The event included a Mass by Rev. Christopher Connelly, a wreath-laying ceremony at the Veterans Memorial, a three-gun military salute and taps, performed by Jake Roberts, 14, of Wilbraham.

Staff photo by Mark M. MurrayJake Roberts, 14, of Wilbraham, played taps on his trumpet at Monday's Memorial Day Mass at St. Michael's Cemetery in Springfield. The event was organized by the Springfield Veterans Activities Committee.

SPRINGFIELD — They attended for different reasons.

For some, it was about honoring the nation's fallen heroes, members of the Armed Forces who paid the ultimate sacrifice by dying for their country. For others, it was about honoring all veterans, the men and women in uniform who have protected and served their country at home and abroad.

And yet for others, it was a family affair: Wilbraham residents Donna and Steven Roberts attended Monday's Memorial Day Mass at St. Michael's Cemetery to watch their son Jake play taps before a crowd of nearly 300 people.

"I'm the very proud mom. He was fabulous," Donna Roberts said of her son, 14, a trumpeter and history buff who attends Wilbraham Middle School.

For Steven Roberts, it was about showing support for his son's love of history. "I love it when he does things like this," Steven said of Jake, a Civil War enthusiast who has played at other big events, including a Springfield City Hall ceremony last year.

"Yes, I was nervous," admitted Jake, who sounded all the right notes of taps, the plaintive song of remembrance that's traditionally played at military funerals and Memorial Day ceremonies.

The veterans in attendance saluted, while most of the civilians either held their right hands over their hearts or bowed their heads as the solemn song reverberated throughout the cemetery.

Rev. Monsignor Christopher D. Connelly celebrated the open-air Mass outside St. Michael's mausoleum, asking the faithful to pray for all military veterans, past and present. "Pray for our brothers and sisters who served our country so that we may enjoy the blessings of freedom," Connelly told the crowd. The monsignor was assisted by Deacon Leo E. Coughlin.

The event also included a three-volley honor guard salute and a wreath-laying ceremony at the Veterans Memorial, which is located just east of the mausoleum in the sprawling cemetery. The monument's inscription reads: "Dedicated to all the men and women who served their country for peace and liberty."

In addition to his parents, Jake Roberts was joined by his younger brother, his great aunt and uncle, his uncle Anthony Cignoli, his grandfather Lou Cignoli — an 82-year-old Korean War veteran — and Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, who came over to congratulate the teenager on a job well done.

Jake was asked to perform at the Memorial Day Mass by Richard J. Tyrell, chairman of the Springfield Veterans Activities Committee, which organizes the annual ceremony.

Tyrell estimated this year's turnout was between 250 and 300. "Last year we had rain, and we held the ceremony inside the mausoleum," he said, adding that the indoor ceremony still attracted about 250 people.

Speaking of the large crowd, Tyrell said that most locals seem to appreciate and comprehend the sacrifice made by this region's servicemen and women. "Their legacy is our freedom, and I don't think that there's any better way to express it," he said.

The mayor and his 2 daughters handed out flags as they marched in West Side's Memorial Day parade.

Republican photo/ Mark E. MurrayColor guards from various armed services stand at the Veterans Monument during the Memorial Day Ceremony on the Town Common in West Springfield.

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Patriotism was on parade and in high gear late Monday morning in West Side, where more than 200 gathered for a Memorial Day ceremony at the Town Common.

Representatives from the various branches of the military services along with other groups, including politicians and even a float with the city’s colleen and her court, took part in the annual parade that stepped off from St. Thomas Church and concluded at the Town Common.

Among the marchers were the city’s second mayor, Gregory C. Neffinger, who was joined by his two daughters Galya R., 17 and Elisheva, 19. The three handed out an estimated 200 flags while walking along the parade route.

The mayor, who was one of the featured speakers, called taking part in the ceremony “one of the greatest honors I could have.”

“Those who have lost their lives for their country cannot honor themselves. We are here today to say we honor them,” Neffinger said.

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, reminded people that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created another 1 million veterans who will need help.

“The Veterans Administration is going to be in need of our support for years to come,” Neal said. “Democracy is supposed to be messy and that’s what they (the veterans) have ensured in lands across the globe.”

James G. Berrelli Jr., the city’s director of veterans services, said Memorial Day is not a day for picnics or going to the beach.

“It is a day of remembrance and reflection,” Berrelli said.

“Without our veterans out country would not be what it is today,” state Sen. James T. Welch, D-West Springfield, said.

Massachusetts is number one among the states in the country for veterans services, according to Welch, who said, “That is something we should be very proud of.”

A representative from the office of U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., read a statement from the senator that included the words, “Let us remember everyone who answered the call of service and those who did not return home.”

Other speakers at the event included state Rep. Michael J. Finn, D-West Springfield; Town Council President Kathleen A. Bourque; Holyoke Soldiers Home Superintendent Paul Barabani; West Springfield Veterans Council President Dr. Frederick “Doc” Colin Jr. and Antonia K. Perakis, the fourth grade winner of an essay contest at Fausey School on what the playing of taps means to her.

The cemetery is now the final resting place of more than 7,000 veterans.

AGAWAM – Keynote speaker Peter H. Lappin had a special message for the hundreds of people who braved the heat Monday afternoon to attend the annual Memorial Day ceremony at the Massachusetts Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery in Agawam.

“You are here today because you care, and that is the greatest thing we can do for our fallen veterans and our heroes,” said Lappin, a former state representative representing Springfield and a former member of the Governor’s Council who served in the Army with the 101st Airborne from 1961 to 1964.

