ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson also said America's quest for energy independence is misguided.

Associated PressIn a Thursday Oct. 6, 2011 file photo, ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson addresses the third annual Washington Ideas Forum at the Newseum in Washington.

NEW YORK (AP) — ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson says fears about climate change, drilling, and energy dependence are overblown.

In a speech Wednesday, Tillerson acknowledged that burning of fossil fuels is warming the planet, but said society will be able to adapt. The risks of oil and gas drilling are well understood and can be mitigated, he said. And dependence on other nations for oil is not a concern as long as access to supply is certain, he said.

Tillerson blamed a public that is "illiterate" in science and math, a "lazy" press, and advocacy groups that "manufacture fear" for energy misconceptions in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations.

He highlighted that huge discoveries of oil and gas in North America have reversed a 20-year decline in U.S. oil production in recent years. He also trumpeted the global oil industry's ability to deliver fuels during a two-year period of dramatic uncertainty in the Middle East, the world's most important oil and gas-producing region.

"No one, anywhere, any place in the world has not been able to get crude oil to fuel their economies," he said.

In his speech and during a question-and-answer session after, he addressed three major energy issues: Climate change, oil and gas drilling pollution, and energy dependence.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Tillerson, in a break with predecessor Lee Raymond, has acknowledged that global temperatures are rising. "Clearly there is going to be an impact," he said Wednesday.

But he questioned the ability of climate models to predict the magnitude of the impact. He said that people would be able to adapt to rising sea levels and changing climates that may force agricultural production to shift.

"We have spent our entire existence adapting. We'll adapt," he said. "It's an engineering problem and there will be an engineering solution."

Andrew Weaver, chairman of climate modeling and analysis at the University of Victoria in Canada, disagreed with Tillerson's characterization of climate modeling. He said modeling can give a very good sense of the type of climate changes that are likely. And he said adapting to those changes will be much more difficult and disruptive than Tillerson seems to be acknowledging.

Steve Coll, author of the recent book "Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power," said he was surprised Exxon would already be talking about ways society could adapt to climate change when there is still time to try to avoid its worst effects. Also, he said, research suggests that adapting to climate change could be far more expensive than reducing emissions now. "Moving entire cities would be very expensive," he said.

Legislation or regulation that would help slow the emissions of global warming gases would likely lead to lower demand for oil and gasoline, and could reduce Exxon's profit.

DRILLING

Tillerson expressed frustration at the level of public concern over new drilling techniques that tap natural gas and oil in shale formations under several states. He said environmental advocacy groups that "manufacture fear" have alarmed a public that doesn't understand drilling practices — or math, science or engineering in general. He blamed "lazy" journalists for producing stories that scare the public but don't investigate the claims of advocacy groups.

Drilling for oil and gas will always involve risks of spills and accidents, he said. But those risks are manageable and worth taking because they are small given the amount of energy they produce.

Drilling in shale formations, he said, only poses a small risk to those living nearby. It is neither life threatening nor long lasting and can be controlled in the event of an accident.

Drillers force millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and some hazardous chemicals into shale formations. The technique breaks up rock and creates escape routes for oil and gas. If the drilling wastewater is not treated properly or if it seeps through cracked drilling pipes, it could contaminate drinking water.

The industry's biggest challenge, he said, is "taking an illiterate public and try to help them understand why we can manage these risks."

ENERGY SECURITY

Tillerson made a distinction between energy security and energy dependence. He said that energy security — making sure that the economy has access to energy — is crucial.

But he said access to energy is not in peril. "Some of the fears around energy security are not well founded," he said.

The quest for energy independence, though, is misguided, he said. It doesn't matter where the U.S. gets oil because crude is priced globally. Even if the U.S. used only oil from North America, a disruption in the Middle East would increase global prices, hurt the U.S. and global economies, and force Americans to pay more at the pump.

Even if the U.S. no longer needed Middle Eastern oil, it would likely want to play a major role in helping maintain the region's security, Tillerson said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional leaders have reached tentative deals that would prevent a doubling of student loan interest rates and revamp the nation's transportation programs, congressional officials said Wednesday. If completed, the compromises would resolve two vexing issues on which lawmakers face weekend deadlines for action. House and Senate leaders have tentatively agreed to a one-year extension of today's...

AP Photo/J. Scott ApplewhiteThe Capitol is seen in Washington, Thursday, May 17, 2012.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional leaders have reached tentative deals that would prevent a doubling of student loan interest rates and revamp the nation's transportation programs, congressional officials said Wednesday. If completed, the compromises would resolve two vexing issues on which lawmakers face weekend deadlines for action.

House and Senate leaders have tentatively agreed to a one-year extension of today's 3.4 percent interest rates for subsidized Stafford loans, said a congressional Republican who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal the issue's status. The measure — which would affect 7.4 million students projected to get new loans starting July 1 — is the same package that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday they had crafted between themselves.

At the same time, congressional leaders have tentatively agreed on a two-year bill to overhaul federal highway programs, Senate aides said. The government's authority to spend money on highways, bridges and transit systems expires Saturday, as does its ability to levy gasoline and diesel taxes. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal wasn't final.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said bargainers would drop a requirement that the government approve the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline that is to run from Canada to Texas. House Republicans had pushed for inclusion of the Keystone provision, but the White House threatened to veto the bill if it was included.

Inhofe said another GOP provision blocking the federal government from regulating the toxic ash generated by coal-fired power plants would also be jettisoned.

House Republicans won concessions from the Senate on environmental reviews of highway projects, Senate aides and environmentalists said.

Critics have complained that requirements for environmental impact statements before highway construction projects can proceed have caused unnecessary delays and driven up costs. Under the agreement, the average time it takes to complete a highway project would drop from 15 years to about eight years, they said.

The agreement also makes other kinds of transportation programs eligible for the same pool of money that funds transportation enhancements, which means there will probably be less money to go around for biking and walking projects, they said.

The aides said they were working to put the agreement into legislative language, which must happen before House and Senate leaders formally sign off on the deal.

Congressional leaders are talking about combining the highway and student loan measures into a single bill to reduce potential procedural obstacles, and hope to vote final approval this week. Lawmakers hope to then leave Washington for a July 4 recess.

Earlier Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters that lawmakers were moving toward an agreement on the highway and student loan issues.

Boehner made his remarks a day after Reid and McConnell said they'd struck a bipartisan agreement that the White House later said it supported. Those statements put pressure on Boehner to accept the deal, which if enacted would avoid antagonizing millions of students and their parents in an election year.

