Police are investigating an alleged slashing incident after responding to a report of an injured victim at a local hospital Sunday morning.

WORCESTER - Police are investigating an alleged slashing incident after responding to a report of an injured victim at a local hospital Sunday morning. The 21-year-old male victim arrived at the hospital around 5 a.m. with a slash wound to the back of the neck, but his injuries were considered non-life-threatening.

According to police, the victim told officers that he was at a club earlier that evening and then he went to an party at an apartment. He told police that the party dispersed after an argument in the apartment. A physical altercation took place outside on the corner of Main and Wellington Streets. The victim was knocked unconscious during the fight and a friend drove him to the hospital.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette* reports that the man awoke and called his girlfriend and she was the person who took him to the hospital.

The Telegram & Gazette also reports that the victim had a 4-inch long cut on the back of his neck and it took eight stitches to close up the wound. He also had bumps and bruises on his head, face and back.

Police report that detectives could not locate a crime scene and that the investigation is ongoing.

*Worcester Telegram & Gazette articles may require a subscription.

A New York man was arraigned today on charges of sexually abusing several boys while he was the swim coach at a Boys & Girls club in Arlington during the late 1970s.

WHDH-TV, 7News, Boston

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Gomez castigated Markey as someone who does not understand national security threats. Markey said Gomez wants to go back to the era of Republican President George W. Bush. Watch video

BOSTON - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez castigated his opponent, Democratic U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, on Monday as someone who does not understand national security threats.

At a rally headlined by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, Gomez criticized votes which Markey took on the Patriot Act, the Department of Homeland Security and honoring victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

“I’ll let (Markey’s) record show for himself that he doesn’t understand the present dangers that we face here in the United States and overseas,” Gomez told reporters.

Markey, speaking to reporters at a campaign stop at Longwood Medical Center, meanwhile, responded that Gomez is “going back to the Bush era,” referring to the presidency of Republican George W. Bush. “I take this as something that is very important and that is being deliberately misrepresented by Gabriel Gomez and by John McCain,” Markey said.

National security defined the Senate race for the day as McCain stumped for Gomez. McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, is a former Navy pilot who was shot down during the Vietnam War and held as a prisoner of war. A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he has been a Republican leader on national security issues. National security has become a focal point in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race in the wake of the April 15 bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Gomez and McCain stressed their common experience as Navy pilots, though McCain, 76, is a generation older than Gomez, 47. Gomez, a former Navy SEAL, wore his trademark green military jacket, and the rally was held before an audience of veterans at a Boston VFW hall.

Gomez praised McCain as “a true American hero.” “For me, having Senator McCain here today is not about politics, it’s about honor,” Gomez said.

McCain said Gomez will bring to the Senate “a record of honorable service” and integrity. McCain said as a veteran, Gomez understands threats to America, whether from events in Iran, Egypt or Syria.

McCain also said Gomez “will be part of the solution” to the problem of sexual assault in the military. Several recent cases have spotlighted sexual assault in the military. Gomez said that will be “one of the top issues” he will focus on in the Senate. “We need to change the culture, and we need to change the laws,” Gomez said. “We need to make sure this gets addressed at the highest level.”

McCain said Gomez will bring to the Senate his “hands-on experience of working with a military that has men and women serving on an equal basis.”

Gomez, while saying that national security “should not be partisan,” hit Markey on several of Markey’s national security votes. “We can disagree on the details, but we need to agree we can honor the fallen and protect the homeland here in the United States,” Gomez said, saying he did not understand Markey’s votes against two resolutions extending sympathy to victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Markey voted in favor of eight similar resolutions in other years, but says he was one of the few congressmen to vote against the resolutions in 2004 and 2006 because they tied the terror attacks to the Iraq war. While Markey voted to authorize the war, he later said that vote was a mistake and voted against funding it.

“You cannot dishonor what happened by allowing (former Republican Vice President) Dick Cheney to actually perpetrate a fraud by having a resolution that links what happened on 9-11 to Saddam Hussein to justify the war which he wants,” Markey told reporters.

(The resolution does not mention Hussein, but refers to the war in Iraq and refers to bills that Markey opposed, including a reauthorization of the Patriot Act.)

Gomez also criticized Markey for voting against a bill creating the Department of Homeland Security and for voting both for and against the Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism bill that expanded law enforcement’s power to investigate foreign and domestic terrorism. Markey voted for the Patriot Act in 2001, but against reauthorizations in 2010 and 2011, and against making the Patriot Act permanent.

“Fortunately, Congressman Markey’s votes were so far out of the mainstream…they didn’t get in the way of this country being safer,” Gomez said.

Markey said he supported creating the Department of Homeland Security, but opposed the final bill because it took collective bargaining rights away from employees. “That was just another Republican dirty trick to hurt working men and women,” Markey said.

Markey said he voted against the Patriot Act reauthorization because it did not include a sunset provision and did not require government officials to obtain a warrant before wiretapping a phone.

Gomez did not give any policy specifics about his own views on national security.

