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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
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Board member makes video
75 cents
City utility awarded grant
WHIP CITY WHITE
By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – Selectman Joseph Deedy has been videotaping the Board of Selectmen meetings since June, but they are not posted for public viewing – yet. Deedy is using his own equipment to record them and said it’s “a work in progress.” For now, the recordings are stored on Deedy’s personal computer, but he hopes they can be posted on the town website in the future. Deedy said he is still working out some inconsistencies with the video and sound. “The first one has no audio, and the second and third videos have sound but they’re not quite in sync,” he said. Deedy said when fellow selectman Joseph Tracy Cesan was elected, she tried to coorDeedy dinate the taping of the meeting but had no luck getting volunteers to help. “It was a great idea,” said Deedy, “So I decided to try it this way.” Deedy said he spoke with the town’s computer technician Jim Middleton about uploading the video to www.southwickma.org, but found out it could not happen right now. “To do video on demand or streaming is another package from our web host provider,” said Middleton. “We do not have the capability to do it now.” Middleton said if the Board of Selectmen chose to include that service as part of its web package, it would likely cost $3,000 and up. The service is renewed annually and could be added on easily. Middleton suggested it could be included in the town’s cable access schedule but a lack of staff to spend the time editing and uploading was probably a deterrent. See Video, Page 3
Local mom, daughter set for ‘Dance Moms’ By Justine Murphy Correspondent WESTFIELD — For Loree Cloud and her daughter Jade, dancing is life; it’s in their blood. So when they heard about auditions for the Lifetime network show, “Dance Moms,” they almost immediately signed up. Cloud, owner and director of the New England Dance and Gymnastics Centers that has locations in Westfield and Granby, Conn., and 15-year old Jade attended the show auditions in New York City, alongside thousands of others. This was only one of several such auditions being held nationwide and online, but the local pair remained optimistic. “It went from thousands of dancers down to 500. Then down to 300. And [Jade] kept making the cut,” Cloud said. “But we initially thought, ‘What are the chances that they pick us?’” Chosen as finalists after the initial audition, they went through the next steps in the process—in-person interviews, Skype interviews and solo dance auditions. According to Cloud, the judging panel (including the show’s star, professional dancer and studio director Abby Lee Miller) was partial to Jade because of her
skill and talents in all forms of dance and tumbling, from ballet and tap to hip-hop and gymnastics, and everything in between. Once the process was done, life went back to normal for the Clouds. Dance classes continued, as did dance competitions. Then the call came. “Jade was just jumping up and down, screaming,” Cloud said. They soon traveled to Los Angeles earlier this year to make their first appearance on the show (at the end of season 4). They will continue on as cast members throughout season 5. Taping began several weeks ago and wrapped up earlier this week. It was hectic, Cloud said. Jade was in dance classes and competitions all day, basically every day, as Cloud and the other moms spent a lot of time together, talking, watching rehearsals and sitting in on classes—all while several cameras followed nearly every move. “Having the cameras on us all the time was hard at first. They saw everything, they heard everything,” Cloud said. “But you get used to it. After a few days, it was like they See Dance Moms, Page 3
A white squirrel has been helping himself at a birdfeeder in Wyben. (Photo by George Fanion)
Rare white squirrel spotted in Wyben By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Black squirrels, uncommon in many places, are not unusual in the Whip City but now a new rarity has been spotted in Wyben – a white squirrel. George Fanion of Wyben reports that a couple of weeks ago some of his neighbors mentioned seeing a white squirrel in their neighborhood but he didn’t think much about it until one appeared outside his living room window. “I looked out one day and bingo, – there was a white squirrel,” he said. Since then, Fanion said, at least one white squirrel has been visiting his bird feeder recently. “I’m feeding him bird seed and he’s eating like crazy,” Fanion said yesterday afternoon while speaking on the phone and simultaneously watching the squirrel eat from the bird feeder outside his window. He thinks there are two because he has seen one which appears to be smaller but added “I’m not positive that there’s a second one.” Seth Kellogg of Southwick, a wild-
but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind.” — Malayan proverb
THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2014
VOL. 83 NO.159
