As 26 states argue that the health care mandate requiring citizens to purchase health insurance from private companies in unconstitutional, the U.S. Senate candidates in Massachusetts chime in.

Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and Democratic challengers Elizabeth Warren and Marisa DeFranco hold varying views on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (AP & Republican file photos)

With the United States Supreme Court set to hear arguments about the Constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act this coming week, the topic of health care reform is hot as ever.

More than half of the states in the country have argued that the health care mandate requiring citizens to purchase health insurance from private companies in unconstitutional. Additionally, some states argue that the expansion of Medicaid to include many more adults, which will result in increased costs to the states over time, is also a stretch of the Constitution.

For three days this coming week, the Supreme Court will listen to six hours of arguments from both sides of the fence, with the Obama Administration arguing that the Commerce Clause in the Constitution allows the law and opponents arguing it doesn't. The court will also determine whether it can even rule on the case since the law doesn't go into effect until 2014.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case after three lower courts were split in their rulings about the health care law.

"I campaigned against the President's health care bill, I voted to repeal it and would vote to repeal it again," Brown said. "We already have health care in Massachusetts and we did it how we wanted to do it. People love the care and coverages that we have but they don't like the cost. The costs are out of control. The legislature and the governor can fix that and I'm encouraging them to do it."

Consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, Brown's chief Democratic rival in his re-election bid, said she believes the law is right for the nation, calling increased protections for citizens included in the legislation "basic rights."

View full sizeTo read the full text of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, click here.

"I support the Affordable Care Act. Thanks to the new law, insurance companies cannot discriminate based on pre-existing conditions, 2.5 million young adults are now covered by health insurance through their parents’ plan and more than 100 million people no longer have a lifetime limit on their insurance," Warren said. "Scott Brown and all the other Republicans want to repeal these basic rights. Going forward, Congress should focus more on lowering costs. That’s what I’ll do as a U.S. Senator."

Brown said his concern about the costs of the health care law in Massachusetts are mirrored in his concern about the federal law, primarily relating to Medicare.

"I love it when they say 'Senator Brown, please don't cut our Medicare.' The only ones that have cut Medicare is the Democrats when they cut a half-trillion dollars," Brown said. "We can do it better and have done it better."

Marisa DeFranco, a Middleton immigration lawyer and Warren's only remaining opponent vying for the Democratic nomination to take on Brown in November's general election, supports the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act but feels Democrats failed by not pushing it further to include a public option.

"The mandate to buy coverage from the health insurance companies, which is a Republican idea, is the crux of the problem," DeFranco said. "I'm glad we did something on the national level but the Democrats really capitulated on the public option and that was a mistake. They started with the public option as their top marker. It's classic negotiation 101, you negotiate high to end up at middle or high ground of where you want to end. They should have started with single-payer and they would have ended up with a public option. If the insurance companies are really behind their free market mentality, then operate in a market. And if the government is your competitor and you're so much better than the government, compete."

When asked if she supports a single-payer health care system, funded through taxes to pay the doctors, Warren said the focus needs to be on the law as it stands.

"I think the urgent question now is whether we’re going to be able to hold on to the health care reforms that just passed," Warren said. "There are a lot of people who want to repeal them. I think we need to focus on protecting them and on finding new ways to lower costs, which are still too high."

On the topic of stem cell research, all three candidates believe it is a promising field worthy of further development.

Brown cited his work on the state level where he helped override then Gov. Mitt Romeny to approve stem cell research in the Bay State.

"Because of that I think we have one of the strongest and most viable stem cell bills in the country," Brown said. "I'm in favor of stem cells but we have to balance the moral concerns with the scientific opportunities. And what I've found is that there are good people on both sides of those issues and if you can get them together in a room to hammer it out, it works."

Warren said she supports "stem cell research to help find medical breakthroughs that will improve the lives and health of people across the country."

DeFranco denounced the politicization of the issue, saying it costs lives instead of saving them.

"I support Stem Cell Research. We are decades behind in the cutting edge research that could save and improve lives," DeFranco said in a statement. "While politicians dither, people are dying of diseases that might be cured or delayed with stem cells."

“There’s great elation and real pride here.”

View full sizeMembers of the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts High School team display their trophy after winning the Massachusetts Bar Association's mock trial competition.

SOUTH HADLEY – The team from Performing Arts has done it again.

The Mock Trial team from Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public High School won the annual statewide Mock Trial Championship at Faneuil Hall in Boston for the second year in a row Friday morning.

The Mock Trial Program, sponsored by the Massachusetts Bar Association, begins in January with over 100 schools all over the state competing in preliminary trials.

Performing Arts took on Marshfield High School in the finals. This was the 27th year for the arduous program, which challenges students’ skills in reasoning, listening, reading and speaking.

“I’d say everyone in the whole team has been up since 5 o’clock this morning,” said Gary Huggett, teacher and Mock Trial coach for the Performing Arts team, speaking by phone above the roar of voices after the tournament.

“There’s great elation and real pride here,” said Huggett. “The team was unbelievable – especially this year, because we had so many new students, principally freshmen and sophomores.”

Huggett said about 500 people crowded into Faneuil Hall to watch the courtroom drama unfold.

The fictional case assigned to teams this year involved a teacher in a private school who was accused of not intervening in a matter of cyber-bullying. Teams do not know until a half-hour before the event whether they will be assigned to prosecute or defend, so they must prepare for all eventualities.

Two of the three tournament judges voted to give the victory to Performing Arts.

The school has reached the finals for seven of the last nine years.

“Well, now we recover and get ready for nationals,” said Huggett.

The National Mock Trial Championship will take place the first weekend in May in Albuquerque, N.M. The team will be fund-raising so all 14 members can go.

The coach had commented earlier on the “tremendous work ethic” of the team. Here’s more evidence. Four of those youngsters who rose at 5 a.m. Friday were also scheduled to perform Friday night in the annual show of the Headgear Comedy Troupe. Ah, youth!

State Rep. Michael J. Finn, D-West Springfield, says there is no regulation allowing for the city to be penalized for not adopting a local option on employees' health insurance copayments.

Michael J. Finn

WEST SPRINGFIELD – State Rep Michael J. Finn, D-West Springfield, has stated the city should not get less local aid than communities that have adopted a local option allowing them to take employees’ health insurance co-payments out of collective bargaining.

Finn was reacting to a recent statement by the city’s chief financial officer, Sharon A. Wilcox, that she was told at a recent conference that communities that do not adopt sections 21-13 of Chapter 32-B of state laws might not share equally in any increases in state aid. Mayor Gregory C. Neffinger, who has criticized the Town Council for not adopting the local option, said the thinking is that increased aid should go to communities that have helped themselves.

