The suspect, wearing a distinctive vampire-themed sweatshirt, alleged robbed a store at gunpoint. Watch video

Thomas Garner

SPRINGFIELD – Publicity generated by a surveillance video of a 25-year-old man, suspected of robbing the St. James Avenue Racing Mart at gunpoint earlier this month, prompted him to turn himself in to police early Wednesday morning.

The suspect, wearing a distinctive black and red hooded sweatshirt designed to look like a movie vampire, entered the store on March 16 shortly before 4 a.m., displayed a gun in his waistband and demanded cash, Sgt. John M. Delaney said.

Before displaying the weapon, he first asked the clerk if the store sold guns. When told no, the robber raised his shirt to reveal the gun, Delaney, aide to Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said.

Police, who considered the suspect armed and dangerous, released the surveillance video from the store.

Last Wednesday, detective Stephen Tatro, the lead investigator, received numerous calls on the identity of the suspect. He was identified as Thomas Garner of 43 Berkeley St.

Police received an arrest warrant for Garner over the weekend and on Tuesday, he was profiled by abc40 / Fox 6 on one of its “Crime Files” segments.

Delaney said Garner walked into the Pearl Street station shortly after midnight and turned himself in to the officer at the front desk.

Garner told police that his mother saw the segment and kicked him out of the house. He then went to his girlfriend’s home but she also watched the segment and refused to let him in.

“With no place else to go he turned himself in to the police station,” Delaney said.

The cost of a trip for most disabled commuters who depend on the T’s RIDE service would go to $4 from $2, and disabled riders living outside the MBTA’s designated service zones would pay as much as $5 for a ride.

(Photo by Kinkisharyo / Flickr)The cost of a trip for most disabled commuters who depend on the T’s RIDE service would go to $4 from $2, and disabled riders living outside the MBTA’s designated service zones would pay as much as $5 for a ride.

By Kyle Cheney, STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON - Bay State commuters who rely on the MBTA will be slapped with an average 23 percent fare hike under a budget proposal that state transportation officials plan to unveil Wednesday morning.

“The proposal we’re announcing today is weighted more to fare increases and much less to service cuts,” Transportation Secretary Richard Davey said in a phone interview, attributing the decision to public feedback gathered by the MBTA over the last three months.

Under the proposal, which could be ratified as early as next week by the board of the state Department of Transportation, subway fares would climb to $2 from $1.70 – a 17 percent increase – and the cost of a bus ride will climb to $1.50 from $1.25, a 25 percent spike. Monthly passes would climb to $70 from $59. South Shore ferry riders would see a 35 percent fare increase, essentially wiping out any subsidy for service, Davey said.

The cost of a trip for most disabled commuters who depend on the T’s RIDE service would go to $4 from $2, and disabled riders living outside the MBTA’s designated service zones would pay as much as $5 for a ride.

The proposal packs less of a punch than earlier scenarios unveiled by the MBTA, in part because the T is counting on lawmakers to send an additional $51 million its way from a trust fund that contains vehicle inspection fees. Davey said that fund is expected to contain a surplus next fiscal year.

“I think the Legislature is certainly open to that,” he said.

If the Legislature agrees, those funds would close nearly a third of the MBTA’s estimated $159 million budget gap. Davey said the agency is also counting on another $9 million from legislative changes to the MBTA’s tort liability and an influx of Medicaid dollars to help disabled riders.

View full sizeFebruary 14, 2012 - Dozens of protesters staged a “die-in” on the steps of the State House Tuesday afternoon to express opposition to MBTA proposals to cut services and raise fares. Demonstrators laid on the sidewalk with large cardboard props shaped as weights on top of them labeled "Big Dig Debt." Some of the demonstrators held photos of House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray asking them to "have a heart" and fund the MBTA. (State House News Service Photo)

Davey briefed legislators and staff at the State House on Wednesday morning on the agency’s latest proposal. After the meeting, Davey said the meeting was “very good.”

“I think folks understand the issues,” he said.

Rep. David Linsky, a Natick Democrat, told the News Service that the MBTA had been “very creative” in crafting its proposal.

“We still need a long-term solution,” he said. “This is merely a one-year fix.”

Under the proposal, four bus routes would be eliminated: the 48, which serves Jamaica Plain; the 355, which runs from Boston to Burlington; the 500, which runs from downtown Boston to Newton; and the 710, which runs from North Medford through Malden. Another 14 bus routes, Davey said, would see schedules pared back or weekend service eliminated.

Weekend service on the E Line subway would be eliminated from Brigham Circle to Heath Street, and ferry service from Quincy to Boston would be eliminated on weekends as well.

The plan would also shrink the discount seniors and students receive for bus and subway service; each group would pay 75 cents for a bus ride and $1 for a subway ride. Students would also see monthly five-day passes climb to $25 from $20, although they’d also receive an option for a full monthly pass for $28.

Asked about suggestions to tier subway and bus fares based on peak commuting hours or trip distance, Davey said transportation officials had learned that the Charlie Card system lacks the technological capacity for those changes but could be upgraded to do so within 12 to 15 months.

“So we have ordered our vendor to begin that process,” he said.

The proposal lacks any mention of the proposed used of excess snow and ice funds that Gov. Deval Patrick and others have discussed publicly in recent weeks. It also forgoes transferring some transit services to Massport, another solution eyed by public officials and transit system advocates.

MBTA officials have argued that stagnant sales taxes, a crushing debt burden and soaring costs of energy and transportation for disabled riders had blown a $159 million hole in their budget, necessitating the fare hike and service cut plans. Earlier scenarios unveiled by the T would have hiked fares between 35 percent and 43 percent and imposed deep service cuts that some riders feared would eliminate their only route to work, doctor appointments or their families.

The proposal may prompt lawmakers to begin the process of crafting legislative proposals that might further reduce the proposed fare hikes, as well as long-term solutions to the state’s transportation woes.

Even if the T’s budget is solved, the state’s larger transportation system requires heavy annual borrowing to stay in balance, and a 2007 report estimated that the system is underfunded by $1 billion a year.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo told the News Service last week that lawmakers will look to a longer-term transportation finance restructuring at the outset of the 2013-2014 legislative session.

