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Chicopee City Council drops plan to modify regulations for electronic signs

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If the signs advertise anything other than the business, they will be regulated by the state.

chicopee signOne of the electronic message boards in downtown Chicopee.

CHICOPEE – After more than 18 months of trying to find ways to regulate the scrolling messages on electronic signs, the City Council has dropped the project.

“I don’t see any way beyond this dilemma,” City councilor James K. Tillotson said, explaining he is only abandoning it on advice of the law and planning departments.

The issue came up nearly two years ago when at least one city councilor complained businesses were violating the sign ordinance by running messages that did not specifically promote their companies. Some were even using their messages to promote neighboring businesses.

For months the City Council, working with the city planner and its ordinance committee, has been struggling to find a way to regulate the messages without banning many of the public service announcements businesses put up such as promoting the Fest-Of-All, announcing fund-raisers and congratulating high school graduates.

The only thing the council could easily agree on was to allow time, date and temperature with the business advertisements. Members proposed allowing public service announcements, but Tillotson said it is too difficult to define a public service announcement.

One of the issues the City Council wanted to avoid was allowing businesses to use the signs to promote a candidate before elections, which has happened before. But political speech is protected under the First Amendment and cannot be outright banned if other public announcements are allowed.

“We are done with it. If it is regulated as an accessory sign it can be used to advertise their business,” Tillotson said.

If a sign is used for any other purpose it will be considered a billboard, which is regulated by the state, he said.

Business owners do need permits to put up electronic message boards. The current ones are permitted under the accessory sign regulations. Any new ones may have to be done differently, Tillotson said.

“They have to apply for a special permit and we can talk to them then and find out what their plans are. If they plan to use it as a billboard then they will have to come under state regulations,” he said.

Any complaints about the existing signs and their messages will also have to be filed through the state Bureau of Outdoor Advertising.

The City Council voted 10-0 to abandon the attempts to modify its signs regulations after hearing Tillotson’s explanation recently.

Member Timothy S. McLellan said he thinks it may be best to put the issue in the hands of state regulators to avoid city politics.


Massachusetts firefighter dies after responding to blaze

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Officials said Peabody firefighter James Rice died at a Salem hospital on Friday after being called at about 1:30 p.m. to a three-alarm fire at a multi-family home.

PEABODY – A Peabody firefighter has died after responding to a fire in the city.

Officials said James Rice died at a Salem hospital on Friday after being called at about 1:30 p.m. to a three-alarm fire at a multi-family home.

Fire officials said it appears Rice breathed in toxic fumes while battling the blaze. They say his death was due to a medical condition.

The 46-year-old Rice leaves a wife and three children. Peabody Fire Chief Steven Pasdon said Rice, an 11-year veteran of the department, was loved and would be greatly missed.

Rice's death comes about two weeks after Worcester firefighter Jon Davies died after the rear of a burning building collapsed on him. Davies and his partner were searching the empty building, believing a tenant could be inside.

More retailers join Wal-Mart and pull baby formula after Missouri infant death

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Officials at Supervalu Inc., Walgreen Co., Kroger Co. and Safeway said they have removed 12.5-ounce cans of Enfamil Newborn with the lot number ZP1K7G from various stores across the country.

By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Several more national retailers have joined Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in pulling a batch of powdered infant formula from their shelves after a Missouri newborn who consumed it apparently died of a rare bacterial infection, the companies said Friday.

Officials at Supervalu Inc., Walgreen Co., Kroger Co. and Safeway said they have removed 12.5-ounce cans of Enfamil Newborn with the lot number ZP1K7G from various stores across the country as a precaution until federal health officials complete tests on the formula.

Ten-day-old Avery Cornett died Sunday after getting sick several days earlier in the southern Missouri town of Lebanon. Preliminary hospital tests indicated he died of a rare infection caused by bacteria known as Cronobacter sakazakii.

The source of the bacteria that caused the infection hasn't been determined, but it can be found in dried milk and powdered formula as well as naturally in the environment and in plants such as wheat and rice.

"Out of an abundance of caution, we are removing the formula from certain stores," Supervalu spokesman Mike Siemienas said Friday. "We will hold these products from sale until we receive additional guidance from regulatory authorities and the manufacturer."

Retailers under the Supervalu corporate banner that pulled the product include Shaw's, a New England grocer; Shop 'n Save in St. Louis; Jewel-Osco in the Chicago area; Acme supermarkets in New Jersey and Philadelphia; Farm Fresh in Virginia; and some Albertson's in southern California.

Kroger officials said they withdrew the formula from properties in Arizona, Indiana, New Mexico and the mid-Atlantic region. Kroger spokesman Keith Dailey said the company was able to remove most of the questionable batch from its warehouses and distribution centers before they were sent to retail outlets.

Officials with Walgreen Co. did not indicate how many stores were affected, or their locations, while the affected Safeway stores were primarily in the Chicago area, a company spokeswoman said.

Wal-Mart earlier this week announced its decision to pull the product from more than 3,000 stores nationwide. Avery's parents bought their formula from a local Walmart in Lebanon, which is 160 miles southwest of St. Louis along Interstate 44.

A second infant in Missouri fell ill late last month after consuming several different types of powdered baby formula, but that child recovered, health officials said. The state health agency in Illinois, where the child lives, is investigating that case.

"We don't have enough information at this time to connect the two cases," Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Siobhan Delancey said Friday.

The FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and the Missouri Department of Health are investigating the circumstances surrounding Avery's death. Delancey said test results won't be available until next week.

Investigators have collected samples of both liquid and powdered formula used by Avery's family as well as unopened formula purchased at stores, including the Lebanon Walmart.

The incidents also prompted authorities in an Illinois county east of St. Louis to test for the infection in a 25-day-old infant girl who died Wednesday.

Madison County Coroner Stephen Nonn said a cause of death for the Granite City baby won't be determined until lab tests come back, but an autopsy revealed no physical evidence of infection. The child was born four weeks premature and may have suffered congenital or developmental defects, the coroner said.

Deputy Madison County coroner Roger Smith said the child consumed another type of Enfamil formula than the kind pulled from shelves after the Missouri death.

Formula manufacturer Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. said earlier this week that tests showed the pulled batch was negative for the bacteria before it was shipped. A company spokesman did not respond to several requests for additional comment Friday.

The company told investors it plans to retest saved samples from the recalled batch, but the company did not undertake its own recall.

Wall Street investors reacted warily to the news, with shares of Mead Johnson falling a second straight day Friday amid investor concerns.

Santa Claus' poll numbers up, parents still cling to his magic

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Two-thirds of parents with kids under 18 say Santa's an important part of their celebrations this year.

112911 santa claus rylie theriault.JPGRylie Theriault, 3½, of Springfield chats with Santa Claus during a visit to the Eastfield Mall last month.

By CONNIE CASS

WASHINGTON – Why do kids believe a chubby guy in a flying sleigh can deliver joy across America? Because their parents do. A whopping 84 percent of grown-ups were once children who trusted in Santa's magic, and lots cling to it still.

Things are changing fast these days, with toddlers wishing for iPads, grade schoolers emailing their Christmas lists and moms wrestling over bargain toys at midnight sales. Despite all the pressures on the rituals of the season, an AP-GfK poll confirms that families are sticking by old St. Nick.

"It's important for kids to have something to believe in," says great-grandmother Wanda Smith of Norman, Okla.

And so they do. Year after year, Santa Claus survives the scoffers and the Scrooges and the 6-year-old playground skeptics. He endures belittling commercials that portray him shopping at Target or taking directions from an iPhone. He shrugs off scolds who say his bagful of toys overshadows the reason for the season.

Two-thirds of parents with kids under 18 say Santa's an important part of their celebrations this year. Moms, especially, have a soft spot for the man in red — 71 percent of them say he's important, and that's a big jump from 58 percent just five years ago.

His overall popularity is up slightly from an AP-AOL poll in 2006, before the recession hit. In these bleaker times of homes lost to foreclosure and parents sweating out their next paychecks, the poll shows Santa riding high with families both wealthy and poor.

Maybe that's because the big guy's always known how to stretch a dollar to make a kid smile.

