City Council President Justin P. Cobb did not know if another executive session would be scheduled.

Donald Cykowski

EASTHAMPTON – The City Council decided not to go into executive session Wednesday night after receiving a letter from an attorney protesting the session scheduled to discuss councilor Donald L. Cykowski.

City Council President Justin P. Cobb scheduled the session last month as a way for the council to address the controversy surrounding Cykowski although he was not named.

Two issues were of concern - former library Director Rebecca Plimpton had told the Emily Williston library board that Cykowski, a library corporator, harassed her for years before she left the position in 2007.

As a councilor, Cykowski was criticized in December for an incident at a public meeting in which he said, "Where's a Puerto Rican when we need one?" when a colleague could not open a locked door.

Cykowski resigned from the library board but has not resigned from the council although there is a move afoot recall him.

Robert A. Bertsche, attorney for the Daily Hampshire Gazette, wrote the letter urging the council to cancel the executive session and instead hold the session in open session.

Councilor Daniel Rist proposed aborting the executive session. He said the council should seek guidance from its own council and he questioned whether such a session was even legal.

He believed the council could enter an executive session to discuss the reputation and character of an employee but he said, “We’re dealing with an elected official. That’s a whole other ball of wax.”

He also pointed out “We have no authority.” He said the council can not demand a resignation. The only recourse is a resident initiated recall and officials can only be recalled six months after their terms begin. That means July 3 for Cykowski.

Rist said if they are going to have a conversation, he would rather have it in public. “If you’re afraid to speak in public (as an elected official) get out of the kitchen.”

During public comment before the meeting, resident Francis Root objected to the session. “Constituents deserve the right to hear.”

Former City Councilor Michael Tiskus said that while it might take a lot of work for a recall, there is energy out there for it.

But he asked the council to consider the cost of such a recall as it deliberates what it might do. “Its no small dollar value,” he said. “Give it some careful thought.” He said he was told it could cost about $7,500.

Cykowski would not comment but when he asked if he liked being a councilor he said he loved it. He’s been a councilor since 2004.

Rev. Talbert W. Swan II, the head of the Springfield chapter of the NAACP, has repeatedly called for Cykowski to resign and for residents of Easthampton to demand his ouster.

Cobb said he did not know if an executive session would be rescheduled.

The students wrote about women who have inspired them.

View full sizeThe Republican | Don TreegerAt a reception for the winners of The Republican's 2012 Kids in Print contest held at the D'Amour Art Museum in the Springfield Quadrangle, Sirdeaner Walker (second from left) talks with 8th grader Marcello Agnitti, who wrote about Walker, and his mom, Sandra Collins (left). At right is Amanda Larite, who also wrote about Walker.

SPRINGFIELD — Students in grades 2 through 12 were honored Wednesday for sharing their stories about women who have inspired them in the Kids in Print 2012 Newspaper in Education Art and Writing Contest.

The reception for the contest winners, their families and their teachers sponsored by The Republican was held at D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts.

Four inspirational women who were suggested to the students as possible subjects for their essays and art work were invited to the reception to address the students.

Lucia Giuggio Carvalho, a nurse and breast cancer survivor and the founder of “Rays of Hope: A Walk Toward the Cure of Breast Cancer” congratulated the students for having the courage to share their stories.

“Life is all about the journey and the connections we make,” Carvalho said. “It is personal stories that bring us together.”

Kara A. Lacoste, a senior at Chicopee Comprehensive High School, wrote that her father lost his mother to breast cancer when he was only 15.

“Breast cancer deprived my father of his beloved mother, and me the chance of meeting the woman that allowed my existence,” Lacoste wrote. Lacoste wrote that the grandmother she never had the chance to meet will always live in her heart.

She said her mother lost her father to cancer two weeks before her high school graduation.

“No one should have to live their life like either one of my parents have, or not have the chance to meet their grandparents,” she said. “This is why Lucia Giuggio Carvalho has personally inspired me.”

Also speaking at the reception was Sirdeaner Walker, whose son Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover committed suicide at age 11 in April 2009 following bullying incidents at his school.

“We all grew up with school yard bullying, but it is now out of control because of social media and the Internet,” Walker said. “You can now be bullied 24 hours a day. Sometimes parents don’t know because their children know more about computers than they do. I don’t want other parents to have to go through what I went through,” she said.

Other speakers were Gwynnetta J. Sneed, founder of the Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover Foundation, and Mary Reardon Johnson, who heads the Springfield-based YWCA of Western Massachusetts.

Judith Chelte, a retired Chicopee Comprehensive High School English teacher, presented a third place award to Rumbila Abdullahi, a seventh grade student at Duggan Middle School in Springfield who wrote that she was inspired by Anne Frank.

“I used to think wars weren’t big deals because I wasn’t in the middle of them,” Abdullahi wrote. “Now, when I hear the word, “war,” I think about Anne Frank and tears start streaming down my cheeks like a non-stop waterfall.”

Chelte, Abdullahi’s teacher, said, “Rumbila’s honest responses show why this work has endured. Everyone can identify with some aspect of Anne Frank’s struggles, doubts, fears, confinement and, ultimately, hope.”

Kids in Print 2012 is available on masslive.com.

The program was the first of its kind in Western Massachusetts and drew dozens of school nurses and school health administrators to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Photo by Mark M. Murray / The RepublicanJacque Francona ,left wife of former Red Sox manager Terry Francona, and Kathy Clair-Hayes, right Director of Family Support at the Red Sox Foundation Massachusetts General Hospital Home Based Program, gather at the Basketball Hall of Fame where Francona spoke to nurses on How to help children who have parents deployed in Afghanistan .