President Barack Obama highlighted the student loan issue during visits to college campuses this spring amid a campaign year in which the struggles of many families to cope with the limp economy has been a defining issue. Hoping to prevent him from using the dispute in the fall campaign, GOP presidential challenger Mitt Romney said in April that he backed an extension of the lower rates. GOP congressional leaders said the same.

In recent weeks, the key dispute has been over how to pay the student loan bill's $6 billion price tag.

Under the agreement, the government would raise $5 billion by changing the way companies calculate the money they have to set aside for pensions. That change would make their contributions more consistent from year to year, in effect reducing their payments initially and lowering the tax deductions they receive for their pension contributions.

Another $500 million would come from increasing the fees companies pay for the government to insure their pension plans, linking those fees to inflation.

In addition, $1.2 billion would be saved by limiting federal subsidies of Stafford loans to six years for undergraduates.

The White House threatened to veto a House-passed bill extending the lower interest rates because it was paid for by cutting a preventive health care program that Obama helped create. Republicans blocked a Democratic version in the Senate paid for by boosting taxes on owners of some privately held corporations.

Congressional leaders are discussing combining the student loan bill with the highway legislation. Any extra funds raised by the student loan measure could help pay for the highway legislation.

The last long-term transportation bill expired in 2009. Congress has kept programs going through a series of nine short-term extensions.

The bill would overhaul transportation programs, giving states more flexibility in how they spend federal money, step up the pace of road construction by shortening environmental reviews, impose new safety regulations and boost funding for a federal loan guarantee program aimed at increasing private investment in highway and other transportation construction projects.

The Senate passed a bipartisan, $109 billion transportation bill in March. House Republicans were unable to pass their own comprehensive transportation bill because of divisions in their party.

Instead, they passed a three-month extension of current programs coupled with controversial provisions that would have required the government to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline and blocked the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating the toxic ash created by coal-burning power plants.

The center is expecting to provide breakfast, lunch and snacks to about 300 youngsters this summer.

File photo by Don Treege / The Republican /span>Easthampton Community Center Directory Robin Bialecki stands in front of the center.

EASTHAMPTON – The Easthampton Community Center doesn’t want kids to go hungry this summer and is hoping the community turns out in a big way Saturday for the third annual food drive at Big E’s supermarket.

Four years ago, the center began offering bags of food targeting children from kindergarten through the fourth grade who eat free or pay a reduced lunch costs at school.

And the number of those in need is nearly double, said director Robin Bialecki.

She said she’s seeing families who had received assistance who were able to find work for a while return because one or both have lost their jobs again.
“That’s the trend for the last few months.”

Monday when the program began they signed up eight more families and they are expecting to provide lunch and breakfast for 300 youngsters every week over the summer, she said.

Families can pick up their usual bag of food at the center and a bag of breakfast, lunch and snacks for their children every week until school resumes in the fall.

Bialecki said they’re looking for meals that youngsters can make themselves such as microwavable macaroni and cheese. “We know the kids are home alone,” she said and they don’t want anyone to get hurt using a stove.

For the drive, they are looking for boxes of cereal, granola bars for snacks, fruit, juice boxes, tuna fish, and any kind of microwavable meal.

If people want to donate money instead, she said she can buy food from the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts in Hatfield.

“We have a short time span. We need to get a lot of food, to get it to the kids now. Kids are out (of school) and they’re hungry.”

The drive co-sponsored by the Easthampton Democratic City Committee and Big E’s is from 9 to 1 p.m. in the supermarket parking lot.

Pastrana was apprehended a short time later after a police dog found him hiding under some mud in a nearby swamp.

Jovet DeLaPaz Pastrana

SPRINGFIELD - A burglary suspect in a break-in to a Pine Point house on Tuesday fought with police, and managed to escape when he was able to wrestle a canister of pepper spray from one of the officers and blast them with it, according to police.

Suspect Jovet DeLaPaz Pastrana, 30, was apprehended a short time later as he was spotted by a police dog as he tried to hide by burying himself in the mud at a nearby swamp, said officer Richard Rodrigues, aide to Police Commissioner William Fitchet.

Pastrana, who gave his address as the Friends of the Homeless shelter at 769 Worthington St., faces multiple larceny and assault and battery charges, including felony breaking and entering and placing a person in fear, larceny from a building, larceny from a person and larceny of more than $250, two counts of assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon: pepper spray, use of tear gas in the commission of a crime, possession of pepper spray without a firearms identification card, resisting arrest, destruction of property valued at more than $250, and possession of burglary tools.

He was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Springfield but information on the arraignment was not available.

Rodrigues said police were called to a home on Arnold Avenue at around 3 p.m. by the homeowner who was notified by his alarm company that someone was in the house. As the two officers searched the home, Pastrana charged out of a bedroom and attacked them. During the struggle, he managed to wrestle some pepper spray away, spray the officers and flee, Rodrigues said.

The spray left them momentarily incapacitated but they were able to radio for assistance, Rodrigues said. Neither officer needed treatment at the hospital and each was able to complete the shift. The effects of the pepper spray wear off in 30 to 40 minutes, he said.

Pastrana stole a bicycle from the yard next door and attempted to ride away.

Police set up a perimeter of the neighborhood and Pastrana ditched the bicycle and tried to hide in the woods where a K-9 team found him, Rodrigues said.

Statistics show a 22 percent reduction in 911 calls after closing time on weekends, according to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet.

File photo by Don Ryan / Associated PressMardi Gras Gentleman's Club on Taylor Street is among six bars fighting against a 1 a.m. closing time city ordinance in federal court.

SPRINGFIELD - Springfield’s version of “Footloose” continues to play out in the court system, with a federal judge on Wednesday denying a motion by local bar owners to immediately lift a 1 a.m. citywide ban on entertainment in bars.

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno enacted a new ordinance in April, arguing the previous closing time of 2 a.m. attracted out-of-town rabble-rousers and spikes in violence.

The public dialogue has played out like a seedier version of the iconic 80s film starring Kevin Bacon, portraying rebellion against a small-town ban on music and dancing for the moral good of its citizenry. The city has argued bars staying open past 1 a.m. invites trouble and boosts police overtime, while bar owners have argued the one-hour restriction is arbitrary and bad for business.

The city’s ordinance focuses on entertainment licenses, not liquor licenses.

So for instance, under the ordinance - bartenders are able to keep pouring until 2 a.m., but exotic dancers are ordered from their poles, disc jockeys from their booths and speakers and televisions are shut down. Lawyers for the plaintiffs told U.S. District Court Judge Michael A. Ponsor the ban in a violation of the public’s constitutional right to dance.

