Health advocates and workers met at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to review a newly released maternal infant strategic plan for Springfield and taking part in roundtable discussions on how to implement its goals and strategies.

SPRINGFIELD – Local health advocates said Friday they are convinced that a stronger collaboration and commitment can help reduce the infant mortality rates in Springfield that have been persistently higher than state averages.

Health advocates and workers met Friday at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame conference room, reviewing a newly released Maternal Infant Strategic Plan for Springfield and taking part in roundtable discussions on how to implement its goals and strategies.

Helen R. Caulton-Harris

“There was a lot of energy and commitment by the participants,” said Helen R. Caulton-Harris, the city’s director of health and human services. “We expect there will be a lot of energy and movement to reduce the infant mortality rate in the city of Springfield.”

The infant mortality rate in Springfield is 8.3 deaths per 1,000 births (before age 1), as compared to a rate of 4.3 deaths in Massachusetts, according to the strategic health plan. The numbers reflect average rates over a three-year period (2007-2009) from the Massachusetts Community Information Profile statistics provided by the state Department of Public Health.

The rates in Springfield were highest among blacks (13.6 deaths per 1,000), followed by Hispanics (8 deaths), and whites (6 deaths), the report stated.

Historically, Springfield has been in the top four in the state for its high infant mortality rates, Caulton-Harris said.

“It’s unacceptable,” Caulton-Harris said. “You know it’s unacceptable.”

The strategies in the plan include: improving the quality of prenatal care; strengthening the involvement of fathers; closing the local educational gap; and providing care between conceptions to women with prior adverse pregnancy outcomes, the plan states.

“We are here to address a community tragedy,” said Dr. Andrew Balder, senior medical director of the Baystate Medical Center HealthNet Plan, who chaired the local Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Committee that developed the action plan.

Factors including “race, age, education, parity, household type, poverty, maternal behavior and location” appear to have some connection to “poor birth outcomes,” according to the report.

The renewed efforts this year are intended “breathe life” into the ongoing work on health care providers, said Frank P. Robinson, executive director of Partners for a Healthier Community of Springfield. The city needs to approach the problem “with a new set of solutions, or to lift up past solutions we have not followed through on,” he said.

The infant mortality rates have pretty much stayed constant over the past 30 years, with a “persistent gap and a persistent disparity, in terms of birth outcomes for women of color compared to white women,” and for women of the city in general compared to the state, Robinson said.

The report also recommends improvements in health literacy and behavioral skills, and the promotion of health equity, and for local health providers and programs to be designed that address cultural differences and language barriers. 

The seventh-generation member of the famed Flying Wallendas had long dreamed of pulling off the stunt, never before attempted. Other daredevils have wire-walked over the Niagara River but farther downstream and not since 1896.

Nik Wallenda walks over Niagara Falls on a tightrope in Niagara Falls, Ontario, on Friday, June 15, 2012. Wallenda has finished his attempt to become the first person to walk on a tightrope 1,800 feet across the mist-fogged brink of roaring Niagara Falls. The seventh-generation member of the famed Flying Wallendas had long dreamed of pulling off the stunt, never before attempted. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario — Daredevil Nik Wallenda became the first person to walk on a tightrope across the Niagara Falls, taking steady, measured steps Friday night for 1,800 feet across the mist-fogged brink of the roaring falls separating the U.S. and Canada.

Afterward, he said he accomplished the feat through "a lot of praying, that's for sure. But, you know, it's all about the concentration, the focus, and the training."

The seventh-generation member of the famed Flying Wallendas had long dreamed of pulling off the stunt, never before attempted. Other daredevils have wire-walked over the Niagara River but farther downstream and not since 1896.

"This is what dreams are made of, people," Wallenda said shortly after he began walking the wire.

He took steady, measured steps amid the rushing mist over the falls as an estimated crowd of 125,000 people on the Canadian side and 4,000 on the American side watched. Along the way, he calmly prayed aloud.

ABC televised the walk and insisted Wallenda use a tether to keep him from falling in the river. Wallenda said he agreed because he wasn't willing to lose the chance and needed ABC's sponsorship to help offset some of the $1.3 million cost of the spectacle.

For the 33-year-old father of three, the Niagara Falls walk was unlike anything he'd ever done. Because it was over water, the 2-inch wire didn't have the usual stabilizer cables to keep it from swinging. Pendulum anchors were designed to keep it from twisting under the elkskin-soled shoes designed by his mother.

The Wallendas trace their roots to 1780 Austria-Hungary, when ancestors traveled as a band of acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, animal trainers and trapeze artists. The clan has been touched by tragedy, notably in 1978 when patriarch Karl Wallenda, Nik's great-grandfather, fell to his death during a stunt in Puerto Rico.

After he made it to the Canadian side of the falls, Wallenda said that at one point in the middle of the stunt, he thought about his great-grandfather and the walks he had taken: "That's what this is all about, paying tribute to my ancestors, and my hero, Karl Wallenda."

About a dozen other tightrope artists have crossed the Niagara Gorge downstream, dating to Jean Francois Gravelet, aka The Great Blondin, in 1859. But no one had walked directly over the falls, and authorities hadn't allowed any tightrope acts in the area since 1896. It took Wallenda two years to persuade U.S. and Canadian authorities to allow it, and many civic leaders hoped to use the publicity to jumpstart the region's struggling economy, particularly on the U.S. side of the falls.