“Someone may have said that and that may be their opinion, but that is not in the law,” Finn said Thursday.

In a March 18 letter to the council, Finn stated that there is no language in Chapter 32-B that allows for any penalties for communities who do not exercise the local option.

“Furthermore, to be certain that I was correct in my understanding of the law I contacted both the secretary of administration and finance as well as the chairman of the House Ways and Means (Committee) to verify that there is no such language in the law as it is currently written and to inquire if there were any amendments filed that would attempt to create any such penalty for communities going forward,” Finn wrote. “Both confirmed that my understanding of the law was accurate.”

Finn, who apologized for not making the Town Council’s March 19 meeting had Town Councilor Brian J. Griffin read the communication into the public record.

The mayor has estimated adopting the local option could save the city anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million.

This year, the city got $23,240,000 in state aid to help fund its approximately $88 million fiscal 2012 budget. The governor has proposing giving the city $23,712,000 in state aid during the next fiscal year.

Police do not believe the woman was the intended target, and the shooting remains under investigation by the detective bureau.

Republican file photo

SPRINGFIELD – A 17-year-old city resident was arrested after he allegedly shot a 65-year-old woman in her right arm early Saturday.

Police Lt. Robert Moynihan said Jonathan Torres, of 87 Commonwealth Ave. has been charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon in connection with the shooting.

He said police do not believe the woman was his intended target, and the shooting remains under investigation by the detective bureau.

The shooting happened outside 18 Fairmont St., where the woman lives.

Moynihan said he did not know what led to the shooting, or why the woman was outside at 2 a.m. - the time that it was reported to police.

He said the woman was either shot by a .22 caliber handgun, or a pellet gun. Police seized a .22 caliber handgun and two air gun pistols from Torres. The shot fractured the woman’s arm, Moynihan said.

“We believe it was from the .22, but we’re not sure,” Moynihan said.

The woman was taken to Baystate Medical Center. Torres is expected to be arraigned Monday in district court.

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The robber was described as possibly female, approximately 5 feet tall.

File photo

LONGMEADOW – Police are investigating a bank robbery here late Saturday morning at Berkshire Bank on Longmeadow Street.

The robber was described as possibly female, approximately 5 feet tall. No weapon was shown. She may have fled the scene in a gray Toyota or Honda.

Additional information will be posted as it becomes available. Police could not provide additional details at this time.

Representatives of the PVTA and its former administrator would not comment on the court case or settlement.

File photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanFormer Pioneer Valley Transit Authority Administrator Gary A. Shepard is seen at a PVTA advisory board meeting in Springfield in 2006.

SPRINGFIELD – Gary Shepard, who was fired as administrator of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority in 2006 and filed a “wrongful termination” suit, has reportedly reached a settlement with the authority.

According to records in Hampden Superior Court, the case is listed as settled, and a trial that was scheduled April 30, is canceled.

However, details of the settlement were not on file, and have not been released by either the authority, represented by Springfield lawyer Fred P. Frangie, or by Shepard or by his lawyer, listed as Frank E. Antonnuci of Springfield. The amount of any settlement was not available.

“I can’t comment on the case at all,” Frangie said Friday.

Lawyers have 30 days to file an “agreement for judgment” or “a stipulation of dismissal,” or the case will be dismissed without prejudice, according to court records.

Thomas T. Walsh, who serves as Springfield’s appointee on the authority board on behalf of Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, said Friday he could not comment except to confirm that the board discussed the Shepard case in executive session at a special meeting Feb. 2.

Shepard, who serves as director of the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, did not return telephone calls.

Shepard became administrator for the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority in 1998, but was fired in 2006 amid a federal investigation into suspected bid rigging. The FBI raided the authority’s headquarters in 2005, triggering questions about the agency finances and Shepard’s management practices.

Shepard, however, was never charged with criminal wrongdoing, and sued the authority in January of 2008 for wrongful termination, seeking $300,000 in lost wages and damages.

In 2010, the transit authority agreed to give up $940,000 in federal funding to settle an audit of the Union Station renovation project that found $5 million in questionable expenses. The audit, released in 2006, led to a federal funding freeze and essentially froze the project prior to the audit settlement.

In a pre-trial memorandum, the authority argued that Shepard, as the former administrator, was responsible for the Union Station project, and responsible for the authority’s finances and overall operations. The authority stated the evidence would show that Shepard’s job performance was unsatisfactory.

Shepard, in his filed suit, had argued that he was prematurely terminated and wrongfully terminated, and that the authority failed to provide him with severance payments in breach of his 2001 employment contract.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Marc A. Talbot

HOLYOKE - Marc A. Talbot, 65, of Holyoke, died Wednesday at home. Born in Gilbertville to the late Arthur and Lillian (Martin) Talbot, he was a graduate of Granby High School and later served in the United States Navy. He was a retired maintenance supervisor at the Bulk Mail Center in Springfield, where he worked for 35 years. He loved fishing and the famous 4th of July parties at Hardwick Pond, and was a member of Brennan's Tuesday night hot dog club.

Obituaries from The Republican:

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  Bartkiewicz, Julia (Pyzik)
  



• 
  Carpanelli, Alfred W.
  



• 
  Cummings, Marjorie Jean (Kilpatrick)
  



• 
  Czepiel, Stella C. (Chmiel)
  



• 
  Dunn, Louise E. (Winkler)
  



• 
  Godbolt, Charles E.
  



• 
  Jacoby Jr., Robert D.
  



• 
  Kimball, F. Margaret "Peggy"
  



• 
  Lambert, Muriel
  



• 
  Meluch, John M.
  



• 
  Oliveira, Maria (Afonso Crespo)
  



• 
  Peich, Mary Jane A. (Regan)
  



• 
  Phelon, Russell Dale
  



• 
  Polchlopek, Michael E.
  



• 
  Scott, Donald E. "Scotty"
  



• 
  Shipman, Robert H.
  



• 
  Szostkiewicz, Doris C. (Romansky)
  



• 
  Talbot, Marc A.
  



• 
  Taylor, Katherine (Bolanis)
  



• 
  Wadach, Steven W.
  



• 
  Wadach, Steven W.
  



• 
  Yelinek-Gibson, Brenda
  



• 
  Zeno, Emma (Daniele)
  

Police said the road had to be closed for three hours so the accident scene could be reconstructed.

BELCHERTOWN – A serious three-car crash in the area of 404 State St. (Route 181) Friday morning sent two people to the hospital.

Police said the road had to be closed for three hours so the accident scene could be reconstructed.

