Police attempted to pull Davila over for an expired inspection sticker, but he decided to speed off.

The Republican file photo

Springfield police photoHector Davila

SPRINGFIELD - A 17-year-old Holyoke teen was arrested Thursday night on multiple motor vehicle charges, including leaving the scene of an accident and driving to endanger, as well as breaking and entering after he kicked in the door to a Collton Street residence in an attempt to get away from police.

The pursuit originated on State Street when police sought to pull over his car for having an expired inspection sticker, said Sgt. John M. Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William Fitchet.

Hector Davila of 1 Beacon Ave., Holyoke, was charged with driving a vehicle with an expired inspection sticker and an improper display of a front license plate, refusing to submit to police, driving to endanger, leaving the scene of a property damage accident, and breaking and entering.

All of the charges except for the sticker and revoked-license violations resulted from the chase.

He spent the night in police lockup, and at his arraignment Friday in Springfield District Court, he denied the charges. He was ordered held on $2,500 bail and is due back in court on June 8.

Delaney said Sgt. David Kane and officer Robert Kalin were patrolling along State Street as part of a new deployment that focuses on zero tolerance for motor vehicle violations in high crime areas.

The deployment, called Data-Driven Approach to Crime and Traffic Safety or DDACTS, started this month on a trial basis, funded by a federal grant. Officers are deployed in high-crime areas to concentrate on enforcing traffic laws. Studies have shown that high-crime and high-traffic areas often overlap, and enforcing the rules of the road can impact crime.

They spotted Davila in a black Honda pulling out of the parking lot for Burger King on State Street and noticed the expired sticker, Delaney said. They tried to pull him over, but Davila sped off. Delaney said.

They chased him to Beacon and Colton streets when he crashed the car and then fled on foot, Delaney said. Officers chased him through some back yards and then watched him kick open the front door of 147 Colton St. and run inside. They found him hiding on the second floor, he said.

View Springfield police pursuit, 5/13/2011 in a larger map

Democrats pounced on Brown's comment about seeing gruesome photos of bin Laden.

Photo by Manon Mirabelli/The RepublicanU.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., discusses the economy and job creation during the Westfield Republican City Committee's annual Lincoln's Day Brunch at East Mountain Country Club, in the Feb. 13, 2011 file photo.

WASHINGTON — Popular Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown appears rattled for the first time since grabbing the late Democrat Edward Kennedy's seat 16 months ago.

Brown, widely seen as an early favorite to win his first full term in 2012, has been stung by a gaffe involving photos that he mistakenly said showed Osama bin Laden's body and rocked by a $1 million ad blitz attacking his environmental record.

The freshman senator's woes have been a jolt of energy for Democrats, who have been desperate to win back a seat they feel is historically theirs.

"There are some cracks showing now," said John Walsh, Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman.

Brown declined to be interviewed by the AP. In a statement, political adviser Eric Fehrnstrom lashed back, saying, "We're already seeing a repeat of the ugly negative campaign the political machine ran against Scott Brown last time."

There are plenty of indications that Brown is still in solid shape for his first re-election bid. Polls show he's the most popular politician in the state and has a whopping $8.3 million in his campaign account.

Tellingly, Democrats have had trouble finding a big-name candidate willing and able to take him on. The current field includes Setti Warren, the first-term mayor of the affluent Boston suburb of Newton and the state's first popularly elected black mayor; City Year youth program co-founder Alan Khazei and Robert Massie, a former lieutenant governor candidate.

A long, costly and divisive primary could also hurt Democratic hopes. There's no sign party officials will try to unite Democrats behind a single Brown challenger.

Still, Brown, a former state senator know for posing nude in Cosmopolitan magazine as a law student, is not home free.

"As popular as Scott Brown is ... he's still fairly new to most Massachusetts voters so their views of him may be a little more fluid than someone who has been in office longer," said Timothy Vercellotti, associate professor of political science and polling director at Western New England College in Springfield, Mass.

The race will have national significance. Democrats are facing a tough fight in 2012 to hang onto their slim Senate majority and Brown is a prime target.

Democrats pounced on Brown's boast in recent TV interviews about seeing gruesome photos of bin Laden after the terrorist leader was shot. He suggested he saw the photos at an official briefing for senators.

"Let me assure you that he is dead, that bin Laden is dead," he told New England Cable News. "I have seen the photos and, in fact, we've received the briefings and we'll continue to get the briefings."

That wasn't true.

Brown, a member of the Senate Armed Services committee, admitted later that he'd been snookered by bogus photos circulating on the Internet. The usually camera-friendly senator ducked reporters seeking to question him about it.

Brown's campaign image as a straight-talking average guy driving a pickup truck in casual gear took a big hit from the photo flap. A Boston Herald columnist mocked him as "Dan Quayle in a barn coat," a reference to the former vice president who was ridiculed by critics as being unprepared for his job.

The bin Laden photo gaffe, coupled with a hard-hitting ad campaign by the League of Women Voters assailing Brown's environmental record, have given Democrats an opening to press their case that Brown is a lightweight, out of his depth in the Senate and too conservative for liberal Massachusetts.

"This guy hasn't been in that kind of spotlight before," said Doug Rubin, the former top political strategist for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. "So this is a recipe for Democrats to stay in his face."

Brown, a former state senator known for posing nude in Cosmopolitan magazine as a law student, faced little scrutiny in the brief special election for the seat Kennedy held for nearly a half-century, Rubin added.

The television spot, non-partisan ads advocating clean air, hits Brown for voting with other Republicans to ban the Environmental Protection Agency from controlling greenhouse gases. It shows a child wheezing through an oxygen mask and urges Brown to side with people, not polluters.

The ad struck a nerve with Brown, who accused the league of "gutter politics" and of being "a pawn in the Massachusetts political machine."

Democrats, too, have accused Brown of "going Washington" with his appearances at glitzy social events and his book, "Against All Odds: My Life of Hardships, Fast Breaks and Second Chances." They say few freshman senators would have the pluck to write an autobiography, let alone orchestrate an exclusive launch for the book on TV's "60 Minutes" show as Brown did.

The book includes allegations of sexual abuse as a child

The kitten was not brought to the veterinarian until eight days after it fell into a bathtub of boiling water.

PALMER – A 50-year-old Depot Street woman denied an animal cruelty charge this week in Palmer District Court after her kitten had to be euthanized because it fell into a tub of boiling water and care was delayed for eight days.

Rhoda D. Hathaway was charged by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ law enforcement division, which was notified after she took the female kitten named Motley to Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society shelter in Springfield.