Lappin urged his audience to further serve the fallen by taking their responsibilities as citizens seriously and paying close attention to issues surrounding the 2012 elections. But he was careful not to equate politics with war.

“And those who would elevate it to that station should be reproached,” Lappin said.

Angela M. Grout, owner of Agawam Flower Shop, 430 Main St., said she gave out 1,500 flowers — 1,000 carnations and 500 roses — Monday between the town’s parade and ceremonies at the cemetery. She’d been handing flowers out at the parade for years. But this year, she was contacted by a charity called Memorial Day Flowers that hands out flowers at national and state veterans cemeteries with a special focus on Arlington National Cemetery. Memorial Day Flowers provided Grout with 500 roses for the event.

“It’s to say thank you to the community and to the veterans especially,” Grout said.

The Massachusetts Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery opened in 2001 and is now the final resting place of more than 7,000 veterans.

That includes the father and two uncles of Susan L. Haas. Haas served as an Army medic during the Vietnam War, although she was never stationed in Vietnam. She attended Monday’s ceremony with her husband, Kenneth C. Haas, who served as a heavy equipment operator in the Air Force at Da Nang Air Base in Vietnam. They live in Granville.

Haas remembered getting a hostile reception traveling home through an airport in California.

“They told us just to keep going and get on our plane,” Haas said. “At least now when service members return home they are well received and are welcomed home.”

Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray, state senators James T. Welch, D-West Springfield, and Michael R. Knapik, R-Westfield, state Rep. Benjamin Swan, D-Springfield, an Army veteran, and Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno all spoke.

Federal officials are looking for additional money to complete the project

File photo | The RepublicanThis file photo showed workers from the CRC Co., Inc.of Quincy, Mass., working on the fish ladder project in 2010. The project stalled and city officials hope the work can begin again next spring.

EASTHAMPTON – Mayor Michael A. Tautznik said he and federal officials remain committed to finishing the Manhan River Dam fish ladder, and federal officials are trying to identify funding sources for the work.

The mayor met with officials last week in Hadley to talk about the project’s future.

“The first part of the discussion was to make to sure we wanted to move the project forward. We all do,” the mayor said.

The ladder was supposed to have been in place by the spring of 2011. Tautznik had hoped work would continue this spring. Now, he said, he is hoping the work can be finished next spring.

The project, more than a decade in the making, stalled after the contractor CRC Co., of Quincy, said in 2010 it would need an additional $447,600 to finish the job.

The city awarded the project to the company with a bid of $600,000. But during the work, crews encountered a series of problems including the discovery of wooden timbers buried under the sediment.

The ladder is complete, but cannot be installed until the timbers are removed.

The fishway is designed to help species like shad, blueback herring and Atlantic salmon reach spawning waters upstream from the dam.

The Westfield-based engineering firm Tighe & Bond is working on a new design so the project can be rebid in the fall, Tautznik said.

The mayor said based on estimates the project would cost $326,000 to complete, and $115,000 is already set aside toward those costs.

He and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service officials discussed possible funding sources.

“There are no funding guarantees. Potential funding sources were identified,” he said. Federal stimulus money was awarded for the project, and there could be additional stimulus money left over from other projects.

Melissa Grader, a biologist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, said in an email that the service expects to hear soon about the availability of stimulus money and of money from the service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Fund.

One possible source of money is $345,000 from an agreement reached in 2004 between state and federal officials and the Holyoke Gas & Electric Department and the Holyoke Water Co. for natural resource damages caused by the utilities to the Connecticut River.

The money may be applicable because the Manhan is a Connecticut River tributary.

Whatever the source, “Once these funds are in place, the project can recommence, and the service is optimistic that the project can get completed by fall of 2013,” Grader wrote.

Officials are also trying to decide whether to have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers take on the work or have the city go out to bid again. The corps conducted a feasibility study for the project in 2003.

The mayor said he would abide by whatever the fisheries service wants. His preference is for the city to bid the project.

“It’s less complicated if it’s only one federal agency,” he said. “We’re comfortable moving the project forward. We’ll go with whatever decision Fish and Wildlife (makes).”

The shootings left a woman with life-threatening injuries and 4 others wounded.

BOSTON — Boston police are investigating shootings that left a woman with life-threatening injuries and four others wounded.

Police who responded to reports of shootings in the Mattapan neighborhood shortly after midnight Monday found a 31-year-old woman who appeared to have been shot in her abdomen. Police say she was taken to Boston Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.

Police say two other gunshot victims took themselves to Carney Hospital. A 23-year-old man appeared to have been shot in his right eye and a 27-year-old man was shot in his left arm.

Two other victims suffered minor injuries as they left the scene and were treated and released.

Police say the victims' conditions are not known. No identities were released.

Officials say 49-year-old Sharon Matthews of Warwick was rescued from South Bay Bog after she became disoriented in the thick spruce and balsam fir swamp.

PITTSBURG, N.H. — New Hampshire officials say a Massachusetts woman is safe after she became lost in the North Country woods near the Canadian border while searching for cast-off moose antlers in a Pittsburg bog.

Officials say 49-year-old Sharon Matthews, of the Franklin County town of Warwick, Mass., was rescued from South Bay Bog after she became disoriented in the thick spruce and balsam fir swamp.

Matthew's husband reported her missing at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday. She was last seen around 12:30 p.m.

Pittsburg police and conservation officers used ATVs to search snowmobile trails around the bog until officers spotted a plume of smoke that turned out to be from a fire set by Matthews. She and her dog were found next to the fire at about 8 p.m.