“Probably when we come back as soon as January it's got to be one of the probably the first bill that we're going to have to address in terms of how we're going to address all the transportation issues in the Commonwealth,” he told the News Service last week.
While initial T proposals called for fare hikes of between 35 and 43 percent, DeLeo said he hoped that fare hikes would ultimately be limited to a “more reasonable level” and that the most difficult service cuts contemplated would not be put into effect.
Asked if his no-new-taxes pledge that he's applied to the fiscal 2013 budget would apply to a comprehensive transportation financing bill, DeLeo said, “That would be a non-budgetary situation. My goal would be to see the T resolve the issues on their own.”
DeLeo highlighted potential MBTA savings initiatives involving Massport and reducing costs associated with transportation for disabled individuals as opportunities worth pursuing.

Regarding taxes and transportation, he added, “Any discussions in terms of further taxes I want to hold in abeyance until we see what their plan is both short-term and long-term.”

Davey plans an 11:30 a.m. press conference at the State Transportation Building to discuss the T’s plans.

Michael Norton contributed to this report.

Formal backing from the 41st president is another sign that the Republican Party is uniting behind Romney.

Associated PressIn this Dec. 1, 2011 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney meets with former President George H.W. Bush in Houston. The former president plans to endorse Mitt Romney, further urging the Republican Party to coalesce around the former Massachusetts governor's presidential campaign.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former President George H.W. Bush plans to endorse Mitt Romney at an event Thursday in Houston.

Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho says the two will appear together and speak to reporters.

Formal backing from the 41st president is another sign that the Republican Party is uniting behind Romney as pressure builds on challengers Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich to leave the race.

The elder Bush has offered encouraging words to Romney throughout the primary season but had withheld a formal endorsement. Former first lady Barbara Bush has formally backed Romney. She recorded automated telephone calls for him during the primary in Ohio.

Their son, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, endorsed Romney last week.

EBT cards, formerly known as Food Stamps, cannot be used to purchase cigarettes, alcohol or lottery tickets. A state commission was created to examine alleged abuse and misuse of the cards, which are used in lieu of cash to purchase items.

Republican file photo

BOSTON – The panel created to examine potential misuse and abuse of electronic benefit transfer cards — better known as EBT cards and formerly known as Food Stamps — is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Thursday in Boston.

The session is the final meeting before the EBT Commission releases an April 1 report with recommendations on how to improve local enforcement of the federal program, which in Massachusetts is administered by the state Department of Transitional Assistance.

The program, which is aimed at helping low-income households pay for food, is known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The federal Food Stamp program officially changed its name to SNAP in October 2008.

In Massachusetts, state lawmakers created the EBT Commission after media reports revealed some people were using EBT cards to purchase alcohol, tobacco, lottery tickets and other non-essential items. State Sen. Robert L. Hedlund, R-Weymouth, said EBT fraud is rampant throughout the Bay State, claiming some people continue to scam the system to buy items that are not covered by SNAP.

"Right now there is significant and systematic abuse and almost no accountability. There are people legitimately struggling out there that rely on these funds to survive," Hedlund said in a December statement. "However, as we have seen recently, there are a lot of individuals out there scamming the system, and that needs to end."

That same month, authorities accused several Lynn convenience stores of allowing customers to withdraw money from their EBT accounts. That cash was then used to buy crack cocaine, with store employees keeping half the withdrawn money as a fee, law enforcement officials have said.

The EBT Commission is under the auspices of the Department of Transitional Assistance, which is headed by Commissioner Daniel J. Curley. The commission's responsibilities include gauging the proportion of EBT cash assistance coming from ATM withdrawals, and determining the overall cost of requiring EBT cards to include user photos.

Current SNAP guidelines only allow EBT cards to be used for payment of food at supermarkets, convenience stores and other food stores. SNAP food stamp benefits are directly deposited each month into a user's EBT card account. The amount of SNAP food stamps a household receives hinges on a variety of factors, including the size of a household, income and expenses.

Officials say they are always on the lookout for fraud. The cards may not be used to purchase non-food items such as alcohol, cigarettes, cosmetics, laundry products, medicine, paper goods, pet food, soap, vitamins or other household products.

Massachusetts is not the only grappling with potential food-stamp fraud. In Connecticut, a local SNAP scandal led to the firing or resignation of more than 40 state workers, some of whom may face criminal charges, according to the Hartford Courant.

Material from the Hartford Courant, Patch.com and State House News Service was used in this report.

The Illinois Democrat spoke out against racial profiling and, as he removed his suit coat and pulled the hood on the sweatshirt he was wearing underneath over his head, said that "just because someone wears a hoodie does not make them a hoodlum."

View full sizeThis handout frame grab from video, provided by House Television shows Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., wearing a a hoodie, speaking on the floor of the House on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 28, 2012. Rush donned a hoodie during a speech on the House floor deploring the killing of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, receiving a reprimand for violating rules on wearing hats in the House chamber. (AP Photo/House Television)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Bobby Rush has donned a hoodie during a speech on the House floor deploring the killing of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, receiving a reprimand for violating rules on wearing hats in the House chamber.

The Illinois Democrat spoke out against racial profiling and, as he removed his suit coat and pulled the hood on the sweatshirt he was wearing underneath over his head, said that "just because someone wears a hoodie does not make them a hoodlum."

Rush was interrupted by the presiding officer, Mississippi Republican Gregg Harper, who reminded him that the wearing of hats was not allowed and "members need to remove their hoods or leave the floor."

On Tuesday the 17-year-old Martin's parents spoke on Capitol Hill at a Democratic-sponsored panel on racial profiling.

Allen and Patricia Prue, of Waterford, were ordered held without bail for their roles in the death of Melissa Jenkins.

AP Photo/St. Johnsbury Police DepartmentThis undated identification photo provided Monday, March 26, 2012 by the St. Johnsbury, Vt., police shows Melissa Jenkins, who went missing Sunday night, March 25. Police said her 2-year-old child was found alone in her car a short distance from her home.

ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont snow plow driver and his wife have pleaded not guilty to second degree murder charges in connection with the strangling of a prep school teacher whose 2-year-old son was found in his mother's idling car on a remote back road.

