Roger Heath, 73, of Ludlow, who was riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle, survived after colliding with a dump truck in Monson, police said.

Republican file photoA motorcycle crash Friday in Monson, in which the rider survived, follows a fatal collision last month in Ware.

MONSON -- The Monson Police Department has identified the motorcycle rider who collided with a dump truck shortly before 1 p.m. Friday as 73-year-old Roger Heath, who survived the crash and is expected to recover, according to a department spokesman.

Police said Heath, of 352 Holyoke St., Ludlow, was turning into a Route 20 (Boston Road) driveway around 12:54 p.m. when he collided with an eastbound dump truck driven by Shannon Mercier, 41, of 75 Old Reed Road, Monson.

The incident occurred in the vicinity of Labonte’s Towing, near the border of Monson and Palmer, and remains under investigation by Palmer police and the Massachusetts State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Section.

Heath, who was aboard a Harley Davidson motorcycle at the time of the incident, was rushed by Palmer Ambulance to Bay State Medical Center in Springfield, where he remained as of Saturday morning. An update on his condition was not immediately available.

Mercier was cited for a passing violation, police said.

Friday's crash follows a fatal motorcycle crash in Ware last month that claimed the life of a Palmer man.

THE MAP BELOW shows the approximate location of a Route 20 motorcycle crash that injured a Ludlow man on the border of Monson and Palmer:

View Larger Map

Police said the victim, a 22-year-old town resident, sustained a skull fracture after being struck multiple times in the head with a metal object.

03.09.11 | Photo by Julian Feller-Cohen â An Amherst Police Department cruiser.

Republican file photoAmherst police are investigating a Friday night assault that fractured a man's skull. One man has been charged in connection with the incident, which remains under investigation.

AMHERST -- Amherst police are investigating a Friday night assault that left a 22-year-old man with a fractured skull after he was repeatedly beaten with a socket wrench.

Officers responded to an 8:43 p.m. report of a fight at a parking garage at 51 Boltwood Walk, where they arrested Harrison L. Madzy, 39, of 35 Church St., Easthampton, for allegedly assaulting the man, whom Amherst police confirmed was a town resident but declined to identify.

Madzy is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown on three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Madzy assaulted the man with a 24-inch, flex-handle socket drive, striking him "multiple times in the head and leg," police said. He sustained a fractured skull and a broken leg during the incident and was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, where he remained in stable condition as of early Saturday morning.

The man's brother -- a 24-year-old New Jersey resident -- sustained a hand injury during the altercation, police said.

Madzy is being held on $25,000 bail at the Hampshire County Jail & House of Correction in Northampton.

The mayor has proposed a fiscal 2012 budget that is balanced and that he saws maintains services and is fair to the taxpayers.

Richard A. Cohen

AGAWAM – Mayor Richard A. Cohen sent the City Council a proposed fiscal 2012 budget of $73,547,630, a spending plan 2.597 percent or $1,861,731 more than this year’s budget.

“We are doing more with less. I truly believe our schools will remain strong and our services will continue,” Cohen said during a Town Hall interview earlier this week.

The proposal is balanced and does not call for any layoffs on the municipal side of the ledger. It also allows for a School Department budget of $34,194,167, a figure .84 percent higher than this year’s educational spending. The School Department budget proposed for next year eliminates 31.8 full-time equivalent positions. That comes out to laying off 13 teachers aides, nearly four teachers and two secretaries, and not filling the positions of six teachers, one secretary, the school resource officer and five instructional coaches.

Cohen said he was able to avoid layoffs in the municipal sector by not filling the following jobs: the assistant treasurer, a Department of Public Works senior clerk, a building maintenance employee, a police officer, a half-time secretarial position in the Town Clerk’s Office, a highway and grounds laborer, a working foreman and a heavy equipment operator in the waste water budget.

Cohen said this is the first time in his 10 years as mayor that he has had to lay off city employees.

“It is never anything you want to do,” the mayor said.

Cohen said his proposed fiscal 2012 spending plan is the most difficult he has had to put together largely because of anticipated cutbacks in state and federal aid.

At $21,254,432, the amount of aid expected from the state is down 7 percent, according to him. That number is based on the state’s House budget, which he said could still be reduced. In addition, the mayor pointed out the city will lose about $20,000 in what had been Quinn bill reimbursements in educational incentives for police.

The School Department will also not see about $1.5 million that it spent this year in federal stimulus funds, he pointed out.

Cohen said municipalities are hampered financially by having to deal with increases in the cost of health benefits, unemployment compensation and retirements.

“They all have to be funded,” he said. “I don’t feel you can continually put the burden on the taxpayer.”

The council will officially receive the proposed budget Monday, when it is expected to set a date for a public hearing on it. Officials have until July 1, the first day of fiscal 2012, to put a budget in place.

The accounts with the highest proposed increases for next year are the capital improvement budget at $495,428, an increase of 106.86 percent; the reserve fund at $500,00, an increase of 25 percent; and benefits and insurance spending at $13,171,199, an increase of 9.82 percent.