Marcus Stevenson, 30, of 45 Howard St., was driving north in a 2008 Nissan Quest when the head-on collision happened with John Deauseault, 41, of 33 Truby St., Granby, who was traveling south in a 2012 Ford Fusion.

Both cars had front end damage and were totaled. Stevenson was brought to Baystate Medical Center by ambulance; he is in serious critical condition, police said.

Deauseault was trapped in his vehicle and had to be freed by Belchertown firefighters. He was taken by helicopter to University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, where he is in stable condition, police said.

A third car, a 2010 Ford Edge heading south that was operated by Mark Jaszek, 49, of 30 Old Sawmill Road, had minor passenger side damage. Jaszek was not injured.

The accident is being investigated by Officer John Raymer Jr. with assistance from the district attorney’s office. He said seat belt use is being reviewed.

The accident was reported just after 7:30 a.m.

Narkewicz would not say why former Parking Commissioner William Letendre was put on leave.

David J. Narkewicz

NORTHAMPTON – Mayor David J. Narkewicz said he is not sure whether he will hire a new parking director but in the meantime is addressing concerns with the department.

Parking Commissioner William A. Letendre was put on leave in February but has since retired.

Narkewicz will not comment on the reasons for his move but memos the mayor sent to Letendre before he was put on leave outline a series of concerns he had with the department.

Those concerns were raised even before an audit released earlier this year finds fault with the financial management of the department. That audit was done last summer and looked at fiscal year 2011.

Scanlon & Associates of South Deerfield found there was a lack of documentation within the department reconciling revenues collected with amounts deposited in the city treasury. Also documentation failed to reconcile daily kiosk receipts with bank deposits.

The mayor said, “There was no malfeasance” just concerns about management.

But Narkewicz, who became acting mayor in the fall and elected in November, began looking at the department before the concerns were flagged.

In a Jan. 3 memo summarizing a Dec. 14, 2011 meeting with Letendre, the mayor outlined issues he wanted Letendre to address including the decline in parking ticket revenue even with an increase in the parking ticket fines from $10 to $15 last year.

According to the memo, the department was $30,000 behind what it was the same time last year. He also noted that staff had issued 2,008 fewer tickets in the first five months of fiscal year 2012. The mayor expressed concern the city could be $200,000 short in budgeted revenue.

According to a memo, parking tickets were expected to bring in $925,000 in the current fiscal year. The division oversees 700 meters, 24 kiosks and the E. John Gare Municipal Parking Garage and is estimated to raise $1.4 million this year in parking meter receipts.
One of the issues the mayor raised was staffing in particular that only one parking enforcement officer was working on Saturdays with two on Mondays and three Tuesdays through Fridays.

Narkewicz said they now have two parking enforcement officers on Saturdays.

He was also concerned about overtime and noted that parking clerk Cindy Parsons had received nearly $11,000 for 396 hours of overtime responding to 132 callbacks because of gate malfunction. “This number must come down,” the mayor wrote and that Letendre need to “explore ways to reduce the overtime thru scheduling and other means.”

The mayor also wanted to improve customer service so that parking permits would be available beyond the 9 a.m. to noon hours they had been available. The hours, according to the memo “have been a frequent complaint to our office.”

They are still working out the hours now.

Narkewicz said he is also looking to the City Council to raise rates on monthly parking permits valid in long term lots or meters from $30 to $60 to keep pace with the parking meter hikes. Last year, rates rose from 50 to 75 cents an hour at meters and from 15 cents to 25 cents an hour at long-term meters and lots. “It was an oversight,” he said for not raising those costs as well. The permits have been selling out quickly, he said.

He said he’s trying to determine whether having a parking commissioner is necessary or whether the duties the job entails can be shared.

Weller's driver's license in Massachusetts had been revoked following a 2004 conviction for drunken driving in Chicopee.

Jim RussellFred Weller, of Newtown, Conn., appears at a March 9 dangerousness hearing. Weller is charged with operating under the influence of alcohol and vehicular homicide in connection with a February accident in Sheffield. Photo by JIM RUSSELL

By JIM RUSSELL | Berkshire Record

SHEFFIELD – The apparent failure of the New York and Connecticut criminal-justice systems to keep career criminal and repeat drunk driver Fred Weller out of harm’s way is eating at the grieving parents whose 24-year old daughter was killed in an accident last month in which police have charged Weller with operating while intoxicated.

Records show Weller, 35, of Newtown, Conn., had already been jailed multiple times following convictions for drunken driving in Waterbury, Vt., in 1994, in Bennington, Vt., in 1997, in Chicopee in 2004, in Waterbury, Conn., in January 2005 and in Stratford, Conn., in December 2005. Weller’s license to operate a motor vehicle in Massachusetts had been revoked since the 2004 conviction.

A drunken-driving conviction against Weller from New York in 2010 netted him a $750 fine – but no prison sentence, according to court records.

At the time of his arrest in East Fishkill, N.Y., Weller was operating without a license; he was also charged with criminal trespass when he entered a woman’s home and refused to leave, police said.

Moira Banks-Dobson, of Sheffield and Hillsdale, N.Y., died from multiple traumatic injuries, spinal fractures and massive right hemothorax when the economy car she was driving got crushed by Weller’s dual-wheeled, 1-ton black Ford pickup on Feb. 28, authorities said.

Taking a break from his farm chores on a recent weekend, the young woman’s father, Ted Dobson, said: “Why was a criminal allowed to continue to be a criminal? We have government to uphold the law – so we don’t have the anarchy with Weller, clearly out of control. Weller had no business having access to a vehicle. This is the outrage.”

Dobson paused, covering both eyes with his mammoth hands. He is one of Berkshire County’s premier organic growers whose vegetables are in high demand. Dobson owns Equinox Farms in Sheffield. His daughter was a 2011 graduate of Yale University.

Jim RussellThe scene of the accident.

Weller’s mangled truck came to rest on Banks-Dobson’s demolished Toyota Corolla, the roof sheared off. Police say Weller attempted to flee the scene following the crash. The collision occurred on Route 7.

The accident marked Weller’s seventh known arrest for drunken driving, according to police. Police say he is also charged with vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of personal injury and death, witness intimidation and driving without a license. There is no record of Weller having a Connecticut driver’s license.

Weller is currently held without right to bail after Southern Berkshire District Court Judge Paul Vrabel ruled at his arraignment that Weller poses a danger to society.

“The guy should have been in jail. He would have been in jail if the criminal-justice system was adequate,” the victim’s mother, Anne Banks, said in an interview.