Matthews was wet and had suffered many insect bites, but was otherwise unhurt.

Police responded to the river along Red Bridge Road for a 911 call but found the man already out of the water when they arrived.

LUDLOW - A swimmer was taken to the hospital to be checked out after experiencing diffulties while swimming in the Chicopee River Monday afternoon, police said.

The man, whose name was not released, was pulled from the water by people who were on the shore, said Ludlow Police Lt. Paul Madera.

Police responded to the river along Red Bridge Road for a 911 call but found the man already out of the water when they arrived, he said. He was described as alert and conscious. He was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield as a precaution.

Two of this friends were trapped on the far side of the river and could not swim back, he said. The Wilbraham Fire Department was called to deploy a boat to go retrieve them, he said.

The three had been swimming in the river and they apparently failed to take into consideration the strength of the current, Madera said.

View Larger Map

The initial investigation indicates the fire was the result of an extension cord that overheated from running an air conditioner, a fire official said.

SPRINGFIELD - A fire, which officials believe to be the result of an overheated electrical cord, caused $10,000 damage to a 3rd-floor apartment a 20 Kenwood Park and temporary displaced its one resident, said a fire department spokesman.

Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant, said the fire, reported just before 3:45 p..m. was quickly extinguished. The fire and smoke damage was confined to the one apartment, he said.

The initial investigation indicates the fire was the result of an extension cord that overheated. The cord was apparently being used to power a window-mounted air conditioner, he said.

The resident of the apartment will not be able to stay there until it is cleaned up, he said. The woman indicated she would be staying with people in the downstairs apartment.

Kenwood Park is off Belmont Avenue in the city's Forest Park neighborhood.

View Larger Map

Cohen said the holiday used to be at risk for becoming "national barbecue day."

AGAWAM — Mayor Richard A. Cohen said during a Memorial Day ceremony Monday at Veterans Green that the holiday used to be at risk for becoming “national barbecue day.”

However, Cohen said there has been a “collective shift in thinking” that has restored the day to its former dignity. The mayor said he cannot put his finger on what may have brought about the change, but speculated it could have been the country’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Regardless of the reason, something has changed. It transcends politics, cultural differences and religion,” the mayor said.

Cohen said it is important to observe the holiday forever with dignity and respect.

“When we cease to remember we dishonor all those who came before us and doom those who come after us,” the mayor said.

More than 200 people attended the ceremony following a parade that included the city’s colleen and her court as well as an antique fire truck from the Agawam Historical and Fire House Museum.

Among other speakers at the ceremony were state Sen. Michael R. Knapik, R-Westfield, state Rep. Nicholas A. Boldyga, R-Southwick and Richard J. Girard Jr., the city’s director of veterans services.

Knapik said it is important to honor not only the dead, but military personnel currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan as well.

“We pray for their safe return one day to their families,” Knapik said.

Boldyga said 111 military service people from Massachusetts have died since Sept. 11, 2001. “They never sought out grand parades or recognition,” he said.

Girard told a story about a Vietnam veteran he used to know who seemed to be doing well. However, the man told him he still had nightmares about that war.

“We have people dying every day in this country who were killed in Vietnam,” Girard said, naming off Agent Orange as one of the causes.

Seventy-eight-year-old Jean C. Carter was among the many residents who turned out for the ceremony. The chairwoman of the Agawam Disability Commission, she rode in the parade and dressed the part. She wore blue slacks, a red blouse and a carved pearl pendant.

Carter said the city’s Memorial Day ceremonies have been “fantastic” and draw more and more people each year.

“It is a nice way to honor the veterans,” Carter said.

The holiday has particular significance to her. Carter’s late husband, David M. Carter, served 22 years in the Air Force. Her late son, Don L. Carter, a Vietnam era veteran, is buried at Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery in the city. Another son, Roy A. Carter, served in the Coast Guard.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority will pay 80 percent of renovation costs.

File photo | The RepublicanThe old Chicopee High School is shown in 2004.

CHICOPEE — Architects are beginning to study the condition of the former Chicopee High School so they can map out the renovation plan for the future.

The Chicopee Building Renovation Committee hired Caolo & Bieniek Associates Inc. for its architect in an attempt to move the project forward, said William M. Zaskey, a city councilor and chairman of the renovation committee.

Earlier, Arcadis was hired as the project manager and will oversee the project from the planning through the end of construction, he said.

The state School Building Authority, which is providing 80 percent of the funding for the renovation project, must approve each step of the planning process under new state regulations. It has agreed to the architect and project manager selections, Zaskey said.

The project calls for a renovation of the school, which is more than 90 years old, so it can be converted to a middle school. The plan then would be to move students from the Fairview Veterans Middle School, which is small, inadequate and in a poor location for a middle school, to the renovated school.

Students at several other schools would be then shuffled around and Fairview would be used as a combination elementary and early childhood school.

The building is only partially used now with Chicopee Academy, the city's alternative school, housed on the third floor and the maintenance department using some offices.

“We are now preparing for the feasibility study,” Zaskey said.

In the feasibility study, architects examine every corner of the school to determine what work must be done. Included in the examination is a look at the structural issues, wiring, windows, the size and number of classrooms and other facilities such as the cafeteria and gymnasium, he said.

Then architects will come up with a list of repairs that must be made and options so that the committee can decide what they should do, Zaskey said.

The study will figure out the estimated cost of the project, although the final cost will not be known until the city goes to bid, he said.

