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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com
VOL. 84 NO. 009
— GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015
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Swim board rejects banning coach
Councilors assess Habitat store By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity is seeking a junk dealers permit to resell used housing and construction materials at a retail business to be located in the rear half of a store located at 310 East Main Street which was formerly a home improvement discount store. A junk permit is required to sell any used materials under the city’s zoning codes. Habitat for Humanity, represented by Jason Tsitso, a board member and chairman of the Restore Planning Committee, spoke at the public hearing conducted by the City Council at its Jan. 5th session. The councilors raised a number of concerns including the fact that group is seeking donations of surplus building and home improvement materials, before referring CHRISTOPHER the permit applicaM. CREAN tion to the License Committee for further review. The Restore store is a brand name owned by Habitat for Humanity. “We’ll be selling donated goods, construction items, furniture,” Tsitso said. “We will have a donation site in the fenced area on the side of the building,” Tsitso said. “The store will be accessed through the side because there will be a retail area in the front of the building.” Several council members asked about items being dropped off during the hours when the store is not staffed. Council President Brian Sullivan asked how the staff “will monitor the drop-off area so it doesn’t become a dumping area.” “We’ll have a dumpster on site to dispose of trash items,” Tsitso said. “We want to be good neighbors and hope it will not get out of hand.” City Advancement Office Joseph Mitchell said the Habitat for Humanity Restore facility is based on a nationwide model and that the East Main Street building reuse is “very similar to what was there when it was the Grossman store. It’s a good fit and the profit goes into building homes.” Maryann Babinski, an environmental activist, said at the council’s public hearing that she supports “any business dedicated to creating a mentality to restore, reuse, and repurpose anything so it does not end up in a landfill.” License Committee Chairman Christopher Crean said that he plans to See Councilors, Page 3
“Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody reads.”
The 1930 Seagraves fire engine owned by Local 111 of the International Association of Fire Fighters and driven in parades frequently over the past several decades by Firefighter Kevnin Regan, leads his funeral cortege to Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church Saturday driven by retired Firefighter Jim Kotowski, Also riding in the Seagraves engine is Firefighter Jay Lakoma. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
Regan laid to rest By CARL E. HARTDEGEN Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Kevin Regan, for 43 years a city firefighter, was laid to rest Saturday amid an outpouring of love and respect from his family, colleagues and friends. Regan died tragically Dec. 27 while crossing a street on a foggy night in Yarmouth when he and his fiancée – and 34-year sweetheart – Lynda Cavanaugh, were struck by a van operated by a man later charged with
vehicular homicide while operating under the influence of liquor. Uniformed firefighters from as far away as Broomhall, Pennsylvania, came to honor Regan with area departments representing Montgomery, Russell, Agawam, Easthampton, Northampton, West Springfield, Holyoke and Pittsfield. Regan loved Cape Cod and spent a great See Regan, Page 8
School Committee to elect new officers By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Students in the city aren’t the only ones enjoying a snow day to start their week, as the Westfield School Committee’s first meeting of 2015, scheduled for tonight, has also been cancelled. While a new meeting time and date has not been established at press time, the Committee will elect a new vice chair and secretary at their next meeting, with Secretary Ramon Diaz, Jr. expected to succeed Cindy Sullivan as vice chair. “Cindy has expressed interest in giving someone else an opportunity to sit as vice chair and I’ll be putting my name in the hat for that,” said Diaz today, adding that he hasn’t heard of any other committee members interested in the position. Diaz added that he would then be nominating Sullivan for his old post as secretary. “I’d like to see Cindy as secretary with her wealth of experience,” he said. “The meetings would run very smoothly.” The new vice chair will also assign committee
members – a group composed of Chair and Westfield Mayor Daniel M. Knapik, Kevin Sullivan, William Duval, Jeffrey Gosselin and Diane Mayhew, in addition to Diaz and Sullivan – for sub-committee assignments for the coming year. In 2014, the committees included Instruction and Curriculum – which dealt with computers, athletics, technical learning and career prep, chaired by Duval – Human Resources and Policy, chaired by Mayhew – Educational Planning and Technology, chaired by Diaz – and Finance, which oversaw transportation, maintenance, operations and building in addition to finance and was chaired by Kevin Sullivan. Diaz said that, as vice chair he will be sitting on all of the sub-committees as a member, meaning he will have to relinquish his chairmanship for Educational Planning and Technology. He added that he will be looking for committee members with the “most experience” for subcommittee assignments and chairmanships, praising the work of Mayhew and Duval on Human Resources and Policy and Sullivan on Finance.