The Friends of the Senior Center has pledged to raise $2 million toward the building.

Photo by John Suchocki / The RepublicanMayor Michael D. Bissonnette looks over one of the model planes at the Chicopee Senior Center that the Friends of the Senior Center hope to have painted and auctioned off to raise money for a new building.

CHICOPEE – First there were the Easthampton bears, then there were the West Springfield terriers and the Springfield sneakers. Now there are Planes Over Chicopee.

The Friends of the Senior Center unveiled its first large-scale effort to raise money to build a new senior center earlier this week. Similar to other campaigns held across the country, artists will paint large statues, display them and auction them off to the highest bidder.

“If you are not excited about it now, I assure you, you will be. It is a wonderful, wonderful project,” Charles E. Desmarais, chairman of the Council on Aging, said.

The Friends of the Senior Center pledged to raise $2 million toward the construction of a new building. The City Council has also agreed to borrow up to $4 million for the project and the city plans to borrow $5 million from the federal government and pay that money over 20 years using some of the annual federal Community Development Block Grant funds it receives.

With Westover Air Reserve Base being the city’s largest employer, it seemed a model of its C-5 Galaxy jets was an ideal symbol, officials said.

Already artists have been selected to paint the 20 models. During the unveiling ceremony, organizers showed some proposals which included patriotic themes, one had the city seal and one was covered with a chain of flowers.

The first auction will be held at 5 p.m. on June 1 in a gala affair at the Knights of Columbus. Tickets will be $20 if purchased ahead of time and $25 at the door, said John F. Arthur, spokesman for the fund-raising effort.

The sponsor a plane, a business or person must bid at least $1,400, which will cover the $1,000 cost to purchase the fiberglass plane that measures 4 by 5 feet, and art supplies. The sponsor does not purchase the plane, but will have a plaque with their name attached to it, Desmarais said.

The planes will then be placed in undetermined locations around the city and in the fall a second auction will be held to sell the models, he said.

City Treasurer Ernest N. Laflamme, who is co-chairman of the entire fund-raising operation in partnership with former Mayor Richard J. Kos, said Planes Over Chicopee is one of many fund-raising efforts the committee will be operating over the next few years.

“We are really beginning our efforts now,” Kos said. “On behalf of myself and (Laflamme) we are happy to lend our time and efforts to make this a reality.”

The new senior center is slated to be built off West Main Street on land which housed the former Facemate Corporation, Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said.

“We are doing this with very creative funding,” he said. “Today the most important of this kicks off, that is citizen involvement.”

Town Meeting voted to add $65,250 to staff and open the War Memorial Pool.

File photo / The RepublicanShaina C. Tramazzo, of Leverett and her son Reee A. Tramazzo, 19 months, play together in the War Memorial Wading Pool in Amherst in 2006. The pool and wading pool have been closed the last two summers.

AMHERST - With budgets tight, the War Memorial Pool has not been open the last two summers.

But this year Town Meeting had a different ideas. The meeting reopened the Community Services budget, which had been approved on May 2. A week later, member Julia Y. Rueschemeyer proposed increasing the $1.5 million fiscal 2012 budget by $65,250 to pay staff to open the pool. That motion passed 92 to 75.

Now the town has to find the money to do it. Both the Finance Committee and four Select Board members opposed the additional spending with member Diana B. Stein supporting it.

The pool has been closed the past two summers and opened late in 2007 after Town Meeting restored funding that had been cut from the pool as well.

The town’s second Mill River Pool at Groff Park has been open and will be open this summer.

The increased revenue for the War Memorial would pay to staff the pool but the pool needs $175,000 in repairs, said Town Manager John P. Musante.

Musante said staff will look at the pool to see what can be done and determine if it can be open without the repairs for this summer.

“We’re appreciative of Town Meetings supporting the War Memorial Pool,” he said. “We’re going to explore (whether it can open.)”

The Finance Committee could recommend the additional revenue for the operation come from free cash unless there is an equal budget cut elsewhere.

Town Meeting still has several other budgets to consider including the town’s share of the Amherst Regional School budget and the library budget among others.

The meeting has approved the elementary, public safety, conservation and development, and general government budgets, as well as $755,952 in spending funded by the Community Preservation Act fund.

But the fifth session Monday night will begin with a request for the town to enter into a long-term lease with BlueWave Capital Inc. of Boston. The vote is needed to allow the town to begin the permitting process to have BlueWave build a solar project there.

Some in the neighborhood oppose the project because they say there are health and safety issues at the landfill.

The vote merely allows the town to apply for the permits that would allow officials to determine if the site is suitable.

Town Meeting resumes at 7:30 in the Amherst Regional Middle School.

A Chicopee official has asked that the West Springfield Town Council join that city in putting the brakes on plans to build a biomass plant in Springfield.

