Some charges against Cushing carry 10-year minimum mandatory sentence.

The Republican file photo | Mark M. MurrayDonald Cushing at his District Court arraignment in May.

SPRINGFIELD – Former Chicopee High School teacher Donald Cushing denied charges Tuesday in Hampden Superior Court in a case in which he is charged with sex crimes against a 15-year-old student of the school.

Cushing, 59,of 645 James St., Chicopee, denied five counts of rape and abuse of a child and five counts of disseminating obscene matter to a minor.

The child rape and abuse crimes are charged under a law that sets a 10-year minimum mandatory sentence if there is more than a 10-year age difference between defendant and victim and the victim is between the ages of 12 and 16.

Judge Tina S. Page ordered that Cushing remain held in lieu of $150,000 cash or $1.5 million surety. Cushing had pleaded not guilty in connection with the allegations in Chicopee District Court; this moves the case to Superior Court.

He resigned from his job after being placed on unpaid administrative leave in late May.

According to court documents, the student told police that she had sexual intercourse with Cushing three or four times in his classroom closet.

Cushing, a teacher in Chicopee for about 10 years, taught math to students with learning disabilities. The 15-year-old was not in one of his classes.

The Dow dipped about 60 points shortly after an earthquake hit the East Coast, but recovered within 20 minutes and soared even higher in the afternoon.

Associated PressAs shows on this electronic board on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 322.11 points, its biggest gain in almost two weeks. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

By MATTHEW CRAFT
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK — Stocks posted their biggest jump in nearly two weeks on Tuesday. Investors picked up cheaply priced stocks after fears that the U.S. would slip into a recession pounded the market over the last month.

The Dow jumped 322 points, its best day since Aug. 11, when it gained 423. The Dow dipped about 60 points shortly after an earthquake hit the East Coast at 1:51 p.m., but recovered within 20 minutes and soared even higher in the afternoon.

James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, said the beating stocks have taken since late July made it look like investors were preparing for a recession. Investors questioned that bleak outlook Tuesday after a manufacturing survey from the Richmond, Va. Branch of the Federal Reserve pointed to a slowdown, not a recession. "And when people are preparing for a recession, slow growth is good right now."

The Dow, which tracks 30 huge U.S. companies including IBM Corp. and General Electric Co., closed with a gain of 3 percent at 11,176.76. Indexes that track smaller stocks did even better, a sign that investors were more willing to take on risk.

The S&P 500 index rose 38.53 points, or 3.4 percent, to 1,162.35. The Nasdaq composite, which tracks mainly technology companies, rose 100.68 points, or 4.3 percent, to 2,446.06. The Russell 2000 index of smaller U.S. companies gained even more, 4.9 percent.

As of Monday the Standard & Poor's 500 index had lost 16 percent over four weeks as investors worried that the U.S. might enter another recession and as Europe's debt crisis flared up again. That meant the average company in the index was priced at just 11 times the expected 2011 earnings. "That's too low if you're not in a recession," Paulsen said.

Exxon Mobil Corp. rose the most of the 30 stocks in the Dow, 4.9 percent. Chevron Corp. was also up more than 4 percent. Energy stocks got a push from a slight increase in the price of oil, to $85.44 a barrel. The dollar fell against the euro and Japanese yen as investors moved money into riskier assets.

Bank of America Corp. lost the most of any Dow stock, 1.9 percent. The stock fell 35 percent this month as investors become increasingly worried about the bank's ability to raise capital and its liabilities related to subprime mortgages. The latest disappointment came Monday with news that BofA will not sell all of its 10 percent stake in China Construction Bank.

Indexes eked out minor gains Monday following a four-week losing streak. During that time there were four days in a row in which the Dow Jones industrial average moved by at least 400 points, the first time that has happened in the Dow's 115-year history.

One measure of the market's swings, the Chicago Board of Options Exchange's volatility index, is up 44 percent this month. That's a sign investors are anticipating more wide swings in the S&P 500, the stock index most money managers use a benchmark. The index fell 15 percent Tuesday as concerns about future turbulence eased.

UBS rose 5 percent. The Swiss bank said it planned on cutting 3,500 jobs worldwide in the hope of saving $2.5 billion by the end of next year. UBS's stock has dropped 20 percent this year.

There's still fear that the U.S. could slip into another recession. Investors will be watching Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech at the Fed's annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Friday. It was at the same conference a year ago that Bernanke made the case for buying Treasury bonds to push interest rates lower and spur spending. That $600 billion bond-buying program was credited with giving stock markets a lift but it ended in June.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.15 percent from 2.10 percent late Monday. The yield fell below 2 percent last week, its lowest on record, as investors sought refuge from turmoil in the stock market.

Five stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was higher than average at 5.2 billion shares.

The bylaw change was prompted by a Bethany Road couple whose home was destroyed by the June 1 tornado, and briefly had a temporary trailer at a relative's home on Mill Street.

The Republican | Lori StabileCorey and Tina-Marie Partlow stand between what used to be their home on Bethany Road and their temporary trailer. They lost their home on Bethany Road to the tornado, and wanted to keep the trailer on Mill Street, at Tina-Marie's mother's home, but moved the trailer back to Bethany Road to comply with zoning regulations.

MONSON – Monson voters, at Monday's special Town Meeting, approved an amendment to its zoning bylaws that allows an emergency use of a trailer on a site other than where the disaster occurred.

The bylaw change was prompted by a Bethany Road couple whose home was destroyed by the June 1 tornado, and briefly had a temporary trailer at a relative's home on Mill Street.

But officials told the couple, the Partlows, that the trailer was too close to Mill Street, and it had to be moved back to their tornado-damaged property. It was determined that the Partlows had enough room on their Bethany Road property to accommodate both the trailer and rebuilding effort.

As the issue became public, the Partlows received support from some community members, who felt that victims of natural disasters should be allowed to place their trailers in areas other than their damaged properties.

The Planning Board held several meetings, and created the bylaw which allows property owners whose residences have been destroyed by fire or another natural disaster who lack enough room on their land for a temporary trailer to move it to another location, providing they have the landowner's permission, safe traffic patterns can be maintained on the street, and a 10-foot setback can be maintained from the rear and side property lines, among other conditions.

A special permit also is required from the Planning Board.

Assistant Town Clerk Mary F. Watson said 78 people attended the meeting, which was over in 15 minutes.

Measures have included cracking down on a State Street motel and a Facebook-advertised house party promising jello shots and a possible lap dancing contest.

The Republican | Mark M. MurraySpringfield Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet speaks as Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, right, and City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula, left, look on at a City Hall press conference in which Springfield officials gave an update on the city task force on violence prevention.

SPRINGFIELD – City and state law enforcement officials Tuesday said they are taking more aggressive steps against street crime, including cracking down on a State Street motel and a Facebook-advertised house party promising jello shots and a possible lap dancing contest.

“Seven hundred kids signed up for it,” said Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, holding up a copy of the Facebook posting at a City Hall press conference.