SPRINGFIELD – While Red Sox nation was teetering on the edge of their seats during the 2011 season, Jacque Francona was waiting for the middle-of-the-night phone calls that had nothing to do with baseball.

Terry Francona

“I found it interesting that everyone was hanging on these wins and losses every day – and I’m worried about whether my son is safe,” said Francona, wife of former Red Sox manager Terry Francona, referring to her son’s deployment to Afghanistan as commander of a sniper platoon for the U.S. Marines last year.

The mother of four said she received about one phone call per month after her son, Nicholas, was deployed last March, almost always in the middle of the night and at times with gunfire ringing out in the background.

Jacque Francona was among the keynote speakers at a daylong program on Wednesday highlighting the often-unrecognized plight of 13,000 children in Massachusetts who have a parent or sibling serving overseas in the military.

The event targeted school nurses as one of a short-list of “first responders” for these children and was hosted by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program.

The program was the first of its kind in Western Massachusetts and drew dozens of school nurses and school health administrators to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Michael D. Allard, chief operating officer for Home Base New England, a nonprofit agency designed to help families of veterans, said the initiative cropped up in Massachusetts as part of a national effort to address the “invisible wounds” of military service and started with a conference in Boston last June called “Living in the New Normal.”

Participants at the Hall of Fame were provided with “care tool kits” to help them identify military kids, flag any struggles early and connect them with support services.

“There are military families and families of veterans in our communities that have really gone through a tremendous time in terms of challenges over the past ten years,” Allard said. “We feel it’s up to the community to recognize the challenges they may be facing and to help them.”

Allard said there have been 38,000 servicemen and women deployed since Sept. 11, 2001, and approximately 260,000 family members have been affected. He also noted these military times are unique for the country in that these have been the longest wars and with an all-volunteer military force, which has resulted in multiple deployments for thousands.

More than 40 percent of those fighting have been National Guard and Reservists, an unprecedented number.

Jacque Francona, whose husband is now a commentator on ESPN, said they became a military family literally overnight and now have a son-in-law who is a Marine and a daughter poised to enter the U.S. Naval Academy.

“Family members can feel isolated and alone, particularly in states like Massachusetts where there are not large military bases, so do what you guys do best: which is being the eyes and ears and caring,” she said.

A 90-year-old woman was killed Monday in a three-car accident on Route 10 Monday.

Republican file photo

BERNARDSTON - A 90-year-old woman was killed Monday in a three-car accident on Route 10.

The Greenfield Recorder is reporting the accident occurred at the intersection of Purple Meadow Road and Route 10.

Bernardston police chief James Palmeri identified the deceased as Agnes Caron of Mount Hermon Station Road, Northfield. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Another person, identified as Neil Stebbins, 43, of River Road Gill was transported by helicopter to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. Stebbins was listed in stable condition.

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Geisel and his second wife, who survives him, reportedly donated more money to Dartmouth College than anyone else in the college’s history.

This is an updated version of a story posted at 10:38 this morning.

The late Dr. Seuss, Theodoe Geisel, left, is seen with his second wife Audrey, who survives him, in this composite photo.

SPRINGFIELD – Dr. Seuss, who wasn’t really a doctor at all, would probably be tickled to know that a prestigious medical school has been named after him.

Dartmouth College announced Wednesday that its medical school will be known from now on as the Audrey and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine.

Theodor Seuss Geisel was Dr. Seuss’ real name. He was born in Springfield in 1904 and died in California in 1991.

In between, he became a world-famous children’s author and illustrator, known for “The Lorax,” “The Cat in the Hat,” “And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street,” and many other books.

Geisel and his second wife, who survives him, donated more money to Dartmouth College than anyone else in the college’s history, according to a release by the college, which wouldn’t reveal the amount.

He graduated from Dartmouth in 1925.

Guy McLain, curator of the Wood Museum of Springfield History on the Quadrangle, said the new honor for Geisel seems “very appropriate” to him.

“I think he always maintained a fondness for his years at Dartmouth,” said McLain.

It was at Dartmouth that Geisel first used the pseudonym “Seuss.” The “Dr.” came later.

Geisel was editor of the college’s humor magazine. When a party of magazine staff became too rambunctious, authorities banned the editor from participating in extracurricular activities.

The young man responded by continuing to write and draw for the magazine, but under pseudonyms. Hence the name Seuss.

“It was the name of his grandparents, who ran a bakery in the South End of Springfield,” said McLain. “And it was his mother’s maiden name.”

The Quadrangle is the site of the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden, for which Geisel’s stepdaughter, Lark Grey Dimond-Cates, made the bronze sculptures.

A permanent exhibit at the Wood Museum of Springfield History is devoted to Geisel’s childhood in Springfield, and the museum also maintains a varied collection of Seuss memorabilia, said McLain.

The school of medicine at Dartmouth was founded in 1797.

The Massachusetts Republican and Democratic parties are stepping up their online attacks in the state's contentious U.S. Senate race.

(AP file photos)Republican U.S. Senator Scott P. Brown is seen with Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren.

BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts Republican and Democratic parties are stepping up their online attacks in the state's contentious U.S. Senate race.

The Massachusetts GOP has released an online ad that portrays Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren as out of touch on immigration issues.

The ad highlights Warren's support of in-state college tuition rates for illegal immigrants and her opposition to a border fence.

The Democratic ad tries to undercut incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown's image as a bipartisan lawmaker by stringing together clips of Brown and former Gov. Mitt Romney praising each other.