Court documents state the kitten was burned on approximately 30 percent of her body.

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According to MSPCA officer Christine Allenberg’s investigation report in the court file, Allenberg was called on March 8 by Dakin employee Brenda Forsell, who said a kitten had been surrendered on Feb. 25, sometime after it fell into scalding water in a bathtub. The owner, Hathaway, had relinquished all ownership rights to the kitten at Dakin.

“‘Motley’ had such an incredible odor of infection, was shaking and chewing on her burned flesh that she was immediately rushed by Forsell to Northampton Animal Clinic,” Allenberg wrote.

Due to the severity of the kitten’s injuries, she had to be euthanized. Allenberg said she contacted the Northampton veterinarian who told her the kitten was 13 weeks old, in extreme pain and unable to walk normally.

Hathaway told Allenberg that what happened to the kitten was an accident, and that she was not home at the time. Hathaway was notified by her boarder, Terry Clark, who called her about it, according to Allenberg’s report.

The report stated that Hathaway bathed the kitten daily in Aussie shampoo to keep her clean because she had no money to take her to a veterinarian. Clark told Allenberg that she boiled water on the stove to fill the tub for a bath because the residence has a small hot water heater.

Hathaway, who did not return a call for comment, is scheduled to return to court on June 15 for a pretrial hearing. An animal cruelty charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in state prison or 2 ½ years in the House of Correction.

An adoption counselor at Dakin, Ashley Loehn, wrote that Hathaway left in tears when she was told the kitten likely would be euthanized.

Renowned musician Yusef Lateef received the Distinguished Achievement Award.

AMHERST – More than 1,200 University of Massachusetts students received their masters, doctorates, and certificates of advanced studies Friday during the Graduate Commencement ceremonies at the Mullins Center.

Among then were 22 veterans and two spouses of veterans. According to UMass Chancellor Robert C. Holub, who made the opening remarks, the graduates hail from 48 states and 49 nations.

“Our students are clearly making their mark in the world,” Holub said, citing the achievements of past graduates. “We look forward in the coming years to hearing of your future accomplishments.”

President Jack M. Wilson, noting how rapidly the world is changing, predicted that the graduates present Friday will have a hand in steering it in a positive direction.

“You can change our world,” he said, “perhaps curing diseases yet to be named.”

Doctoral theses of Friday’s graduates range from the arcane — “Lacustrine Records of Holocene Climate and Environmental Change from the Lofoten Islands, Norway ” — to the mundane — “Living With a Depressed Partner” — to the to the sublime — “Dawn Song of the Tree Swallow.”

The university bestowed an honorary Doctor of Science degree on environment writer Bill McKibben. Renowned musician Yusef A. Lateef received the Distinguished Achievement Award.

Wallace will pay $50,000 back to the victim's family and a $10,000 fine, and will lose her municipal pension.

The Republican/Michael GordonBridget Wallace in Hampden Superior Court Friday awaiting sentencing

SPRINGFIELD – Bridget Wallace, the former coordinator of social services at the Wilbraham Senior Center, will now have a criminal record and because of that will lose her municipal retirement, her lawyer said.

Wallace, 64, was sentenced Friday to five years probation by Hampden Superior Court Judge Peter A. Velis, who denied a request by the defense to continue the case without a finding in order for Wallace to keep her pension.

Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said Wallace, of Wilbraham, had brought the loss of her retirement and the loss of her job upon herself, and must be punished for the severity of the crime of taking money from an elderly client of the center by a fine of $10,000.

Defense lawyer Michael O. Jennings said, “the biggest punishment has been walking into this courtroom, admitting guilt to it, being on the front page of the newspaper and having to do all that not only in front of her community but in front of her family.”

“I have given this case considerable amount of thought, deep thought,” Velis said. He said Wallace victimized an “elderly, vulnerable” man.

Wallace had agreed to immediately pay back $50,000 she admitted to taking improperly from the elderly client. The $10,000 fine is in addition to the repayment.

Wallace pleaded guilty earlier in the week to larceny by scheme of a person over the age of 60 and attempt to commit a crime.

The defense wanted no guilty finding to enter, and the prosecution wanted the guilty pleas recorded and for Wallace to complete five years of probation in addition to the repayment and fine.

“In good conscience I feel that the district attorney request is firmly rooted in justice,” Velis said.

After Velis said he would enter the guilty pleas, Jennings said since now Wallace would not get her pension, “I am hoping that the court will reconsider that fine.”

Mastroianni told Velis his office did not make the decision lightly to not ask for incarceration. He has said the family of the victim agreed to the prosecution’s recommendation.

He said “there needs to be some type of punishment for this individual” and the fine addresses that. “The collateral consequences of this plea are consequences that we believe were brought upon by the defendant herself.”

He said loss of her pension and her job “were caused in a sanction that she put upon herself when she committed this act. The fine is punishment by the court.”

Velis said probation can set Wallace up on a payment plan for the $10,000 fine.

Wallace admitted that she took the money over the course of a year from a man who went to the senior center in 2006 looking for help.

Lawyers said Wallace and the man became friends, and the evidence documented some 100 bank transactions.

The man is now 94 and lives in a senior community.

The prosecution dropped 14 counts against Wallace as part of the plea deal, according to assistant district attorney James M. Forsyth. The larceny by scheme charge covers Wallace’s multiple action during a year’s period ending in July 2007.

Wallace took the victim to a bank, where he would withdraw money and give it to her, Forsyth told the court.

“He suffers from dementia and memory issues,” he said.

Wallace also had the victim use her name, instead of his son’s name, to inherit some stock upon his death, action which has since been reversed, according to Forsyth.

Falling commodity prices are widely blamed for driving down stocks.

Associated Press photoSpecialist Jim Ahrens, left, and trader Michael Urkonis work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday. Robust economic growth figures for the eurozone helped shore up stock markets in Europe Friday and gave the euro some respite after a savage sell-off over the previous week.

NEW YORK – Since when does the stock market take its cues from the market for silver, oil and pork bellies? When it’s really the dollar that’s driving the action.

The stock market rally, which began in August, relied on stronger earnings, rising commodity prices and a weak dollar, said Andrew Wilkinson, senior market analyst at Interactive Brokers. But prices for commodities have dropped by 10 percent this month, and swung wildly over the past week. Oil, for example, was nearly $114 a barrel at the end of April. On Tuesday oil settled at $104, fell, rose and fell again, to close at $99.65 on Friday.