WEST SPRINGFIELD – The Town Council will be asked Monday to adopt a resolution calling on Springfield officials to not grant any further approvals for a proposed biomass plant in that city until a site assignment hearing is completed and the Springfield Public Health Council makes a decision.

Town Council President Kathleen A. Bourque said that Chicopee City Councilor Timothy S. McLelland asked that the West Springfield board join the Chicopee in asking that any further approvals for the project be suspended until the completion of a site assignment public hearing and a decision by the Springfield Health Council.

The Chicopee City Council recently passed a resolution opposing the plant on the grounds that Pioneer Valley residents’ health is already compromised by polluted air in the area.

Bourque said she as well as Director of Public Health Jeanne Galloway and Mayor Edward J. Gibson are concerned about the effect the plant would have. The council president said she leans toward adopting the resolution depending on what information comes out and what comments are made by other councilors at Monday’s meeting.

“We have enough pollution problems in the Pioneer Valley right now. We don’t need to add to them by having a biomass plant,” Galloway said.

She noted that air pollution from the western part of the country is blown into the area by prevailing winds and then sinks into lower areas like those around the Connecticut River.

Palmer Renewable Energy has proposed building a 35-megawatt biomass plant at 1000 Page Blvd. in Springfield. The Springfield City Council has a hearing set for Tuesday to consider revoking a 2008 special permit for the East Springfield plant.

The hearing is at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall. There are also proposals for biomass plants in Russell and Greenfield.

Advocates of the plants have said they generate a form of renewable energy.

Frank P. Fitzgerald, the attorney and a spokesman for Palmer Renewable Energy, could not be reached for comment.

The West Springfield Town Council is scheduled to meet Monday at 7 p.m. in the municipal building.

The commencement speaker was John Paul Lederach, a professor of International Peace building at the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.

SPRINGFIELD - Whether inspired by a tie-breaking goal kick in the state women's soccer championships, bringing peace to violence-ravaged regions across the globe, or fairy dust - speakers at the 80th annual commencement ceremony for Elm's College urged graduates to grab inspiration wherever it presents itself.

At the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield, the 2011 Founder's Cross Award-winner told 340 fellow graduates one of her most anxiety-ridden moments in college came on a drizzly day in 2008 as she poised to kick an overtime goal during the women's intercollegiate state soccer playoffs.

"I was standing in what felt like the center of the world," Sarah Donais, of Granby, told graduates, family members, faculty and trustees of the Chicopee college. "When it was my turn, I watched it soar past the goalie and eventually hit the back of the net."

While that outcome was exhilarating, Donais, 21, said there would be many more uncertain moments in front of her during college and there will be many more to come.

"We may not have jobs, houses or every detail figured out," she said, but be confident opportunities are there.

Commencement speaker John Paul Lederach, a professor of International Peace building at the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, told graduates he was first inspired by a scratchy vinyl Peter Pan album when he was a boy and the fairy dust that allowed the character to fly.

"I always waited for the part when he said: 'You can fly. You can fly,'" Lederach said. "That would be the moment when I would leap from the couch and land smack on the floor - and I would do it again and again and again. That's the beauty of a childlike wonder."

Lederach has been to peacekeeping missions in some tense corners of the world, including Columbia, Nepal, Northern Ireland and the Philippines.

Elms College was founded in 1928, on the cusp of the Great Depression, primarily for women of limited means to pursue an education. It has since become a co-educational institution.

Thousands flocked to downtown Springfield for Saturday's big pancake breakfast, followed by a parade and a day of events in honor of the city's birthday.

The Republican illustration/ Bob RichSpringfield's 375th anniversary festivities continue Sunday with a road race through downtown Springfield and more.

SPRINGFIELD -- The spirits were high and the crowds were thick at the World’s Biggest Pancake Breakfast, which was followed immediately by
Springfield’s 375th Parade, an event that drew thousands of people downtown on Saturday.

The pancakes and parade were just a few of the many events scheduled to coincide with the city’s 375th anniversary, including Saturday’s open house at the Springfield Museums and “Armory Day” at the historic Springfield Armory, replete with reenactments, demonstrations and cannon blasts.

"We enjoyed the breakfast. We had a good time," said Luis Garcia, 58, who was joined by
Yolanda Diaz and Hector Rodriguez, both 62.

The trio, all of whom live on Chestnut Street, were seated smack dab in the middle of a long line of tables stretching north along Main Street for several city blocks from State
Street.

"Today is just a beautiful day with all the people, and I really liked the pancakes," Diaz said.

Rodriguez said the family-oriented, block-party vibe to the breakfast allows city residents to see old friends from the neighborhood in a casual, relaxed atmosphere.

"It's just really nice with all the people," he said.

But not everyone was from the city.

Donna and Peter Allen, of Feeding Hills in Agawam, took advantage of the dry weather to chow down and soak up the festivities. They said they'd likely go home for a while, then return to Springfield for Saturday night's fireworks display in Blunt Park.

