The committee is supposed to evaluate the job performance of Superintendent Richard W. Rege Jr. in May, but put off the job so it could review the form it has been using since he was hired as superintendent in 2005.

CHICOPEE – After making small changes to its evaluation form, the School Committee will begin the process to grade the superintendent.

The committee is supposed to evaluate the job performance of Superintendent Richard W. Rege Jr. in May, but put off the job so it could review the form it has been using since he was hired as superintendent in 2005.

About mid-way through the process, the subcommittee working on the evaluation learned the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Massachusetts Superintendents Association are developing a form that all communities can tailor to their needs. Because of that, the group did not make many changes to the existing form, said committee member Michael J. Pise who has been working on the evaluation form.

One of the complaints has been the evaluation is too long and the 56 questions can sometimes be repetitive. The committee also removed one question about the health of the superintendent which seemed irrelevant, Pise said.

“Some of the questions tend to repeat themselves .¦.¦. But we all see him and work with him in different ways,” committee member David G. Barsalou said, explaining why similar questions were not removed.

School Committees rank the superintendent on a scale of one to five for each question, with one being unacceptable and a 5 being outstanding. In most years, Rege has received an score averaging about 4.

The biggest controversy was about a category of “no basis to evaluate,” added after members complained there are some questions they skip because they do not have enough information to answer them.

Committee member Adam D. Lamontagne said he feels members should research the question if they do not have an answer and added he has called school staff in the past for more information.

“I feel it is our obligation to answer each and every question. That is just my opinion,” he said.

Member John F. Mruk disagreed and cited a couple of examples where he would have difficulty in making a judgment including one about Rege’s ability to making decisions with the advice of lawyers and other appropriate staff, and another that asks if he presents a positive image of the school by participating in community events.

The evaluation form was approved in a 10-1 vote.

Committee Vice Chairwoman Marjorie A. Wojcik, who oversees the tallying of the forms, asked members to start filling them out. She said she will collect them in about two weeks and after that a meeting will be scheduled in September for discussion about the evaluation. Typically a wage increase is also tied to the results.

The suspect was described as a thin, black woman, approximately 120 pounds, and 5 feet, six inches tall.

Republican file photo

SPRINGFIELD - Police are investigating an armed robbery at the Racing Mart at 363 Main St. in the Indian Orchard section that was reported at about 10 p.m. on Saturday night.

The suspect was described as a thin, black woman, approximately 120 pounds, and 5 feet, six inches tall. She threatened the clerk, saying she had a handgun, and fled with money, police said.

Two Springfield elementary schools, Elias Brookings, on Hancock Street, and Dryden Memorial, on Surrey Road, were heavily damaged in the storm. High winds also blew a 20-foot chunk of roof off Westfield’s Munger Hill School.

File photo by Mark M. Murray / The RepublicanThis is what the Mary A. Dryden School in Springfield looked like after a June 1 blew through Western Massachusetts.

SPRINGFIELD – State Treasurer Steven Grossman has pledged to help Springfield and Westfield repair schools damaged in the June 1 tornado by trying to get the state to pay 100 percent of the costs.

While attending Sheriff Michael J. Ashe Jr.’s annual clambake in Agawam on Wednesday, Grossman said he will work with area legislators to amend the state law governing school building assistance so the cities can receive the money.

“It will get the schools rebuilt quickly and without burdening the local taxpayers,” said Grossman, whose office oversees the state School Building Authority.

Two Springfield elementary schools, Elias Brookings, on Hancock Street, and Dryden Memorial, on Surrey Road, were heavily damaged in the storm. High winds also blew a 20-foot chunk of roof off Westfield’s Munger Hill School.

Portable classrooms have been set up at the two Springfield schools so classes can begin in September. The Westfield roof is being patched at a cost of about $40,000 this summer.

The current state law that governs school buildings will give communities no more than 80 percent reimbursement for each project.

While there is an emergency application process, there is no clause to help communities financially above the 80 percent, Grossman said.

In Springfield, preliminary damage estimates for the two buildings is about $63 million. The city is already working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get 75 percent reimbursement allowed in cleanup efforts across the city, said Thomas T. Walsh, spokesman for Mayor Domenic J. Sarno.

State representatives and Sarno said they had not heard about the possibility of being able to repair the schools at no cost to the city, but liked the idea.

Grossman and Katherine Craven, executive director of the School Building Authority, toured the three buildings after the storm and saw the damage, said state Rep. Benjamin Swan, D-Springfield.

Swan said both schools are within his district. Swan thanked Grossman for his foresight in addressing the problem and said he would fully support any bill.

“I think it is a great idea, and clearly we need the schools to be back in service,” he said. “I don’t expect a problem with the Legislature.”

State Rep. Angelo J. Puppolo Jr., a Springfield Democrat and member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he went to Dryden School as a child and many children in his district go there now.

He said he is happy to hear the city may get some unexpected help from the state.

While the modular classrooms provide the best way to bring children back to school with the least disruption, they are not ideal, Puppolo said.

“This is not a permanent solution. I don’t want it to drag on and on,” he said. “This is a window of opportunity to provide top-notch facilities for our students.”

He said the legislators will have work with Grossman to find the best way to craft language for a bill to help the city, but believes those across the state would support them.

“This is a natural disaster that doesn’t happen that often. I agree this is the way to go but we have to make sure they have the money to sustain it,” he said.

One percent of the state sales tax is set aside to fund the school building assistance program now. Grossman said there is money in the account to help the cities.

The council agreed to the one-year moratorium on boarding, rooming and lodging houses, and forwarded it to the Planning Board, so it can have a hearing on the proposed zoning amendment.

PALMER - The Town Council is moving forward with a moratorium on boarding, rooming and lodging houses for one year, to prevent issues with “hot-bedding” if a casino were to open in Palmer, and also give officials more time to study potential casino impacts.

“Hot-bedding” is an issue in the towns around the Connecticut casinos. It is when casino employees who work different shifts share a bed, meaning more people are living in a dwelling than is apparent.

The council agreed to the one-year moratorium on boarding, rooming and lodging houses, and forwarded it to the Planning Board, so it can have a hearing on the proposed zoning amendment.

The moratorium would allow time to study the potential impact of any potential casino legislation and the legalization of gaming on the town of Palmer, according to the letter Town Council President Paul E. Burns wrote to the Planning Board.

Town Planner Linda G. Leduc said she expects that a hearing on the moratorium will be held on Sept. 12. The Town Council will have the final say on the moratorium, however.