Or as the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by six bar owners states: “Live music can no longer be heard by willing patrons, customers can no longer nod their heads or sway their hips to the bear of popular radio tunes and dancers can no longer perform on stages. Protected First Amendment expression is effectively silenced through the city of Springfield.”

Lawyers on Thursday sought a judge’s order to immediately lift the ban.

“Some speakers get to talk past the 1 a.m. closure time,” Jennifer M. Kinsley, a constitutional law lawyer from Cincinnati, Ohio, argued to Ponsor, referring to exemptions for establishments that can show a threshold of food service (40 percent of their receipts).

Ponsor, however, was skeptical.

“I’m struggling with what you have here as speech being censored,” the judge asked.

Kinsley also argued the process through which bar owners can apply for waivers through the city is design to stymie applicants and lead nowhere.

The six plaintiff bars include the Mardi Gras, Score’s, Center Stage, and the Fifth Alarm - all downtown strip clubs owned by James and Helen Santaniello - and Buddy’s Club and Oz, located at Chestnut and Dwight streets, respectively. Forty-one bars have applied unsuccessfully for exemptions, according to arguments in court. Two other sued in state court; those are pending.

Forty-one bars applied for waivers and Sarno granted 10, city officials have said.

In filings submitted to the court by the city, an affidavit offered by Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet states that since the April 6 ban, there has been:

• A 22 percent reduction in 911 calls in the downtown entertainment district;

• A 10 percent dip in police overtime;

• A 68 percent decrease in arrests in the entertainment district between the hours of 1 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. and a 50 percent decrease in certain calls during that timeframe, including “shots fired” and “man down” calls.

However, Daniel D. Kelly, another lawyer for the plaintiffs, says the statistics are skewed and they are in the process of completing an independent analysis of the same figures.

“What actually has happened is patrons stop focusing on the music and entertainment at 1 a.m. and start focusing on themselves; then trouble starts. It’s having the reverse effect; it’s idiotic in the most optimistic view,” Kelly said.

Although Ponsor denied the request for a preliminary injunction, the lawsuit against Sarno and the city seeking relief from the ordinance, money damages and attorney’s fees will advance in U.S. District Court.

The jury heard a heavily edited tape of a jailhouse call.

File photo by Dave Roback / The RepublicanDaniel J Rosa is seen in Springfield District Court during his arraignment in January 2011 in the shooting death of David Acevedo III.

SPRINGFIELD – The prosecution has rested in the Daniel Rosa murder trial, and the case is expected to go to the jury Thursday.

Defense lawyer Mary Anne Stamm said she will tell Hampden Superior Court Judge Peter A. Velis in the morning if Rosa, 21, is going to take the stand in his own defense.

If not, the defense will rest its case, after having called one brief witness, a man who lived in the same neighborhood where 24-year-old David Acevedo was fatally shot Jan. 26, 2011, and said he saw a dark car drive away.

Then the jury will hear closing arguments.

The main testimony the jury heard from the prosecution side Wednesday was a heavily edited audio recording of a call Rosa made from jail to a man not identified to the jury and not involved in the murder case.

After Stamm and Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni had Tuesday argued what should be allowed in or kept out from the taped conversation, and Velis made his rulings, the 30 minute conversation became 14 minutes of segments of conversation separated by pauses.

Three men were charged as having participated in a joint venture to murder Acevedo on Riverton Road, though Mastroianni said the prosecution alleges Rosa fired the fatal shot.

Jerel L. Brunson, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in January and was sentenced to a 13- to 16-year state prison sentence.

The third man, Marcus Dixon, still faces a murder charge. Mastroianni had put Dixon on his witness list, but did not call him to testify at trial.

Acevedo’s friend, Eric Carraballo, had testified he saw Rosa pointing a gun at Acevedo shortly before Acevedo was shot. He said Rosa had a blue cloth on top of the gun, but the muzzle was visible.

On the recorded conversation from the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow Rosa can be heard saying he is going to have his girlfriend buy a brand new blue bandanna to give to his lawyer to have tested for gunshot residue so it will test clean.

Rosa does say on the tape he is innocent.

There are also conversations about a man being a snitch. Mastroianni said Rosa is talking about Dixon on the tape.

Rosa said on the tape that all the ... (using a historically derogatory racial term) was supposed to say is that they weren’t together at the time of the shooting.

Mastroianni said Rosa was clearly complaining about Dixon talking to police.

The Dow rose 92 points to close up at 12,627.

File photo / Associated PressA Wall Street sign is shown in New York.

By DANIEL WAGNER

NEW YORK - A rare double shot of good news about the U.S. economy sent stocks strongly higher Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 92 points despite lingering fear about Europe’s debt turmoil.

Americans signed more contracts to buy previously occupied homes in May, matching the fastest pace in two years, the National Association of Realtors said. It was the latest signal that the housing market is improving in many regions following a slump of more than six years.

Homebuilders soared. Lennar Corp. jumped $1.31, or 5 percent, to $28.70. That company had reported earlier that its second-quarter profit rose as it boosted deliveries and new orders. PulteGroup, D.R. Horton and Hovnanian Enterprises also rose sharply.

Earlier, the government said that businesses placed more orders for long-lasting manufactured goods in May, suggesting that their confidence in the U.S. economy was not shaken by signs of weakness that emerged this spring. Core goods, a measure of business investment plans, also jumped.

The reports “were really quite good,” boosting hopes about the economic recovery after three months of weak output and abysmal job growth, said Dennis Gartman, an economist and editor of The Gartman Letter, a source of daily market commentary.

“The economy is doing reasonably well and will continue to muddle on through,” Gartman said.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 92.34 points, or 0.7 percent, at 12,627.01. Coca-Cola rose $1.26, or 2 percent, to $76.34, after saying it will invest another $3 billion in India’s rapidly growing consumer market over the next eight years.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 11.86 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,331.85. Its biggest loser by far was auto parts maker O’Reilly Automotive, which fell $13.83, or 14 percent, to $82.61. O’Reilly said its second-quarter earnings will be at the low end of its earlier estimates and sales will be weaker than previously expected.

H&R Block leapt 58 cents, or 4 percent, to $15.67. The tax preparation company posted a lower fourth-quarter profit than analyst had expected, but the company gained valuable market share while cutting jobs and closing stores to focus on electronic tax filing.

The Nasdaq composite average rose 21.26 points to 2,875.32.

Investors remain wracked with concern about Europe as leaders there prepare for a two-day summit aimed at defusing their lingering debt crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Wednesday that there would be no quick solution to the structural issues plaguing the continent.

Europe will cause volatile stock trading in the coming weeks because the summit is unlikely to produce a lasting solution, Gartman said. The meeting is scheduled to be two days, he said, but Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti promised to keep it going until Sunday if an agreement has not been reached.