Thirty-year-old Allen Prue and his 33-year-old wife Patricia Prue, of Waterford, appeared separately in court in St. Johnsbury on Wednesday where they were ordered held without bail for their roles in the death of Melissa Jenkins.

Police say the Prues were arrested early Wednesday after a two-day investigation into Jenkins' death.

Following the Wednesday court appearance, Allen Prue's mother, Donna Prue, says her son has never been in trouble with the law before and she has faith he didn't commit the crime.

Investigators are seeking to determine whether a "date rape drug" was used in the assault.

Sanjustino Natal

SPRINGFIELD – Police, working with their counterparts in East Longmeadow, went to that town early Tuesday and arrested a 38-year-old city man on rape charges as he worked at his job as a cook at the Boston Market on Maple Street.

Sgt. John M. Delaney said the suspect, Sanjustino Natal, of 80 Oklahoma St., allegedly raped a 30-year-old woman after meeting her at a local bar on Sunday.

Delaney, spokesman for Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said the assault allegedly occurred at Natal’s home. Investigators, meanwhile, are attempting to determine whether a so-called “date rape drug” was used in the assault.

Natal was arrested on a warrant and charged with three counts of rape, Delaney said.

The case is being investigated by detective James Gormally of the Special Victim’s Unit. Police arrested Natal shortly after 1:30 a.m.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Ronald Keeton

Ronald J. Keeton, 74, of Hampden died Tuesday. He was born in Elmira, N.Y., raised in East Longmeadow and graduated from Putnam High School in Springfield. Keeton was employed by Construction Service of Wilbraham for 35 years as a mixer driver, and retired in 1997. He was a member of Teamsters Local 404 of Springfield. He resided in Hampden for the past 46 years, and enjoyed boating, fishing and going to the beach in Rhode Island. Keeton served his country with the U.S. Marines, and then reenlisted with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Allen, Janice
  



• 
  Cook, Virginia "Ginny" (Channell)
  



• 
  David, Neal Peter
  



• 
  Falcone, Angelina (Bilesimo)
  



• 
  Fouche, Jean G. Poirier (Gaynor)
  



• 
  Girace, Marilyn
  



• 
  Henry, Eunice I.
  



• 
  Hosmer, Eileen (Ryan)
  



• 
  Houle, Carol (Dearness)
  



• 
  Keeton, Ronald J.
  



• 
  Lane, Barbara A. (Clune)
  



• 
  Langevin, Jeanne (Boissonnault)
  



• 
  LeBlanc, Edna C. (Deauseault)
  



• 
  Lukomski Sr., John P.
  



• 
  Morrissey Jr., William B. "Bryan"
  



• 
  Picard, Robert C.
  



• 
  Pierce, Clarence D.
  



• 
  Pikul, Chester W.
  



• 
  Roach, Misao Jean Missy
  



• 
  Roos, George E.
  



• 
  Roy, Edward H.
  



• 
  Suchanek, Frank J.
  



• 
  Sullivan, Paul J.
  



• 
  Tompkins, Mary (Schneider)
  

Slow Tractor Farm and Crimson and Clover Farm will collaborate to grow wheat and dry beans on 18 acres of Crimson and Clover's fields.

File photo | The RepublicanGrow Food Northampton is creating 100 new community garden plots like this one on Burts Pit Road.

NORTHAMPTON – Grow Food Northampton is preparing for an expected land rush this weekend as it accepts applications for 100 plots in its new community garden.

Meanwhile, the non-profit organization is leasing another 60 acres of nearby land to farmers who hope to keep the crops they grow there local.

When Grow Food Northampton bought 121 acres of the former Bean and Allard farms last year, it dedicated itself to the cause of keeping food local. To that end, it leased 37 acres of the prime agricultural land to Crimson and Clover Farm, which will sells shares in some of its crops and distribute the remainder through local farmers markets.

Last week, Grow Food Northampton announced it will lease an additional 50 acres to Crimson and Clover farmers Nate Frigard and Jen Smith, allowing them to expand their operation.

“After a great first farming season, we’re excited to increase the number of shares we offer," said Frigard, adding that he and his wife, Smith, will also expand their pick-your-own field and create some pastureland to raise farm animals.

Grow Food Northampton has leased another 10 acres to Andrea and Christian Stanley, owners of Slow Tractor Farm, for the production of oats and barley that they hope to sell to local breweries.

“We are passionate about barley and organic growing practices,” said Andrea Stanley

Slow Tractor Farm and Crimson and Clover will also collaborate to grow wheat and dry beans on 18 acres of Crimson and Clover’s fields.

Meanwhile, some 25 volunteers will be staking out garden plots in the 17-acre Florence Organic Community Garden on Saturday. Interest is high in the 100 new garden plots, which will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Registration is from 10 a.m. to noon at the Florence Community Center on 141 Pine St. The city has a 198-year lease with Grow Food Northampton for the community garden land, for which it paid $94,000. It also contributed $104,000 in Community Preservation money to help develop the site.

Prosecutor Matthew Thomas called Oldershaw's case "aggravating" and noted that he was wrong about the law from the start.

Photo courtesy of Amherst police

NORTHAMPTON - A bank robber who apparently thought his cash demand fell a dollar short of a felony was briefly jailed this week after he fell short in meeting the conditions of his probation.

In robbing a Bank of America branch in Amherst on April 25 of last year, William W. Oldershaw submitted a note asking for $249 -- because he apparently believed $250 was the threshold for a felony. He and his female companion were arrested minutes after the cab they had called arrived to pick them up at the bank.

Oldershaw pleaded guilty to unarmed robbery on Feb. 22 and was ordered to serve five years probation by Hampshire Superior Court Judge Mary-Lou Rup. Among the conditions of his probation was that Oldershaw receive substance abuse treatment at Phoenix House in Springfield. He got kicked out of the facility, however, and was back in court on Wednesday for violating his probation.

This time, Rup set bail at $5,000 and Oldershaw spent a night in jail before coming up with the money. He is due back in court on April 25 to see whether he will continue on probation or be incarcerated.