House parties such as the one scheduled for 19 Dearborn St. on Saturday night have contributed to a surge in youth violence across the city, according to Sarno, who joined District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni, Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet and others at the event.

Two people were killed in shootings at parties this year, Sarno said. He said the Law Department began taking action to stop the Dearborn Street party after learning about it this week.

A Facebook posting promoting the party said there would be a $2 cover charge for females and $3 for males and, possibly, a lap dancing contest with a $20 prize for the winner; those attending were asked not to bring “weapons of mass destruction.”

“This Year Has Been Too Many Funerals Soo We Gon End Dis Summer Civilized With Alot of Rump Shakin...LOL,” the poster, "BigDaddy Zo Pimp’n," wrote.

A woman answering the phone listed on the posting said the party was still on, but she is not expecting 700 people.

“You couldn’t fit that many people on the block,” the woman, who gave her first name as Zoe, said, adding she has not heard anything from the city or law enforcement agencies.

Thirty or forty people will be at the party, and nobody is expecting any trouble, she added.

Sarno, meanwhile, said the city is also focusing on the River Inn motel at 700 State St., the subject of frequent neighborhood complaints and police calls, including a resident-on-resident machete attack last month.

One hotel resident was arrested for slashing another resident who apparently came to the aid of a woman being groped by the knife-wielder, police said.

Sarno said the Law Department is looking into the motel’s licensing and management, and has already filed a complaint in Housing Court.

Fitchet said police have taken 133 guns off the street this year, and are working with state police, the probation department and other agencies to target crime-prone neighborhoods.

Sarno, Fitchet and Mastroianni all emphasized that parental responsibility was a key in reducing crime, and urged parents to steer their children clear of house parties and other potentially dangerous situations.

Mastroianni said law enforcement agencies are coming up with more innovative ways to fight gun, drug and gang violence, but finding funding to support their “non-traditional” collaborations is difficult.

“What we’re doing right now is good, but not enough,” Mastroianni said.

State Rep. Cheryl A. Coakley-Rivera, D-Springfield, said a narrowly targeted enforcement action has helped reduce crime on several particularly crime-ridden blocks, proving that collaboration between agencies can pay off.

Springfield and its surrounding cities and towns lost a collective 5,600 jobs in July, a further sign of a stalling economy.

View full size

SPRINGFIELD – Springfield and its surrounding cities and towns lost a collective 5,600 jobs in July, a further sign of a stalling economy.

“It’s a continuous story. There is just too little demand for goods and services,” said Karl J. Petrick, an assistant professor of economics at Western New England University. “Probably the best we can hope for is slow growth. The best we can hope for is to just narrowly avoid sliding back into recession.”

Springfield’s unemployment rate rose last month to 12.5 percent from 12 percent recorded in June, according to the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of unemployed people in Springfield rose by 244 from 8,165 in June to 8,409 in July. The city’s unemployment rate averaged 12.6 percent through all of 2010.

The July 2011 unemployment rate of 12.5 percent gave Springfield the fourth-highest city unemployment rate in the state behind Lawrence at 16.2 percent, Fall River at 13.8 percent and New Bedford at 13.5 percent. Holyoke was the next-highest of any Pioneer Valley community as the sixth-highest at 11.9 percent, up from 11.2 in June. Holyoke had an unemployment rate of 12.2 percent in July 2010 and averaged 11.6 percent unemployment in 2010.

All local unemployment numbers are seasonally unadjusted, meaning economists don’t take into account seasonal fluctuations, like amusement parks hiring in the spring.

“Certainly our region is slower on the upswing than even the Worcester area,” said J. William Ward, president and CEO of the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County.

But Ward pointed out that Greater Springfield is not doing significantly worse than the nation as a whole. As a region, Greater Springfield has an unemployment rate of 9.2 percent. The national unemployment rate, which is adjusted seasonally, is 9.1 percent.

Statewide unemployment beats the national average with 7.6 percent when adjusted seasonally and 7.8 percent unadjusted, according to the state.

Ward said he worries about the “99-weekers,” people who have been out of work so long they have exhausted their unemployment benefits.

“My first message to job seekers is that looking for work is the hardest job you can have today,” said Ward. “It’s very difficult to get a handle on where the hiring is occurring. You have be at it all the time. Be in contact with your career centers.”

But those who have exhausted their benefits are still counted in unemployment statistics, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Both job and unemployment numbers are based on sampled surveys.

Rena Kottcamp, director of research for the state Division of Unemployment Assistance, said some sectors of the economy lost jobs in Greater Springfield last month: trade, transportation and utilities, education and health, and government.

Leisure and hospitality gained 400 jobs versus 200 in July last year, Kottcamp said. Manufacturing gained 200 jobs last month compared to 100 jobs here in July 2010. Most of the local gains in manufacturing were in durable goods, or things meant to last six months or longer, Kottcamp said.

Rexene A. Picard, executive director of FutureWorks, a one-stop career center in Springfield, said this economy puts a premium on education and training. “There are opportunities, but there are opportunities for people with very specific skill sets,” Picard said.

File photo / Associated PressA jobs postings board is shown at the Central City Concern employment access center Monday, Sept. 7, 2010, in Portland, Ore.

Potential buyers have offered $500,000 each for the 3 restaurants, but owner Jesse Lanier says they're worth more.

The Republican | Mark M. MurrayPaul W. Scheer from Aaron Posnick auctioneers conducts the first of three auctions of former Kentucky Fried Chicken locations, this one at 632 State St. in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD – Potential buyers have offered $500,000 each for the three Springfield-area closed KFC restaurants auctioned Tuesday, but that’s not as much as they are worth according to owner Jesse M. Lanier.

Lanier, who called his company Springfield Food Systems, said he has 24 hours to review the bids and said Tuesday following the third auction that he’ll likely reject them.

“It’s not what I was looking for,” Lanier said.

Lanier, a longtime pillar of Springfield’s business community, closed his seven Springfield-area KFC restaurants in March after 27 years as a Kentucky Fried Chicken owner-operator. He gave up his franchise rights in order to settle a lengthy federal lawsuit with corporate parent KFC Brands Inc.

The State Street location was Lanier’s first KFC.

At the time he shut down his franchises, Lanier owned and managed three KFCs in Springfield, the third being on Liberty Street, and one each in East Longmeadow, Palmer, Enfield and Windsor Locks.

He rented some of those locations, but owns the real estate at State Street and Boston Road in Springfield, the location in Palmer and on Route 75 in Windsor Locks.

The Windsor Locks location was not included in Tuesday’s auction and is for sale conventionally, said John P. Benoit of Gallivan Real Estate Consultants in Hampden. Benoit has been trying to sell the locations as a real estate broker for months.

“It’s slow with the economy,” Benoit said. “But it is just a matter of getting the potential buyer to understand the trade area, to understand the market.”