A festive crowd gathered on both sides of the border to watch Wallenda, spreading blankets and setting up folding chairs under picture-perfect blue skies and summer-like temperatures.

Valley County sheriff's officials said they believe 39-year-old Ray Dolin shot himself as a desperate act of self-promotion, but they offered no further details.

File photo

BILLINGS, Mont. — A West Virginia man who claimed to be the victim of a drive-by shooting along a rural Montana highway while working on a memoir called "Kindness in America" has confessed to shooting himself, authorities said Friday.

Valley County sheriff's officials said they believe 39-year-old Ray Dolin shot himself as a desperate act of self-promotion, but they offered no further details.

Dolin, of Julian, W.Va., acknowledged he concocted the tale about the random shooting after he was confronted by investigators at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Miles City where he is recovering, said Sheriff Glen Meier.

Charges were pending, and the case remains under investigation. Dolin has not been arrested, but the weapon he allegedly used to carry out the scheme has been recovered, the sheriff said.

Dolin had claimed he was hitchhiking along U.S. Highway 2 west of Glasgow on Saturday when the driver of a maroon pickup pulled to a stop and shot him in the upper arm with no provocation.

Authorities later arrested Lloyd Christopher Danielson III, 52, and charged him with felony assault. That charge was dropped Thursday, although Danielson remained in custody, accused of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol when he was arrested.

Meier indicated that Danielson denied any role in shooting after he was put into custody.

"I had the worst feeling he was telling me the absolute truth," Meier said. "I kept telling him that we are seekers of the truth and we are going to work very hard to find out the truth of this incident. ... It was a great moment when I sent someone up to the jail to tell him he had nothing to do with it."

Dolin runs a photography business called OneShot Impressions, which has as its logo the cross-hairs of a rifle scope.

He could not be reached for comment Friday. But Dolin said in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press — before his alleged confession — that he recently had taken a bus from West Virginia to Sidney, Mont., and then began traveling across the state working on his memoir about people's kindness.

Asked about Danielson being cleared, Dolin said in the interview that he was reluctant to comment because of the ongoing investigation and quickly changed the subject.

He talked at length about his planned photographic memoir, offering several supposed instances in which strangers had gone out of their way to help him along his journey. And just hours before his alleged confession, he repeated the claim that he was shot as he was stopped on the side of the road preparing a meal.

Dolin said no words were exchanged with the supposed gunman and that he never got a good look at the perpetrator.

"He came up, pulls up at a normal speed, stops, points, shoots and drives off. It's as simple as that," Dolin said. "I did not get a good description."

The woman who stopped to help Dolin said Friday that she had no suspicions at the time that he could have been responsible for his own wound. Sherry Alveson, of Malta, said she stopped after her daughter saw Dolin waving his jacket on the side of the road trying to flag down passing vehicles.

"He had blood down his arms, all over his clothes, and he was bleeding and shivering and shaky," Alveson said of her initial encounter with Dolin. "I wasn't going to leave him sitting there."

Alveson said that even as she waited with the wounded Dolin for emergency personnel to arrive, he began talking about his memoir. She said he brought it up again when she visited him in a Glasgow hospital the next day.

She only became suspicious after reading in Friday's paper that Danielson had been released. Alveson said that made her wonder if the shooter was still at large or if Dolin shot himself.

Still, she said it wouldn't have changed her decision to stop along the highway last weekend.

"Whether it was self-inflicted or somebody else did it, he needed help," Alveson said.

Authorities arrested Danielson — a Tumwater, Wash., man apparently in the region to work in the Bakken oil fields — based on a match between his vehicle and a description offered by Dolin. The arrest occurred near Culbertson, about 100 miles from where a passerby found Dolin wounded on the side of the road.

He was exonerated after his vehicle was examined under a search warrant, Meier said, declining to give further details. Federal agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted in the case.

Readers visiting the site early Tuesday can expect to find a streamlined page featuring a longer list of stories and an easier interface for quickly viewing all of the site's latest content.

The new MassLive.com homepage will feature an index of headlines showing when the story was published and how many reader comments it has received.

If 4 years works out to 28 years in the life of a dog, it’s an eternity in the life of a website.

And so this week MassLive.com will launch a redesigned homepage -- its first new look since 2008. Readers visiting the site early Tuesday can expect to find a streamlined page featuring a longer list of stories and an easier interface for quickly viewing all of the site’s latest content.

The new design supports the efforts of The Republican, MassLive.com and El Pueblo Latino to provide frequently updated and in-depth news for western Massachusetts and beyond, said MassLive.com Editor-in-Chief Ed Kubosiak Jr.

“This is a dramatic shift away from our current design that will surface more real-time news headlines on the homepage on the topics audience data have shown MassLive.com readers are most interested in,” Kubosiak said.

The new homepage features a list of stories – nicknamed the “river” by web designers – and a drop-down menu that allows readers to tailor the content by toggling among several topics.

“Whether you care about the Boston Red Sox, politics or local news readers will now be able to sort those headlines by topic in the main content ‘river’,” Kubosiak said.

“We are committed to providing content from The Republican newsroom on MassLive.com as soon as the story breaks and this new design will bring such stories to the forefront for the on-line user,” said Wayne E. Phaneuf, executive editor of The Republican.