Photo courtesy of the Banks-Dobson familyMoira Banks-Dobson

Coping with the loss of her daughter has been a daily struggle for Banks, whose Hillsdale, N.Y., organic farm, Earthborn Garden, is guided by adherence to natural processes that include using animal power, instead of the tractor, to till the land.

With her dog Lena standing watch, Banks was installing a post to support a dwarf evergreen, balanced on a step ladder, her cheeks streaming with tears.

Police say the 2004 truck which Weller was driving had been registered and insured to his second wife, Bridget Weller, 29, of 30 Capitol Drive, Newtown, Conn. Attempts to contact Bridget Weller have been unsuccessful.

At the time of his Sheffield arrest, Weller was free on $15,000 bail in a Connecticut case for which he faces charges of assault and probation violations related to a previous drunken-driving conviction, Bridgeport, Conn., court chief probation officer Ulysses Serpa said. Weller had been scheduled to appear in the Bridgeport court on March 29 in connection with that case.

Court records show that Weller, over the past seven years, has been convicted at least 11 times in Connecticut on charges which include assaulting police, assaulting emergency medical workers, resisting arrest, drunken driving and operating a vehicle without a license. He was sentenced to prison at lest three times, the records show.

In December, Weller received a one-year, suspended jail term in an assault case, court documents show.

Weller was arrested in East Fishkill, N.Y., two years ago in a case which resulted in his sixth known drunken driving conviction. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drunken driving as a first offender on Aug. 4, 2010, and paid a fine, records show.

“I am really angry,” Dobson said of his reaction to Weller not having faced a jail sentence in the New York case.

A Dutchess County, N.Y., district attorney in charge of the Weller case said he did not possess Weller’s complete criminal history while prosecuting him. In interviews, the prosecutor, Kevin Irwin, said he found only one previous drunken driving conviction on Weller.

Asked how he missed the previous five convictions, Irwin said: “It happens.” Irwin is a senior assistant Dutchess County district attorney who has been with the office for 14 years.

In New York, the state’s Criminal Justice Service provides a criminal history report in an hour or less from when fingerprints of an arrestee are submitted. The information provided on Weller through the system may have been incomplete, Irwin said.

“What am I supposed to do, question every piece of paper I get from (the New York Criminal Justice System),” Irwin said. “A lot of dispositions are not handled properly.”

The East Fishkill, N.Y., Police Department, as well as Irwin and the Criminal Justice Service all refused repeated requests from the Berkshire Record to provide the criminal history report on Weller produced at the time of his arrest.

“I get the feeling you are laying this girl’s death at my feet. I feel like we are playing a blame game,” Irwin told a reporter. “I don’t think it is fair to hold the Connecticut courts (under scrutiny) either,” Irwin continued. “The most important thing is Mr. Weller got behind the wheel.”

“The justice system failed,” Dobson said. “There is no excuse, for this DA with the technology we have available, to not be able to find someone’s record. That is what I find stunning. What he did was inexcusable. He is saying ‘we are innocent’ of not doing our job. This guy is piece of work.”

Court records show Weller was first arrested and convicted at age 16 in Vermont – for drunken driving.

At 17 he was arrested and then convicted in Vermont for his second drunken driving offense, along with driving with a suspended license, providing police false information, assault, and drug possession.

Kay Ziogar has been named interim director.

Eunice Torres

AMHERST – Human Resources Director Eunice Torres is retiring at the end of the month and Kay Zlogar has been named as interim director.

Zlogar had been in the position before she took early retirement in 2004 but then worked as a consultant until Torres replaced her. Torres had been the human rights director but in 2007 then Town Manager Laurence R. Shaffer made some staffing changes and moved Torres to become human resources director, a position that then included human rights.

Zlogar came back to work for the town as manager of the health claims trust fund, Town Manager John P. Musante said.

The town will begin advertising soon for a new director soon, he said. “It’s a very important position,” he said, with the director meeting the personnel needs of a town with a $70 million budget. He said they are looking for a human resource professional with experience, someone who can handle a range of tasks from grievance hearings to trainings.

Torres became the part-time Human Rights director in 2003 and became full-time when the positions merged. She also had worked for the Amherst Housing Authority.
Torres retires March 30.

This will be the second department head change this year. Robert A. Morra was hired to replace Building Commissioner Bonnie Weeks, who retired in December. 
Morra the land use coordinator/building inspector/zoning enforcement officer from Weston begins April 9.

Earlier this year the town hired Shutesbury builder Jon Thompson to the newly created building inspector/code enforcement officer position. A welcoming reception for Morra and Thompson will be held April 12 at 2 p.m. in Town Hall.

Neil Entwistle, a British man, was later convicted of murder in the 2006 fatal shootings of his wife and daughter.

View full sizeRachel and Neil Entwistle, with their daughter, Lillian, in a 2005 photograph. Rachel and Lillian were found dead in their Hopkinton home on Jan. 22, 2006. (AP Photo/Entwistle family website)

By Denise Lavoie

BOSTON – The first time police went to the home of Neil and Rachel Entwistle, it was after they received a worried phone call from Rachel’s mother, who had not been able to reach her daughter for two days.

Police took a quick look around, but left when they saw nothing amiss. Neither Rachel nor the couple’s 9-month-old daughter appeared to be home.

The next day, police went into the house again. This time, they followed an odor to the master bedroom, where they found mother and daughter dead, with baby Lillian Rose wrapped in her mother’s arms. Both were covered by a thick white comforter.

Neil Entwistle, a British man, was later convicted of murder in the 2006 fatal shootings of his wife and daughter.

Now the state’s highest court will determine whether Entwistle deserves a new trial.

Entwistle’s lawyer, Stephen Paul Maidman, argues that evidence taken from the couple’s rented house in Hopkinton was seized illegally because police did not have the right to search the home without a warrant.

“On the two occasions when the police entered the defendant’s house, the police did not have objective knowledge of an emergency inside the house or have objective knowledge that there was a person inside the home in need of immediate aid,” Maidman argued in court papers.

Prosecutors, however, say police were justified as “community caretakers” to go into the home after receiving reports from worried family members and friends.

In court documents, prosecutors say that when police went into the house the first time, “it was reasonable to believe that the missing family was within the house and in need of immediate assistance.”

They cite the family’s unexplained absences, Rachel’s failure to show up for plans she had, unanswered phone calls and knocks at the door, the barking of an apparently neglected dog.

Prosecutors argue that the second search of the house was justified because the circumstances “had become even more alarming,” as no one had heard from the family for three days, local hospitals were checked and a police search for the family’s car had been fruitless.

Before Entwistle’s trial, a judge rejected a defense motion to suppress based on similar arguments.

