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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
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“Music is everybody’s possession. It’s only publishers who think that people own it.” — John Lennon
MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014
VOL. 83 NO. 285
75 cents
$1.1 million state grant for Voc-Tech aviation
In their memory Local dignitaries State Sen. Don Humason, Jr., State Rep. John Velis, Peal Harbor survivor Robert Greenleaf, Westfield Mayor Daniel M. Knapik. and Ward 4 City Councilor Mary O’Connell attend Pearl Harbor memorial services yesterday in Westfield. See additional photos pages 6, 7. (Photo by Don Wielgus)
New restaurants signal better economy By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The city’s License Commission will conduct three public hearings this week for liquor license petitions submitted by restaurants, two for proposed expansion of license premises and one for construction of a new facility. The city has seen substantial investment by restaurant owners, which indicates a confidence in the economic recoverey, and by consumers, who patronize those new restaurants, a willingness to dedicate discretionary spending to dining out. The commission has approved five new “pour” The new license petition was submitted by 99 Restaurant of Boston, LLC, licenses for new restaurants in which is planning to demolish another former automobile dealership, Regency Oldsmobile at 342 East Main St., and construct a new 5,688-squarethe past two years. Those foot one-story restaurant facility. The chain plans to open the new facility See Restaurants, Page 3 next summer. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
By Peter Francis Staff Writer HOLYOKE – The planned Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) aviation program at Westfield Vocational-Technical High School (WVTHS) received a big boost from the state Friday. Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialecki stopped by the Gill Technology Center at the Holyoke Transportation Center to announce two state grants being awarded to WVTHS and Holyoke Community College (HCC) for their aviation and culinary programs, to the tune of $1,026,061 and $1.75 million, respectively. Stefan The aviation technology education program is Czaporowski a first of its kind effort in Massachusetts and New England. Together with key local partners, such as Gulfstream, AirFlyte and B&E Precision Aircraft Components, the new aviation program will operate as a satellite campus at Barnes Municipal Airport. Through the program, students will be able to graduate from high school with an Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) license. The program will prepare students for an array of careers in the aviation industry, including pilot, maintenance, manufacturing, air traffic control, airport management, engineering and airport design positions. “The more we’ve learned about our great vocational-technical high schools and community colleges in western Mass., we’ve realized that they can hold the key for many people to get a great job without having to go into a lot of college debt,” said Bialecki. “The schools are working with local government and business communities to train young people, educate them and prepare them for great jobs,” he said. “Training students for careers in today’s competitive workforce requires providing schools with cutting-edge equipment to help them succeed,” he said. “Our vocational technical schools and community colleges provide the educational training, coupled with hands-on applications, that is needed to prepare students for careers in the 21st century global economy.” “Grants like this provide the necessary tools for students to ensure they are skilled and ready to compete in the global economy,” said Secretary of Education Matthew Malone. “We have been focused on closing gaps and opening opportunities for all students to make sure they are prepared for their future careers.” “Boeing, in their 2014 Pilot and Technician Outlook, they’re projecting that in the next 19 years, the aviation system will need 584,000 new commercial airline maintenance technicians and 533,000 commercial airline pilots,” said WVTHS Principal Stefan Czaporowski. “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.” “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,” he 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.” Czaporowski said that next week the school will begin working with the See Aviation, Page 3
Valley Gives make local charitable giving easier By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer WESTFIELD – In just a few days, 463 local nonprofit organizations – including 18 in Westfield – will participate in Valley Gives, the 24-hour e-philanthropy event in western Massachusetts on Dec. 10. This year, the event has a goal of attracting 20,000 donors. Local groups hoping to raise money that day include the Westfield Foundation for Education, Young Singers of Greater Westfield, Westfield Dollars for Scholars, the Noble & Coolet Center for Historic Preservation, the Greater Westfield Boys & Girls Club and the Massachusetts Foundation for
Learning Disabilities, among others. To help promote participation Valley Gives organizers will have teams appearing around western Massachusetts on Valley Gives Day, ending with a Countdown-toMidnight Celebration at Luxe Burger Bar in Springfield. Potential donors are encouraged to follow Valley Gives in real time
on Facebook at www.facebook. com/ValleyGives or on Twitter @ ValleyGives. Valley Gives is spearheaded and hosted by the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. Valley Gives is powered by Razoo, the crowdfunding platform for causes. To date, Razoo has helped Massachusetts-based organizations raise more than $52 million through secure, easy-to-use, online fundraisers. Another way to give locally this week is during the Channel 40 Force broadcast in Southwick. The public is invited to the event Dec. 12 from 5-6:30 at Town Hall See Valley Gives, Page 3
Storm expected to bring rain, snow mix BOSTON (AP) — Portions of western and central Massachusetts are under a winter storm watch as another storm heads for New England. While the storm is expected to bring mostly rain along with strong winds to the eastern part of the state, forecasters say portions of Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties could see six or more inches of snow on Tuesday. Heavy wet snow and gusty winds could combine to bring down tree limbs and power lines. The National Weather Service has also issued a flood watch starting Tuesday morning for portions of southern New England that could receive as much as 2 1/2 inches of rain from the potent storm. Forecasters say that could lead to flooding of urban and poor drainage areas.
Alleged knife attack sends man to jail By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A Southwick man was jailed pending a trial on a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after he allegedly attacked his girlfriend with a 10-inch butcher knife. City police report that officers Frank Solimani, Ricky Maciorowski and Jason Perron responded to a call early Friday morning from a resident of Colonial Pine Acres at 50 Southampton Road and arrived to find a woman waiting outside with her eight-year-old daughter. Solimani reports that the woman said that her boyfriend had attacked her with a knife during an altercation and had fled on his bicycle. The woman said, in a statement to police, that Jonathan L. Westbrook, 24, of 76 Davis Road, Southwick, has been her boyfriend for two weeks but said that they have known each other well for 14 years. She said that an argument developed when she told him that she wanted to end their relationship and said “Westbrook bit
me in right forearm leaving red teeth marks. He also started hitting me and throwing me around the basement bedroom.” The woman wrote that she tried to call police but Westbrook smashed the phone so she yelled for her mother, with whom she lives, who was upstairs. The victim went on to report that her mother “came down to the basement and refused to call the police saying she would be evicted. She told me to go upstairs to the living room” and then went to her bedroom on the second floor. According to the woman’s statement “Westbrook then came up to the living room and started dragging me to the basement. He then tried to stab me with a 10-inch butcher knife” and, in defense, she “bit him in the arm and scratched him in the face.” She said that she broke free and fled upstairs where her mother again refused to call police and snatched the phone from her when she tried again to call them herself. Regaining the phone, the woman said she then called her daughter’s father who, in turn, called police. The woman said she then took her daughter, who had been asleep during the incident, and went outside to await police.
Jonathan L. Westbrook Solimani reports that when the officers arrived “The victim was observed to have knife wounds to her arms and wrists.” He reports that while the other officers continued the investigation at the scene, he searched the area and found the suspect on his bike on North Elm Street. Westbrook had a different story and said, Solimani reports, See Knife Attack, Page 3