The 3,000-square-foot State Street location, which once also had an A& W Root Beer franchise, has lighted parking, access to both State and Pleasant streets and a drive-through window, Benoit said.

“It takes time to get those drive-throughs approved,” Benoit said. “This would be a great bank location.”

The restaurant at 1780 Boston Road is 3,200 square feet. The Palmer KFC, which once also had a Long John Silver’s, is 3,000 square feet. All the equipment will be sold with the locations, but the sale will not include restaurant franchises.

Staff reporter Lori Stabile contributed to this report

A Sept. 20 preliminary election will narrow candidate fields in two races, mayor and Ward 7 City Council.

The RepublicanThe 2011 candidates for mayor in Holyoke are, from left, Daniel Boyle, Daniel Burns, Alex Morse and incumbent Elaine Pluta.

HOLYOKE – With fall elections looming, five forums have been scheduled so far for candidates for mayor, City Council and School Committee to pitch themselves to voters.

On Sept. 8, the four candidates for mayor will make remarks and take questions from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Open Square, Mill 1 event space, 1 Open Square Way.

The event is sponsored by Open Square, the Latino Chamber of Commerce, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Holyoke, and Citizens for the Revitalization and Urban Success of Holyoke, or C.R.U.S.H.

ù On Sept. 13, the three candidates for the Ward 7 council seat will debate at 6:30 p.m. at E.N. White School, 1 Jefferson St. The event is sponsored by the Holyoke Taxpayers Association.

On Sept. 14, candidates for mayor and the Ward 7 City Council seat are invited to give remarks at a meeting of the Golden Senior Club at 1 p.m., War Memorial, 310 Appleton St. Candidates for other offices also can give remarks.

On Oct. 20, candidates for the 15 City Council seats will debate from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Dean Technical High School. The event is sponsored by the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, among other partners.

On Oct. 26, candidates for mayor and School Committee will debate from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Dean in a forum also sponsored by the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, among other partners.

Mayor Elaine A. Pluta is seeking her second, two-year term as mayor. She faces challengers Daniel C. Burns, a former business owner and former city councilor, business consultant Daniel C. Boyle and Alex B. Morse, a former career counselor.

The top two vote-getters in the preliminary election Sept. 20 for mayor will be on the Election Day ballot Nov. 8.

Incumbent Ward 7 Councilor John J. O’Neill isn’t running for reelection.

The three candidates vying to win one of the two spots in the Sept. 20 preliminary election and move onto Election Day for the Ward 7 council seat are Gordon P. Alexander, 48, of 1450 Northampton St., chairman of the Conservation Commission; Christopher M. Kulig, 24, of 63 Jarvis Ave., who was on the recent charter review commission; and Alan G. Fletcher, 64, of 28 Briarwood Drive, captain with the Holyoke Police Department.

Officials say tropical storm Irene’s rain also did not help matters, though it probably did not add significantly to the damage.

Photo by Mark M.Murray / The RepublicanThe Most Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell, center, center, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, Steve Wills, of Servicemaster Inc., left, Gordon B. Jobe, of Daniel O'Connell's Sons Construction, behind the bishop, Gerald W. Hayes, co-chairman of the Rebuild Springfield Committee and Robert F. Kirchherr, right, of O'Reilly,Talbot & Okun Associates Engineering, look over damage in July done to the outside of the science wing at Cathedral High School in the June 1 tornado. The high school opens tomorrow following a press conference.

SPRINGFIELD – Until recently, one of Cathedral High School’s big goals for fall was to reverse last year’s winless football season and show its rivals not to underestimate the small Catholic school.

Now, as it tries to recover from June tornado damage and mop up after tropical storm Irene, Cathedral’s priority is far broader: to maintain its identity as its teachers and students start classes in borrowed quarters, waiting to learn when they can return to their battered campus.

The school was heavily damaged June 1 by the twister that churned through western Massachusetts, leaving Cathedral and the surrounding residential neighborhood in shambles. Then Irene doused the region last weekend and left water dripping through the already-leaky tarps into Cathedral’s gym, auditorium and elsewhere.

Damage is still being tallied, but the Springfield Diocese, which runs the school, estimates it will be well into the millions of dollars. The tropical storm probably did not add significantly to it, diocese spokesman Mark Dupont said, “but it certainly didn’t make life easier, that’s for sure.”

Two people were killed in West Springfield and a third person died in Brimfield when the June tornado ripped through the region.

At Cathedral High School that afternoon, classes had dismissed early because of the poor weather. A handful of teachers and students were still in the building, though, and escaped injury by crouching under desks, in closet and behind bleachers.

They emerged to find parts of the roof torn away, windows shattered, walls blown out, their belongings doused – and their school year at an abrupt end, with no certainty about when and where they would reconvene as a student body.

Now, some of those questions are being answered.

About 350 Cathedral students start classes Tuesday in rented space at Memorial School in Wilbraham, and more than 300 children from the adjacent St. Michael’s Academy Middle School will move to an elementary school a few miles away.

The diocese owns the property on which Cathedral and St. Michael’s sit, so if the buildings cannot be repaired, they will likely be demolished and replaced, Dupont said.

Students, teachers and alumni of the 128-year-old school, which draws from 22 western Massachusetts communities, say they are comforted by their faith and the belief that the Cathedral community is more than a building.

“I’ve been at Cathedral for three years and I’ve had a lot of memories walking down those halls,” said Tom Delvischio, 17, of Springfield, who is starting his senior year and is co-captain of the Panthers’ football team. “It’ll be weird to be somewhere else, but I think we’ll adjust.”

Delvischio and other students lost textbooks, sports uniforms and other equipment, and teachers have not been able to return to retrieve nonessential belongings, either. Most will likely be thrown out after being drenched and sitting in humid conditions for months, providing an ideal breeding ground for mold spores.

It’s not just a matter of replacing windows and roofs. The electrical system was damaged, the gym and auditorium are largely wrecked and repairs to the decades-old building will have to comply with more complex modern codes.

Since June, other schools and area colleges have donated athletic field space for practices, new textbooks are ready for use and Cathedral teamed up with nearby Sabis International Charter School and Holyoke Catholic to ensure it would have enough players to field a football team in case enrollment dropped.

About 420 students attended Cathedral at the time of the tornado and, as of last week, it was 353, though school officials expect some rebound as more students register on the first day of classes.

They count themselves lucky compared with some communities who’ve been hit by tornadoes, though. About 10 days before the western Massachusetts tornado, another twister killed 160 people in Joplin, Mo., including seven students, and destroyed six of its school buildings. Like the Cathedral students, Joplin started the 2011-12 academic year in a combination of other school buildings, portable classrooms and borrowed space.

The Springfield diocese spent much of June and July searching for space before finding the Wilbraham school, since the diocese had sold many of its empty buildings or rented them to the city of Springfield long before the tornado.

“Returning to classes will come as a relief to everyone,” said Dupont, the diocese spokesman. “There’ll be some return to normalcy as students are back in classrooms and back with their teachers. I think that’s going to be a big part of the healing process.”