Falling commodity prices are widely blamed for driving down stocks. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index has lost 1.9 percent so far in May. Other indexes are down more than 1.5 percent for the month.

It’s not simply a case of investors selling because they believe declining oil prices are a sign that the economy is losing strength. Rather, since commodities are mainly traded in dollars, it’s the dollar’s recent rise that is largely responsible for pushing down commodity prices. If the dollar gains strength against other currencies, it takes fewer dollars to buy the same barrel of oil.

“Suddenly, the dollar is no longer the whipping boy,” Wilkinson said. “And if the dollar is no longer the whipping boy, you can no longer count on a commodity-driven rebound to push up the stock market.”

Worries over Europe pushed the dollar up nearly 1 percent on Friday and erased the week’s gains in the stock market.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 100.17 points, or 0.8 percent, to close at 12,595.75. The S&P 500 fell 10.88, or 0.8 percent, to 1,337.77. The Nasdaq lost 34.57, or 1.2 percent, to 2,828.47. The slide turned the Dow and S&P lower for the week.

Financial stocks fared the worst in the past week, followed by material and energy companies. Both Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 2 percent on Friday.

Companies in the energy sector fell the most in May. Exxon Mobil Corp. lost 8 percent so far this month.

The Dow fell 0.3 percent over the week and 1.7 percent for the month. The Nasdaq was flat for the week and is down 1.6 percent for the month.

The Russell 2000, an index of small companies, ended the week up nearly 0.3 percent, but is down the most so far this month, declining 3.42 percent.

In addition to the dollar’s rising value, several other forces have led to the recent rout in commodity prices. A requirement that traders back their bets on silver with more cash spurred a sell-off in metals, which some traders say cascaded into other markets. Reports over the past week showing weaker demand and rising supplies for both crude oil and gas have pushed down energy prices. U.S. oil inventories have climbed to their highest level since May 2009.

Meanwhile, betting on a weak dollar has been a popular move. For much of the last year, traders bought commodities and sold dollars.

The dollar’s sudden strength has caused them to reverse those bets. “That’s been the big trade,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak. “And it’s getting undone.”

The downside: eventually a stronger dollar makes U.S. products more expensive to foreign buyers. Exports decline. Companies that sell everything from sneakers to aircraft feel their profits pinched.

Stocks in countries that use the euro fell after the European Union warned that the debt loads of Greece, Ireland and Portugal will be larger than originally thought. Officials said that Greece needs to cut spending further, which led to concerns that the assistance the country has already received won’t be enough. The Euro Stoxx 50, an index of large companies in countries that use the euro, fell 0.8 percent.

Fears of a deepening financial crisis overshadowed reports that found that consumers are feeling more confident in the U.S. economy and that inflation remains in check. Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in April, the Labor Department said. That was in line with economist’s expectations.

Most of the increases came in volatile food and energy prices. Stripping those out, prices rose 0.2 percent and stayed below the rate of inflation that the Federal Reserve considers normal.

“Inflation doesn’t look like the risk that everyone feared,” said Doug Cote, the chief market strategist at ING Investment Management.

The prices that consumers pay have risen 3.2 percent over the last 12 months, the biggest 12-month gain since October 2008. Companies like Kimberly-Clark Corp. and Colgate-Palmolive Co. that sell households products have raised prices because of higher commodity costs that have cut into their profit margins. Costs for raw materials like oil, coffee, and cattle have risen more than 10 percent this year.

More than two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was 3.5 billion shares.

Johnston offered to take on the responsibilities of the School Department's curriculum coordinator.

Russell Johnston

WEST SPRINGFIELD – School Superintendent Russell D. Johnston has come up with a plan to trim about $786,000 from the $36,490,829 budget he says is needed in fiscal 2012 to maintain School Department services.

The reduction is needed to bring the budget down to the level of spending the mayor has recommended to the Town Council.

The mayor has proposed $35,941,394 in fiscal 2012 School Department spending.

Johnston outlined a plan Tuesday before the School Committee, which took it under advisement. The city does not have to have a budget in place until July 1, the first day of fiscal 2012.

This year’s spending is projected at $35,225,303.

Johnston told the committee he can reduce staff by $487,329 and make nonstaff cuts of $299,130 in such a way as to avoid paying as many unemployment benefits as possible.

“We are positioning ourselves to slowly contract while still offering a high quality educational product,” Johnston said.

The nonstaff reductions would involve cutting:

• $270,000 in supplies, conference and travel expenses and professional development.

• $5,100 in School Committee dues.

• $15,030 in student activities.

• $9,000 in the mentoring.

The reductions involving staff would mean cutting:

• $84,564 in police details without cutting the school resource officer.

• $69,345 in full-time equivalent administrator positions.

• $91,122 in three custodial positions.

• $11,666 for four lunch supervisors in elementary schools.

• $12,500 in clerical staff.

• $79,200 in six teachers aide slots.

• $138,932 in teaching salaries to be achieved by retirements, nonrenewals and programmatic changes.

“I think this is a very responsible way to reduce the school budget,” Johnston said after concluding a power point presentation on his proposals.

Part of his plan involves redistributing the responsibilities of the curriculum director so it will fall under his purview.

The Green Mountain state is the only state with a law saying both houses of the Legislature must vote affirmatively to allow continued operation before regulators can give the plant the renewed state license.

Associated Press photoThe Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is seen on the banks of the Connecticut River in Vernon, Vt. last month.

MONTPELIER, Vt. – Two more groups filed court papers Friday in hopes of intervening on the state’s behalf in a civil suit brought by the owners of Vermont Yankee nuclear plant trying to block the state’s efforts to shut down the reactor next year.

The Conservation Law Foundation and Vermont Public Interest Research Group’s bid to intervene in the case followed a filing by Entergy Corp. at U.S. District Court earlier this week asking it to reject a similar bid by another group critical of nuclear power, the New England Coalition.

Entergy sued last month, saying the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has jurisdiction over the operation of nuclear plants and that Vermont doesn’t have the authority to shut down the plant in March 2012. The NRC granted the plant a 20-year extension of its federal license in March.

Vermont is the only state with a law saying both houses of the Legislature must vote affirmatively to allow continued operation before regulators can give the plant the renewed state license it also needs, called a certificate of public good. The state Senate voted 26-4 in February 2010 to halt the Public Service Board process that could have led to issuance of the new state certificate.