In addition to the focus on national security, McCain praised Gomez as one of the “next generation of leaders” who can help the country address problems ranging from comprehensive immigration reform, which both Gomez and McCain support, to the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups.

“When people at the IRS are able to go into people’s lives and to discriminate against certain organizations because of their political views, it's time there’s a change in Washington, and Gabriel will be part of that solution,” McCain said.

Asked about a $230 donation Gomez made to Obama during the 2008 primary, McCain, who lost the presidential race to Obama, joked that Gomez at the U.S. Naval Academy “got a soft blow to the head that caused that aberration but now he’s cured.” After joking that he would “never forgive” Gomez, McCain said he respects Gomez.

“Gabriel did what was in his best judgment. In a way I respect it more because that’s the kind of senator we need in the U.S. Senate,” McCain said. Gomez has said a friend asked him to donate to Obama, and he did not care who won the Democratic primary. He said he voted for McCain.

One platform of Gomez’s campaign has been his support for congressional term limits and his critique of Markey as a career politician. McCain has served in Congress since 1983. “It’s impossible to really do anything except maybe laugh a little bit when he brings in someone who’s the Republican poster boy for term limits, then have (McCain) say it’s time for a new face,” Markey said.

Gomez said he believes in term limits, but “There’s so many differences between Sen. McCain and Congressman Markey, I could go on for hours on this. Sen. McCain reaches across the aisle, he’s bipartisan, he gets things done on important issues…. There can’t be more of a hyper-partisan person in Congress than Congressman Markey.”

In their proposal, the Gougeons said they would preserve the historic character of the building, invite the Center for the Arts to become a tenant and make the auditorium in the building available for community uses.

 

NORTHAMPTON - The family that owns Florence Towing is the only bidder for the former Florence Grammar School.

The Florence Arts and Business Center, which consists of Robert and April Gougeon and Gougeon's father, also Robert Gougeon, bid $321,500 for the 84-year-old building on Pine Street, which has not been used as a school since 1992.

The city made the building available after the School Department declared it surplus last year. It currently houses a number of small business and non-profit tenants.

The Center for the Arts and North Star, an alternate school presently based in Hadley, had expressed interest in the building, but neither submitted a bid.

The city estimates it will cost $1.3 million to make the aging building functional. Among its needs are a new heating system, energy-efficient windows and asbestos removal.

The younger Gougeon, who attended the bid opening on Monday at City Hall, said his family is not intimidated by the potential cost of modernizing the former school. In his proposal, Gougeon noted that his family has already redeveloped Brick Mill Square and 40 Main St., both 19th century properties located on the same block as Florence Towing.

"It's definitely doable," Gougeon said.

In their proposal, the Gougeons said they would preserve the historic character of the building, invite the Center for the Arts to become a tenant and make the auditorium in the building available for community use. They also want to maintain space for small businesses.

"Our goal is to keep all existing tenants while maintaining reasonable rents with the hope of attracting additional artists and small business owners," the proposal said.

Mayor David J. Narkewicz said he will discuss the bid with the Finance Committee.

Williams, 41, is one of two men accused of killing Jones.

 

SPRINGFIELD - A Hampden Superior Court jury has found Demery Williams of West Haven, Conn., guilty of first degree murder in the killing of William Jones of Hartford.

The jury returned the verdict Friday in the trial before Judge William J. Carey.

Williams, 41, is one of two men accused of killing Jones.

His trial was held first, with the murder charge still pending against co-defendant Curtis Coombs, 36, of Hartford.

Assistant District Attorney David Gagne said the two lured Jones to a 108 Florida St. home in Springfield on Jan. 21, 2010 to assault and rob him, then kill him by strangling him “using some device.”

He said they stuffed Jones’ body in the back of his own white sports utility vehicle and drove to Bloomfield, Conn., where they left the vehicle in a Sav-Mor parking lot.

Williams will be formerly sentenced Tuesday but the mandatory sentence for first degree murder is life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Coombs and Jones were not charged with the killing until July 2011.

Defense lawyer Linda J. Thompson contended the prosecution hadn’t proved how or where Jones died and said investigators did not do a thorough job.

Sen. John McCain rallies for Republian U.S. Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez on Monday, May 20, 2013.

The three Tibetans all liked the Hampshire way of teaching – openness in the classroom and engaged conversations between students and faculty.

AMHERST – For the past few years, three Buddhist monks have been at Hampshire College studying such things as psychology and the economics of Buddhism -- and experiencing a culture quite unlike their own.

Hampshire College is a non-traditional school, even by American standards, where students produce projects rather than reports and receive evaluations rather than grades. As its website reports, “students learn to be producers and creators of knowledge, rather than passive consumers of information.”

And, the monks found, Hampshire students tend to dress in colorful ways and have crazy celebrations like Halloween.

Buddhist monks tend to be quiet, reflective, wear robes, and in some cases adhere to a monastic life that is regimented and strict.

But the three monks who are scholars from the New York-based Tenzin Gyatso Institute smile when they talk about living on campus. Scholars have been placed here and at Emery College in Georgia, as part of the institute’s mission “focusing on education, religious harmony and social action.”