There are two so-called rooming houses in Palmer now, according to Town Clerk Patricia C. Donovan, at 1424 Main St. and 1509 North Main St.; they are both operated by the South Middlesex Opportunity Council and are for low-income boarders who pledge to live a sober lifestyle. Each has a rooming house license from the clerk’s office.

With the casino debate expected to resume next month and Connecticut-based Mohegan Sun still angling to build a resort casino across from Massachusetts Turnpike exit 8, Burns said he wanted to make sure a moratorium is in place.”

The real reason (for it) is to make sure we don’t end up with a cluster or significant increase in these types of developments without a well-developed plan,” Burns said, adding that he wants to ensure that any future development of this type of housing “does not have a negative impact on the community as a whole.”

“At the end of the day there is a lot of research to be done on it,” Burns said.

The hot-bedding problem was cited by the Casino Impact Study Committee in its 2009 report, which studied the pros and cons of having a casino in town.

Leduc said hot-bedding is “actually a landlord-tenant” issue, and said she has been in contact with the assistant planner in Montville, Conn., where Mohegan Sun is located. She said she was told that the landlord-tenant relationship is protected by the state, but Montville has tried to address the problem by following Connecticut’s definition of family, which is no more than five non-related individuals living together; it also no longer allows boarding houses.

In Palmer, the current zoning defines family as no more than four non-related individuals living together per dwelling unit. Lodging houses now are only prohibited in rural residential and neighborhood business zoning districts. They are allowed in suburban and town residential districts by special permit and site plan approval, and in highway and general business zones by special permit, Leduc said.

The moratorium being proposed does not include the development of hotels or motels in town, according to Burns.

The two now do not want the case to go to trial, according to the request signed by their lawyer, Thomas J. Rooke, who, along with Moynihan’s lawyer, Michael O. Jennings, will ask the judge on Monday to let the parties settle the matter themselves.

SPRINGFIELD – The fate of the domestic assault and battery case against a veteran city police lieutenant may be decided Monday if a Springfield District Court judge agrees to allow the parties to settle the matter among themselves.

Robert P. Moynihan was charged in 2009 with assaulting his girlfriend at the time, Anita Paquin, and her 13-year-old daughter, Alex, both of Springfield.

Signed statements given Oct. 7, 2009 by Paquin and her daughter describe a violent series of events at the hands of Moynihan that included punching and choking the mother and shoving the teen, according to court records.

The two now do not want the case to go to trial, according to the request signed by their lawyer, Thomas J. Rooke, who, along with Moynihan’s lawyer, Michael O. Jennings, will ask the judge on Monday to let the parties settle the matter themselves.

Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said Friday he expects to object to that request, but the decision belongs to the judge.

“A judge can allow this over the objection of the commonwealth,” he said.

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Fitzgerald said such agreements are a daily occurrence in Springfield District Court.

Moynihan has been free on personal recognizance since he appeared voluntarily at District Court in October 2009 to plead innocent to three counts of domestic assault and battery. Two counts have since been dropped. The lieutenant is now facing a sole misdemeanor count for domestic assault and battery of the teenager, according to records.

Sgt. John M. Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said Fitchet will wait to see what happens to the court case before deciding if any departmental action will be taken against Moynihan.

In a police report on the incident, Capt. Cheryl C. Claprood wrote that when police got to Paquin’s home, Moynihan was gone, and there were broken kitchen chairs strewn on the floor and black scuff marks on the kitchen floor and washing machine.

Claprood said Anita Paquin said she was not hearing properly from her left ear, which was red but had no visible injury. Paquin said she slapped Moynihan in the face after he pushed her daughter into a wall.

Anita Paquin said Moynihan punched her in the head about three times.

“I was on the floor, by the washing machine, and he was choking me,” she told police that night.

The case against Moynihan changed June 30, when Rooke said Anita Paquin wanted to assert her Fifth Amendment rights. Judge Robert A. Gordon talked privately with Paquin, and ruled she didn’t have to testify against Moynihan. The Fifth Amendment privilege protects people from having to incriminate themselves.

Mastroianni said the reasons given for claiming the privilege aren’t released or told to prosecutors.

Handwritten docket entries from that day state, “Commonwealth cannot proceed on counts one and two – dismissed.”

Gordon ordered Anita Paquin to bring Alex Paquin to court to testify.

Mastroianni said Moynihan is not being treated differently than anyone else charged with the same crime.

“I’m confident we have made every effort to have these victims come to court and pursue this case .¤.¤. in this case we have gone to the extreme of seeking a judge’s order to force a witness to be present and testify,” he said.

Moynihan, a defendant in this case, last month was in District Court giving a statement as a crime victim in an unrelated case.

Derek V. Cook, a city patrolman, pleaded guilty to attacking Moynihan and another superior officer in a fight at police headquarters in 2008.

Mastroianni said both the 22-month-old domestic assault case against Moynihan and the case against Cook “did have histories that were drawn out much longer than they needed to be and much longer than they should have been.”

As proposed, the Boston Road cyber cafe would consist of multiple computer screens which are used by patrons to play virtual slot machines or similar games, in which the Internet time is sold to the patron, according to a Planning Department analysis.

SPRINGFIELD – The City Council has two meetings scheduled Monday to consider issues ranging from new local regulations regarding foreclosures to a new special permit request for a cyber cafe on Boston Road.

At a special meeting at 5:30 p.m., the council will consider approving an ordinance that would establish a city-approved mediation program intended to help homeowners who are threatened with foreclosures by having the mortgagee and borrower engage in good-faith negotiations before foreclosure.

The mediation would be aided by a city-approved mediation program manager.

As part of the ordinance, the city would establish a “a reasonable and appropriate registration fee to be charged to the parties, with the borrower’s portion not to exceed 15 percent of the cost of mediation,” according to the draft proposal.

The ordinance is sponsored by Ward 6 City Councilor Amaad I. Rivera.

In addition, the council will consider approval of a separate ordinance sponsored by Rivera that would require the owner of a vacant and/or foreclosed residential property, such as a bank, to provide a cash bond of not less than $10,000 to assist with securing and maintaining any property throughout its vacancy.

Both ordinances received first-step approval in July, applauded by groups and individuals including members of a coalition known as Springfield No One Leaves/Nadie Se Mude.

In a prepared release in July, Sellou Diaite of Springfield No One Leaves stated that the council “has given residents real, tangible tools to fight back against the damage banks have done to our city and our country as a whole.”

The council recently conducted a subcommittee meeting to gather any input from local banks, but no bank representatives attended, officials said.

