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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
VOL. 85 NO. 296
army large enough to guarantee it against attack in time of peace or insure it victory in time of war.” — PRESIDENT CALVIN COOLIDGE
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2016
Southwick Police give presentation to local girl scout troop By GREG FITZPATRICK Correspondent SOUTHWICK – A girl scout troop in town went to the Southwick Public Library to learn about the dangers of the internet. Southwick Police Lieutenant Kevin Bishop hosted an hour long seminar in the conference room of the library. According to Bishop, the last time that the event was done was seven years ago. Being a former D.A.R.E. officer throughout the school district, Bishop has knowledge about the event and what its importance is. “This is a presentation that we used to have in years past,” said Bishop. “With Chief Ricardi, he thought it was important to bring it back to the community.” The majority of the girls in the troop were seventh graders but there were also a few fifth and six graders and they are all in the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District. Bishop gave a power point presentation in order to go more in depth with the safety concerns regarding the internet. The four main parts of the presentation consisted of inappropriate content, online privacy, online sexual solicitations, and cyber bullying. Part of the issue with the inappropriate content is the exposure young kids can have using social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so on. Bishop explained to the troop the importance of being careful of what you say online, what pictures you put up, and anything else that would go out to the internet. “What you put on the internet today is there forever,” said Bishop. When seeing any inappropriate content, including adult activities and hate speech, Bishop advised the girls that they turn off the computer screen or use the back button to turn off the computer. But, the most important thing to do is to tell a trusted adult as well as possibly reporting the activity to that website or the application if using a smartphone. Bishop also went into what a child should do if they see a friend or someone they know online saying any dangerous things towards someone else or to themselves. The lieutenant preached to the girls that telling someone about that type of activity is the right thing to do and worrying about what that person is going to think about them shouldn’t be the concern. “At least that person is still going to be safe,” said Bishop. For online privacy, the main theme involved the fact that things on the internet can spread rather quickly. Any personal information like passwords, home address, and home phone number and cell phone numbers, should be kept private to people online that you don’t know or don’t think you can trust. Being careful of what you say was also crucial to Bishop’s presentation about online privacy. He suggested the troop be extremely careful of making any jokes that could potentially sound like threats or bullying. Another key aspect to Bishop’s message was the dangers of online dating. Bishop went on to say that you don’t know who that person is and that online predators tend to use a tactic called grooming or fishing. See Girl Scouts, Page 3
The girl’s scout troop in Southwick got a presentation about the dangers of the internet from Southwick Police Lieutenant Kevin Bishop. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
“No nation ever had an
Westfield High School Music Director Korey Bruno, left, directs the Westfield High School Concert Choir during a past tree lighting ceremony in Westfield. (WNG File Photo)
Live holiday music coming to Westfield By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD—Residents will have two chances to experience Christmas caroling in the coming days. Westfield on Weekends and Westfield High School are combining for two events, one on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 5:30 p.m., and another on Monday, Dec. 12, at 6 p.m. Both events are free to the public and will include the singing of traditional and modern holiday songs. “Westfield on Weekends is thrilled to work with Westfield High School,” Bob Plasse, director of Westfield on Weekends, said. “They have always been there for us and this year more than ever.” The Saturday event, titled “Neighbor to Neighbor,” is the second annual version of the event. Students from Westfield High School are going to meet on the Park Square pavilion and will sing holiday carols and urge residents to join them. From there, they are expected to go to The Arbors Assisted Living Facility and sing for residents, before going around the rest of the neighborhood to sing. At the end, they will meet back at the Park Square pavilion, where they will be serving hot chocolate donated by Dunkin Donuts and cookies from Westfield Technical Academy. The event is being organized by Brandon Andrews, a junior at Westfield High School and president of peer mediation, along with Westfield on Weekends. See Music, Page 3
WSU students presenting ideas for downtown renovations By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD—Westfield State University students will be showing residents what they think can be done to improve Westfield’s downtown riverfront areas. The project’s presentation, which was done by first-year honors students at the University studying community planning, will take place Monday, Dec. 19, at 6 p.m., at the Westfield Athenaeum’s Lang Auditorium. According to a press release from the program, the students will present to the public their concept posters and planning models, in the hopes of giving people ideas on what could be done to help make “Westfield an even more beautiful and vibrant place through development of recreation, business, housing, and public art.” The program’s lead instructors, Vanessa Diana and Marijoan Bull, will be on hand at the presentation and can be contacted for more information by emailing vdiana@westfield.ma.edu or mbull@westfield.ma.edu
The community planning class from WSU.