“Hampshire College is very different,” said Nuptul Rinpoche, 29. “Very unique.”

He said he wanted to study here because “American culture is influential all over the world.” He is originally from Tibet, but his monastery is in Nepal.

Lama Trinley, 35, who came a year ahead of the two others, was used to a stricter, quieter world. He said he found it hard at first, especially not speaking the language. “At first, I don’t like it. It’s really crazy. Now I like it and enjoy it. It’s been a good experience. “ “It’s a unique college,” he said and laughed. “Very open.”

His world before was “quieter, very strict, not open like this.” Also from Tibet, he works in India.

They all liked the Hampshire way of teaching – openness in the classroom and engaged conversations between students and faculty.

Rinpoche said, “It’s a great way to teach.” He plans to bring this method with him when he returns to his monastery in Nepal.

He said students there read their lessons, but don't talk about what they've read. “Many points are lost," he said. "This is a really great way.”

Khenpo Kunga, who is 38, and from Tibet, describes Hampshire simply: “Everything is OK.” He too has enjoyed his time here and has another year to spend here with Rinpoche.

They all agreed that the craziest time on campus is Halloween. The monks did not know about the holiday at all and were amazed by how the campus celebrates.

All three grinned remembering the drinking, singing and dancing. Trinley remembers that when he was sleeping the celebration “shook my house.” He talked about “interesting masks, very nice. The students create these masks. Students are very creative.” He said the costumes “are very funny, some are scary.”

They all found the psychology class interesting. “We don’t have terms (like) depression,” Kunga said.

“We don’t have these many problems in our society,” Rinpoche said. “It depends on the culture you are raised in. We’re raised in the Buddhist culture.”

He said it is a nonviolent culture and they don’t worry about gun violence, although they said they are following the Congressional debate on gun control.

In Buddhism they “respect the law of karma. The big influence of Buddhism is one of the many reasons we have less (depression.)”

David Rand, the institute’s executive director said they came to Hampshire in part because of a connection with Jay Garfield, who teaches here and at Smith College in Northampton and has been writing about about Buddhism and Tibet and Eastern Religions. Rand said they also came because of Sue Darlington, a professor of anthropology and Asian studies.

Also, he said, Hampshire College President Jonathan Lash “has been incredibly forward-thinking, thinking outside the box, creating intercultural (opportunities) to learn.”

The scholars program provides an opportunity for the monks to learn about the West and for the West to learn about the East.

Western science focuses on the outer sciences, he said, when studying the brain while the East focuses on things like meditation.

The program is a way “to further the conversation.”

Demolition is expected to be completed by the month's end.

View of the rear portion of the planned Monson Town Office-Police Station complex, which will be built at the site of the existing town municipal building that's slated to be razed in a few weeks. 

MONSON – Demolition of the old Town Office Building-Police Department is under way and is expected to be completed by the end of the month.

According to information posted on the town’s website, the abatement of hazardous materials is taking place. The town will retain some bricks from the building, which was built in 1925 as a school, for distribution to residents who want mementos of the structure. Details on acquiring bricks will be released after the demolition. Associated Building Wreckers is handling the demolition.

The building was badly damaged by the June 2011 tornado and later condemned. Voters last year approved a $3.4 million, 15-year debt exclusion to build a combination town hall-police department. The project has since been scaled back after the original building plan came in over budget. One change is that it will not serve as the polling place for elections. Elections have been held at Quarry Hill Community School since the Town Building’s closure.

Peter Matrow, building committee co-chairman, passed out updated information about the project at the annual Town Meeting May 13. There will be direct pedestrian access to the 23,400-square-foot facility from Main Street, as the building will be located four feet closer to Main Street with a street level walkway. Features include an elevator, private meeting rooms and a holding cell for prisoners.

The total project cost is $10.3 million, and the town is receiving a $6.9 million insurance settlement toward it. The building should be completed by fall 2014.

Town offices have been operating out of 29 Thompson St., and the Police Department is housed in trailers behind the closed building.

The agreement came after both candidates accused the other campaign of not responding to requests to negotiate details of the debates.

Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidates Edward Markey, a Democrat, and Gabriel Gomez, a Republican, have agreed to a June 5 debate in Boston.

The debate will be sponsored by WBZ and the Boston Globe.

The agreement came after both candidates last week accused the other campaign of not responding to requests to negotiate details of the debates.

The Markey campaign sent out a press release on Saturday saying it had agreed to participate in the Boston debate. The Gomez campaign confirmed Monday that it had agreed as well.

According to a letter that the debate sponsors sent to the candidates, the debate will be held at WBZ studios in Allston. It will be an hour-long debate, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., moderated by WBZ’s Jon Keller with questions by Keller and by Cynthia Needham of the Boston Globe.

WBZ and The Boston Globe hosted similar debates for both the Democratic candidates and the Republican candidates during the primary.

Gomez has challenged Markey to participate in three debates. The Western Massachusetts Media Consortium, which includes The Republican/MassLive.com, has invited the candidates to participate in a debate in Western Massachusetts.