“We have had phenomenal growth in audience over the past two years and keeping up with the latest trends in web design will help us continue that growth,” Phaneuf said.

Headlines on the homepage will indicate when the story was posted, and how many reader comments the story has received. An FAQ to help readers navigate the new homepage and understand its features will be posted in conjunction with the launch.

In addition to putting more stories at readers’ fingertips, the design will also allow editors to create modules featuring larger photos and headlines. Kubosiak said that offers more flexibility in highlighting breaking news coverage and long-term investigative projects that involve multiple stories and multimedia elements.

“If we have another event on the scale of last year’s tornado we’re in a much better position to deliver the news readers want in an eye-catching, easy to read format,” Kubosiak said.

In a nod to the rise in popularity of mobile devices ranging from smartphones to tablet computers, the design will remain consistent across a number of devices. A user viewing the site on a desktop computer, for example, can expect a similar reading experience when viewing the site on an iPad. A new commenting platform, slated to launch this summer, will offer real-time comments. The platform will eventually allow readers to use mobile devices to post comments on stories.

Advance Digital, parent company of MassLive.com, launched the site as the online home of The Republican in 1998. The company has already rolled out the new design for its sites in Michigan, Alabama and New Orleans. The changes to the Springfield-based website will not be accompanied by changes to the publication schedule of the city’s daily newspaper.

MassLive.com’s homepage refresh was spearheaded by San Francisco-based Mule Design, a firm whose clients include Mint.com, CNET.com and the Wall Street Journal. Mule Design recently updated the website for the online-only, investigative journalism outlet ProPublica.

But while MassLive.com’s look will be different, its mission will remain the same: to offer timely, comprehensive coverage of local issues. In recent years, journalists at The Republican and MassLive.com have experimented with new, innovative approaches to fulfilling that mission, from offering live coverage of high-profile court cases and the recovery after the October snowstorm to interactive databases of public salaries.

“Providing deep coverage of the news people are talking about has been the primary mission of MassLive.com and The Republican,” said Paul Fritz, MassLive.com’s General Manager. “Our hope is to provide deeper, feature rich stories that are easily found and that help the community understand and engage.”

President Obama was giving a speech about a change in immigration policy when he was interrupted by a reporter for the Daily Caller, a conservative news website.

• Chicopee man hurt in motorcycle crash [WWLP 22News]
• Officials: Bomb attack kills 14 in Pakistan [CNN]
• In New Hampshire, a coveted chance to hunt a moose [New York Times]
• Jose Canseco departure denied by Worcester Tornadoes GM [Worcester Telegram & Gazette]
• Rhode Island passes 'Homeless Bill of Rights' [Reuters]
• Officials suspect hospital worker in hepatitis outbreak [Boston Globe]
• Obama to interrupter: 'I didn't ask for an argument' [CNN]
• Twitter posts tagged #westernma in Western Mass. [MassLive.com]


• Read more News Links »


• Do you have News Links? Send them our way or tweet them to @masslivenews

NOTE: Users of modern browsers can open each link in a new tab by holding 'control' ('command' on a Mac) and clicking each link.

Her manager, Holly Carter, says Wilson died of cervical cancer on Thursday. Wilson was 48 and lived in Hollywood, where Carter said she had managed a music label and worked in real estate in recent years.

NEW YORK — Yvette Wilson, a comic who was featured on the 1990s sitcom "Moesha" and its spinoff, "The Parkers," has died.

Her manager, Holly Carter, says Wilson died of cervical cancer on Thursday. Wilson was 48 and lived in Hollywood, where Carter said she had managed a music label and worked in real estate in recent years.

Wilson portrayed Andell Wilkerson, owner of the popular hangout The Den on "Moesha." The UPN sitcom starred the singer Brandy.

Wilson was a standup comic and was featured on "In Living Color." She also appeared in the movies "Poetic Justice" and "House Party III."

The guard for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association, wearing dark sunglasses, described the incident Friday in Paris during a news conference posted on YouTube. He said he expects to be sidelined for about a week while the French team prepares for the Summer Olympics.

San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker, of France, heads to the huddle during the second half against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 in the NBA basketball Western Conference finals, Saturday, June 2, 2012, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

NEW YORK - Professional basketball star Tony Parker says he suffered a scratched retina on one of his eyes during a New York City nightclub brawl involving singer Chris Brown and members of hip-hop star Drake's entourage.

The guard for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association, wearing dark sunglasses, described the incident Friday in Paris during a news conference posted on YouTube. He said he expects to be sidelined for about a week while the French team prepares for the Summer Olympics.

Parker said he was wearing a "therapeutic" contact lens and had to go to an emergency room for treatment after arriving in Paris.

Parker said: "I was with my friend Chris Brown and me and my friends took some punches, so I'll be missing the start of the French team because I can't do anything for a week except keep the lens in and then take drops."

Police said Brown, his girlfriend and his bodyguard were among several people injured during the bottle-hurling fight early Thursday at W.i.P in SoHo.

Parker said "they started throwing bottles everywhere. I don't know what happened. At first it was OK, but then it started getting worse and when the plane landed it was really hurting so I went straight to the ER."

The Spurs declined comment.