There was an initial estimate made by architects years ago but the examination was not as involved as the feasibility study will be, Zaskey said.

“That estimate was too old to be accurate,” he said.

The committee is planing for the study and plans to be completed around February and hopes to go out to bid soon afterward.

“We are planning a construction cycle of the summer of 2013 through 2014. Our projection of moving in is September 2014,” he said.

Olver spoke at Ware's Memorial Day program, which was attended by hundreds of citizens, veterans, state and local officials and the Mrs. Massachusetts beauty pageant winner.

Jim Russell photoU.S. Rep. John Olver, D-Amherst, speaks at Ware Memorial Day ceremonies.

Jim Russell photoMrs. Massachusetts Barrie Lynch, left, of Ware with retired Ware dairy farmer Ronald Shea, 76.

WARE – U.S. Rep. John Olver, D-Amherst, said he expects the Afghanistan war to end “within the year.”

Olver spoke at the town’s annual Memorial Day program on Monday, which was attended by hundreds of citizens, veterans, state and local officials and the Mrs. Massachusetts beauty pageant winner, who is a Ware resident.

“I believe we will end the conflict in Afghanistan within the year,” Olver said. The congressman said he hopes for an American future “without prolonged ground wars.”

Olver, 75, who will not seek reelection in the fall, thanked the country’s service men and woman and the town for supporting him while an elected official.

“We owe all veterans a debt of gratitude,” the Amherst Democrat said. “Thank you, Ware, for the time you have allowed me to serve.”

State Rep. Anne Gobi, D-Spencer, recalled the Civil War era roots of the Memorial Day holiday and spoke briefly about her deceased father, Reginald “Shike” Gobi.

“This is my first Memorial Day since my dad passed away in November,” Gobi said with emotion.

Among the many veterans, police officers, firefighters, youth scouts, wreath layers, parents, children and residents attending was Barrie Ann Lynch, 39. The Ware resident was crowned Mrs. Massachusetts in March.

The average wage at hire rose last month to $13.80 an hour from $13.74.

The Associated PressIn this Feb. 27, 2012, photo, job seekers line up to speak to Trilogy's Regional Vice President Tom Elkins, far right, at a job fair in Boston. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

SPRINGFIELD – Western Massachusetts residents are more likely to think jobs are hard to get, and that they will be harder to get in six months, according to a new poll from Mass Insight.

When asked “What would you say about the availability of jobs in your area right now?” 45 percent of residents statewide said “Jobs are hard to get.” But in Western Massachusetts, defined in this instance as the 413 area code, 53 percent said “Hard to get”.

When asked about job conditions six months from now, 23 percent of residents statewide said “fewer jobs” while 29 percent of the people in Western Massachusetts said “fewer jobs.”

“I think consumers in Western Mass. are taking a realistic view of the job market there and the potential for growth in employment,” said William H. Guenther, CEO and founder of Mass Insight, a Boston-based public policy and research company.

At 9.2 percent unemployment, the city of Springfield had the 11th highest unemployment rate of any city or town in the state in April. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Massachusetts was 6.3 percent in April, and 6.5 percent in March. The national average was 8.1 percent.

The jobs questions were asked as part of the Mass Insight poll that yields its quarterly consumer confidence estimate.

Consumer confidence in the state rose just one point in the second quarter to 85 points on a scale where 100 is considered neutral, Guenther said. That one point rise follows a 20-point rise in consumer confidence from October 2011 to January.

“We are consolidating the gains that we saw last quarter,” Guenther said.

The last time Massachusetts consumer confidence was this high was in July 2007.

Nationally, consumer confidence was at 69 last month using the same scale Mass Insight uses. The New England average was 76. Both the national and New England numbers are from the Conference Board, a Washington-based economics research institution.

“In general, consumers are happier here than consumers nationally. We are fortunate compared to a number of states that are facing much more significant challenges,” Guenther said.

Kevin E. Lynn, director of business services for FutureWorks, a one-stop career center in Springfield, said he’s seen the local economy make slow, but steady, improvement over recent months.

That was until April when the number of jobs posted at the center fell by 37 percent from 566 in April 2011 to 357.

Most of the jobs available were in health care and social assistance, administrative support and in manufacturing, particularly sophisticated machine-tool operations.

“I’m hoping this was just a one-month dip. We have had that before,” Lynn said.

He encouraged job seekers to keep at it, no matter how discouraged they get.

“It’s just getting out there. “Treat looking for work like a job. You have to do it every day.”

The average wage at hire rose last month to $13.80 an hour from $13.74. That figure includes part-time jobs which tend to bring down the average.

Mass Insight Q2 Consumer Confidence Index Stabilizes

Mayor Michael Tautznik hopes to see the landfill solar project providing electricity soon.

EASTHAMPTON — Engineers for Borrego Solar Systems Inc. are trying to work out another glitch in the city’s Oliver Street solar array project so it can become fully operational.

Borrego, which has an office in Lowell, was on the site of the solar array last week working on seeding and grading the landfill site and trying to solve one more problem with an automatic shutoff should the system need to shut down in the case of live wires.

Mayor Michael A. Tautznik said a prior communication glitch between Western Massachusetts Electric and Verizon has been solved.

Michael A. Tautznik

While the system has been connected to the Western Massachusetts Electric grid, it has not been providing power in any kind of sustained way, he said.

“We’ve been start and stop,” he said. The system, consequently, has not been declared operational.

“The 10-year clock (with Borrego) hasn’t started running.” The city signed a 10-year lease with the company to provide power to the city.