Smith, whose childhood gifts were mostly handmade by her mother — things like cookies and knit scarves — remembers that every year Santa Claus managed to put one present under the tree for her to share with her two brothers (four more siblings came later).

"One year it was a bicycle, one year we had a sled. One year we got a puppy — his name was Jack and he was a border collie," recalls Smith, now 70.

"We didn't have a lot," she said, "but we didn't know it. Our mother and daddy made it a wonderful time for us."

In multicultural America, Father Christmas isn't just for Christians any more. Three-fourths of non-Christian adults say they believed in Santa when they were children. And half feel he's important to their holiday celebrations now.

Developmental psychologist Cyndy Scheibe, who's been interviewing kids about Santa since 1986, said lots of Jewish children told her that Santa Claus was real, even though he didn't stop at their houses on Christmas Eve.

And many non-Christian parents embrace Santa because they see Christmas serving as a secular as well as religious holiday in the U.S., she said.

"Santa Claus is more than someone who just comes and gives you a present, it's this whole spirit of giving and magic that you get to be a part of and celebrate," said Scheibe, an associate professor at Ithaca College in New York.

That's what keeps Santa going over the decades and across cultures, she said. "That, and there's almost nothing as much fun as getting to see your kid's face so completely excited."

Scheibe knows firsthand. She used to climb a ladder to the roof every Christmas, her daughter watching, to leave a key tied to a big red bow, because they didn't have a fireplace.

It's not all snowflakes and mistletoe in Santaland, however. Even among Christians, there's tension about how big a role, if any, a jolly old elf deserves in the celebration of Christ's birth.

Almost half of Americans polled said Santa detracts from the religious significance of Christmas more than he enhances it.

When she was growing up, Naomi Stenberg's fundamentalist Baptist parents didn't want her mixed up with Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or Halloween trick-or-treating.

"I didn't understand why everybody else got to believe in Santa, and me and my brother didn't," says Stenberg, 32, now a stay-at-home mom in Baxter, Minn. "I felt left out."

Her own three children have gotten the full Kris Kringle experience, but sometimes she feels ill-equipped to handle the tough queries from her youngest, 6-year-old Rylen.

"She's been asking questions like how does Santa fit through the chimney," she said. "I don't know how to answer things like that."

Matt Hoyt vividly remembers seeing Santa's black boots peeking out from behind his bedroom curtains when he was a boy. He froze. "I was just trying to pretend to be asleep," Hoyt said, "so I'd get my presents."

Only much later did he realize those were probably the black shoes of his dad, hanging his new "Star Wars" drapes. Now Hoyt, a 35-year-old computer engineer from Houston, is awaiting the birth of his first child in April, and wondering how long that child will believe.

In the poll, the median age when adults said they outgrew Santa was 8. Hoyt suspects his child's generation will turn away even earlier. After all, "They've got Google at their fingertips."

But Santa needn't worry. They'll come back someday ... when they're parents.

The Associated Press-GfK Poll was conducted Dec. 8-12 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,000 adults nationwide and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

AP Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

DA Mark Mastroianni directs CPAC unit to investigate alleged theft from St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral

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The church complaint contends the thefts occurred between Sept. 25, 2010, and Jan. 17, 2011.

StGeorgeCathedral2009.jpgSt. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 22 St. George Road, is seen in Springfield's North End.

This is an update of a story originally posted at 11:42 p.m. Friday

SPRINGFIELD – Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni is asking state police detectives assigned to his office to investigate complaints made against a former accountant of St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral who was accused by church officials of stealing nearly $37,000.

Officials with the church filed a private complaint in Springfield District Court against Dominick M. Manzi, 47, accusing him of forging $22,000 in checks and stealing $15,000 in cash from the church. The complaint was filed by Nicole Lipp, president of St. George Cathedral of Western Massachusetts.

Manzi was scheduled to be arraigned in district court on Oct. 21 on charges of larceny over $250 by a single scheme, uttering a false check, forgery of a check and larceny over $250, according to court documents.

On the day of the scheduled arraignment, Mastrioanni’s office filed a notice of nolle prosequi with the court. The term is Latin for “we will no longer prosecute.”

Typically, filing nolle prosequi, or nol pros, with the courts indicates the prosecution is not prepared to move forward with the trial. It is not the same as an acquittal or a dismissal of the charges. The charges can be reintroduced without double jeopardy.

“We have the right to bring it back,” Mastroianni said.

The district attorney said his office filed the notice with the counts in order to launch a formal investigation by the state police Crime Prevention and Control officers assigned to his office.

The charges were initially made as a private complaint with the court by the church, and Springfield police conducted an initial investigation.

By assigning it to the CPAC unit, the investigation will move from a private complaint to a formal one, which will result in a more detailed investigation by law enforcement, Mastroianni said.

The CPAC officers have expertise in performing in-depth forensic investigations of accounting records and other documents, and Mastroianni said that will be a part of the investigation.

The church complaint contends the thefts occurred between Sept. 25, 2010, and Jan. 17, 2011.

Massachusetts woman: TSA confiscated my cupcake

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The TSA officer told Peabody resident Rebecca Hains the cupcake's "gel-like" frosting could be explosive.

PEABODY – A woman who just flew back home from Las Vegas says an airport security officer confiscated her frosted cupcake because he thought the icing on it could be a security risk.

Rebecca Hains said the Transportation Security Administration agent at McCarran International Airport took her cupcake Wednesday, telling her its frosting was enough like a gel to violate TSA restrictions on allowing liquids and gels onto flights to prevent them from being used as explosives. She said the agent told her the frosting was conforming to the jar it was inside.

"I just thought this was terrible logic," Hains said Friday.

Hains, who lives in Peabody, just north of Boston, said the agent didn't seem concerned that the cupcake could actually be explosive, just that it fit some bureaucratic definition about what was prohibited. She said he even offered to let her eat it away from the airport security area.

Hains, a 35-year-old communications professor at Salem State University, said she told the agent she had passed through security at Boston's Logan International Airport earlier in the week with two cupcakes packaged in jars, gifts from a student. But she said the agent told her that just meant TSA in Boston didn't do its job.

The TSA, which is entrusted with protecting the nation's transportation system, was reviewing the situation, agency spokesman Nico Melendez said. Passengers are allowed to take cakes and cupcakes through checkpoints, he said.

Hains ultimately surrendered the cupcake. But she said the situation highlighted a lack of common sense by the agent and the ludicrousness of TSA policies.

"It's not really about the cupcake; I can get another cupcake," she said. "It's about an encroachment on civil liberties. We're just building up a resistance and tolerance to all these things they're doing in the name of security, when it's really theater. It is not keeping us safe."

Springfield 1 a.m. entertainment curfew proposal draws criticism at hearing

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More than a dozen speakers opposed the curfew during a public hearing at City Hall.

122311 springfield entertainment curfew hearing.JPGView full sizeThe city conducted a public hearing on Friday to consider reaction to a new proposal that would require bars and other liquor establishments to obtain a special permit from the mayor if they want to offer entertainment past 1 a.m. Here, Attorney Frank A. Caruso speaks to an overflow crowd during the hearing. He represents various establishments in Springfield and was speaking in opposition to the measure.

SPRINGFIELD – A proposed 1 a.m. entertainment curfew at liquor-serving establishments ran into spirited opposition Friday from bar owners, employees and patrons of the city’s downtown entertainment district.

More than a dozen speakers criticized the curfew during a public hearing at City Hall, claiming it will create economic hardships for bars and restaurants without achieving the goal of reducing violence or late night disturbances.

Under the mayor’s proposal, any type of music and other entertainment must cease in liquor-serving establishments at 1 a.m., unless the club or restaurant obtains a late night entertainment permit from the mayor through an annual application process. The bars close at 2 a.m.

“Let’s not just try something just to try it,” said Daniel D. Kelly, a lawyer and former city councilor who represents several downtown bars.

Echoing the concerns of other speakers, Kelly said no evidence was being presented that a 1 a.m. entertainment curfew would curb violence at downtown nightspots.

“Imposing something without any empirical evidence to support it is just folly,” Kelly said, drawing applause from most of the 75 people in the hearing room.

But Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet and other police officials supported the curfew, saying violence in the entertainment district was not only endangering the public and police officers, but also siphoning police coverage from other neighborhoods.

Fitchet said that a disproportionate amount of shootings, assaults and other violent crimes take place around 2 a.m. downtown. In the past year, 10 officers were injured in disturbances downtown, resulting in lost police manpower and medical bills for the city.

Other speakers, however, said an entertainment curfew would hinder nightlife in the city, and make it more difficult to attract young professionals as residents.

One speaker urged the city to study crowd-control tactics employed in the flourishing nightlife district of Ybor City in Tampa, Fla.

Springfield resident Angus Brewer said the entertainment curfew would make it more difficult for bands and DJs to get hired in clubs, and would reduce the amount of money they can earn.

City Councilor Thomas J. Ashe urged Mayor Domenic J. Sarno to reconsider the curfew proposal, and bring business owners and other elected officials into the process.

“I’m hoping this is the start of some discussion, and not the end,” Ashe said.

Associate City Solicitor Alesia Days, who conducted the hearing, assured bar owners that the curfew, if approved, would not take effect for several more weeks.

Days will submit a report from the hearing to the mayor, who will review it and make a final decision on the curfew; even if Sarno decides to impose the curfew, a 30-day waiting period will be required before it takes effect, Days said.

Mater Dolorosa protesters, Springfield diocese, argue over nativity scene

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The Diocese says the figures and their model stable rightly belongs to successor parish, Holy Cross Church.

063011 mater dolorosa vigil_2.JPGMater Dolorosa Church parishioners begin a continuous vigil to keep Holyoke church open.

HOLYOKE – Those hoping for a Christmas truce in the battle between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield and a group of disgruntled Mater Dolorosa parishioners fighting to reopen their church will be disappointed.

Both sides are squabbling over the baby Jesus along with Mary, Joseph, the wise men, shepherds, sheep and camels that make up Mater Dolorosa’s nativity scene.

The diocese says the figures and their model stable rightly belongs to successor parish, Our Lady of the Cross. The folks who have been doing a round-the-clock vigil at Mater Dolorosa since the diocese eliminated the parish in July accuse the diocese of “kidnapping” the statuettes Wednesday afternoon.

The diocese eliminated Mater Dolorosa and Holy Cross parishes June 30 due to declining enrollment and other issues and merged the two into Our Lady of the Cross parish, which worships at the former Holy Cross church.

“They already have their own nativity scene,” said Victor Anop, a longtime Mater Dolorosa member and an attorney representing the dissident group. “We just wanted to put ours up.”

Anop said a Mater Dolorosa member built the stable scene about a decade ago as a gift to the church.

Friday, Anop said he’s already found new statues of the Holy Family and was looking for the animals and wise men before planned Christmas observances at Mater Dolorosa on Friday night.

Protesters have filled the church with traditional poinsettia plants. Members of Anop’s group have been taking turns staying in the church 24 hours a day, seven days a week since July to protest its closure, much to the frustration of church officials who say the building is not safe.

“We are decorating the church better than it has been in the last few years,” he said.

Mark E. Dupont, spokesman for the diocese, said the holiday diorama, like the rest of Mater Dolorosa and its furnishings, belongs to the diocese and the diocese wants it merged with Holy Cross.

“I think it would be an enormous mistake to discount the many more former Mater Dolorosa parishioners who, despite their own sadness at leaving their beloved church this year, have joined in the new parish, working with their fellow parishioners to create a successful Catholic community for future generations,” Dupont said. “Why shouldn’t those folks, who can make the very same claims as the occupiers as to past membership and support, be allowed to enjoy this manger for their Christmas celebration as one reminder of their former parish and church, and past Christmases there?”

The ongoing legal dispute over the future of Mater Dolorosa will have both sides back in Superior Court on Dec. 28.


Britain's Prince Philip hospitalized, given heart stent

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The 90-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II was taken to the cardiac unit at Papworth Hospital on Friday.

Prince Philip.jpgQueen Elizabeth II, left, and Prince Philip seen her at a visit to Perth, Australia on Oct. 29, 2011.

LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II's husband has undergone treatment for a blocked coronary artery, British royal officials said Friday.

Buckingham Palace said Prince Philip, 90, was taken from Sandringham, the queen's sprawling estate in rural Norfolk, to the cardiac unit at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge earlier Friday for "precautionary tests" after suffering chest pains.

The palace refused to confirm if Philip had suffered a heart attack, saying only that tests at the hospital showed a blocked coronary artery was causing Philip's discomfort.

"This was treated successfully by the minimally invasive procedure of coronary stenting," the palace said in a statement. "Prince Philip will remain in hospital under observation for a short period."

Doctors said Philip could have suffered a heart attack, but without more information it was impossible to know for sure.

Coronary stenting is standard procedure both to fend off a heart attack or save a patient already in the midst of one, said Dr. Allan Schwartz, chief of cardiology at New York-Presbyterian, Columbia University Medical Center.

"It is a big spectrum, there's no way of knowing what applies to him," Schwartz said. "Saying you're taken to the hospital with chest pain is like saying you're taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound. It could be a grazing shot that's not significant or it could be something that's serious. Either way with the right treatment, you're O.K."

Schwartz said Philip's trim figure and athleticism bode well for his recovery.

Dr. Jonathan Tobis, director of interventional cardiology at UCLA, said coronary stenting is much less invasive than surgery because it is typically done through a catheter method, inserting a balloon down a blocked artery, blowing it up to open the blockage, then putting in a stent to keep the artery wall open.

Tobis said that any procedure carries risks, but advances in coronary medicine over the past 30 years means the procedure can be done "remarkably safely — even in people in their 90s."

"Nowadays, patients typically go home the next day," Tobis said.

A spokeswoman for the palace would not say if other members of the royal family were Philip, who is also known as the Duke of Edinburgh. She spoke on customary condition of anonymity. A hospital spokeswoman referred all calls to the palace.

Papworth Hospital's website says it is the U.K.'s largest specialist cardiothoracic hospital and the country's main heart and lung transplant center, offering services such as cardiology, respiratory medicine and cardiothoracic surgery and transplantation.

Philip had been at Sandringham since Monday for the royal family's Christmas festivities, Buckingham Palace said.

It was unclear how Philip's hospitalization would alter the royal family's plans for the weekend, which typically include a public appearance before church services and then a private family lunch.

Philip has been known to enjoy good health throughout his life and rarely misses royal engagements. Upon his 90th birthday in June, he announced plans to cut back his official duties.

He came down with a cold in October and canceled an overnight visit to Italy to recover. That illness came shortly after Philip accompanied the queen on a busy 11-day official royal tour of Australia.

Philip also spent three days in the hospital in 2008 for treatment of a chest infection after suffering a bad cold.

The colorful and often outspoken husband of Elizabeth has been a familiar figure at his wife's side for decades. He has championed numerous charities over the years, but is advising the ones he heads to start planning an orderly transition as he plots the end of his working life.

The royal family's traditional Christmas celebration will be followed by a year's worth of festivities to mark the queen's 60th year on the throne.

Elizabeth and Philip have been planning to mark the event with a series of tours throughout England to culminate with a celebration in London in early June that will include an unprecedented pageant on the River Thames with up to 1,000 boats taking part.

Most of the senior royals, including Prince William and his wife, now formally known as the Duchess of Cambridge, will be dispatched across the globe to help the aging monarch celebrate her Diamond Jubilee.

A member of the Greek royal family, Philip is descended from Danish and German royalty. He joined the Royal Navy in 1939 and saw active service throughout World War II.

Philip married Elizabeth in 1947, when she was still a princess. He gave up his naval career when she became queen.

Philip is a great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria.

Springfield cabbie Jay Galano driving to battle cancer on Christmas

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"It might sound corny, but I get more satisfaction out of giving than receiving, I really do," Galano says.

121411 jay galano.JPGTaxi driver Jay Galano will offer free rides in his Ace Taxi cab in Springfield on Christmas Day in exchange for donations to the American Cancer Society.

SPRINGFIELD – Jay Galano knows a thing or two about cancer – it nearly killed him nine years ago and robbed him of his voice.