Entergy argues in its lawsuit and in public statements that the state law, passed in 2006, marked a stark change in the conditions of its operation in the state that were in place when it bought Vermont Yankee from a group of New England utilities in 2002. Supporters of closing the plant point to legislative testimony by Entergy lobbyists indicating the company knew legislative approval was required for continued operation.

Sandra Levine, a lawyer with the Conservation Law Foundation, said in an interview Friday that her group and the public interest research group believe they can bring to the case a perspective different from what will be offered by the state.

The New England Coalition made similar arguments earlier, pointing to the fact that in hearings before the NRC, it pushed the agency to consider safety issues at Vermont Yankee that had not been raised by the state.

“You can’t assume that the state is going to represent CLF’s interests,“ Levine said. “CLF and VPIRG have our own very strong, independent legal interests that will be affected by this court proceeding.“

Vermont Yankee spokesman Larry Smith said the company wouldn’t comment Friday on the filing by CLF and VPIRG. Earlier this week it filed a response to the request to intervene by NEC, saying the group’s involvement could slow a case in which a quick resolution is essential.

“NEC, which is adequately represented by the state of Vermont, will principally offer either duplicative or irrelevant factual material that will likely delay resolution of this matter,” Entergy’s lawyers argued. “NEC’s participation as an intervenor is thus inconsistent with the court’s May 5, 2011, scheduling order placing this case on an expedited track.”

In denying the permit, Mayor Domenic Sarno cited a disturbance involving an intoxicated patron at the club that required police to restore order.

Republican file photoThe Bridge Street nightclub Sinners and Saints is seen here during the City Block Concert Series in July.

SPRINGFIELD – The downtown nightclub Sinners and Saints on Bridge Street has been denied a Sunday entertainment license and will have to close each Saturday by midnight, Mayor Domenic J. Sarno announced Friday.

Sarno denied a Sunday permit for the club, citing a Jan. 23 disturbance involving an intoxicated patron at the club that required the police to restore order. In the disturbance, 25 to 30 watched as it spilled out into the street and blocked traffic.

The decision comes following a recent hearing before the licensing officer.

Sarno, the city’s appointing authority for entertainment licenses, cited the failure of club security to prevent the disturbance, the unnecessary demand it placed on police resources, and the potential for injury to members of the public.

“The city will not allow public safety to be compromised because of this type of nonsense,” he said in prepared statement.

In compiling the report of the disturbance, police at the scene learned that the club did not have the required entertainment license to operate on Sundays.

Sarno said the owners of the club compounded matters by waiting two months before approaching the License Commission about obtaining the proper license, which he interpreted to mean the violation was not a simple administrative oversight.

An entertainment license is required if an establishment provides customers with television, juke boxes, pinball games and varying forms of live entertainment. The license itself has two tiers, one for Monday through Saturday, and one specifically for Sundays.

Sinners and Saints, located in the site of the former Salty Dog Saloon, has been in business since last summer.

A state trooper spotted Hines driving north at 80 mph and using the breakdown lane to pass cars.

Republican file photo

GREENFIELD - A 29-year-old Worcester man is in police custody after he crashed a stolen car on Interstate 91 at about 5 p.m. while trying to outrun state police, police said.

Damion H. Hines of 64 Coolidge Road, Worcester, abandoned his car after the crash and ran off into the woods by the highway. He was later found near Arbor Drive after police set up a perimeter, said state police spokesman David Procopio.

Hines was taken by ambulance to Franklin Medical Center after he complained to police of being in pain.

Once he is discharged from the hospital, he will be taken to the Northampton state police barracks to be booked, Procopio said.

The charges will be larceny of a motor vehicle, subsequent offense, leaving the scene of a property damage accident, refusing to stop for a police officer, driving to endanger, speeding, marked lane violations, and driving in a breakdown lane.

He is due to be arraigned Monday in Greenfield District Court. Procopio said Hines was due to appear in Worcester District Court for a previous charge of larceny of a motor vehicle.

State trooper William Loiselle began chasing Hines in Whately at about 4:45 p.m. when she spotted his 2009 Hyundai Elantra car traveling north at 80 mph and using the breakdown lane to pass other cars.

He crashed near mile marker 44.8, which is about a mile south of Exit 27 in Greenfield.

View greenfield accident on I-91, 5/13/2011 in a larger map

Coleman, who earned a doctorate from UMass, and David Gergen, a former White House senior aide, spoke to about 4,300 who received undergraduate degrees. Watch video

AMHERST – The 4,300 University of Massachusetts students who graduated Friday evening at the 141st Commencement got words of wisdom from outer space and on the ground, words of both inspiration and of concern but also of faith that this generation will be the new leaders to help save the world.

With her hair flying in zero gravity, NASA astronaut Catherine “Cady” Coleman spoke via videotape from the International Space Station that is orbiting the earth.

Coleman, who lives in Shelburne Falls when on Earth, told the graduates that when she sees the planet, “I see a beautiful place,” and said “our world is a fragile place.” She challenged graduates to be part of the solution to save it. She said “no single one of you can solve large problems by yourself.”

“Be part of a team that you build,” she said. And she urged graduates to see if “you can try to be open-minded, let people surprise you.” She also told graduates to follow “whatever is your passion.”

Coleman, who earned her doctorate in polymer science and engineering from UMass-Amherst, also displayed her UMass spirit and said she brought a piece of it with her – a Sam the Minuteman mascot bobblehead – who was there flying weightless with her.

David Gergen, a former White House senior aide to presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, received an honorary doctorate at the ceremony. He said that 50 years ago, President John F. Kennedy promised that the United States would be the first to reach the moon by the end of the decade.

He said it was only fitting “that the commencement speaker is speaking to us from space. Best of all this astronaut is a woman.”

He said that some people worry about the American dream and the U.S.' ability to be in the forefront as the country faces mounting debt and the emergence of China.

“I have some doubts (about) the capacity of my generation," Gergen said. "We are not leaving this country the way we should be leaving it.” But he said the graduates and their generation offer hope. He talked about the Navy SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden on May 1 who are part of that young generation.

He praised the 2,000 students who gathered to celebrate the announcement of bin Laden’s death. “I thank you for standing up for the country.” That drew applause and cheers from graduates and chants of “USA!” In that demonstration “we see the spirit of this country,” Gergen said.

“My generation needs to clean up what we started” to prepare the country for the younger generation to be “new leaders of America.”

Graduating senior Alan Taylor Ulichney, of Stow, a dual major in journalism and economics, spoke, and 11 graduates were honored as 21st Century Leaders, including Sophie Kolchin-Miller, of Amherst, an anthropology major; Saranthip Rattanaserikiat, of Northampton, a civil and environmental engineering major; and Teresa Skelly, of Springfield, a sport management major.

