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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
“The infinitely little have a pride infinitely great.” — Voltaire
www.thewestfieldnews.com
VOL. 83 NO. 62
75 cents
SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 2014
Humason supports tightening reimbursements
Westfield Gas & Electric employees, Mike Lee, Tom Broderick and Patrick LeVesque, left, perform a skit during a safety program for the fifth-grade at Munger Hill School Friday. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Safety program has fun, interactive element By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Teaching young people about electrical safety has long been a priority for the Westfield Gas and Electric (WGE). In fact, the municipal utility has been educating Westfield’s fifth-graders on safety for more than three decades. “We have been doing this for 36 years,” said Utility Supervisor Thomas Broderick. “Every year we add something new.” This year, the WGE added two elements to the program, which took place at Munger Hill Elementary School Friday. One new addition is a technological component to the presentation that allows students to use devices to show what they learned in real time. Students are posed questions about the presentation and given multiplechoice answers, then using the device select their answer, which is displayed. “It’s fun for them,” said Broderick. “It makes it more interesting and interactive.” If there are enough devices available, teachers can also log their answers.
Some schools already use the devices, which interact with Smartboards. “It’s a technology a lot of kids have used,” Broderick said. A second addition to the presentation is a bit more theatrical. Supervisor Pat Levesque showed of his acting chops portraying “Farmer Pat” and “Professor PhD,” both of whom use poor judgment around electrical wires and pay the price. “The kids really enjoyed that part of the program,” Broderick said. Another popular part of the presentation was the pickle frying experiment. Broderick said to demonstrate the effects of an electrical shock on a person, they use a pickle. “Human bodies are about 75-percent water, and pickles are about 80-percent water,” he said. “We hook up a pickle to electricity to show what can happen to a person who is not being safe around electricity.” The pickled smoked and burned when electrified. A natural gas lesson is also included See Safety Program, Page 7
Munger Hill Elementary School fifth-grade students Maggie Prystowski, left, and Chandler Pedolzky use a handheld device to communicate during a question and answer session as part of a Westfield Gas & Electric safety program Friday. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
By Peter Francis Staff Writer BOSTON — Republican state lawmakers are pushing to close what they’re calling a major loophole in regulations covering the reimbursement of state employee travel expenses — one that could affect the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) said current state law mandates all governing bodies that receive state appropriations follow strict travel expense guidelines. The Senate Minority Leader also said that because the gambling commission doesn’t receive such appropriations, the commission has decided that the regulations don’t apply. Tarr said the GOP-sponsored bill eliminates the wording of “state appropriations” to make sure the regulation is all-incluSENATOR sive, and described the bill as a DON HUMASON common sense change that will go a long way toward preventing abuses and extreme expenses. He said the legislation would also clarify state reimbursement rules regarding lodging, entertainment, airfare, and other travel expenses. Sen. Don Humason, Jr. (R-Westfield) supports Tarr’s effort, and said that all state employees should play by the same rulebook. “The Boston Business Journal and other media outlets reported a lot of extravagant spending by employees on travel, food, and drink,” Humason said. “This one set of rules would make it apply to everyone.” “Even though Gaming Commission employees aren’t paid through taxpayer dollars,” he said. “they’re still state employees, and apparently they were living high on the hog.” Humason added that legislators have to follow rules, too, regarding such things as ethics and campaign finances, and likened the situation to one which had erupted at Westfield State University late last year. “Just as with the situation with (Dr. Evan) Dobelle, the Gaming Commission was doing the same thing,” he said. “You’d think they would know better.” Despite the state’s Republican caucus leading this charge, Humason believes that it may end up enjoying broader support soon. “The bill has been filed by Sen. Tarr’s office and we’re now getting it out of the Rules Committee and putting it out to find other co-sponsors,” he said. “It’s not a slam dunk, but I’m not sure it’s a partisan issue.” Humason didn’t rule out the possibility that the Democrats may propose similar legislation of their own, but reiterated that he doesn’t see it in terms of blue and red. “It looks bad and even though the employees weren’t spending tax dollars perse, it makes all public officials look bad,” he said.
Mother of 22 speaks at Westfield Evangical Free Church By David Kennedy WSU Intern WESTFIELD – Sue Badeau, recipient of the presidential “Adoption Excellence Award” and mother of 22, is the keynote speaker this morning at “Healing Homes – Building Bridges of Connection,”an adoption and foster care conference at the Westfield Evangelical Free Church (WEFC). The conference, the second of its kind for the church, is being organized by WEFC’s “Healing Homes of the Greater Pioneer Valley,” a foster care and adoption ministry of the church. They have been involved in and around the communities of Westfield cultivating connections between foster families. “We know there’s a need,” said Tricia Sayre, one of the leaders of the ministry and facilitators for the event, referencing kids in western Mass. who are currently in out-of-home placement. “‘Healing Homes’ is about responding to that need.” In addition to connecting families already involved in foster care and adoption work, “Building Bridges” will also serve as a gate-
SUE BADEAU way for families who might be interested in fostering or adoption who would like to know more about what such a commitment would entail. “The great part about this conference is that it is designed to connect people not only to resources, but to one another – other foster
families,” said Sayre. Badeau lived in Northampton with her husband Hector for a time, and are the parents of 22 children, two by birth and 20 by adoption. Badeau was recognized with an “Angels in Adoption” award from Congress and was also honored by President Bill Clinton with the “Adoption Excellence Award”, both national acknowledgements of exceptional work in the sector of adoption and foster care. Badeau and her husband wrote “Are We There Yet? Adopting and Raising 22 Kids”, a book that details the struggles they faced as an ever-growing family. She said that she and her husband felt called to write about their own family experiences after their own searches for helpful books on foster care and adoption turned up lacking. “Everything we found just talked about the good times,” Badeau explained. “But it’s not always like that: It’s hard. Working through the problems these kids face everyday is not magic and it’s not instant. We wanted to write a book about how you fight through the trenches, side-by-side, with them.”
Sayre and her keynote speaker have said that dealing with those tough times is going to be one of the cornerstones of the conference. In three separate, one-hour sessions, Badeau will discuss the basics of childhood trauma, how foster families can help kids when they’re in their homes and how parents can strengthen their own skills and be best equipped to deal with the issues their kids face. “It is so important to surround yourself with other people and other foster and adoptive families,” Badeau said. “That way you can build each other up and be each other’s resources when you need them most.” “Building Bridges of Connection” will be Healing Home’s second foster care and adoption conference. The cost is $10 for individuals and $15 for couples and can be paid at the door. You can also sign up at WEFC’s website. The conference begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 3 p.m., with a couple breakout sessions interspersed between the main presentations. ——— ONLINE http://blog.westfieldefc.com
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