"We may wander around a little bit more," said Donna, 45, a Pioneer Valley native who
feels Springfield sometimes gets a bum rap.

"Every city has a tendency to have good and bad," she said, adding that Springfield put its best foot forward on Saturday.

Events such as the World's Biggest Pancake Breakfast draw people downtown, and many -- such as the Allens -- were pleasantly surprised by what they experienced.

"You say, 'Oh, well, that's down here? I didn't know that was here,'" said Donna, who
admits she's a big fan of the City of Homes, where she attended school for a while as a girl.

"You just get a different perspective when you're down here, sitting here," she said, seated in the middle of Main Street against a bustling backdrop of humanity, modern office towers and splendid Victorian-era buildings, many of which aren't visible from Interstate 91.

"This just gives (people) a chance to see what's here," she said. "Driving down I-91, you just don't get to see the city."

"Tell the mayor we said thanks," said Peter, 49, adding that people should give Springfield another chance if they haven't been through the city in some time.

For Rose and John Majane, both 69, the trip downtown was only a short jaunt from their Forest Park home.

The couple was among the hundreds who packed the corner of State and Main streets to watch the parade head west past the federal courthouse, then south along Main Street. The intersection was by far the busiest vantage point for watching Saturday's parade.

Rose said she has long known about the big pancake breakfast, a quarter-century tradition in Springfield, but she never attended.

"I'd never been before and thought I'd come," she said.

Like many city residents, the Majanes said they've grown weary of the seemingly endless crime reports in their beloved city.

"You just get tired of hearing about people getting shot and stabbed," Rose said.

Among Sunday's featured festivities are The Keep Springfield Beautiful Road Race at 9 a.m. in front of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Howard Drew Mayor's Cup, a track-and-field event scheduled for 10 a.m. at Springfield Central High School.

A full list of events is available at www.springfield375.org.

Besides being fun for the entire family, the festivities are pegged to the history of Springfield. Settled 375 years ago, the area that would come to be known as Springfield blossomed into a bustling river city and manufacturing hub.

In May 1636, William Pynchon and a band of Puritan followers sailed up the Connecticut River to settle the area, which grew into an Industrial Revolution powerhouse and a home for innovation and inspiration, spawning the nation's first successful gasoline-powered automobile and the game of basketball, which was born in Springfield.

President Obama's Letter Marking Springfield's 375th Anniversary

Authorities released little information about the Saturday morning incident, which apparently involved a party who was electrocuted by high-tension wires.

Republican file photoAuthorities are remaining tight-lipped about an apparent electrocution death Saturday morning in Chicopee.

CHICOPEE -- Police here are investigating an apparent electrocution death Saturday morning.

Initial scanner reports around 9:30 a.m. Saturday indicated a party was seen dangling from high tension wires, but Chicopee police and fire officials have declined to provide further details, including the location of the incident.

Lt. Holly Davis deferred to the city's detective bureau, adding that the Chicopee Police Department typically doesn't release information about possible suicides. A detective reached late Saturday afternoon said he had just come on duty and had no information about the incident, which apparently happened in a public setting.

More information will be posted when details become available.

Obituaries from The Republican.

Gertrude D. Zisk

Gertrude D. (Goodreau) Zisk, 93, previously of Palmer, passed away on Friday. She was a lifelong resident of Palmer and graduated from Palmer High School. She was a communicant of St. Thomas Church and a 60-year member of the Daughters of Isabella. After 44 years of employment, Zisk retired from MetLife Insurance Company as office manager. She was a secretary for the Pioneer Club and active in both the Palmer and Monson Senior Centers. She previously was director of Club 55, and also worked bingo at St. Thomas Church for 25 years.

Obituaries from The Republican:

• 
  Alfarone, Carmela Maria (Romeo)




• 
  Ashline, Raymond G.
  



• 
  Berman, Louis
  




• Desilets, Berthe A.
  




• 
  Drapeau, Nancy Higgins "Nanny" (Reed)
  



• 
  Gonsalves, Edna L.




• 
  Kochan, Stephen
  



• 
  Posen, Leon S.
  




• Sturtevant, Eleanor M.
  




• 
  Vazquez, Miguel Angel
  



• 
  Zisk, Gertrude D. (Goodreau)

More than 50 volunteers from the Pepsi distribution center in Windsor, Conn. came to Westfield for the cleanup effort.

Manon. L. Mirabelli Lauren M. Roache, 13, left, and Olivia R. Clark, 10, help beautify the grounds of the Greater Westfield Boys and Girls Club and the Amelia Park Children's Museum Saturday.

The cleanup was done by volunteers from the Pepsi distribution center in Windsor, Conn., which sent work crews and supplies to 16 communities throughout New England on Saturday. It was made possible through a grant from Pepsi that provides a crew of volunteers and supplies to do a spring cleanup of the properties in preparation for summer.