While Romney has tried to distance himself from the "Massachusetts moderate" title during his presidential bid against more conservative Republicans including Rick Santorum, Brown has worked to reinforce his bipartisan image in the U.S. Senate race.

In one clip Brown says, "there's no one I would trust more than Romney." Romney has had to adopt increasingly conservative positions as he battles for the GOP presidential nomination.

Brown and Warren are locked in a tight race which is slated to be among the most expensive Senate campaigns in history.

Downed trees, especially in forested areas, have been a fire concern since the June 1 tornado, with officials voicing fears that the dry, dead trees would be especially combustible. Watch video

The Republican / Don TreegerBrimfield Fire Chief Frederick Piechota and state Fire Marshal Stephen Coan speak from a command center on Paige Hill Road in Brimfield where up to 50 tornado-damage acres were burned by a brush fire Wednesday.

Updates a story posted Wednesday at 6:51 p.m.

BRIMFIELD – Up to 50 acres of tornado-damaged land burned Wednesday as 30 fire departments battled a blaze bolstered by high winds and dry conditions.

By mid-evening, the fire was 30 to 40 percent under control, officials said.

Downed trees, especially in forested areas, have been a fire concern since the June 1 tornado, with officials voicing fears that the dry, dead trees would be especially combustible. Tree debris from a extreme October snowstorm and a nearly snowless-winter contributed to dangerous conditions.

In a press conference Wednesday night, Brimfield Fire Chief Frederick Piechota said the fire was reported off Page Hill Road and town firefighters responded.

He said they thought the fire was under control, but by later in the afternoon, it had flared up again.

By Wednesday night, some 30 fire departments had sent fighters and equipment to the scene. A helicopter was also being used to drop water from above.

Piechota said because of the amount of debris still on the ground from the June tornado, firefighters were finding it difficult to get close enough to the fire. “There’s no way to get to the center because the debris is impenetrable.

Firefighters had to pull back from the perimeter because a heavy wind warning made conditions too dangerous. Once the wind warning is lifted firefighters will resume their efforts, he said.

He said no homes appear to be at risk.

Reached at home Wednesday evening, Ann Kass was getting ready to evacuate her tornado-ravaged property at 51 Paige Hill Road in Brimfield.

“It’s right on our property ... We’re trying to get everything out of the trailers. They want us to evacuate,” Kass said. “They said the fire is out of control, and (the firefighters) are trying to keep it from getting to the houses.”

The brush fire, called in just before 12:30 p.m., was burning 40 to 50 acres at one point in the tornado-damaged area.

Kass, who lives with her husband, Steven Bush, and grandson Joel Kass, said they already evacuated their three horses to a farm on nearby Haynes Hill Road. The family’s horse, Dakota, was killed by the tornado, and another, Cajun, was severely injured.

Kass said there were so many fire trucks on the property that it looked like a “parking lot for fire trucks.”

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Their home and barn were destroyed by the June 1 tornado which cut a 39-path of destruction through Western and central Massachusetts. The barn has been rebuilt and the house is three-quarters complete, she said. The firefighters were trying to protect the property, she said.

Helicopters were dropping water on the site to extinguish the fire, she said.

The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag warning for much of Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. Dry conditions, warm temperatures and heavy winds make the area ripe for brush fires.

Last week Springfield City Councilor Bud L. Williams urged the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help clean up extensive tree debris in forested areas and parks in East Forest Park and Sixteen Acres, a situation he described as a tinder box “waiting to ignite.”

Departments from Wales, Monson, Holland, Sturbridge, Southbridge, the Brookfields, Warren, New Braintree, Palmer and Stafford, Conn., were among those aiding Brimfield in the battle.

Local officials want to use a $6.3 million grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners to renovate and expand the existing West Springfield Public Library rather than use it to build a new structure.

The Elm Street entrance to the West Springfield Library.

WEST SPRINGFIELD - Local officials plan to hold a strategy session Friday for how they will make a case to the state for using a $6.3 million grant to renovate and expand the West Springfield Public Library.

The session will be part of the New Library Ad Hoc Committee’s noon meeting Friday in the Town Council in the municipal office building, according to committee chairman Town Councilor Brian J. Griffin. He said state Rep. Michael J. Finn, D-West Springfield, and state Sen. James T. Welch, D-West Springfield, are expected to attend the meeting as well as accompany city officials when they eventually met with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

The state board last year awarded the city a $6.3 million grant to help it build a new $13.4 million library on the site of Mittineague School. However, the city scratched that plan because it did not get funding from the Massachusetts School Building Authority to expand Tatham School so it could accommodate students who would have attended Mittineague.

In 2001, the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners rejected the city’s application for a grant to renovate the library on the grounds that it did not have enough parking spaces. Griffin had said there are currently 41 spaces in the municipal lot behind the library. Eighty-five spaces would be needed to meet requirements set by the state should the building be expanded to a total of 34,000 square feet and city zoning would require 126 spaces.

Griffin has said if on-street parking spaces in the vicinity of the library can be counted, there are more than enough to meet city and state requirements.

“Now that Mittineague School is not available this is plan B,” Griffin said Monday.

Building at Mittineague School has been controversial because some want to keep the library downtown downtown and others have questioned whether it is a good time for the Town Council to authorize bonding for the remaining $7.1 million needed for the project while at the same time taking on the expense of constructing a new high school. The annual cost of that project for the average homeowner has been estimated at $32 a year to $39 a year, depending on the terms of the bonding for it.