Maidman argues in the appeal that the two warrantless searches of the house violated the state and federal constitutions. He said evidence seized from the house during the searches and any evidence later obtained by police as a result of that should have been suppressed.

Police are allowed to enter a home without a warrant if they have an “objectively reasonable basis” to believe there may be someone inside who is injured or in immediate danger, said Suffolk University Law School professor Christopher Dearborn. Dearborn said he believes Entwistle has made a strong argument that police did not have enough evidence in this case to believe an emergency existed.

“The set of facts here may have given rise to concerns, but it also seems equally susceptible to innocuous explanations” as to what had happened to the Entwistles, Dearborn said.

“There is a very compelling argument that this was an illegal search,” he said.

The case drew widespread media attention.

Entwistle, of Worksop, England, met Rachel, of Kingston, Mass., at college in England in 1999. The couple lived in England for a while after their daughter’s birth, then moved to the United States four months before the killings.

Prosecutors said Entwistle killed his wife and daughter after becoming despondent over his failure to find a job and accumulating debt.

Entwistle also argues in his appeal that Judge Diane Kottmyer did not thoroughly question potential jurors to determine whether they were biased against him.

The Supreme Judicial Court is scheduled to hear arguments April 6.

Hundreds of pages of records show years of repeated warnings about brutal hazing passed without any serious response from the school’s leadership until last November’s beating death of drum major Robert Champion.

By Gary Fineout

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The father of a freshman in Florida A&M University’s famed marching band emailed the school’s president in 2007 after getting a series of panic-stricken phone calls. The son never described exactly what was happening, but he made it clear he feared getting beaten.

“I feel that my son’s future could be in jeopardy,” Donovan Crosby wrote to James Ammons in the email, which is part of public records obtained jointly by The Associated Press and Tallahassee Democrat.

Hundreds of pages of records show years of repeated warnings about brutal hazing passed without any serious response from the school’s leadership until last November’s beating death of drum major Robert Champion.

A staff member replied to the email, so Crosby called the next day to talk to Ammons directly. Crosby said at first the president reassured him, then repeated the standard line that the school doesn’t condone hazing.

Crosby said his son left FAMU after two years and has since struggled with personal problems. He only recently re-enrolled at another college in Florida.

“It was the worst decision in his life to go to FAMU,” Crosby said.

Police files show that since 2007 nearly two dozen incidents involving the band, fraternities and other student groups have been investigated. But it wasn’t until Champion’s death that the band director was initially fired, the band was suspended, student clubs were halted from recruiting new members and an anti-hazing task force was assembled.

Crosby and numerous other parents over the last several years wrote or called university administrators, band officials or police begging someone at FAMU to keep their son or daughter safe.

“After 1 month at FAMU he is broken, indecisive, sad, confused and he wants to come home,” parent Cheryl Walker emailed Ammons. “ ... My son will not quit school, you will not break him, I will see to that but FAMU has lost a hell of a young man and after this semester he will not be back. I pray that GOD will give the administration wisdom and courage to stand up against the stupid idiotic practices that go on (at) this FAMU campus.”

Emails show that the hazing was clearly known as a problem to various school officials.

William Hudson, a FAMU administrator, wrote to then-vice president for student affairs Roland Gaines in 2009 and asked “Do you think we can have the police talk to the band and put the fear of GOD in them? Even ride by the field during practice?”

Gaines replied that the school’s main attorney “met with the band and placed the fear of his office in them. He does this every year. A lot of this alleged activity may not be occurring during the organized practices; but again, it may.”

The school held mandatory sessions with students each fall, warning them that hazing is a felony in Florida and requiring students to sign a form acknowledging the consequences.

The warnings appeared to do little to change the culture. Many police investigations into hazing went nowhere because students stonewalled and refused to cooperate. Crosby’s own son refused to talk to police. Even sometimes when arrests were made, the charges would eventually get dropped.

One band member told a police investigator in 2006 that “I don’t want to prosecute because I know that it will get worse. This is what I want to do so it doesn’t matter because I can defend myself.”

Police investigations into hazing were so commonplace that FAMU police even had a “band hazing questionnaire” that it submitted to students. And it appears that hazing wasn’t just limited to current band members. Julian White – band director at the time of Champion’s death – wrote an email to band alumni asking them to refrain from hazing current students.

Champion’s death was the latest chapter of violent hazing involving the Marching 100. In 1998, Ivery Luckey, a clarinet player from Ocala was hospitalized with kidney damage after being paddled in the initiation to join a group known as “The Clones.” Three years later, band member Marcus Parker was hospitalized with kidney damage after being paddled.

A few weeks before Champion’s death, band member Bria Hunter was hospitalized with a broken leg and blood clots in what authorities say was another act of hazing. Three band members have been charged. In September, more aspiring “Clones” members were punched and paddled, leading to charges in January against four band members.

Even after those serious incidents, the emails and records show, the band hazing continued and the school couldn’t – or wouldn’t – stop it. At the same time, some professors insisted that hazing had been eradicated.

Music professor Lindsay Sarjeant boasted to a professor at the University of Southern California in the fall of 2010 that “I’m happy to tell you that we were very successful in completely eradicating hazing from the Florida A&M University Band. It was hard and took several years to change the mind set of the non significance of hazing in any form ... At FAMU, the consequences are too severe to engage in any form of hazing, mental and physical.”

Ammons and other FAMU officials refused to answer questions for this story, citing the advice of attorneys as the university awaits the outcome of ongoing investigations. The panel that oversees the state university system has also launched its own investigation The Board of Governors wants to know whether FAMU officials ignored past warnings about hazing.

Champion’s death remains under investigation by state and Orange County law-enforcement authorities and no arrests have been made.

The 26-year-old died from a shock caused by severe bleeding following a hazing ritual that occurred on a bus outside an Orlando hotel where the band was staying. It came hours after Florida A&M’s annual football game against archrival Bethune-Cookman, which features a halftime Battle of the Bands.

Ammons fired band director White after Champion’s death. White hired an attorney and fired back, producing thick stacks of letters that showed he routinely suspended band members and that he forwarded this letters to top officials. His dismissal was put on hold at the urging of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is investigating Champion’s death along with Orange County authorities.

School officials contend that they did not receive any recent letters until White was initially dismissed by the school. Public records turned over by the university so far have not included any correspondence from top administrators responding to White in recent years.

A batch of emails, however, does show that on Nov. 14 White forwarded to police and top administrators – including Ammons – a report that discussed hazing allegations involving members of the trombone section. The report details how band members were suspended from performing in a Veterans Day parade and how they argued with an assistant professor contending that they had done nothing wrong.