Children’s museum Vice President Diana McLean said the two organizations applied for the grant as one, a grant to which no clear dollar amount is attached, but instead provided the sweat equity of volunteers from Pepsi.

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

Matthew R. Gilligan, territory sales manager for the Windsor Pepsi facility, said communities that do business with the company were asked to submit applications from which the 16 were selected. In choosing which projects to support, ease of the task was considered.

“It had to be something that volunteers would be capable of doing,” he said. “We’re just helping hands working in the community. The volunteers are Pepsi employees and their families.”

Surveying the completed work, McLean said the extent of beautification that was completed could not have been done without the Pepsi crew.

“We could not have done the same quality work without them,” she said. “They weeded the entire area, turned over the flower beds, cleaned the vegetable garden in back of the Boys and Girls Club and got it ready for planting.”

Jaclyn Parks, boys and girls club marketing and development director, said Green Meadow Lumber of Westfield is donating the mulch that will be used to beautify the properties.

The day’s hard work was rewarded with a free catered barbecue lunch by Famous Dave’s Restaurant, also provided by Pepsi.

“We wanted to make sure everyone was well fed,” Gilligan said.

Hampden County communities are eligible to receive up to 75 percent reimbursement for storm expenses.

MONSON - Highway Surveyor John R. Morrell is being recognized for his role in getting federal disaster funds for Hampden County for a January 11-12 snowstorm.

Hampden County initially was excluded for disaster relief, but recently was included because snowfall amounts in the eastern part of the county were so high. Morrell was personally thanked for his efforts in a May 6 letter by Richard L. Fitzgerald, a section chief for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

Now Hampden County communities are eligible to receive up to 75 percent reimbursement for storm expenses. Monson may receive up to $50,000.

Morrell also credited highway superintendents and officials in Palmer, Hampden, Wales and Brimfield for helping gather the information needed to prove that the county should get relief for the Jan. 11-12 snowstorm.

“It’s a team effort and we just want to be recognized by our local communities that we got the money for them. Some people are claiming they were responsible and they weren’t,” Morrell said.

Morrell estimates that Monson alone got between 26 and 30 inches of snow during that storm, which exceeded its record snowfall of 26 inches. Morrell said the larger Hampden County communities did not receive as much snow as the smaller communities like Monson. He said only one community in Hampden County needed to have 90 percent of its record snowfall total to earn funds for the entire county.

Fitzgerald wrote that Morrell contacted him shortly after the news broke that Hampden County was not included in the disaster declaration, and told Fitzgerald that he, along with other highway superintendents, had measured snowfalls greater than what was reported by the National Weather Service.

Fitzgerald asked Morrell to provide more information, and the National Weather Service recalculated snowfall amounts for along the Massachusetts-Connecticut border. The result validated Morrell’s statements, changing the snowfall amounts for Hampden County, Fitzgerald’s letter stated.

“I can honestly say that John’s assistance and leadership among his fellow highway professionals made the difference . . . it will mean a lot to all the communities within Hampden County,” Fitzgerald wrote.

Neil Gile has been at Quarry Hill Community School in Monson for five years.

Staff File Photo by Dave Roback- MONSON - Principal Neil G. Gile talks about the new mural that 10 students from the Quarry Hill School created over the summer.

MONSON – Quarry Hill Community School Principal Neil G. Gile will be leaving at the end of the school year to take a principal position at Wolf Swamp School in Longmeadow.

Gile, who has been at the school for five years, started off as Quarry Hill’s assistant principal. He is in his fourth year as principal there.

The East Longmeadow resident said he will miss Monson.

“I love the people and the students and teachers,” Gile, 35, said.

"Such a momentous occasion is an opportunity to reflect on the history of your community," the president writes.

Courtesy whitehouse.govPresident Barack Obama

SPRINGFIELD – Thousands of people participating in the World's Biggest Pancake Breakfast and enjoying open houses at the Springfield Museums, Armory Day at the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, music, a downtown parade and fireworks at Blunt Park weren't the only ones celebrating Springfield's 375th birthday.

President Barack Obama took note of the city's milestone and sent a special message to everyone celebrating the city's founding in 1636.

"Such a momentous occasion is an opportunity to reflect on the history of your community and the people who made it what it is today," the president writes.

Here is the president's letter in full:

President Obama's Letter Marking Springfield's 375th Anniversary

Springfield's connections with education and culture go back to its very beginnings when it was founded in 1636.

File photo | The RepublicanSpringfield Symphony Hall, one of the many venues that highlight culture and education in the city celebrating its 375th anniversary in 2011.

Springfield’s connections with education and culture go back to its very beginnings when it was founded in 1636 by a religious scholar and writer who had the distinction of having a book he wrote be the first literature banned and burned in Boston.

After the banning of his book, “The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption,” in 1651, William Pynchon left the community he founded in the hands of his son John and returned to England in 1652.

The tiny settlement, which recorded 74 inhabitants in 1664, seemed more interested in surviving in these early years then getting involved in culture and education, save for the mandatory Sabbath teachings of its Puritan ministers. In 1677, just two years after the settlement was nearly completely destroyed in an attack during King Philip’s War, a man named Daniel Benton was employed as Springfield’s first teacher.

In 1679, the townspeople voted to construct the first public school house near the present day site of where Liberty Street ends at Interstate 91. The costs of the school house and “schoolmr’s” salary are listed in the town records along with bounty payments for dead wolves, fines for swine without yokes, and law forbidding the picking of wild hops until after September fifth.

Public education flourished in Springfield where school houses were erected throughout the settlement by the mid 19th century nearly 2,000 students were enrolled and a high school was erected in 1848 on Court Square.

Wealthy Springfield families had been sending their children to private schools and colleges with several graduating from Harvard and Yale. The Dwight family that settled in Springfield can boast two Yale Presidents, both named Timothy.

Even though Springfield’s population didn’t reach 10,000 until 1840, it was a popular stop on the lecture circuit and the town was dotted with halls and public meeting places that were used for everything from traveling minstrel shows, magic acts, and book readings. At one point in the late 1800s Springfield boasted three opera houses and theaters where the most famous actors of the day performed. One happened to be John Wilkes Booth. In 1851 citizens of the community were enthralled by Jenny Lind.

It was into this environment that permanent cultural institutions began to be established. By the late 1850s there was a library and museum on State Street. Before the turn of the 20th century Springfield College, Bay Path Institute and American International College were established. Western New England College would follow and finally Springfield Technical Community College.

The tradition of Springfield supporting the most important public speakers of the day has been carried on by the Springfield Public Forum which celebrated 75 years of providing free public lectures last year.

Add to this cultural mix, the Springfield Armory Historic Site, a world class orchestra in the Springfield Symphony Orchestra which plays out of Symphony Hall, a building celebrating its 100th birthday next year, the Basketball Hall of Fame to mark the birthplace of basketball, our own theater company in CityStage, the Community Music School to assure a steady stream of local talent for years to come, and you certainly have something for everybody.

The council could grant final approval to extending the $75 trash fee, and could revoke the special permit for Palmer Renewable Energy.

File photos | The Republican

SPRINGFIELD – Two issues that have generated a lot of controversy in recent years – the trash fee and a proposed wood-burning plant in East Springfield – will surface before the City Council at separate meetings this week.

On Monday, the council will consider granting final approval for extending the annual $75 trash fee beyond June 30, when it was scheduled to expire.

The fee, originally $90 a year, was imposed by the former state-imposed Finance Control Board in 2007, to partially cover the cost of trash collection and disposal in Springfield.

Many homeowners and some councilors had objected to the fee when first implemented, some suggesting it was a burden and represented double taxation.

The council recently gave first-step approval to extending the fee, by a 9-4 vote, but will consider final approval Monday. The meeting is at 7 p.m., at City Hall.

Councilors who support the continued trash fee say it will generate more than $3 million in revenue for a city faced with severe budget constraints. Some of the opponents say the city instead should seek alternate solutions, such as a reduction in spending, rather than continuing the fee.

On Tuesday, the council has scheduled a public hearing to consider either amending or revoking a special permit granted to Palmer Renewable Energy in 2008, for a proposed $150 million wood-burning biomass energy plant at 1000 Page Boulevard.

The hearing is at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Proponents and opponents will be allowed to speak, and the council could then vote on the matter or wait until a future date, Council President Jose F. Tosado said.

The developers have warned that revoking the permit would trigger legal action, and the council plans to meet with City Solicitor Edward M. Pikula on Monday for legal advice.

Tosado and Councilor Melvin Edwards requested Tuesday’s hearing, saying that the company adjusted its plans after receiving the 2008 permit.

The developers said the change involved a switch to the use of just green wood pellets for fuel, rather than of mix of pellets and sorted construction and demolition debris, which they say is an improvement.

Police said they recovered seven shell casings from a Sunday morning shooting near the intersection of Sullivan and Armory Streets in the Liberty Heights' enclave of Hungry Hill.

Republican file photoA flurry of shooting reports kept Springfield police busy early Sunday morning.

SPRINGFIELD -- City police responded to a flurry of back-to-back shooting reports early Sunday morning, including a 1:28 a.m. incident outside a Hungry Hill house party near the intersection of Sullivan and Armory streets.

Responding officers recovered seven shell casings after gunfire erupted as a Sullivan Street house party was breaking up for the night, police said.

There were no immediate apparent victims in the shooting. But a ranking police official urged officers to be on the lookout for possible gunshot victims, who may show up at area hospitals via "private transport" rather than by ambulance. Some city shooting victims don't call 911 for help, but rather get driven by acquaintances to various hospitals in and around Springfield.

Initial scanner reports for the incident in Hungry Hill, an enclave in the Liberty Heights neighborhood, indicated that uniform patrol officers collected the shell casings for the city's Detective Bureau in case any victims emerge.

"Someone popped off (a gun)" as the Sullivan Street party was ending, according to an officer who responded to the call.

"We have seven shell casings," he told a commanding officer.

The Hungry Hill call was sandwiched between shooting reports at 1:27 a.m.outside 20 Cleveland St. -- located a block away from Sullivan Street -- and at 1:34 a.m. in front of 90 Central St. in the South End. The Cleveland Street report may be linked to the Sullivan Street report.

Additional information about the Central Street shooting report, which occurred near the intersection of Morris and Ashmun streets, wasn't immediately available.

THE MAP BELOW shows the approximate location of a Sunday morning shooting incident outside a Sullivan Street address in Springfield's Hungry Hill neighborhood:

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Opposition to the Palmer Renewable Energy plan includes the American Lung Association, the Massachusetts Medical Society and the Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition.

View full sizeAn artist's rendering of the proposed Palmer Renewable Energy biomass plant off Page Boulevard in East Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD – The developers of a proposed 35-megawatt wood-burning plant in East Springfield say the opposition to their project is well-organized, determined and well-funded.

The opponents’ arguments, however, are contradicted by science and engineering that show the plant, as designed, will be safe, state-of-the-art and well within standards set by state and federal regulations, according to developer David J. Callahan, president of Palmer Renewable Energy, and his lead consultants.

The effort to construct a $150 million biomass energy plant at 1000 Page Blvd., at Cadwell Drive, has spanned five years, and has included sharp opposition from a grassroots group, Stop Toxic Incineration in Springfield, and its allies.

The opposition includes various health organizations including the American Lung Association, the Massachusetts Medical Society and the Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition.

Callahan, whose family has owned Palmer Paving Corp. for two generations, said he simply would not put his name and reputation behind a plant that would harm people. The developer needs approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection to begin construction.

Callahan and his consultants said they have the research and technology to back his claim. The team includes Dale T. Raczynski, of Epsilon Associates Inc. of Maynard, and Peter A. Valberg, principal of environmental health for Gradient, an environmental and risk science consulting firm based in Cambridge.

The developer and consultants, in a written summary of the project, said “every state agency and scientific expert that has reviewed our project has found it to be safe and clean.”

The City Council has a hearing on Tuesday, at 4:30 p.m., at City Hall, to consider amending or revoking the developer’s special permit, granted in 2008. The developer has threatened a multi-million dollar lawsuit if the permit is revoked, while opponents said a change in the plant’s wood fuel merits the need for a new special permit.

The change in the project involves burning green wood chips rather than a mix of green wood and construction and demolition debris. Callahan and his consultants, however, said the change reduces the environmental impact.

The plant will burn an average of 1,184 tons of green wood chips per day to create electricity. The state’s former secretary of environmental affairs, Ian Bowles, determined that a full environmental impact report was not required based on his determination that it would not be a major contributor to pollution.

File photo | The RepublicanDavid J. Callahan, head of Palmer Paving Corp., left, is seen with Frank Fitzgerald, attorney for Palmer Renewable Energy, the limited liability company, headed by Callahan, that wants to build a biomass plant in East Springfield.

The developers have stated the plant will bring 200 construction jobs and 50 well-paid full-time operation jobs, along with significant new tax revenue to Springfield. In addition, as sought by city officials, the company has committed $2 million to address current health issues in Springfield, and more than $1 million in annual payments in lieu of taxes, Callahan said.

But he, Raczynski and Valberg said the case for the plant goes beyond those factors. The assertion by many opponents that the project will harm public health is unfounded, as shown by science, they said.

Raczynski said safety of the plant is enhanced by such factors as a proposed 275-foot high steel stack and an air pollution control system that “represents the best available control technology” on the market. The plant will have 30 times less of an impact on a nearby houses than if that house was next to a home with a wood stove, according to the consultants.

Opponents, including health-related organizations, say the Springfield area already has unacceptable air pollution, and extremely high rates of asthma, particularly among children, which would worsen with the biomass plant.

Valberg said his firm conducted a voluntary comprehensive health risk assessment of the project and concluded there would be “no significant adverse effects on the health status of the local population.”

The average annual impact on emissions such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter would be minuscule, Valberg and Raczynski said.

The company provided Springfield with the names of five other environmental consulting firms to review the findings.

Any new source of emissions “has to follow much more stringent standards,” Valberg said.

Regarding asthma rates, Valberg said there are many theories on the causes of asthma, and that indoor air quality in homes and schools is actually more of concern than outdoor air. For opponents to state that the project will worsen asthma rates “is just not scientifically accurate,” Valberg said.

The consultants also take issue with claims by opponents that the project will result in over-stripped forests and woodland.

Northern Tree Service will provide the wood from its own operations and various contracts, generated from ongoing forestry trimming and waste wood, and roadside trimmings, they said.

Opponents raise concerns about air pollution, impacts on the Westfield River, and increased truck traffic.

View full sizeThe site plan for the proposed Russell Biomass wood-burning plant at the former Westfield River Paper Co. site in Russell.

RUSSELL – Even their business cards are green.

The developers of a proposed 50-megawatt, wood-burning plant in Russell, during a recent meeting with the Editorial Board of The Republican, described their project as a win for the three “E’s” - environment, economy and energy.

The development firm, Russell Biomass, disputes any notion that it will not have enough waste wood to fuel its plant without resorting to clear-cutting of forests. It boasts of 67 “letters of intent” from wood suppliers that will provide many times more wood than the plant would ever need, said Peter G. Bos, one of the developers.

The clean wood fuel supply in Massachusetts was estimated at 2.5 million tons per year in a 2002 study, from sources ranging from tree service companies to storm-damaged trees and discarded pallets, developers said. The waste wood otherwise often ends up in landfills or is left to decompose.

Opponents have sharply criticized the $150 million project that is proposed on the grounds of the former Westfield River Paper Company.

Jana S. Chicoine, of Concerned Citizens of Russell, is among opponents who raise concerns about air pollution, impacts on the Westfield River, and increased truck traffic.

Russell Biomass officials say the fears are unfounded, and counter that the project will mean jobs, $1 million in tax revenue, and a cleaner source of energy.

In addition, the developer is considering creation of a large greenhouse complex to capture the heat from the plant as another benefit, developers said.

And yes, four of the principals in the project showed green-colored business cards during the recent meeting.

Bos said that with a 300-foot-high smokestack and state-of-the-art technology, the project poses no harm to public health.

The emission controls and plant stack technology will capture 99 percent of particulates with the remainder dispersed widely, developers said.

“It absolutely can be developed safely,” Bos said.

The company has pledged to replace 20 poorly functioning wood stoves in Russell at no cost to the homeowners, providing new, clean-burning, wood-pellet stoves in exchange.

That venture “will actually reduce pollution” in town, Bos said, adding that the proposed plant would have less of an impact on a nearby home than any house with a conventional wood stove.

A conventional wood stove would emit 63 micrograms per cubic meter, as opposed to the Russell Plant impact of 0.2 micrograms, according to statistics provided by the developers.

The developers also presented results of an “air dispersion study,” that showed levels of nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, lead, and carbon monoxide “all safely in compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards” set up by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to a company summary.

The Republican | Michael S. GordonRussell Biomass officials, from left, James M. Ramsey, Peter Bos and William B. Hull, meet with The Republican Editorial Board.

The biomass plant is cleaner than energy produced by fossil fuels, while alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power are more expensive and cost prohibitive, Bos and his partners argue.

William B. Hull, the property owner, said the tree stock in Massachusetts and Connecticut has risen dramatically despite the loss of acreage to development.

The developers are concerned about new state regulations being proposed that would threaten renewable energy credits for biomass plants.

The Russell plant has gained most of the permits necessary, but some are under appeal, the developers said.

There are commercial biomass plants elsewhere, including the McNeil Generating Plant in Vermont that have created no problems, Russell Biomass representatives said. The McNeil plant has been strongly supported in Vermont, and forests continue to thrive, developers said.

Bos and Hull were joined by Bos’ brother, John Bos, who serves as public information officer, and James M. Ramsey, another principal of Russell Biomass, in touting their plans.

Proponents say their plants are safe, state-of-the-art facilities that pose no threat to public health and safety.

File photo | Associated PressWaste wood chips such as these are used to fuel biomass plants.

Developers of wood-burning plants in Springfield and Russell say they are not the pollution-spewing, forest-stripping, lung-searing promoters that some might fear.

The developers, aided by their engineers and hired consultants, are seeking final approval from the state needed to begin construction of their biomass energy projects. The process, in each case, has lasted several years.

The proponents say their plants are safe, state-of-the-art facilities that pose no threat to public health and safety.

In both cases, however, the projects have stirred opposition from various individuals and groups, saying the plants will worsen air pollution and create health hazards.

During recent meetings with the Editorial Board of The Republican, the developers said they have shown their projects meet and exceed all state and federal regulations for emissions and air quality. In addition, they said the plants will be closely monitored by various state and federal agencies.

The proponents also denied allegations made by some opponents that the projects will result in clear-cutting of some forest areas, or that their proposals to use wood as fuel is just a ruse to eventually switch to construction and demolition debris.

There is great supply of wood to fuel the plants without any need for clear-cut harvesting, the developers said.

Both plants have secured nearly all permits needed to proceed with construction, while the opponents continue efforts to block the projects.

In Springfield, the City Council has scheduled a public hearing Tuesday, at 4:30 p.m., at City Hall, to consider either amending or revoking a special permit for the Palmer Renewable Energy project.

The developers say there is no justification for revocation of the 2008 permit, and have threatened legal action if the permit is revoked.

In Russell, the developers say they have obtained most of the permits needed to proceed with the project.