“One can pay back the loan of gold,
By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The state has recognized the success of the Westfield Gas & Electric Department’s energy conservation program for both residential and commercial customers by awarding the municipal utility a $235,000 grant to further that energy efficiency effort. This marks the second year the local utility has been recognized with grant funding for its energy conservation programs. Governor Deval Patrick announced that Westfield was one of 14 communities served by municipal utilities receiving the grant “to expand cost savings and environmental benefits.” A total of $1.78 million was awarded to municipal utilities with money collected through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The utilities could apply for a maximum grant total of $250,000. “With these grants, the Patrick administration continues to expand the number of households, businesses and communities that participate in energy efficiency,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Maeve Vallely Bartlett. “Energy efficiency is our first fuel for a reason; it provides energy, environmental and economic benefits.” The grants, funded with proceeds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) auction, will leverage more than $1.8 million in MLPfunded energy efficiency programs, save participants more than $1.2 million in energy costs and have projected annual energy savings of nearly 8.3 million kWh, enough electricity to power nearly 1,100 Massachusetts homes, and to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 705 cars from the road. A portion of these grants See Grant, Page 3
A rare white squirrel has been spotted at a Wyben birdfeeder. (Photo by George Fanion)
life authority and columnist, said white squirrels are not unheard of but See White Squirrel, Page 3
DANIEL HOWARD
Massachusetts House lawmakers approve sweeping gun bill By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts House lawmakers approved a sweeping bill yesterday designed to tighten the state’s gun laws. The bill, which passed on a 112-38 vote, would strengthen local police chiefs’ discretion over issuing firearms identification cards needed for the purchase of rifles or shotguns, much like the discretion they currently have over issuing licenses to carry concealed weapons. The bill would require police chiefs to give written reasons for denying gun licenses. Their decisions would have to be based on public safety and could be appealed in court. The measure would also create a web-based portal within the state Executive Office of Public Safety to allow for real-time background checks in private gun sales and would stiffen penalties for some gun-based crimes.
See Gun Bill Hightlights, Page 3 In addition, it would create a firearms trafficking unit within the State Police. The bill now heads to the Massachusetts Senate. Supporters hope to win final passage in both branches and get the legislation to Gov. Deval Patrick before the formal legislative session ends July 31. Jim Wallace, head of the Massachusetts Gun Owners Action League, said the group supports the changes in the bill related to gun owners, particularly the requirement that police chiefs state in writing their reasons for denying licenses. “Now the burden is on the chief to prove us suitable rather than us proving ourselves suitable and that’s a big difference in court,” Wallace said. John Rosenthal of the group Stop Handgun
Violence said he was thrilled with the bill. “This is a huge win,” Rosenthal said, pointing to the portion of the bill giving police chiefs more authority over issuing firearms identification cards needed for the purchase of rifles. Rosenthal said he also supports the portion of the bill requiring Massachusetts to join the National Instant Background Check System and transmit information, including any substance abuse or mental health commitments, to a federal database for use by police in reviewing firearms applications. Nothing in the bill would create a gun registry, but the bill would require gun owners, when they renew their licenses, to state that to the best of their knowledge they have not had any guns lost or stolen from their possession since their last license renewal. House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, called the bill “historic.”
The bill also seeks to improve safety at schools by requiring each district to develop plans to address the mental health needs of students and faculty and to have access to two-way communication devices with police and fire departments for use during emergencies. Districts would be required to have a school resource officer to provide law enforcement and security services on campuses. Work on the bill began last year after the 2012 mass school shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The legislation would also require school districts to provide two hours of suicide awareness and prevention training to school personnel every three years and mandate that the Public Health Department collect and report on suicides in the state. House lawmakers said the majority of gun-related deaths are suicides.