Cancer also took his mother, Gelsomina Galano, a dozen years ago, he said.

The Springfield native and long-time cabbie, however, knows a thing or two about giving as well. He will certainly do so on Christmas Day when he will offer free rides in his Ace Taxi cab for anyone who makes a donation to the American Cancer Society.

Galano, who relies on a voice box to communicate, will be on the road Christmas Day, from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a two-hour break in-between so he and his wife, Eileen, can deliver meals for Open Pantry Community Services.

“If you make a donation to the American Cancer Society that will take care of the ride,” Galano said, adding that he hopes to make his donation-for-a-ride offer into an annual Christmas tradition.

Galano said the owner of Ace Taxi, which opened in June, will not charge him for leasing the cab that day and will donate lease money from the other Christmas cabbies to the American Cancer Society as well.

“That should work out pretty well,” said Galano.

The 70-year-old Feeding Hills resident made the news three years ago, on Christmas Eve, when a customer accidentally left his wallet, containing more than $1,100, inside his taxi after being dropped off at the Holyoke Mall.

That customer, Springfield resident Robert Preble, later told The Republican that he lives on a fixed-income and that the lost money represented a year of scrimping and saving.

Preble was in the process of calling the taxi company when Galano walked into the mall’s food court, wearing a smile and bearing the wallet – with contents intact.

“He smiled like hell when he saw me,” Galano told The Republican. “I felt more like Santa Claus than a cabbie.”

The fact that Galano, an ardent Yankee fan, served as a kind of Christmas angel, for Preble, a member of Red Sox Nation, made the story all the sweeter.

Galano later told The Republican columnist Tom Shea that he made a friend in Preble that day. That friendship endures and the Galanos had Preble over to their home last month for a Thanksgiving dinner. “We keep in touch,” he said.

Those seeking to take advantage of Galano’s Christmas Day offer are asked to call Ace Taxi on that day and ask for the free ride. Ace can be reached at (413) 781-7777.

Galano will be tied up volunteering for Open Pantry that day from about 10 a.m. to noon. He’s been volunteering for that program for about 15 years now.

“I enjoy that,” Galano said. “It might sound corny, but I get more satisfaction out of giving than receiving, I really do.”

U.S. Justice Department rejects South Carolina voter photo ID law, citing potential hardship for minority voters to cast ballots

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Tens of thousands of minorities in South Carolina might not be able to cast ballots under South Carolina's law because they don't have the right photo ID, the Justice Department said.

Holyoke ballot box 2009.jpg


COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The Justice Department on Friday rejected South Carolina's law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, saying it makes it harder for minorities to cast ballots. It was the first voter ID law to be refused by the federal agency in nearly 20 years.

The Obama administration said South Carolina's law didn't meet the burden under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which outlawed discriminatory practices preventing blacks from voting. Tens of thousands of minorities in South Carolina might not be able to cast ballots under South Carolina's law because they don't have the right photo ID, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez said.

South Carolina's law was passed by a Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Nikki Haley. The state's attorney general vowed to fight the federal agency in court.
"Nothing in this act stops people from voting," said Attorney General Alan Wilson, who is also a Republican.

South Carolina's new voter ID law requires voters to show poll workers a state-issued driver's license or several other alternative forms of photo identification.

"The U.S. Department of Justice today blocked implementation of a new law that would require South Carolina voters to present a photo ID in order to vote," the state Election Commission said in a statement late Friday. "Therefore, ID requirements for voting will not
change at this time.'

South Carolina is among five states that passed laws this year requiring some form of ID at the polls, while such laws were already on the books in Indiana and Georgia, whose law received approval from President George W. Bush's Justice Department. Indiana's law, passed in 2005, was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008.

Those new laws also allow voters without the required photo ID to cast provisional ballots, but the voters must return to a specific location with that ID within a certain time limit for their ballots to count.

Most of the laws have been promoted and approved by Republicans, who argue they are needed to avert voter fraud. Democrats say the measures are actually aimed at reducing minority votes for their candidates.

The Justice Department must approve changes to South Carolina's election laws under the federal Voting Rights Act because of the state's past failure to protect the voting rights of blacks. It is one of nine states that require the agency's approval.

The last time the Justice Department rejected a voter ID law was in 1994 when Louisiana passed a measure requiring a picture ID. After changes were made, it was approved by the agency.

Justice officials are reviewing Texas' new law. Kansas, Tennessee and Wisconsin also passed laws this year, but they are not under the agency's review.

South Carolina's law also required the state to determine how many voters lack state-issued IDs so that the Election Commission can work to make sure they know of law changes. The Department of Motor Vehicles will issue free state photo identification cards to those voters.

"Minority registered voters were nearly 20 percent more likely to lack DMV-issued ID than white registered voters, and thus to be effectively disenfranchised," Perez wrote, noting that the numbers could be even higher since the data submitted by the state doesn't include inactive voters.

The number of active and inactive voters that should be used to determine how many people would be affected by the law has been in dispute. Department of Motor Vehicles executive director Kevin Shwedo said the state Election Commission knew it was using inaccurate data when it released reports showing nearly 240,000 active and inactive voters lacked driver's licenses or ID cards.

Shwedo sent the state's attorney general an analysis showing that 207,000 of those voters live in other states, allowed their ID cards to expire, probably have licenses with names that didn't match voter records or were dead. He said the commission created "artificially high numbers to excite the masses."

Earlier in the week, commission officials said the agency will eliminate nearly 60,000 deceased people and individuals whose names didn't match DMV records.
Haley said the decision was more proof President Barack Obama is fighting conservative ideas like voter ID laws or immigration reform.

"The president and his bullish administration are fighting us every step of the way. It is outrageous, and we plan to look at every possible option to get this terrible, clearly political decision overturned so we can protect the integrity of our electoral process and our 10th amendment rights," Haley said in a statement.

South Carolina ACLU executive director Victoria Middleton applauded the Justice Department's decision, saying the "misguided" law represented "a dramatic setback to voting rights in our state and we are pleased to see it stopped in its tracks."

The decision also was welcomed by civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who planned to talk about how voter ID laws are an effort by conservatives to keep blacks from voting in his hometown of Greenville, S.C., next week. He said the laws are like modern day poll taxes, targeting elderly people that can't afford to get IDs and students.

"We're fighting wars for democracy overseas and we're fighting democracy at home," Jackson said. "What a contradiction."

Donald Trump, wanting to keep option to seek presidency, drops Republican Party registration in New York

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Special Counsel Michael Cohen said Trump could enter the race if Republicans fail to nominate a candidate who can defeat President Barack Obama.

042511 donald trump.jpgA spokesman for Donald Trump said, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011, the businessman and television host changed his voter registration in New York state from Republican to unaffiliated, preserving his option to seek the presidency in 2012. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

NEW YORK – Billionaire businessman Donald Trump has changed his voter registration in New York state from Republican to unaffiliated.

A spokesman for Trump says the businessman and television host changed his affiliation to preserve his option to seek the presidency in 2012.

Special Counsel Michael Cohen said Friday that Trump could enter the race if Republicans fail to nominate a candidate who can defeat President Barack Obama.

He said Trump probably would use his substantial wealth to even the playing field with Obama's re-election campaign.

Cohen said Trump's commitment to hosting TV's "The Apprentice" will keep him from doing anything until May, when the show's season wraps up.

He said Trump filed his voter registration paperwork Thursday.

War photographer Anja Niedringhaus' journey to locate injured Marine she comforted in Afghanistan

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In 20 years as a photographer, covering conflicts from Bosnia to Gaza to Iraq to Afghanistan, Niedringhaus has seen countless numbers of injured civilians and soldiers, but she writes none left a greater impression than Marine Cpl. Burness Britt.


The Marine and the PhotographerView full sizeIn this Tuesday, Dec. 13 photo, injured United States Marine Cpl. Burness Britt points to the scar on his head in his room in the Hunter Holmes Medical Center in Richmond, Va. Britt is facing a long recovery after a large piece of shrapnel from an IED in Afghanistan in June 2011 cut a major artery on his neck. During his first operation in Afghanistan he suffered a stroke and became partially paralyzed.


