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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com VOL. 84 NO. 245
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2015
75 cents
THURSDAY EVENING
City man faces new charges after cop’s condition worsens
Bomb threat at WSU temporarily closes building By CHRISTINE CHARNOSKY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Westfield State University issued a campus-wide alert at 5:24 p.m. Thursday evening after receiving a phoned-in bomb threat. The alert was sent via the RAVE Alert Emergency Notification System, which provides information using landline phones, cell phones, voicemail, email, text messaging and the university’s website. The alert found online read: “The Woodward Center is closed until further notice due to an ongoing police investigation. An alert will be sent when the building is reopened.” The Woodward Athletic/Academic Center, located at 395 Western Avenue, is an 80,000 square foot facility that features a 35,000 square foot field house along with a lounge, classrooms and laboratories. Public Affairs Spokeswoman Molly C. Watson released the following statement regarding the incident: “This is to inform you that late this afternoon, the Woodward Center received a bomb threat via a telephone call. Swift action was taken to clear the building. After a thorough search by Campus Public Safety and in consultation with the Massachusetts State Police and City of Westfield Police and Fire departments, no evidence was found to suggest this threat was credible. The building was reopened at 6:15 p.m. Campus Safety is now working with appropriate authorities to try to identify the caller.” A dispatch operator stated that neither the Westfield Police Department nor the Westfield Fire Department were onsite during the search of the building. Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Tom Ryan, said that WSU Public Safety requested the assistance of bomb-sniffing dog. None were available, so state police did not go on site. After being questioned about what agencies were onsite, Watson emailed the following response: “Campus Public Safety was onsite and assessed the threat. Westfield Police and Fire and the Massachusetts State Police were all notified per protocol, but their onsite assistance was not required.” Watson’s statement also included the following: “Bomb threats are delivered in a variety of ways with most threats called into the target facility. Occasionally, calls are made through a third party. Sometimes a threat is communicated in writing, by a recording, or by social media. Each threat is unique and will be treated as genuine to ensure the safety of our campus community and neighbors. The University will never ignore a bomb threat. The university’s Bomb Threat policy is regularly reviewed and can be found on our website at www.westfield.ma.edu.” According to the website, “the Director of Public Safety has the authority to request outside assistance for any bomb threat whenever the Director or his/her designee deems the assistance necessary. The Director will advise the President, and other key administrators as deemed appropriate, of bomb threat incidents.” One student, who preferred not to be See WSU, Page
The Westfield News will run our masthead in pink, in recognition of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
JACOB A. LISHENESS
Mother revokes bail, man remains in jail By CHRISTINE CHARNOSKY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A judge dismissed earlier charges against a man charged with drug trafficking, but he will remain behind bars because his mother took back bail she had posted. Jacob A. Lisheness, 32, was arrested on September 11 and arraigned on charges of cocaine trafficking in 36-100 grams and conspiracy to violate drug law with two co-defendants. At his September 14 arraignment, Westfield District Judge Philip A. Contant set bail at $3,000 for the trafficking charges, of which Lisheness had already paid $2,500 to secure his release following his Friday arrest. Since Lisheness’ arrest violated his pre-trial probation for an earlier charge dating back to May, Contant held Lisheness without right to bail deeming him a danger to society. Lisheness had been released on his own recognizance at a July 10 arraignment after being charged with two counts of threat to commit a crime for allegedly arranging for three men to go to the Sky Box Sports Bar, located at 25 Point Grove Road, on May 10 to beat up a patron. He also allegedly threatened
to rape and kill an 18-year-old bartender if she interfered with his plan. On Tuesday and Friday, Lisheness’ private attorney, Donald Stolgitis, argued that the threat to commit a crime charges should be dismissed for two reasons. First, Stolgitis told Westfield District Court Judge Jacqueline Connolly Friday that no show cause hearing had been held prior to Lisheness’ arraignment and that the threats he had made were simply “drunkin’ barroom talk.” Assistant District Attorney Magali Montes asked Connolly to deny the motion to vacate the charges stating that the victim was still shaken up by the threats the next day when she spoke to police; therefore, the choice of the Clerk Magistrate to forego a show cause hearing was appropriate since it was determined that there was an imminent risk of bodily injury. After hearing arguments Friday morning, Connolly took the case under advisement and issued her decision to dismiss the threat to commit a crime charges Friday afternoon. Lisheness would have only had to post $500 See Mother, Page 5
