Among other duties, Simmons will work with the town's Finance Committee to come up with the annual budget.

SOUTHAMPTON – Lyn N. Simmons is going from the Northampton mayor’s office to Southampton Town Hall, and it's not a step down.

Simmons, an aide to Mayor David J. Narkewicz, has been named the new Town Administrator for Southampton, pending a background check. The town’s Board of Selectman appointed her to the post Tuesday after interviewing her and two other finalists.

Simmons, 31, is in the process of completing her Master’s degree in public administration at Westfield State University.

She already knows her way around City Hall.

Simmons began working in Northampton in 2004 as the clerk for the City Council and License Commission. She also spent time in the City Clerk’s office before moving upstairs into Narkewicz’ office.

“She had the most municipal experience of anyone,” said Michael Phelan, the chairman of the Southampton Board of Selectmen. “That’s what we need at this point in time.”

Among other duties, Simmons will work with the town’s Finance Committee to come up with the annual budget. She said she also expects to do some conflict resolution work with the town’s staff.

“It’s a great accomplishment,” Simmons said Thursday. “I like a challenge.”

Simmons and the town are currently in negotiations over her salary. The advertized range was $52,000 to $62,000.

Public Health Director Gina McNeely says animals travel widely and people throughout Franklin County should be aware of the situation.

MONTAGUE, Mass. (AP) — The Montague Board of Health has issued a rabies warning for one section of town.

The Recorder of Greenfield (http://bit.ly/Jmu3hB) reports that the board says there has been a confirmed case of rabies in a fox in the Millers Falls area.

Public Health Director Gina McNeely says animals travel widely and people throughout Franklin County should be aware of the situation.

The health department advises people to avoid contact with wild animals, whether alive or dead, and call the police department to dispatch animal control if they see an animal behaving strangely.

People who believe they have been exposed should seek immediate medical attention and pet vaccinations should be up to date.

___

Information from: The (Greenfield, Mass.) Recorder, http://www.recorder.com

This year 3,270 families and approximately 14,715 children have signed up in Springfield to receive toys.

To get a printable version of this coupon that you can mail in with your donation, click on "View full size," above. 

SPRINGFIELD - Many residents grateful for the blessings in their lives have donated to the Toy for Joy fund today.

People wrote checks to the fund in thanksgiving for their grandchildren, in celebration of the life of a loved one who has died, in memory of parents and grandparents and in memory of their pets.

One person who wrote a $200 check to the fund signed it “Simply grateful.” Donations on Friday ranged from $10 to $200.

As of Friday, the latest batch of Toy for Joy donations totalled $2,390. The fund still needs to raise $119,997 to meet its Christmas Eve goal of $150,000.

The Toy for Joy fund, which is in its 91st year, is sponsored by The Republican and the Salvation Army, with the help of campaign partner Hasbro of East Longmeadow, which donates a portion of the toys for the campaign.

This year 3,270 families and approximately 14,715 children have signed up in Springfield to receive toys, more than last year, Danielle LaTaille, director of social services for the Greater Springfield Salvation Army citadel on Pearl St., said.

“We have a lot of large families this year,” LaTaille said. She said many families have four or five children or more.

“We don’t want anybody to go without,” she said.

Children who are registered will receive a toy, game and book sorted to be age and gender appropriate.

Families who are registered will pick up the toys at the Salvation Army the week before Christmas.

Toy registration
Here are the times for families to register at Salvation Army sites for the 91st annual Toy for Joy campaign. Registration has closed in Springfield, Greenfield, Westfield and the Hilltowns.
Holyoke
Holyoke Citadel: 271 Appleton St., Holyoke; Dec. 9-20, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; for info, call (413) 532-6312; serves Holyoke, South Hadley, Granby
Required documentation
Participants must bring the following documents: Photo ID for head of household; proof of address (within the last 30 days); MassHealth cards or other identifying information for any child age 16 or younger; and birth certificates (or passports) for any child age 16 and younger.

For more information, call 733-1518. To make a contribution to the Toy for Joy fund, write: Toy for Joy, P.O. Box 3007, Springfield 01102. Contributions may also be dropped off with the coupon to The Republican, 1860 Main St., Springfield, weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. through Dec. 24.

Here’s a list of the latest contributors:

• In memory of Esther Paquette from Ronnie, $25


• In thanksgiving for our adorable granddaughters Sophie and Lilah from Popa and Grammie, $25


• P and V, $25


• Merry Christmas to all from Carl and Christa, $40


• Mary, $20


• Celebrating the life of David Woodman, $25


• In loving memory of Richard Burrage, $25


• Theresa, $20


• In memory of my beloved husband CJ from Louise, $10


• In memory of Joe Leahy from his family, $50


• Merry Christmas from the DeRaleaus, $50


• In loving memory of Jill Stefanik from Aunt June and Uncle Eddie, $25


• In memory of Mom, Dad and Bob, $30


• In memory of Mommy, Crit and Michael with love from Dianne Prince, $100


• In loving memory of the six Worcester firefighters, $25


• Merry Christmas Mom and Dad, $200


• Merry Christmas from Scott, Maureen, Ryan and Timothy Denault, $100


• In memory of Bill Rae from Ellie, $25


• Anonymous, $25


• In loving memory of Mama and Daddy, Agnes and Ed Miller, love Marilyn and family, $15


• In memory of MaryEllen who loved Christmas, Doris and Smitty, $25


• In loving memory of Sophie and Michael Pisarczyk, Helen and Joseph Wostena Sr. from grandson Michael, $30


• In loving memory of Joseph Wostena Jr. from wife Blanche, $25


• In memory of our dog Maggie, we miss you, love Julie and Rich, $20


• Merry Christmas, Tom and Kathy, $50


• In memory of Cosimo and Jennie Baggetta and George, Jane and Donna Carpenter, love Albert and Beverly, $50


• Mary and Sted, $150


• Simply grateful, $200

The vehicle carrying Mandela's casket, covered with a national flag, arrived at the family compound under cloudy skies at 4 p.m. It was accompanied by an enormous convoy of police, military and other vehicles, and a military helicopter hovered overhead.

People wave goodbye as the funeral procession carrying the remains of former South African President Nelson Mandela proceeds to Mandela's hometown and burial site in Qunu, South Africa, Saturday Dec. 14, 2013. The iconic leader will be buried today close to his house.Associated Press 

CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
Associated Press

QUNU, South Africa — Nelson Mandela came home Saturday.

A hearse carrying Mandela's body drove into his hometown in rural South Africa ahead of burial Sunday, returning the country's peacemaker to the place where he had always wanted to die.