Editor's note: AP photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus has covered war and conflict for 20 years. She has received a Pulitzer Prize and the Courage in Journalism award for her work. She has spent considerable time covering the Afghan conflict and spent 2 1/2 weeks in June with the U.S. Army's "Dust Off" Medevac unit in southwest Afghanistan.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Inside the medevac helicopter in Afghanistan, U.S. Marine Cpl. Burness Britt bleeds profusely from his neck. He and two other Marines have just been hit by shrapnel, with Britt's injuries the most serious. The medevac crew chief clutches one of Britt's blood-covered hands as he is given oxygen. I take hold of the other.

With my free hand, I lift my camera and take some pictures. I squeeze Britt's hand and he returns the gesture, gripping my palm tighter and tighter until he slips into unconsciousness. His shirt is ripped, but I notice a piece of wheat stuck to it. I pluck it off and tuck it away in the pocket of my body armor.

In my 20 years as a photographer, covering conflicts from Bosnia to Gaza to Iraq to Afghanistan, injured civilians and soldiers have passed through my life many times. None has left a greater impression on me than Britt.

I knew him only for a few minutes in that helicopter, but I believed we would meet again one day, and I hoped to give him that small, special piece of wheat.

As Britt underwent surgeries and painful rehabilitation, I returned to my job with The Associated Press, yet Britt was never far from my mind. I searched for him on the Internet. I called hospitals. I wondered if he remembered me.

It's been just over six months since that day in the wheat field not far from his small combat outpost "Kajaki Dam," named for a mammoth structure the U.S., British and NATO troops have been trying to protect and repair to help produce electricity.

Afghanistan was Britt's first combat deployment and he was in Sangin, a town in Afghanistan's southwest Helmand province that has seen some of the bloodiest fighting. He knew the mission was dangerous.

He was leading a group of 10 Marines through a wheat field when there was an explosion. He doesn't know how far away, maybe a few yards. He was thrown into the air, and landed with a thump in the field, a searing hot pain raging in his neck. He had been hit by a huge piece of shrapnel from a bomb and a major artery was cut. Britt believes the improvised explosive device was hidden and somebody triggered it from a distance, though he can't say for sure.

"My only thought was my wife," he said recently from his hospital bed in Richmond, Virginia, where the 22-year-old Marine has been recuperating and rebuilding his life and health.

His speech comes with a great deal of difficulty these days, and sometimes he is hard to understand. During the many surgeries that followed his injury, he had a major stroke and is partially paralyzed on his right side.

His smile, though, is unchanged. The nurses at the Hunter Holmes Medical Center in Richmond, where we met for the first time since the helicopter ride, call him "Sunshine" because their youngest patient is always joking and in a good mood.

It was his courage and smile I remember so vividly. After he was wounded, he smiled briefly when he reached the helicopter, as if to reassure us he would be OK.

It was June 4. I was embedded with the U.S. Army "Dust Off" medevac unit, a group that moves quickly, with little concern for their own safety. When the call came that Britt had been hit, the description of his wounds let everyone know it was serious. Within five minutes, the unit was at his side.

Marines from the 2nd Battalion 12th Marines, 3rd Marine Division rushed out of the nearby bushes carrying Britt. We were quickly airborne.

In the helicopter, the scene was one of quiet courage. No words were spoken, no screams of pain. Blood was everywhere.

Britt was moving his legs, checking to see if they were still there. When he realized they were, he smiled once again. The crew chief, Jennifer Martinez, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, held Britt's hand. Another wounded Marine, Lance Cpl. Joshua Barron, looked at his buddy and cried. I had Britt's other hand in mine.
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We left Britt at our small outpost called Camp Edi, where medical staff provided the first round of treatment before transferring him to Camp Bastion. From there, he went to the U.S. Military Hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. He was then taken to Bethesda Hospital in Washington and finally to Hunter Holmes McGuire Medical Center in Richmond.

I traveled to Germany, and then to Switzerland where I am based for AP. I kept the piece of wheat with me, carefully stowed away in a small jewelry box.

My search for Britt started almost as soon as I got back to Geneva. I emailed the Marines and the Army, but all they said was that Britt was still in serious condition.

I got in touch with patients at Walter Reed Hospital, where many of the seriously wounded were taken, but they didn't know Britt.

I searched the Internet for his name for weeks. Then one evening, like so many before, I was on the Web and I thought I would play around with the spelling of his name. I immediately discovered I had his first name wrong. That day in the helicopter, I was told his name was Burmess. It was actually Burness.

When I entered the correct name, I found articles about Britt. His local paper in Georgetown, South Carolina, had done a story on him.

I wrote the newspaper several times but got no reply. Then I called the AP bureau in South Carolina. The news editor there gave me the phone number of Britt's father, Neal.

I thought my perseverance had paid off, but there was another setback — the number was out of order.

I refused to give up. A few weeks later, the news editor found another phone number. This time it rang, but no one picked up. I kept calling, every evening for about a week.

Eventually, I found Britt on Facebook. He accepted my friend request and at last, it looked like I we would finally be able to connect. But when I sent him messages, there was no reply.

I worried that he didn't want to reconnect. Maybe he wanted to forget that day in Helmand and everyone involved.

I soon found out that wasn't the case. His paralysis made it nearly impossible for him to chat over the Internet, but I noticed on his Facebook page that he was at the hospital in Richmond. I tracked down the number with the help of an AP photographer in Richmond and when I called, a nurse answered.

I heard her yell: "Britt, there is a phone call for you from a photographer in Switzerland who was there in Afghanistan when you got picked up."

The next thing I heard was Britt's voice. He sounded relieved that I had found him by phone. The memories of Helmand flooded through my head. I fumbled my words. I wanted to come to Richmond, meet him, interview him, show him the images of that day, give him the wheat sheaf and talk about his recovery. I had so many questions.

He listened and in a gentle, soft voice, he said: "Yes, ma'am, I would like to see you. Come."

When we finally met Dec. 13 at the hospital, I saw him in the distance. He walked with difficulty, trying to control his right arm and leg. He was wearing a plastic helmet to protect his head where part of the skull had been removed. His brain had swollen to nearly twice its size because of his injuries and doctors had to open the skull to relieve the pressure.

His helmet had a camouflage cover on it emblazoned with the 3rd Marine Division emblem on its side.

He saw me and that warm smile crossed his face again. He hugged me. Like that day in the helicopter when I held his hand, it seemed he did not want to let go. He kept repeating: "Oh man, it is so good to see you."

In his room, his dark brown eyes sparkled and he tried to tell jokes. He explained what he had been through since we had last seen each other.

Doctors put him into a coma for a month and when he woke up, he was he was at the hospital in Virginia.

He had just started to regain his speech, working his way back from months of "thumbs up, thumbs down conversation," says his 22-year-old wife, Jessica.

He will undergo more surgeries next year to rebuild his skull.

Sitting on his bed, he looked at me and asked: "Did you bring some pictures with you?" He wanted to see those moments in the helicopter.

He studied each photo. When he looked up, he had tears in his eyes. "Thank you so much," he said.

I pointed to one of the pictures with the piece of wheat. I told him I had brought it with me. He couldn't believe it.

We reminisced about Afghanistan. He talked about his Marine buddies, those he had served with and friends who were seriously injured or killed.

He lifted his left arm to his chest, where he has a Marine Corps tattoo.

"The love for the Marines is deep in my heart, they are my family," he said. "I want to return immediately back to Afghanistan to help them keep fighting."

I left the piece of wheat with Britt. He said it was his new lucky charm.

Funding sought for new science labs at Westfield High School

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Westfield High School was considered for renovation about seven years ago.

WESTFIELD – The School Committee has approved application to the state’s School Building Authority seeking funding to construct a $6 million science wing at Westfield High School.

The request will focus on creation of new science classrooms, related laboratories and storage space under a SBA reimbursement program for such projects. If approved, Westfield could receive 59 percent reimbursement on the project cost, said Maintenance Director Frank B. Maher Jr.

WHS principal Raymond K. Broderick said the project will address “long-standing issues at our school and provide flexibility in and creation of additional science curriculum.”

The proposal will be presented to the City Council Jan. 5 for endorsement to present a formal request to SBA.

