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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
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“Great minds have purposes; little minds have wishes. Little minds are subdued by misfortunes; great minds rise above them.” — WASHINGTON IRVING
MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2013
VOL. 82 NO. 281
75 cents
Southwick to have first ever SRO By HOPE E. TREMBLAY Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – The Southwick Police Department has a school resource officer (SRO) for the first time, ever. Officer Daniel Ryan was approved by the Board of Selectmen last week as the SRO, primarily serving the high school and middle school population. Police Chief David Ricardi said creating the position was something he has wanted to do for some time. “We saw a need for this,” he said. “We received the funding and I’m excited.” Ryan will start his new position this spring. Ricardi said because of staffing issues related to injuries, he is unable to relieve Ryan of his current duties right now. Ricardi personally chose Ryan because he has a passion for working with youth. “He is young. He’s got a passion for it. He likes talking with young people and he’s got an open mind,” Ricardi said. Ricardi called Ryan “a wholesome police officer” and said he will bring a lot to the position. The schools are not a serious problem, Ricardi said, but the Southwick Police do respond to calls there. “We have our share of calls,” he said. Calls to the schools are often for traffic issues. Other calls include found drugs or alcohol, fights, vandalism and instances of bullying. Ricardi said these are all situations an SRO can handle. See SRO, Page 3
Southwick Police Officer Daniel Ryan presents a PowerPoint presentation to students in the Southwick Citizen Police Academy Tuesday night at the Southwick Fire Department. Ryan announced he accepted the position as the new Southwick School Resource Officer. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Dorothy Tobias of Westfield tosses bread to herring gulls at the Westfield Shops parking lot as pigeons eat their birdseed in the background. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
Fowl friends By CARL E. HARTDEGEN Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Some birds in the city have reason to give thanks – not just at this time of year – for the support of local residents, for both ongoing assistance and help in special circumstances. Both pigeons and herring gulls can find a meal at the Westfield Shops when Dorothy Tobias of Westfield visits with both bread for the gulls and bird seed for the pigeons. Tobias said recently that she visits the birds every day and another woman also goes to the shops daily to feed the birds. She said that the birds have obvious preferences in their food and the pigeons prefer bird seed which the other woman brings. “She brought the bird seed. I bring both,” she said. Tobias said that the gulls like bread and she has found that she can most economically buy the four loaves she brings them daily at a discount super-
market at the Westfield Shops where, she said, “I’m pretty sure it’s 79 cents (per loaf). They have a lot of bargains there.” She said bread can cost more than four times that price at a convenience store. “It makes my heart feel good,” she said. “They’re getting tamer. They’re getting used to me.” Tobias said that she goes to the parking lot at the shops every day that the weather allows but said that when winter weather comes she will not be able to get there every day. “We’ll have to double up on our bread and seed” when snow is in the forecast, she said. In an unrelated incident Wednesday evening a duck on Franklin Street got some help from a young Russell man. At 4:43 p.m. Wednesday a caller from a Franklin Street pizzeria reported that a wild duck was in the roadway near his restaurant but, the responding See Fowl Friends, Page 3
Chris Sadler of Russell stalks a wild duck which somehow became stranded on the side of Franklin Street Wednesday evening. After he pinioned the bird he said that he was going to relocate it to the Westfield River Dike. (Photo by Carl E.
Council moves state bond program forward By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The City Council could give final approval to an order authorizing the City Treasurer to apply to the state Finance Oversight Board for permission to issue city bonds through the state Qualified Bond program. The City Council approved the first reading of the order at its Nov. 21 session and is slated to consider the second reading and final passage this Thursday, Dec. 5th. Mayor Daniel M. Knapik submitted an order to the City Council at the Nov. 7 meeting that will enable the city to participate in the State Qualified Bond program to obtain more competitive and lower bond interest rates. The language of the order authorizes MAYOR the City Treasurer to DANIEL apply to the Commonwealth of M. KNAPIK Massachusetts Finance Oversight Board for permission to issue bonds of the city as state qualified bonds within the meaning of Massachusetts General Law Chapter 44. The order came out of the Council’s Legislative & Ordinance Committee with a 2-0 positive recommendation and was referred to the L&O by the Finance Committee with a 3-0 positive recommendation. The Finance Committee did raise a number of concerns about the state bond program bond debt paid by the state, which then deducts the payments from the city’s “cherry sheet” of state aid. Several members of the Finance Committee said they were concerned about how the automatic state aid deductions will be reflected on the city’s books and how that process will affect the city’s debt capacity. Finance member David A. Flaherty said he is concerned that the state bond debt will not be transparent on the city’s books if those bond payments “are charged back to the city’s cherry sheet.” Finance Chairman Richard E. Onofrey Jr. shared that concern, stating that the cherry sheet payments distort the city’s true debt status. “The city debt will be artificially low,” Onofrey said. “I would like to show those cherry sheet deductions as debt obligation.”
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See State Bond, Page 3
Police Report: Victim robbed of single cigarette By CARL E. HARTDEGEN Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A Franklin man has been held in lieu of $200 cash bail after he allegedly robbed a resident at knifepoint of a single cigarette and lighter. When police caught up to the suspect, a man who city police have dealt with since 1998, he had an unlit cigarette in his mouth. An emergency dispatcher sent police to the intersection of Franklin and Elm streets after a 1:57 a.m. Thursday caller from a convenience store reported that a man had entered the store and asked him to call police because he had been threatened by a man with a knife who was walking south on Elm Street. Officer James Renaudette reports he was responding to the
call when he spotted a person he recognized from past dealings who fit the description of the suspect. Renaudette approached the man and noted that the suspect had an unlit cigarette in his mouth. The man did not respond when he was asked if he was in possession of any weapons and Renaudette emplaced handcuffs for his safety while he investigated the incident. Officer Jason M. Perron also responded to the incident and found that the victim said that a man had demanded his cigarette and lighter while brandishing a knife. The victim identified as his assailant the man Renaudette had detained, John P. Rosario, 27, who gave an address of 26 McCarthy St., Franklin. Rosario was found to be in possession of a lighter which fit
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the description of the lighter the victim claimed had been stolen. The cigarette seen in Rosario’s mouth when he was stopped was lost while he was being detained. No knife was found. Renaudette reports that when he attempted to secure Rosario in his cruiser with a seatbelt, the man attempted to strike him with his head and continued to thrash around to prevent the officer from attaching the seat belt. Rosario was arrested for armed robbery and resisting arrest. Although Renaudette charged Rosario with armed robbery and resisting arrest, when he appeared in Westfield District Court on Friday before Judge Robert Murphy he was arraigned on charges of larceny from a person and resisting arrest. He was released on $200 cash bail pending a Feb. 7 hearing.
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