It was here in Qunu that Mandela roamed the hills and tended livestock as a youth, absorbing lessons about discipline and consensus from traditional chiefs. From here he embarked on a journey — the "long walk to freedom" as he put it — that thrust him to the forefront of black South Africans' struggle for equal rights that resonated around the world.

As motorcyclists in uniform and armored personnel carriers escorted the vehicle carrying Mandela's casket to the family compound, people lining the route sang, applauded and, in some cases, wept.

"When I saw the hearse passing, I couldn't hold my excitement. I felt like I was holding him by the hand," said Norma Khobo. "It was very exciting, I saw him!"

The vehicle carrying Mandela's casket, covered with a national flag, arrived at the family compound under cloudy skies at 4 p.m. It was accompanied by an enormous convoy of police, military and other vehicles, and a military helicopter hovered overhead.

According to Xhosa tribal tradition, Mandela was honored as a leader by placing a skin on the coffin, replacing the flag.

Mandela's journey started Saturday with pomp and ceremony at an air base in the capital before being flown aboard a military plane to this simple village in the wide-open spaces of eastern South Africa.

At the Mthatha airport Mandela's casket was welcomed by a military guard and placed in a convoy for the 32 kilometer (20 mile) voyage toward Qunu. Residents and people who had traveled for hours thronged a road leading to Qunu, singing and dancing as Mandela T-shirts were handed out.

"We got up this morning at 2 a.m. and drove from Port Elizabeth — it's about seven hours — and we got here now. We're waiting on to show our last respects to Madiba," said Ebrahim Jeftha, using Mandela's clan name.

Mandela's widow, Graca Machel, and his former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, tearfully embraced at Mthatha airport when the casket arrived.

Mandela had been imprisoned for 27 years for opposing racist apartheid and emerged in 1990 to forge a new democratic South Africa by promoting forgiveness and reconciliation. He became president in 1994 after South Africa's first all-race democratic elections.

The late president died in his Johannesburg home Dec. 5 at age 95.

His body lay in state for three days this week, drawing huge crowds of South Africans who mourned his death and celebrated his successful struggle against apartheid.

When Mandela's body arrived at Mthatha airport soldiers in full dress regalia, male and female, were stationed on foot on either side of the road as cows grazed nearby. Local residents lined the route, shielding themselves from the sun with umbrellas.

Mandela had longed to spend his final months in his beloved rural village but instead he had spent them in a hospital in Pretoria and then in his home in Johannesburg where he had remained in critical condition, suffering from lung problems and other ailments, until his death.

A problem that threatened to mar the funeral appeared to be resolved late Saturday night when Archbishop Desmond Tutu's spokesman said the Nobel prize-winning cleric would attend Sunday's funeral in Mandela's home village of Qunu. Earlier Tutu said that he would not attend because he had not been invited or accredited as a clergyman. Spokesman Roger Friedman did not say what brought about the change in Tutu's plans.

Earlier, Mac Maharaj, a spokesman for the presidency, said Tutu was on the guest list.

"He's an important person and I hope ways can be found for him to be there," Maharaj said.

In Qunu, residents expressed deep affection for Mandela, their beloved native son.

"Long live the spirit of Nelson Mandela," chanted a crowd on a highway near Mandela's compound.

"My president," they sang.

There were also old songs of the anti-apartheid struggle.

"Release Mandela from prison," went the chorus of one.

Many people carried small national flags or banners with a smiling image of Mandela. Periodically, police and other official vehicles passed by, heading to the compound.

Khanyisa Qatolo, 28, was born in Qunu and attended children's Christmas parties hosted by Mandela at his home when she was a child in the 1990s.

"I remember his smile," she said. "I miss his smile."

Qatolo said she was disappointed that local residents would be unable to go to Mandela's funeral, in line with local custom, and had instead been asked by officials to view the final rites on big video screens in the area.

"The people of the community, they should be there, supporting the family," she said. "I feel bad not to go there."

Milly Viljoen, 43, drove 12 hours through the night with a friend to stand on the roadside overlooking Mandela's compound in Qunu.

"'It's befitting to see him to his final resting place," she said.

Viljoen, a student activist during apartheid, first saw Mandela when he appeared before an enthralled crowd in Cape Town after he was released in 1990. She met him later when he visited the township school where she was teaching. She said: "You couldn't help but love the man and be touched and hang onto his every word."

Gregory Katz in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

More than 2,000 camellia blooms competed for dozens of awards. The white, pink, red and variegated blooms covered tables in two rooms and created a dazzling display.

Thousands of camellias are displayed Saturday, Dec. 14, in Pensacola, Fla., at The American Camellia Society's annual convention and show. More than 2,000 camellia blooms competed for dozens of awards. The white, pink, red and variegated blooms covered tables in two rooms and created a dazzling display. Among other criteria, the blooms were judged on their freshness, size and color based on standards for their varieties. The winter-blooming flowers range from the size of a Ping-Pong ball to the size of a dinner plate.Associated Press 

MELISSA NELSON-GABRIEL
Associated Press

PENSACOLA, Fla. — It is a tricky thing keeping three, prized camellia blooms fresh during a cross country plane ride, but Don Bergamini knows just how to pull it off.

Bergamini, from Martinez, Calif., was among the hundreds of camellia growers vying for top prizes on Saturday at The American Camellia Society's annual convention and show. He is also the society's president.

"They were not refrigerated for about 11 hours because of a flight delay," Bergamini said. Despite the trip, he still managed to have one his blooms in the running for best in show.

More than 2,000 camellia blooms competed for dozens of awards. The white, pink, red and variegated blooms covered tables in two rooms and created a dazzling display.

Among other criteria, the blooms were judged on their freshness, size and color based on standards for their varieties. The winter-blooming flowers range from the size of a Ping-Pong ball to the size of a dinner plate.

"Some people ask, 'What's my favorite flower?' and I say it is the one that is in bloom. If you pushed me though I would say it is the Frank Houser Variegated," said Dr. Bradford King, a California grower and show judge who also serves as editor of the society's journal and yearbook. King's favorite flower is about the size of a softball with soft pink and white coloration and large petals.

King said he became a camellia enthusiast after moving to California from Boston.

"I grew up in Boston where in February it is cold and dreary and nothing is in bloom. I moved to California and I saw these beautiful flowers blooming in January and February. I had to find out what they were," he said.

Howard Rhodes and his wife took several top awards. The couple has about 800 camellia bushes in their yard and two greenhouses in Tallahassee. Among his winning blooms was bright-pink camellia about the size of a soup bowl with soft, rounded petals. Rhodes grew the flower from a seedling and he could tell immediately that it would be a winner. The bloom was displayed on a blue, velvet draped table in the center of the room with a crystal bowl as a trophy.