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners had initially given local officials until Jan. 30 to have local funding in place for the project to keep the grant, but has extended the deadline to June 30 at the request of local officials.

The bill would update telephone harassment and stalking laws by adding the use of computers or smartphones.

Associated PressUMass researches found that as people grow psychologically and physically further from the person they are in communication with, there is a higher likelihood of lying.

By TERRY TANG

PHOENIX — Arizonans venturing online may want to think twice before leaving a comment on a website.

Words that someone could view as "annoying" or "offensive" on Facebook or Twitter, for example, could be deemed a criminal offense under a bi-partisan bill that's moving swiftly to Gov. Jan Brewer's desk.

The bill would update telephone harassment and stalking laws by adding the use of computers or smartphones.

Supporters say the measure would help victims of online stalking and harassment whose cases have been dismissed in court because state law has not caught up with the technology.

"There's a bona fide need to protect people from one-on-one harassment," said Rep. Vic Williams, a Tucson Republican who helped sponsor the bill.

Critics say the proposal goes too far.

"Speaking to annoy or offend is not a crime," said David Horowitz, the executive director of the Media Coalition, a New York-based First Amendment advocacy group, adding that the measure is unconstitutionally broad.

If the bill becomes law, he said, speech done in satire, political debate or even sports trash talking could get people in unnecessary legal trouble.

"Somebody who posts on their Facebook page and they happen to be an Arizona Diamondbacks fan ... whoever their rivals are, they can say 'Hey your team stinks, and I hope you lose,'" Horowitz said.

"Is that an intent to offend or annoy? There's a lot of common banter this would potentially apply to," he said.

The group has asked Brewer to veto the measure. So far, Brewer has not publicly commented on their letter.

Williams said he welcomes groups like the Media Coalition to weigh in.

But he rejected claims from those he called "crackpots and conspiracy theorists" who he says have associated the bill with Orwellian images of authoritarian governments seeking to crack down of freedom of expression.

Across the country, more than 30 states have laws against harassment and stalking that reference electronic communication, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Several states have legislation in place similar to the proposal awaiting a final vote in the Arizona House.

Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall, who worked with legislators on the bill, said harassment laws need to keep up with technology, calling cries of Internet censorship "overblown and unrealistic."

"People's First Amendment right to say horrible things is not being infringed upon," she said.

LaWall said comments posted online have to be directed at a certain target to face prosecution.

James Weinstein, an Arizona State University professor who teaches constitutional law, said legislators should revise the bill to specify that. Unlike telephones, online chatter is open to a much wider audience, Weinstein said.

"Now that they're extending it to the Internet generally or electronic media generally, it loses that natural limitation to targeted individuals," he said. "I think this is just bad drafting.

"I don't think they're trying to be like China," Weinstein said in reference to that nation's restrictive Internet laws.

Weinstein said this law may lead to some self-censoring, but he doesn't think it will result in a rush of prosecutions.

"Even the world's worst prosecutor wouldn't prosecute" someone for bring offensive or annoying online, he said.

Weinstein said the statute's wording leaves it vulnerable to being overturned.

But LaWall said the law is needed, saying too often she has seen courts dismiss cases of stalking or harassment simply because the law hasn't caught up to the technology.

"Right now if an individual attempts to terrify or intimidate or harass somebody by sending them a text on their phone, then it's not really covered by the current statutes," she said. Texting wasn't around then, she said.

Elizabeth Ditlevson, director of the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said updating the law won't hurt people's free speech rights.

"If you can show your speech is to express an opinion, that's different than using speech to harass, to degrade, to stalk another person," Ditlevson said. "The longer we wait to pass the law, the longer people wait to be protected."

An unidentified man was taken into custody moments after 10 p.m. after he was found trapped inside a roof vent at the former Lido's Restaurant on Worthington Street.

The Republican | Patrick JohnsonSpringfield firefighters can be seen on the roof of the former Lido's Restaurant at Worthington and Spring. They were called to the scene to aid police in freeing a man trapped in a roof vent.

An update to this story was posted at 11:20 p.m.

SPRINGFIELD - An unidentified man was taken into custody moments after 10 p.m. after he was found trapped inside a roof vent at the former Lido's Restaurant on Worthington Street.

Springfield police called in the fire department for assistance to free the man shortly after 10 p.m.

He apparently became stuck while trying to break into the former restaurant through a vent in the roof of the lower portion in the rear of the building. Lido's, a landmark Italian restaurant in Springfield, closed suddenly last week.

Springfield police called for the fire department to assist freeing him. A ladder truck and rescue truck responded from the Spring Street headquarters directly across the street, but many of the
firefighters appeared to walk to the scene.

The man appeared to be pulled out of the vent quickly and with little trouble, but he had no pants when he was loaded into a police car. His pants, snagged inside the vent, were left behind when he was pulled free, a police officer said.

He was taken to police headquarters, right around the corner on Pearl Street, to be booked. His name and the charges against him were not yet available.

Lose pants; go directly to jail. An attempted break-in to his former employer went embarrassingly wrong for Robert Kuhn, 26, of Springfield.

View full sizeThe Republican | Patrick JohnsonSpringfield firefighters and police on the roof of the former Lido's Restaurant on Worthington Street in Springfield. A former employee tried to break in through a roof vent but became stuck.

This is an update of a story originally posted at 10:26 p.m. Wednesday

SPRINGFIELD - A 26-year-old city man who attempted to break into his former employer lat Wednesday became trapped in the roof vent and needed to be rescued by Springfield firefighters.

Robert Kuhn of 90 Kensington St. was being booked late Wednesday for attempted nighttime breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony, said police Capt. William Collins.