The city's Shotspotter system recorded seven separate gun shots in the area of Orange Street where the injured man was found, said police.

Springfield police cruisers outside 273 Orange St. Tuesday night. One man was shot multiple times, according to police.Photo courtesy of CBS 3 Springfield 

SPRINGFIELD - An unnamed man was shot multiple times at 8 p.m. Tuesday on Orange Street in the city's Forest Park neighborhood, police said.

The man was taken to Baystate Medical Center and at last report he was in serious condition, said Springfield police Capt. Cheryl C. Clapprood. His name was not being released.

Police were called to 273 Orange St at 8 p.m. for reported gunfire. The city's Shotspotter gunshot detection system recorded a total of seven shots fired, she said.

It was unclear what led to the shooting, she said.

There have not yet been any arrests, she said.

Police have cordoned off the scene and detectives are interviewing possible witnesses, she said.

View Larger Map

According to police, officers responded to a reported car crash near Exit 18, the Lincoln Square exit.

 

Updates a story posted Tuesday at 3:39 p.m.

WORCESTER — A 24-year-old man has died as a result of injuries he suffered Tuesday afternoon when he was hit by a school bus on Interstate 290, Massachusetts State Police said Tuesday night.

According to police, officers responded to a reported car crash near Exit 18, the Lincoln Square exit, around 1:38 p.m. The crash involved a school bus and a pedestrian. Worcester Emergency Medical Services transported the injured pedestrian to UMass Medical Center-University Campus for a head injury.

State police said the name of the victim will be released on Wednesday.

Durham School Services, the operator of the school bus, issued this statement:

"We are investigating the incident today in Worcester involving a pedestrian and a school bus. Our thoughts and prayers are with the pedestrian and his family. The safety of the students we transport, as well as our employees, is our priority, as such we are reviewing the incident to determine the appropriate course of action. The driver involved in the incident is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation."

The cause of the accident remains under investigation by Trooper Dana Oliver of the State Police barracks in Holden along with members of the Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section and Crime Scene Services Section.

CEO Louis Chenevert told analysts Tuesday that airline profitability looks better for 2013 than in recent years.

HARTFORD – The chief executive of aerospace giant United Technologies Corp. is optimistic about an improving economy and airline industry.

CEO Louis Chenevert told analysts Tuesday that airline profitability looks better for 2013 than in recent years. And he said the Hartford, Conn., conglomerate’s $18.4 billion purchase of Goodrich Corp. and a $1.5 billion deal by Pratt & Whitney to buy out Rolls-Royce from a joint venture that makes engines for the Airbus A320 are paying off.

Chenevert said North American commercial construction is improving – good news for its Carrier heating and ventilating business. And orders were up 22 percent in emerging markets in Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Chenevert said United Technologies expects to pay down $2 billion in debt this year and set aside $1 billion for acquisitions

Computers can be “de-manufactured” by Brown’s company. He and his workers separate out the circuit boards which can have gold and platinum, from the plastic which gets recycled into new computer parts.

SPRINGFIELD — Massachusetts lawmakers are mulling the idea of requiring manufacturers of televisions, computers and other electronics to take back and recycle old products once consumers discard them, but an Indian Orchard-based recycler said the state would take a bigger chunk out of the waste stream just by letting people know companies like his are out there.

“We could use some help to get the word out,” said Marc Brown, owner of TotalTech Recycling Co. located in the Indian Orchard Mills complex in Springfield. “Even if they just put a listing up on the state's website.”

The law was approved last month by the Joint Environmental Committee and sent on to the Senate. A similar proposal died in the last legislative session, according to the State House News Service.

But if this law passes, Massachusetts would become one of 25 states with requirements mandating that manufacturers dispose of electronic waste after it is sold. Manufacturers and retailers oppose the bill as an added burden.

Locally, Manny D. Rovithis, owner of Manny’s TV & Appliances, said that as a customer service he’ll accept old TV’s and appliances from customers who buy new.

“We don’t push it, but if people come back with their old TV, they can take it around back and drop it off,” Rovithis said. “If we deliver, then we take back the old one just like we do with appliances like washing machines.”

Appliances are worth money at a scrap yard because of the metal. But Rovithis said it costs him money to get rid of TV’s.

Brown said there is a good reason for that. Televisions, either flat screen or the older kind with glass tube screens, contain toxic lead and mercury.

“Electronics account for two percent of the waste in our landfills,” Brown said. “But electronics account for 70 percent of the toxins in our landfills.”

And, there are a lot of these toxic televisions out there awaiting disposal. Brown said a collection day he participated in with the city of Springfield in September 2012 resulted in four full trailers, or 39,600 pounds of televisions.

He and his employees can only prepare televisions for recycling. The televisions and monitors go to a New Hampshire company that is certified to handle the dangerous metals. The New Hampshire company harvests the wire and ships the glass to Ohio where it gets ground up and turned into concrete building blocks.

Sometimes flat-screen monitors can be resold or donated if they still work.

