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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
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MEMA offers precautions for cold FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — “As we enter the time of year when we can expect extremely low temperatures and wind chills, we all must take precautions to minimize the dangers presented by such severe weather,” said Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) Director Kurt Schwartz. “To that end, MEMA presents these cold weather safety tips.” • Continue to be aware of extreme weather conditions by monitoring Media reports. • Make sure you always have a wellstocked Winter Home Emergency Supply Kit that includes flashlights, portable radio, extra batteries, a first aid kit, bottled water, nonperishable food and a manual can opener. • Minimize outside activities, particularly the elderly and very young. Also, consider your pets. • Dress in several layers of loose-fitting, lightweight clothing, rather than a single layer of heavy clothing. Outer garments should be tightly woven and water repellent. Wear a hat, mittens and sturdy waterproof boots, protecting your extremities. Cover your mouth with a scarf to protect your lungs. • Excessive exposure can lead to frostbite, which is damaging to body tissue that is frozen. Frostbite causes a loss of feeling and a pale appearance in extremities, such as fingers, toes, ear lobes or the tip of the nose. If symptoms are detected, seek medical help immediately. • Hypothermia can occur in extreme cases. The warning signs are uncontrollable shivering, memory loss, disorientation, incoherence, slurred speech, drowsiness and apparent exhaustion. If the person’s temperature drops below 95 degrees, seek immediate medical care. • Ensure you have sufficient heating fuel, as well as emergency heating equipment in case you lose electricity. • When utilizing alternate heating sources, such as your fireplace, wood stove or space heater, take the necessary safety precautions. Keep a fire extinguisher handy; ensuring everyone knows how to use it properly. Test smoke alarms and Carbon Monoxide (CO) detectors. • If you lose your heat, seal off unused rooms by stuffing towels in the cracks under the doors. At night, cover windows with extra blankets or sheets. • Food provides the body with energy for producing its own heat. • Be a good neighbor. Check with elderly or relatives and friends who may need additional assistance to ensure their safety. • To keep pipes from freezing, wrap them in insulation or layers of newspapers, covering the newspapers with plastic to keep out moisture. Allow a trickle of warm water to run from a faucet that is farthest from your water meter or one that has frozen in the past. This will keep the water moving so that it cannot freeze. Learn how to shut off your See Cold, Page 3
thieves is the ancestor of all honor.”
— John McCarthy
MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013
VOL. 82 NO. 293
“Honor among
State releases Rail Trail funds
Westfield Police report that at 1:50 p.m. multiple callers started to report an armed robbery at the Stop & Go store on Mill Street by male parties who had fled the scene in a green Honda Civic type car. (Photo submitted)
Armed robbers caught By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Visitors to the Whip City who had allegedly robbed a Mill Street convenience store at gunpoint didn’t even get out of town before they were spotted, stopped and arrested. City police report that at 1:50 p.m. multiple callers started to report an armed robbery at the Stop & Go store on Mill Street by male parties who had fled the scene in a green Honda Civic type car. One caller said that she witnessed the robbery and saw two male parties, one of whom was wearing a hooded sweatshirt backwards and had apparently cut eye-holes in the hood, run out of the store to a car waiting on Harrison Street and flee toward Court or East Silver streets. At 1:58 p.m. Officer Joseph Maxton reported seeing a green Honda Civic occupied by four persons traveling eastbound on East Main Street and followed the vehicle. Maxton activated his take down lights and siren when he caught up with the car but it did not stop until it reached a red light at the intersection of Little River Road. Maxton reports that, because a weapon had reportedly been shown, he stayed inside his cruiser and used the public address system to tell the occupants to show their hands. Instead, when the light turned green, the car continued on the bridge until it stopped abruptly and a piece of clothing fell out while the front seat passenger exited. Disregarding Maxton’s order to stop, the man jumped over the guardrail and fled down the embankment. Maxton ordered the remaining occupants to