The array was the first such project under construction in the state. The 2.3-megawatt installation is expected to save residents $1.5 million on power over 10 years.

But being the first has produced minor issues. And Tautznik said the city cannot operate the system until it is safe.

Tautznik had been hoping the project would save the city $84,000 in electricity costs this fiscal year.

Work on the array was completed in December.

The mayor said he expects the project to be operational any day now. “We’re looking forward to it being operational.”

He said this way the city will start saving money and adding electricity to the power grid.

Solar projects have come on line in Holyoke and Springfield. Ludlow officials signed a lease with Borrego in March and Amherst officials are still planning to move ahead with a project on a capped landfill in that town, among the area communities seeking power from the sun.

A feasibility study envisions heating the high school, middle school and elementary school using a "centralized biomass boiler plant."

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

WARE – Ware public school officials say they will continue to push for a $2 million biomass wood-burning heating plant as a way to reduce energy costs and implement renewable energy use.

The school system currently spends close to $300,000 per year for heat and hot water. According to a study, those costs can be reduced.

At last week’s school committee meeting, Superintendent Mary Elizabeth Beach said, “We are going forward with exploring this.”

A 31-page feasibility study prepared for the state Department of Energy Resources and the Ware school system envisions heating the high school, middle school and elementary school using a “centralized biomass boiler plant” to be located “on the back corner of the property behind the elementary school.”

Bowman Engineering Inc. of Greenfield completed the feasibility study in 2010.

The study says the primary advantages for the schools of converting to a wood chip-powered biomass furnace would be “improved thermal efficiency and reduced capital, operation and maintenance costs.”

The study does not show a data comparison of the heating costs of fuel oil, which is now used, with the claimed savings proposed with the wood burning biomass plant.

The two-year-old study based its conclusions on fuel oil costing $2.50 per gallon, increasing at a rate of 3 percent annually over the 25-year expected life of the biomass facility. Fuel oil is currently pushing $4 per gallon.

The study says 1,053 tons of wood chips are required each year to power the plant, requiring 44 truck deliveries.

A comprehensive discussion on the biomass proposal is expected to occur at the June school board meeting.

Andrew Paquette, the district’s business management consultant, is meeting on Thursday with Ware Town Administrator Stuart Beckley to review the biomass proposal and to discuss solar energy options.

At the school board meeting, Paquette said, “The magnitude of the project would require town meeting” action.

School officials say the project cannot go forward absent substantial grants to underwrite the $2 million construction price.

The honorees include Diane Bazyk, librarian and media specialist, Janis Grimaldi-Ogden, family living teacher, David Jones, chair of the Mathematics Department, and Ann Murphy, English teacher.

SOUTHWICK – Alumni, parents and community members are invited to attend the June 15 retirement gala honoring four retiring Southwick-Tolland Regional High School educators who represent a combined 118 years of experience.

The honorees include Diane Bazyk, librarian and media specialist, Janis Grimaldi-Ogden, family living teacher, David Jones, chair of the Mathematics Department, and Ann Murphy, English teacher.

The event will be held at The School Street Bistro in Westfield and will include a testimony with speakers and presentations chronicling the careers of the educators, according to Marie Galanek, co-chair of the event.

“These educators have touched the lives of a tremendous number of students and parents throughout their dedicated service. They deserve recognition for the excellence and devotion they have shown throughout their entire professional careers,” said Wayne Lis, a member of the Class of 1985 graduate who is co-chairing the event and is now a foreign language teacher at the school.

“It would be very rewarding to have a large turnout of alumni, especially former students who had these educators as teachers and advisers,” added Galanek.

Murphy, a 36-year veteran teacher, began teaching English in 1976. She has served as an advisor for the Scanner yearbook for 35 years, a member of the National Honor Society Faculty Council for 25 years and has also been an advisor for the school newspaper, The Spectator.

Dual certified, Murphy was also a teacher and chaired the school’s Business Department. She organized the first Career Day event in 1987 and has also helped sponsor a variety of enrichment programs bringing noted authors, poets and performers to the high school.

Bazyk will retire after 35 years as a social-studies teacher and librarian. A 1973 graduate of Southwick High School, she returned to her alma mater for her practice teaching in 1976. A finalist for Massachusetts state teacher of the year in 2010, she played an instrumental role in upgrading the Prew Library Media Center.

Bazyk served as advisor to the Debate and Model Congress teams for several years and was advisor to the Classes of 1981, 1985, 1989 and 1995. She also served on the teams which oversaw the past three New England Association of School and Colleges evaluations.

Grimaldi-Ogden has spent 35 years as a family living teacher. Beginning her career at the high school in 1975, she taught foods and nutrition classes. She also taught at Powder Mill Middle School for a time, and returned to the high school in 2003 to take over the child study program, running the Sunny Days pre-school. She is now teaching third generation students, pre-schoolers who are grandchildren of her former students.

Grimaldi-Ogden is co-advisor for the Class of 2014 and helped a group of students establish the Eco Club which spearheaded the installation of recycling barrels throughout the school.

Jones joined the faculty in 1999 as a mathematics teacher and has taught a virtual high school class in entrepreneurship for the past seven years. He completed extensive data analysis used in the 2004 accreditation evaluation.

An accomplished trumpeter, Jones has performed with the high school’s Concert, Stage and Pit bands at school events and the Westfield State University Wind Symphony for the past 25 years. He served as treasurer of the International Trumpet Guild for 10 years. A member of the Board of Deacons at the Second Baptist Church in Suffield, he plays in the church’s Bell Choir and sings tenor in the Chancel Choir.