Kuhn was freed shortly after 10 p.m. from a roof vent in the rear portion of the Worthington Street building that until last week was the home of Lido's Restaurant . The landmark restaurant closed suddenly last week.

Collins said Kuhn had been an employee there.

It was not clear how long he had been trapped, Collins said. A passerby apparently saw him on the roof and called police.

Police in turn called the fire department when they discovered Kuhn was lodged inside a roof vent.

A ladder truck and rescue truck responded to the scene from the Springfield Fire Headquarters, directly across the street on Spring Street, but it appeared many of the firefighters simply walked over.

Kuhn was pulled from the vent with little trouble and was quickly handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car and taken to police headquarters, right around the corner on Pearl Street.

When he was placed inside the car, Kuhn was not wearing any pants, just a pair of boxer shorts. Police at the scene said his pants became stuck on something inside the vent, and they stayed behind when he was pulled free.

One man at the scene said he heard a commotion at the Lido's building and then the police and firefighters arrived "in seconds."

View Worthington St & Spring St in a larger map

A new Santa Monica College plan that would let students who did not get into a needed, high-demand course take the class anyway, but only if they paid hundreds of dollars more.

Associated PressIn this photo provided by David Steinman, 33rd district congressional candidate David Steinman wipes his face after being sprayed with pepper spray during a protest on Tuesday, April 3, 2012, in Santa Monica, Calif. Campus police pepper-sprayed as many as 30 demonstrators after Santa Monica College students angry over a plan to offer high-priced courses tried to push their way into a trustees meeting Tuesday evening, authorities said. (AP Photo/Courtesy David Steinman)

By GREG RISLING

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — The dozens of student protesters who were pepper-sprayed by police at a California community college weren't just angry about not getting into a meeting of school trustees.

They were fuming about a new Santa Monica College plan that would let students who did not get into a needed, high-demand course take the class anyway, but only if they paid hundreds of dollars more.

On Tuesday night, the emotions boiled over at the meeting.

And a day later, the state agency that oversees the state's community colleges called on the attorney general to judge whether the plan was legal. Agency officials also called for the college to temporarily halt the program.

The college has said the summer pilot program is an attempt to create new ways to fund some popular state-required classes in an era of declining state education aid.

Critics say the plan will create a caste system favoring wealthy students and runs contrary to the idea of community colleges as a gateway into the middle class.

"Students feel they are being backed into a corner. They feel like they have been left out of the discussion," said Joshua Scuteri, a student trustee. "The feeling on campus is it's like the Alamo."

The school is one of the state's largest two-year colleges, with an enrollment of roughly 30,000 students. About 1,100 classes out of 7,430 have been slashed since 2008.

As a result, students can't get the courses they need to graduate. They have held protests before but wanted to be heard and seen by trustees Tuesday night, students said. They were upset because only a handful of them were allowed into the meeting.

When their request to move the meeting to a larger venue was denied, they began to enter the room, said David Steinman, an environmental advocate.

The clash, parts of which were videotaped and posted online, occurred in a narrow hallway packed with shouting protesters. The videos show a chaotic scene with some struggles between them and police.

Two officers were apparently backed up against a wall, and began using force to keep the students out of the room. Steinman said both officers used pepper spray. "People were gasping and choking," he said.

Jasmine Delgado, vice president of the college's Associated Students, said she tried to restore calm shortly before officers used the pepper spray.

Delgado said she was pushed to the ground by an officer where she landed on her right arm. She said she suffered a contusion and her arm was in a sling Wednesday. "I think this shows how much students are willing to go through for their education," she said.

School officials said an overflow room was available to students but the demonstrators wanted to get inside the main meeting space.

In a statement, college President Chui Tsang said that despite people engaging in unlawful conduct, including setting off fire alarms, police made no arrests. He said the college was investigating the incident.

The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement Wednesday calling for a thorough investigation, saying students have a right to make their voices heard.

Video of a pepper spray incident at University of California, Davis, in November drew worldwide attention when an officer doused a row of student protesters with pepper spray as they sat passively. It became a rallying point for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

California Community Colleges system Chancellor Jack Scott spoke with Tsang, asking that the plan be put on hold, but Tsang was noncommittal, said Paul Feist, the vice chancellor.

"The chancellor is concerned about the impact of a two-tiered system on low-income students," he said.

The school has said its lawyers have concluded that the plan was legal.

The plan involves the formation of a nonprofit foundation that would offer courses for about $600 each, or about $200 per unit. The extra courses at the higher rate would help students who were not able to get into the full, in-demand classes.

Those classes would be in addition to classes that are subsidized with state aid.

"Revenue from these programs will be used to increase access to the college's regular educational programs and services," Tsang said in the statement.

Community colleges have long been a haven for students unable to afford the rising costs at universities but the institutions also have been hampered by budget cuts.

More than $800 million has been taken out of community college budgets over the past three years, causing them to turn away about 200,000 students and drastically cut course offerings.

Several colleges also have inquired about starting programs similar to Santa Monica's. An Assembly bill last year would have allowed the higher-fee programs, but it did not pass. Fourteen 14 colleges and college districts supported the measure.

Scuteri said he has sympathy for administrators who are trying to find solutions that will keep the college functioning but said the decision to approve the plan "feels like an act of desperation."

He echoed the sentiments of what many frustrated students have been expressing across the nation.

"Education is a right, not a privilege," he said.

Associated Press writers Shaya Tayefe Mohajer in Santa Monica and Whitney Phillips in Phoenix contributed to this report.