Earlier Friday, more than 1,200 graduate students received their masters, doctorates and certificates of advanced studies at the Graduate Commencement ceremonies at the Mullins Center.

Scott walked up to a police car stopped in traffic and told the officer he had stolen a car.

Dothan, Ala., Police photo James McClary Scott IV

DOTHAN, Alabama - A Springfield, Mass. man was arrested after walking up to a police car and confessed to stealing a car in Florida, according to the Birmingham News.

James McClary Scott IV, 22, was arrested on a felony charge of receiving stolen property. He was being held on a bond of $30,000.

Police told the newspaper that Scott got out of his car when he saw a police car in front of him in traffic. He walked up to the police car, told the officer he had stolen his car 30 miles away in Marrianna, Fla., and wished to turn himself in.

Dothan is roughly 200 miles southeast of Birmingham.

Some parents are questioning whether their child received the appropriate financial aid and scholarship money, given the wrong GPA was included in transcripts sent to colleges.

File photo | The RepublicanPalmer High School.

PALMER – Some parents approached high school administrators in the past because they suspected their children’s grade point averages were incorrect, but they were told nothing was wrong.

Then this week, the school administration revealed that the GPAs for Palmer High School seniors and juniors have been miscalculated, and now some parents are questioning whether their child received the appropriate financial aid and scholarship money, given the wrong GPA was included in their transcript.

Barbara A. Barry questioned her son Michael’s GPA at the beginning of his senior year, but was told by the administration that it was correct.

“I was surprised and upset to find out last week that it was calculated incorrectly and he had been eligible to apply for membership into the National Honor Society. He has since done so and was accepted,” said Barry, who said they have asked the school to notify Bryant University, where Michael is going next year, about the change.

Barry, a town councilor, said they also are questioning whether the merit award from the college would have been different if college officials had known her son was in the National Honor Society.

Andrea K. Mastalerz said she thought her son Tyler’s GPA was wrong two years ago and also brought it to the attention of school officials, only to be reassured there wasn’t a problem. She thought it should have been higher given his courseload of advanced placement and honors classes.

Though she said her son Tyler got into his schools of choice, she wonders if he might have been eligible for more scholarship money. Tyler will head to Syracuse University in the fall.

“I feel for the kids,” Mastalerz said. “My hope I that this will all be figured out. I do have a child that will be there for the next four years. I don’t want her to go through what her brother’s going through.”

She is the daughter of School Committee member James L. St. Amand.

Parents were notified in letters sent home with students on Wednesday about the problem with the GPAs.

“We are conducting a comprehensive review of all of the seniors’ transcripts as well as the transcripts of students who have now been identified as eligible for the National Honor Society. Procedures have been put into place to contact the colleges on behalf of any student who has come forward regarding acceptance or eligibility for financial aid,” the letter from Principal Mary Lou Callahan reads.

Maureen Gallagher

School Committee Chairwoman Maureen R. Gallagher estimates she has fielded at least 20 calls from upset parents.

The problem began two years ago when a semester of credits was not logged into the school’s computer system, officials said. But it was finally discovered in March when the guidance director noticed that 89 of the 93 graduating seniors did not have enough credits to graduate.

Gallagher said the issue also affects 105 juniors.

After the courses were finally inputted, the GPAs changed, some for the better, some for the worse, according to Gallagher.

Gallagher has an issue with how the news was delivered.

“The problem was that the school did not notify parents right away,” Gallagher said.

News about the GPA issue began circulating after seven seniors were told last week that they now are eligible to join the National Honor Society as a result of their reconfigured GPAs. Five juniors also will be able to apply to join this fall.

“It spiraled pretty much out of control last week as each student told another. The GPAs, number one, were calculated incorrectly and transcripts had gone out to colleges already. Some didn’t get into their colleges of choice, and we’re not sure if it was because the GPA was incorrect, or was it just a coincidence,” Gallagher said.

“The person or persons that are responsible for this should be held for accountable. I will not let this drop. Someone has to advocate for the kids,” she added.

Gallagher said the amount of financial aid and scholarships students receive are “a huge factor” in today’s economy.

Gallagher said the technology department is responsible for logging grades into the computer system.

Palmer High School Principal's Letter to Parents on GPA Errors

Superintendent Gerald A. Fournier, who blamed the problem on “human error,” said the missing semester was from when the current seniors were sophomores.

Fournier said who exactly is responsible for the mistake is still being investigated.

Despite the miscalculation, Fournier said the class ranks for students in the top 20 stayed the same. Fournier acknowledged that some parents had suspected a GPA was incorrect in the past, but said the concerns were not specific enough to reveal the problem.

He said they are trying to figure out how many students were harmed by the GPA miscalculation, whether by not being admitted to college, or if their opportunities for scholarships or financial aid were reduced.

Audra Parker of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the project's chief opponent, called the DOE decision "a major setback for Cape Wind."

Associated PressFILE - In this July 11, 2006 file photo, a vessel sails towards a wind farm off the coast of Whitstable on the north Kent coast in southeastern England. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will announce Wednesday, April 28, 2010, his decision whether the Cape Wind project can proceed off the Cape Cod coast in Massachusetts, clearing the way for the construction of a 130-turbine wind farm in the Nantucket Sound. (AP Photo/David Bebber, Pool, File)

By JAY LINDSAY

BOSTON — Cape Wind's attempt to win a Department of Energy loan guarantee has been placed "on hold" in a setback to efforts by the nation's first offshore wind farm to secure financing.

In a letter sent this week, the department said with the multi-billion dollar loan program's September expiration date approaching, remaining funds would be used on projects whose applications were further along.

"This is not a statement about the quality of your project, but simply about its readiness to proceed at this time," read the letter, sent to Cape Wind and other applicants whose projects were placed on hold.

The letter said if the federal loan guarantee program received more funding, the department could resume working on Cape Wind's application. But Jonathan Silver, director of the loan program, made no promises.

"We must caution you, however, that there is no assurance that we will ever be in a position to continue our evaluation of your project," his letter read.

Company spokesman Mark Rodgers declined comment on how big a piece the possible loan guarantee was projected to be in the overall financing of the 130-turbine project, estimated to cost $2.6 billion.

He said Cape Wind was pursuing all financing options, with Barclays Bank as its adviser. The company has "a long and successful history" of winning financing for energy development projects, Rodgers said in an email.