Prosecutor Matthew Thomas called Oldershaw’s case “aggravating” and noted that he was wrong about the law from the start. There is a felony for larceny over $250, but that does not apply to bank robbery.

“I thought it was particularly galling that he asked for $249 in order to minimize the crime,” Thomas said. “Unarmed robbery is a felony no matter what the amount is.”

Oldershaw’s companion, Shayna Heckel-Miller, pleaded guilty to a similar count of unarmed robbery and was also sentenced to five years probation. According to Thomas, the two had panhandled enough money in Northampton the day before the robbery to satisfy their heroin habits. They went to the bank the next day for more cash.

The atmosphere in a standing-room-only courtroom was tense and crowded with police, civil rights activists and supporters of both Melvin Jones III and Asher, who was sentenced to 18 months in jail for beating Jones during a traffic stop. Watch video

The Republican | John SuchockiFormer Springfield police officer Jeffrey M. Asher is led away by court officers taking him into custody and exiting the Chicopee District Court room after Asher was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

This is an update to a story originally posted today at 9:55 a.m.

CHICOPEE – Effectively capping a two-year saga that polarized the city along racial and law-and-order lines, former Springfield police officer Jeffrey M. Asher was sentenced to 18 months in jail for beating a motorist with a metal flashlight during a traffic stop in the inner city.

Asher, 40, of East Longmeadow, blew a kiss to his family and supporters as he was led away in custody in Chicopee District Court Wednesday morning. Court officers paid him the professional courtesy of not placing him in handcuffs on the way out, which is customary.

Melvin Jones III, the black motorist whose bludgeoning on the hood of a car in 2009 was caught on amateur videotape, was in the courtroom during Asher’s sentencing. Jones himself is being held without the right to bail at the Hampden County Correctional Center at Stony Brook in Ludlow, awaiting a trial for cocaine trafficking.

Asher will not serve his sentence at the Ludlow jail, according to Richard J. McCarthy, public affairs officer for the Hampden County Sheriff's Department.

“He didn’t come here, he isn’t here and he won’t come here,” McCarthy said.

It’s common practice, McCarthy said, for law enforcement personnel who face incarceration to serve their time elsewhere. “It’s obvious as to why it’s done, to ensure the safety of the individual,” he said.

McCarthy, citing state Criminal Offender Record Information law, said he could not say where Asher will serve his sentence.

The judge denied a request by Asher’s lawyer to delay the start of the sentence until the end of the school year; he will begin serving his sentence immediately.

During the sentencing proceeding, which followed Asher’s convictions by a six-member jury in February, Jones told Judge Maureen Walsh that he is partially blind in one eye, had his nose and other facial bones broken, and that his hand is permanently disfigured as a result of the beating.

“I think Mr. Asher deserves to go to jail for what he’s done to me,” said Jones, of Springfield, adding that he has nightmares about the incident and is being treated for depression as a result, among other physical injuries. “Nobody deserves to be beat like a dog, liked a caged animal.”

The atmosphere in a standing-room-only courtroom was tense and crowded with police, civil rights activists and supporters of both Jones and Asher. A lone observer let out a small clap when the judge rendered her sentence but was swiftly quieted by court officers.

Asher and his attorney maintain that Asher, while working an overtime detail, responded to his fellow officers’ cries for help with an out-of-control suspect over the police radio.

Asher arrived at the scene on Rifle Street on Nov. 27, 2009, and a nearby resident filmed Asher beating Jones in the head and face with the flashlight after Jones tried to flee while being frisked. Three other officers were involved. Asher was fired over the incident while the other officers – all white – were suspended without pay for various stints.

Defense lawyer Joseph Monahan asked Walsh for a period of probation and home confinement, noting his client’s record as a decorated combat Marine and his role as caretaker for his autistic son. But, the judge adopted the prosecution’s request that Asher serve one year on the simple assault charge and 18 months on a second charge of assault with a dangerous weapon, to run concurrently.

“My client apologizes for any injuries the victim may have sustained, but he remains steadfast ... in his belief that he used reasonable force,” on the night in question, Monahan said.

The defense lawyer also noted that Asher lost his job, has been publicly humiliated and is at risk of losing his police pension.

Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet fired Asher one day after the former patrolman received a disability retirement based on a post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis linked to his combat duty in the first Gulf War.

Walsh said she took into account Asher’s military and police service in addition to an outpouring of support that came in the former of many dozens of letters from community members. But, the judge said Asher violated the very essence of police work and made the leap from cop to criminal.

“He did not uphold his oath to protect and serve all ... In fact, he did the exact opposite,” Walsh said. “This was excessive and it was criminal.”

Asher had a checkered disciplinary history over his 16-year career. He was suspended for six months for kicking a black suspect during an arrest in 1996 (also caught on amateur videotape); then again for 12 days after his cruiser mirror hit a young boy; and a third time for failing to show up to court, according to a city attorney, before being fired in connection with the Jones matter. Asher also has been named in five civil lawsuits, including one pending in U.S. District Court filed by Jones. Four others have been settled.

Asher’s disciplinary history and exposure to lawsuits was overstated in a previous story due to incorrect information provided to a reporter by Jones’ lawyer.

For his part, Jones' own criminal record was well-established before the traffic stop and has continued to grow since he was released on bail after being charged with drug possession and resisting arrest after the traffic stop on Rifle Street. Though District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni ultimately dismissed the 2009 charges, Jones was arrested in connection with shoplifting more than a dozen pairs of pants from a department store and for a separate domestic dispute in 2010.

He was most recently charged in Hampden Superior Court with cocaine trafficking, accused last year of selling drugs to a police informant. Jones is scheduled to be tried on those charges in mid-April.

Walsh said she that while she was mindful of Jones’ criminal history, it changed neither the jury’s verdict nor the law.

“(To consider Jones’ history at Asher’s sentencing) would suggest that somehow the laws apply in different degrees based on the value of the victim and the defendant,” Walsh said.

After the sentencing, Jones’ father, Melvin Jones Sr., said he had been slightly worried Asher would receive no jail time for beating his son.

“That was a concern but fortunately that didn’t happen. I’m very pleased with the sentence,” Jones Sr. said.

Mastroianni disagreed with Monahan’s assertion to reporters that the sentence was too severe.