“Our outdated science labs have been an issue for years,” said Broderick.

“This will allow some renovation of the school and begin to address issues of insufficient space for music, gym, science and central office,” the principal said.

The high school had been a focus for an estimated $37 million renovation and addition project in 2003 - 2004 but following a state-wide moratorium on school projects the focus is now on elementary school construction and renovation. Westfield recently gained state approval for a new $36 million elementary school to be built at Ashley and Cross streets next year.

Maher said the SBA science initiative “will allow us the chance to invest in a building that is sound in structure and lacking in up-to-date services and facility.

“The high school is in great shape but there are needs there and if approved this project will begin to address those needs,” Maher said.

Mayor Daniel M. Knapik, chairman of the School Committee, said he supports the project, noting that the concept is to put the science labs outside the main building. a number of high schools in the Commonwealth fit this need. It is a cost-effective way to address the need.”

Departing Holyoke Mayor Elaine Pluta discusses her defeat, accomplishments, says she would do few things differently

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Pluta said she might spend time traveling and will be available to the community, but won't run for office again.

Election 2011: Holyoke Mayor Elaine A. Pluta concedesHolyoke Mayor Elaine A. Pluta speaks to supporters after conceding Nov. 8 election to Alex B. Morse.

HOLYOKE – Mayor Elaine A. Pluta said she knows exactly why she lost the Nov. 8 election.

She believes voters denied her a second term, and instead chose newcomer Alex B. Morse to be mayor, because of the legal problems of former acting fire chief William P. Moran, her positions on the Holyoke Geriatric Authority and casino gambling, and Morse’s freedom to campaign full-time while she focused on being mayor.

“I made that decision and I wouldn’t do it differently,” Pluta said. “I’m leaving the city in good financial shape. Things are on the move.”

But her campaign also stumbled in ways that were perhaps surprising for a political veteran like Pluta. That included changing campaign managers too late, she said.

She also gave little credit to Morse himself for winning the mayor’s seat in his first run for office at the age of 22.

Otherwise, Pluta, in her City Hall office Monday, said she was at peace as she analyzed the defeat, listed accomplishments and said her plans upon leaving office were unclear.

One certainty is she won’t run again, said Pluta, a former city councilor elected as the city’s first female mayor in 2009. She said she has thrown away campaign items like signs and bumper stickers.

She might use some of the sudden glut of time upon leaving office – “I wasn’t planning on this” – to travel with husband Theodore, she said.

She also told a gathering Dec. 16 at the War Memorial she will always be available to the community.

“My number’s in the book. You can always call me,” Pluta said.

Morse beat Pluta 53 percent to 47 percent.

Supporters say Morse ran a campaign with a clear message about improving the economy, public safety, education and the city’s image. Morse’s victory at such a young age has drawn national attention and an invitation to a White House holiday party Dec. 13 with President and Mrs. Obama.

Morse will be sworn into office Jan. 3.

“He had good direction from his campaign staff,” Pluta said. “He made sense to people and told them what they wanted to hear and was able to convince them and do that as a candidate on a daily basis.”

Pluta said her accomplishments in two years as mayor include helping shepherd the now-under-construction, $165 million high performance computing center, the cleanliness of city streets, solar power projects, 85 new small businesses and leaving city finances strong.

City Councilor at Large Kevin A. Jourdain said Pluta was committed to being fair and helping the city.

“She leaves the city much better than when she started and what greater compliment can be said than that. I am a better person for having worked with Elaine Pluta in city government,” Jourdain said.

Ward 2 Councilor Diosdado Lopez said he admired Pluta’s commitment to help a city beset poverty and other problems.

“I supported her and I think being the first female mayor, there were a lot of pressures,” Lopez said.

Pluta said she wasn’t bitter at the voters.

“No, because I’ve been in politics long enough. I know what the story is,” said Pluta, 68.

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Pluta acknowledged the political landscape tilted against her on June 15. That was the day Moran, a deputy fire chief who was acting chief at the time, sent a fire truck to a fake call at the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside.

Moran, who worked on Pluta’s 2009 campaign and whose brother was formerly Pluta’s campaign manager, faces a pre-trial conference Jan. 20 on two misdemeanor charges related to the fake call. His lawyer denied the charges in court Dec. 7.

Moran, 49, who retired Nov. 23 after 27 years with the Fire Department, remains free on his own recognizance.

Pluta said publicity about Moran damaged her re-election chances.

After the June 15 incident, Moran was put on paid administrative leave by the Fire Commission, a three-member board appointed by Pluta.

Pluta said she understands objections of some who wanted Moran fired or at least suspended without pay. But she said she decided instead to let Moran’s due-process rights play out because she otherwise feared a costly lawsuit from Moran.

The Geriatric Authority has owed millions of dollars to various city agencies for years. Pluta said it was unfair to make taxpayers keep bailing out the Geriatric Authority.

The authority is a nursing home at 45 Lower Westfield Road run by a seven-person board appointed by the mayor and City Council.

Authority officials have said the facility’s financial problems are because federal reimbursements cover only 75 percent of costs. They answer criticism from Pluta and others by saying critics want to shut the facility and put its 80 senior citizen residents on the street.

Pluta said that was false. But she said selling the authority was an option that must be considered because it was unacceptable to keep tapping taxpayers.

“The people who know me voted for me. I mean, I lost some votes, there’s no question about it, because of the Moran issue and the Geriatric Authority. But no one else was tackling” the authority issue, she said.

Pluta supports a city bid for a casino, calling it the best shot at a multi-job infusion, but said that probably cost her the heavy voting block of Ward 7.

That’s the area of the city where a casino group wants to put a gaming resort, at Wyckoff Country Club, and some vocal anti-casino residents live in Ward 7.

Morse opposes the city getting a casino and beat Pluta in Ward 7, 60 percent to 40 percent.

The state recently legalized casino gambling, and a commission will decide where casino licenses are issued.

As the campaign wore on, Pluta said she realized details were going unaddressed. Letters went out with incorrect information.

Her campaign urged the media to cover a rally that was supposed to feature Hispanic leaders backing Pluta, but that wound up with only one such leader present. But the campaign failed to tell the media about a rally the night before that was packed with Pluta supporters.

“This is the thing, I didn’t have time to keep track of all this stuff,” Pluta said.

Still, Jourdain said, Pluta deserves credit for a decades-long record of reaching out to the city’s growing Hispanic population.

A campaign manager often handles details like seeking media coverage. In early October, a few weeks after Morse edged Pluta by a single vote in the Sept. 20 preliminary election, Pluta changed campaign managers. Timothy P. Moran, a deputy fire chief and brother of William Moran, was managing her campaign as he had in 2009.

But Timothy Moran was keeping a lower profile than he otherwise would have because of the negative publicity about his brother.

Nelson R. Roman, who had previously worked for Morse, took over Pluta’s campaign, bringing an organization and rapid-response quality Pluta said she wishes she’d had sooner.

“I would have to say yes, we made the decision too late because it didn’t become apparent to us how much we were behind the eight ball until the” preliminary election, Pluta said.


Springfield seeks funding for expansion of Clifford Phaneuf Environmental Center at Forest Park

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The building has been home to the Environmental Center for Our Schools program since the 1970s.

Environmental center existing and proposed.jpgHere is an artist's rendering of what the Clifford A. Environmental Center would like like when a proposed renovation is completed, top. The bottom photo is what the center looks like now.

SPRINGFIELD – The design and blueprints are now complete, but advocates say time is short as they pursue funding for an estimated $2.5 million renovation and expansion of the Clifford A. Phaneuf Environmental Center at Forest Park.

The renovation has been discussed for well over a decade, and a two-year planning and design phase was just completed, said Burt D. Freedman, who is a teacher at the school site and a member of the project’s planning committee.

The building has been home to the Environmental Center for Our Schools program since the 1970s, and is the former Porter Lake Skate House built in the 1930s as a warming cabin for skaters.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said last week he will explore options in 2012, including bonding and short-term borrowing, for the Phaneuf Center project and other capital priorities.

Freedman said the building, which is used by approximately 10,000 students, parents and teachers annually, is in such serious need of repairs that he fears that plans could become stale and the building’s future use could be jeopardized if construction is delayed much longer.