Also Monday, the council will meet at 7 p.m., to consider special permit requests including a permit sought by Beverly Baker to open a cyber cafe, also known as an Internet cafe, at 1295 Boston Road.

Previously, the council denied a special permit for a cyber cafe at 296 Cooley St., known as Triple Sevens Cyber Center, which is under appeal by the owner.

As proposed, the Boston Road cyber cafe would consist of multiple computer screens which are used by patrons to play virtual slot machines or similar games, in which the Internet time is sold to the patron, according to a Planning Department analysis.

The state attorney general has raised concerns if Internet cafes are “.¤.¤.de facto gambling operations posting as sellers of goods or services,” the Planning Department analysis stated.

The list of award recipients ranges from Vince Lombardi to Tom Brokaw.

In this October, 2001 photo, Dr. Arthur J. Roberts, left, a native of Holyoke, discusses the results of Lt. Angel Mendez's cardiovascular tests in New York last week. Mendez has been working at Ground Zero since the first day of the World Trade Center attacks and was concerned about the effects of the site's environment on his health.

When Archie Roberts was growing up in Holyoke, the Paper City had no organized football program for kids.

No Pop Warner League. No uniforms. No helmets. No shoulder pads. No coaches, either.

Even though Roberts’ father happened to be the head honcho of Holyoke High School’s football program as well as a gifted athlete, an All-America backfield man and baseball star in his years at New York University, he never pushed his son to play sports.

In his early years, Arthur “Archie” Roberts was more interested in playing cowboys and Indians, and that was OK.

The time did come, though, when he and his neighborhood friends decided they wanted to play football. They would get together on Sunday mornings at whatever field they could find, for pickup games.

From that simple beginning emerged one of the all-time great athletes in the history of Western Massachusetts sports, a man who today is a nationally-recognized heart surgeon and will be honored in December with the National Football Foundation’s Distinguished American award.

Once young Roberts got the sports bug, it quickly became apparent that he could play anything, and play it well. He went on to lead championship high school teams as a quarterback in football and point guard in basketball (both in 1959), and from there to a starry career as the last three-sport athlete to play at Columbia University in New York.

All of that, and a brief time in the National Football League, merely served as prelude to an illustrious career in medicine. After retiring in 1997 as an active surgeon, he founded the Living Heart Foundation, which uses mobile methods to screen patients for cardiovascular risks and raise awareness about heart disease.

The remarkable life and work of Roberts – now a 69-year-old resident of Little Silver, N.J. – will be duly saluted on Dec. 9, when he receives the award at the foundation’s 54th annual dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.

“Dr. Roberts stands as a living testament to the (National Football Foundation’s) mission of building leaders through football,” said Steven Hatchell, the foundation’s president and chief executive officer. “A standout student-athlete at Columbia, he has continued to excel throughout his life, becoming one of the nation’s leading heart surgeons and a pioneer in the research and prevention of heart disease.”

Roberts will be the 40th recipient of the Distinguished American award, joining an impressive list that includes Frank L. Boyden, who was headmaster at Deerfield Academy when Roberts did one year of post-graduate study before entering Columbia. The list of past recipients also includes the likes of Vince Lombardi and Joe Paterno, Jimmy Stewart and Bob Hope.

“I was surprised when I got the call about the award, and even more surprised when I looked at the list of previous winners,” Roberts said. “You wonder how a small-town boy can be part of such a robust membership that includes Dr. Boyden. It’s great to be in his company, and great, too, that Western Massachusetts is represented on the list.”

Roberts played football at Deerfield in the fall of 1960, one season after leading Holyoke High School to a 9-0-0 record and the Class AA Conference title. With Roberts unstoppable as a passer and runner, the Purple Knights outscored their opponents 278-24.

Roberts’ Holyoke teammates included two of his neighborhood pickup-game buddies, Pat Sheehan and Bob Burke.

Sheehan later joined Roberts at Columbia, and became a doctor, too. Burke starred at the University of Massachusetts as a guard, then went into teaching and coaching. In 2006, he retired as director of athletics at American International College.

“Archie was just a really good athlete when we were kids,” recalled Burke. “The guys we played with went to John J. Lynch Junior High. They had a ninth-grade team, coached by Phil Hart (an AIC Little All-America in his day). We were in seventh-grade, but we made the team.”

When Holyoke capped its dreamy 1959 season with a 36-6 Thanksgiving morning victory over arch-rival Chicopee, the elder Arthur Roberts retired after 20 seasons on the job. When Archie the younger went to Deerfield, he played for another Western Massachusetts coaching legend, Jim Smith.

“What I remember most about my father as a coach was his patience in relating to me as his son and his quarterback,” Dr. Roberts said recently. “He somehow knew how to keep that in balance. He never pushed me too hard, yet he kept me focused on doing as well as I could. Later on, he would say that life presented choices, and it became a question of what are your priorities.”

Those priorities were clear, even as a young man.

“In my case, I knew by the age of 12 – although I can’t imagine why I thought that way – that I wanted to be an NFL quarterback, and a heart surgeon,” he said. “It was a case of having sports as a great short-term goal, but knowing that the final goal is more important.”

While he achieved both goals, Roberts became much more successful as a surgeon than he was as an NFL quarterback.

He spent two seasons on the Cleveland Browns taxi squad while working out an arrangement that allowed him to simultaneously attend medical school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

In 1967, he took his one fling at becoming a first-line player, leaving the Browns, getting a leave from medical school and joining the Miami Dolphins, a franchise which had entered the American Football League in 1966 as an expansion team.

“Cleveland had Frank Ryan, and he was a top quarterback. So I tried Miami, not knowing at the time of my decision that, lo and behold, they would be bringing in Bob Griese as a No. 1 draft pick,” Roberts recalled.

Griese, a former Purdue star, became the quarterback who led the Dolphins to two Super Bowl victories in the 1970s.

“So I played sparingly, and gave up football after that to become a full-time medical student,” Roberts said.

Roberts had gotten his chance with the Browns because of a spectacular college career in which he made All-Ivy League three times and set 17 Columbia records and 14 Ivy League marks.

As a junior in 1963, he led the nation in completion percentage (.616). For his three varsity seasons, he accounted for 3,704 yards passing. He also took his turn on defense, playing the safety position.

Roberts made the Playboy All-America team in 1964, his senior football season. He became one of three quarterbacks chosen for the Coaches All-America game alongside two future NFL players, Roger Staubach, of Navy, and John Huarte, of Notre Dame.

An academic standout as well, Roberts received the National Football Foundation’s scholar-athlete award in 1964.