Lori David McMahon, a 1993 Cathedral graduate who is now the school’s athletic trainer, said she got chills when she saw the football team start its first practice in their new uniforms, helmets and pads on the borrowed American International College field.

“It’s like a fresh start,” she said on a recent afternoon at the field. “Everyone’s trying to stay positive and remember that Cathedral is more than a building.”

Prosecutors are seeking 12½ years for DiMasi, who was accused of steering two state contracts worth $17.5 million to a software firm in exchange for payments.

BOSTON – Former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi will find out this week how much time he’ll spend in prison following his conviction earlier this year on corruption charges.

Federal judge Mark Wolf is scheduled to sentence DiMasi and co-defendant Richard McDonough, a former Statehouse lobbyist, on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Boston.

Prosecutors are seeking 12½ years for DiMasi, who was accused of steering two state contracts worth $17.5 million to a software firm in exchange for payments. A jury found him guilty of conspiracy, theft of honest services and extortion.

Defense attorneys have asked for a lighter sentence of three years. Whatever sentence Wolf imposes, DiMasi’s lawyers will ask that he be allowed to remain free while he pursues appeals.

Obituaries from The Republican today.

Patricia A. Schumacher

NORTHBOROUGH - Patricia A. (Reardon) Schumacher 85, a former 72 year resident of her beloved Garden Street, West Springfield, passed away Wednesday at the Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center in Northborough. She was born and raised as the ninth child of 12 to the late Christopher and Olivette (Sexton) Reardon. Educated in parochial schools, she graduated from Sacred Heart High School in Springfield. She worked several years for the Farmers Exchange in West Springfield before changing careers. She worked for many years as a dental assistant to the late Dr. Alexander Stevens. Upon his retirement, she was employed as a receptionist for the dental office of Drs. Archambault, Hood, and Zepko where she retired at 72. She worked at the West Springfield polls at Precinct 3 for 10 years. She was a communicant at the former Immaculate Conception Church.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• Abar Jr., Edwin J.
  




• 
  Angelica, Betty M. (Lasalle)
  



• 
  Bobowiec, Helen "Cioci" (Stejna)




• 
  Cabrini, Julio
  



• 
  Campbell, Gerard L.
  




• Cloutier, Robert C.
  




• 
  Dobachewski, Grace (Stratford)
  



• 
  Macierowski, Robert




• 
  Madesky, Walter J.
  



• 
  McCarthy, Carmela (Lacivita)
  




• Osborn, Charles E. "Buddy"
  




• 
  Rosenkranz, Janice J. (Schmidt)
  



• 
  Schumacher, Patricia A. (Reardon)




• 
  Sedergren, Susan J.
  



• 
  Smith, Reverend Joseph A.
  




• Urbanski, Sigmund M. "Siggy"
  




• 
  Zanni, Marjorie E.
  



• 
  Zhe, Evelyn R. (Pool)

The end of construction season is fast approaching in New England.

View full sizeFile photo / Associated PressFloodwater caused by Tropical Storm Irene rushes along Route 73 in St. Huberts, N.Y., last week, tearing up the road as it flows. With winter approaching, construction crews are under the gun to repair storm damaged roads.

NEW YORK – Northeastern states struggling to rebuild hundreds of roads and dozens of bridges in the wake of Hurricane Irene are facing another natural threat: winter.

The end of construction season is fast approaching in New England and upstate New York. By November it will be too cold to lay asphalt, and by December snow and ice will cover the mountains, leaving towns dangerously isolated and possibly dissuading tourists during the region’s ski season. Vermont officials said Monday they are renting quickly built, military-style temporary bridges as a stopgap measure.

“We’re going to be into winter before we know it,” Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin told reporters last week. “We’ve got a lot of highways to rebuild, bridges to rebuild, before snow starts to fly in Vermont.”

Raging floods gouged and closed more than 300 local roads and state routes in Vermont and damaged at least 22 bridges in the state, marooning people for days in at least 13 towns. Irene ripped another 150 roads in neighboring New York state. Some of the washed-out roads have gaping gullies 30 feet deep.

Road building experts say that if the work isn’t done by mid-November, winter’s cold, ice and snows will prevent any substantial progress until after the spring thaws.

The consequences could be serious: residents forced to make 30-mile detours – on mountain roads, some of them unpaved– to the nearest grocery store or doctor, businesses struggling for customers and a possible hit to the state’s all-important winter tourism.

“The window is short,” said Cathy Voyer, president of the Vermont chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America. “You can’t pour concrete, you can’t pour asphalt. Stabilizing cranes in the winter would be very difficult.”

Other states wrestling with post-Irene road repairs include New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia.

Brad Sant, vice president of safety for the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, predicted the affected Northern states will have to settle for “Band-Aid” repairs until the spring. Though the level of Irene’s road destruction is not unprecedented for a hurricane, “What makes this more challenging is the location of the destruction, being in the Northeast with those early, cold-weather conditions that are likely to come,” Sant said.

To help Vermont get an early start, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he will authorize $5 million in “quick-release” rebuilding funds. Damage to the state’s federally funded highways alone is expected to top $125 million, LaHood said.

The state owns 360 feet of temporary bridge sections and plans to install them on key spans before winter, Michael Hedges, structures program manager at the Vermont Agency of Transportation, told the Associated Press.

It is also negotiating leases and rent-to-own contracts with three companies to bring in military-style “Bailey bridges,” Hedges said. The bridges, made up of 10-foot sections of metal decking, may have to serve for 4 or 5 years until the state can finish permanent repairs, he said.

In New York’s Adirondack Mountains, quiet summer brooks turned into torrents that ripped massive holes in the two primary routes around the winter destinations of Lake Placid, Whiteface Mountain and Saranac Lake– economic lifelines as the winter sports season approaches.

Both lanes of Route 73, the easiest way for people from the south to get to the mountains, were sliced clean through in some places, leaving jagged splinters of asphalt dangling over gravel, dirt and rushing water.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo estimated total damage to New York State at about $1 billion, but has not said how much of that is road damage.

In Vermont, some residents were forced to climb up and down ladders set in riverbeds where bridges were swept away. All-terrain vehicles ferried residents, food, water and medicines along muddy trails to get around gaping road washouts.

Deputy Transportation Secretary Sue Minter said officials still were unsure of the full extent – or cost – of the damage.

“We know that we have hidden hazards out there, things we may not even know about yet,” Minter said. “In some cases it could take years to get our roads to a standard that people are used to.”

In New Hampshire, officials have decided to wait until spring to build a permanent replacement for a washed-out bridge on U.S. Route 302 near the landmark Mount Washington Hotel. Crews were building a temporary bridge to serve until then, said Bill Boynton, a spokesman for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation.

“We just have to sort of button something up for the winter,” Boynton said.

Irene hit a region that already suffers from some of the worst roads in the region, according to a new study.