The Worcester District Attorney's office says Martin Gamache was working on a piece of machinery at Classic Envelope Co. in Douglas.

DOUGLAS — A 53-year-old Monson man has been electrocuted at an envelope plant.

The Worcester District Attorney's office says Martin Gamache was working on a piece of machinery Wednesday afternoon at Classic Envelope Co. in Douglas when he was apparently electrocuted.

He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities say Gamache was working on a blower motor of a machine used to make envelopes when the incident occurred.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports officials at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were notified.

McGovern's daughter said he was admitted for tests to figure out why he occasionally passes out and loses his ability to speak.

File photo | Associated PressFormer Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Sen. George McGovern, 89, was hospitalized in Florida on Wednesday, April 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, Pool, File)

By CHET BROKAW and KRISTI EATON

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Former South Dakota senator and Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern has been hospitalized in Florida, his daughter said Wednesday.

Ann McGovern told The Associated Press her 89-year-old father was admitted to Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine, Fla., on Tuesday evening for tests to figure out why he occasionally passes out and loses his ability to speak.

"He's comfortable. The tests are continuing to see if they can determine what's causing this," Ann McGovern said.

Hospital officials said the elder McGovern is in stable condition. McGovern splits his time between Florida and South Dakota, where he was a South Dakota congressman from 1957 to 1961 and a U.S. senator from 1963 to 1981. He has been hospitalized several times in recent months, including for exhaustion.

South Dakota Democratic Party Chairman Ben Nesselhuf said McGovern looked great and was in good spirits when he attended the party's annual fundraiser, named in his honor, last weekend in Sioux Falls. Nesselhuf said the former senator, who gave a 20-minute speech at the affair, resists efforts to schedule rest periods during such events because "he wants to do everything."

"Toward the end of the weekend, I think he was getting a little tired," Nesselhuf told the AP.

McGovern's grandson, Matt McGovern of Sioux Falls, said he talked with his grandfather on the phone Wednesday but didn't know when he would be released from the hospital.

"I think he's going to be all right," said Matt McGovern, who recently announced plans to run for the Democratic nomination for the state Public Utilities Commission.

George McGovern was treated for exhaustion in Sioux Falls in October after he completed a lecture tour. Two months later, he fell and hit his head in Mitchell, S.D., just before he was to be interviewed live on C-SPAN for a program called "The Contenders" that focused on failed presidential candidates who had a lasting impact on American politics.

McGovern lost in a historic landslide his 1972 challenge against President Richard Nixon, who eventually resigned amid the Watergate scandal.

McGovern regularly spends time at a home he owns in Mitchell, across the street from a library bearing his name at Dakota Wesleyan University. He also has owned a home in St. Augustine since the 2008 death of his wife, Eleanor.

Much of McGovern's recent work has focused on world hunger.

He and former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, a Republican, were honored in 2008 with the World Food Prize, a distinction some observers have called the Nobel Prize for hunger.

Their George McGovern-Robert Dole International Food for Education and Nutrition Program, which was established in 2000 and funded primarily through Congress, provides millions of meals to children in the U.S. and some three dozen countries across the world.

McGovern remains an energetic and well-liked figure in his home state, Nesselhuf said.

"We had 500 people at the dinner Saturday night. They were clearly all in love with him. He still has a magnetism to him that's incredible," he said. "I don't think there was anybody in the place who wouldn't have walked across hot coals for George if they needed to."

Don't expect Romney to spend a lot of time trying to get voters to like him.

File photo | Associated PressIn the 2012 presidential election, Mitt Romney, the likely Republican presidential nominee, will probably rely on a ton of campaign cash and a barrage of nasty attack ads ripping into President Barack Obama for policies that Romney says aren't helping the economy recover fast enough. Look for Romney to take a more moderate tack, too.

By ANDREW MIGA

WASHINGTON — Don't expect Mitt Romney to spend a lot of time trying to get voters to like him this fall.

Instead, the likely Republican presidential nominee will probably rely on a ton of campaign cash and a barrage of nasty attack ads ripping into President Barack Obama for policies that Romney says aren't helping the economy recover fast enough. Look for Romney to take a more moderate tack, too.

That's essentially the playbook Romney followed in his last campaign against a Democrat, when he was elected Massachusetts governor in 2002.

Given how Romney has already relied heavily on key elements of that winning strategy — the biting attack ads, the imposing fundraising advantage — to pound his GOP presidential rivals, there's little to suggest he won't return to that strategy for the likely fight against Obama.

Ben Coes, Romney's campaign manager in 2002, said the multimillionaire businessman won the election because he didn't worry much about whether voters liked him. Coes said that same dynamic will apply for November's presidential election, too.

Then and now, "voters were electing someone to clean up a mess," said Coes, who has no role in Romney's current campaign. "He ran as the toughest guy with the most experience to go in there and clean up a mess. ... It's the reason he got elected in 2002, and it's how he could get elected in 2012."

Romney's campaign declined to comment.

Romney swept into the governorship with an aggressive campaign that played up his image as a political outsider, played down his GOP affiliation and pounded Democratic foe Shannon O'Brien as a hapless watchdog of the state's cash in a wave of attack ads. O'Brien was the state's first female treasurer and a tough, seasoned campaigner.

Buoyed by the national media attention he received for turning the scandal-plagued 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City into a success, Romney returned to Massachusetts and targeted O'Brien with a pledge to "clean up the mess on Beacon Hill."

He cast her as beholden to labor unions, lobbyists and special interests, but especially to Democrats who controlled the Legislature. Romney tapped into a deep vein of voter frustration over patronage, ethics scandals, state budget deficits, job losses and a $1 billion tax increase.