In baseball, he twice made first-team All-America as a shortstop. In his junior season of 1965 – the first year of the baseball draft – he was told that the Kansas City Athletics were thinking of making him the No. 1 pick in the nation, but they shied away because they knew he wanted to stay in school to continue football, then go to medical school.

“So they took Rick Monday as the first pick,” he recalled. “Could I have been a big leaguer? That’s something I’ll never know.”

Although he had been an All-Western Mass. basketball guard in high school, Roberts didn’t play in college until one of the coaches talked him into it as a junior.

“I hadn’t played since Deerfield. I could still dribble and bring the ball up, but I lost that finishing touch – pass, drive or shoot – that a point guard needs. But I did play the full season,” he said.

With sports behind him after his one Miami season, Roberts finished preparation for a career in which he would perform more that 4,000 open-heart surgeries and train dozens of young doctors in cardiothoracic surgery. He has written four books on cardiac surgery.

He’s held key positions at Northwestern University, the University of Nevada, University of Florida, Boston University Medical Center and Temple University. He also headed the cardiac surgery departments at the Heart Institute of Northeast Pennsylvania, and the Jersey Shore Medical Center.

In 1987, the Columbia Alumni Association presented Roberts with the John Jay Award for distinguished achievement. In 2006, he was inducted with the Columbia Hall of Fame’s first class.

Each spring, Roberts returns to the Pioneer Valley to present an award named in honor of his father, the Arthur Roberts Award, which goes to the outstanding high-school football student-athlete in Western Massachusetts. It is presented at a banquet sponsored the by the regional chapter of the National Football Foundation.

“That’s a great occasion, a chance to see young people starting out, an exciting and invigorating time,” Roberts said. “I have great memories of Western Mass. I’ll never forget the opportunities it gave to me.”

Garry Brown can be reached at geeman1918@yahoo.com.

The Ledges, which opened in 2001, broke even or better for several years, but has been losing money recently.

SOUTH HADLEY – It’s a volatile issue, but Ryan Bagley, chairman of the Ledges Ad Hoc Review Committee, said his group has made progress on resolving what to do with the town’s public golf course, The Ledges.

South Hadley already has a Golf Commission, but the “ad hoc” part means that this committee is a special, temporary group formed to consider a specific problem. The panel includes the commission as well as appointees from the Selectboard and Appropriations Committee.

The Ledges, which opened in 2001, broke even or better for several years, but has been losing money recently.

The golf commissioners say the course started going downhill as soon as the town, in the form of the Selectboard and Town Administrator, stopped accepting recommendations from them last year.

The Monday meeting allowed them to vent old frustrations, but also to work on future directions. “Everyone has a real, vested interest in improving the situation of the town,” Bagley said.

Selectman John Hine came to the meeting with a list of possible solutions, and invited the group to winnow it down. The first choice, selling the course, was quickly eliminated as a serious option.

Even though people are always asking why the town doesn’t sell it, those familiar with the history of the golf course know that the grants that made it possible came with restrictions.

Even if the restrictions could be broken, it would come at a terrible cost to the town, both financially and in terms of attracting future state money.

The second option Hine read, closing the course, was no more popular, as the town would have to continue paying off its mortgage, or bond, at the rate of $385,000 a year until 2031.

Another option, continuing to let the town run the golf course, was voted down. Everyone seems to have concluded that running a golf course is no job for amateurs.

The group decided the two best options were leasing or outsourcing the course to a golf management company, as long as it keeps control. The group wants “full transparency” when it comes to where the money’s going, whether in the food, maintenance or management areas.

Committee members said it would also help if they could start getting financial statements from the Ledges on a regular basis right away. “We don’t know what the numbers are,” said Ira Brezinsky.

The ad hoc committee also agreed that a consultant was essential in locating the kind of management they need. The town has arranged for the first two candidates for the consultant position to be interviewed by the ad hoc committee on Aug. 22.

Committee members said that in previous meetings they received valuable information from state Rep. John Scibak, who talked about the state grants, and Mary Jo Maydew, former vice president for finance and administration at Mount Holyoke College, which owns the successful private golf course The Orchards in South Hadley.

The concept for the memorial was taken from a line in the "I Have a Dream" speech, which is carved into the stone: "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."

WASHINGTON — Tourists and Washingtonians got their first up-close look Monday at the memorial to the U.S.civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The site opened without fanfare to kick off a week of celebrations ahead of Sunday's official dedication.

The memorial sits on the National Mall between memorials honoring Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson. It includes a 30-foot (9-meter)-tall sculpture of King and a 450-foot (137-meter)-long granite wall inscribed with 14 quotations from his speeches.

The sheer size of the sculpture of King sets it apart from nearby statues of Jefferson and Lincoln, which are both about 20 feet (6 meters) tall, though inside larger monuments.

A panel of scholars chose the engraved quotations from speeches by King in Atlanta, New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Montgomery, Alabama, as well as from King's books and his letter from a Birmingham, Alabama, jail.

One of the stone engravings reads: "We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

The site will be surrounded with cherry trees that will blossom in pink and white in the spring.

Sunday's dedication ceremony will mark the 48th anniversary of the March on Washington and King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech. President Barack Obama, the first black U.S. president, is scheduled to speak at the dedication.

The Chinese sculptor, Lei Yixin, said he wanted the memorial to be a visual representation of the ideals King spoke of in his "I Have a Dream" speech.

"His dream is very universal. It's a dream of equality," Lei said through his son, who translated from Mandarin. "He went to jail. He had been beaten, and he sacrificed his life for his dream. And now his dream comes true."

The sculpture depicts King with a stern expression, wearing a jacket and tie, his arms folded and clutching papers in his left hand. Lei said through his son that "you can see the hope" in King's face, but that his serious demeanor also indicates that "he's thinking."

The statue depicts King emerging from a stone. The concept for the memorial was taken from a line in the "I Have a Dream" speech, which is carved into the stone: "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope." Visitors to the memorial pass through a sculpture of the mountain of despair and come upon the stone of hope.

Karen Brettman denied a charge of manslaughter in District Court.

Republican file photo

This updates a story originally filed at 9:03 a.m.

WESTFIELD – A 51-year-old Heggie Drive woman, arrested Friday on a warrant for manslaughter in the April death of her 64-year-old husband, told police that he punched her in the face during an argument and that she then pushed him to the floor, causing him to injure his head.

Karen Brettman, of 10 Heggie Drive, denied the charge in District Court on Friday. Judge Rita Koenigs initially ordered Brettman to be held in lieu of $50,000 cash bail, according to court documents.