Some parents, such as Cheryl Walker back in 2009, did put part of the blame on White. She told administrators that he had not responded to her text message for help. Police files show that in 2002 an investigator for FAMU police chided White, contending he had “hampered” an investigation because he delayed before he reported an incident.

White, in his own words, expressed frustration about hazing after he was forced to suspend band members last November.

“Don’t want a Joe Paterno Penn State problem at FAMU,” White wrote in a Nov. 11 email to a friend who was a band director at a Panhandle high school.

Eight days later Robert Champion would be dead.

There are empty classrooms at Juniper Park School that can be used for grades four and five.

WESTFIELD – Current overcrowding of bilingual students at Highland Elementary School has forced School Department administrators to consider changes in class assignments there and at nearby Juniper Park Elementary School.

The School Committee has given Superintendent of Schools Suzanne Scallion and principals the go ahead to consider having the current grade three class at Juniper Park School remain there for the next two years. The change, if implemented, will reverse the current kindergarten to grade three structure adopted two years ago at Juniper.

The need for change, Scallion told the School Committee is the high number of bilingual students at Highland and the need for additional English programs for those students.

Highland principal James P. Kane said last week an over population situation has developed in grades kindergarten and grades one and two.

“Currently there is a large bubble of third graders at Juniper Park that would be assigned to Highland next school year,” said Kane. “The plan under consideration will allow that population to remain at Juniper and thereby relieving some of the situation here,” he said.

Juniper Park currently has several empty classrooms that can be utilized by grade four and five, officials said.

There are about 480 students enrolled at Highland and the third grade class at Juniper numbers in the 60s.

The city leases Juniper Park from Westfield State University and that lease was due to expire at the end of the current school.

But, pending construction of a new $36 million, 600-student elementary school at Ashley and Cross streets has resulted in an extension of the Juniper Park lease until June, 2014.

School Committee vice chairman Kevin J. Sullivan said plan under consideration “allows a good opportunity to litigate the issues.”

School Committee Cynthia A. Sullivan, no relation to Kevin Sullivan, agreed adding the plan “makes sense because of empty classrooms at Juniper.”

Scallion said the change at Juniper will “allow us the space we need until the new school is completed and opened.”

That development has put a renewed spotlight on the issue of taxing all Internet sales, a hot-button issue among Internet companies, brick-and-mortar retailers and cash-strapped state governments.

Republican file photoAmazon decision to open an operation center in Cambridge will allow Massachusetts to begin collecting state sales taxes on items sold to state residents.

By MARY K. PRATT
Special to Boston Business
Journal

Amazon’s decision to open an office in Cambridge will bring with it more than just new jobs: The move will allow Massachusetts to start collecting sales tax on items that the giant Internet retailer sells to state residents.

That development has put a renewed spotlight on the issue of taxing all Internet sales, a hot-button issue among Internet companies, brick-and-mortar retailers and increasingly cash-strapped state governments.

With so much interest from a number of different stakeholders, some expect the issue might finally be addressed by federal lawmakers.

“Right now it seems for the first time in a number of years that there’s enough convergence. It’s one of the few topics that gets bipartisan support because it can be spun that you’re supporting local businesses, it’s a way to help local and state governments, and from both sides is that it’s better to have a simple, uniform national regulation rather than a patchwork of state regulations,” said Edward J. Naughton, a partner at Brown Rudnick LLP.

As it stands today, a state cannot have out-of-state companies collect the sales tax on items shipped to its residents if those out-of-state companies don’t have any physical in-state presence, such as a store, office or warehouse.

This limit on sales tax collection dates back to a 1992 Supreme Court decision in the case of Quill v. North Dakota, in which the court ruled that retailers are exempt from collecting sales taxes in states where they have no nexus – the legal term for a physical presence. Although the case dealt with a catalog mail-order company and obviously predates the era of Internet sales, the ruling applies to all remote retailers, including Internet-based businesses.

“But the court said Congress can do something about it. It invited Congress to do something about it,” Naughton said. “And Congress being what it is didn’t do anything.”

There’s significant dollars at stake. For instance, a University of Tennessee study estimated the amount of lost sales tax revenue nationwide would be $11.4 billion in 2012.

States have become more aggressive in recent years about finding ways to tax Internet-based sales, said Mary J. Cronin, a professor at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. More and more states are pushing to define “nexus” to include any affiliate that an Internet company might have within state lines. So if a small company with in-state offices becomes part of Amazon’s network of affiliates – Amazon is an obvious target of states’ interest because of the sheer volume of its sales – and directs hits or sales from its website to Amazon, states are saying that that affiliate’s office constitutes a nexus, establishing the state’s right to have Amazon charge and collect taxes on sales made to state residents.

A Massachusetts bill now under consideration on Beacon Hill would also expand the definition of physical presence to include affiliates.

Bill Rennie, vice president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said the association would certainly welcome passage of the state bill but would prefer to see action on the federal level.

“Ultimately the federal solution that would cover all remote sales is the goal. The government shouldn’t have tax policies in place that reward out-of-state companies,” Rennie said. “Our local retailers pay local taxes, hire locals to work and support the local community, and for the government to put them at a disadvantage via sales tax policy is a problem.”

Although Amazon has fought Internet sales tax bills in various states, it has come out in support of a federal law to create a uniform solution to the issue.

In a November 2011 statement, Amazon said it strongly supports the Marketplace Fairness Act in the U.S. Senate. If passed, the bill would allow states to require out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax at the time of purchase. The bill would exempt online sellers with less than $500,000 in out-of-state sales a year, an exemption meant to give start-ups a chance to grow.

“Amazon strongly supports enactment of the Enzi-Durbin-Alexander bill and will work with Congress, retailers, and the states to get this bipartisan legislation passed,” Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president of global public policy, said in the statement.

Amazon’s not the only one backing the measure. Some 200 organizations, including the National Governors’ Association, National Conference on State Legislatures, National Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities, the Governing Board of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement and Retail Industry Leaders Association have also endorsed it.

The School Committee has not discussed using the building for administration offices.

File photo by Jim SearsThe former Chicopee Public Library.

CHICOPEE - The city is planning to gut the former library down to the studs to see if it will be feasible to use the historic building for school offices.

The building, which has now been used since a new library was built in 2004, is proposed to be used to move the school department offices from the aging Helen O’Connell building to downtown.

The work, which includes removing asbestos in the walls and the tile floors, will cost $160,000. The cost also includes hiring a structural engineer to see if the walls are strong enough to support a second floor for the offices, Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said.

“It is an iconic building. We would like to save it if we can,” he said.