"We wanted to tie a noose around Beacon Hill and tie it around Shannon O'Brien's neck," Coes said.

Romney won by 5 percentage points in the Democratic-dominated state by appealing to independent voters. But his efforts to shed his image as stiff and blow-dried, which endures to this day, mostly fizzled.

He stumbled by airing a pithy TV ad in which he and his wife, Ann, spoke tenderly about their courtship on a high school prom date and their enduring love for each other. "Ann's just good to the core," Romney gushed. The ad also featured Romney in a bathing suit frolicking with his sons atop a raft on a lake.

"Women found it to be pandering, people in general just thought it was out of touch with their lives that are maybe not so perfect," O'Brien said.

Romney also tried to project a regular-guy image by staging "work days" at blue-collar jobs on garbage trucks and fishing boats, but those failed, too, coming off as overly scripted.

Rob Gray, a senior Romney strategist in 2002, conceded the "work days" and the ads showcasing Romney's marriage were "self-inflicted" wounds that preceded a slide in the polls.

But Romney got back on track by slamming O'Brien with a barrage of TV ads depicting her as a lazy basset hound "watchdog" who dozed while suited men piled bags of stolen state money into a truck emblazoned with the "Enron" label. The ads cited the state's billions of dollars in pension fund losses, including $23 million in stock from the Houston-based energy company that collapsed in 2001. O'Brien's husband had been a lobbyist for Enron.

O'Brien said the image was unfair and inaccurate. "But when you spend a lot of money on ads like that, it was effective," she said.

The attacks drove the race back onto Romney's outsider theme in the final weeks of the campaign, helping him win over independent voters, who dominate Massachusetts elections.

"During those last three weeks, Mitt really took the gloves off," Coes said. "He put aside efforts to be likable. He was disciplined and tight and tough."

O'Brien countered by going after Romney's business background. Romney amassed a fortune, now estimated to be as much as $250 million, by helping found the venture capital firm Bain Capital. Her ads cited Bain's role in laying off workers in businesses it took over, but the spots never gained much traction.

O'Brien said Romney did a good job selling himself as the turnaround guy, the successful businessman who saved the Olympics. She recalled one TV reporter asking her what it felt like to run against an "icon."

Romney also avoided the Republican label, pitching himself in the heavily Democratic state as a successful businessman capable of solving its fiscal woes. His moderate tack was a nod to demographics. Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 3-to-1 in Massachusetts and roughly half of voters are independent.

"I think people recognize that I'm not a partisan Republican, that I'm someone who is moderate, and that my views are progressive," Romney told New England Cable News in 2002.

His political success that year was forged in hard-won lessons from his first foray into politics, a 17-point loss in 1994 to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

Many thought Kennedy would be vulnerable given his hard-partying image and the 1991 Palm Beach, Fla., rape case against his nephew, William Kennedy Smith. Smith was acquitted, but Kennedy testified about taking his nephew and son Patrick for drinks at the bar where Smith met his accuser.

Romney hit Kennedy as a big-government liberal and avoided personal attacks.

But Romney's candidacy withered under a barrage of attack ads that cast him as a greedy venture capitalist whose firm cut jobs and slashed salaries at companies it took over. Angry workers from an Indiana plant even trekked to Massachusetts to dog Romney, who never quite recovered from the negative onslaught.

Kennedy outspent Romney, pouring much of his money into attack ads.

"For Romney, it was a costly learning experience, but it was a learning experience," said Tad Devine, a senior Kennedy adviser.

Romney made sure he had the money advantage in 2002. He raised $9.4 million, including some $6.3 million from his own pocket, and spent much of it on attack ads. O'Brien spent about $6.2 million on her campaign.

"Kennedy pounded him pretty good with the attack ads, and Mitt learned: Do it early, spend as much money as you can and keep it up for as long as you can," said O'Brien.

Sixty-year-old James Stavely-O'Carroll was the owner of the Sarah Moira, an 80-foot, steel-hulled sailboat. Prosecutors say the boat was hauling 4,497 pounds of marijuana when authorities intercepted it Nov. 21, 2010, as it approached South Mississippi.

Associated PressA marijuana plant is grown under lights at the Boulder County Caregivers in Boulder, Colo. on Friday, July 24, 2009.

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — A Dartmouth, Mass., man has been sentenced to 160 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to smuggle marijuana from Jamaica to Mississippi.

Sixty-year-old James Stavely-O'Carroll was the owner of the Sarah Moira, an 80-foot, steel-hulled sailboat. Prosecutors say the boat was hauling 4,497 pounds of marijuana when authorities intercepted it Nov. 21, 2010, as it approached South Mississippi.

The Sun Herald report U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. sentenced him Wednesday in Gulfport, Miss., and ordered five years of post-release supervision following the prison term.

Stavely-O'Carroll had pleaded guilty in April 2011 and agreed to forfeit his sailboat. His sentencing had been delayed several times.

Two crewmates on the sailboat are serving prison terms.

Firefighting operations resumed at 6 a.m. Watch video

The Republican / Don TreegerBrimfield Fire Chief Frederick Piechota and state Fire Marshal Stephen Coan speak from a command center on Paige Hill Road in Brimfield where up to 50 tornado-damage acres were burned by a brush fire Wednesday.

BRIMFIELD – State emergency officals say numerous homes remain at risk Thursday as a brush fire, fueled by high winds and tornado-downed trees, continues to burn between Holland and Paige Hill roads.

