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104th Fighter Wing Launches Readiness Exercise WESTFIELD – Western Massachusetts residents may notice increased flying aircraft activity over the weekend as the 104th Fighter Wing conducts a Readiness Exercise. On Saturday morning at approximately 9 a.m. 12 F-15 Eagles will launch from Barnes Air National Guard Base simulating a deployment to forward locations. “We train to deploy people, aircraft and equipment when called and this exercise is an important component of our training cycle,” said Col. James Suhr.
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TUESDAY,SEPTEMBER JUNE 27, 2017 SATURDAY, 9, 2017
Buy Westfield Now incentive program announced Members of the Barnes 104th Fighter Wing move a pallet of supplies (Photo by 104th)
The 104th Fighter Wing continues to improve readiness as they execute a Phase I exercise to train and demonstrate deployment capabilities. The Airmen of the 104th Fighter Wing will prepare over 300 personnel and 108 pallets of cargo equipment for deployment along with the F-15C aircraft. Readiness ancillary training to include self-aid buddy care, medical requirements, and gas mask training will be conducted over the weekend to ensure the wing’s Airmen are postured to support both state side emergencies and overseas contingencies.
“I am proud of the 104th Fighter Wing for our Airmen’s commitment to readiness,” said Suhr. ——— The 104th Fighter Wing is equipped with the F-15 Eagle. One mission of the 104th is Aerospace Control Alert (ACA), providing armed fighters ready to scramble in a moment’s notice to protect the Northeast from any airborne threat. The unit is responsible for protecting a quarter of the nation’s population and over one third of the Gross Domestic Product.
Westfield River cleanup looking for volunteers By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD—The Westfield River Watershed Association (WRWA) is looking for volunteers to help clean the Westfield River Watershed on Sept. 23. WRWA, in conjunction with the Connecticut River Conservancy, have co-sponsored a river cleanup to help clean the tributaries to the Connecticut River and help lessen impact on the environment. The cleanup will be happening Saturday, Sept. 23, beginning at 9 a.m., and the WRWA’s portion will be taking place along the Westfield River in both Westfield and Agawam, and volunteers are urged to attend. “It’s one of the really great resources of Westfield and the towns in the area and we want it to be available and useful and enjoyable,” Mark Damon, secretary and WRWA board member, said of the Westfield River and the cleanup efforts. The cleanup happens twice a year and according to Damon, about 50 bags of trash are collected during the event but efforts have shown improvement. “The river is getting better, it’s gradually getting cleaner,” Damon said. “Every year we find a few spots that are messy but it’s getting better.” However, there are still some large items, Damon said, which do need to be cleaned out from the area. “There’s usually some tires and a few other large items, we get furniture, we get things like mattresses,” he said.
The former train bridge that crosses the Westfield River just west of the automotive bridges. (WNG file photo) He also warned that needles may be found, so those helping will want to be mindful and careful when cleaning. Damon said that the cleanup helps people contribute to the community and to the environment, while also being able to explore portions of nature that they may not be normally exposed to. “Sometimes I have people tell me they had seen wildlife they didn’t know we had in the area,” he said. See Cleanup, Page 7
By AMY PORTER Correspondent WESTFIELD – In coordination with MassHousing, the City of Westfield is co-sponsoring a home purchase incentive program called Buy Westfield Now. The purpose of this program is to promote home ownership within the city. A team of lenders, real estate agents, non-profits and other businesses have joined together to craft a home purchase incentive program for home buyers interested in investing in Westfield. Peter J. Miller, director of community development for the city, said the team has been soliciting incentives from lenders, attorneys and home inspectors, and putting together a packet for homebuyers, which include incentives such as discounted fees from attorneys, or credit for closing costs from different groups. An Open House is scheduled for vendors interested in participating in this incentive program. The Open House will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 13 from 12 to 2 p.m. at the G&E Service Center on 40 Turnpike Industrial Road, Westfield. “The whole point is to use Westfield businesses as our vendors. The whole project will be Westfield-centric,” Miller said. “We’re