“This is how the justice system works. This wasn’t one person making a decision,” about the merits of Asher’s behavior during the traffic stop and his subsequent fate, he said.

Mastroianni said that aggressively prosecuting the case was never intended to send an anti-police message to the public or the rank-and-file themselves.

“That’s never been the message here. It’s never been negative against police officers. He was sentenced for his actions on that day,” Mastroianni said.

The board voted 3-2 against the article, which would bump up the number of children a home day-care provider may care for from six to 10.

EAST LONGMEADOW – A proposed warrant article that would allow home day-care providers to care for up to 10 children at one time will not be recommended by the Planning Board.

The board voted 3-2 against the article, which would bump up the number of children a home day-care provider may care for from six to 10.

There are 17 home day-care businesses in town.

“We are disappointed, but not surprised,” said Bella Andrukonis, who helped draft the warrant article with Jane Rivera, and has applied for a state license to care for 10 children.

“I’ve been in business for 20 years. My neighbors know me and have never expressed any concern about my business,” she said.

The Planning Board held a public hearing Tuesday regarding the article, which would change the town’s current bylaw. More than 20 people packed the small hearing room in Town Hall.

Resident Cecilia White said she is concerned about noise and traffic that would come with having more children in a home.

Several board members including Chairman Peter Punderson expressed similar concerns. Punderson and members Michael Carabetta and George Kingston voted against recommending the article. Members Alessandro Meccia and Michael Przybylowicz voted in favor of the article.

Meccia said if the women have to adhere to the very stringent laws required by the state, he sees no problem with them abiding by town laws as well.

The warrant article would allow a home day-care business to expand, but only under a special permit, allowing the Planning Board some control over who is approved for the additional children.

Carabetta said he has received complaints in the past year of cars blocking driveways, noise, toys in the yard and other minor complaints about several home day-care businesses. He also believes there should be a timeline for those that apply so that town does not get an influx of new day-care providers who are looking to care for more children.

Punderson said his main concern is that by allowing this bylaw, the providers would be breaking another town bylaw that does not allow home-based businesses to have additional employees. The state requires any person caring for more than eight children at a time to have a paid employee assisting them.

The proposed bylaw will be presented at the annual Town Meeting on May 21.

Marilyn Felix contends she was denied promotion because of her gender and nationality.

An administrator at the West Springfield Housing Authority has filed a federal lawsuit against her employers, contending she was denied a promotion to executive director because of her gender and nationality.

Marilyn Felix, of Springfield, the authority's Section 8 administrator who was hired in 2004, filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Springfield against C. David Crosier, the chairman of the authority, plus four commissioners of the authority and the authority itself. She alleged violations of federal civil rights laws and state anti-discrimination laws.

C. David Crosier

Crosier said Wednesday that the public housing agency was not aware of the suit, which was filed on Monday. Willie J. Thomas has been the authority's executive director since November 2010, he said.

"I'm not going to make any comment," Crosier said about the lawsuit.

In the 13-page lawsuit, Felix, a Puerto Rican and U.S. citizen, says she was passed over for the positions of assistant executive director and then acting executive director in 2009 in favor of Kirk M. Jasko, who she alleged was unqualified.

Jasko, now the operations manager at the authority, declined comment on Wednesday.

Felix and her lawyer could not be reached for comment.

According to the lawsuit, Felix, who had 20 years experience in housing before she started at the authority, applied for executive director in 2009 when William Teece retired.

At that time, she said in the suit, Crosier told her that she would not be granted an interview because she was not certified as a public housing manager.

She said she would take a certification course but she said she never got a definitive answer when she asked if the authority would pay for the courses. Instead, the authority paid for Jasko to attend classes and sit for the certification test, she contended.

Jasko was appointed assistant executive director, though at the time he had no experience or qualifications in the area of public housing administration, the lawsuit said. Since at least 2004, the assistant's position had been vacant, the suit said.

The assistant's job was never posted or advertised before the authority's board voted to appoint him in May 2009, the suit said. No one made her aware the position would be filled, the suit said.

The authority did agree to pay for her certification course. But Felix did not receive an interview for executive director, even though she was scheduled for the course, the suit said. She passed the course and obtained her certification.

In late 2009, Jasko was effectively given the position of executive director, receiving an auto for business and personal use, the executive director's salary and the office, the lawsuit said. Jasko referred to himself as "acting" executive director, the suit said.

The discriminatory conduct of the authority caused Felix to suffer loss of employment benefits, mental anguish and humiliation and emotional distress, the suit said.

In the lawsuit, Felix asks the court to assure that the authority end policies and practices that foster discrimination against Puerto Ricans and females. She also seeks compensation and punitive damages, citing the "grave harm" she is suffering as a result of the alleged discrimination, according to the suit.

The new high school is set to open at the end of August.

File photo | The RepublicanHampden and Wilbraham voters have approved excluding debt from the proposed new Minnechaug Regional High School from the Prop 2 1/2 tax law.

WILBRAHAM - The new Minnechaug Regional High School is scheduled to open next fall, and the existing high school will be demolished.

Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea said that asbestos abatement in the old school will begin before the existing high school closes for the summer.

“On May 29, we will seal off the library and parts of J Hall” so asbestos removal can begin, O’Shea said.

He added that it will be safe for the work to proceed while students are still in school.

“The heating and ventilation system will be sealed off,” he said.

He added that an industrial hygienist will be on site monitoring the asbestos removal.

“The question is would I send my own children to this school during the abatement,” O’Shea said.

The answer is, “Absolutely, yes,” he replied.

Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School Committee Chairman Scott Chapman said a letter will be sent to all parents two weeks before the asbestos removal begins, reminding parents that the work will be taking place.

The new high school is scheduled to open in August, at the beginning of the next school year.

Open house events for the new building will be scheduled in the spring and summer, O’Shea said.

David Owen, architect for the project, said construction now is on a very tight timetable and tours and open houses will be held in the summer as the schedule permits.

Clayton Osbon started rambling about religion. He scolded air traffic controllers to quiet down, then turned off the radios altogether, and dimmed the monitors in the cockpit.