About 35 percent of Vermont’s rural roads were rated in poor condition before the storm, the highest percentage in the nation, according to a study released Thursday by the Washington-based TRIP think tank. In New Hampshire it’s 21 percent.

The region also has a high concentration of weak bridges, with about 15 percent of the spans in New York, New Hampshire and Maine rated as structurally deficient, according to the TRIP report. The study is based on data from the Federal Highway Administration.

New Jersey said it had finished almost all of its highway repairs by Friday. The worst damage was on Interstate 287, where the Rockaway River tore a hole the size of a tractor-trailer.

“The noise was atrocious,” said resident Theresa Kayhart, 51, as she peered down from a bluff overlooking the river on Friday. “You could hear the rumbling of the rocks moving away. I’ve never seen this river like that.”

Within days crews had filled in the hole with boulders and covered it with new asphalt.

Southern states were dealing with their own road troubles. In North Carolina, officials said they would lay a temporary, prefabricated bridge across the biggest hole in the Hatteras Island highway while the state Transportation Department plans long-term repairs.

Environmental groups say it makes no sense to rebuild a road on a moving barrier island. They have called for the state to build a 17-mile bridge that would bypass the area’s shifting beaches.

In Virginia, the state department of forestry said Friday it had removed about 2,800 trees that had blocked some 800 miles of roads.

On the upside, the storm has created a rush of new construction jobs as state and city officials go into “combat engineering” mode, said Boynton, the New Hampshire official.

And that rebuilding is likely to go on for a while, said John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

“This devastating attack by Mother Nature, with incredible flooding that took place, that’s going to set them back for years,” Horsley said.

Belchertown students will be able to collect environmental data at Lake Wallace with equipment that will be purchased with a $10,000 toyota Tapestry grant.

BELCHERTOWN – With $10,000 from a Toyota Tapestry grant, the School Department will obtain equipment to help in studying the swampy area behind Foley Field, which is now the department’s outdoor laboratory for environmental studies.

Louise Levy, the director of the school system’s biodiversity project, said students will be able to use the probes that will be purchased with the grant money to collect data on temperature, oxygen levels and other aspects of the area and enter the data, along with written observations, into school computers.

“It is exciting,’’ Levy said.

“We have some real possibilities at the site. I am delighted to be the cheerleader, the one saying, ‘Let’s get over there and do some exploring.’’’

Programs and projects are being designed for all grade levels in the town school system, and they are being designed in ways that will tie in with not just science courses but English and mathematics as well.

The area, across Route 202 from the complex of Belchertown schools, used to be part of the Belchertown State School campus.

With support from the Board of Selectmen and the Town meeting, the Belchertown Economic Development Industrial Corp., transferred dozens of acres including the ball fields, Lake Wallace and the adjacent wetlands to the School Department for educational and recreation purposes.

Levy said there is already a 1.4 mile walking trail on the property, which she hopes will become a recreation destination.

The Toyota Tapestery program has awarded more than $10 million over the last 21 years for school programs that demonstrate innovation in science education.

The Belchertown grant was one of only four for Massachusetts schools in this year’s round of grants.

Teachers and students will use the equipment that will be purchased with the grant money to examine water quality, learn about trees and other plants and look at the role aquatic organisms play in maintaining a health watershed.

Levy said the hand-held data collection tools that will be purchased from Pasco are easy for school children to handle and should be very helpful in inspiring the students to become interested in the ecology of the area and measuring details about it.

“We are crossing all grade levels,’’ Levy said. “We are hoping to have activity that can just delight the kids and get them interested in what is going on.’’

Work at the playground must be completed by June 30.

WESTFIELD - The Chapman Playground neighborhood can expect work to begin later this month on a nearly $1 million rehabilitation of the recreational facility.

The project will be funded with a $500,000 state Gateway Cities Parks grant, awarded earlier this year, and $468,000 in city funds approved by the City Council Thursday night.

Several councilors complained of cost overruns for the project but city officials said an original $215,000 estimate of the city's financial share was made six years ago and for a smaller package.

"This is a good project," Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said Friday. "It is not a case of overruns. It is a case of a six-year old estimate and slowly adding elements to it," he said.

Chapman Playground is located on St. Paul Street. The last improvement at the playground was a playscape structure erected several years ago.

During Thursday's council debate, Ward 2 Councilor James E. Brown Jr., who represents the neighborhood, pleaded for approval saying "there is a ton of kids in this neighborhood. This is an investment in them. It is an investment in the neighborhood and the entire community."

Ward 6 Councilor Christopher M. Crean said "this project is another enhancement to our downtown and the creation of a River Walk (along the Westfield River). I do not want to take away from the people who use this park. The bids should have went out earlier." Crean also said officials are obligated to monitor projects to avoid cost overruns.

Ward 5 Councilor Richard E. Onofrey Jr., who serves as Finance Committee chairman, said his opjection is where the funding will come from since Knapik requested the city share be appropriated from the municipal stabilization account.

"We should have at least received a letter explaining the need to use that account," said Onofrey. The stabilization account, a funding source for unforeseen expenses, has a balance of about $7 million.

Low bid on the project was received from Geeleher Enterprises Inc. of Southampton. The company must complete the project by June 30.

The project, in addition to a new landscape, will include a spray park, play equipment, ball fields, basketball court, sanitary and storage facilities, a shelter structure and parking
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Several items in the playground upgrade will be similar to those completed at Municipal Playground several years ago.

That $1.2 million rehabilitation project off Franklin Street was completed in 2007 and represented the first major park or playground upgrade in the city in 20 years.

Throughout the speech, the union crowd kept chanting “four more years.”

View full sizeAssociated Press photoPresident Barack Obama, right, embraces UAW member Ghana Goodwin-Dye, left, who introduced him during a Labor Day speech at Detroit's Renaissance Center, headquarters of General Motors, Monday, in Detroit.

DETROIT – President Barack Obama said Monday that congressional Republicans must put their country ahead of their party and vote to create new jobs as he used a boisterous Labor Day rally to aim a partisan barb at the GOP.

In a preview of the jobs speech he will deliver on Thursday to Congress, Obama said there are numerous roads and bridges that need rebuilding in the U.S., and over 1 million unemployed construction workers who are available to build them.

Citing massive federal budget deficits, Republicans have expressed opposition to spending vast new sums on jobs programs. But Obama said that with widespread suffering, “the time for Washington games is over” and lawmakers must move quickly to create jobs.

“But we’re not going wait for them,” he said at an annual event sponsored by the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO. “We’re going to see if we’ve got some straight shooters in Congress. We’re going to see if congressional Republicans will put country before party.”

Obama’s remarks came as he has been under heavy criticism from the GOP for presiding over a persistently weak economy and high unemployment. Last Friday’s dismal jobs report showed a net job change of zero in August, and the unemployment rate held steady at 9.1 percent.

Congress returns from its summer recess this week, with the faltering economy and job market promising to be a dominant theme of the session. The economy is all but certain to also be the top issue of the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.

