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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” — Anne Frank
www.thewestfieldnews.com MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 2014
VOL. 83 NO.180
Tommy D’s stays shut By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The members of the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission hammered nails into the coffin of Gaetano DeNardo’s hopes to reopen Tommy D’s Courtyard Pub when they affirmed the decision of the city’s License Commission to revoke his license to sell liquor. In June, 2013, the license commission met to consider three incidents in March and May which occurred in the bar and took the unusual step of revoking outright the license for the bar. One of the incidents occurred March 13 during a birthday party for a member of a local motorcycle club, the Sons of Mothers, in which a motorcycle was brought into the bar and a club member revved the engine causing a tire to spin on the dance floor, further causing the rubber tire to burn and creating so much smoke in the bar that a fire alarm was triggered. At the hearing, DeNardo, the licensee, testified that he had not been at the bar when the party began and, when the motorcycle was brought into the bar, the manager had left briefly to get a fresh shirt, leaving the bar under the control of a newly hired bartender. The ABCC’s report point out that the law requires that “(n)o licensee for the sale of alcoholic beverages shall permit any disorder, disturbance or illegality of any kind to take place in or on the licensed premises. The licensee shall be responsible thereof, whether present or not.” The report also found that, when police and firefighters responded to the alarm, DeNardo (who reportedly had returned from vacation and arrived at the bar after the alarm sounded but before emergency responders arrived) told the investigators that a smoke bomb had caused the smoke in the bar and did not tell them that a motorcycle had been removed from the bar moments earlier. The report notes that, not only did he not mention the motorcycle at the time of the incident, “Mr. DeNardo only admitted the presence of the motorcycle in the bar after photographic evidence surfaced making the presence of the motorcycle See Tommy D’s, Page 3
75 cents
Noisy neighbor arrested
Stan Costa, of Southwick, bottles beer at the Westfield River Brewing Company. (Photo by Hope E. Tremblay)
By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A defiant Crown Street resident who told a police officer that he’d love to take his issue to court got his wish Thursday afternoon when police responded to his home for a fifth noise complaint and arrested him. Officer Sean Smith had responded to 10 Crown St., the home of Joshua Osden, 35, for a 9:33 p.m. noise complaint July 24 and reported he heard loud music when he was still on Notre Dame Street, more than 100 yards from the multiapartment house. Smith saw that stereo speakers had been set up in a window of the house and Osden was seen on the porch but went inside when he saw the police cruiser. Smith said that he though the music would stop but it continued and Osden did not return to the porch until he knocked and did not turn off the music until Smith directly told him to. The officer reports that the man insisted that the city’s noise ordinance does not take effect until 10 p.m. so he could play his music as loudly as he wanted until then. Smith, who reports that Osden appears to be feuding with his neighbors and using the music to annoy them, advised him that the disturbing the peace statute is always in effect and issued a criminal complaint. On Wednesday, Officer Efrain Luna responded to another noise complaint from the house and stereo speakers were again found set up in a front window. When Luna told Osden to turn off the music Osden replied “No.” When Luna asked Osden for identification and again asked him to turn the music down he went inside to get his license but did not change the blaring music before he returned to the porch. He did not turn off the music until Luna called for another officer and implied he would be arrested. “I have the right to play my music as loud as I want,” Osden told Luna. “There is a state ordinance that allows me to play
Westfield River Brewery seeks license By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – The Westfield River Brewery is settling into its new digs at the former well-known Chuck’s Steak House on College Highway. Owner Sergio Bonavita is now seeking a Farmer-Brewer, FarmerWinery, and Farmer-Distillery license. The application notes that the property is a three-story barn and beer would be served on the first floor only. The serving area consists of a 2,500
See Neighbor, Page 3
square-foot space with two rooms and an outdoor seating area that “will be fenced and visible from the inside through the window and door.” A hearing is set for Aug. 11 at the Southwick Board of Selectmen meeting at 7:05 p.m. Town selectmen also serve as the liquor licensing board. The proposed hearing will accomplish: 1. Issuance of a new license FarmerSee License, Page 3
JOSHUA OSDEN
Sobriety checks planned
Project underway Construction of the long-awaited Westfield Senior Center began as crews from Forish Construction Inc., of Mainline Drive began site preparation at the estate of Mary Noble. Forish Construction submitted the low bid of $6,184,541 and a combined price of $6,324,625 for the construction and six alternates, for the two-story, 20,000-square-foot senior center construction project on Noble Street. (© 2014 Photo by Frederick Gore)
By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – State troopers will be busy in Hampden County Friday evening into Saturday this week as the staff checkpoints at one of more locations in the county in their continuing effort to take impaired drivers off the roads. According to a prepared statement by Col. Timothy P. Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, a ‘sobriety checkpoint’ will be established Friday at one or more sites on public roadways in the county and will continue into Friday morning. Alben said that the purpose of the checkpoint operation, which is funded by a grant from the highway safety division of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, is “to further educate the motoring public and strengthen the public’s awareness to the need of detecting and removing those motorists who operate under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs from our roadways.” State police have operated such checkpoints around the Commonwealth for years and have issued notices identifying which county is scheduled in order “to reduce fear and anxiety” among motorists when they encounter the checkpoints. Alben’s announcement states that the checkpoint will be operating at various times and the selection of vehicles to be checked will not be arbitrary. He promises that safety will be assured and said that inconveniences to motorists will be minimized.