Reservations for the retirement gala should be made by June 6 by contacting Lis, (413) 569-6171, ext. 143, or email him at wlis@strsd.southwick.ma.us. Contributions to the retirement gift and reminiscences about the retirees are also being welcomed.

Seven people are reported injured, two seriously, in a Monday evening car accident on Western Avenue by Northwest Road near the Russell town line.

WESTFIELD - Seven people are reported injured, two seriously, in a Monday evening car accident on Western Avenue at Northwest Road near the Russell town line, according to CBS3 Springfield.

Details are limited at the moment. The Westfield Police traffic bureau was unable to be reached for additional information.

CBS3, the media partner of The Republican and Masslive.com, is reporting five people were taken to Noble Hospital in Wesfield for treatment of minor injuries, and two others were taken by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield for treatment of injuries that were described as serious.

No information was available about how the accident happened or how many vehicles were involved.

Westfield police were on the scene Monday night investigating the crash.

More information will be posted as it becomes available.

View Larger Map

The United Way of Pioneer Valley has become one of the lead organizations in overseeing recovery efforts in the affected Western Massachusetts communities. Watch video

The Republican | Lori StabileThomas Gilman, of State Street in Monson, on left, watches as volunteers from the Circle of Faith Group measure the area where they were going to rebuild his pool cabana, which was destroyed by the tornado, on a recent Saturday. In the middle is Robert F. Willis, and on the right is Peter W. Ablondi, chairman of the Monson Circle of Faith.

From the moment the tornado blew through Western and central Massachusetts on June 1, leveling homes and businesses and uprooting countless lives, volunteers rallied to help their stricken neighbors.

Nearly a year later, the volunteers are still at it, chipping away at the tornado damage to help their neighbors and area residents. Numerous organizations – from the United Way of Pioneer Valley to the American Red Cross – also have contributed, helping residents rebuild.

In Monson, 32 volunteers, many of them from a school group in Mendon, gathered on May 19, helping to clean six properties.

“We’re cutting trees, gathering brush. Basically, we’ve been doing what we’ve been doing all along,” said Wendy J. Deshais, volunteer coordinator for Monson Tornado Volunteers.

Deshais lives in Palmer now, but she called Monson home for 13 years. After the tornado, she knew she had to do something to help her friends in Monson, and she hasn’t stopped since.

“Once I saw the damage and how widespread it was, there was no way I could stay away and not help. Wild horses couldn’t keep me from helping,” Deshais said.

Deshais and fellow volunteer coordinator Alison C. Hill were able to take advantage of a federal grant through FutureWorks that paid them for the work they have been doing since June 1. The grant, which was for a maximum of $12,000, was for six months and intended for unemployed individuals like Deshais and Hill.

The grant money ran out in March, but Deshais and Hill are still overseeing the tornado volunteers. They estimate they’ve sent volunteers to at least 200 homes during the past year.

It’s rewarding to help the families, some of whom are still struggling a year later, and get them closer to normalcy, Deshais said. It’s especially gratifying, she said, if they can cross them off the list and know their needs have been met.

“Some are still faced with this insurmountable amount of work. To them, it seems like it’s never going to end,” Deshais said. “We’re helping people in the community who really need the help. (The tornado) is probably from one of the most catastrophic things in their lives and we’re helping them to be proactive in their recovery.”

Hill says the homeowners truly appreciate the help. She said they have become friends with many of them, going out to dinner together and spending time that doesn’t involve tornado cleanup.

Karen King, a Realtor who founded the Street Angels volunteer team in Monson, also regularly spends her weekends helping families. To date, the angels have given out 45 “welcome home” baskets filled with donated goods to families returning to their newly built or repaired homes.

On a recent Saturday, she was visiting the Gilmans on State Street, with members of Circle of Faith – volunteers from area churches; the First Church of Monson, which was the center of volunteer activity following the tornado, is the lead church. The church volunteers were building the Gilmans a new pool cabana – theirs was torn apart by the tornado.

The granite home with its picturesque gardens has been in Donna Gilman’s family since 1944. She grew up in the house, which was built in 1891. They are still unable to move in because of problems with the new roof that was put on after the tornado ripped off the old one. Thomas E. Gilman, 69, said he is talking to a lawyer about the situation.

Thomas Gilman doesn’t anticipate being able to move back into the home anytime soon. King said it’s important to him that he has his pool ready for Monson’s annual Summerfest celebration in July.

The Republican/Don TreegerThomas and Donna Gilman stand in front of their home on State Street that was damaged by the tornado that ripped through Monson a year ago.

“I’m glad these people are here helping me,” Gilman said. “I can’t even bang a nail straight.”

Gilman said he is very thankful for the help. He became emotional when thanking King. He has had serious health issues since the tornado.

“We’ll give you all the support you need,” King told him as they embraced.

King said she has no intention of stopping her volunteer efforts.

“I know how much everyone appreciates it. I can’t just leave my town now,” King said. “A lot of volunteers have gone on to do other things.”

King recently attended a national conference in Virginia about organizing volunteers after disasters. The United Way of the Pioneer Valley paid for her trip, King siad, and she’s bringing the information back to Monson, where she has been named volunteer coordinator for future disasters.

Karen King, of Monson.

Both King and Gina Lynch, Brimfield’s Senior Center director, were named “unsung heroines” by the state Commission on the Status of Women for their efforts to improve their communities after the tornado.

Lynch says she accepted the award on “behalf of all the volunteers here because it wasn’t just me.”