Brettman’s arraignment, however, was continued until Monday when Koenigs reduced the bail to $10,000 cash, $100,000 personal surety.

Lt. David Ragazzini, head of the Westfield Police Department’s detective bureau, said John Brettman was injured during a domestic altercation at the Brettman home on March 16. He succumbed to his injuries at the Westfield Care and Rehabilitation Center on East Silver Street about a month later on April 15.

The state Medical Examiner determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, Ragazzini said.

Karen Brettman’s description of a verbal dispute that allegedly led to his punch and her push is outlined in the Westfield Police Department’s application for complaint that is included in court documents.

John Brettman, questioned by police while he was in the hospital, denied punching his wife, according to court documents.

Ragazzini said police arrested Brettman at her 10 Heggie Drive home about 1 p.m.

Brettman, who did not make bail Monday, was ordered to return to court on Sept. 16 for a pre-trial hearing.

Reporter Ted Laborde contributed to this report

A subcontractor at the site was issued issued $20,000 in penalties

WEST SPRINGFIELD – A contractor that employed a 33-year-old man who lost his life in March in an explosion at Balise Honda has been issued $20,000 in fines by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Fuentes Enterprises Inc., of 4 Copperfield Lane, Franklin, was issued 12 separate citations following OSHA’s investigation into the death of 33-year-old Daniel Martinez. Investigators believe Martinez touched off the explosion when he used a lighter to peer inside a 55-gallon drum of flammable cleaning fluid.

Citations against Fuentes include: not taking precautions to prevent the ignition of flammable vapors; not training employees on the hazards of chemicals in the work area, and not providing training in the use of personal protective equipment.

Balise, meanwhile, was issued a $6,000 penalty for not maintaining copies of material safety data sheets at the work site for three products with significant toxic or flammable properties.

Mary E. Hoye, area director of OSHA’s Springfield office, said the cases with Fuentes and Balise have been settled.

Officials with Fuentes Enterprises and Balise could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.

At least two of Gadhafi's sons were in custody, but the ruler's whereabouts were unknown after nearly 42 years in power.

Associated PressPeople celebrate the capture in Tripoli of Moammar Gadhafi's son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, at the rebel-held town of Benghazi, Libya, early Monday, Aug. 22, 2011. Libyan rebels raced into Tripoli in a lightning advance Sunday that met little resistance as Moammar Gadhafi's defenders melted away and his 40-year rule appeared to rapidly crumble. The euphoric fighters celebrated with residents of the capital in the city's main square, the symbolic heart of the regime.

CHILMARK, Mass. (AP) — President Barack Obama said Monday that Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi's "rule is over" although elements of his regime continue to resist rebels who have taken control of much of the capital.

He appealed to Gadhafi to prevent further bloodshed, and urged opposition forces to build a democratic government through "peaceful, inclusive and just" measures.

In his first appearance since a weekend push by the rebels into the Libyan capital, Obama said fierce fighting rages in some areas of the capital city of Tripoli.

"But this much is clear. The Gadhafi regime is coming to an end, and the future of Libya is in the hands of its people."

Obama made his comments on the grounds of a vacation property where he is staying on Martha's Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast.

Half a world away, rebels claimed control of most of Tripoli, including state-run television. At least two of Gadhafi's sons were in custody, but the ruler's whereabouts were unknown after nearly 42 years in power.

In his remarks, Obama said the popular uprising against Gadhafi "echoed the voices we had heard all across the region," from Tunis to Cairo, the capitals of two other Arab countries that forced autocratic rulers from power this year. The president made no mention of Syria, where the government has launched a crackdown against protesters in recent weeks that has resulted in the reported deaths of thousands.

The apparent end was coming to the Libyan regime about five months after an air campaign launched by the United States and NATO began targeting Gadhafi's forces.

"In the early days, the United States provided the bulk of the fire power and then our friends stepped forward," Obama said.

He added that Gadhafi was "cut off from arms and cash and his forces were steadily degraded....Over the last several days the situation in Libya has reached a tipping point," he said, and "the people of Tripoli rose up to claim their liberties."

The president provided no information about efforts to locate Gadhafi, although White House and Pentagon officials said earlier they believe he's still in the country.

Obama received an update earlier in the day from John Brennan, his deputy national security adviser.

Already, the White House was claiming success for the administration's policy, which has drawn criticism as the NATO-led operation stretched on far longer than had initially appeared likely.

Asked whether the rebel advances were a vindication of Obama's strategy to let NATO take the lead in Libya, spokesman Josh Earnest said he would not "assess winners and losers," but said Obama's approach "has yielded a lot of favorable results here."

He said the administration had no intention of changing its policy of keeping U.S. troops out of Libya.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton telephoned the leader of the Libyan Transitional National Council on Monday, and also spoke to leaders of several nations who are part of an international diplomatic effort known as the Libya Contact Group. That body could meet as soon as next week in Europe.

A State spokesman said Monday that no decision has yet been made on whether to send U.S. military and diplomatic weapons experts to Libya to help prevent the Gadhafi regime's massive arsenal of anti-aircraft missiles from slipping into the hands of terror groups.

Military officials estimate the regime amassed as many as 30,000 Man-Portable Air Defense Systems, or MANPADS, before the fighting began. Most are believed to be early-model Russian missiles and launchers.

The U.S. has already sent an interagency team to the region to confer with Libya's neighbors and is providing $3 million to two international weapons abatement teams to locate and dispose of the weapons.

Some missiles have been dismantled, but officials in Algeria and several other nations have raised alarms that other plundered weapons have reached al-Qaeda's North African branch.

The Pentagon has provided well over 60 percent to 70 percent of the intelligence flights in support of NATO operations involving Libya. The U.S. led airstrikes before turning the mission over to NATO forces.

Obama spoke one day after issuing a written statement that said the situation in Libya had reached a "tipping point" and control of the capital was "slipping from the grasp of a tyrant."

Opposition fighters captured his son and one-time heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, who along with his father faces charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands. Another son was in contact with rebels about surrendering, the opposition said.

The United States has joined other countries in recognizing the Transitional National Council as the legitimate government in Libya.

In his remarks before television cameras, Obama said that as the post-Gadhafi era begins, "the rights of all Libyans must be respected. True justice will not come from reprisals and violence, it will come from reconciliation."

Obituaries from The Republican.