Rhodes said he became a camellia grower because the flowers flourish in north Florida. "If I wanted to be outside in the summertime in the heat of north Florida, I suppose I could grow roses," he joked. But he said the mild winter weather in which camellias thrive is nicer for both plants and people.

The striking, mostly non-scented blooms can be found in neighborhoods throughout the South from December through February. Expert growers said the appearance of the flowers can vary greatly within small geographical regions.

Dr. Norman Vickers, secretary of the Pensacola Camellia Club, has loved the flowers from the time he was a child growing up in Mississippi. Vickers helped to coordinate Saturday's show.

"They bruise easily so people cut them and put them in a synthetic-type cotton so they won't get injured when transferred," he said. Others prefer to transport the flowers in ice chests and some poke the stems in fresh grapes as a trick to keep them fresh.

Vickers won a top prize one year for a camellia bloom that he had refrigerated for a week after cutting the bloom to save it from an expected freeze.

"I thought it was a little bit old but I'd enter it anyway and by golly it won in its category," he said.

Bergamini, the American Camellia Society president, refused to say which of the thousands of blooms most impressed him.

"There is a saying that the last one you see is always your favorite," he said laughing.

Two shootings in the early hours of Saturday morning left one man dead and one injured.

BOSTON — A black man in his 20s was shot and killed sometime around 1:45 a.m. this morning in the Dorchester section of Boston.

The shooting took place at 7 Havelock St.

No suspects have been named or motives given in the shooting, though two men were arrested near the scene of the crime on gun charges after the shooting. The two men, Omar Denton, 29, of Milton, and Omar Bonner, 26, of Hyde Park, were arrested after allegedly refusing to pull over after being spotted driving at "high rate of speed" by a Boston police detective in an unmarked vehicle. The two men pulled into a driveway before attempting to flee the area.

A search of the immediate area by Boston police resulted in the finding of two guns.

Another shooting in the early morning hours on Saturday occurred when two Hispanic males in a white SUV allegedly shot a man twice on Sumner Street in East Boston.

The victim later checked in at the East Boston Health Center for treatment.

The victims in both shootings have not been identified.

The company is first offering leases to police, firefighters and paramedics and their families.

CHICOPEE – For the first time, military homes at Westover Air Reserve Base are being offered for rent to civilians.

Atlantic Marine Communities, which manages 124 military homes just outside the base off James Street, is opening up between 10 and 15 units to civilians, said Dixie Lanier Johnson, marketing manager for the company.

Since the majority of employees at Westover are Reservists or full-time civilians, there are not that many traditional full-time military who want to work and live at the base so only 80 percent of the units are occupied, she said.

The U.S. Navy, which owns the property, calls for its managers to have a 95 percent occupancy rate under contract and that is not the case right now, Johnson said.

The company is first inviting firefighters, police officers, paramedics and their families to apply to rent the homes, some of which are single-family style and some which are duplexes. They range in size from three to five-bedroom homes.

“We thought it would be a good fit and a way to say thank you to our local hometown heroes,” she said.

The homes are being leased at about market value with an average rent of $1,400, which includes heat, electricity and trash collection, she said.

“People still have to apply and go through a credit check and agree to a 12-month lease,” she said. A security deposit of at least $200 will also be required.

At least 10 years ago the military started contracting with private companies to manage base housing. American Marine Company manages housing in four states.

While this is the first time it will offer leases to civilians, other companies working with the military have done it with success. Those interested can apply at the Atlantic Marine Communities office at 10 Outer Drive or call (413)331-3205 to request an application, she said.

The property that is being leased has been continually occupied for decades. It is not the 128 units off Outer Drive which has been vacant for more than 10 years and was turned over to the city to be reused in 2011..

City officials have gone out to bid several times to find a developer interested in renovating and reusing the property but has not found a buyer with an acceptable plan yet.

Police report nearly accident free storm

SPRINGFIELD— Snow continues to fall at Midnight, with almost exactly four inches of snow on the ground in downtown Springfield. But the snowfall is significantly lighter than earlier. The National Weather Service said snowfall rates will vary considerably overnight, as bands of snow pass through interior Massachusetts and Connecticut. But, at its peak, the storm may dump as much as two inches per hour.

Traffic on area roads is flowing with few mishaps. The posted speed on I-91 has been reduced to 40 miles per hour, however, it appears that many drivers are staying closer to 30 miles per hour.

The State Police on the Mass Pike report two tractor trailer rigs jackknifed in the westbound lane near Charlton earlier this evening. The westbound lane was closed for several hours as crews removed the one rig that crashed at approximately 7 p.m., and shortly before 11 p.m., a second truck slid on the snow. One lane of the Pike is now closed as clean up is underway.

On the western end of the Mass Pike, State Police Sgt. Arthur Hebb, attached to the Westfield Barracks, said traffic is moving smoothly, if slowly, and he has no incidents to report. He said the speed limit has been reduced to 40 miles per hour, and propane trucks and double tractor trailer units are prohibited during the storm.

CBS3 Meteorologist Nick Morganelli is calling for eight inches on the ground by morning in the greater Springfield area, with up to 10 inches in Franklin County. However, Morganelli said not all of the white stuff on the ground will be fluffy snow. Rather, as the storm ends Sunday morning, there may be a change over to sleet and some freezing rain, leaving an ice layer over accumulated snow.

Meanwhile, the NWS says all precipitation on Nantucket island has changed over to rain, with seas running from six to 14 feet and small craft warnings issued for the seas around the islands.

Despite the threats of an impending snowstorm and warnings to stay home, some people made the trek to Lincoln Square Saturday to exchange their unwanted guns for grocery store gift certificates.

WORCESTER - Despite threat of an impending snowstorm and warnings to stay home, some people made the trek to Lincoln Square Saturday to exchange their unwanted guns for grocery store gift certificates.

The 12th Annual Good for Guns program, held at Worcester police headquarters, yielded 85 guns in exchange for $4,675 in multiple grocery gift certificates. Representatives from the Worcester Police Department, Worcester County District Attorney's office and the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center also handed out 35 trigger locks and administered 25 flu shots to round out the community safety and public health initiative.

"Overall, it was a good day for us," Dr. Michael Hirsh, founder of the Worcester initiative and chief of pediatric surgery and trauma at UMass Memorial Children's Medical Center, said when reached Saturday evening.

"We collected several high quality guns, including one military-style assault rifle and a Glock semiautomatic pistol, weapons for interpersonal mayhem," Hirsh said, adding that he was pleased by the amount of rifles exchanged because a rifle is the primary type of gun used when teenagers attempt suicide with a gun.