There are few details at this time, but the woman was apparently treated at Baystate Medical Center for non-life threatening injuries.

SPRINGFIELD - A woman was stabbed around 3 a.m. this morning on Allen Park Road in the Sixteen Acres section of the city.

There are few details at this time, but the woman was apparently treated at Baystate Medical Center for non-life threatening injuries.

The wound was located under her eye.

Ashley Jimenez, 22, of Springfield, has been arrested in connection with the incident, according to 22News.

Police radio communications said Jimenez was "armed with a pocketknife."

The two women apparently knew each other.

The victim's identity has not been released.

View Larger Map

Obituaries from The Republican

Ryan M. Soden

Ryan M. Soden, 30, of Fairview Street in Agawam passed away Thursday at home. He was born in Springfield, was a 2002 graduate of Agawam High School and attended Holyoke Community College.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Barber, Sylvia L. (George)
  



• 
  Betie, Florrie (Provost)
  



• 
  Bowler, Wanda V. "Dolly" (Isabelle)
  



• 
  Briotta, Maureen A.
  



• 
  Choquette, Joseph S.
  



• 
  Dymon, Thaddeus S. (Ted)
  



• 
  Fortsch Jr., John J.
  



• 
  Galindez, Luisa
  



• 
  Hernandez, Juan
  



• 
  Sergentanis, Manuel "Manny"
  



• 
  Sferrazza, Vincent J.
  



• 
  Soden, Ryan M.
  



• 
  Sroka, Patricia A.
  



• 
  White, Yvette M. (Blette)
  

The bridge work was delayed for two months last year because of time needed to fabricate a new part.

Photo by Dave Roback / The RepublicanConstruction crews work under the Route 5 ramp in Agawam near the South End Bridge one day this week.

The state is planning to complete all major work on the South End Bridge between Agawam and Springfield by the end of next month, possibly ending what one motorist calls “a huge nightmare” for drivers.

The project, taking part on both sides of the bridge, involves widening ramps, remarking a rotary in Agawam, painting, repairs to steel rails and the steel support system and new expansion joints to allow the bridge to be slightly pliable when needed.

Until the major work is complete, motorists should be aware that the area on both sides of the span could be difficult to navigate at certain times, according to a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

“There are multiple construction zones within a short distance of each other in a highly traveled area,” said Michael Verseckes, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. “MassDOT highly recommends people reduce speeds through these areas, allow for additional time to travel through these areas, and where and if possible, look for alternate routes.”

One driver who uses the 1,576-foot-long bridge to commute back and forth to work, Debra Marquiss, of Agawam, says the traffic jams near the bridge can be “a huge nightmare.” Vehicles back up along Interstate 91 in the late afternoon, she said, citing an example of the congestion she faces as she attempts to leave the highway at the bridge exit to return home.

“The traffic is horrendous,” Marquiss, an administrative assistant for Western Massachusetts Electric Co. in Springfield, said in an interview this week. “It’s awful.”

According to Marquiss, the construction zone is an eyesore with sidewalks overgrown with weeds and covered with trash.

She said she’s skeptical that the state can complete most major work by the end of July. But, she added, she’ll be pleased if the work is finished by that time and hopes the state will also clean the area up.

The project on the bridge - also known as the Julian B. Buxton Bridge - was delayed for two months last year. The delay occurred because of a problem in fabricating an important part called an expansion joint.

The bridge is part of U.S. Route 5 over the Connecticut River and joins with a rotary for Route 57 on the Agawam side and Interstate 91 on the Springfield side.

New custom-made expansion joints were fabricated and delivered for installation on both the Agawam and Springfield sides.

The parts allow bridges to be slightly flexible when necessary to accommodate weather and weight.

On both the Agawam and Springfield sides of the bridge, a contractor now is completing work on various components of the expansion joints.

Work on the ramps and Route 57 rotary on the Agawam side was started on March 19 and is 85 percent complete. That work should be completed by late this month, according to Verseckes.

On the Agawam side, the ramp from Route 5 northbound was widened to accommodate two lanes of traffic to alleviate backups on the ramp, Verseckes said. The rotary itself is being re-marked to improve safety. Most of the major work should be completed in the next couple of weeks, he added.

On the bridge, both northbound and southbound traffic through the construction area will remain at one lane open in each direction for the duration of the project until work is complete, Verseckes said.

On both sides of the bridge, the state plans to return pavement marking and travel lanes to previous conditions. All work on the Agawam side is expected to be completed in early July, dependent upon the weather conditions, contractor operations and scheduling, he said.

As for work on the Springfield side, that is expected to take until mid- to late-July to complete, again dependent upon the weather conditions, contractor operations and scheduling, he added.

Sidewalks and safety curb areas within the construction zone have been cleaned, he added. Verseckes said he planned to ask maintenance workers to see if they could check out the overgrown weeds in the area.

Construction involving the Great River Bridge, and Elm, Main and Broad streets and Park Square renovations are coming to an end and is being welcomed by merchants and consumers alike.

WESTFIELD – The headache producing traffic congestion of the past five years is gone and travel through the Depot Square and downtown area is beginning to return to normal.

Construction involving the $80 million Great River Bridge and $14.5 million Elm, Main and Broad streets and Park Square renovations are coming to an end and is being welcomed by merchants and consumers alike.