By DANNY ROBBINS and RUSS BYNUM

Associated PressEmergency workers tend to a JetBlue captain who had a "medical situation" during a Las Vegas-bound flight from JFK International airport, Tuesday, March 27, 2012, in Amarillo, Texas. Passengers said the pilot screamed that Iraq or Afghanistan had planted a bomb on the flight, was locked out of the cockpit, and then tackled and restrained by passengers. The pilot who subsequently took command of the aircraft elected to land in Amarillo at about 10 a.m., JetBlue Airways said in a statement. (AP Photo/Steve Douglas)

RICHMOND HILL, Ga. — JetBlue Airways captain Clayton Osbon showed up unusually late to fly Flight 191 to Las Vegas. The plane was in midair when he eerily told his co-pilot they wouldn't make it there.

Osbon started rambling about religion. He scolded air traffic controllers to quiet down, then turned off the radios altogether, and dimmed the monitors in the cockpit. He said aloud that "things just don't matter" and encouraged his co-pilot that they take a leap of faith.

"We're not going to Vegas," Osbon said.

What unfolded next, according to court documents released Wednesday, was a dramatic chase and struggle in the cabin that ended with passengers tackling Osbon, 49, and holding him down until the co-pilot could make an emergency landing in Amarillo, Texas. He was charged Wednesday with interfering with a flight crew.

A pilot with JetBlue since 2000, Osbon's odd behavior on Tuesday became increasingly erratic after the flight departed New York, worrying his fellow crew members so much that they locked him out after he abruptly left the cockpit, according to an affidavit. Osbon then started yelling about Jesus, al-Qaida and a possible bomb on board, forcing passengers to tie him up with seat belt extenders and zip tie handcuffs for about 20 minutes until the plane landed.

"The (first officer) became really worried when Osbon said 'we need to take a leap of faith,'" according to the sworn affidavit given by an FBI agent John Whitworth. "Osbon started trying to correlate completely unrelated numbers like different radio frequencies, and he talked about sins in Las Vegas."

Osbon left the cockpit soon after and tensions on the plane began to escalate, according to witness accounts compiled by investigators. Osbon, described by neighbors in Georgia as tall and muscular, "aggressively" grabbed the hands of a flight attendant who confronted him and later sprinted down the cabin while being chased.

From inside the locked cockpit, which Osbon tried to re-enter by banging on the door, the co-pilot gave an order through the intercom to restrain Osbon, the affidavit said. Passengers wrestled Osbon to the ground, and one female flight attendant's ribs were bruised during the struggle. No one on board was seriously hurt.

The federal charges against Osbon were filed in Texas. He was being held Wednesday at Northwest Texas Healthcare System in Amarillo and remains under a medical evaluation.

Under federal law, a conviction for interference with a flight crew or attendants can bring up to 20 years in prison. The offense is defined as assaulting or intimidating the crew, interfering with its duties or diminishes its ability to do operate the plane.

JetBlue spokeswoman Allison Steinberg said earlier Wednesday that Osbon had been suspended pending a review of the flight.

JetBlue's CEO and president Dave Barger told NBC's "Today" show that Osbon is a "consummate professional" whom he has "personally known" for years. He said there is nothing in the captain's record to indicate he would be a risk on a flight.

Fellow pilots, friends and Osbon's neighbors in Richmond Hill, Ga., a bedroom community on the coast just south of Savannah, said they were baffled by the midflight outburst. None recalled any previous health or mental problems.

Bill Curley, a friend of Osbon's for nearly 30 years, said Osbon was a Christian who had become "increasingly" religious but wasn't fanatical.

Erich Thorp, a neighbor who recently helped Osbon put a fence in his yard, described Osbon as affable and outgoing, standing about 6-foot-4 with a crew cut and a muscular build.

"I just don't know what happened. It's just not like Clayton," Thorp said. "He was always happy and positive thinking. He never complained about anything."

Osbon was also a direct marketer for health shakes sold by Visalus Sciences, a marketing company based in Troy, Mich. Ashley Guerra, a fellow Visalus marketer in Georgia, said she saw Osbon just last weekend and that he appeared friendly and helpful as usual.

In an interview last year with the local magazine Richmond Hill Reflections, Osbon said he first got in the cockpit when he was 6 or 7 and had ambitions of becoming a motivational speaker. His father was a pilot who died in a plane crash in 1995 while on a sunken treasure hunt, according to a story in the Washington Island Observer, a newspaper in the small Wisconsin community where Osbon's parents had a home.

Osbon's LinkedIn profile states that he received a degree from aeronautical physics from Hawthorne College and a physics degree from Carnegie Mellon University. However, Carnegie Mellon spokeswoman Teresa Thomas said Osbon attended the school for three years but never obtained his degree.

Justin Ates, a corporate jet pilot who lives in Richmond Hill and is friends with Osbon, said he's at a loss because the ranting man shown in the media is nothing like the man he knows. Ates said Osbon is a runner, goes sailing and generally likes to have a good time. Osbon also keeps a small, single-engine Piper Cub at a private airport in Savannah.

"He's always happy," Ates said. "He'll be sitting at my house and he'll just pick up a bunch of apples and start juggling in front of the kids. That's just the type of guy he is."

Bynum reported from Richmond Hill, Ga., Robbins from Dallas. Associated Press writers Paul Weber in San Antonio, Samantha Bomkamp in New York, Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas; and Oskar Garcia in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

The prosecutor in one case was Assistant U.S. Attorney William M. Welch II, who led a public corruption probe in Springfield from 2001 to 2006 Watch video

View full sizeThe Republican | Michael S. GordonThree former federal government officials who turned whistleblowers against abuses of power and were persecuted for their actions are, from left: Daniel Ellsberg, Thomas Drake and Jesselyn Radack. The three are on the Government Accountability Project's American Whistleblower Tour, which is stopping in Western Massachusetts this week with appearances at Mount Holyoke College and other schools in the area with its program, Essential Voices for Accountability

SOUTH HADLEY – Three prominent whistleblowers appearing at Mount Holyoke College Wednesday said exposing government misconduct has become more daunting during the Obama administration, despite the president’s assurances to the contrary.

