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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com
VOL. 85 NO. 282
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2016
Connecticut. The fire is a devastating blow to the town, with an estimated cost total cost to the town of upwards of $2 million, half for equipment, according to Munson. “Winter is here. It’s pretty devastating for the town as a whole,” he said. An emergency meeting has been called for 5 p.m. Monday in the Board of
Selectmen’s office to consider next steps. The fire chief, insurance companies, and other towns will also be there. “The town will move on. Obviously, we’ll be looking for help,” Munson said. Munson said the towns of Granville and Becket have already offered to lend Tolland plow trucks. See Fire, Page 3
Fire engulfs the Tolland Department of Public Works garage on Sunday Nov. 20, 2016 (Photo submitted)
DPW gives update on water meter project By GREG FITZPATRICK Correspondent SOUTHWICK – At the Sewer Implementation Committee meeting this past week, an update was made about the water meter project that the Southwick DPW is organizing. According to DPW Director Randy Brown, the contractor for the project, East National Water, is currently still replacing the water meters for the first two regions of town. Those regions consist of all of the roads that surround Congamond Lake. East National Water, which is based out of Palmer, Mass, has been working on those regions for the past four to six weeks. The contracting company has split up into two crews and each crew has installed 8-12 meters per day. As it is mandatory that every home throughout Southwick gets their old water meter replaced with a new one, up to 2,600 water meters will be installed. Knowing that they are still in the early stages of the project, Brown is satisfied with the progress made thus far. “The project is moving along pretty good,” said Brown. See Project, Page 5
The Season of Traditions By NORMAN HALLS Contributor The holiday season is the period of time from Thanksgiving until New Year, including such festivals as Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. This is a very festive time of the year with five weeks after Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. As we find many different traditions and cultures throughout the world in our daily existing. As we all know, it’s party season too. Although alcoholic beverages and social attitudes toward drinking vary around the world, excess alcohol consumption is not the best idea for anyone. Please limit yourself and don’t over drink. Alcohol and its effects have been present in societies throughout history. Drinking is documented in the Hebrew and Christian See Traditions, Page 5
— CHARLOTTE P. GILMAN
75 cents
Low water pressure continues to be an issue for residents
Tolland loses DPW building and equipment to fire By AMY PORTER Correspondent TOLLAND – A fire destroyed the DPW building and equipment parked inside on Sunday afternoon. Tolland Fire Chief Eric Munson said Monday that the fire is out, and the state fire marshal has been there and is continuing to investigate the cause. Eleven towns responded to the fire, including three from
“Audiences are always better pleased with a smart retort, some joke or epigram, than with any amount of reasoning.”
By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD–Those experiencing water pressure issues from the water main break on North West Road can expect them for at least a couple more days, the Department of Public Works said today. David Billips, director of public works, said that water pressure is still not elevated to the normal level this morning. The pressure, which dropped following a water main break on North West Road, has caused issues for a number of residents in the northwest section of the city and forced students to leave from Westfield State University Sunday afternoon, canceling three days of classes. “We were hoping the pressure would be up today but it’s still not up where it should be, so it will still be a couple more days,” Billips said. “With the reservoir offline and wells seven and eight off, it’s hard to get the system back up to pressure.” Billips said that the issue first arose when the water main on North West Road broke on Wednesday, draining the North See Water Pressure, Page 3
Above, Westfield members participating in a December show include visual artists Julie Desharnais, Richard Cowles, Danny Nason, Bill Curran, Lucille Nason (seated) and Vincent Caruso.
‘Pop-Up’ Show reflects city’s beauty By LORI SZEPELAK Correspondent WESTFIELD — A group of visual artists who “love” the city and want to share the “beauty” they see here every day have formed Images of Westfield and will showcase a variety of their works during an upcoming “pop-up show.” The old Town Hall at 20 Broad St. will be the setting for the Images of Westfield’s Gallery Art Show which opens with a reception Dec. 2 from 6 to 8 p.m. to meet the artists, and the show which is planned from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec. 3. Light refreshments and beverages will be served with live acoustic entertainment during the reception. Both events are free and open to the public. “Old Town Hall is a perfect space for a pop-up show,” said Bill Westerlind, president, ArtWorks Westfield, which is sponsoring the event. “There are many different rooms in the building to present an art show and the high visibility to hundreds of passing cars each day offers excellent advertising and marketing opportunities.” Westerlind also thanked the “wonderfully supportive” members of the First Congregational Church for allowing
ArtWorks Westfield to use the space. “Historically significant to the city of Westfield, Old Town Hall is a very unique and compelling space to display gallery art,” he said. Westerlind noted that one of the “strategies” of ArtWorks Westfield is to develop performing venues by leveraging some of the underutilized store fronts and buildings in the downtown Westfield corridor to stage performances and art shows. “These events are designed to pop up in these various locations, generating a burst of excitement and energy during a short period of time to avoid the longterm, fixed expenses of maintaining a permanent venue,” said Westerlind. The mission of ArtWorks Westfield is to create and promote the widest variety of cultural arts, literary arts, musical events and performing arts for the Greater Westfield area, and to collaborate with businesses and invested groups to develop and maintain venues for presentations and performances. “These events breathe some life into otherwise shuttered properties, our local See Artists, Page 5
Westfield High scores with College Application Celebration By AMY PORTER Correspondent WESTFIELD – Westfield High School held a Massachusetts College Application Celebration this week in the library to help seniors apply for colleges. The goal, according to Megan Stopa, guidance department chair, was 30% participation by seniors, which was met and then some. 130 seniors out of the class of 300 took advantage of the event to start their college application process. This is the first year that Westfield High School has participated in the state initiative, which came out of a national initiative. Stopa signed up to do it last year, but See College Application, Page 3
WHS guidance dept. chair Megan Stopa assists Joel Collins with an online college application. (Photo by Amy Porter)