The city had hired an architect to see if it was possible to build a connector between city hall and the library next door, improve handicap accessibility to both and renovate the building for school officer. But architects said they could not tell if the structure could handle a second floor without demolishing parts of the walls.

If the engineering report determines the building is not strong enough to support a second floor, then the city will have to consider other uses for it or tear it down. To re-use or demolish the building the asbestos would have to be removed anyway so the money would not be wasted, Bissonnette said.

The City Council tabled the proposal in a 9-3 vote and asked its chairman George R. Moreau to set up a meeting with Bissonnette to talk about the city’s entire capital improvement priorities.

There are a variety of needs facing the city including the building of the senior center, which is expected to begin in late summer and the renovation of the former Chicopee High School, which is starting the design phase. In addition the public safety complex is in bad shape and need to be renovated or rebuilt and the school administration building has structural problems, Councilor Jean J. Croteau Jr. said.

“We want to know what our priorities are,” he said. “What is our appetite and what can we afford.”

He said it may not be the time to do an engineering study if the project is not going to be done for another five years.

Councilor James K. Tillotson said he is also concerned that the School Committee has not discussed or voted on moving its offices to the library.

“It seems the linchpin is the School Department. To my knowledge they have not even been told about this,” he said.

But School Superintendent Richard W. Rege Jr. has said in the past he would be in favor of moving offices into the library as long as the lack of parking at city hall can be solved.

“It is hard to overstate how deeply corruption, cronyism and fraud reach their destructive tentacles into every part of a large organization and how difficult it is to root out these problems.”

William H. Abrashkin

By WILLIAM H. ABRASHKIN

After years of hard work, the Springfield Housing Authority has entered a new era in its history.

It is hard to overstate how deeply corruption, cronyism and fraud reach their destructive tentacles into every part of a large organization and how difficult it is to root out these problems. It is not just a matter of “throwing the bums out” and of putting safeguards in place, as vital as these steps are. It is also crucial to change the culture in which the problems thrived.

As we enter 2012, the award-winning Board of Commissioners and a dedicated staff have accomplished these goals, step by step regaining the confidence of HUD, DHCD (the state housing agency), and the Springfield community.

The SHA’s finances are sound. For the first time in decades, its most recent independent audit has given it a clean bill of health, finding that all spending of public money is honest and transparent. The business systems and departments of this $40 million per year agency have been upgraded to modern standards and are operating with integrity. Millions of dollars in grants have been won and invested to make long-neglected developments better for residents and better neighbors in the community.

Some employees have moved – or been moved – along and replacements hired and trained. Vigilant lease enforcement has made SHA housing safer and more orderly. The Resident Services Department works hard to help residents solve problems and find the education and jobs that will help them move up and eventually out.

As I have had the opportunity to get out and interact with many elements of the Springfield community over the past four years, I have learned that the perception of public housing residents often differs from the reality.

Of course many SHA residents are stuck in problems that go far back into their family circumstances. At the same time, many residents are employed in the local economy and many are working on furthering their education and job skills. Contrary to the idea that public housing residents lack ambition, there are waiting lists for the GED and other educational programs offered at the SHA. Parents are becoming more involved in their children’s education; in one local school, for the first time the leadership of the PTO is now composed of SHA parents.

Under a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and in collaboration with many Springfield partners, the SHA is the host site for the innovative Talk/Read/Succeed! program which is part of the community-wide push to turn around the dismal failure rates and have children reading at grade level by fourth grade. Modeled after the famed Harlem’s Children Zone in New York City, this is a coordinated “full court press” to break patterns and instill family skills that children need to succeed.

Many public housing residents lack formal education, but that does not mean that they lack intelligence or love and hopes for their children. It is encouraging to see what happens when the untapped potential in these families begins to emerge.

It is important for members of the public to understand that half of the residents of public housing are elderly or disabled. Many elderly residents have worked hard all their lives, only to suffer reverses later in life, frequently due to health problems affecting them or a loved one. Many of these folks are empty-nesters fallen on hard times. Without housing assistance, where would they be in their golden years?

Although SHA residents receive housing assistance, they do not get a free ride. All residents are expected to pay their rent and follow the rules that are there for the protection of all. When violations occur and efforts to achieve lease compliance are unsuccessful, the SHA evicts those who break the law and who disrupt the quiet enjoyment of others.

Around the country housing authorities work with local municipalities to promote economic development, and the SHA increasingly is becoming one of those authorities. Last year the SHA and the City of Springfield were jointly awarded a $300,000 “Choice Neighborhood” planning grant by HUD – the only City in New England to win this coveted grant in 2011.

Together, we are working to win an implementation grant that would provide up to $30 million of federal funds for the rehabilitation of Springfield’s historic South End community.

The SHA today is not your grandparents’, or even your parents’, housing authority, but rather an active, involved partner in our community. The gains made so far mark the beginning of the new era for the SHA. As it continues to make its best efforts to serve its residents, the SHA will also base every decision on the key question, “What is best for Springfield?”

William H. Abrashkin is the executive director of the Springfield Housing Authority.

William Abrashkin took over as director of the Housing Authority following a corruption scandal and a series of interim directors.

Photo by Mark M. Murray / The RepublicanOne of the buildings at the Reed Village Apartments off Bay Street owned by the Springfield Housing Authority, and part of an ongoing major renovation project.

SPRINGFIELD – The Springfield Housing Authority, once rocked with corruption, the theft of millions of taxpayer dollars, and jail time for its top administrators, has turned the page with a clean audit, a major capital improvement plan and a pledge to be a full partner in the city’s economic recovery.

That was the recent assessment from William H. Abrashkin, executive director of the Housing Authority, which is the second largest authority in the state. The Springfield agency provides public housing to thousands of low income and elderly residents aided by state and federal funds and rent income.

“This is the first time in decades that the Housing Authority has had a 100 percent, completely clean audit with no negative findings of any kind,” Abrashkin said, meeting recently with the Editorial Board of The Republican.

William H. Abrashkin

Abrashkin, who was hired in 2008 to lead the agency, said he is still surprised at the magnitude of corruption and theft that prevailed in the Housing Authority under former Executive Director Raymond B. Asselin and some of his top administrators. The surprise is particularly over “how deeply that gets into, you might say, the DNA of every part of the organization,” he said.

“A lot of the stuff was done sort of hiding in plain sight,” Abrashkin said.

Authority Board Chairman Timothy Babcock joined in praising the turnaround of the authority.

"We are very pleased with the conclusion of the audit, to see that our efforts at reorganizing and reforming the agency have resulted in a clean and healthy record for us,” Babcock said.