The speakers – Daniel Ellsberg, best known for leaking the Pentagon Papers in 1971; Jesselyn Radack, author and former U.S. Justice Department lawyer; and Thomas Drake, former National Security Agency official targeted in an aborted espionage prosecution – said the government has become increasingly aggressive in protecting disclosure of embarrassing or illegal activities.

“This is the most aggressively secretive administration we’ve seen,” said Ellsworth, the first American to be prosecuted under the Espionage Act for leaking the 7,000-page Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1971.

In addition to charges against Ellsworth and a co-defendant, which were dismissed in 1973, two others individuals were prosecuted for leaking secrets before Obama took office in 2008, Ellsworth said. Since then, six whistleblower cases have been filed under the Espionage Act, representing a dramatic, if largely unheralded, shift in national policy, Ellsworth said.

“This is the first president to essentially use the Espionage Act as an unofficial national secrecy act,” Ellsworth, 80, said.

“It’s an Orwellian environment,” said Drake, a former National Security Agency official who pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count last year for giving unclassified information about contractor fraud and government surveillance to a reporter for The Baltimore Sun.

The government opted for a plea deal to avoid making classified evidence public for the trial, according to published reports. The prosecutor was Assistant U.S. Attorney William M. Welch II, who led a public corruption probe in Springfield from 2001 to 2006.

In a response to The Republican, a Justice Department spokesman said federal employees wishing to expose waste or wrongdoing have “well established mechanisms” available to them.

“We cannot sanction or condone federal employees who knowingly and willfully disclose classified information to the media or others not entitled to receive such information,” the spokesman, Dean Boyd, said.

“As a general matter, prosecutions of those who leaked classified information to reporters have been rare,” Boyd said, adding the department tries to strike a balance between constitutionally-guaranteed rights and the interests of law enforcement and national security.

Still, the new secrecy prosecutions not only reflect public fears over terrorism, but also the Obama adminstration’s fear of appearing weak on national security, according to Drake, who said former members of George W. Bush’s administration are surprised by the crackdown.

“I’ve had people who worked in the Bush administration tell me, ‘Whoa, we never imagined he would have gone this far; we would have been lambasted for it, and we (went) pretty far,' ” Drake said.

Radack, who represented Drake in his case, resigned in 2002 as ethics adviser with the Justice Department after clashing with superiors over the treatment of John Walker Lindh, the so-called “American Taliban” captured in Afghanistan, and public statements on the case by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft.

After learning that emails detailing her objections to Lindh’s treatment were not turned over for his trial, Radack gave copies to Newsweek; initially, the emails had been purged from her computer, but with technical support, she was able to recover them.

Once she left the Justice Department, Radack said she was harassed in a variety of ways and accused of being a traitor.

Her experience is chronicled in new book, “Canary in the Coalmine: Blowing the Whistle in the Case of American Taliban” John Walker Lindh.”

Currently, she works as homeland security director of the Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower organization.

The trio appeared for a panel discussion on whistleblowing and government secrecy sponsored by Mount Holyoke College and the Five College Consortium.

A prosecutor said a drug deal became a robbery attempt and a 21-year-old exchanged shots with a 23-year-old.

File Photo

STOUGHTON — Four people have pleaded not guilty in an alleged drug deal-related shooting in a Walmart parking lot in Avon on Tuesday.

At their arraignment Wednesday, the Brockton Enterprise reports, a prosecutor said 21-year-old Keshawne Murphy of Brockton arranged a drug deal, then 20-year-old Ashley Weiner of Norton drove him and 18-year-old Keenen Hart of Brockton to the Walmart. The prosecutor said the deal became a robbery attempt and Murphy exchanged shots with 23-year-old Joshua Pierre-Louis of Boston. One shot grazed Hart's head.

The four face firearms and drug charges. Murphy also was charged with firing shots. Pierre-Louis also was charged with armed assault with intent to rob and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

A fifth person is sought.

Weiner is held on $200,000 bail. The men are held on $250,000 bail.

Holyoke Community Charter School, which owns the property, needed the space occupied by the Pioneer Valley Flea Market.

File photo | The Republican08.01.2010 | HOLYOKE – Ron Roberts of Ron's Handyman Service in Chicopee adjusts items on his display at the Pioneer Valley Flea Market.

HOLYOKE – The Pioneer Valley Flea Market had its last day of business Sunday, but the owner said he hopes to reopen at another site by fall.

The business, located across Northampton Street from the Kmart plaza and also commonly known as the Holyoke Flea Market, was forced to move because the owner of the 2200 Northampton St. site it shares space with – Holyoke Community Charter School – is expanding.

“We would have stayed there, but I guess they have other plans,” flea market owner Richard Burns, of Chicopee, said Tuesday.

“We plan to open in the fall again,” he said.

Burns declined to identify the new location because negotiations were ongoing, but said it was outside Holyoke.

Holyoke Community Charter School is growing and needs the flea market space for additional classrooms, Director Sonia Correa Pope said.

The extra room is necessary to accommodate its enrollment of 703 students in grades kindergarten to grade eight and 98 staff, she said.

The goal is to begin construction in the summer, she said.

The school opened in September 2005 and is part of the Sabis School Network, whose website says it operates in 15 countries on four continents.

The 200 vendors at the former flea market here sold and bartered over everything in the Sunday-only bazaar from bottles, furniture and tools to jewelry, hockey sticks and DVDs. Some of the vendors in recent Sundays have said they will participate in the version that Burns plans to open in the fall.

Some of the vendors also will offer their merchandise at the Olde Hadley Flea Market on Route 47, in Hadley, an outdoor venue. It operates only on Sundays and is scheduled to resume April 22.

The Olde Hadley Flea Market is listed as opening at 7 a.m., but customers and vendors often arrive earlier. It closes at 5 p.m. and its season runs into November, depending on the weather.

Romney was buoyed by Newt Gingrich's decision to scale back his campaign to the vanishing point and Rick Santorum's statement that he would take the No. 2 spot on the party ticket in the fall.

