Northern California to Mt. Baker in northern Washington near the British Columbia border. I managed to climb nine. Hood, which weighs in at 11,249 feet, was my first.

I drove my VW van to a camping area near Timberline Lodge at almost 6,000 feet and set my alarm for midnight. I don't remember getting much sleep. I'd been told you needed special equipment for the glaciers, an ice ax and crampons, but I had neither. I used an oil can punch for the ice ax. My uncramponed boots would have to do.

Timberline Lodge was dark and silent as I climbed past it. There is a ski area on Mt. Hood and I climbed past the lift towers. When the first bit of ethereal debris shot through the sky, I thought, "Look at that shooting star!" Then I thought, "Look at those two shooting stars crossing!" Then I thought, "Look at all those shooting stars!"

Mt. Hood at dawnFred Contrada | fcontrada@repub.com 

The meteor shower was spectacular, but not the most spectacular sight I saw.

It can be lonely climbing a big mountain by yourself at night. I remember stopping now and then to listen to rock falls. I could hear them but I couldn't see them, no matter where I looked. Pikas, little mouse-like mammals, came out of the rocks to squeak at me. With the last tow-line behind me, I hiked under a lava plug the size of a Manhattan apartment building.

Snow-walking, I found, was relatively easy. I only had to use my oil-can punch once, to get around a crevasse. When I got high enough, I looked behind me and saw grids of light to the south, Bend and Madras, places I had never been. Then I got on the shoulder of the mountain and saw an enormous grid right at the base. There's a town called Odell to the east of Hood River, but it has like one street. I realized I was looking at metropolitan Portland, some 60 miles away.

As I got near the top, the sky turned purple, then violet. My last obstacle was the scree. Scree is black volcanic sand from ground-down rock. For every two steeps you take, you slide back one. Although Hood has not erupted since the 18th century, I smelled sulfur from a fumerole and knew the mountain was not dead, just sleeping.

When I saw a small, man-made structure silhouetted against the sky, I knew I was almost there. It was some kind of tripod. The summit marker.

As I stepped onto the summit, I witnessed the most spectacular view of all. The northern Cascades, hidden until now by the mountain, opened up to me in all their glory. Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier, Glacier Peak, Baker. Almost all of Washington state. I'd never seen any of them before. A jagged line of ice-capped volcanoes stretching all the way to Canada. And I was among them, in the realm of the gods. I sat and ate a Mars bar as the sky turned red and the sun rose in the east. The Columbia River caught fire. Behind me, I noticed, Hood cast a perfectly triangular shadow that reached all the way to Portland. I waved my arms and wondered if anyone there would notice.

On the way down, I saw a lone climber on his way up. He reached his hand out 100 feet before I got to him. When I did, he told me he wanted to shake my hand. He was part of a climbing group I passed on the way up, a rope-train of people with head-lamps, the only souls I saw on the mountain. They told me they weren't going all the way to the summit because the ranger said the falling rocks made it too dangerous. The lone climber saw me pass them and broke off on his own.

Up in the Cascades (looks like Mt. Rainier).Fred Contrada | fcontrada@repub.com