Southwick residents graduate from Citizens Police Academy By GREG FITZPATRICK Correspondent SOUTHWICK – The Southwick Citizens Police Academy graduation took place at the town hall auditorium on Wednesday evening. A program that is eight weeks long, people from Southwick ranging in ages from 18-84 participated in the academy. It is based on allowing every-day citizens to experience what it is like to be a police officer on a daily basis. The 27 participants in the fall 2016 class are the most that the Southwick Police Department has seen since the academy started in 1996. Participation in the program has been up and down in the past and stopped after 1996 but returned in 2001. Since 2001, Southwick Police Sergeant Kirk Sanders has been running the program. From 2001 until 2008, the academy was going strong until there was no more grant money to keep it going. But, in 2013 when Chief David Ricardi became the Chief for the police department, he was determined to bring the Citizens Police Academy back into the community. Since 2001, there have been 425 people that have experienced the program. Now in its twenty first year of graduating the citizens, Sanders and fellow police officers make it a point to get a diverse group of people together for the program. “You get the group as one,” said Sanders. To start the graduation ceremony, guest speakers took the podium. One of those was Select Board Chairman Russ Fox, who is a graduate himself of the academy, and then Chief Ricardi took the stage. “I want to thank everybody for participating in this program,” said Ricardi. During his speech, Ricardi also acknowledged the dedication that Sanders has had with the academy over the years, including the outreach for help he has gotten from nearby cities like Springfield and Holyoke for their own citizen police academies. “He does deserve a big round of applause,” said Ricardi as he addressed the crowd. “So Kirk (Sanders), thank you.” A few students of the class then came up to the podium and made their respective
Twenty seven people graduated from the Citizens Police Academy on Wednesday night. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
speeches. Edward Abbe mentioned the part of the academy after week eight, when the citizens engaged in “You be the cop”. That segment allowed the students to be put into real-life situations that cops face with actors and allows them to make a quick decision. “No matter how much prep time you’ve had, nothing can prepare you for situational awareness,” said Abbe. Another student speaker, Diana David, backed up Abbe’s statement about “You be the cop”. “It was something I will never ever, ever forget.” David urges the rest of the Southwick community to give the Citizens Police Academy a try. “This was an unbelievable experience that every Southwick person should participate in,” said David. Student Daniel Coogan described the time during the academy when Detective Sergeant Robert Landis and other officers had the class play the role of a detective. “They had us at the edge of our seat trying to solve this robbery,” said Coogan. Sanders and the rest of the officers also
showed the students other aspects of being a police officer, which may require several hours at their desk. Student speaker Beth DeGrande talked about the amount of paperwork they had to do. “There’s an awful lot of paperwork,” said DeGrande. “Every “t” must be crossed, every “i” must be dotted.” Once the student speakers finished, gifts were given by citizens to some of the police officers present at the graduation that helped throughout the eight weeks. All of the students were then given certificates for graduating. They were also given t-shirts that have a message on the back of the shirt saying, “A partnership of police and community through education.” An award was also given for the best shooter at the gun range, called “Top Gun”, which was given to student Arthur Lawlor. Closing out the ceremony, Sanders gave a speech that included his appreciation for the graduates that decided to join the academy. “We have enjoyed sharing what we (police officers) do with the community,” said Sanders. “I thank you students for making this commitment.”