Carmella Bocon

Carmella (Celetti) Bocon, 94, of Springfield, passed away Friday. Born in Springfield, she lived in Springfield for many years before moving to East Longmeadow in 1961. She was a communicant of St. Michael's Church in East Longmeadow. Bocon retired from Milton Bradley Company in 1982. After retiring, she dedicated her time to volunteering – at the Springfield Museums, as a library aide at Howard Street School and for the past 15 years at Wingate at East Longmeadow in the gift shop. She was a member of the East Longmeadow Senior Friendship Club and East Longmeadow Senior Chorus, and was elected East Longmeadow Senior Queen in 2002. She also belonged to the Red Hat Society.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• Adams, Jary A.
  




• 
  Black, Lori A.
  



• 
  Bocon, Carmella (Celetti)




• 
  Borowiec, Michael J.
  



• 
  Bruni, Ruth V.
  




• Buck, Theresa J. "Tessie" (Silvestri)
  




• 
  Fenton, Joann L. (Mullin)
  



• 
  Fortune, Dorothy W.




• 
  Griffin, Frances (Lynde)
  



• 
  Hickey, Robert J. "Bob"
  




• Horne, James
  




• 
  Houghton, Dorothy E. (Donald)
  



• 
  Konrad, Joan Marie (Dillon)




• 
  Lamora, Rita N.
  



• 
  Lapen, Mary (Kondrat)
  




• Lecko, Stefan
  




• 
  Melaney, Helena M. (Smith)




• 
  Morrissey, Judith Ann (Burns)
  



• 
  Murray, Thomas
  




• O'Neil, Richard K. "Dick"
  




• 
  Paquette, Andre A. "Andy"
  



• 
  Payson, Gertrude A. (Seymour)




• 
  Peret, Stasia (Przybyla)
  



• 
  Perry, Maurice J. "Jim"
  




• Poudrier, Normand P.
  




• 
  Ritter, John F.
  



• 
  Tavares, Marion (Dearden)




• 
  Teluk, Sophie
  



• 
  Tucker, Styra L. (Weinberg)
  




• Welch, Joan E. (Allen)
  




• 
  Yoshida, Gloria
  

Elliott said he has received letters telling him that visitors are being allowed to view pornographic images on library computers.

File photo | The Republican

LOWELL — A Lowell city councilor wants the public library to better enforce its no pornography rule.

Rodney Elliott said he has received letters from library employees and the public telling him that visitors are still being allowed to view pornographic images on library computers in violation of the library's own rules.

There have been two reports involving Level 3 sex offenders this year at the library.

Elliott has filed a motion to be heard at Tuesday's council meeting requesting better enforcement of the rule.

He tells The Sun of Lowell that it's particularly important with more children visiting the library as the start of school approaches.

The library director has said that the computers' filters are not always effective.

The annual tournament raises funds to support families of fallen state police, public safety and military personnel.

File photo | The RepublicanChristopher Dolan's Fenway Park look-a-like Wiffle ball park behind his Westfield home. A memorial to fallen state police, public safety and military personnel stands behind home plate.

WESTFIELD – Westfield's Fenway Park will host its 3rd annual 9/11 Wiffle Ball Tournament Aug. 26 through Aug. 28 in a continuing effort to support families of fallen state police officers and military men and women.

This year's tournament, hosted by the Christopher M. Dolan family and their 1/4-scale replica of Boston's Fenway Park, will honor Taunton native Shane Duffy, an Army sergeant killed in duty in Iraq in 2008. Proceeds from the tournament will support Duffy's wife and daughter.

Duffy was a member of the Tauton Fire Department and serving in Iraq with the Army's 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division.

Twelve teams have entered the tournament, including one sponsored by Hampden County District Attorney Mark Mastroianni. The tournament will begin, rain or shine, at 6 p.m. on Aug. 26 and continue on Aug. 27 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Aug. 28 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Westfield Fenway Park is located off Western Avenue with parking at Westfield State University.

Donations can be made to, an additional information available at Dolan's website: www.fenwaywestfield.com.

Adjusted for inflation, the poorest 20% of Valley residents saw their income fall from $20,983 in 1979 to $15,992 in 2008.

Western Massachusetts’ poorest residents have less buying power now than they had in 1979, according to a study released Monday by the University of Massachusetts.

In 1979, the poorest 20 percent of Pioneer Valley residents earned $20,983 once figures are adjusted for inflation to represent 2009 dollars, according MassBenchmarks, a study of the state’s economy prepared by the University of Massachusetts’ Donahue Institute and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. By 2008, that annual income had fallen to an inflation adjusted $15,992.

“Meaning that a poor family was doing significantly better in 1979,” said Michael D. Goodman, an author of the study and an associate professor of public policy at UMass-Dartmouth. “You are talking about conditions for the poorest families in the region going backwards during the last three decades. Something is wrong.”

Adjusted for inflation, incomes fell from 1999 to 2008 for all families earning the state’s 2008 median income of $81,258 or less.

On the other side of the coin, the highest-paid 20 percent of Pioneer Valley residents earned $119,811 in 1979 and $139,927 in 2008, also adjusted for inflation.

Goodman said there are simply too few job opportunities available for someone with limited skills and education. Many manufacturing jobs have disappeared and the ones that remain, while well-paying, are for machinists trained in computer-controlled equipment.

“The rungs keep getting sawn off the bottom of the ladder,” said Bruce M. Young-Candelaria, deputy director for the New England Farm Workers' Council.

In the last three years, the number of Springfield residents getting home heating assistance through the Farm Workers' Council has risen 44 percent to more than 12,000.

“People have lost jobs and are having trouble making ends meet,” Young-Candelaria said.

Robert A. Nakosteen

Robert A. Nakosteen, an author of the study and a professor of economics and statistics at UMass-Amherst’s isenberg School of Management said the state has been doing well economically with an unemployment rate of 7.6 percent for July. The national average is 9.1 percent.

But much of that growth has been driven by high-tech companies in the eastern part of the state.

“There is no short-term solution,” Nakosteen said. “There is an educational component to this.”

The MassBenchmarks study found that cities like Springfield, where unemployment is high, are also places where people are less likely to hold bachelor’s degrees.

Nakosteen said that the focus should also be on trade schools and vocational education and on community colleges. That way, people in the Pioneer Valley will be able to take advantage of opportunities when they arise.

In the meantime, Young-Candelaria said, the New England Farm Workers' Council steers the poor into health care jobs. He said counselors also encourage people who qualify to go to truck-driving or material handling school as there is demand in those career fields.

Baye had 2 encounters with police on the rainy night of Dec. 27, while some of the fires were still raging.

Judge Constance M. Sweeney.

Updates a story posted Monday at 2 p.m.