“I think he can keep them there until Sunday five weeks from now and there’s little chance they’ll agree,” Gartman said.

Holines and Mathis began a long journey together six years ago. They've both hit new highs, but both still might have more to come.

Michael S. GordonSha-ki Holines might be getting beat here, but he's done enough to prove himself to the UMass coaching staff.

It was about six years ago at Kennedy Middle School. Mathis was part of the school’s alternative learning placement program and helped supervise in-house suspension. Holines was a student who made a habit of wearing skateboarding shoes and had tricked his older sister into taking him to get his ears pierced at the Holyoke Mall.

“I remember him distinctly,” Mathis recalls. “I asked him about those funny shoes he was wearing.”

The two never talked football then, even though it was a part of both of their lives.

Six years later, football has defined their relationship, and to a point, them as individuals as well.

Holines, a defensive end at Commerce High School, just verbally committed to a football scholarship at UMass, while Mathis, his coach, has turned the Commerce football program from a laughingstock into a Super Bowl team.

They couldn’t have done it without each other.

If Margie Coakley had it her way, at least at the beginning, Tyrone Mathis never would have coached Sha-ki Holines. When it came time to choose a high school, Coakley, Holines’ mother, wanted her son to attend Putnam Vocational Technical Academy to focus on academics and acquire trade skills.

Mathis, who had since become the head football coach at Commerce, had other ideas.

“He came to me and called me into his office, and told me to give him a chance with Sha-ki,” Coakley said. “He could see the potential.”

It took some convincing, but eventually Coakley relented, and Holines enrolled at Commerce, where for the first time in his life, he played organized football.

Harry PlumerCoach Tyrone Mathis and Sha-ki Holines share a moment at Commerce High School on Tuesday.

And then, just like that, he almost quit.

“He skipped practice on his birthday to get a haircut,” Mathis recalled. “The coaches all agreed he’d have to sit the next game.”

It was cold on the bench that night. Holines decided he’d had enough. He was done.

“He got really upset,” Mathis said. “I had to regroup him and tell him he shouldn’t quit.”

That was the last of the insubordination from Holines.

“Since then, he hasn’t missed practice on his birthday or any other day,” Mathis said.

Tyrone Mathis never played organized football until the eleventh grade.

He instantly loved it. He was also instantly good.

As a defensive lineman, he helped lead the Albany High School football team to its only New York State playoff appearance in the last 20 years in 1996.

Colleges took notice, but Mathis’ academics weren’t strong enough to qualify for a Division I scholarship. He ended up at Division II American International College in Springfield.

He never left. He became a graduate assistant immediately after his playing days were done beginning with the 2002 football season.

“He had the thing I can’t create and sometimes I try to discourage it,” AIC head coach Art Wilkins said. “That hunger and thirst to coach.”

And so it went. Mathis coached multiple different positions during his time at AIC, transitioning seamlessly from player to mentor almost immediately, according to Wilkins.

“They sometimes call me Big Daddy,” Wilkins said. “Tyrone is really Big Daddy. He’ll give you the tough love and kick your butt when it needs to be kicked.”

Mathis took over at Commerce beginning with the 2008 season. The team went 0-11 and gave up at least 35 points in each game.

Mathis never lost faith. To lose that, would go against who he is as a person. This was what he wanted to do.

“He couldn’t be Tyrone Mathis without coaching,” Wilkins said.

There were pranks on the ride to Tabor Academy in Marion.

Mathis was driving Holines and Quarterback Dayvon Williams to one of Schuman’s National Underclassmen Combines at Tabor on a tip from friend and then-Putnam assistant coach Bill Watson.

“My whole dream every year is to get kids to play on Saturdays,” Mathis said. “Bill introduced me to Schuman’s.”

Michael S. GordonSha-ki Holines (second from left) and his Commerce teammates were able to capture second place in Western Mass this past season. They'll be hoping for more in 2012.

“With his mouth open,” Mathis recalled.

Williams and Mathis sprang into action with their camera phones, and before long the entire Commerce team had shots of Holines napping with his mouth open.

That would be the last time that day anyone laughed at Holines.

He wowed scouts at the combine, winning the freshman overall MVP award.

“That’s when (Mathis) told me I could probably make a living doing this,” Holines said. “That’s when I got serious.”

Holines’ work ethic from then on was exemplary

“If I told him he had to walk on his hands to be a better pass rusher, he’d do it,” Mathis said.

It wasn’t all on the field that Holines had to work. Mathis didn’t want Holines to suffer the same fate he did, and lose out on an opportunity to play in Division I because of academics.

“Do better than I did, that’s what I told him,” Mathis said.

Mathis became a father figure to Holines, who was raised by a single mother, though his father was present in his life.

“He was his father on the football field,” Holines’ sister, Nicole Coakley, said.

It’s somewhere between a smile and a smirk.

When Sha-ki Holines talks about his football life, the good parts are accompanied by this wry facial expression. It’s the look of a young man that knows he has a lot to be satisfied with, but also that the future is uncertain.

It’s the look his mother says he had on June 9 when he came home with the UMass offer. It’s he same one he has when he talks to a reporter about accepting that offer and verbally committing to the Minutemen.

Confident, but shy. Proud, but knowing of the road ahead. Holines has come far, but he still has far to go.

Mathis’s smile is more gregarious. Someday, perhaps, he’ll advance up the ranks of coaching, but for now, he can take comfort in the positive effect he’s had on his players at Commerce.

“He has that ability to gather people up to himself, almost like an umbrella shade,” Wilkins said. “He has a quiet magnetism about him.”

Despite their successes, though, Holines and Mathis still have work to attend to.

Commerce made it to the Division II Western Mass Final in 2011, where they were thrashed by Putnam 48-6. Holines says a day doesn’t go by that he doesn’t think abou it. Mathis says his team will be good enough to compete again this season.

Whatever happens, both in 2012 and beyond, Holines and Mathis will always know one thing. They’ll have each other,.,

“Because of our love for the game, we’ll be forever connected,” Mathis said.

All three lanes of I-91 north were closed for more than two hours while the scene was cleared.

The Republican | Don Treeger06.27.2012 | WEST SPRINGFIELD -- The site of a truck rollover accident that forced the closure of I-91 Wednesday.

This is an update of a story first posted at 1:16 p.m.

WEST SPRINGFIELD - A dump truck hauling a load of contaminated soil overturned on Interstate 91 Wednesday afternoon and created a mess in the northbound lane near exit 14, state police said.