The state's political leaders had pushed hard for the loan guarantee, with Sen. John Kerry writing a February letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, signed by all 10 Massachusetts members of the U.S. House that asked Chu to speed up Cape Wind's loan guarantee application.

He said a timely approval would "help this first U.S. offshore wind project secure financing in this challenging financial market."

Cape Wind said Friday it would still seek the loan guarantee, because it would reduce costs for state electricity customers. The company has a 15-year deal to sell the utility National Grid half its power starting in 2013 at 18.7 cents per kilowatt hour, with the cost increasing 3.5 percent annually. But the state attorney general has estimated that a Department of Energy loan at 5 percent interest would drop the starting price for Cape Wind's power to about 17.3 cents per kilowatt hour.

Cape Wind, planned for Nantucket Sound, has been ceaselessly opposed by critics who say it threatens the local environment and maritime industry, and it's power is too expensive. Onshore wind in Massachusetts, by comparison, costs around 9 to 10 cents per kilowatt hour.

Audra Parker of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the project's chief opponent, called the Department of Energy decision's "a major setback for Cape Wind" adding it "clearly shows (the project) is not a done deal."

Project advocates say Cape Wind is a good value for its many benefits, including creating hundreds of jobs, providing a large source of renewable energy just off a heavily populated coast and kick starting a new renewable energy industry in the U.S.

A decade after the project was proposed, Cape Wind last month received federal approval of its construction and operations plan. That cleared the way for work to begin as early as this fall.

Cape Wind plans to be producing power by early 2013. Asked Friday if the start date might be delayed by the Department of Energy's decision, Rodgers said, "We are working hard to prevent any delay which would make the United States fall further behind Europe and China in the critical field of offshore wind power development."

Brimfield Antiques Shows dealers talk of declining interest in traditional antique furniture and stronger market for furniture that once was used in factories.

BRIMFIELD – Sitting in a tent on Route 20 for the week with a truck load of antique furniture not selling well, Gary LaMothe longs for the 1990s, when he witnessed much greater appreciation for his specialty and what he saw as a more knowledgeable throng of buyers.

“Antique furniture has taken a big hit in the last five years. We are selling it for about half of what we sold it for five years ago,” LaMothe said Friday during one of many slow periods for his Rock-n-Glass Antiques Center tent at the Brimfield Antiques Shows.

The giant antiques shows along Route 20 have run since Tuesday and will continue Saturday and wrap up Sunday.

LaMothe and his wife, Carol, have been bringing their antique furniture and glassware to the Brimfield shows for years from their base in Burnt Hill, N.Y.

Gary LaMothe still speaks with great enthusiasm about the drop-front desk with a hand-carved design that he is offering for sale at $895 this week, even though he says that like most of the furniture he brought, the same piece could have brought in twice as much just five years ago.

“There used to be an equilibrium. Older people getting rid of this kind of furniture and younger people buying it,” LaMothe said. “Now, the younger people are not buying it.”

LaMothe lamented what he sees as “a throw-away age,” an era when people are buying expensive electronic equipment they know they will be tossing out or tossing aside in a year or so and feel much the same way about furniture, which he says they purchase new, on credit, and without any feeling that they will have it for a lifetime.

It was not hard to find several dealers of antique furniture who had similar, pessimistic views and a bit of admiration mixed with jealousy for those selling industrial furniture, something that has been growing in sales the past few years at Brimfield and other outlets.

“When you see the rivets, people really love that,” Kevin Browne, of New York, said as he was showing a table that was once in a factory but is being marketed at Brimfield for someone’s kitchen.

“Antique was popular. I think it got a little stale,” Brown said. “Most of the new generation wanted modern, and the industrial caught on. The raw, steel look has appeal.”

Browne works for Olde Good Things, which, at the Brimfield shows and at its New York and Los Angeles stores, offers many tables, carts, cabinets and other items once used in factories, now sold as solid pieces of furniture for the home.

Architectural and altered antiques is the catch phrase for Olde Good Things, which can put a gloss on a sturdy old factory table, replace the legs with new and offer it as a kitchen island.

Jeff Izzo brought industrial furniture and some 1950s furniture from Sterling, Conn., to the Brimfield shows this week, and sold them all on opening day.

“I know that is what is selling,” Izzo said. “It is hard to find because everyone is looking for it.”

Ray Morin from Woodstock, Conn., sees the same changing trend but is not ready to give up on selling antique furniture.

“It’s not warm to me,” Morin says about the industrial pieces and the furniture of the 1950s, which he says is popular today.

Morin is offering an 18th-century setback hutch for $2,200 this week, lamenting its potential to bring in twice that amount a few years ago and now hoping that someone with the right country house will meet his price.

Furniture is not the only category with changing trends.

Morin said ornately crafted Hummel figurines were immensely popular at Brimfield and similar venues in years past, but now he said, “Hummels are dead. Good for target practice.”

Dramatic increases in the price of silver bullion have brought change to the marketing of low-end pieces of silverware but not to the high-end pieces.

Robert Lloyd said spoons he sold just last year for $25 are now worth $35 just for their metal, but an engraved silver tankard made in London in 1621 has historic and artistic value far greater than the price of its metal, so he is offering it this week for $28,000.

Linda Walsh, of Monson, sells collectibles from China and other Asian countries and finds her success from year to year depends more on the types of collectors passing by than any particular trend.

Glass buoys from China are selling well at $15 apiece for Walsh this week, something she attributes to having the good fortune of seeing many customers from coastal areas.

Pepsi selected 16 New England communities to support with volunteer work crews.

WESTFIELD - The Amelia Park Children’s Museum and the Greater Westfield Boys & Girls Club will undergo a weekend cleanup by volunteers from the Pepsi beverage company.

The effort is part of a program that will send work crews and supplies to 16 New England communities.

A grant from Pepsi finances a crew of volunteers and supplies to do a spring cleanup of the properties in preparation for summer.

Diana McLean, vice president of the children’s museum, said the two organizations applied for the grant together. While there is no clear dollar amount attached, the Pepsi corporation selected 16 New England communities to support with volunteer work crews.

“They’re bringing a caravan of vehicles loaded with cleaning supplies and crews of volunteers,” she said.

The crews are expected to arrive at 9 a.m. and will get right to work “cleaning, weeding, sweeping, and working the grounds,” McLean said.

In addition to the volunteers from Pepsi, members of the community will also join the effort, and more are encouraged to participate.