The annual Goods for Guns program invites residents to trade in their unwanted guns for gift certificates to local grocery stores, including Wegmans, Price Rite, Price Chopper and Stop & Shop. The law enforcement and medical professionals working at the WPD handed out $25 each for a long gun, $50 for a handgun and $75 for a semiautomatic.

In total on Saturday, 43 semiautomatic weapons, 26 rifles and 16 pistols were exchanged, Hirsh said. Since its inception in 2002, the Goods for Guns program has collected 2,396 weapons, including those collected Saturday.

The initiative began as a joint venture between the law enforcement and judicial communities and city medical professionals as a way to diminish the chances of a weapon being stolen and used in the commission of a crime or an unsecured gun being used in a suicide.

Saturday's collection was held on the one-year anniversary of the deadly school shooting which occurred in Newtown, Conn., at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

On Thursday, Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance applauded the program, saying that it is "one step to enhance the public safety for the community."

"You're standing up and saying to people, 'Please, take those weapons that are not useful to you, that you have no need for, that you have in the closet on the shelf ... and get them out of circulation. Turn them in, let us turn into the piles of useless metal and get them off the street," Vance said during a conference call held at the UMass medical center.

Vance, who has spoken several times with Hirsh about the program and sat on many panels about public health and safety programs, said that the Connecticut State Police have worked with several city police departments, including Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven, to institute a similar program.

South Africa said goodbye for the last time to the man who reconciled the country in its most vulnerable period.

QUNU, South Africa — Songs, speeches and the boom of artillery rang across Nelson Mandela's home village during his funeral Sunday as a tribal chief adorned in a leopard skin declared: "A great tree has fallen."

South Africa was saying goodbye for the last time to the man who reconciled the country in its most vulnerable period.

Several thousand guests, some singing and dancing, gathered in a huge tent at the family compound of the anti-apartheid leader, who died Dec. 5 at the age of 95 after a long illness. When the funeral service began, they sang the national anthem in an emotional rendition in which some mourners placed fists over their chests.

"I think all of us will agree today the person who lies here is South Africa's greatest son," said Cyril Ramaphosa, deputy president of the ruling African National Congress.

Mandela's portrait looked over the assembly in the white marquee from behind a bank of 95 candles representing each year of his remarkable life. His casket, transported to the tent on a gun carriage and draped in the national flag, rested on a carpet of cow skins below a lectern where speakers delivered eulogies.

"A great tree has fallen, he is now going home to rest with his forefathers," said Chief Ngangomhlaba Matanzima, a representative of Mandela's family. "We thank them for lending us such an icon."

Nandi Mandela said her grandfather went barefoot to school in Qunu when he was boy and eventually became president and a figure of global import.

"It is to each of us to achieve anything you want in life," she said, recalling kind gestures by Mandela "that made all those around him also want to do good."

In the Xhosa language, she referred to her grandfather by his clan name: "Go well, Madiba. go well to the land of our ancestors, you have run your race."

Ahmed Kathrada, an anti-apartheid activist who was jailed on Robben Island with Mandela, remembered his old friend's "abundant reserves" of love, patience and tolerance. He said it was painful when he saw Mandela for the last time, months ago in his hospital bed.

"He tightly held my hand, it was profoundly heartbreaking," Kathrada said, his voice breaking at times. "How I wish I never had to confront what I saw. I first met him 67 years ago and I recall the tall, healthy strong man, the boxer, the prisoner who easily wielded the pick and shovel when we couldn't do so."

Some mourners wiped away tears as Kathrada spoke, his voice trembling with emotion.

Mandela's widow, Grace Machel, and his second wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, were dressed in black and sat on either side of South African President Jacob Zuma.

Guests included veterans of the military wing of the African National Congress, the liberation movement that became the dominant political force after the end of apartheid, as well as U.S. Ambassador Patrick Gaspard and other foreign envoys.

Britain's Prince Charles, Monaco's Prince Albert II, U.S. television personality Oprah Winfrey, billionaire businessman Richard Branson and former Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai were also there.

More than an hour into the service, people were still filling empty seats in parts of the marquee. Soldiers moved in to occupy some chairs.

Earlier, South African honor guards from the army, navy and air force marched in formation amid rolling green hills dotted with small dwellings and neatly demarcated plots of farmland. Clouds cast shadows over the landscape. Mandela's casket, covered by a national flag, was transported on a gun carriage to the tent.

After the funeral ceremony, a smaller group of guests was to attend Mandela's burial at a family grave site on the estate in Qunu, a rural village in Eastern Cape province. A 21-gun salute and a flyover by planes were among the final acts planned before the casket was put into the earth.

The burial will end 10 days of mourning ceremonies that included a massive stadium memorial in Johannesburg and three days during which Mandela's body lay in state in the capital, Pretoria.

Mandela spent 27 years in jail as a prisoner from apartheid, then emerged to lead a delicate transition to democracy when many South Africans feared that the country would sink into all-out racial conflict. He became president in the first all-race elections in 1994.

While South Africa faces many problems, including crime, unemployment and economic inequality, Mandela is seen by many compatriots as the father of their nation and around the world as an example of the healing power of reconciliation.

The Fourth Annual Gingerbread Castle Competition between local bakers saw a number of interesting creations in one of the last major events for the Higgins Armory Museum which closes its doors at the end of the year.

WORCESTER - The Fourth Annual Gingerbread Castle Competition between local amateur and professional bakers saw a number of interesting creations in one of the last major events for the Higgins Armory Museum, which closes its doors at the end of the year.

The event took place Saturday with hundreds of guests casting a vote for the best creation ranging from an intricate castle to a splendidly simple village. When the ballots were counted, the judges' choice in the amateur division went to Carlene Covino for her white castle.

A magnificent chateau created by the Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School in Charlton received the judges' choice professional award in addition to the people's choice.

Saturday morning, people split their time between the traditional museum exhibits and the children's area, but by mid-day a large crowd gathered in the great hall to view the confection collection, snapping pictures with their smart phones and taking notes about how the bakers were able to take gingerbread and turn it into master pieces.

If viewing the houses left guests hungry, children had the opportunity to decorate their own gingerbread cookies.

The armory museum is scheduled to close at the year, with its contents being transferred to the Worcester Art Museum, however, there are events planned right up through the last day.

The competitive grant program is offered to all non-profit, rural call or volunteer fire departments that provide service primarily to a community of up to 10,000 people.

 

BOSTON - Forty-one communities received grants for firefighting equipment and supply purchases through the volunteer fire assistance program, according to state Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Jack Murray.

Palmer Fire District No. 1 Fire Chief Alan J. Roy said his department was unable to apply for these grants until a few years ago because of its "fire district" designation, but then the rules changed. Roy said this is the second year his department received a grant. The district received $1,971.30.