“We always have hope, but time is running out because of the condition of the building,” Freedman said. “It’s nice to have an environmental science education program here, but having birds nesting in the walls is going a little too far.”

The city provided approximately $200,000 for the design stage, including $25,000 from the Springfield Bicentennial Committee.

In addition, MassMutual Financial Group last year pledged to contribute $150,000 toward construction.

“It’s in such dire need of repairs currently, at some point it won’t be salvageable,” Freedman said. “Instead of renovation, we will have a costlier new building to deal with.”

City officials and project advocates have aggressively pursued state and federal grant funds in recent years including state “Green Communities” funding and federal stimulus funds, but the project did not qualify, Freedman said.

Sarno said the project is “near and dear to my heart.” Sarno recalls attending the science programs there, and his children also attended the programs.

The city, however, is facing serious financial challenges, and has other capital priorities including plans for a new senior center at Blunt Park, Sarno said. The city has not pursued 20-year bonds for capital projects since 2009.

“ECOS will be one of the serious capital projects we would be considering with momentum to move forward,” Sarno said. “We are looking to do something but we want to make sure we’re doing something that is fiscally prudent.”

Sarno said the Phaneuf Center provides urban center students “an opportunity to appreciate the environment and nature and learn from that.”

The building, when renovated and expanded, will be used for the science program but will double as a function hall and meeting space for community groups, Freedman said, greatly expanding its use.

In addition, the building will have several unique “green” elements including: a hydro-geothermal heating, ventilation, air conditioning system, using water from Porter Lake to supplement heating and cooling; state-of-the-art insulation and passive solar energy-efficient windows; native plantings eliminating the need for landscaping irrigation, and solar panels for hot water and solar photovoltaic panels for energy supplementation and education, according to the planning committee.

The committee also includes local architect Stephen J. Jablonski and Rita L. Coppola-Wallace, the city’s director of capital asset construction.

Given its age, the building is in great need of major rehabilitation and updating, Freedman said.

More than a decade ago, the plan was to repair and refurbish the building but the plan has grown to include energy-efficiency measures, he said.

The project was listed as an “A” status capital priority by the Springfield Capital Improvement Committee and has widespread community support, Freedman said. The city could take advantage of potential lower construction costs in the current economy if construction is able to proceed in the coming year, he said.


Click on these links for artists renderings of the proposed exterior and interior of the environmental center.


Northampton Comcast users absent from performance hearing

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Williams is hoping the city will be proactive in seeking the third channel, since NCTV, as a non-profit subcontractor, has no power to enforce the contract.

nctv.JPGExecutive director P. Al Williams tests the equipment at the Northampton Community Television studio.

NORTHAMPTON – Northampton Community Television lobbied Comcast for a third local access channel, but there was little other discourse at an annual performance review that lacked a single member of the public.

The Dec. 14 hearing in Council Chambers is mandated by the terms of the city’s contact with Comcast to provide local cable access. Community and Economic Development Coordinator Teri A. Anderson was there with representatives of NCTV and Comcast, but otherwise the room was empty. It was the second year in a row that no one from the public has showed up to voice their opinions concerning the cable service.

“We do hear about customer complaints and we forward them to the (Comcast) community relations person,” Anderson said.

The city’s contract with Comcast expires in 2016. Part of that contract calls for the company to provide local access channels for community programming. There are currently two. P. Al Williams, the executive director of NCTV, thinks there should be three.

“We believe we’ve met the stipulations,” Williams said Wednesday, adding that Comcast does not agree. “It’s a stalemate. We need to get the city involved.”

NCTV broadcasts public meetings such as the City Council on one of the channels. The other programming, Williams said, is a grab bag.

“It’s niche programming,” he said. “If you watch ESPN, you get sports. If you go on NCTV, you’re not sure what you may encounter.”

One problem that Williams conveyed to Comcast is that the online program guide does not list the programs on the local access channels.

“People don’t know what’s on,” he said.

NCTV is currently training potential “citizen journalists” to use its equipment to produce short story-telling segments for broadcast on the channels.

“We’re asking people to give us two, five-minute stories,” he said.

Williams is hoping the city will be proactive in seeking the third channel, since NCTV, as a non-profit subcontractor, has no power to enforce the contract.

“The basic reason is that (the third channel) is city property,” he said.

The Comcast representative could not be reached for comment.

Chicopee City Council debates 4-year terms for elected officials

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The election petition to place a question about extending the mayor's term to four years was rejected after a number of people testified the signatures that appeared on the document were not theirs.

1998 chicopee city hall.jpgChicopee City Hall.

CHICOPEE - The City Council rejected a proposal to ask voters if they want to extend elected officials’ terms to four years, but promised to take up the issue again.

Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette proposed a home rule petition this week that would place three questions on the ballot asking voters if they wanted to extend the terms of mayor, city councilors and school committee members from the existing two years to four years.

To place the question on the ballot, the City Council must endorse it and then get the approval of the state legislature.

Bissonnette attempted to place a question about the mayor’s term on this year’s ballot. The City Council then passed petitions asking legislators to approve a ballot question extending their term as well. When the mayor refused to sign the City Council petition, the City Council blocked the mayor’s petition.

Then the mayor’s campaign committee then attempted to collect the 1,701 signatures needed to place it on the ballot by voters. That failed when a number of voters testified the signatures that appeared on the petition were not theirs.

Several City Councilors have asked the Attorney General’s office to examine the petition. Officials at the office neither confirm nor deny if they are investigating, but Councilor Dino A. Brunetti said investigators have asked questions about the petition.

City Clerk Keith W. Rattell has also asked the Secretary of State to investigate.

“I should have allowed it to go forward,” Bissonnette said. “I thought at the time and continue to think we should have all of these on the same page.”

Bissonnette said he believes it would be best to have all elected officials to be on the same four-year election cycle, that way an annual election could be skipped once every four years, saving money. Federal and state elections are held on years when there are no municipal elections.

About $66,000 was budgeted for this year’s election, City Clerk Keith W. Rattell said.

City Councilors said their biggest concern was Bissonnette’s proposal called for the question to be asked at the presidential primary election, when voter turnout tends to be low. It unanimously rejected it.

Councilor Donald G. Demers said he has no complaints about giving voters a chance to decide on the issue, but was concerned about having it on the primary ballot.

“I don’t think 10 percent of the people should make a decision on this,” Councilor James K. Tillotson said.

He also proposed adding a recall provision that would allow voters to remove elected officials mid-term.

Brunetti said he believes the City Council instead should call for a charter commission to examine the entire document.

“I don’t want to slice and dice the charter.

He said he also believes the city should wait for feedback on the investigation into the election petition before trying to make any other changes.

“I’m not a fan of a four-year term. I think the two-year term is good,” he said.

Massachusetts tornado delivered blessings for Frank and Elaine Anderson of Springfield

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When disaster struck for them, the Andersons found themselves in an unusual and, for them, awkward position: accepting help and kindness which they much prefer to give than receive.

FRANKELAINEANDERSON.JPGElaine and Frank Anderson lived at 422 South Branch Parkway in Springfield until the June 1 tornado destroyed their home. They say they count their blessings this Christmas, thanks in large part to the many friends who have helped them rebuild their lives.

Elaine and Frank Anderson count their blessings with care this Christmas.

Each blessing has a name: The neighbors who yelled her name repeatedly to guide Elaine from the rubble of their home; the man she’d never met before but who drove her to Wing Memorial Hospital that night so she could be with Frank; her former students who showed up unasked to help with the cleanup, and the clerk at the Sleepy’s mattress store in Palmer who was more concerned about her peace of mind than when he’d be paid.

There are more, many more. Elaine Anderson keeps a list of them all. No act of kindness went unnoticed. None is forgotten.

Gone from their lives is the house at 422 South Branch Parkway in Springfield that they’d called home for 16 years, torn apart by the June 1 tornado as it coursed its 39-mile path of destruction through Western Massachusetts.

The property was, as Frank Anderson recalls it, “our own little Shangri-La” with just over an acre of land, a panoramic view of Lake Massasoit, a marsh that drew birds and ducks, and gardens that he created after taking a landscape design course at Springfield Technical Community College.