No one was injured in the accident, reported at 12:40 p.m., but the spill caused the closing of all three northbound lanes for more than 2 hours, said Trooper Thomas Murphy of Massachusetts State Police Media Relations.

Police detoured traffic at exit 14 to Route 5, but the traffic tie-up on I-91 north at times stretched some 3.5 miles across the Connecticut River to the Chicopee Curve.

Murphy said the driver of the truck, William McCaffery, 35, of Rutland, Vermont, did not require medical attention.

His truck, a 2000 International dump truck, was hauling a load of dirt mixed with fuel oil, he said.

Murphy said he did not know what caused McCaffery to lose control of the truck. Reports from the field had not yet been completed, he said.

The accident remains under investigation.

The cleanup was lengthy because all of the contaminated soil had to be reloaded onto another truck and hauled away.

By 3:45 p.m. traffic was flowing smoothly again on I-91 north.

View Dump truck rollover in West Springfield in a larger map

Selectman Ron Aponte said the parties are close to an agreement on liability issues stemming from leftover pollution at the site that must be cleaned up.

BELCHERTOWN – The ownership transfer of an 11-acre parcel at the former Belchertown State School to a private developer that plans to build a 170-unit assisted living facility is expected to occur as soon as next month.

At Monday’s meeting, selectman Ronald Aponte said the parties are close to an agreement on liability issues stemming from leftover pollution at the site that must be cleaned up – an issue that has plagued the property and killed previous attempts to develop that site, known as Pad 1.

Ronald E. Aponte

“The indemnification issue has been conceptually agreed to; the bottom line is, it appears the indemnification hurdle has been overcome,” Aponte told the board. “We are making good progress.” He attended a meeting last week that included representatives from the developer, Weston Solutions Inc. as well as members of the Patrick administration, the legislative delegation and town officials.

Concerns about cleanup costs and the associated liability, while thwarting private development efforts, has also frustrated town officials who want the land sold, improved, and placed on the tax rolls.

Weston Solutions Inc. will spend $2 million to clean up the site, including getting rid of four buildings contaminated with asbestos and lead paint.

The town-appointed Belchertown Economic Development and Industrial Corporation is legal owner of the land.

Town meeting last month said yes to a $1.25 million bond to build a road to the site, which persuaded Weston to go forward with the remediation. Town officials say the bond will end up costing the town zero because tax receipts from the assisted living facility will be greater.

The 24-foot-wide road with sidewalk would be constructed in concert with Weston finishing work on the assisted living facility, town officials say.

Estimates show Weston creating at least fifty construction jobs for three year job to remediate Pad 1 then build a 150,000-square-foot, 170-unit, assisted living facility. The housing is expected to permanently employ more than 100 in a wide range of positions.

Keystone Commons opened in 2008 on West Street in Ludlow with 90 units. According to the Ludlow collector’s office the town received $170,280.53 in property taxes the past year and the five-acre parcel is assessed at $10 million.

A gallon of regular sold for $3.46 Wednesday, down from $3.52 a week ago and $3.68 a year ago, according to AAA.

SPRINGFIELD – About 2.1 million New England residents are expected to hit the road this Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Or more accurately holiday week. With July 4 falling on a Wednesday next week 25 percent of revelers plan to leave Friday according to a new survey released by AAA Pioneer Valley.

Those 2.1 million travelers represent a 4.7 percent increase over the number of people who traveled last July 4. Nationally, AAA anticipates 42.27 million travelers, a 4.9 percent increase compared with 2011.

As always, the vast majority of those travelers, 1.78 million of them in New England, plan to go by car. Just 150,000 New England residents plan to fly. The remainder will go by other means including bus.

And those drivers will find that gas is a little cheaper following price spikes earlier this year. A gallon of regular sold for $3.46 Wednesday, down from $3.52 a week ago and $3.68 a year ago, according to AAA. The all-time record high price for Greater Springfield is $4.08 a gallon set July 7, 2008.

Robert L. Bolduc, president of Pride Stations and Stores in Springfield, said he expects gas prices to continue to fall because supplies are high, sales are down across the world and the international scene is relatively calm at the moment. He said the price has nothing to do with the summer driving season.

“It’s been a n old wives tale for years, ‘Oh summer is here let’s raise gas prices’,” he said. “The price of gas is determined on the world geopolitical situation and not the fact that it is the Fourth of July.”

The week of July 4 is not particularly busy anyway, Bolduc said. Any added business from holiday getaways is doesn’t make up for the loss of commuter business.

“If anything sales will be down,” Bolduc said.

Pride has 25 locations in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut.

All Massachusetts Department of Transportation projects will shut down Tuesday, July 3 until the morning of July 5, said Michael Verseckes, a spokesman for the State Department of Transportation. Work will be allowed if it is off the roadway and/or behind barriers.

Verseckes also encouraged drivers to sign up for the 511 traveler information service to receive traffic warnings via email or text messages. Travelers can sign up by calling 511 or logging onto www.mass.gov/511.

Free coffee will be served at the 18 MassDOT service plazas from 10 p.m. on Wednesday, July 4, through Thursday, 5 a.m., July 5. The plazas serving free coffee include 11 service plazas along Interstate 90.

The weather looks good through July 4, said Mike Skurko, a CBS3 Springfield meteorologist. He’s predicting typical July days with highs in the 80s and very little humidity.

“Right now it seems like an area of high pressure is going to take over the region,” Skurko said.

“We are not expecting the heat and humidity we had last week.”

When police stopped Garcia, he had a pound of marijuana in his backpack. After searching his house, they found Calo with 19 more pounds and a gun.

Holvin Garcia, left, and Jennifer Calo

Arrested were Holvin Garcia, 27, and Jennifer Calo, 26, of 85 Norman St.

Each was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, violation of a drug-free school zone, possession of a firearm without a license, possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card, possession of a large-capacity firearm, possession of a large-capacity feeding device, and improper storage of a firearm.

Garcia faces an additional charge of distribution of marijuana, while Calo was also charged with assault and battery on a police officer.

Officer Richard Rodrigues, aide to Commissioner William Fitchet, said narcotics detectives observed Garcia selling marijuana from his vehicle. The car was pulled over and detectives discovered he had a pound of marijuana in his backpack.

He was taken into custody and officers applied with district court for a search warrant for 85 Norman St.

When officers attempted to serve the warrant, Calo refused to allow entry. She shoved an officer and attempted to close the door on him, Rodrigues said.  After she was taken into custody, police found 19 pounds of marijuana in the house and a handgun.

They were scheduled to be arraigned in Springfield District Court on Wednesday but information from the court was not available.

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Problems at the current 80-year-old building include crowding, inadequate ventilation, antiquated fire protection and below-standard special education facilities.