By CHRISTINE CHARNOSKY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A city man is facing new charges after a police officer he assaulted in May has experienced medical complications from that assault. Victor J. Guzman, 26, was arrested on May 17 shortly before 3 a.m. by Westfield Police Officers Megan Bartlett and William Cavanaugh who stopped Guzman because he had allegedly been involved in a hit and run accident in West Springfield, according to court records. Initially, Guzman failed to stop for officers and then pulled into the apartment complex located at 134 Union Street, but refused to identify himself, according to Cavanaugh’s statement of facts. “The defendant was extremely agitated and was yelling and screaming creating a disturbance,” which roused residents from their homes, he wrote. He was handcuffed, and as police were attempting to place Guzman into the police cruiser, he kicked Cavanaugh in the stomach, Westfield Police Capt. Michael McCabe said. Bartlett then stepped in to restrain him and Guzman kicked her in the hand and head with a “shod foot,” according to McCabe and court records. Guzman was released on $100 bail after being arraigned in May on charges of two counts of assault and battery on a police officer, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (his foot), disorderly conduct and failing to See Charges, Page 5
Indian motorcycle business seeks expansion By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The City Council will schedule a public hearing for a special permit application to expand an existing motorcycle sales and service business to a second location in the city. Dennis Bolduc, owner of the Indian Motorcycle of Springfield franchise, is currently operating his business at 962 Southampton Road, but plans to establish a second location at 1120 Southampton Road. The 1120 Southampton Road location, a short distance south of the North Road intersection, was formerly used as a antique car sales and service business, but since the antique vehicle dealership, which had a Class 2 Auto Agent license to sell used vehicle, has been out of business for more than a year, a new auto agent license is required. Bolduc must secure a special permit from the City Council before he can apply for a Class 1 auto agent license from the city’s License Commission to sell new and used motorcycles at the second business location. The Council members voted Thursday night to send the special permit request to its License Committee and to slate a public hearing to hear details of the business expansion is at a second Southampton
Road location. Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell requested the City Clerk’s office to advertise the public hearing under both the motor vehicle sale special permit application and under a special permit for the Water Resource Protection District zoning ordinance. O’Connell said the second business location is within the Barnes Aquifer Protect zone, which also requires a special permit from the Planning Board. “This business is over the aquifer,” O’Connell said. “I’d like to amend the motion and to publish the public hearing notice with the aquifer notation.” O’Connell said her concern is about what materials will be used or stored at the site as part of the day-today business operations. The City Council approved the Water Resource Protection District zoning ordinance on March 18 of this year. The intent and purposes of the Water Resource Protection District are: to promote the health, safety and general welfare of the community; to protect, preserve and maintain the public water supply and the lands that contribute to it; to conserve the natural water resources within the City; and to prevent the pollution of the public water supply of the City and surrounding areas.
Report: Agency failed in death of toddler in foster care By BOB SALSBERG Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A state report on the death of a 2-year-old girl in foster care found the Department of Children and Families failed to properly evaluate the qualifications of a foster mother and determine whether the home was safe for children. The internal review, released Thursday, revealed an “unacceptable” series of failures within the embattled department, Gov. Charlie Baker said in promising corrective steps. Two DCF employees have been reassigned and could face further disciplinary action. Avalena Conway-Coxon and an unidentified second toddler were found unresponsive Aug. 15 at an Auburn apartment complex. Avalena was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The second child was hospitalized in critical condition but survived and is now in a long-term rehabilitation facility.
The case was among several recent tragedies involving children who had received services from the state’s child protection agency. “I get sick when I hear these stories,” a somber Baker told reporters. Police have not released a cause of Avalena’s death, but the DCF report said medical findings suggest the children suffered heat stroke, likely from “prolonged exposure to a high temperature environment.” In approving the application of Kimberly Malpass to become a foster mother in 2013, DCF did not follow its own rules in determining whether she was a capable parent, and allowed too many children to live in too small a foster home, the review said. There were six children — three of them foster children — in the home at that time. “It should not have been a foster home,” said Baker. “If you actually followed the practice standards and the
policies that were in place, it would never have been licensed.” A message left on a phone number listed for Malpass in Auburn was not immediately returned. No charges have been filed in connection with the child’s death. A spokesman for the Worcester district attorney said Thursday the case remains under investigation. Jennifer Conway, 27, Avalena’s biological mother, died last month from a suspected drug overdose, authorities said. Malpass was an “enthusiastic foster parent,” the report said, who cared for nine foster children at various times over an 18-month period, and she received positive reviews from several caseworkers. The review, however, suggested DCF staff failed to identify or act on several potential red flags, including See Agency, Page 5
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker listens to a question regarding the results of a probe into Hardwick child abuse case during a press conference Friday, Sept. 4, 2015, at the State House in Boston. The Department of Children and Families failed to protect a 7-year-old boy who police say was beaten and starved by his father and who is now in a coma, according to a report released Friday. (AP)