Computers can be “de-manufactured” by Brown’s company. He and his workers separate out the circuit boards which can have gold and platinum, from the plastic that gets recycled into new computer parts.

Ever wonder why computers used to be tan, but new ones are almost all made of black plastic? Brown said that’s because it’s recycled plastic and it is hard to get recycled plastic clean enough so it appears its original tan color.

“So other manufacturers just started making it black,” he said.

Police are looking for a red 1997 Toyota Camry, with Massachusetts registration of 634RH4.

View full sizeBoston police photos for Jonathan Moore, 13, left, and his father, Jonathan Moore, 36. The state police have issued an Amber Alert for the younger Moore, who was believed to have been abducted by his father. He is believed to be in danger.Boston Police photos 

BOSTON - A statewide Amber Alert has been issued for Jonathan Moore, a 13-year-old boy who was believed to have been abducted from his home in Boston by his father and is considered in danger, according to police.

Moore's father, also known as Jonathan Moore, 36, is reportedly driving a red 1997 Toyota Camry, with Mass. registration 634RH4.

He is considered armed and dangerous. People are asked to call 911 immediately if they have any information or have seen the vehicle.

The missing child is described as black, 5'2" tall, and 140 lbs with black hair and brown eyes.

His father is described as black, 6'3" tall, and 180 lbs with black hair and brown eyes.

This is the second Amber Alert issued in Massachusetts in as many days. On Monday, a father forcibly removed his two children from a Braintree foster home. They were recovered unharmed Monday night.

The Oklahoma tornado killed 24 people, including nine children. Watch video

SPRINGFIELD - Faced with recent memories of a tornado here, a group of Western Massachusetts media outlets and other partners are working with the American Red Cross to raise money to help the victims of the Monday’s tornado in Oklahoma.

At the same time, Donna McKinney, of Warren, a trained volunteer with the Pioneer Valley Chapter of the Red Cross, is preparing to leave for Oklahoma City Wednesday to aid victims of the monstrous tornado that leveled the suburb of Moore and took at least 24 lives, including nine children.

Westover Air Reserve Base is also on standby, prepared to assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fly emergency supplies or equipment to Oklahoma in the C-5 Galaxy cargo jets.

In Thursday’s fund-raising campaign, cash or checks made out to the American Red Cross will be accepted from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at a tent outside Monarch Place at the corner of Boland Way and Main Street. It is sponsored by The Republican/MassLive.com, CBS3 Springfield, Clear Channel Radio, MGM Springfield and Hampden Bank.

Donors can also contribute to the Red Cross by logging onto www.redcross.org and going to the Disaster Relief Fund. People can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation towards natural disaster relief efforts.

McKinney, has traveled to a number of disaster zones for the Red Cross since she retired from her job as a nurse at Baystate Medical Center four years ago, including a stint in the aftermath of the catastrophic May 22, 2011, tornado that took 162 lives in Joplin, Mo.

“It will be a difficult one, I think,” McKinney said of her anticipated multi-week stay in Oklahoma.

Joplin was her first experience and it was quickly followed by similar work at home in the aftermath of the June 1, 2011, tornadoes, including one that took three lives and left a path of devastation from Westfield to Charlton.

“That was bizarre,” McKinney said, adding she returned home the day before the tornadoes struck.

Richard Lee, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Chapter of the Red Cross, said he, too, thought of the Western Massachusetts tornadoes as he watched news reports from Oklahoma.

Ultimately, some 500 Red Cross volunteers from across the country came to Western Massachusetts to aid victims.

“It’s strange being on the other end of this,” Lee said, as the chapter prepares to potentially send a dozen more of its volunteers to Oklahoma within the week.

Westfield State University Professor Karl Leiker, who teaches courses on meterology and severe weather, has been studying tornadoes for most of his career and has chased tornadoes since the mid-1980s.

When he saw the weather pattern, Leiker said he nearly headed to the Midwest this weekend but instead stayed for the college’s graduation.

“If I saw the same pattern today, I would have driven west,” he said. “It looked good for a tornado. Unfortunately, I was right.”

The combination of a trough in the jet stream in New Mexico, which brought in warm, wet air, and hot dry air from the desert made conditions right for a tornado. This one was especially severe because two cells from different thunderstorms merged.

The National Weather Service said the twister traveled 17 miles, with winds estimated at 190 mph. The agency issued an initial finding that the tornado was an EF4 on the enhanced Fujita scale – the second strongest type of tornado – and that it was at least a half-mile wide.

Looking at the damage, Leiker said he would expect the tornado was at least an EF4. The tornado in Springfield was an EF3 and was between 300 and 400 feet wide, but was nearly 40 miles long.

Growing up in Kansas where tornadoes are common, Leiker said the loss of life was likely low because people received warnings and know how to protect themselves.

“If you seek shelter underground, you have a good chance of surviving,” he said.

Voters vociferously rejected a change to the community’s wetlands protection bylaw.

Jim Russell 

BRIMFIELD – The Planning Board withdrew its proposal to create an adult entertainment district, article number 22, at Monday’s annual town meeting.