Roy said he plans to buy equipment, such as hoses and backpacks that hold up to five gallons of water for firefighters to take with them into the woods to fight fires.

The backpacks will allow firefighters to respond to a fire quickly, as "it takes time to get vehicles out into wooded areas, especially now with everyone strapped for manpower," Roy said. He described the contraption as like a "big squirt gun."

Monson Fire Department received $2,000, money Fire Chief Laurent McDonald said will be used to buy foam that helps water penetrate fuel, and backpacks that will contain equipment to combat brush fires.

McDonald said he is pleased that the department received the grant.

Murray, in a statement, said that community fire departments "are critical to combating wildfires and forest fires" and said the grants help the departments get the equipment they need to ensure safety in their communities.

In addition to Monson and Palmer, the following communities in Western and Central Massachusetts received grants:

Ashburnham - $1,998; Hatfield - $365; Hawley - $1,098.50; Bernardston - $1,705; Gill - $2,000; Granby - $900; Granville - $1,995; Great Barrington - $765.64; Hadley - $1,991.50; Middlefield - $1,980; New Braintree - $2,000; Brookfield - $1,813.20; Buckland - $2,000; Cheshire - $2,000; Dalton - $1,348.12; Phillipston - $1,752.35; South Deerfield - $1,549; South Hadley Fire District 2 - $1,000; Stow - $1,996.50; Wales - $1,899.50 and Worthington - $1,036.20.

State Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, and state Reps. Todd M. Smola, R-Warren, and Anne M. Gobi, D-Spencer, welcomed the news of the grants.

Said Brewer, “Call volunteer firefighters provide a critical service to the communities they serve. These brave men and women put their lives on the line to ensure public safety and these grants will make sure the departments they serve in have the right equipment and supplies for them to do their jobs safely and effectively.”

The competitive grant program is offered to all nonprofit, rural call or volunteer fire departments that provide service primarily to a community of up to 10,000 people.

Program funding is provided by the federal Department of Agriculture’s forest service and administered by the department on a 50 percent reimbursement basis. Fire departments also must be composed of at least 80 percent call or volunteer firefighters to be considered.

A complete list of grant recipients can be found online at www.mass.gov/dcr

State government might raise $300 million to $500 million a year by taxing gaming revenues at casinos, a top lawmaker said.

BOSTON -- State government will have less money for local aid, transportation and other services if voters approve planned ballot questions next year to kill casinos and annual increases in the gas tax, legislators said.

Organizers have each submitted more than enough certified voter signatures to place seven statewide questions on the ballot in November of next year including measures to repeal laws that legalize casinos and that automatically hike the gas tax to account for inflation.

Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, an Amherst Democrat, estimated that state government would face budget cuts if voters repeal the 2011 law that allows up to three casino resorts and a single slots facility.

Stanley RosenbergThe Republican file photo 

Rosenberg said transportation funding would be hurt if voters revoke the law to increase the gas tax in accord with inflation starting in 2015.

The casinos and slots facility together could eventually generate $2 billion in gross gaming revenues each year. With a 25 percent tax rate on two commercial casino resorts, a 17 percent tax on a proposed Mashpee Wampanoag casino in Taunton, and 40 percent tax on the slots parlor, the state might eventually raise $300 million to $500 million a year, according to Rosenberg.

"If that money disappears, then there will be cuts," said Rosenberg, a key author of the casino law.

Rosenberg, the Senate majority leader, said about half the new casino revenues would be local aid for cities and towns and a sizable portion of the rest would go to transportation.

Rosenberg said he would personally vote against the ballot questions but he never tells people how to vote on ballot questions.

Kathleen NorbutMichael S. Gordon/The Republican file 

Kathleen Norbut of Monson, an original signer of the petition to revoke the casino law, said the state coffers will never see $400 million a year from casinos. She said casinos will be hurt by expansion of online gambling and declining interest from the public.

She also said legislators are failing to account for the social and other costs of casinos. Mitigation money does not cover the damage caused by casinos, she said.

"Let's get an independent cost-benefit analysis," she said. "You talk about the revenues. What about the costs?"

Norbut is a leading member of Repeal the Casino Deal, a coalition that collected about 73,000 certified voter signatures to make the ballot.

In order to make the ballot, the group may also need to persuade the state Supreme Judicial Court to overturn the attorney general's decision to ban the casino repeal question.

Beacon Hill is also worried about losing expected transportation dollars if voters approve a Republican-backed question to rescind the automatic increases in the state's 26.5 cent-a-gallon gas tax. The annual increases would begin in January of 2015.

Democratic Gov. Deval L. Patrick told reporters that the proposed ballot question is a mistake.

"Everywhere around the commonwealth people understand that we have got to invest in our transportation system in order to sustain and indeed accelerate growth," Patrick said. "While it was not my first choice, the Legislature ... selected the gas tax and a way not to have to come back to it every 15 minutes. And it hasn't been updated in many, many years. So I think the indexing is wise. I think it is fair and I think it was done in the right way ..."

Steven Aylward of Watertown, chairman of the Committee to Tank the Automatic Gas Tax Hikes, said history shows that legislators often divert tax dollars that are intended for a program such as transportation.

Aylward, a member of the Republican State Committee, said repeal of the law would put money where it belongs -- in the pockets of consumers.

Aylward said the "real issue" is that legislators should vote each year if they need revenues and want to raise the gas tax.

The provision for automatic increases is in a transportation financing law that raised the gas tax by three cents, starting July 31. The repeal effort received about 77,000 certified signatures.

Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, a Barre Democrat and chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said the provision would raise about $10 to $12 million a year.

Brewer said legislators should support the wishes of voters if they vote to repeal the law to index the gas tax to inflation.

Another ballot question with fiscal implications for state government is a proposed expansion of the state's 5 cent bottle deposit law to include additional containers such as water, flavored water, coffee-based drinks, juices and sports drinks.

The governor proposed a similar expansion, partly because he said it would generate about $25 million a year for the state including $5 million for recycling initiatives. The state receives money from unclaimed bottle and can deposits.

Christopher P. Flynn, president of the Massachusetts Food Association, which includes supermarkets and grocery stores, said the state already raises about $35 million a year from distributors who pay the nickel for each unredeemed container. There's something wrong when the state financially benefits from a law that fails because people don't return containers, he said.

"This is nothing more than a money grab," he said.

Janet Domenitz, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Interest Group, said advocates turned in about 106,000 certified signatures for the ballot question to expand the bottle deposit law.

If the law is approved, it would save about $6 million statewide for cities and towns, she said. The law would save on costs for litter and trash pickup, because it would increase redemptions, and therefore recycling, she said.

She said she is not using the argument that state government would get a boost from money from unclaimed deposits.