“It had been hell over the course of the past five years. At one point we lost 72 percent of our business. Now it is coming back,” said Daniel J. Puza, owner of the North Elm Butcher Block located in the heart of Depot Square.

Chicopee resident Thomas M. O’Connor, who works in Westfield’s downtown has endured the traffic congestion since the bridge project started in 2007. He is also a Depot Square shopper and said this week “it is now almost a pleasure to drive to work and shop here now.”

A ‘Community Celebration’ is in the making to mark completion of both projects.

That celebration, which will include a hot dog social, will highlight the bridge dedication by Gov. Deval L. Patrick on June 29 beginning a noon. The Butcher Block will serve as host for the hot dog social scheduled for noon to 1 p.m..

The bridge project is now in the final ‘punch list’ phase of inspection by the state Department of Transportation and general contractor J.F. White Construction Co. of Framingham, City Engineer Mark S. Cressotti said.

The downtown road project, including rehabilitation of Park Square Green, is nearing that phase, Cressotti said.

The bridge project had been in planning for more than 30 years before construction started. It included the rehabilitation of the original Westfield River span, construction of a twin bridge, rehabilitation and relocation of three parks, a controversial $500,000 clock tower, new street lighting and traffic signals.

“The bridge project is now in the inspection phase with some incidentals and sidewalk work,” Cressotti said.

“It has been a long road,” said Puza. “But, business is almost back to normal. During the past five years we even did an old fashion home delivery service for regular customers to survive,” he said.

“I like the finished product and I think it will work very well for the city. People now just have to learn the new traffic pattern,” Puza said.

“The expense was huge and I don’t know if the city needs everything that was done. But everything is nice and the new bridge and the beautiful parks should help bring people to the city and help business,” he said.

O’Connor said travel through the Depot Square area was “a mystery every day. You would never know what to expect during the heavy construction period.

“Today everything is great and I think the final outcome will attract people and business to the city as a whole. I even like the clock tower, the whole nine yards,” O’Connor said.

The dedication of the original Great River Bridge and its new twin span will be held at 2 p.m..

Of the $80 million price tag for the bridge project, Westfield’s financial commitment involved a portion of the design work and the land takings involving the former Blessed Sacrament Church, one business and some smaller parcels. That cost was about $2.5 million, according to state Sen. Michael R. Knapik, R-Westfield. The city’s cost was financed using its Chapter 90, annual state road funding.

The bridge project started at an estimated $57 million but quickly rose to $80 million because of extensive deterioration discovered with the original bridge and additional funding, about $13 million, to raise the CSX Railroad viaduct that crosses Depot Square.

A Downtown Open House is also scheduled June 29 from 4 - 7 p.m., city officials said.

Cressotti said “The downtown project is coming along quite well and will be in the punch list phase probably next week.”

Sod was being installed on Park Square Green Monday morning.

The downtown project, started in April 2010, included reconstruction and new utilities on Main, Elm and Broad streets.

While the downtown green construction will be complete on or about July 1, no formal municipal activities will be scheduled on it until next year.

Students are Westfield Vocational-Technical High School are designing and will construct a pavilion for the green. Construction of the structure will progress when classes resume for the 2012-2013 school year.

“There will be no programming of activities for the green until maybe late in the fall,” Cressotti said. “We must be sensitive to the grass and wait until it is firmly ready to handle foot traffic,” Cressotti said.

The commission wants to see how the policy works in the summer months.

Photo by Diane Lederman / The RepublicanThe sign at Amethyst Brook in Amherst lets visitors know the hours in which dogs can run unleashed.

AMHERST - Dogs will continue to be able to run off leash in the early mornings and leashed at all other times as the Conservation Commission voted to extend the trial for another three months.

Commissioners set hours to limit the time dogs could be off-leash at two recreation areas in November as a trial.

They want to give it another three months before adopting any kind of permanent policy.

Animal Welfare officer Carol Hepburn who delivered her findings to the commission said, “I’m kind of happy they didn’t vote (on a permanent policy.) They would have been hurried.” She said this will now leave time to gather more information and for a more deliberation.

Many dog owners, as in the past, want to be able to let their dogs off leash all the time or for more hours instead of the dawn to 10 a.m. window now. Others, however, remain concerned about safety and dogs not being under voice control when they are off leash.
Hepburn said there were no dog bites during the trial and just minor issues that she knew about.

“Education is crucial,” and she would like to see the sides work together. “I don’t think either side is more entitled to use it,” she said, referring to the Amethyst Brook area, one of two areas in town that allow dogs off leash in the morning. The other is Mill River. Dogs are required to be leashed at all other areas.

Commissioner Elizabeth Hamm made the motion to extend the trial. “We were not going to have a chance to really discuss it,” she said because of meeting time constraints. Also she said commissioners realized they did not have a chance to see how the policy worked over the summer. “It’s a hard issue,” she said. “It’s balancing between conflicting issues.”

The commission wants to talk about whether it might make sense to change the hours when dogs could be off leash to late afternoon or keep them the same or add to them.

A follow up meeting has not been scheduled but will likely happen in the fall.

Residents will first get an opportunity to review conceptual plans for the neighborhood by planning consultants Dodson & Flinker Inc. of Ashfield.