The marathon session went nearly six hours and did not adjourn until after midnight, early Tuesday morning.

“The planning board would like to withdraw article 22,” the Planning Board chairman said to loud applause. Officials said they would refine the proposal and bring it to a future town meeting.

Also Monday, voters vociferously rejected a change to the community’s wetlands protection bylaw, approved a 2.5 percent budget increase to $8,275,236 for the fiscal year that begins July 1, and said no to a citizen’s petition that would have required town boards to accept public comment during regular meetings.

The wetlands proposal, which included 15 sections of town bylaws, would have given the conservation commission greater authority.

Residents in favor of requiring town boards to accept public comment responded harshly to the town counsel’s opinion that the state attorney general would likely reject the legality of the bylaw – because it may “conflict” with state law.

“I hope it does conflict,” resident Judith Sessler said. “I don’t care about the attorney general,” another said.

After lengthy debate and amendments, the town’s legislative body approved a measure allowing landowners to sell items outside of the flea market scheduled time, twice per year for no more than three days at a time.

Town meeting approved $33,000 for the police department to purchase a new vehicle. They increased the chief’s salary -- he has been part-time since being hired a decade ago -- by 27.5 percent to $41,429 per year. The total payroll account for the officers and the lieutenant, however, remains less than $100,000. Town meeting boosted that account 5 percent to $95,548.

“We count every penny,” Police Chief Charles T. Kuss said.

In other business, Susan Hilker, the town collector, told the body that the town’s practice of allowing boards to set fees is at odds with state law. She said that because Brimfield has not adopted a statute that would allow the practice, only town meeting has the legal authority to set fees.

Longtime Finance Committee Chairman Norman Silberman announced that he would be stepping down on June 30.

“I thank you,” he said to the packed town meeting audience.

WEST SPRINGFIELD - With an inventory of about 14,000 cards, including some in languages other than English, Amy’s Hallmark on Riverdale Street strives to meet all of its customers needs in marking life’s events. “I feel we can bring fun to all life’s events,” store manager Kelly R. Wilson said during a recent interview at the 735 Riverdale St....

At Amy's Hallmark Cards at 735 Riverdale Street, Pam Nast, left assistant store manager, and Kelly R. Wilson, store manager, with the Vera Bradley display. Republican photo/ Mark M. Murray 

WEST SPRINGFIELD - With an inventory of about 14,000 cards, including some in languages other than English, Amy’s Hallmark on Riverdale Street strives to meet all of its customers needs in marking life’s events.

“I feel we can bring fun to all life’s events,” store manager Kelly R. Wilson said during a recent interview at the 735 Riverdale St. business. “We’re excited to be here and be part of life’s events.”

Among the types of cards are those marking such events as birthdays and anniversaries as well as such occasions as bar mitzvahs and cards in such languages as French, Polish, Greek, Spanish and Italian. There are also cards in Braille.

“You can get your point across to whomever you are sending your card to,” Wilson said. “You can almost always find something here.”

Cards vary in price from as little as 99 cents for a value card to as much as $8.99 for an elaborate one.

The shop sells Life is Good cards as well as its other products such as T-shirts and ceramic mugs. It offers a full range of gifts such as plush toys, candles and figurines.

Candles from Yankee Candle, Woodwick and Willow Tree are available.

There is a selection of Shutterfly frames, some of which are very ornate.

Among the plush toys are Interactive Story Buddies. That line consists of such plush animals as bears and rabbits who respond to certain phrases when they are read to from a special book.

Hallmark’s Until We Hug Again stuffed animals speak when hugged. They are priced at $29.95 each. There are also collectible Disney products as well as Precious Moments figurines.

Wilson said the shop strives to put customer service first.

“It just comes down to taking care of our customers. That is what Hallmark is all about,” Wilson said.

Wilson managed the Amy’s Hallmark store in the Enfield Square Mall for two years before moving to the West Springfield one. An Agawam resident, he said he likes working closer to home.

The West Springfield store, which debuted March 6, is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

The sound of gunfire sent officers to 273 Orange St., where a man was shot multiple times.

Springfield police are investigating the Tuesday night shooting death of a man at 273 Orange St. in the city's Forest Park neighborhood. The killing, the city's seventh this year, is under investigation by the Springfield Police Detective Bureau. (Conor Berry I The Republican) 

Updates story published at 9:11 p.m. Tuesday, May21.

SPRINGFIELD — A man was shot to death on Orange Street Tuesday night, prompting a police investigation into the city's seventh homicide of the year.

The man, believed to be about 30, was shot multiple times around 8 p.m. at 273 Orange St., a multi-unit residence between Ozark and Wareham streets in the city's Forest Park neighborhood.

The victim was rushed to Baystate Medical Center for treatment, but detectives who remained at the crime scene several hours after the shooting confirmed that he succumbed to his injuries.

Springfield police responded to a Tuesday night report of gunfire in the vicinity of 273 Orange St., where they found a man who had been shot multiple times. The man died from his wounds, according to detectives at the scene. (Conor Berry I The Republican) 

Investigators are now trying to learn the identity of the person who killed the man, and what led to the fatal shooting. Police said a silver car was seen fleeing the area after gunfire broke out.