trying to make the Westfield market as healthy as we can, and bring more buyers to market. People are looking for houses,” he added. “We are excited to be building this program with MassHousing. Similar ‘Buy Now’ programs currently exist in Chicopee, Holyoke and Springfield, all of which have been successful for their cities. We are optimistic that Westfield can build a successful incentive program to entice home buyers to Westfield,” said Mayor Brian P. Sullivan about the Buy Westfield Now program. MassHousing (The Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency) is an independent, quasi-public agency created in 1966 and charged with providing financing for affordable housing in Massachusetts. The agency raises capital by selling bonds and lends the proceeds to low- and moderate-income homebuyers and homeowners, and to developers who build or preserve affordable and/or mixed-income rental housing. “MassHousing is committed to helping lower-and moderateincome Massachusetts residents achieve the benefits of owning their own home and we are pleased to partner with the City of Westfield in the Buy Westfield Now program. This collaboration between the city, lenders, real estate agents and non-profit organizations provides all the resources new homebuyers need to not only purchase a home, but to be successful homeowners,” said MassHousing Executive Director Tim Sullivan. For more information about attending the Sept. 13 Open House, contact Ida Tassinari at (413) 250-4262 or by email at IdaTsells@gmail.com. Attendance to the event may be secured directly by reserving a ticket at the Eventbrite website, under ‘Buy Westfield Now Sponsor Kickoff.’
Westfield resident returns home after 30 years of health care ethics By GREG FITZPATRICK Correspondent WESTFIELD – It’s been three decades since John Tuohey has returned back to his home town of Westfield. A 1972 graduate of Westfield High School, Tuohey has spent the last 30 years excelling at perfecting his craft; health care ethics. Since 1998, Tuohey was the first holder of the endowed chair in Applied Health Care ethics at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland. Tuohey’s work revolved around internal medicine, family practice, surgical and pharmacy residency programs, general ethics education for staff at hospitals, as well as offering help to clinical and organizational ethics consultation services. With all of the different responsibilities that Tuohey had in his career, he believed that his overall work had a clear importance. “I always felt like I was helping changing the way doctors did practices,” said Tuohey. “I really felt like I was shaping the future of health care.” One of the more difficult challenges that Tuohey had to face throughout his career was when doctors at the hospital would be having an issue with a patient and would want to release them from their care
since they’re not following directions. “They don’t want to abandon the patient, but they (doctors) get frustrated,” said Tuohey. This is when Tuohey would step in and find out if it would be ethical for the doctor to let go of the patient. In an attempt to find middle ground, Tuohey’s effort consisted of trying to find the best solution possible for both parties. Besides his work at the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, Tuohey was also a member of the Oregon Pandemic Preparedness Task Force in which he assisted in creating a decision-making matrix towards the allocation of scarce resources. Tuohey also helped the task force with advance directive reform and also was an ethics consultant to the Oregon Medical Association. While his 30-year career also included spending time in Oklahoma and Washington D.C., Tuohey has permanently arrived back to Westfield and his family is happy to have him back. “We’re very happy to have him back in the area,” said Ursula Tuohey, John’s mother. “It’s good to have John home.” While Tuohey has been able to celebrate his father’s 90th birthday and spend more time with his 4-yearold Irish Golden Doodle, he’s also
Tuhoey is seen leading a mass at a parish in the Oregon area. (Photo courtesy of Ed Langlois) been able to reflect on why he chose to come back to the Western Massachusetts area. “After 30 years I just decided it was time to get back to parish life,” said Tuohey. “I really feel like it was time to repurpose my talents.”
During his time in Oregon the past couple of years, Tuohey began to notice that he really enjoyed going to parishes on weekends to preach. “I just kind of thought that it was telling me something,” said Tuohey.
Currently, Tuohey is donating his time by helping out local parishes on the weekends. A member of the Springfield Diocese, Tuohey is meeting with the Bishop shortly in the hope that he can receive a fulltime position at a nearby parish.