By DAVID ESPO | AP Special Correspondent

Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gestures while speaking at NuVasive, Inc., a medical device company, in San Diego, Calif. Romney edged into the mop-up phase of the race for the Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday, March 28, 2012, buoyed by Newt Gingrich's decision to scale back his campaign to the vanishing point and Rick Santorum's statement that he would take the No. 2 spot on the party ticket in the fall. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

WASHINGTON — After a three-month struggle, Mitt Romney edged into the mop-up phase of the race for the Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday, buoyed by Newt Gingrich's decision to scale back his campaign to the vanishing point and Rick Santorum's statement that he would take the No. 2 spot on the party ticket in the fall.

Romney campaigned by phone for support in next week's Wisconsin primary while he shuttled from California to Texas on a fundraising trip, praising Gov. Scott Walker, for "trying to rein in the excesses that have permeated the public services union." The governor faces a recall election in June after winning passage of state legislation vehemently opposed by organized labor.

Romney aides eagerly spread the word that former President George H.W. Bush would bestow a formal endorsement on Thursday, although they declined to say whether former President George W. Bush has been asked for a public show of support.

Seven months before Election Day, there was ample evidence of a preparation gap with the Democrats.

A spokesman at the Republican National Committee said the party had recently opened campaign offices in three states expected to be battlegrounds this fall and would soon do the same in seven more.

By contrast, Obama's re-election campaign has 18 offices in Florida, nine in Michigan, a dozen in Ohio, 13 in Pennsylvania and seven in Nevada, according to officials. While Romney was campaigning in last winter's Iowa caucuses, Democrats claimed to have made 350,000 calls to voters as part of an early organizational effort.

And while Romney is still raising money for the second half of the primary campaign, Obama recently reported $84 million in the bank for the general election.

Not that Romney was leaving the primary wars behind. He and Restore Our Future, a super PAC that supports him, were outspending Santorum and his allies on television by a margin of more than 4-1, with an attack-heavy diet of television ads.

In addition, Romney's campaign attacked Santorum in a recorded message called into thousands of homes.

"I was shocked to find out that Rick Santorum repeatedly supported big labor and joined with liberal Democrats in voting against right-to-work legislation during his time in Washington," it says. "He even opposed the hiring of permanent replacements for striking workers. When it comes to big labor, Rick Santorum's record of opposing right-to-work legislation and standing with union bosses speaks for itself."

Santorum is campaigning across the state as an ally of Walker.

"I'm excited to stand here with Gov. Walker. Not only should he not be recalled, he should be re-elected," Santorum said in LaCrosse, Wis. "When Gov. Walker ran and your lieutenant governor ran, they didn't run as they would be moderates. They said the problems in Wisconsin were serious."

There was no let-up in Santorum's criticism of Romney, whom he said is "completely out of sync with America" and "uniquely disqualified" to lead the party against President Barack Obama.

But after absorbing defeats in a string of industrial states in the past month — Michigan, Ohio and Illinois — he said of Wisconsin: "I think we'll do well here. The question is how well."

Washington, D.C., and Maryland also hold primaries next week, but Santorum is not on the ballot in the first contest, and he has little if any campaign presence in the second. There are 95 delegates at stake in the three contests.

For the first time, Santorum on Monday seemed to acknowledge publicly that his quest for the presidential nomination may end in failure.

Asked in an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network whether he would consider running as Romney's vice presidential ticketmate, he said: "Of course. I'll do whatever is necessary to help our country."

Gingrich took an even more obvious step toward the campaign exit, although he struck a defiant note one day after announcing that he would support Romney if the front-runner can win a majority of delegates by the time the primary season ends in June.

"For some reason everybody in the establishment is chanting that Santorum and I should quit. Romney has to earn this. It's not going to be given to him," he said. At the same time, his aides were explaining that he had pushed out his campaign manager, trimmed his staff by one-third and would cut back on personal campaign time in primary and caucus states in favor of contacting unpledged delegates.

The Associated Press tally showed Romney with 568 delegates and on a pace to reach the required 1,144 in the remaining primary and caucus states. Santorum has 273, and Gingrich 135.

Romney has reaped several endorsements in the past week, since trouncing Santorum in the Illinois primary.

Bush has long been in his corner, but aides to Romney said Thursday's event was something different, a formal endorsement from the ex-president and his wife, Barbara.

Bush's son was generally viewed as the more conservative president of the two, but his popularity waned among Republicans as well as Democrats and independents when the economy cratered in 2008.

Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Iowa and Steve Peoples in Washington contributed to this report.

Planning Director Wayne Feiden met with residents to talk about the proposed changes and gather feedback at an event hosted by the Leeds Civic Association.

File photo by David Molnar / The RepublicanA for sale signs rests at the bottom of St. John Cantius Church on Hawley Street.

NORTHAMPTON – The City Council will get its first look next month at a group of proposed zoning changes and ordinances aimed at making it easier to reuse churches and other institutional buildings.

The changes would affect St. John Cantius Church on Hawley Street and St. Catherine’s Church on Main Street in Leeds, both of which have been closed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield. They could also pertain to buildings being sold by Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech and future property sales by Smith College.

According to Planning Director Wayne M. Feiden, many of the buildings are in areas zoned for residential use. The changes would allow some commercial use and generally give the new owners more flexibility, he said.

Although the ordinances and zoning changes encompass buildings formerly used for religious or educational purposes, they might not come into play with the 11 buildings being sold by Clarke School to OPAL Real Estate Group of Springfield. That company has said it intends to convert the buildings into luxury apartments, a use that would not require any zoning changes.

Feiden said Smith has announced long term plans to surplus some of its buildings but is probably years away from doing so

On Monday, Feiden met with Leeds residents to talk about the proposed changes and gather feedback at an event hosted by the Leeds Civic Association. About eight people turned out for the meeting.

“I wouldn’t call it an outpouring of participation,” said George Kohout, a member of the civic association.

Nonetheless, Kohout said Leeds residents are concerned about the reuse of the church, which has been empty since the diocese closed it five years ago.

“The question is how to make the zoning more flexible so the church can be used in a way that’s fitting to Main Street,” he said.

According to Kohout, members of Our Lady of the Hills parish in Haydenville attended the meeting and said the diocese is interested in seeing the city relax its zoning. However, Feiden said he has not heard directly from any diocese officials. The proposals are scheduled to come before the City Council at its April 4 meeting.