stay in the vehicle and, within moments, Officers David Racicot and Joseph Stoyak arrived to assist. Three suspects were taken into custody and Officer Christopher Coach and his canine partner, “Falco”, arrived to assist in the search for the fleeing suspect. Det. Sgt Stephen K. Dickinson reports that the suspect was tracked and seen to be wading or swimming across the river. Dickinson reports that officers were dispatched to the other side and Officer Steven Nacewicz reported at 2:12 p.m. that he had spotted the suspect in a corn field and, two minutes later, reported that he was holding the suspect at gunpoint. Meanwhile, back at the bridge, a hooded sweatshirt had been found near the vehicle with holes cut in the hood and a handgun had been seen in plain sight on the floor of the backseat. The pistol was found to be a BB gun. Taken into custody were Scott A. Peabody, 26, of 108 Lawton St., Springfield, Matthew A. Cyr, 29, of 44 River St., Agawam, Timothy J. Lynch, 29, of 88 Harby Road, West Springfield, and Thomas F. Cliche, 19, of 68 Montgomery Street. Dickinson said that all four were charged with armed and masked robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery while masked. Peabody, who was the driver, was also charged with failure to stop for police, failure to signal and a marked lanes violation. Cyr, who fled, was also charged with resisting arrest. Cliche was found to be the subject of an
By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – City Engineer Mark Cressotti was notified Friday by a state official to proceed with the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail project. Director of Sustainable Development Kurt Gaertner, of the Executive Office and Energy & Environmental Affairs, contacted Cressotti by email Friday to state that “at long last” the $2 million grant for the next phase of rail trail work has been signed and that “you have notice to proceed.” Cressotti said this morning that he began processing the rail trail construction contract, awarded last spring by the Board of Public Works to ET&L Corporation of Stow, last week in anticipation of the state releasing the grant funds. “It takes a couple of days to get through that process,” Cressotti said. “The contractor will be getting (the contract) for signature this week, so they can order the steel for the new bridge. I anticipate work to remove the existing bridge (over South Meadow Road) and some excavation will begin by mid February.” The City Council voted at its Dec. 5 meeting to accept the $2 million grant from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. That grant has been held in limbo for nearly two years while the city completed an Article 97 process with the National Park Service regarding the use of a section of the Cross Street playground for the proposed Ashley Street elementary school construction project. Under the Article 97 appeal, brought by residents opposing the school project, the state froze all funding for park projects in the city. The Columbia Greenway is considered a linear park. The federal agency notified the state Nov. 18 that it would accept the city’s proposed relocation and replication of the playground, thawing the funding freeze. “The fact that the state has signed off on the grant is obviously a good thing,” Community Development Director Peter J. Miller Jr., said this morning. “The National Park Service notified the state that it was satisfied with the city’s environmental assessment to replicate the Cross Street playground with the potential purchase of the Wielgus Trust land (off Main Street). “The city hopes to begin negotiation with the Trust,” Miller said. “I anticipate doing so in the New Year.”
See Armed Robbers, Page 3
Memorial benches honor loved ones By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – After losing a loved one, people often search for a public way to honor them. In Southwick, people can now remember their loved ones with a memorial bench at the north ramp visitor’s center on Congamond Lakes. Lake Management Chairman Richard Grannells said there is one bench already in place and two others on order. For a cost of just under $1,000, the attractive bench can be engraved to honor the deceased. “They are made of a composite material with a powder coated metal frame,” said Grannells. “We were looking for
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something like this for a while and I found ones like these on the Cape.” Grannells searched to find benches nearly identical to the ones on Cape Cod. “They were really good looking,” he said. “We wanted something that would look good and not require a lot of maintenance or painting.” The engraving is on the back slats of the seat, which are a cedar color. The words and metal frame are black, and the benches fit perfectly on existing concrete pads. There are existing wood benches at the site, and Grannells said as people purchase memorial benches, they will replace the old ones. The benches face the lake in a semicircle along the shore by the boat launch.
There is also a visitor’s center, docks, and gazebo there. Grannells said there is plenty of room to pour additional concrete pads should there be a need for more memorial benches than what exists now. The benches are made by the Kirby Company of Wisconsin and take four-six weeks to arrive once they are ordered. Grannells said orders should be placed through the Lake Management office and full payment must be made at that time. “We are not making a profit on these,” Grannells said. “We are charging what the company charges us and we assemble and install them as a community service.”
A new memorial bench has been placed at the North Boat Ramp in Southwick. Anyone wishing to purchase a custom memorial bench can contact the Lake Management Committee at 569-0515. (Photo submitted)
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