All that remains now is a vacant lot with a mailbox at the top of the driveway. A “For Sale” sign stands nearby, a sign that the Andersons are moving forward with a new chapter in life.

Before June 1, the Andersons’ lives as individuals and as a couple were largely focused on helping others, she as community relations director for the Greater Springfield-University of Massachusetts Partnership and he as a disaster volunteer and board member for the Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Both come from families “who believe you pay your dues, share with others and look beyond oneself,” Elaine Anderson says. She can remember as a child growing up in Burlington, Vt., having delivered groceries to families less fortunate than hers; he received the Pynchon Award in 2008 for his years of service to the community through the Red Cross, the United Way and the Fisher House for hospice care in Amherst.

When disaster struck for them in June, the Andersons found themselves in an unusual and, for them, awkward position: accepting help and kindness which they much prefer to give than receive.

“There has to be something that I – that we – needed to learn,” says Elaine Anderson as she reflects back on that afternoon. She had stopped at their home en route from her office at STCC to visit her husband at Wing Memorial in Palmer.

Had it not been for Frank Anderson being in a hospital bed that afternoon, both doubt they would be celebrating this Christmas together. “If it were not for Frank, I would not be here,” Elaine Anderson says succinctly.

He was watching TV from his bed, something he never does in the middle of an afternoon, saw the weather alert warning of a tornado and telephoned her immediately.

“I told her to put the car in the garage and get downstairs right away. For once, she listened to me,” he recalled.

“There was something about his voice that said, ‘Listen,’” Elaine Anderson said. She did as he advised, and then bedlam unfolded.

She remembers “the rumbling like a freight train,” the “out-of-this-world” sounds, the loud shrieking noises and then the point at which “all hell broke loose.”

“The whole house was vibrating. I ran for the bathroom and huddled. Kitten had disappeared,” she said, recalling how their cat, “Mr. Tuxedo,” sought its own path to safety. (The cat didn’t reappear until three days after the storm.)

ANDERSONHOUSE1.JPGThis is a view of the Andersons' property at 422 South Branch Parkway in Springfield as it appears today.

Then, there was quiet, and amidst the rubble of her basement, Elaine Anderson gathered herself together.

“I can get out,” she remembers thinking to herself. Trees were piled up in layers, blocking any exit from the basement, and the ceiling over the stairway to the first floor had started to collapse. She managed, though, crawling on her arthritic knees, to make her way up the wobbly stairs.

Upstairs, she found the walls of the office where she’d been seated blown out, the attic collapsed onto her desk and the oriental rug gone from the floor. In the bedroom nearby, an air conditioner from outside the home sat atop their bed. “At that point, I kind of tuned out,” Elaine Anderson said, recalling the devastation which she confronted.

She found her purse and briefcase unmoved in the hallway where she’d left them less than an hour before. And, then, she heard people screaming her name.

The shouts of her neighbors helped guide her out of the house, negotiate live wires across the property and make her way to the top of their driveway onto South Branch Parkway.

“All I kept thinking was the gardens aren’t there. Where is the potting shed? I was standing there thinking, ‘OK, this is interesting,’” she recalled.

Then, people began shouting, “Run. Run. Another (tornado) is on the way.” And, with that, it was off to the home of other neighbors to seek refuge nearby.

Through it all, Elaine Anderson, who is 77, focused on one thing: letting her husband of 33 years know she was OK and finding a way to be at his side. She initially called the couple’s longtime friend, Dr. Charles Cavagnaro, the president and chief executive officer at Wing. Cavagnaro wound up facing as many detours into Springfield as Elaine Anderson faced getting out of her neighborhood.

She walked nearly a mile before encountering a police officer near Allen Street who flagged down a passing car and asked the driver to take her to Wing. The trip which ordinarily took 20 minutes wound up consuming four hours and 15 minutes, more than enough time for Elaine Anderson to learn about her driving companion and forging a friendship out of what had initially presented a situation of fear and trepidation.

As they parted, she offered the man the $40 she had in her wallet; “I said, ‘Please take this money. You’ve been so kind to me,’” she recalled. “He said, ‘Oh no, I thank you. I had kind of hit a brick wall today. Being with you, you’re so calm, has been an enlightening experience for me.’”

In the intervening months, Elaine Anderson has continued to mentor the man who drove her that night as he hopes to continue his education at UMass. He’s just one of the many people who wound up helping the Andersons find their way free of their tornado experience.

Cavagnaro, as it turned out, proved to be chief among their guardian angels. He and his family gave them a place in their home as temporary shelter, and, together with Dr. Joseph Bruseo and the team at Wing, Cavagnaro worked to provide the couple a more permanent place to live. They now have a long-term lease for a house owned by the hospital. (Elaine Anderson is also a member of the board of trustees at Wing.)

“We know a hell of a lot of people between us; we didn’t even have to ask (for help),” Frank Anderson said, marveling at those who came to their aid in the days after the tornado.

“I didn’t know all these people would volunteer to help,” said Elaine Anderson. “They came from everywhere. The remarkable thing is the way the community embraced us. They gave us the will to put one foot in front of the other.”

Dozens of friends from near and far appeared at the doorstep to what had been their home. They helped pack up what remained of the couple’s furnishings and precious antiques collected over the years; the boxes are still being unpacked, providing still day-by-day revelations of what the tornado tore from their lives.

ANDERSONPROPERTY.JPGLooking at what would have been the front of the home owned by Elaine and Frank Anderson at 422 South Branch Parkway, Springfield, now is a empty plot of land after the house was destroyed by the June 1st tornado and then the remains were taken away.

Over the course of the summer, Elaine Anderson also lost one of her dearest friends, Lois Theodora Whelan Grady, but not before Grady – known as “Teddy” – imparted some wise thoughts. “Even in death, she was the best,” Elaine Anderson recalled. “She had a way of accepting life on its own terms. She was so positive, she told me, ‘You just need to trust the universe.’”

And, so, Elaine Anderson did as her friend advised. “I learned to trust the universe,” she said. “I don’t know why (the tornado) happened. I’m not angry that it happened. I feel very blessed so I’m incredulous that it happened. I’m pretty much the same person (I was before) but with comprehension and wonderful connections that have hope and love and power.”

The decision to demolish the remains of the house and clear the property for a new family to find a home there was not an easy one to make, but it made sense for them, the couple says. They had, after all, moved to Springfield because of their commitment to the city, to urban education and the causes they hold dear. That commitment remains, but the attachment to the property does not.

“It just wasn’t the same,” said Elaine Anderson. “We had trees, and suddenly there were no trees. I think my relief came on the second or third day of demolition. There was no evidence of the garage. It was just land.”

“We lost a house, not a home,” Frank Anderson reminds his wife as they speak. “Home is where you are; it can be a tent in New York.”

Elaine Anderson knows other families are not as fortunate as she and her husband have been. She knows many others are still struggling to rebuild their lives from the devastation left by the tornado. And, just as she helped her mother deliver groceries all those years ago, Elaine Anderson is prepared to help others today.

What would she tell them? “Come see me; there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. My office is at 267 Garvey Hall, Springfield Technical Community College. My door is open.”

“Look at the people who have nothing,” Frank Anderson added. “I think we have come out of this remarkably well.”

A week from today on Jan. 1, Frank Anderson will celebrate his 84th birthday with what he describes as his greatest blessing in life still at his side. “I have a reason to be here; she’s sitting right next to me.”

Enfield liquor store robbed on Christmas Eve

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The woman was wearing a red jacket and cowboy boots.

ENFIELD – A woman wearing a red jacket and armed with a gun robbed a liquor store at about 3:15 p.m. Christmas Eve.

The woman, described as middle-aged, thin, wearing a red hooded jacket, blue jeans, cowboy boots and sunglasses, approached the female clerk at the State Line Package Store, 11 Enfield St., showed the gun and demanded money, said Enfield Police Lt. Bill Zacynski.

Police couldn’t say what she took. She ran from the store and drove away in a white four-door sedan with Connecticut plates. She was last seen heading east on Booth Road, which is near the Longmeadow border, he said.

Anyone who has any information about the crime should contact police at 860-763-8911.

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