SOUTH HADLEY – The South Hadley School Building Committee forecasts that a new school for South Hadley children in pre-kindergarten through first grade may open its doors by August 2015.

The new building would replace the current Plains School.

The long-in-the-planning project got a boost this month when the Massachusetts School Building Authority, the main source of funding for school construction in the state, moved the process into the “schematic design phase,” which includes making decisions about floor plans, window placement, ceiling and roof heights, materials and other details.

Preliminary designs show a two-story building to be constructed near the current Plains site, but closer to the Black-Stevens Conservation Area and farther away from the traffic of Routes 202 and 33.

It’s estimated that the new building will cost $22 to $26 million. Thomas Gebhardt, chairman of the South Hadley School Building Committee, said the amount depends on a number of variants, and will become clearer “once we start identifying all the pieces.”

“This is a very exciting stage in the MSBA process,” Steven Grossman, chairman of the School Building Authority and state treasurer, said in a statement issued by his office.

“It will help us narrow the scope and budget of the potential project so that we can be sure the final product is efficient, sustainable and affordable.”

The MSBA is expected to pay 59 percent of the cost, but Gebhardt said the agency reserves the right to alter that figure.

Problems at the current 80-year-old building include crowding, inadequate ventilation, antiquated fire protection and below-standard special education facilities.

Plains now occupies 16,077 square feet, while the Building Authority recommends 20,100 square feet for a school of its kind. The art and music room occupies 1,505 square feet, in contrast to the 2,500 recommended by the authority. Physical education occupies 4,073 square feet compared to the recommended 6,300 square feet.

The South Hadley School Building Committee submitted a “statement of interest” in 2008 to the Building Authority, which in turn invited the committee to conduct a feasibility study the following year. In 2010, the authority reimbursed South Hadley for 59 percent of the cost of the feasibility study.

After a final, detailed design is approved, the next step is to ask South Hadley to approve its share of the cost at a Town Meeting and Town Election early next year.

Other steps in the process include approval of final construction documents, sending out for bids, and awarding contracts.

The School Building Committee has estimated that, if all goes according to plan, “substantial completion” of the new building will occur in July 2015, with the move taking place the following month.

Malcolm Chu, community organizer for “No One Leaves” said he estimates there are around 250 bank-owned, foreclosed vacant homes throughout the city.

Photo by Mark M. Murray / The RepublicanMalcolm Chu, right speaks during a rally sponsored by the group "No One Leaves" on the steps of the Federal Building on State Street in Springfield Wednesday morning.

SPRINGFIELD – Protesters clad in red shirts rallied around the federal courthouse on State Street on Wednesday, awaiting a judge’s ruling on whether the city can enforce two mandates designed to help homeowners facing foreclosure and city officials grappling with an explosion of blighted, abandoned properties.

However, “No One Leaves,” a coalition of anti-foreclosure advocates will have to wait to declare victory or defeat, as U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor tabled a motion by several local banks to decide a lawsuit over the mandates.

The ordinances require banks to proffer a surety $10,000 bond to the city to secure and maintain any of its foreclosed, vacant properties in Springfield, and to establish city-approved mandatory mediation for homeowners facing foreclosures.

Housing advocates applauded the unanimous vote by the City Council to pass the ordinances, however, banks balked. In general the Massachusetts Bankers Association contended the city overstepped its powers and ran afoul of state laws state govern foreclosures.

Among the plaintiffs who filed suit last year to block or modify the mandates were Chicopee Savings Bank; Monson Savings Bank; Country Bank for Savings; Hampden Bank; United Bank and Easthampton Savings Bank.

Arguing for the banks, lawyer Tani I. Sapirstein particularly questioned the city’s designs on the $10,000 bonds the mandate dictates it collect on bank-owned foreclosed homes, and contended the bond itself was an illegal tax. The mandate also says a portion of the bond money will go to the city as an administrative fee and could contribute to a fund for all foreclosed, abandoned properties.

“That’s the troubling part,” Sapirstein said. “That it could be used for other buildings.”

Thomas D. Moore, a lawyer for the city, said the ordinance does not strictly conflict with any state laws and is aimed primary at absentee landlords who let properties fall into disrepair or merely abandon them.

“Even one of those properties has effects in a domino sense on an entire neighborhood,” defending the fund aspect of the mandate and the administrative fee built in for city code and fire inspectors and necessary repairs.

Ponsor questioned the estimated amount of the fees, as the mandate is not specific, Sapirstein noted.

“Is it $10? Or is it $9,999 dollars? Because that changes the case,” Ponsor said.

Moore said they expect the fees to total between $200-$500, depending on the needs of the properties. A registry of local contacts also will be established for the vacant properties.

Malcolm Chu, community organizer for “No One Leaves” said he estimates there are around 250 bank-owned, foreclosed vacant homes throughout the city.

Amaad I. Rivera, former Ward 6 City Councilor and lead author of the ordinances, said if Ponsor’s ruling allows enforcement of the ordinances, it will be among the strongest municipally enforced anti-foreclosure policies in the country.

“I’ve gotten calls from Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago .¤.¤. everyone’s asking: how do we do this?” Rivera said.

Candejah Pink, 43, was among the activists outside the courthouse Wednesday and among the homeowners who is fighting foreclosure and has refused to leave her home.

A new homeowner with a solid job, Pink said she naively signed on to a $129,000 adjustable rate mortgage for a house at 43 Blunt Road in 2005 with a $1,000 down payment. When her monthly payment suddenly jumped from $900 to $1,300, she objected and received a slight modification. Then she lost her job. She was in over her head. The house fell into foreclosure in 2010.

Pink has been trying to seek help and battling in Housing Court to keep her home.

“I want to work something out. I don’t think it’s fair for anyone to live anywhere for free. I just want to pay the fair market rate,” Pink said.

Bruce E. Spitzer, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bankers Association, declined comment.

“Out of respect for the judicial process, we’re withholding comment for now,” Spitzer said.

Ponsor is expected to rule on the banks’ motion in short order, he told attorneys in court on Wednesday.

Parts of Springfield Street and Market Square were closed for most of the day while repairs were made.

Republican staff photo by Greg SaulmonCHICOPEE - Workers repairing a water main break on Market Square in front of City Hall Wednesday morning.

CHICOPEE – A water main break in the middle of the night created an eight-foot sinkhole in front of City Hall Wednesday and dumped 1.8 million gallons of water into the street, collapsing a brick storm drain.

Parts of Springfield Street and Market Square were closed for most of Wednesday while Water Department and Department of Public Works employees made emergency repairs to the 12-inch water main that ruptured.