NORTHAMPTON – Despite what she described as a deliberately disingenuous interrogation, the judge in the Anthony P. Baye trial has denied his motion to suppress evidence from a taped police interview in which he admitted to setting some of the fires on the night of Dec. 27, 2009.

Judge Constance M. Sweeney also ruled against a defense motion to exclude evidence gathered from two encounters between Baye and police on the night of the fires, saying the officers were within their rights in questioning him.

Firefighters from throughout the area struggled to battle a rash of blazes that night, one of which took the lives of Paul Yeskie and Paul Yeskie Jr. at their 17 Fair St. home. Baye, 26, is facing more than 40 charges in connection with 15 fires he allegedly set. He is charged with two counts of first degree murder for the deaths of the Yeskies and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

In a 44-page opinion rendered Monday, Sweeney recapped a three-day hearing on the motions in May that included the airing of most of the 10-hour police interrogation on Jan. 4, 2010. During that interview, arson specialist Michael Mazza and Sgt. Paul Zipper, both of the state police, refuted Baye’s alibi that he was at the home of a friend during the fires by showing him evidence of his two encounters with police that night.

After hours of questioning, which Sweeney variously described as “tortured” and “begging” and “coercive,” Mazza and Zipper got Baye to admit that he set some of the fires.

The Republican / Don TreegerAttorney David P. Hoose (left) stands with his client, Anthony P. Baye, during an appearance in Hampshire Superior Court last year.

The trooper repeatedly assured Baye that they knew the fires were “accidents” and that he didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Baye finally admitted that the Fair Street fire was an “accident,” at which point, Sweeney wrote, he was effectively under arrest. Baye reversed course later in the interview, denying that he set the Fair Street blaze.

Brett Vottero, who was appointed by Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan to special prosecutor the case, called Sweeney’s opinion “careful and well-reasoned.”

“We’re pleased that the jury will be allowed to hear – and evaluate for themselves – this very important piece of evidence,” Vottero said.

David P. Hoose, who is defending Baye along with Thomas Lesser, said he was disappointed by Sweeney’s decision and is exploring the possibility of interlocutory appeal.

“It’s a significant part of the case,” he said.

For interlocutory appeal, the defense would have to persuade the state Supreme Judicial Court to hear their arguments and make a ruling prior to trial. The defense could also appeal Sweeney’s decision after the trial, but the evidence from the interrogation would come into play.

Lesser and Hoose argued that Baye was denied his right to a lawyer during the marathon interview, that his statements were involuntary and that he was deprived of his right to a prompt arraignment. Sweeney ruled against them on all those points. She noted that Baye came to the Northampton police station voluntarily on the day of the interview and was advised of his Miranda rights.

At one point, Baye balked under tough questioning, telling Mazza and Zipper, “If I’m being accused of anything, I want to talk to a lawyer.” The troopers convinced him to keep talking to them, however. Citing legal precedent, Sweeney said the police had no obligation to halt their interrogation.

“Not withstanding the law of the Commonwealth ... the defendant states that this court should reject that law and establish new law,” Sweeney wrote. “I am without the power or inclination to do so.”

Although Sweeney said Zipper and Mazza deliberately misstated the law and minimized the consequences of Baye’s actions, she ruled that their techniques did not override Baye’s free will.

“... despite my aversion to the way the troopers conducted their questioning, they did not misstate the specific evidence they had ...” she wrote.

Baye had two encounters with police on the rainy night of Dec. 27, while some of the fires were still raging. The first was with state trooper David Paul, who questioned Baye after Baye stopped his Toyota Camry on Arlington Place, ostensibly to visit his girlfriend. A few minutes later, Northampton police Det. Cory Robinson saw Baye pull to the side of the road on Bancroft Street. Baye again said he was visiting his girlfriend. On both occasions, the officers noticed that Baye’s clothes were wet and that his breath smelled of alcohol.

Hoose and Lesser argued that the officers lacked probable cause to stop Baye. Sweeney wrote that in both instances, Baye had already stopped his car and said the inquiries by police were justified.

Aug.22decision re: Anthony Baye and motion of suppress

The Massachusetts Division of Insurance estimated in July that residents had filed 9,500 claims.

SPRINGFIELD – More than 10,000 residents and businesses have filed insurance claims or requests for government assistance since the June 1 tornadoes, totaling more than $187 million, according to figures from state and federal agencies.

The deadline to apply for federal aid for business owners, homeowners and renters who suffered property damage in the June 1 tornadoes will pass Monday at 10 p.m.

The state Division of Insurance estimated in July that residents had filed 9,500 claims totaling $175 million. A spokesperson said Monday that “there is no further update.”

In Monson, property damage led to a $12 million reduction in the tax rolls and Wilbraham spent more than $3.5 million on clean-up. Brimfield residents lost $7 million from the values of their homes and West Springfield’s private property damage was estimated at $9.5 million. Little real estate in Westfield was damaged, but the entire Munger Hill School roof must be replaced at an estimated $1.3 million. In Springfield, more than 1,000 buildings were damaged.

As of Sunday, the U.S. Small Business Administration had paid out $7.8 million in loans to repair uninsured home and personal property damage, records show. Businesses have received $723,000 in loans for property damage.

One-hundred-sixty-four homeowner and renter applications were approved out of the 507 submitted. The agency approved 11 applications out of 105 filed by businesses for property damage and none of the four applications for economic injury loans, records show. Other applications were rejected.

Personal property damage loans were offered for up to 30 years at fixed interest rates between 2.688 percent and 5.375 percent. Loans for damaged businesses with available credit have up to 3-year terms at 6 percent interest.

The SBA partners with the Federal Emergency Management Agency after disasters. In Hampden County, FEMA has approved 4,458 grants for a total of $3.97 million, said spokesperson Daniel Llargues. Anyone can still contact the Springfield SBA and FEMA with questions or concerns or to learn more about their programs, he said.

The SBA’s office is in Building 101 at the Scibelli Enterprise Center at 1 Federal St. and can be reached at (800) 659-2955 or (800) 877-8339 for those with hearing or speech disabilities. FEMA can be reached at (800) 621-3362 or (800) 462-7585 (TTY).

Businesses have until March 15, 2012, to apply for economic injury loans through the SBA.

“Businesses usually can’t figure out their economic injury until tax time,” said Raymond E. Milano, a business development specialist with the Springfield SBA, but the SBA reached out to those who suffered property damage. “We tried to funnel business owners here ... and it worked.”