Throughout the speech, the union crowd kept chanting “four more years.”

Obama also said lawmakers should extend the temporary reduction in the payroll tax that workers pay, a cut that will otherwise expire on Jan. 1. Many Republicans have opposed renewing the payroll tax cut, saying it would increase federal red ink and do little to create jobs.

“You say you’re the party of tax cuts,” Obama said of the GOP argument. “Well, then prove you’ll fight just as hard for tax cuts for middle class families as you do oil companies and the most affluent Americans. Show us what you’ve got.”

In the speech to Congress, Obama is expected to call for a mix of individual and business tax credits and public works spending. He will also press lawmakers for swift action on those proposals.

Underscoring the political dueling on the economy under way, Obama plans to visit Richmond, Va., the day after his address to Congress as the first of several trips he will make to encourage support for his job creation plan. Part of Richmond is represented by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., one of the president’s fiercest critics.

The president’s broader goal is to make a sweeping appeal for bipartisan action on the economy, speaking not only to the members of Congress who will assemble before him, but to the larger American public. In that sense, the speech will mark a pivot point from a fall and summer spent dealing with long-term deficit reduction to a fall campaign devoted to boosting a foot-dragging recovery.

Aides say Obama will mount a campaign throughout the fall centered on the economy, unveiling different elements of his agenda heading into 2012. If Republicans reject his ideas, the president and his aides want to enlist the public as an ally, essentially using the megaphone of his presidency to pressure Congress and make the case for his re-election.

“People will see a president who will be laying very significant proposals throughout the fall leading up this next State of the Union,” Gene Sperling, director of Obama’s National Economic Council, said in an interview.

While Obama has said any short term spending proposal will be paid for over the long-term, aides say the speech will not offer details on what deficit reduction measures would be used to offset immediate spending measures. The speech also is not expected to include a detailed plan for resolving the nation’s housing crisis, a central cause behind the weak economy that White House aides and administration officials have been struggling to resolve.

“A lot of what will be discussed in greater detail in this economic proposal that he will be making on Thursday night will focus on many things that will have a more immediate, positive effect on getting the recovery to take hold, getting stronger growth , spurring job creation, spurring the private sector to invest more,” Sperling said.

Asked specifically about housing, he said: You will also see him throughout the fall talking about other issues that are also at very much the heart of this economic agenda.”

Last week’s disappointing jobs report sparked new fears of a second recession and injected fresh urgency into efforts by Obama to help get millions of unemployed people back into the labor market – and help improve his re-election chances.

Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce on Monday surfaced its own jobs plan. In an open letter to Congress and the White House, the Chamber called for measures designed to immediately increase employment, including stepped-up road and bridge construction, more oil drilling and temporary corporate tax breaks.

Polls show the economy and jobs are the public’s top concerns. Public approval of Obama’s handling of the economy hit a new low of 26 percent in a recent Gallup survey.

The unemployment report also gave Obama’s Republican critics, including those who want to challenge him in next year’s presidential election, fresh ammunition to pound him with.

GOP presidential candidate W. Mitt Romney called the report disappointing, unacceptable and “further proof that President Obama has failed.” Romney is scheduled to outline his own job-creation plan in a speech Tuesday in the battleground state of Nevada.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said Monday that both political parties should get behind Obama’s efforts to improve the hiring picture.

“We do need everyone to be on board,” she said on NBC’s “Today” show.

Solis said Obama “is very mindful of what the needs and concerns are of those individuals who have been out of work for so long.” But she also said the jobless have a responsibility to seek training in new skills, if necessary, to better prepare themselves for the kinds of jobs available in today’s economy.

Obama spent part of the holiday weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland “putting the finishing touches” on the proposals and the speech, said spokesman Jay Carney.

Obama won Michigan in the 2008 presidential election and the economically challenged state is crucial to his re-election prospects. The state unemployment rate was 10.9 percent in July, above the national average for that month. The Detroit-area jobless rate was even higher, at 14.1 percent in July.

“That process continues over the next few days, but he’s very far along,” Carney said.

In Detroit on Monday, Obama was also expected to tout his efforts to save the auto industry and millions of jobs by providing federal bailouts in 2009 for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Group LLC. The AFL-CIO rally was being held in a GM parking lot.

Obama won Michigan in the 2008 presidential election and the economically challenged state is crucial to his re-election prospects. The state unemployment rate was 10.9 percent in July, above the national average for that month. The Detroit-area jobless rate was even higher, at 14.1 percent in July.

Amateur video posted online shows a dark funnel cloud crossing the New York Thruway.

AMSTERDAM, N.Y. – A tornado that caused property damage near the state capital, Albany, was spawned in a string of violent thunderstorms a week after Tropical Storm Irene brought destructive flooding to the region.

The tornado was about a half-mile wide and on the ground for more than 10 minutes Sunday evening, said Steve DiRienzo, a National Weather Service meteorologist who assessed the damage Monday. Amateur video posted online shows a dark funnel cloud crossing the New York Thruway, where it knocked down trees.

DiRienzo said the tornado hit around 5:20 p.m. and traveled east about 4 miles along the Mohawk River, from the town of Amsterdam into Schenectady County’s hilly West Glenville. Estimates of wind speeds weren’t immediately available, he said. But trees and power lines were knocked down, parts of some roofs and pieces of siding were torn off and windows were blown out. There were no reports of serious injuries.

Amsterdam Town Supervisor Tom DiMezza said it could have been “a lot worse.”

“There’s sections where trees fell between homes and missed both houses. Huge trees,” DiMezza said.

He said 30 to 40 homes and businesses had damage.

“After the tropical storm, we were just getting things cleaned up, and this happens,” said DiMezza, who declared a state of emergency in the town.

He said 39 National Grid utility crews were working to restore power, particularly in the hard-hit Cranesville neighborhood. The utility reported about 300 customers in the immediate area still without electricity Monday afternoon.

Extra state police and some members of the National Guard, including a military police unit, were dispatched to help with traffic control, DiMezza said.

Most of the damage was in Montgomery County, already eligible for federal disaster assistance after Irene.

Wall Street, which was closed due to the Labor Day holiday, braced for losses Tuesday after the yields in so-called peripheral eurozone countries rose sharply against those of Germany.

Associated Press photoCurrency traders work in front of a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at the Korea Exchange Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday. Asian stock markets took a beating Monday after U.S. companies stopped hiring in August, reviving fears that the world's largest economy is heading back into recession. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 4.39 percent, or 81.92, to close at 1,785.83.

LONDON – World stock markets took a beating Monday over fears that the U.S. economy was heading back into a recession just as the European debt crisis was heating up and the eurozone’s economic indicators were slumping.

Any troubles in the world’s largest economy cast a long shadow over the markets, and a report Friday that the U.S. economy failed to add any new jobs in August caused European and Asian stock markets to sink sharply Monday.