Asselin, who served as director of the Housing Authority for 33 years, and former Assistant Director Arthur G. Sotirion were sentenced in 2006 to 10 years and nine years, respectively, in federal prison. They had pleaded guilty to racketeering, bribery and other crimes culminating a prolonged federal corruption probe and a blistering 2003 audit which placed the authority in jeopardy of losing its public funding.

Twelve defendants including eight Asselin family members, pleaded guilty in 2006 to looting the Housing Authority, and were required to pay back $4.4 million in reparations to the authority, primarily from Asselin himself. Sotirion was released from jail last month to be allowed to die at home with end-stage lung cancer.

After Asselin’s tenure, there were repeated changes in administration until the Housing Authority’s Board of Directors hired Abrashkin, who resigned as a judge in Western District Housing Court to take the job.

In 2009, regulators from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development gave the authority a positive report and closed the 2003 audit. Most of funds being paid back by the Asselins and other defendants are being kept aside for future authority needs.

Photo by Mark M. MurraySome of the buildings at the John J. Duggan Park Apartments off Page Boulevard at Goodwin Street owned by the Springfield Housing Authority and part of a major capital improvement project

Abrashkin said he arrived at the authority in 2008 in the aftermath of five interim directors in five years.

“There was no continuity, no opportunity to rebuild,” Abrashkin said. “It was astonishing to me the place was functioning at all. There was very little in the sense of teamwork.”

The issues had to be tackled from the “top down, and from the bottom up,” and by using a “full court press,” Abrashkin said. That included major changes in his top administrative staff since his arrival.

There was also a great need for physical improvements.

The rebuilding is under way, with a major focus on three family complexes that, when renovated, will be turned over to federal ownership, enhancing their future and the future comfort of its residents, Abrashkin said.

Key projects include:

• Under the federalization project, the state Department of Housing and Community Development has provided $11 million for major improvements to the John J. Duggan Park and Reed Village family complexes, in advance of being turned over to federal ownership. The city is also seeking a $6.7 million grant for Robinson Gardens Apartments, the third complex targeted for federal ownership.

• As a co-recipient of a $300,000 federal “Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant,” the authority is targeting housing improvements in the South End including the Marble Street Apartments, that could ultimately lead to another $30 million in federal funds and private development to revitalize the neighborhood.

• Plans to unite the Housing Authority’s administrative staff, now scattered at sites across the city, to a centralized location in the downtown area.

• Upgraded and computerized systems for contractors, automatic payments to Section 8 landlords, improved tenant educational programs, and a “Talk/Read/Succeed” program to boost literacy skills and improve family lives at the Sullivan and Robinson Gardens complexes.

The independent audit, conducted by Rector & Reeder P.C., of Lawrenceville, Georgia, states in part: “We did not identify any deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting that we consider to be material weaknesses..”

The audit report further stated: “In our opinion, the Springfield Housing Authority complied in all material respects, with the compliance requirements referred to above that could have a direct and material effect on each of its major federal programs for the year ended March 31, 2011.”

The authority, which has a $42 million annual budget and 140 employees, manages more than 5000 units of housing in Springfield and approximately half for public housing and the other half in Section 8 rental vouchers for qualifying tenants in privately owned apartments.

CVS Caremark Corp. mistakenly gave information about the medical conditions and medications of people covered by one health insurance plan to about 3,500 people enrolled in another plan.

Staff photo by Mark M. MurrayExterior of the CVS pharmacy store on Springfield Street in Agawam.

BOSTON (AP) — A newspaper reports CVS Caremark Corp. mistakenly gave information about the medical conditions and medications of people covered by one health insurance plan to about 3,500 people enrolled in another plan.

The Boston Globe reported Friday that CVS Caremark said a "programming error" caused it to mistakenly send the information to members of Tufts Health Plan's Medicare Preferred Plan to members of another Tufts Health Plan program.

The Rhode Island-based company said the information went to the wrong addresses in January and February, and included another member's name, the name of a prescribed drug, and what the medication is used for. Financial account numbers weren't included. The company believes the information has not been used improperly.

Watertown-based Tufts Health Plan operates in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Police officers from Operation B.A.D.G.E. (Business and Domicile Geographic Enforcement), the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, the Forest Park Business Improvement District and others met at Forest Park Liquors on Sumner Avenue where volunteers signed up go door to door asking residents about their safety concerns and quality of life issues.

The Republican / Dave RobackThe Forest Park Business Association teamed up with the Springfield Police Department to host its first neighborhood walk on Saturday. Officers from the B.A.D.G.E. Unit, along with the Hampden County Sheriff's Department, the Forest Park Business Improvement district and other volunteers participated in the door-to-door neighborhood walk. Here Roger Duprat signs a volunteer sheet before the walk at leaving from Forest Park Liquors on Sumner Avenue.

SPRINGFIELD – About 100 people turned out Saturday morning for a community outreach effort in Forest Park.

“It was great,” said state Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, who estimated the crowd.

Police officers from Operation B.A.D.G.E. (Business and Domicile Geographic Enforcement), the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, the Forest Park Business Improvement District and others met at Forest Park Liquors on Sumner Avenue where volunteers signed up go door to door asking residents about their safety concerns and quality of life issues.

Coakley-Rivera termed the event a meet and greet.

The Republican / Dave RobackSpringfield Police Sgt. Julio Toledo hands out information to walkers before the event at Forest Park Liquors on Sumner Avenue Saturday. Dave Roback

Residents were given information about available services, health issues, methods to contact police and enforcement officials, and the Text-A-Tip program which allows information to be forwarded to police anonymously.

Information was available in English, Spanish, Russian and Vietnamese, said Roger Duprat, a volunteer and longtime Forest Park resident.

Coakley-Rivera said in addition to representatives from the police, sheriff’s department and improvement district, residents, teachers, business owners and about 50 members of the Centro Cristiano Nacion de Jesus on Sumner Avenue participated. “It was really great turnout. It was really a diverse turnout,” she said.

Most residents were surprised but pleased by the contact, said Coakley-Rivera, who represents the city at the Statehouse. She didn’t receive any complaints. “It was really, really a positive community event,” she said.

She said police Sgt. Julio Toledo did a wonderful job in arranging the event.

Duprat said the outreach will be repeated on the last Saturday of the next five months.

The BADGE initiative, announced in February, calls for more walking police patrols to increase the police presence while simultaneously increasing people’s confidence that Forest Park is a safe, vibrant part of Springfield, officials said at the time.

Duprat, a member of the South Forest Park Neighborhood Watch, said the effort by police is working.

“They’ve stepped up the number of arrests. They stepped up how visible they are. It’s been a really positive thing.”