"I'm for this if 100 percent of nickels are redeemed," she said. "That's our goal."

Flynn said cities and towns would lose $15 million in annual payments for aluminum if the ballot question was approved. He said communities or their contractors are paid for the value of aluminum that is recycled.

Flynn said approval of the ballot question would require Massachusetts’ consumers and businesses to spend $58 million annually to operate an expanded redemption program.

Flynn said an expansion of the deposit law would be "counter productive." He said it costs three times as much to recycle bottles and cans by redemption than it does to recycle them by dropping them at municipal stations or by leaving them at the curbside for pickup.

"Folks are going to see through this," Flynn said of the proposed expansion of the bottle deposit law.

The secretary of state's office said backers of four other proposed statewide questions also collected more than the required 68,911 certified signatures to qualify for the 2014 ballot.

Two of those questions, if approved, would raise the minimum wage from $8 an hour to $10.50 an hour and would require that every worker in the state could earn up to 40 hours of sick time.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association also gathered more than enough voter signatures to put before voters two separate questions that would limit the number of patients who can be assigned to a nurse at one time and that would restrict CEO salaries and regulate the annual operating margins of hospitals.

Unless state lawmakers approve the proposed ballot questions by early May, supporters would need to gather an additional 11,485 signatures by early July to secure a spot on the ballot.

Former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley's home in suburban New York City burned.

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y. (AP) — A suburban New York house owned by former KISS lead guitarist Ace Frehley has gone up in flames.

The Journal News reports that firefighters were called to the stone house in the town of Yorktown Heights late Saturday morning.

The home was heavily damaged, with flames burning through the roof.

The newspaper says the musician had been fighting foreclosure on the property in Westchester County Court.

The Red Cross helped a resident with emergency lodging. A neighbor says a caretaker had been living in the home.

It was not clear where the 62-year-old founding member of the famed rock band was at the time of the blaze.

He played with the group until 2002, during what was billed as their farewell tour.

"It feels good to volunteer," Skala said.

View full sizeTo get a printable version of this coupon to mail in with your Toy for Joy donation, click on "view full size," above. 

SPRINGFIELD - Michael Skala said he decided to volunteer his time to the Toy for Joy fund this year to help himself get into the Christmas spirit.

He spent Friday helping to unbox towers of toys at the Salvation Army on Pearl Street so they will be ready for distribution next week.

“It feels good to volunteer,” Skala said. “I needed to get my spirit back.”

The fund, however, still has a way to go to meet its fund-raising goal of $150,000. While it recorded $4,185 in new donations today, it still needs to raise $113,567 by Christmas Eve, and time is getting short.

Skala, who is disabled due to a back injury, signed his daughter and son up to receive a bag of toys.

He said there are many educational and popular toys which children will be happy to receive on Christmas morning.

The fund, which is in its 91st year, is sponsored by The Republican and The Salvation Army, with the help of campaign partner Hasbro of East Longmeadow, which donates a portion of the toys for the campaign.

This year 3,270 adults and approximately 14,715 children signed up in Springfield to receive toys from the fund, more than last year, said Danielle LaTaille, director of social services from the Greater Springfield Salvation Army citadel on Pearl Street.

Cynthia G. Simison, managing editor of The Republican, said this year’s donations are about on par with the 2012 program in which Toy for Joy narrowly missed its Christmas Eve goal last year.

Simison said she remains “optimistic that generosity abounds in our region.”

“This week’s overwhelming success of the second annual Valley Gives day is demonstrative of that,” she said.

“For more than a decade, I’ve watched as our readers generously give to Toy for Joy. In good economic times and bad, young and old, rich and poor come together at the holiday season to help ensure needy children have gifts on Christmas morning through this program,” Simison said.

Toy registration
Here are the times for families to register at Salvation Army sites for the 91st annual Toy for Joy campaign. Registration has closed in Springfield, Greenfield, Westfield and the Hilltowns.
Holyoke
Holyoke Citadel: 271 Appleton St., Holyoke; Dec. 9-20, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; for info, call (413) 532-6312; serves Holyoke, South Hadley, Granby
Required documentation
Participants must bring the following documents: Photo ID for head of household; proof of address (within the last 30 days); MassHealth cards or other identifying information for any child age 16 or younger; and birth certificates (or passports) for any child age 16 and younger.

For more information, call (413) 733-1518. To make a contribution to the Toy for Joy fund, write: Toy for Joy, P.O. Box 3007, Springfield 01102. Contributions may also be dropped off with the coupon to The Republican, 1860 Main St., Springfield, weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. through Dec. 24.

Here’s a list of the latest contributors:

• Merry Christmas Diane, Denise and Louise, $75


• In honor of Maureen Shea, best mother-in-law ever, $15


• Ron, $25


• Merry Christmas Brian, Ann Marie and Sam, $250


• Nathan, Dominic, Sara, Landon and Sydney, $10


• In loving memory of Steven Bacon, we miss you from Mom and Charlotte, $30


• In celebration of our grandson David’s 8th birthday on 12/15/13, love Grandma and Grandpa, $50


• In loving memory of our daughter Jill Stefanik, always in our hearts, with love, Mom and Dad xo, $25


• In loving memory of Roland and Gary Deyette, $20


• For Diamond and Petrie, l miss you, $5


• In memory of past and present veterans, $50


• In memory of Marjorie Boyden, $100


• In loving memory of Leona and David, Pepere and Memere, $50


• In memory of my Mom and Dad, love Joyce, $25


• In memory of Eleanor, George and Margaret Reilly, love Kathy, $25


• In memory of Kyle Barton and Kory Whitman from grandparents, $25


• Raymond and Janet, $50


• In memory of my husband Leonard Hersh, Shirley Hersh and family, $15


• In loving memory of Margaret and Fred Harkins, $50


• Loving memory of my son Bill Brady, $20


• In memory of George Murphy, $200


• In loving memory of Mario F. Siano and Henry J. Chapdelaine from Brian and Eric, $50


• Marge and Phil, $50


• In memory of Mark Urban, forever our neighbor from the Lords, $25


• In loving memory of Bill Briggs, $10


• In loving memory of my John, $10


• In memory of Sandy Rogers and Judy Savas, Pat and Gloria, $50


• Merry Christmas from Noah and CJ, $20


• To Grandpa and Dad, love Jess and Emmy, $20


• In memory of Margaret Walsh, Joe Belmonte and Edie Gunn, $100


• In loving memory of my father from Suzette, $10


• Nicholas, $20


• Bob and Di, $25


• In memory of Dad, Sonny, Jeffrey and friends, $50


• In memory of Mom and Dad Wheeler, Mom and Dad Boissy and Steve from the Wheelers, $50


• Merry Christmas to our little friends, Grace’s Places, $200


• In memory of the teachers and children killed at the Sandy Hook School, NAS, $15


• With love always for my brother Jason from Alex, $100


• From the employees and staff at Mark E. Salomone, Casual Friday, $400

The future, especially for the water-dependent economy of the millions who live in the Mekong Delta, is in jeopardy, Kerry said, pledging a $17 million contribution to a program that will help the region's rice producers, shrimp and crab farmers and fisherman adapt to potential changes caused by higher sea levels that bring salt water into the delicate ecosystem.