Photo by Sandra E. Constantine / The RepublicanThis structure at George and Union streets in West Springfield was constructed to replace a multi-family structure destroyed in the 2011 tornado that ravaged the Merrick neighborhood.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Residents will get a chance to offer input into a package of new zoning regulations and boundaries to be proposed for the Merrick neighborhood during a public forum set for Tuesday.

The forum will take place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the auditorium in the municipal building.

Residents will first get an opportunity to review conceptual plans for the neighborhood by planning consultants Dodson & Flinker Inc. of Ashfield. Consultants will make a presentation starting at 6 p.m. and there will be an open discussion of plans starting at 7 p.m.

Dodson & Flinker has been engaged by the city for $40,000 to come up with plans by the end of the month to foster rebuilding the tornado-ravaged Merrick section. The study is being paid for by a tornado recovery grant from the state Department of Housing and Community Development prompted by the destruction the June 1, 2011 twister did to Merrick.

Planning Administrator Richard A. Werbiskis said Friday changes are needed to ensure that property owners may redevelop their parcels in keeping with the mixed-use nature of the historic neighborhood. Merrick consists mostly of multi-family houses together with commercial and industrial properties that are close to the street and have narrow side yards.

Werbiskis said the zoning package also contains restrictions that will require new construction fit in with the older-styled architecture of the area that helps give the neighborhood its character.

He pointed to a recently constructed multi-family house at Union and George streets with boxy lines and a bulkhead to the basement on the front of the building as a structure not in keeping with the neighborhood.

Form-based zoning could require such amenities as front porches and that residences be oriented toward the street, Werbiskis said.

The plans to be unveiled Tuesday represent the efforts of Dodson & Flinker working over the last four months with Merrick are residents, business people, elected officials and city planning staffers. More information may be obtained by calling (413) 263-3045. Refreshments will be served at the public forum.

Police have responded to a developing standoff at 228 Locust St. with a resident neighbors said was running up and down the street naked late this morning.

The Republican / Mark M. MurraySpringfield Police on the scene of a standoff with a man that locked himself in an apartment on Locust Street Saturday afternoon.

SPRINGFIELD - A SWAT team entered 228 Locust St. about 2:45 p.m. Saturday in response to a man inside the four-story apartment building who threatened to shoot police through a door.

He was removed, strapped into a stretcher, at 3:50 p.m. Hampden County district attorney Mark Mastroianni said no shots were fired in the incident.

At 3:45 p.m. a member of the SWAT team went into the building with a battering ram.

The threat comes less than two weeks after veteran Springfield officer Kevin Ambrose was shot and killed by a man firing through the door of a Lawton Street apartment. Ambrose was responding to a domestic call at the time. The shooter then critically wounded his girlfriend before killing himself.

Police Lt. Robert P. Moynihan said officers initially responded to 911 calls around 11 a.m. from residents reporting a naked man was running up and down Locust Street. Police treated it as a well-being check until it appeared the man holed up in his apartment.

Moynihan said the man threatened to shoot police through the door. It was unknown if he was armed.

The Republican / Mark M. MurraySpringfield Police on the scene of a standoff with a man that locked himself in an apartment on Locust Street Saturday afternoon.

Police cordoned off the block and approximately 10 cruisers and two ambulances stood by as police negotiators tried to safely extract the man from his apartment, Moynihan said. Investigators contacted the building manager who was able to help police gain entry into the building after noontime.

A SWAT team entered the side door later in the afternoon, armed with shields and helmets.

Fifteen minutes later a member of the team emerged and obtained cigarettes from someone in the crowd to be given to the man they were negotiating with.

Area police have been the victim of multiple attacks recently, with the stabbing in Westfield of a city officer on April 7, the shooting in Chicopee of a state trooper April 13, the attack on a Chicopee city officer April 17, and the murder of Ambrose on June 4, all during domestic calls. The man who stabbed the Westfield officer was shot and killed by another officer, the man who wounded the trooper killed himself, and the man who attacked the Chicopee officer was arrested.

More details will be provided as the situation unfolds.

View Larger Map

Life sciences and biotechnology businesses continued to add job during the recent economic recession, according to Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray.

Photo by Mark M. Murray / The RepublicanLt. Gov. Timothy Murray ,left, Michael L. Vedovelli, senior regional director, Mass Office of Business Developmant, center, look on as Steven G. Richter, president of Microtest Laboratories Inc., gives a tour of the company loacted at 104 Gold Street in Agawam.

AGAWAM – Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray this week hailed Microtest Laboratories Inc. as an example of the growth that is possible for life science businesses in West Massachusetts after taking a tour of its facilities.

“What struck me is the potential for growth,” Murray said.

The lieutenant governor said growth is possible because of the high quality of the academic programs in such state-funded institutions of higher learning in the area as Westfield State University, Holyoke Community College, Springfield Technical Community College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

As an example, Murray pointed to Steven G. Richter, the Agawam company’s founder and president. Richter was educated at Holyoke Community College and the University of Massachusetts at both Amherst and in Worcester.

Murray said the state fosters such business development by nurturing educational programs.

“There is a natural cluster in Western Massachusetts that can grow around the life sciences” the lieutenant governor said. “The resilience of that sector, life sciences and biotechnology, demonstrated itself through the great recession.”

Murray said that sector continued to add jobs despite hard economic times.