By LAURIE LOISEL @LaurieLoisel Daily Hampshire Gazette In a 2-1 vote revealed this week, an independent panel ruled there was not enough evidence to ban Randall Smith, 61, from coaching in the wake of allegations he raped a teenage swimmer on the Greater Holyoke YMCA Vikings club. Smith’s Northampton attorney, Michael Aleo, said Saturday the decision was good news for his client, although he said the former coach’s life has been devastated and his livelihood ruined by the allegations. “The USA Swimming decision further vindicates Randall Smith and demonstrates that the allegations cast against him are false, as he’s always maintained,” said Aleo, with the Northampton law firm Lesser, Newman & Nasser. “It’s the second time that an impartial tribunal has come to this decision,” Aleo said. He was referring to a decision by the state Department of Children and Families which also found insufficient evidence to support allegations against Smith. The allegations were brought in 2012 by Anna Strzempko, 20, a former swimmer on the elite Vikings team, who said Smith repeatedly raped her for 2½ years starting when she was 13. Criminal charges were never brought against Smith. According to Monica Strzempko of Westfield, the family never wanted to put their daughter through the ordeal of a trial and for that reason never asked prosecutors to press charges against Smith. The Nov. 17 hearing held by the National Review Board of USA Swimming — held by teleconference — included testimony by Smith, who denied the allegations, several witnesses on his behalf and the results of a four-hour polygraph test that showed “no deception” when he was asked if he raped Strzempko. The board’s review came after USA Swimming sought to permanently ban Smith from coaching swimmers and add his name to a published list of banned coaches. Though the board is an arm of USA Swimming, it is considered an independent panel. In its 12-page ruling, the board states that its job “is not to simply be a ‘rubber stamp’ of complaints filed by USA Swimming against coaches.” The panel ruled that USA Swimming had failed to prove its case to ban Smith and the decision cites several elements, including this: “Nowhere in the record are there any specific details directly from Anna Strzempko that Smith ever engaged in inappropriate touch, kissing, or sexual intercourse, let alone anal intercourse,” the decision states. “The panel was asked by USA Swimming to reach its decision based upon second- and third-hand interpretations by others of Anna’s See Coach, Page 8
104th Fighter Wing hosts Change of Command, confers CCAF degrees By STAFF SGT. MATT BENEDETTI BARNES AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, WESTFIELD –The 104th Fighter Wing performed a Change of Command Ceremony and a Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) Graduation today with family members and friends, peers and supervisors in attendance to recognize their achievements. Both the 131st Fighter Squadron and 104th Operations Support Flight conducted Change of Command ceremonies symbolizing the change in leadership in their respective units. The change of command ceremony is deeply rooted in military tradition and is a visual means of transferring responsibility from one officer to another. Lt. Col. David Halasi-Kun assumed
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command of the 131st Fighter Squadron from Lt. Col. Jeffrey Blake and Lt. Col. Kenneth Fedora relinquished command of the 104th Operations Support Flight to Lt. Col. Sean Halbrook. The CCAF is a federally- chartered degree granting institution that offers enlisted members of the United States Air Force an opportunity to earn an associate of applied science degree or a professional certification in one of several fields of study. Partnered with over 108 affiliated Air Force Schools, 82 Education Service Offices and over 1,500 civilian academic institutions, the CCAF serves approximately 300,000 enlisted personnel worldwide. The following 25 unit members See 104th, Page 3
Members of the 104th Fighter Wing Massachusetts Air National Guard stand atattention in preparation for a Change of Command ceremony at Barnes Air National Guard Base, Westfield Massachusetts, January 10, 2015. The change of command ceremony is deeply rooted in military tradition and is a visual means of transferring responsibility from one officer to another. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Mark W. Fortin/ Released)
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