Springfield Police Capt. Cheryl Clapprood said ShotSpotter, the city's automated gunshot detection system, indicated seven rounds were fired and pinpointed them to Orange Street. She said police were interviewing possible witnesses, but no arrests had been made as of early Wednesday.

Detectives remained on scene as Tuesday night rolled into Wednesday morning, finally packing up their crime-scene investigation shortly after 2 a.m. today. Police caution tape blocked off a portion of the sidewalk in front of the large, 2½-story building, and yellow police tape also was visible at the rear, or east side, of the structure.

The apartment building is located in a strip of well-maintained housing along a stretch of Orange Street that typically doesn't experience the level of violence common in other parts of the sprawling, multi-ethnic neighborhood. Two months ago, however, two men were shot and wounded just a few hundred yards west of Tuesday's homicide site.

Police are asking anyone with information about the Orange Street shooting to call the detective bureau at (413) 787-6355.

Anonymous text-message tips may be sent to CRIMES (or 274637), with the body of the message beginning with the word "SOLVE."

Other Springfield killings this year include:

– The Jan. 6 stabbing death of 57-year-old Norma Perez on Saab Court in the northeast corner of Metro Center.
– The Jan. 16 shooting of 42-year-old Jimmie Acevedo on Monmouth Street in McKnight.
– The Jan. 20 shooting of 19-year-old Rashawn Robbins on Central Street in Six Corners.
– The Feb. 8 shooting of 26-year-old Julie Treadwell on Wellington Street in Upper Hill.
– The Feb. 18 homicide (by car) of 32-year-old Yasmin Marin on Main Street in the North End.
– The April 4 shooting of 29-year-old Brandon Sparks on Kent Road in the Boston Road neighborhood.

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Connecticut State Police late Monday night arrested a man wanted by Massachusetts authorities who issued an amber alert in connection with an alleged kidnapping in Braintree, Mass.

These were the most read stories on MassLive.com yesterday. If you missed any of them, click on the links below to read them now. The most viewed item overall was the Associated Press' photo gallery of the Oklahoma tornado, at right.

1) Memorial shrine grows at Westfield site where dump truck driver struck and killed 7-year-old bicyclist [Conor Berry]

2) East Longmeadow police: Colony Drive woman, accidentally run over by her own car in her driveway, escapes serious injury [George Graham]

3) Children subject of Massachusetts amber alert found safe in Connecticut; father who allegedly abducted them arrested [The Republican Newsroom]

4) National Weather Service warns of chance of scattered strong to severe thunderstorms in western Massachusetts [George Graham]

5) Oklahoma tornado 2013: Videos and photos from the massive twister outside Oklahoma City [The Republican Newsroom] Photo gallery above.

As a newcomer to politics, Gomez is relying on the industry he is most connected to – finance – to bankroll his U.S. Senate campaign. Many of Gomez's early donors have been those with whom he has personal ties – from Harvard Business School or from his work in private equity and investment banking.

BOSTON - As a newcomer to politics, Republican Gabriel Gomez is relying on the industry he is most connected to – finance – to bankroll his campaign for U.S. Senate.

Many of Gomez's early donors have been those with whom he has personal ties - from Harvard Business School or from his work in private equity and investment banking.

As of April 10, Gomez had raised $534,400 in itemized individual donations and loaned himself $600,000, according to a fundraising report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

An analysis by The Republican and MassLive.com found about 240 donations, totaling more than $278,000, were made to the Gomez campaign by individuals working in finance. (It is difficult to pinpoint an exact figure, but this includes individuals who listed their occupations as private equity, investment banking, venture capital or other finance-related jobs, or who worked for financial services companies). Gomez’s donors listed workplaces including Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Fidelity Investments and a host of other financial and investment firms.

“He’s a hard worker, a smart guy, and he’s touched a lot of people in the financial industry,” said Drew Quartapella, managing partner at the North Carolina investment bank BlackArch Partners. Quartapella knows Gomez from Bowles Hollowell Conner, the North Carolina investment banking firm where both men started their careers after business school. “He’s been in the industry for a long time and has got a real good reputation.”

Gomez is facing U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Malden, in a June 25 special election for the U.S. Senate left vacant by the appointment of John F. Kerry as U.S. secretary of state.

Related: Top names in sports, entertainment, business propel Ed Markey's fundraising

A number of donations to the Gomez campaign likely came from former colleagues of the candidate. More than $30,000 is identified as coming from employees at the private equity firm Advent International, where Gomez worked from 2004 until he left to pursue his Senate campaign. Gomez received approximately $20,000 from individuals at the private equity firm Summit Partners, where he worked for three years before moving to Advent.

Other donors also appear to have worked with Gomez in the past. Gomez got more than $12,000 from employees of Bain Capital, the investment company founded by 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. He got around $30,000 from employees of the Boston-based investment firm Berkshire Partners. Bain Capital managing director Stephen Zide and Berkshire Partners managing partner Michael Ascione were also major donors to a super political action committee supporting Gomez.