On Aug. 1, Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. Scott P. Brown, R- Mass., introduced The Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2011 in the U.S. Senate. It has been referred to the Senate Committee on Finance. It would permanently change the rules nationwide for deducting uninsured disaster-related property damage from income taxes.

A taxpayer can deduct losses valued at more than $100 and more than 10 percent of adjusted gross income. Under the proposed legislation, the bottom limit would rise to $500 and the 10 percent requirement would be eliminated. It also provisions to benefit small businesses.

The bill has support in the House from Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, and Rep. Ronald J. Kind, D-Wis. Neal and Kind sit on the House Ways & Means Committee.

Last week, Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray announced the state is offering $230,000 in competitive grants for rebuilding in the affected communities.

Hoping to secure local jobs in rebuilding, area community and labor leaders have formed the Community-Labor Rebuilding Coalition. The group is comprised of 14 organizations, including Western Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, Pioneer Valley Central Labor Council and the Western Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health.

Development corporations from the Forest Park and McKnight neighborhoods of Springfield are also involved. The Coalition holds open meetings every Friday at 11 a.m. at the Pioneer Valley Central Labor Council at 640 Page Blvd. Membership is still open.

Gold jumped $39.70, or 2 percent, to $1,892; gold has gained 16 percent so far in August.

Associated PressTrader Gregory Rowe, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Monday, Aug. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

By MATTHEW CRAFT
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK — It was another day of big swings in the Dow Jones industrial average, but at least Monday ended with a modest gain.

The Dow soared 200 points in the morning, an encouraging start after four weeks of losses. By noon that gain shriveled to just 2 points, then came a rise of another 100 in the afternoon. At the end of the day, the Dow closed up 37 points.

Compared with the even wilder fluctuations over the past two weeks, Monday's trading looked relatively calm. The Dow has gained or lost at least 200 points eight days in August, including a 419-point plunge last Thursday. A flare-up of Europe's debt crisis and fears of a new U.S. recession have shaken investors, taking the Dow down 15 percent in one month.

Hewlett-Packard Co. rose 3.6 percent, the most of the 30 large companies in the Dow Jones industrial average. H-P sank 20 percent on Friday after saying it planned to sell its PC business and stop selling other products.

Bank stocks, which have been clobbered over worries about Europe's debt crisis, took another fall. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 2.7 percent. Bank of America lost 7.9 percent, the biggest drop among the 30 Dow companies. Analysts at Wells Fargo cut their price target on the stock, citing fears that the U.S. could slip back into a recession.

Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor's equity research, cautioned against reading too much into the market's early jump Monday. "A two-hour rally isn't enough to change the trend," Stovall said. "It's natural in a declining market to have some days that run counter to the overall trend."

The S&P 500 index has fallen 16 percent since July 22 and 13 percent this month, putting the broad market measure on course for its worst August since 1998. After falling four weeks in a row, some stocks are appearing too cheap for investors to pass up, Stovall said.

Investors are still worried that the U.S. may fall into another recession. Some hope the Federal Reserve announces some kind of action to help the economy when it holds its annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Friday. It was at the same conference a year ago that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted that the central bank would buy Treasury bonds to push interest rates lower.

The Dow rose 37 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 10,854.65.

The S&P 500 rose 0.29 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 1,123.82. It had been up as many as 22 points. The Nasdaq rose 3.54 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,345.38.

Stocks have fallen for four weeks on signs that the U.S. economy is slowing. The sharpest drops came Thursday with news of weaker manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic states and an increase in the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits.

The Chicago Board of Options Exchange's volatility index has soared 68 percent this month. That's a sign investors are anticipating more wide swings in the S&P 500, the index most professional investors use. The index fell 1.4 percent Monday to 42. The VIX index was below 20 for much of this year but spiked as high as 48 on Aug. 8 as the stock market's swings accelerated.

Treasury bond prices and gold have been rising this month as investors seek refuge from the turmoil in stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dipped below 2 percent last week, a record low. The yield ended the trading day at 2.10 percent Monday. Yields on bonds fall when demand for them increases.

Gold jumped $39.70, or 2 percent, to $1,892. Gold has gained 16 percent so far in August. It reached $1,900 in after-hours trading.

Six of the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rose. Telecom stocks rose almost 1 percent, the most of any industry in the index.

Boeing Co. rose 1.5 percent after Britain's Royal Air Force said it would buy 14 Chinook helicopters for $1.6 billion.

Lowe's Cos. rose 1.1 percent. The home improvement retailer said it will buy up to $5 billion of its stock over the next two to three years. Last week, Lowe's lowered its sales forecast for the second half of the year as shoppers grow more worried about the economy.

No major economic reports came out Monday. Later in the week, traders will be sorting through figures on new home sales, chain store sales, durable goods orders and weekly claims for unemployment benefits to see if another recession could be on the way. The government will also release a second estimate of second-quarter economic growth Friday. Another significant revision downward could alarm investors.

Three stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was above average at 4.8 billion.

The stretch of Granville Road is the same general location of another single-vehicle accident last week that left a 19-year-old Tolland woman in critical condition.

SOUTHWICK – A 74-year-old Longmeadow man was killed in a single-vehicle crash on Granville Road late Sunday morning when his car went off the road, snapped a utility pole and came to rest against a tree.

John B. Nelson, of 8 Brookwood Drive, Longmeadow, died at Baystate Medical Center several hours after the 11:22 a.m. crash that occurred in the vicinity of 94 Granville Road. He was the sole occupant of the vehicle.

Southwick Police Lt. David A. Ricardi said rescue personnel had to use the “Jaws of Life” to extricate Nelson from the 2004 Mercury he was driving. It is not known if he was wearing a seat belt, and the accident remains under investigation.

“As far as we can tell, he went off the road for an unknown reason, took out several mailboxes, snapped a pole and came to rest against a tree,” Ricardi said.

That stretch of Granville Road is the same general location of another single-vehicle accident last week that left a 19-year-old Tolland woman in critical condition at Baystate after she struck a tree.

Southwick Police Officer Paul Miles said last Sunday that Colleen A. King, 19, of Burt Hill Road, Tolland, lost control of her Chrysler Sebring and wrapped it around a tree in the vicinity of 190 Granville Road at about 3:30 a.m.

King was the lone occupant of her car in the single vehicle crash and was wearing her seat belt, Miles added.

Ricardi said weather and road conditions on Sunday were good, and he does not blame the condition of Granville Road for either accident.

“At this point, we don’t know what happened,” he said of the crash that claimed Nelson’s life. “We’re working with witnesses to figure it out.”

This map shows the approximate location of the accident in which John B. Nelson was killed: