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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
“Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.”
www.thewestfieldnews.com
— VOLTAIRE
FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015
VOL. 84 NO. 060
75 cents
Father tells jury about boy’s death at Marathon blast By DENISE LAVOIE AP Legal Affairs Writer BOSTON (AP) — With Dzhokhar Tsarnaev seated at the defense table no more than 15 feet away yesterday, the father of an 8-year-old boy killed in the Boston Marathon bombing described the moment when he looked down at his son’s pale, torn body and realized he wouldn’t make it. “I saw a little boy who had his body severely damaged by an explosion,” Bill Richard told the jury, “and I just knew from what I saw that there was no chance, the color of his skin, and so on.” Martin Richard was one of three people killed in the bombing near the finish line of the race on April 15, 2013. The boy’s younger sister, 6-year-old Jane, had a leg blown off, while their older brother, Henry, suffered minor injuries. Their father, testifying at Tsarnaev’s federal death penalty trial, spoke in a slow, halting voice but remained largely composed as he described the chaos and confusion. He said he scooped Jane up in one arm and took Henry in the other and “tried to shield both of their eyes” from the carnage around them as he took them away. Richard took the stand as federal prosecutors continued trying to drive home the consequences of the attack in such heartbreaking detail that Tsarnaev’s lawyers objected — and were overruled. Tsarnaev, 21, showed no reaction to the testimony and appeared to look straight ahead, not making eye contact with Richard, who sat off to the side in the witness box. Some of the women on the jury appeared to wince at times during his testimony. Spectators in the courtroom could be heard crying quietly, including Rebekah Gregory, who lost a leg in the bombing. As Richard testified, the jury watched a video of the father rushing to help his children and a grievously wounded Jane struggling to get up, only to fall down. A prosecutor showed Richard a photo and circled a face — a young man in a white baseball cap worn backward — who could be seen just a few feet behind Jane and Martin as the youngsters stood on a metal barricade, watching the race. It was Tsarnaev, shortly before the two pressure-cooker bombs went off. Richard said he himself suffered shrapnel injuries, burns on his legs and two perforated eardrums. His wife, Denise, was blinded in one eye and had other injuries. See Bombing Trial, Page 8
In this courtroom sketch, Bill Richard, right, is depicted while testifying during the federal death penalty trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, second from left, Thursday, March 5, 2015, in Boston. Tsarnaev is depicted sitting between defense attorneys Judy Clarke, left, and Miriam Conrad, second from right, as U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr., presides, center rear. (AP Photo/Jane Flavell Collins)
Hangar #2 at Barnes Regional Airport. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Grant funding for aviation program approved by council By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The City Council voted last night to accept a $25,000 grant from the state Department of Transportation to secure federal recognition for the Westfield Vocational Technical High School aviation program expected to open at Barnes Regional Airport next September. The Council also approved a free cash appropriation of $127,700 to complete the design and engineering documents needed to advertise rehabilitation work on Hangar #2, where the aviation program will be located. Westfield Vocational-Technical High School (WVTHS) formed an advisory committee last year to seek funding from the state and local businesses for the formation an Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) Program for aviation technology, which would allow WVTHS students to join the aviation industry upon graduation in maintenance, manufacturing, air traffic control, airport management, engineering and airport design positions. The $25,000 DOT grant, which requires a city match of $11,825, will fund hiring a consulting firm to assist the school in securing certification from the Federal Aviation Administration for the Aviation Technology program. WVTHS director Stefan Czaporowski said recently that the FAA certification will license students graduating from the aviation technology program, enabling them to directly enter the aviation field which is in drastic need of techni-
cians. “These are great-paying jobs for our kids, in careers that last a lifetime,” he said. “We’re working with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) in order to get our program approved and we’re moving ahead.” The Council had approved a bond, which will be paid through Community Preservation Act funding over the next three years, at a cost of $166,000 a year, to refurbish the exterior envelope of the hanger building. The 10,000-square-foot hangar was originally built in 1939 with a brick, wood and steel structure that fell into disrepair in the 1970s when the original facade was covered with aluminum siding. Airport Manager Brian Barnes has said the rehabilitation plan is to repair the “envelope” of the structure, which has been deemed of historical significance by the city’s Historical Committee, and restore it to its original appearance. Finance Committee Chairman Brent B. Bean II said the $127,700 free cash appropriation will bring the building restoration design, for both the hangar interior and exterior, to “the bid phase” of the restoration work. “This program is very important,” Bean said. “Yes, there are funding questions down the road, but we’re all vested in this project.” The entire project to restore the hanger exterior and launch the aviation program is projected to cost $2.6 million. Secretary of Housing and