Gomez and Ascione served together on the board of a radiation safety company, part of a joint investment between Summit Partners and Berkshire Partners, according to a 2005 press release. Gomez and Zide served together on the board of Keystone Automotive Operations when Gomez worked at Advent, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Staples founder Tom Stemberg, a Romney supporter who is now a managing general partner the Highland Consumer Fund in Cambridge, gave Gomez $5,200. Stemberg met Gomez when Gomez was working at Advent and they co-invested in Lululemon Athletica.

“My friends at Advent who worked with him adore and respect him,” Stemberg said in an email. Stemberg’s son, who went to Harvard Business School and was a Navy officer, knows Gomez through those circles.

Of all of Gomez’s itemized donations, individuals from Massachusetts gave $336,255, or 63 percent. (Of all donations, including smaller, non-itemized ones, the Gomez campaign said 67 percent came from Massachusetts.) Several out-of-state donors said they knew Gomez from Harvard Business School, where Gomez graduated from in 1997, or from Bowles Hollowell.

Quartapella, who gave Gomez $1,000, said Bowles Hollowell has an alumni network from which Gomez has been able to draw support.

“There are several hundred of us all over the U.S. and the world. That’s a pretty strong network,” Quartapella said. “It’s a web of folks who as soon as we heard the news, a lot of us said, ‘Sign me up. How do we help?’”

Quartapella attended a fundraiser in New York that was organized by Gomez’s campaign, which, coincidentally, was the same night as a Bowles Hollowell alumni event. Some people attended both events, and a lot of the fundraiser attendees worked in finance, Quartapella said.

Michael Sweeny, a strategy manager at HighVista Strategies in Boston, which manages endowment funds, also worked with Gomez at Bowles Hollowell. Sweeny and his colleague Brian Chu, who attended Harvard Business School with Gomez, hosted a fundraising breakfast for Gomez that was attended by 15 to 20 people. “It was purely just people in our social network. Because we work in finance, a lot of our friends work in finance,” Sweeny said.

Sweeny said Gomez has a reputation in the financial world as someone who “people enjoy working with” and who is “very practical in terms of being able to get things done.”

Sweeny’s father-in-law, Bill Oates, chairman of Northeast Investment Management in Boston, spread the world about the Gomez fundraiser to members of his office. “(Gomez) surfaced through my son-in-law; then I started to watch him,” Oates said. Oates gave Gomez $4,000.

There is little question that these connections are valuable. Gomez received $10,300 from 10 donations by employees of William Blair and Co., a Chicago investment banking and asset management firm. “Most of us are business school friends,” said William Blair managing director Brett Paschke. “It’s an individual, personal relationship, not a firm relationship. We are all big fans of his.”

Ryan Drook, an ethanol manufacturer from Indiana who gave Gomez $2,600, also attended Harvard Business School with Gomez. Though Drook has no political stake in the Massachusetts race, he said he wanted to support his friend.

“What you see is what you get. He’s a very genuine guy,” Drook said. “He was committed to serving from the get go, and always had aspirations of giving back.”

Peter Ubertaccio, associate professor of political science at Stonehill College and director of the Martin Institute, said it is typical for a first-time candidate who has not been involved in politics to get support mostly from those he knows personally.

”For someone like Gomez, who happens to be in a career path that affords him the ability to meet people who can write checks, it doesn’t surprise me that would be where his early financial support comes from,” Ubertaccio said.

Several donors said they liked Gomez’s politics, as a fiscal conservative who is moderate on social issues, and Ubertaccio also said it's not unusual for people in finance to gravitate towards such candidates.

“Folks in that industry are more old style conservative, not radical change agents,” Ubertaccio said. “They probably see in Gomez a fellow traveler…a moderate in temperament, moderate in politics, center right type of conservative.”

To combat Markey, who raised $4.75 million before the primary, Gomez will need to broaden his donor base. His victory in the Republican primary is likely to open the door to additional donations from Republicans statewide and nationally. Over the next three weeks, Gomez plans to host over 30 fundraising events across the state, including major regional events in Newton, Central Massachusetts, the North Shore, the South Shore and Boston, the Gomez campaign said.

Arizona Sen. John McCain headlined a Gomez fundraiser this week, and McCain said he will urge the National Republican Senatorial Committee to spend money supporting Gomez.

Gomez, when asked about his large number of donors from the financial industry, said he has a “very broad donor base” of people from all political persuasions who live across the state. “I’m happy that we’ve got such a broad donor base,” Gomez said. “It comes from all the industries. It comes from financial, it comes from tech, it comes from health care, it comes from teachers, it comes from police officers, it comes from almost every demographic, every profession out there.”

Ubertaccio said the June 25 election does not allow Gomez time to travel around the country to conduct fundraising. But as the only congressional election in the country right now, Gomez will naturally be able to attract donors, particularly with support from people like McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld.

“He doesn’t have to match Markey dollar for dollar,” Ubertaccio said. “He needs to be able to get his message out in a sustained way.”