Lynch put her past skills, honed from running a soup kitchen for the homeless in Salem, into use when she became the face of volunteer efforts for the town of Brimfield.

The First Congregational Church, where her husband, Ian Lynch, is pastor, also houses the Senior Center. It became to go-to place in the days following the tornado, and is still where volunteers interested in helping with weekend cleanups sign up for duty.

“We know more about disasters than we ever wanted,” Lynch said. “Now, everyone knows their neighbors. It was a terrible tragedy that happened in our town, but it’s drawn everyone together in a close-knit way and they will recover.”

Progress has been made in Brimfield, but there is still work to do, Lynch said. They are concentrating on clearing “fire roads” on properties now as a precautionary measure for the forest-fire season to prevent brush fires from spreading to homes.

Still, the physical signs of what happened a year ago still abound. “You leave town just to go shopping, and you come back and it hits you like a lightning bolt, ‘We had a tornado here,’” Lynch said. “Homeowners have been living it for a year.”

A tornado support group meets every Thursday at 6 p.m. at the church for residents. Most residents – whether they had tornado damage or not – have some form of post-traumatic stress from the tornado, Lynch believes; many still experience “serious anxiety” when storms approach now.

The Republican/Michael BeswickGina Lynch, Brimfield's Senior Center director. She organized volunteer efforts following the tornado in her town.

The United Way of Pioneer Valley has become one of the lead organizations in overseeing recovery efforts in the affected Western Massachusetts communities, which also include Agawam, Westfield, West Springfield, Springfield and Wilbraham.

Portia D. Allen, the United Way’s manager of community and volunteer engagement, says the volunteer effort hasn’t tapered off. “If anything, it’s beefed up,” she said.

The United Way joined forces with 17 other organizations to create Springfield Community Together, a long-term recovery group for the city of Springfield. There are similar organizations in place for the other tornado-affected regions, including Raising Hope Together for West Springfield, Westfield and Agawam and Pathways to Renewal for Monson, Wilbraham, Brimfield, Sturbridge and Southbridge. All the groups work together, Allen said.

The groups aim to provide tornado survivors with a single access point to get assistance, according to Allen.

Residents who lacked insurance or who were underinsured are still having problems, Allen said. During a recent visit of tornado-affected properties, the majority still needed some help. They may need new furniture, new siding or windows, as they did not receive enough from insurance to replace them.

Through Springfield Community Together, residents are given help with any unmet needs. Those could include transportation, unemployment, debris cleanup and emotional stress caused by the tornado.

“We think about our group as a group of last resort,” Allen said.

The Springfield Chapter of Rebuilding Together, which also is part of Springfield Community Together, has been instrumental in helping homeowners in the aftermath of the June tornado, city officials said. In October, Rebuilding Together, along with 1,000 volunteers, spent five days rebuilding homes for low-income homeowners. A similar event is scheduled on May 30.

“To date, we have completed 27 homes with just over 100 to go – tornado rebuilding only,” said Colleen Loveless, executive director of Rebuilding Together.

It was a daunting task in the wake of the tornado, and the nonprofit organization takes the approach of one family and one house at a time, Loveless said.

“Our feelings are mixed. There are many tears, both of sadness and joy. There are so many families in need and that still need our help,” she said.

Sarah P. Page, chief advancement officer for the private, non-profit HAP Housing, of Springfield, another partner organization, said the response by volunteers and nonprofit groups in helping tornado victims has been “an amazing process.”

HAP Housing was among groups that immediately responded in the aftermath of the tornado. Other groups, ranging from Catholic Charities to the Red Cross to the Center for Human Development, linked their efforts to providing housing and other aid to people who lost their homes and belongings, Page said.

“We raised hundreds of thousands of dollars very quickly,” Page said.

On the morning after the tornado, “our teams were just there, staring to assess people and figure out how to get them housed as fast as possible,” Page said.

HAP Housing continues to focus on housing needs, particularly in Springfield, West Springfield and Monson, Page said. It has received funding for case managers for direct services in those communities, she said.

In Springfield, Ward 3 City Councilor Melvin A. Edwards, who represents the hard-hit Maple- High-Six-Corners neighborhood, said the volunteers who stepped forward to help their neighbors “is just a reflection of the character of the people of Springfield.”

“The nicest quote I heard is that people who were neighbors are now friends,” Edwards said.

Linda Bartlett, the Maple-High-Six-Corners Neighborhood Council’s secretary, said the tornado spurred her to become active in the association again.

“It was a shock to the system to see the devastation in our neighborhood,” Bartlett said.

She and her husband, James, were invited to a meeting by Edwards and “just kind of jumped in with both feet and started helping,” she said.

The association began surveying properties that needed help and notifying the city of the most critical needs, Bartlett said. The city responded, and addressed the priority issues, she said.

‘We have been living in the neighborhood 30 years,” Bartlett said. “The tornado just kind of jarred us. We wanted to do what we could to make it a better place.”

Lisa C. DeSousa, associate city solicitor in Springfield, praised the Hampden County Bar Association for providing free legal advice to victims of the tornado throughout the past year.

Thomas A. Kenefick, president of the bar association, said the lawyers donated hundreds, if not thousands, of hours, including providing a hotline, free legal advice and representing victims in court.

In West Springfield, the help of volunteers from the community at large as well as from the national service organization AmeriCorps and the Green Shirts from the Christian Reform Church has been integral to recovery work, according to Leyla A. Kayi. She is the volunteer resource and event coordinator for Raising Hope Together, the nonprofit group created to coordinate West Side’s recovery from the tornado.