Westfield’s Green Meadow Lumber is donating the mulch that will be used to beautify the properties, according to Jacklyn Parks, marketing and development director at the Boys and Girls Club.

The full day of hard work will be rewarded with a free catered barbecue lunch by Famous Dave’s Restaurant.

“The volunteers from Pepsi, as well as all those from the community, are invited to us for a barbecue immediately following the day’s work,” McLean said.

The cleanup is part of a Pepsi Corporation mission called Pepsi Supports Surrounding Towns program which has a goal “to help 16 selected towns in New England with a specific community project,” by donating time and manpower to local organizations, company officials said.

The former ROTC manager at UMass will be participating in the Run to Home Base that is being coordinated by the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanDavid Vacchi, of Belchertown, plans to participate in the Run for Home Base road race in Boston May 22 to help veterans. He is seen on the campus of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

BELCHERTOWN – As a veteran who’s been there, David Vacchi says he knows support for military families is just as important as for the individual soldiers.

He’s among several Western Massachusetts residents with a passion for helping returning veterans and their families who are gearing up for the second annual Run to Home Base.

The May 22 fund-raiser in Boston will jointly benefit the Home Base Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Red Sox Foundation.

Proceeds from the event will aid programs to support clinical treatment for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who suffer from combat stress and traumatic brain injuries. The funds also assist the families of those deployed overseas.

Vacchi, a retired Army officer who managed the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at the University of Massachusetts, is participating in the event for the first time.

Vacchi, along with UMass graduate and fellow runner Jon Zagami, helped a group of student veterans establish the first student veterans’ organization on campus since Vietnam. Vacchi is now a doctoral student studying veterans’ transitions to higher education.

“We have focused on the military person deploying and coming back, but I think we’re just starting to understand it’s just as difficult, if not more so, on the spouse and the family than it is on the one going to war,” Vacchi said. “For me personally, getting that support for the whole family is just as critical as the treatment for individual veterans.”

While many soldiers returning from deployment don’t suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, they and their families still need help, Vacchi said.

“They may not have a problem adjusting themselves, but it’s people with families where this normalizing process makes it more difficult,” he said.

Vacchi’s running of the 9K Run to Home Base will also be a personal victory for him.

“As a result of my 20 years in the Army, I’m 50 percent disabled,” he said. “The major components are the ankle, knee and lower back.”

Vacchi, 45, said the U.S. Veterans Administration helped him get into the shape necessary to participate in this fund-raiser.

Zagami’s cousin, Allie Paquette, of Ludlow, is also running in the Run to Home Base. Paquette said Zagami suffered a traumatic brain injury during his service. He has been a participant in the Home Base program, and also ran in the event last year.

“I was inspired seeing them and others run last year, and I decided to join them,” Paquette said. “Jon began college upon his return (from deployment). He found it very difficult due to lack of resources and lack of understanding about what these young veterans were going through to try to adjust.”

Zagami receives treatment and counseling through Massachusetts General under the program, according to Paquette. In addition to the clinical treatment, the program sponsors social activities for participating veterans and their families.

“Overall, the program allows young veterans to receive the care they need while they work to become re-acclimated to society through socialization with other veterans,” Paquette said.

Jonathan Schnauber, of Springfield, a graduate student studying social work at Springfield College and an Air Force veteran, has been deployed numerous times since he enlisted in 1990. He said services like those provided by the Home Base program are vital to the future of veterans.

“When we return, we are never the same people that left just several months before,” he said. “We need a voice, support, understanding and a place to feel all right.”

Schnauber said the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are already showing up in homeless shelters throughout the United States.

“In the past, it took an average of 10 years to see Vietnam veterans show up in these shelters, so the veterans of today’s wars are setting a new and sad precedent here,” he said. “We need organizations like this one if veterans are to return to a sense of normalcy after being exposed to war.”

The Run to Home Base will travel through Boston and finishes at home plate at Fenway Park. Friends, family and supporters can watch the runners complete the run and cheer them on from the stands at Fenway. The day will include other activities such as a Family Fun Zone and a Military Appreciation Zone, where supporters are encouraged to send care packages to deployed service members.

This weekend will be brimming with activities to celebrate Springfield's 375th anniversary.

Republican file photoThe World's Largest Pancake Breakfast has been served up annually in Springfield since 1986. Saturday's breakfast is expected to draw a huge crowd despite cloudy skies.

SPRINGFIELD -- Not even gray skies are expected to dampen the spirits of flapjack fanatics, who are among those likely to belly up to the table -- make that hundreds of tables -- on Main Street for Saturday's World's Largest Pancake Breakfast, an annual family-oriented event in the heart of downtown Springfield.

The pancake extravaganza is just one of many events planned to coincide with a weekend of activities marking Springfield's 375th Birthday Celebration, which continues with a parade at 11 a.m. Saturday and is followed later that night with fireworks in Blunt Park.

For the downtown parade, marchers will wend their way along State and Main streets before ending up at Mill Street, the parade's terminus. A reviewing stand will be outside the new Federal Courthouse on State Street.

The birthday bash continues all day Saturday and spills into Sunday, when the Keep Springfield Beautiful Road Race kicks off at 9 a.m. outside the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Among Saturday's highlights is a performance by the Sci-Tech Jazz Band at 7:30 p.m. in Blunt Park, followed by fireworks in the park at 9 p.m.

The Republican illustration/ Bob Rich

As folks lap up pancakes and syrup on Main Street, the Springfield 375th Chorus will be performing outside City Hall on Court Street, beginning at 9:30 a.m.

A full list of this weekend's birthday activities is available at www.springfield375.org.

Saturday's high temperature is forecasted to reach around 71 degrees in Springfield, though cloudy skies will prevail through the weekend with a possibility of showers on both days. Temperatures will be cool when the pancake breakfast begins Saturday morning, but the mercury is expected to reach the high 60s by the time the parade starts at 11 a.m.

The festivities are pegged to the 375th anniversary of the founding of Springfield, which would blossom into a bustling river city and Industrial Revolution powerhouse.

In May 1636, William Pynchon and a band of Puritan followers sailed up the Connecticut River to settle the area comprising today's Springfield. The city later would would grow into a manufacturing hub that inspired innovation and helped spawn games such as basketball, which was born and bred in Springfield.

States are in the midst of drawing new political maps for congressional and legislative districts based on the 2010 census, but the uncertainty surrounding the final lines is delaying candidates from joining November 2012 ballot races.