Economic Development Greg Bialecki announced in December the award of a $1,026,061 grant to WVTHS for the aviation and programs. “When we started the Aviation Maintenance Technology program plan this past January, we knew that we had many obstacles to overcome if we wanted to start in September 2015,” Czaporowski said. “With the assistance of Secretary Bialecki and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, we now have the funding to purchase the equipment necessary to open the first high school FAA approved Airframe and Powerplant Certification Program in the state.” The City has committed the $500,000 in CPA funds, and last night the $127,700 for the engineering and design work being performed by Reinhardt Associates, Inc., of Agawam. The advisory committee has also secured private funding from Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation of $200,000 over four years and is currently working with other potential corporate donors to complete the renovation and providing the instructional equipment for the program. Ward 2 Councilor Ralph Figy said that the School Committee approved the program earlier this week and the advisory board is seeking additional “state grants and private donations to finance the balance of what is needed. “They’re trying to do this as much as possible without city money,” Figy said.
Energy company IDs shippers for planned natural gas pipeline CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The Texas-based energy company that wants to build a natural gas pipeline through southern New Hampshire into Massachusetts announced yesterday that it has lined up utilities and other entities to transport the gas. Kinder Morgan said its subsidiary, Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, now has commitments from National Grid, Liberty Utilities, Columbia Gas of Massachusetts, Connecticut Natural Gas Corp. and other anchor shippers to transport about 500 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The pipeline’s capacity is from 1.2 billion to 2.2 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
The gas from the Marcellus Shale fields in the Northeast would travel from Wright, New York, to Dracut, Massachusetts. The Northeast Energy Direct pipeline would stretch across 70 miles of New Hampshire, mostly along an existing power line corridor, to bring gas to markets in New England that currently have limited pipeline capacity and high costs. “We are pleased that a broad range of New England market participants have declared, through binding contractual commitments, the clear need for an expansion of TGP to provide a transformative solution to reduce energy costs
and enhance gas and electric reliability in New England,” said Kimberly Watson, president of Kinder Morgan’s East Region Natural Gas Pipelines. “Together with our shippers, we have worked hard to develop a regional solution that is a win-win for New England.” The pipeline proposal drew heavy criticism when it was proposed to cut through Massachusetts as residents along the route feared environmental harm and lower property values. The criticism has shifted north to New Hampshire where opponents also said a gas pipeline will only slow investment in renewable energy sources and prolong the region’s reliance on fossil fuel.
A natural gas compressor station located on Feeding Hills Road in Southwick is part of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, a Kinder Morgan Company. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Early childhood education advocates fault Baker budget plan
GOV. BAKER
By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Republican Gov. Charlie Baker is coming under fire from education advocates who say he missed an opportunity in his first state budget proposal to signal his commitment to early education. During last year’s campaign for governor, Baker decided not to back Democrat Martha Coakley’s pledge to eliminate a waiting list of 17,000 children seeking subsidized pre-kindergarten education, arguing state education
priorities shouldn’t focus just on early education. Baker has pushed back against his critics, arguing his proposal to consolidate nearly a dozen grant programs into one program will create support for underperforming schools. He said yesterday his budget also would increase state education aid to cities and towns by $105 million, or about an extra $20 per student. His plan also calls for an extra $1.5 million to improve early education and care licensing.
Baker said local early education programs also will benefit from a federal grant that is “going to make it possible for them to expand early childhood education in a number of urban communities.” He was referring to a federal preschool development grant aimed at expanding preschool programs in Massachusetts. The U.S. Department of Education announced last year that Massachusetts will receive $15 million in the first year, with the grant totaling $60 million over four years. The grants
benefit Boston, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell and Springfield. Early education advocates and teachers say Baker’s budget still doesn’t go far enough. Put Massachusetts Kids First, a coalition of two dozen early childhood education organizations and out-of-school programs including the Massachusetts Association of YMCAs and Catholic Charities, said they’re concerned about Baker’s educational priorities. See Gov. Baker, Page 8