The Green Shirts had six volunteers work for a week going door-to-door in the Merrick neighborhood, where most of the tornado damage was concentrated. They identified victims and helped Raising Hope Together caseworkers.

The national volunteer organization AmeriCorps has sent two groups of its people to assist the recovery effort in West Springfield. In March, a group of eight spent three weeks in the community, and a second group, comprised of seven people, is wrapping up a four-week stint.

AmeriCorps workers have done such hands-on work as helping clean up branches and other debris as well as clearing away tornado damage in woods at Bear Hole Reservoir.

Staff writers Peter Goonan and Sandra Constantine contributed to this report.

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck northern Italy on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people as factories, warehouses and a church collapsed in the same region still struggling to recover from another deadly tremor nine days ago.

COLLEEN BARRY,Associated Press
LUCA BRUNO,Associated Press

MIRANDOLA, Italy (AP) — A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck northern Italy on Tuesday, killing at least 15 people as factories, warehouses and a church collapsed in the same region still struggling to recover from another deadly tremor nine days ago.

In a hastily called news conference, Premier Mario Monti pledged the government will do "all that it must and all that is possible in the briefest period to guarantee the resumption of normal life in this area that is so special, so important and so productive for Italy."

The region around Bologna is among the country's most productive. Italy is in the midst of another recession and struggling to tame its massive debt as the European debt crisis worsens.

The quake hit just after 9:00 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) and was centered 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the city of Bologna, according to the U.S. Geological Survey — the same area where a 6.0-magnitude temblor killed seven people on May 20.

The quake was felt from Piedmont in northwestern Italy to Venice in the northeast and as far north as Austria. It was followed by many aftershocks, some registering more than 5.0 in magnitude.

The ANSA news agency reported that 10 people had died, while the LaPresse news agency said others were still buried under the rubble of collapsed homes and factories. Emergency crews were trying to sift through the twisted steel and broken stone, looking for victims.

In Mirandola, near the quake's epicenter, the main cathedral collapsed along with the town's oldest church, St. Frances.

Many victims of the new quake, like the one nine days ago, were at work in huge warehouses that collapsed, including one dead inside a machinery factory in Mirandola.

The mayor of San Felice sul Panaro told Sky News 24 that there were fatalities in his town, where Italian media said a tower had collapsed.

Tall buildings and schools were evacuated as far away as Milan as a precaution before people were allowed to re-enter. Train lines connecting Bologna with other northern cities were halted while authorities checked for any damage.

When the quake hit, Monti was meeting with emergency officials in Rome to discuss the impact of the earlier quake, which struck in the middle of the night and left at least 7,000 homeless.

The May 20 quake was described by Italian emergency officials as the worst to hit the region since the 1300s. In addition to the deaths, it knocked down a clock tower and other centuries-old buildings and caused millions in losses to a region known for making Parmesan cheese. Its epicenter was about 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Bologna.

Television footage on Sky News 24 showed evacuees from the May 20 quake peering out of their shaking emergency tents in disbelief on Tuesday.

Residents had just been taking tentative steps toward resuming normal life when the second quake struck. In the town of Sant'Agostino, a daycare center had just reopened. In the town of Concordia, the mayor had scheduled a town meeting Tuesday evening to discuss the aftermath of the first quake.

Instead of moving on, Concordia Mayor Carlo Marchini confirmed the death of one person struck by falling debris in the town's historic center.

Italy's friendly soccer match against Luxembourg, a warm-up match for the Euro 2012 championships, was canceled. The game was due to be played Tuesday in Parma, just 40 miles (60 kilometers) west of the quake.

___

Barry reported from Milan.

Work continues at the well-known agricultural and festival venue on Fair Street, just off Route 9.

Associated PressDeval Patrick

NORTHAMPTON — Gov. Deval L. Patrick is slated to be in Northampton this morning for an update on ongoing improvements to facilities at the Three County Fairground, the city's popular outdoor festival and agricultural venue located off Route 9 on Fair Street.

Patrick was expected to join local officials for a tour beginning at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to the governor's weekly schedule.

Last year, officials celebrated the opening of three new 19,000-square-foot barns at the venerable fairground, which is in the midst of a multiphase, multimillion-dollar makeover.

The next phase of the redevelopment project entails building an 80,000-square-foot exhibition hall, which will enable the Three County Fairground to become a year-round facility, according to officials.

Patrick's visit comes just a day after the conclusion of the Paradise City Arts Festival, which ended Monday but is scheduled to return for another four days, beginning Oct. 5. The popular Three County Fair will be held at the fairgrounds from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3. The venue is among the oldest, continuously operating facilities of its kind in the nation.

Police believe the suspect may be in Daytona, Fla.

STURBRIDGE – Police are seeking a 20-year-old Sturbridge man who allegedly broke into a motor vehicle at the Quality Inn on Main Street May 23 and stole $15,000 worth of jewelry.

Police believe the suspect, David W. Smith, of 468 Main St., may be in the Daytona, Fla. area, according to a release issued by police.

Smith allegedly stole a relative’s vehicle, later recovered in Daytona, on May 10, according to police.

Meanwhile, some of the items taken in last week’s vehicle break-in, were discovered by relatives in Smith’s home.

Relatives told police, according to the release, that Smith has contacted them from Daytona.

Officer John Paciorek Jr., who is investigating the case, has requested a warrant for the arrest of Smith for breaking and entering in the nighttime for a felony, larceny over $250 and larceny of a motor vehicle, according to the release.