AP file photoIn this Nov. 3, 2010, file photo, Rep.-elect Joe Heck, R-Nev., talks to supporters at an election night party after winning a U.S. congressional seat in Las Vegas. The freshman congressman has been running for re-election since his election, fending off attacks on his five-month-old voting record by the Democratic Party, which has saturated his Las Vegas district with billboards, phone calls and mailers, but no actual opponent.

CRISTINA SILVA, Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Freshman U.S. Rep. Joe Heck has been running for re-election since he won in November, trying to fend off unrelenting attacks on his five-month-old voting record as the Democratic Party has saturated his Las Vegas district with billboards, phone calls and mailers.

But the Republican lawmaker has no opponent. His would-be rivals, it seems, are waiting for the Legislature to complete the once-every-decade process of redrawing political boundaries before they decide whether to challenge him in 2012.

Similar phantom campaigns are unfolding in other states where district lines and potential candidates have been slow to emerge. States are in the midst of drawing new political maps for congressional and legislative districts based on the 2010 census. The uncertainty surrounding the final lines is delaying candidates from jumping in to races on the ballot in November 2012.

"I have basically tried to keep whatever options I have open," says Danny Tarkanian, a tea party supporter who lost the GOP Senate nomination in Nevada last year but is expected to run for Congress.

Some incumbents will find their districts redrawn to help a rival party leader. A few challengers will learn they now live outside the district of the U.S. representative they had hoped to unseat. In the best scenario, candidates will gain an advantage in a district that already favored them.

Current districts will change or even vanish, based on population totals and the influences of the political party in power in each state. In most states, state legislators will redraw the maps, with the governor holding veto power.

Recent ballot initiatives requiring partisan-free redistricting in Florida and California are contributing to the unpredictability surrounding the upcoming campaigns and could further stall candidates if the boundaries end up in court.

Many U.S. House members could be in trouble.

In Indiana, Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly has decided to run for the U.S. Senate to flee his increasingly Republican district. GOP incumbents in upstate New York face unemployment as the state prepares to eliminate two House seats to reflect the area's shrinking population.

Even in the seven states with just one House member, redrawn legislative districts could foster unwanted competition as pushed out state senators and representatives seek higher office.

Only a few states had passed redistricting maps as of early May. Most states will tackle the boundaries later this year or early next year.

The U.S. Department of Justice must approve the plans of 16 states with a history of election violations, including Texas and Florida. All plans must be in place by the time candidates are required to file documents indicating they will run in 2012.

"Almost every state will be done by early spring of next year," said Tim Storey, a redistricting expert for the National Conference of State Legislatures. "It really varies from state to state and there are a lot of political considerations."

Democratic and Republican organizations tasked with electing their party members to the U.S. House are homing in on candidates with a whiff of vulnerability.

In Utah, Republicans are going after Rep. Jim Matheson, the state's lone Democrat in the U.S. House. The National Republican Congressional Committee released a 30-second television spot in February highlighting Matheson's 2009 vote to pass the $787 billion stimulus bill. But a Republican has not announced a campaign against Matheson, now in his sixth term.

Matheson is waiting for the state to pass its new congressional boundaries before he decides whether to run for re-election. If the odds are against him, he said he might campaign for governor or the U.S. Senate.

"I am running for something," he said. "I am not sure what."

In Florida, voters recently passed a ballot initiative requiring that districts be continuously connected. Democrats are hoping to unseat as many of the GOP's 19 House members as possible, but few challengers have announced they will run. The state isn't expected to finish its redistricting process until mid-2012, a timeline that favors incumbents because they can spend months raising money and campaigning without the distraction of a rival.

"If you don't have a district drawn, it's hard for people to analyze it, it's hard for people to say whether you have a shot," said Eric Jotkoff, spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party.

There are a few exceptions.

Expecting that the district just north of Miami held by Republican Rep. Allen West will become more Democratic, former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel is attempting to oust the freshman tea party favorite.

In California, Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Portantino has begun raising money to take on GOP U.S. Rep. David Dreier. For the first time, a 14-member citizens panel with representatives from all parties will design California's congressional boundaries.

"The district will be established a year before the election," Portantino estimated. "Obviously, the goal is to be prepared."

For now anyway, many incumbents such as Nevada's Heck have no choice but to shadowbox against unnamed opponents.

___

Online:

National Conference of State Legislatures: http://tinyurl.com/6hstd72

The Victory Theatre opened in 1919, closed in 1979 and is scheduled to reopen Dec. 30, 2012.

Photo by Greg Saulmon / The RepublicanThe interior of the Victory Theatre, where 28-foot-tall murals by New York artist Vincent Maragliotti flank the stage.

HOLYOKE – The Victory Theatre on Suffolk Street is undergoing a $27 million renovation, and for six weeks this summer, it will also be a classroom.

Vitek Kruta, a teacher at Holyoke Community College, will use his training in decorative and fine arts to teach a course in restoration of historic buildings.

“Basically, the Victory Theatre is a kind of a laboratory for them,” said JoAnne L. Rome, e-communications manager at the college.

Kruta, of Holyoke, said on the phone earlier this week that students will work inside the theater, at 81-89 Suffolk St.

They will collect and analyze samples of decorative painting, murals, plaster, gold leaf and faux finishes, he said.

They will mix paint colors to determine just the right shade and also do stenciling, he said.

Stenciling is one of the numerous touches of craftsmanship in the theater, which opened in 1919 and has been closed since 1979.

Students will learn about the roles of the Holyoke Historic Commission and other agenices in such a preservation project, Kruta said.

“It will be a very hands-on class,” he said.

The nonprofit Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts owns and is in charge of restoring the theater using government tax credits, grants and fund-raising.

The building has sustained roof, water and mold problems. But tours offered by the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts have revealed that the care for detail that went into creating the theater remains evident in the marble, mahogany and art deco surfaces despite being smothered for years by hunks of plaster and blankets of dust.

The former vaudeville house is on track to reopen Dec. 30, 2012, officials have said.

Kruta, who was born in Prague in the Czech Republic, has been working on preserving and restoring the murals that flank the Victory Theatre stage. The murals stand 28 feet tall and 13 feet wide.

“I think it’s a magnificent structure,” Kruta said.

The course has room for about 15 students, he said.

The three-credit course will run from June 6 to July 15 on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The cost is $477, Rome said.

To sign up, go to the Holyoke Community College admissions office in Room 221 in the Frost Building. Ask to register for “ART 155: An Introduction to the Restoration of Historic Buildings.”

Sign-up also is available online at hcc.edu

For information call (413) 552 2321.