A life science testing and pharmaceutical manufacturer, Microtest is one of the most established life sciences companies in the region. Microtest has offered student internships through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center’s Internship Challenge Program.

Murray’s tour of the company’s Gold Street comes just prior to the BIO International Convention, which will include an exhibit by Microtest. The convention opens June 18 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

Richter started Microtest in 1984 with a microbiology lab in his attic. It is now a $10- million-a-year-plus company with about 100 employees.

It specializes in testing and contract manufacturing for the medical device, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Some of its business involves the testing of medical devices before they are released to market.

Richter said being able to do low-interest borrowing with the state’s Emergent Technology Fund was a boon to his business. Microtest sends on lots of its employees to jobs in the biotechnology in Boston and its environs, according to him.

“Our former employees bring us back work,” Richter said.

More students nation-wide are showing a bigger interest in taking vocational courses.

File photo by John Suchocki / The RepublicanChicopee Comprehensive High school carpentry students Tina Niedermeier and Travis Lelievre set up a porch column while instructor Gary Guilbault watches late last year.

CHICOPEE – Citing a nation-wide trend in increasing interest in vocational programs, the School Committee is trying to add more programs to its career technical department.

While the shops at the school have little extra room but it may be possible for the school to take over the maintenance building next to the school for its horticulture and landscaping programs and free up room in the school for another program or two, Superintendent Richard W. Rege said.

The maintenance department is eventually planning to move all its equipment and staff to the former Telecommunications building, which is now unused, he said.

School Committee member Donald J. Lamothe asked to have the facilities subcommittee examine possibility. The committee approved the recommendation 9-0.

He added that the school committee recently toured the career technical department and Director Kenneth R. Widelo said the shops were full and students are waiting to get into some of the programs.

“He is looking to add several new programs,” he said.

Widelo and some teachers are studying the idea of starting new programs now. They are supposed to report to the School Committee with ideas in late summer, Rege said.

He reminded the committee that Widelo had originally wanted to add more programs when the new Comprehensive High School was built more than five years ago. His ideas were rejected because of the cost of adding more space to the building, which was already facing $20 million in cost overruns.

School Committee members said they will be interested in adding programs, but were unsure if they can fund them.

The Krohns bought the property in 2008; officials visited the old school in November 2010 to investigate its condition.

File photo by Michael Gordon / The RepublicanThe former Three Rivers Grammar School is seen in the fall of 2010.

PALMER - The Board of Health is asking the court to help resolve issues with a long-standing dilapidated property in town, the former Three Rivers Grammar School on Bridge Street.

The Board of Health filed the request on June 14 with the Western Housing Court in Springfield for a criminal complaint regarding state sanitary code violations at the school.

"We're going to let the court decide when and how it gets done," Health Agent Lorri McCool said on Friday.

The Board of Health and building inspector have been trying since 2010 to get the property owner to clean it. Windows are broken, the inside is filled with clutter, and there are several vehicles parked on the property that never seem to move.

"It's definitely gotten worse," McCool said. "It looks additional windows are broken and there are unregistered vehicles on the property."

"We've talked with them (the owners), and they've promised and promised" to clean it, "but it seems like there's always something that comes up that prevents them from following through," McCool said.

The request for the criminal complaint lists the November 2010 visit that health, police and building officials paid to the property, where they determined the dwelling did not comply with provisions of the state sanitary code; the accumulation of debris and broken windows were cited as problems.

The complaint also states that the property owners, Kenneth B. and Karen M. Krohn, of Cambridge, were notified in March 2011 to comply with the code, and that they have failed to do so.

In March 2011, the Krohns were told the dwelling is unfit for human habitation, and that the building must be made weather-tight. They also were told that holes in the floors had to repaired so as not to endanger emergency personnel if they had to enter the building. That work was supposed to have been completed by May 1, 2011.

McCool said repairs to the holes in the floors were made, but nothing ever happened outside.

The 103-year-old brick building on Bridge Street was purchased by the Krohns in March 2008 for $130,000 from New Future Development Corp.

Kenneth Krohn previously blamed his ill health on the reason why they have not worked on the building. He said they had planned to use the old school for his personal library.

According to the town ordinance, property owners can store only one unregistered motor vehicle or trailer, or one registered motor vehicle or trailer not in operating condition, and they must be stored under a vehicle cover if visible from a public way. Violators are subject to fines. Police previously found four vehicles on the property that were unregistered.

Karen Krohn could not be reached for comment.

Both principals signed three-year contracts starting at $93,000 for the first year, $95,790 for the second year and $98,663 for the third year.

EAST LONGMEADOW – The school department has hired two new principals for the district’s elementary schools.

Michael Fredette, who is currently the principal at New Hingham Elementary in Chesterfield, has been hired as the new principal at Mapleshade Elementary School. Lisa Dakin, the principal at Milton Bradley Elementary School in Springfield, will be the principal at Meadow Brook Elementary.

Principals Judy Fletcher and Brenda Houle will retire from Meadow Brook and Mapleshade respectively on June 30.

“They will certainly leave a void. Both have always been consummate professionals and they will be missed,” said Superintendent of Schools Gordon C. Smith.

Smith said Fredette and Dakin were among a long list of highly qualified applicants.