“Nobody was without water because there was a secondary truncated line,” said James Deni Jr., assistant superintendent and engineer for the water department.

The break was discovered at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, leaving a huge hole in the newly paved road on Market Square. The break caused some traffic problems, especially since the nearby Davitt Bridge is also closed.

City workers spent the day replacing an about 30-foot stretch of water main. By mid-afternoon most of the road was patched and one lane was opened to traffic, Deni said.

An estimated 1.8 million gallons of water poured from the break. Much of that water flowed into a 20-inch brick storm drain and collapsed it. The break did not cause any serious flooding, he said.

The break was likely due to the age of the cast iron pipe, which is estimated to be installed in the 1940s, he said.

This is one of a number of breaks that Chicopee has faced over the past few years as most of its water pipes are between 50 and 100 years old.

An April 2011 break in a cast iron pipe buried under South Street between Nonotuck Avenue and School Street caused about $100,000 in damage. In December of 2011 a break in a line on New Lombard Road also caused about $100,000 in damages.

Deni said there are no estimates on the costs of repairing the most recent break.

Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said officials for the Department of Public Works and the Water Department have created a five-year plan to start replacing water mains. Much of the plan is to coordinate the work with the sewer and storm drain separation project so roads are only ripped up once.

“We are trying to replace the aging infrastructure,” he said.

The Water Commission has raised water fees starting July 1. The average household is expected to pay an additional $40 to $70 a year for water and the Water Department should raise about $500,00 more a year.

Residents are invited to complete a survey on the future direction of the town.

WILBRAHAM - A Wilbraham Vision Task Force is seeking to collect data, thoughts, insights and visions from a wide variety of community members to develop a vision for the community.

The task of the committee as set by the town Planning Board is to lead a community driven process to make Wilbraham a better place to live and work by generating a consensus-based guiding vision to address the town’s current and evolving challenges and opportunities.

Town Planner John Pearsall said the last time the town developed a master plan was in the 1960s.

Following a year long process to develop a town vision, a master plan committee could be formed to develop a new master plan, Pearsall said.

Residents are invited to go to www.imaginewilbraham.us and complete a survey on the town’s future or else pick up a survey in the town planning office in the Town Hall.

Residents have already completed more than 150 surveys.

Survey questions ask about the best thing about the town and what $10 million facility is most needed in town.

Residents are also asked whether they see a need for a dog park in town, green initiatives, clustered housing efforts, mixed use zoning, bikeways, recycling and senior services programs and expanded shopping opportunities on either Boston Road or in Wilbraham town center.

Residents also are asked how they rate the need to preserve the local environment, and whether more sidewalks are needed, whether roads need to be improved and whether more housing is needed for those on limited incomes.

Residents also are invited to rate the need for more open space, historic preservation, library improvements, public transportation and the town dump.

Residents are asked whether they would like Wilbraham in the future to be more rural, more suburban, more city like, or exactly the way it is.

Those interested in serving on the Task Force can call the Wilbraham Planning Office at 596-2800 or Chuck Phillips at 596-4456.

The Vision Task Force has a meeting scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall. This summer topics essential to seniors will be explored, Phillips said.

“I just want people to come and see things the way they used to be.”

Photo by John Suchocki / The RepublicanThe sign is out, and the Happy Days Family Fun Spot is scheduled tol follow later this summer.

GRANBY – The vacant site of the former Granby Golf Center driving range on Route 202 is about to get a new life.

Denis Lafleur, of Granby, is in the process of turning the site at 172 West State St. into the Happy Days Family Fun Spot, a combination activity center, cafe, ice cream parlor and museum-shop of vintage Americana.

“The driving range has been closed for quite some time,” said Lafleur. “I kept driving by and seeing it all dilapidated and I thought, ‘I’m going to do something about that!’”

The site was rented briefly by Countryside Animal Hospital, which four years ago moved into spiffy new quarters a few doors down.

Lafleur bought the property last August, and has been at work on it ever since.

People driving by will see that the front porch has been restored. What they won’t see is that a new back porch has been added, with tables and chairs, to serve as an extension of the planned indoor parlor and cafe.

The menu will include high-end ice cream and specialty sandwiches, said Lafleur.

The driving range is still functioning, and Lafleur has been restoring the old miniature golf course, which he has named the “Happy Garden.”

In addition, he plans to install batting cages, an old-fashioned shuffleboard and a basketball feature called Bankshot Basketball.

Bankshot backboards are curved in various odd ways to make sinking a basket challenging to the player. Lafleur said he especially likes the concept because it can accommodate players in wheelchairs.

The center will have a definite 1950s-era flavor. Lafleur, 67, is an avid collector of vintage Americana, including a 1955 turquoise and white Chevrolet. He plans to display one of his classic cars in front of the center at all times.

The museum-gift shop inside will include a jukebox, a player piano, old signs, old menus, model cars, antiques and other memorabilia, some of it for sale.

“I just want people to come and see things the way they used to be,” said Lafleur, who started out in the car repair business and was an auto insurance claims manager for 23 years.

The shop will also carry automobile-themed T-shirts and cushions made by a local artist and seamstress, he said.

Lafleur plans to open the new facility in mid-summer.

Separately, legislators also sent to Patrick today a so-called Chapter 90 bill providing $200 million for the maintenance and upkeep of municipal roads and bridges.

BOSTON -- House and Senate leaders tonight agreed on a compromise $32.5 billion state budget that includes a record amount of education aid for cities and towns.

The full House of Representatives and the Senate are scheduled to vote to approve the budget on Thursday and send it to the desk of Gov. Deval L. Patrick. The budget, which is for the fiscal year starting Sunday, is up about 3 percent from spending for this fiscal year.

The budget includes $4.17 billion in Chapter 70 general education aid, or $180 million higher than the current fiscal year, and $899 million in unrestricted aid for cities and towns, the same as this year.

Brian Dempsey

"Leading the way is local aid," said Rep. Brian S. Dempsey, a Haverhill Democrat and the budget chief in the House. "We made a very strong commitment to local aid."

Separately, legislators also sent to Patrick last night a so-called Chapter 90 bill providing $200 million for the maintenance and upkeep of municipal roads and bridges.

Dempsey, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, a Barre Democrat and chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, held an informal press conference to announce that the branches had reached agreement. The budget is a compromise from the different versions approved in April in the state House of Representatives and in May by the Senate.

The budget includes no new taxes. It eliminates a projected $1.3 billion deficit partly by using $636 million in one-time revenues, including $350 million from the state's rainy day fund. The budget is also balanced with spending reductions and savings' initiatives.