Firefighting operations, which were scaled back around midnight, resumed at about 6 a.m., according to a posting by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency on Facebook.com.

As much as 50 acres have burned and over 30 fire departments were committed to the firefighting operation through the state fire mobilization plan, according to MEMA.

Downed trees, especially in forested areas, have been a fire concern since the June 1 tornado, with officials voicing fears that the dry, dead trees would be especially combustible. Tree debris from a extreme October snowstorm and a nearly snowless-winter contributed to dangerous conditions.

A task force has been deployed Thursday to take on firefighting operations.

The weather, unfortunately, has not been cooperative and the National Weather Service, for the third day in a row, has issued a red flag warning for much of Western Massachusetts

The brush fire, called in just before 12:30 p.m. and thought to be under control, flared up in the afternoon.

Brimfield Fire Chief Frederick Piechota said because of the amount of debris still on the ground from the tornadoes, firefighters were finding it difficult to get close enough to the fire. “There’s no way to get to the center because the debris is impenetrable,” he said.

Firefighters had to pull back from the perimeter because heavy winds made conditions too dangerous.

Piechota, speaking during a press conference Wednesday night, said no homes appeared to be at risk. MEMA, however, in it’s Thursday posting, stated “Numerous homes remain at risk, firefighters have successfully protected them.”

Brimfield firefighting officials could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The state is supporting Brimfield with extensive resources. These include water drops conducted by the National Guard, aerial surveillance and communications provided by the state police and personnel from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Bureau of Fire Control, the state Department of Fire Services and MEMA.

Democratic leaders on Wednesday dismissed Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch's warning to supporters that Democrats might attack the Mormon faith of Mitt Romney during the presidential campaign.

The Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney addresses a crowd at a campaign event in a metal working shop, in Broomall, Penn., Wednesday, April 4, 2012. Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah warned supporters during a campaign event Tuesday that Democrats could attack the Mormon faith of Mitt Romney during the presidential campaign. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

By JOSH LOFTIN, Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Democratic leaders on Wednesday dismissed Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch's warning to supporters that Democrats might attack the Mormon faith of Mitt Romney during the presidential campaign.

The chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, described that suggestion as "preposterous" and "utter nonsense." During an interview with MSNBC, she said the party wouldn't stoop to the same levels as Republicans.

"Let's remember that President Obama has had so many things hurled at him — birth certificate questions, whether he is or is not a Christian," Wasserman Schultz said. "For them to suggest that religion will be injected by President Obama and the Democratic Party, I mean, I think they need to take a look inward at the accusations that their party and their supporters have hurled before they take that step."

Hatch made the remark in response to a question at a political event Tuesday night in northern Utah, and repeated the point Wednesday night after a debate in Draper, Utah. Hatch, also a Mormon, is seeking a seventh term in the Senate.

"For them to say they aren't going to smear Mitt Romney is bologna," Hatch said. "It's way out of bounds, but that's what is going to happen."

More than 60 percent of Utah residents are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Romney won the state's 2008 Republican primary with 91 percent of the vote.

The claim by Hatch reflects poorly on Democrats in Utah, especially those who are Mormons, said Craig Janis, who is working for Utah Democratic Party to recruit LDS Church members.

"Divisive and unsubstantiated claims about religion have no place in our debate," Janis said. "This is a country that was founded on the principles of respect and freedom for religion ... we hope that, going forward, Sen. Hatch will remember that, as a statesman, he is held to a higher standard of conduct, and will choose his words more carefully."

The 360-degree camera will help authorities monitor traffic, crime and other happenings at the busy intersection in Forest Park.

SPRINGFIELD – City officials are hoping an all-purpose surveillance camera installed at the "X" will serve as a catchall — catching potential crooks and traffic violators and keeping a watchful eye on one of Springfield's busiest intersections.

"The city is going to have a better understanding of where crime is happening, where traffic problems are, and having a camera on my business is always good for the customers," Salvatore Circosta, owner of Sal's Bakery & Cafe, told 22News.

Sal's, located just off the "X" at 513 Belmont Ave., was the venue for a February announcement regarding the launch of BADGE (Business and Domicile Geographic Enforcement). The crime-fighting initiative includes extra police foot patrols to increase officers' presence in the heart of Forest Park's bustling commercial district, with an additional goal of boosting people's confidence that the neighborhood is a safe and vibrant part of Springfield, officials said at the time.

Forest Park led the city in homicides last year, with some occurring just a few blocks from the "X." A week ago today, a middle-aged man was stabbed in the abdomen about a block south of the intersection after intervening in a fight between a large group of teenagers. Police said they had identified a suspect in the crime, but ranking officers reached this morning said they were unsure if an arrest had been made.

Bob Houldson, an information technology specialist with the city, told the TV station that the new, 360-degree camera is the 40th multipurpose camera to be installed in Springfield. The device could be up and running as soon as Friday, he said.

Parents objected to children being taught to sing, "We love the USA."

BELLINGHAM — A Massachusetts elementary school has dropped plans for students to sing songs at a school presentation after parents objected to a change in the lyrics of a popular patriotic song.

Parents tell WFXT-TV that children at Stall Brook Elementary in Bellingham were taught to sing "We love the USA" instead of "God Bless the USA" during the chorus of the popular 1984 Lee Greenwood song.

The song was scheduled to be performed at an April 12 assembly where students will show off their knowledge of the states.

School officials issued a statement Wednesday saying that because of "logistics," no songs would be performed.

Greenwood issued a statement saying he objected to the changing of the lyrics because God "is the most important word in the whole piece of music."