“We had a search committee that consisted of school committee members, administrators, parents and others who narrowed down the search,” he said. “We are very excited to have them both on board.”

Fredette, who lives in Williamsburg, said the district appealed to him because it was an opportunity to grow professionally.

“This is a larger school, but certainly small enough that it will not be overwhelming,” said Fredette.

“I find that the district’s philosophies regarding curriculum, instruction and leadership fit very well with my beliefs and I’m looking forward to getting started.”

Fredette has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Framingham State University and a master’s in education, policy and regional administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has been in education for 12 years including five as the New Hingham principal.

Smith said Dakin stood out due to her leadership skills and experience as an academic coach, which is a model being used in the district now. She is also familiar with tiered instruction, which is the approach used in the district.

Dakin, of Wilbraham, said the tiered instruction model attracted her to the district as well as the high level of parent involvement.

“There is a lot of support from parents which is great and the district has a reputation for having very dedicated teachers,” said Dakin.

“I’m also interested in the approach to reading through the use of authentic literacy which incorporates reading workshops and the opportunity for students to select what books they want to read,” she said. “I’ve met with the leadership team at the school and I’m looking forward to working with them.”

Dakin has a bachelor’s degree in special education from Providence College and a master’s degree in administration from American International College. She has been in education for 25 years.

Both principals will begin July 1.

Police said Williams locked his apartment door when investigators arrived to check on him, threatening to kill himself and the officers.

SPRINGFIELD – A five-hour standoff between police and what they deemed a mentally ill man who earlier alarmed neighbors by running down Locust Street naked on Saturday morning ended around 4 p.m. with no injuries.

The situation was particularly tense coming on the heels of the fatal shooting of officer Kevin Ambrose during a domestic call on June 4. The man, whom police and neighbors said is James Williams, of 228 Locust St., Apt. 2, was threatening to “shoot police right through the door” when patrolman arrived to do a well-being check around 11 a.m.

It is yet unclear whether Williams actually had a gun in the apartment, but the threats drew the full complement of police resources – including a camouflage-clad, helmeted SWAT team carrying large automatic weapons by mid-afternoon. The team crept around the side of the building near the corners of Locust Street and Woodside Terrace around 2:40 p.m. and the sound of breaking glass could be heard beyond the crime scene tape the cordoned off the block.

The Republican / Mark M. MurraySpringfield Police on the scene of a standoff with a man that locked himself in an apartment on Locust Street Saturday afternoon.

Shortly after, two uniformed police officers ran out to a large crowd of local residents to get a cigarette for Williams at his request. Tyler Green, 22, of West Springfield, obliged with a Newport.

Who knows, it could save a life,” Green said.

Police said they believed Williams is in at least his 40s, has a minor criminal record and a long history with the state Department of Mental Health.

The SWAT team used a battering ram to get Williams out of the building, strapped him into a stretcher and whisked him into an awaiting ambulance.

Earlier in the day, Lt. Robert Moynihan said police were trying to determine whether his building or unit is under contract with the state.

A neighbor who declined to give his name said he spotted Williams streaking up and down the street in the late morning, and a visiting nurse called 911. The neighbor said Williams was generally regarded as kind, particularly to neighborhood children.

Police said Williams locked his apartment door when investigators arrived to check on him, threatening to kill himself and the officers.

Area police have been the victim of multiple attacks recently, with the stabbing in Westfield of a city officer on April 7, the shooting in Chicopee of a state trooper April 13, the attack on a Chicopee city officer April 17, and the murder of Ambrose on June 4, all during domestic calls. The man who stabbed the Westfield officer was shot and killed by another officer, the man who wounded the trooper killed himself, and the man who attacked the Chicopee officer was arrested.

Residents of nearby buildings were temporarily prevented from going home, even those returning with groceries or steaming pizza for lunch.

Josalyn Rodgers, of Leyfred Terrace, was forced to stand in the hot sun outside the police tape after getting off a city bus that was forced to turn around after dropping her off at her stop near the spectacle.

“I’m just trying to get home … and be nosy at the same time,” said said.

View Larger Map

According to the terms of his release, Clark must stay out of Brimfield, have no contact with the alleged victim, have no unsupervised contact with children under 14, and have no employment or volunteer position that would put him in contact with children. he also cannot use the Internet.

PALMER – A 30-year-old Rochdale man will return to Palmer District Court on July 30 for a pretrial conference on charges of exhibiting a child in a nude or lascivious pose, indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, and exhibiting a child in a sexual pose or act, unless his case is moved to Hampden Superior Court by then.

Jason C. Clark, of 212 Charlton St., was in court Friday before Judge Patricia T. Poehler.

He previously denied the charges at his May 7 arraignment, where he was told to have no contact with the child, not to use the Internet, have no unsupervised contact with children under 14, to stay out of Brimfield, and to have no employment or volunteer position that would put him in contact with children.

The charges were brought by state police after an investigation led troopers to a residence in Brimfield in April. Troopers told the woman there that they believed inappropriate photographs of her daughter were taken from inside the home, and ended up on the Internet, according to the court file.

The mother said she did not know that Clark, described as a family friend, was taking photographs of her daughter, the file said.

The court file stated that Clark had open cases of dissemination of obscene matter and child pornography possession, and was not supposed to have unsupervised visits with children as a result of those charges.