But the news from Europe was also discouraging. Wall Street, which was closed Monday due to the Labor Day holiday, braced for losses Tuesday after the yields in so-called peripheral eurozone countries – Greece, Italy and Spain – rose sharply against those of Germany, whose bonds are widely considered a safe haven.

Although retail sales in the 17-nation eurozone rose unexpectedly in July, a survey of the services sector Monday showed a slowdown across the continent for the fifth consecutive month. The purchasing managers’ index for the eurozone showed the services sector was still growing – unlike the manufacturing sector – but only barely. That will add pressure on the European Central Bank to keep interest rates on hold when it meets this week.

“There’s so much uncertainty, so much fear, that investors don’t know what to do,” said David Kotok, chairman and chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors. “I don’t remember the last time stocks were so cheap and nobody wanted them.”

Investors were also shaken by signs that the Italian government’s commitment to its austerity program is wavering. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government has backtracked on some deficit-cutting measures, prompting EU officials to urge Italy to stick to its promised plan.

The difference in interest rates between the Greek and benchmark German 10-year bonds, known as the spread, spiraled to new records on Monday, topping 17.3 percentage points. Yields on the Greek bonds were above 18 percent.

Mario Draghi, the incoming chief of the European Central Bank, told a conference in Paris that among the common currency’s problems was a lack of coordinated fiscal policies and that the solution was more integration.

He dismissed the idea of eurobonds – debt issued jointly by the eurozone countries. Some have argued this would help weaker countries borrow more easily because they wouldn’t have to pay such high interest rates. But stable countries like Germany would likely see their rates rise.

Instead, Draghi suggested the eurozone should adopt rules that would require more budget discipline.

Renewed jitters over the eurozone debt crisis also contributed to the slump in financial stocks amid concerns the banks would need to raise new capital. Deutsche bank closed down 8.9 percent in Frankfurt, while Societe Generale in Paris shed 8.6 percent.

The U.S. unemployment crisis has prompted President Barack Obama to schedule a major speech Thursday night to propose steps to stimulate hiring. Until then, however, traders coming back from the U.S. holiday weekend will have little to hold onto.

The August jobs figure was far below economists’ already tepid expectations for 93,000 new U.S. jobs and renewed concerns that the U.S. recovery is not only slowing but actually unwinding. U.S. hiring figures for June and July were also revised lower, only adding to the gloom.

Many traders have already pulled out of any risky investments – such as stocks, particularly financial ones, the euro and emerging market currencies – and pile into safe havens: U.S. Treasuries, the dollar, the Japanese yen and gold.

With Wall Street closed, investors focused their selling in Asia and Europe, where the equity losses Monday were some of the heaviest this year.

“We’ve got some rough riding ahead,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago, adding he was “concerned that we could see a second wave of selling when most traders are back at their desks.”

Dow futures were down 1.8 percent at 11,010 points while the broader S&P 500 futures were 2.0 lower at 1,145.70.

After Asian indexes closed lower, with the Japan’s Nikkei 225 shedding 1.9 percent, European shares booked sharp losses. Britain’s FTSE 100 closed the day down 3.6 percent to 5,102.58. Germany’s DAX slumped a massive 5.3 percent to 5,246.18, and France’s CAC-40 tumbled 4.7 percent to 2,999.54.

The health of the U.S. economy is crucial for the wider world because consumer spending there accounts for a fifth of global economic activity. The U.S. imports huge amounts from Japan and China and is closely linked at all levels with the European market. The U.S. has seen a slump in consumer and business sentiments.

Traders were hoping for signs that the Federal Reserve might take action at its September meeting to support the economy – perhaps a third round of bond purchases, dubbed quantitative easing III or QE3, analysts said.

“Right now the possibility has increased,” said Linus Yip, a strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. “I think they have to do something. The markets are expecting QE3.”

Banking stocks were among the hardest hit Monday, partly because the U.S. government on Friday sued 17 financial firms for selling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac billions of dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities that turned toxic when the housing market collapsed.

Among those targeted by the lawsuits were Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Large European banks including The Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Bank and Credit Suisse were also sued.

In Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 followed the broaden trend to close down 2.4 percent and South Korea’s Kospi slid 4.4 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 3 percent. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, New Zealand and the Philippines also were down.

Shanghai’s benchmark Composite Index down 2 percent to 2,478.74, its lowest close in 13 months. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 2.4 percent.

In currencies, the euro weakened to $1.4100 from $1.4187 in New York late Friday. The dollar was roughly flat at 76.87 yen. Last month, the dollar fell under 76 yen, which was a new post-World War II high for the Japanese currency.

Benchmark oil for October delivery was down $2.12 to $84.33 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude fell $2.48 to settle at $86.45 on Friday.

In London, Brent crude for October delivery was down $1.63 at $110.70 on the ICE Futures exchange.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 253 points Friday, after the dismal jobs report.

Officials have not discussed what they think happened to the three men, but DA David Capeless raised the possibility that they could be victims of foul play

Berkshire District Attorney's OfficeFrom left: Robert T. Chadwell, Edward S. Frampton and David R. Glasser

PITTSFIELD - Bershire District Attorney David F. Capeless is seeking the public's help in locating three Pittsfield men who have been missing without a trace for more than a week.

The three men, Robert T. Chadwell, Edward F. Frampton and David R. Glasser were reported missing Sunday, Aug. 28 from an apartment at 254 Linden St., Pittsfield. The day there were reporting missing is the same day Tropical Storm Irene swept though Western Massachusetts.

Capeless said local law enforcement on Sunday began searching Pittsfield State Forest for the three men. The search continued Monday.

Officials have not discussed what they think happened to the three men, but Capeless in prepared statement raised the possibility that they could be victims of foul play.

"At this point, with the three men missing now for over a week, we are very concerned for their safety and we do have to consider the possibility that foul play is involved," he said. "Our investigative efforts are focused on a variety of possibilities and leads, and I want to commend the strong, organized response by our local law enforcement community."

Capeless said that anyone with information about where the three could be located or about what they were doing prior to their disappearance is asked to call the Pittsfield police at (413) 448-9700.

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Tuesday marks the 67th day of the vigil at the church.

File photo by Dave Roback / The RepublicanWladzie Sawicki and Teresa Belz, both of Holyoke, are seen at the start of a vigil that began in June to keep the Mater Dolorosa Church open.

HOLYOKE – The Friends of Mater Dolorosa is reaching out to raise money to help keep its church open.

The group of about 100 placed an advertisement in the Sunday Republican asking others to help save the Lyman Street church.

“We are raising the money to make sure the appeals to Rome is covered,” said Victor Anop, of Chicopee, group leaders. “All the money raised if for the cost of saving the church.”

Members estimate it will cost more than $10,000 to pay the expenses of its consultant, Peter Borre, chairman of the Boston-based Council of Parishes. It also hired a structural engineer for “under $1,000” to assist in the on-going dispute about the condition of the church steeple.

Some of the money will be placed in an account for an emergency, Anop said.