KIEN VANG, Vietnam (AP) — Along the winding muddy waters of the Mekong Delta where he once patrolled for communist insurgents on a naval gunboat, Secretary of State John Kerry turned his sights Sunday on a new enemy: climate change.

In this remote part of southern Vietnam, rising sea waters, erosion and the impact of upstream dam development on the Mekong River are proving a more serious threat than the Viet Cong guerrillas that Kerry battled as a young lieutenant in 1968 and 1969.

"Decades ago on these very waters, I was one of many who witnessed the difficult period in our shared history," Kerry told a group of young professionals gathered near a dock at the riverfront village of Kien Vang.

"Today on these waters I am bearing witness to how far our two nations have come together and we are talking about the future and that's the way it ought to be," he said.

That future, especially for the water-dependent economy of the millions who live in the Mekong Delta, is in jeopardy, he said, pledging a $17 million contribution to a program that will help the region's rice producers, shrimp and crab farmers and fisherman adapt to potential changes caused by higher sea levels that bring salt water into the delicate ecosystem.

Kerry also said he would make it a personal priority to ensure that none of the six countries that share the Mekong — China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam — and depend on it for the livelihoods of an estimated 60 million people exploits the river at the expense of the others.

In a pointed reference to China, which plans several Mekong Dam projects that could seriously affect downstream populations, Kerry said : "No one country has a right to deprive another country of a livelihood, an ecosystem and its capacity for life itself that comes from that river. That river is a global asset, a treasure that belongs to the region."

The Mekong's resources must "benefit people not just in one country, not just in the country where the waters come first, but in every country that touches this great river."

Though Kerry was keen to focus on the future, his return to the Mekong Delta, his first since 1969 despite 13 previous postwar trips to Vietnam, was clearly a homecoming of sorts.

As Kerry's boat eased off a jetty onto the Cai Nuoc River, the secretary of state told his guide: "I've been on this river many times." Asked how he felt about returning to the scene of his wartime military service for the first time, Kerry replied: "Weird, and it's going to get weirder"

On this tour, Kerry was clad in drab olive cargo pants, a blue-and-white plaid long-sleeved shirt and sunglasses instead of the uniform he wore as a Navy officer. In a new role and new garb, Kerry revisited the delta's rivers that made a vivid impression on him as a young lieutenant and eventually turned him against the war.

Standing next to the captain and surveying the brown water and muddy banks, Kerry recalled the smell of burning firewood as his boat passed through small fishing villages where the aroma hasn't changed in 50 years.

At one point, a family in a sampan traveling in the opposite direction smiled and waved. Kerry waved back, and noticing the family had a dog on board, remarked with a smile: "I had a dog, too. Its name was VC." VC was the abbreviation for the Viet Cong, forces fighting the South Vietnamese and their U.S. allies.

Before his remarks in Kien Vang, Kerry visited a general store and bought candy for a group of children, delighting them with a few words in Vietnamese.

While the ringing of cell phones may have replaced the thunder of artillery fire, back on the boat Kerry looked out at the jungle canopy that rises just off the riverbank, swept his arm and remarked: "It hasn't changed all that much. A lot of it is same old, same old."

"This was what we called a 'free-fire zone'," he said. "The Viet Cong were pretty much everywhere."

Kerry first set foot in Vietnam 44 years ago after volunteering for service because, as he has said, "It was the right thing to do."

He was decorated with three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star for fighting in a conflict that he came to despise and call a "colossal mistake," one that profoundly influenced his political career and strategic view.

"When I came home after two tours of duty, I decided that the same sense of service demanded something more of me," he wrote in his 2003 book, "A Call to Service," as he was unsuccessfully campaigning for the presidency in the 2004 election.

"The lesson I learned from Vietnam is that you quickly get into trouble if you let foreign policy or national security policy get too far adrift from our values as a country and as a people."

He arrived back on Saturday for his 14th trip to the country since the war's end but his first in 13 years, determined to bolster the remarkable rapprochement that he had encouraged and helped engineer as a senator in the 1990s.

In the city he first knew as Saigon, the capital of the former South Vietnam, Kerry met Saturday with members of the business community and entrepreneurs to talk up the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a broad trade agreement that the U.S. is now negotiating with Vietnam and nine other Asian countries.

To take full advantage of the deal's economic opportunities, Kerry said Vietnam, which has been widely criticized for its human rights record, must embrace changes that include a commitment to a more open society, the free exchange of ideas and education.

He made the comments after attending Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral, built in the 1880s and 1890s under French colonial rule, in a bid to show support for the tenuous freedom of worship in Vietnam. Vietnamese authorities have been criticized for harassing, prosecuting and jailing Catholic clergy.

In talks with Vietnamese officials in Hanoi on Monday, Kerry was expected to make the case that respect for human rights, particularly freedom of speech and religion, is essential to improved relations with the United States. He also was expected to raise the issue of political prisoners whom the United States would like to see released.

The chief focus of the discussions, however, was expected to be maritime security and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

The funding will support the Western Homeless Employment Network, a new partnership between the Corporation for Public Management, the Franklin Hampshire Career Center, ServiceNet and Construct.

SPRINGFIELD — The Corporation for Public Management received $230,000 last week to help the homeless find work.

It's part of $1.7 million in state and federal funding that will place more than 320 homeless individuals in stable employment opportunities, according to Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Joanne F. Goldstein.

The Corporation for Public Management program operates in Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties

The funding will support the Western Homeless Employment Network, a new partnership between the Corporation for Public Management, the Franklin Hampshire Career Center, ServiceNet and Construct, four workforce development and social service agencies. The WHEN initiative will address the acute shortage of employment and training programs for homeless individuals in Western Massachusetts, according to a news release.

Paperlogic, a Southworth Company, is a new effort to bring more business to the company's Turners Falls mill and its 80 employees.

TURNERS FALLS — For most of its life, the Southworth Co. mill on the power canal here was Esleeck Paper Co. and famous for its onionskin typing paper.

Onionskin was tough, translucent and lightweight, perfect for the emerging technologies: the typewriter, carbon paper and airmail. Try finding it on an office-supply shelf today.

"Nobody uses carbon paper anymore," said Ken Schelling, mill manger for the Southworth Co. "So they had to find something different."