Stephen Brewer

Even after the $350 million draw, the state will still have a little more than $1 billion in the rainy day fund, Brewer said.

Brewer said the budget includes a new appropriation of $11.3 million for busing transient homeless students within and between school districts. Some of the state's highest yearly costs for busing homeless students are in Western Massachusetts including $563,000 in Springfield; $431,000 in Chicopee; and $311,000 in Holyoke - where about 10 percent of the student population is homeless.

The budget also has $3.75 million for the governor's new plan to improve education in so-called Gateway Cities such as Chicopee, Holyoke, Springfield and Westfield, with $500,000 directed toward career preparation, $3 million for helping students who speak a main language other than English and $250,000 for financial literacy, according to Brewer's office.

Sen. Michael R. Knapik, a Westfield Republican and the ranking minority member on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said the budget includes $6.25 million for the Shannon anti-violence grants, a 5 percent increase for each district attorney's office and $4 million for grants for staffing local police departments.

Michael Knapik

"It's a very good budget," Knapik said last night. "It really shows a tremendous commitment to cities and towns."

Aid to cities and towns for regional school transportation is at $45.4 million, up about $2 million, according to Brewer's office. Also in the budget, school districts would receive $242.2 million for extraordinary costs of special education, up 14 percent.

The budget also calls for a boost for a law that helps communities buy conservation land, restore historic properties and create affordable housing.

The law, called the Community Preservation Act, would receive $25 million from any net state budget surplus for the next fiscal year, said Rep. Stephen Kulik, a Worthington Democrat and vice-chairman of House Ways and Means.

"I'm very pleased about that," said Kulik.

Under the law, communities receive a state match from a pot of money raised from real estate fees if voters in a municipality have adopted a property tax surcharge of up to 3 percent to generate local money. The $25 million is important because state matches have dramatically declined over the past decade.

The budget also includes changes in the governance of community colleges. The budget also expands on a law that bans the use of electronic benefit cards for alcohol, lottery tickets and tobacco. Legislators added to the list of items that are banned from purchases with the cards, including firearms, pornography and tattoos, for example, Knapik said. The cards are used by recipients for food stamps and monthly welfare.

"They are a step in the right direction," Knapik said of the changes for benefit cards.

Certain details on the budget were unavailable last night.

After legislators vote on the budget, Patrick will have 10 days to review it. Patrick is expected to sign the budget but he can also veto line items and seek amendments.

The nonprofit Alliance to Develop Power, of Springfield, is leading the plan for the store.

HOLYOKE – About 100 people attended a meeting Wednesday to discuss plans to open a cooperatively run grocery store downtown.

The goal is to give downtown residents access to fresh fruit, vegetables and meat, as well as the convenience of a store within walking distance, said Keya Hicks, deputy director of communication and development for Alliance to Develop Power (ADP), of Springfield, a nonprofit group leading the project.

ADP discussed the venture at the War Memorial, 310 Appleton St.

Eric Rodriguez said he’d like a place that supplied the fruits and vegetables craved by his 4-year-old, Aaliyah.

“She always eats the greens before the hamburger. She’ll eat the lettuce, then the pickles before the meat. She likes her fruits and vegetables,” said Rodriguez, of Clinton Avenue.

A possible site for the “ADP Bodega” is the former Perez Market & Deli on Dwight Street, around the corner from the Holyoke Transportation Center on Maple Street, Mayor Alex B. Morse said.

Morse would vouch for ADP to help it get loans or grants for such a purchase, he told The Republican and MassLive.com

Morse, speaking English and Spanish, told the gathering the city was ready to help the bodega project.

“We’re very, very excited and happy and willing to do everything we can,” Morse said.

ADP has a budget of $1.3 million and employs 31 people. Its money comes from foundations, grants and loans, said Hicks and Michael Kusek, of Communication Angle, a public relations and marketing company in Northampton.

ADP would buy a site with an investment of about $500,000. Its members in the community would own, manage and work at the store, which would have 15 jobs, officials at the meeting said.

The goal is to have the store open in early 2013, Hicks said.

“We would love to launch it tomorrow, but we have our work ahead of us,” Hicks said.

The store would meet a basic need, she said, “addressing the food desert that plagues our communities.”

Residents like Jose Molina said the store was within reach.

“We want Holyoke to be the best community in Massachusetts and we are looking for the community to be together, to work together. That’s the only way that we can do it,” Molina said, addressing the meeting.

Additional meetings will be held where residents who join the planning help choose the site for the ADP Bodega, participate in its design and have a say in the store’s business model, officials said.

Among the ADP Bodega’s goals will be to foster partnerships with local farms and food vendors, support better community health by making available healthy food options, offer food and merchandise that reflect the cultural diversity of the neighborhood where the store is located, and provide community meeting space, they said.

ADP’s Sarah Wray, of Springfield, plans to work at the Holyoke store. She said she was sure the lack of options now will result in enough shoppers to sustain such a store.

“A lot of the stores are not close enough or there’s not a good variety of food,” Wray said.

Friends of the Westfield Senior Center are raising funds for furniture and supplies for the new center.

Tina Gorman

WESTFIELD – Plans for a new $6 million Senior Center have now entered the design phase in its continued progress toward reality.

Council on Aging director Tina Gorman said the building committee has opted for a collaboration effort by two architects now charged with developing the proper concept for the building expected to be built on Noble Street.

Selected for the $90,000 design phase are Dietz & Company Architects of Springfield and Courtstreet Architects of Newton.

Dietz has local architectural experience while Courtstreet has designed several senior centers in the eastern part of the state, Gorman said.

Mayor Daniel M. Knapik signed contracts for architectural work earlier this week.

Payment for this phase comes for COA building funds, $60,000 and $30,000 in a city appropriation earlier this year.

Knapik has said he will request bond authorization from the City Council once the project is ready for construction.

Still blocking the way is pending action in Hampden County Probate Court to determine is the Noble Street property can serve as site of a new Senior Center. The late Mary Noble willed the property to the Westfield Housing Authority with a stipulation that it be used for senior citizens. Probate Court will determine is a Senior Center satisfies the bequest.

Gorman and Knapik said this week the project must move forward pending that court decision.

The new center will replace the current Senior Center located at 40 Main St.

“During the design phase we will look at the size of the building we want, the size and number of rooms needed. The end project will be a schematic design for our new building,” said Gorman.

Friends of the Westfield Senior Center is working to raise $500,000 for equipment, furniture and other amenities for the new center.

Earlier this month the 104-member group announced plans to launch a capital campaign later this year to help raise necessary funding.

The group formed last year, held two fund-raising events and has a current treasury balance of $5,283 towards the goal.