Friends of Mater Dolorosa filed an appeal this spring hoping to reverse the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell’s decision to close the church. The group has also occupied the church around-the-clock since the last official Mass on June 30.

The parish was merged with Sacred Heart to create the new Our Lady of the Cross church on Sycamore Street.

Anop said members of the Friends have been donating money for the cause, but decided to find other supporters.

“It spikes the public awareness. I don’t think the church closings have stopped,” he said.

The diocese has closed or merged at least 69 churches in Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties since 2000. Officials said they must reduce the number of churches because there are too few Catholics to finance them and there are not enough priests to man them.

“We most certainly respect the right of individuals to appeal pastoral planning decisions, what we cannot condone is illegal and divisive actions, like the unauthorized occupation of any property,” Mark E. Dupont, diocesan spokesman, said.

Protesters complain they have not heard a response to their requests to meet with McDonnell. The bishop said he will meet with them after they leave the church.

The vigil reached its 68th day Tuesday. About 100 people have been occupying the church in teams of two for 2-hour shifts and at least two men stay from about 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., Anop said.

The group is also holding a weekly Friday evening prayer event where people say the rosary, sing hymns and share other religious messages, he said.

Eunice H. Hartling, of Holyoke, typically volunteers for six hours a week at the vigil. She said some are there as many as 10 hours a week.

“We did not know when we started we would keep this going,” she said.

Pointing to sign-up sheets that have people registering for two-hour shifts, she said this week is already full.

“We just don’t believe in why this church was closed,” she said.

Route 2, a popular scenic byway, is closed indefinitely to the west near North Adams.

SHELBURNE FALLS – Artist and gallery owner John F. Sendelbach saw the surest sign Monday that Irene-ravaged Franklin County is recovering: out-of-towners with shopping bags.

“If people see other people spending money, they are more likely to spend,” Sendelbach said. “That’s what we need.”

Sendelbach’s business, open since May, occupies a storefront facing busy State Street on the Buckland side of the village. The store’s back windows overlook the Deerfield River just a few feet away. Last weekend, the Deerfield River was lapping at the doorsills.

Hurricane, later Tropical Storm, Irene dumped more than 10 inches of rain on parts of Western Massachusetts causing widespread damage. That damage seemed the hardest felt in Shelburne Falls, a tourist-friendly village hugging the banks of the Deerfield famous for its Bridge of Flowers.

Monday, the White House estimated that Hurricane Irene will cost federal taxpayers $1.5 billion in disaster relief, according to the Associated Press. the storm hit from the Carolinas to Maine and caused 46 total deaths nationwide.

Businesses in Shelburne Falls hope that Irene doesn’t claim their incomes as well.

Labor Day weekend us usually busy, said Jamie T. Goodnow , the son of Stillwater Porcelain owner and designer Patricia Pyott. He paints many of the porcelain pieces sold in the shop and was manning the cash register and waiting the few customers who ventured in Monday.

Sunday was busier because the weather was better.

“We sent out an e-mail to our customers as far away as Boston saying that we are still open,” he said. “We’ve heard back from a lot of those people and some have stopped in. That’s a good thing.”

In Northampton, the four day Three County Fair wrapped up and folks turned out even with the threat of rain. Although vendors peddled umbrellas on the grounds Monday.

Bruce Shallcross, fairground general manager said this wasn’t Labor Day 2010 with perfect weather and strong crowds.

“It’s been good, really good.” he said. “But we didn’t break any records.”

In Shelburne Falls visitors strolled the Bridge of Flowers in the rain. But besides looking at the flowers greenery they also pointed out the muddy high-water mark left on the side of nearby buildings.

“I came to see if my favorite galleries were still open,” said Sandra L. Misiun of Greenfield. “Most are, but there are few that look like it will be a while before they reopen. It’s very sad.”

The iron bridge that carries cars and trucks across the river has yet to reopen. Shelburne officials said divers will inspect its underpinnings this week.

Goodnow said October, fall foliage season, is usually the busiest for village merchants. Route 2, the Mohawk Trail tourist corridor, is still closed to the west in the towns of Florida and Savoy. Goodnow said he hopes leaf peepers aren’t scared away.

Closer by, Stillwater Porcelain is the only gallery one on a normally inviting stretch of State Street. “No one is going to walk past a row of closed shops to get to us,” Goodnow said. “You need everybody to be open for people to feel like visiting.”

Kathleen A. Young, owner of Young & Constantin Gallery on Deerfield Avenue on the Shelburne side of the bridges said it depends on the economy as much as the weather.

“My July was good and my August was so-so,” she said. “That’s the stock market.”

Labor was the last day of the three-day fair.

NORTHAMPTON – Brenda House, a letter carrier from Marlboro, had the day off Monday and wanted to go to a fair.

She looked on the Internet and found the Three County Fair here and drove the nearly two hours with her 11-year-old granddaughter Maddie Guilbert of Hudson.

“It was absolutely worth the drive,” she said.

They were visiting the animals in the baby barnyard, even though Guilbert’s best friend’s family owns a zoo in Bolton. Guilbert was petting the sheep and the alpacas. Eventually the plan was to move to the midway for some rides. House said there’s a good chance they’d be back another year.

Monday was the final day of the four-day fair and Bruce Shallcross, fairground general manager, said, “it’s been good, really good.”

But he said, “we didn’t break any records.” Last year, he said, attendance with perfect weather was tremendous.

Friday was great, he said, but clouds and the threat of rain Saturday through Monday kept people home. Also, some participants from the Greenfield area and Hilltowns were unable to compete because of the damage caused by last week’s tropical storm Irene. He said with roads washed out, they were unable to drive to the fair.

Christina and Michael Gemelli of Orange had never been to the fair here but decided it would be a nice “family day” with their two children. They visited the dairy barn and Michael Jr. rode a lawnmower. Julia Gemelli, 7, was sitting atop a saddle trying to cast a rope around the neck of a plywood cow.

This was the fifth year that the fair, billed as the oldest continuously running fair in the country, was without horseracing. But the 194th annual fair would still draw about 37,000 to 38,000, Shallcross estimated.

Those attending had pig races ands tiger shows to watch, fried dough to eat, fresh slushies to try, plus music and games to test their luck and skill.

Kevin and Deb Porter of Worthington brought two of their seven humming alpacas to the fair for the first time. They were invited to show them at the baby barnyard display, Kevin Porter said and his wife said they’d be back. “It’s been fun,” she said. People were asking questions and they can get the word out about their daylong Sept. 24 open house.

Now while people like House had Labor Day off, Amanda Gauthier of Holyoke along with Pat Nowak and her 6 year-old daughter Kaitlyn were working as volunteers. Pat Nowak has worked at the fair for years, and Gauthier since 2003.

They were tending to the horses and sheep and ducks and lambs in the baby barnyard, fielding questions and handling the animals for children to pet.

“You meet a lot of people,” Gauthier said. “We educate people.” Sometimes she said, “they’ve never pet a lamb before.”