For a time, something different was high-quality business paper for resumes, paper that looked great coming out of a photocopier or off a laser printer and sent off through the mail as business correspondence.

Soon, "something different" might include papers tough enough to go into commercial ovens and serve as pan liners for mass-produced baked goods, big rolls of paper farmers can roll out over vegetable fields to keep weeds down, high-quality mat board for framing art and specialized drawing and watercolor papers for creating that art.

All this comes with a new brand name — Paperlogic, a Southworth Company — and website, www.paperlogic.com.

"We know that we are in the final year to year and a half of making the office paper," company president David C. Southworth said. "So we need to find more business to fill the time on our paper machine, to keep the mill busy and our people employed."

The mill has 80 employees now, and Southworth said he sometimes asks for a show of hands: Where did they start their papermaking careers?

He said some had been at Esleek long before Southworth bought it in 2006. Others worked at a now shuttered Stathmore mill next door or at other vanished paper companies.

Once the Pioneer Valley was dotted with paper mills; Holyoke, with its canals lined with mills, was known as the Paper City.

Today there are just a few, including the Southworth mill, Erving Industries in nearby Erving, the well-known Crane & Co., which makes products including currency paper in Dalton, and Onyx, a specialty paper company in South Lee.

Southworth said Onyx is an example of what he's trying to do, a mill that focuses on filling product niches.

"I think its a typical cycle that all specialty mills go through or operate in," said
Mike Bilodeau, director of the process development center at the University of Maine at Orono.

Southworth and Paperlogic are working with Bilodeau's team and with researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Paper production in the region has never been greater, he said.

"It's just the types of paper being made and the number of mills making it," Bilodeau said. "The less efficient mills are closing and the more efficient mills are growing."

He said the University of Maine lab has had a "nice relationship" with Southworth for more than a year, developing prototypes and processes with biological and chemical engineers.

The idea, Southworth said, is to be flexible. The minimum order at the mill in Turners Falls is 3,000 pounds, down from 10,000 pounds and much, much less than other manufacturers require customers to buy.

A year ago, sensing no growth potential, Southworth Co. sold its venerable brand of business paper to Neenah Paper of Wisconsin. Southworth has a contract to make office paper for Neenah for about an other year and a half, but after that, production will shift to Neenah mills in Wisconsin.

What's left is an envelope business run from the company's building in Agawam, Maryland-based Lallie social correspondence paper and greeting-card maker Madison Park Group in Seattle.

Southworth also manufactures and markets archival papers under its Byron Weston Papers brand. Byron Weston papers are used for government records because of their archival durability.

"Our sales staff tells us that if you have ever been born, married, bought a house or died, you have used Byron Weston paper," said H.H. "Brub" Collina Jr., executive vice president, Specialty Technical Paper for Paperlogic.

The Turners Falls mill makes paper sold by others as well. The mill just finished eight days of manufacturing watercolor paper in various grades and weights. A customer will take that paper, package it and market it to artists and art students.

Another customer markets paper as environmentally friendly and made from hemp fiber and recycled waste paper. The hemp fiber comes to the factory processed and in sheets of crumbly white material, just like all the other fiber the company uses.

The mill doesn't pulp wood and doesn't take in rags anymore.

The mill is looking at using discarded tea leaves from a Northampton bottling plant to help make the paper for farm mulch.

"They use plastic sheeting now," Schelling said, adding, "Why not use paper? Then, when you are done with it, you can just plow it back into the soil."

Southworth said environmentalism, and a push toward more recyclable products, means paper is coming into its own as a material again.

"In many ways, paper is nipping at the heals of plastic," he said.

The company is also pushing hard to develop papers for the laminate industry after major producers took large-scale production to Europe in recent years. Southworth said his mill is small enough and nimble enough to meet small orders on short deadlines.

"You don't have to buy an entire shipping container," he said. "You don't have to wait eight weeks for it to sail across the ocean."

Collina pointed out that many things that don't look like paper are made of paper, especially when laminated to form building materials.

"Put your hand on a counter top. If it is cold, it is probably granite. If it feels warm, it's probably a laminate made of paper," he said. "Bowling lanes are not made of wood, they are made of paper. Furniture is not made of wood, it's paper."

The mill now has an on-site lab testing the color and suitability of paper for counter tops and other laminates.

And yes, Collina said, there is paper in the soles of shoes.

Just about 5 inches of snow fell in Springfield overnight.

SPRINGFIELD𓴼 A bare five inches of accumulated snow, sleet and freezing rain covered the ground in downtown Springfield as of 6 a.m. Sunday, as the first major winter storm of the season petered out leaving far less than the earlier predicted eight to 12 inches. Around the region Pittsfield police report approximately eight inches of snow there, while Greenfield reports about the same. Snowfalls seemed to fall within those parameters up and down the Pioneer Valley.

State and municipal plows continue to clear roads throughout the state as winds as high as 45 miles per hour push light snow creating drifting conditions.

Parking bans instititued before the storm hit remain in effect as municipal road crews continue to clear streets and roadways.

Police departments reported relatively few travel problems associated with the storm. State Police Sgt. Michael Andrews, attached to the Springfield Barracks, said troopers responded to a surprisingly small number of property damage accidents. Mostly, he said, cars simply slid off roads, and those were winched back and sent on their way.

Earlier Saturday evening two separate tractor trailer sliding accidents made travel in the westbound lane of the Massachusetts Turnpike slow. The first incident blocked both lanes on the westbound side of the highway until the jackknifed trailer and at least one car involved could be removed. Later, at approximately 11 p.m., a second tractor trailer unit jackknifed on the slick highway. Only one lane of the roadway was closed for that incident.

CBS3 Meteorologist Mike Skurko said snow will stop completely early Sunday morning and temperatures will begin to rise to a daytime high of 34. Tuesday, snow showers could bring as much as 2 to 4 inches of accumulation.

The shop might name drinks after customers.

AGAWAM — Agawam’s Java Stop, the town’s newest locally owned business officially opened its doors last week with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The coffee shop uses locally sourced coffee beans and baked goods along with a variety of specialty coffee drinks.

Owners, Craig and Heidi Jurasz wanted to bring their knowledge of the restaurant industry, coffee and customer service to Agawam. The owners were tired of seeing chain coffee shops popping up on every corner and feeling like a number when they walked in to order a drink. The coffee beans, baked goods and owners are all from the area, according to a news release.

Besides coffee, tea, hot chocolate and steamers, Agawam’s Java Stop’s niche is specialty drinks. Customers are encouraged to create their own and that drink may end up being named after them.

The shop is located at 1226 Springfield St. in the Feeding Hills section of Agawam.