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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com
— JORGE LUIS BORGES
THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2015
VOL. 84 NO. 178
“Any life, however long and complicated it may be, consists of a single moment: the moment when a man knows forever more who he is.” 75 cents
Career criminal charged with breaking into gas station PHOTOS BY MARIANNE CARR
Board approved multi-use trail contract By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Board of Public Works approved a $1.2 million contract to construct an esplanade at the juncture of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail and the Westfield River Levee Walk Trail. The board voted to award the contract to ET&L Corporation of Stow, the con-
tractor now extending the Columbia Greenway from East Silver Street to the area of Main Street. The firm submitted the low bid for the work. The esplanade contract will require the company to construct a multi-use trail between Elm and Sackett streets and will include construction of the Esplanade, a plaza area near the recently constructed
overlook on the bank of the Westfield River. The contract also calls for installation of retaining walls to support the levee bank on which the trail will be constructed. City Engineer Mark Cressotti said that construction is anticipated to begin in August on that phase of the Columbia Greenway. The work currently being done will bring the rail trail from the Southwick line to Main Street. The rail trail now extends about 50 miles down into Connecticut. Southampton is also constructing a section of the rail trail to connect with the trail recently completed in Easthampton, which connects to existing trails in Northampton. Cressotti said the state Department of Transportation is preparing to advertise construction bids for the north section of the Columbia Greenway which includes rehabilitation of the former Pioneer Valley Railroad Bridge over the Westfield River. That work is anticipated to be awarded for the 2016 construction season and will connect the Columbia Greenway to the Women’s Temperance See Contract, Page 3
Greenway underpass connecting neighborhoods By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Columbia Greenway Rail Trail contractor has cut a breech through the multi-use trail to install an underpass which will connect two neighborhoods long separated by the elevated structure which once carried rail traffic and freight over city streets in the downtown area. The contractor, ET&L Corporation of Stow, is extending the rail trail from East Silver Street to the area of Main Street, work that includes installing a new bridge over East Silver Street and installing a 25-foot-long underpass, linking the Hedges Avenue/St. Dennis Street neighborhood with the Taylor Avenue/Ashley Street neighborhood. The purpose of the underpass is to increase access to the Columbia Greenway. A ramp will be constructed on the Hedges Avenue side of the underpass, a pre-stressed concrete structure now being hoisted by huge cranes into place in the See Greenway, Page 3
By CHRISTINE CHARNOSKY Correspondent WESTFIELD – A Northfield man, with 89 entries on his criminal record, was out of jail for less than a week when he robbed a city gas station last week. Jonathan P. Hall, 34, was held on $10,000 cash or surety after being arraigned on charges of felony breaking and entering at nighttime, larceny from a building and defacement/vandalizing property. Westfield police, with assistance from West Springfield police, arrested Hall shortly before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday morning and JONATHAN P. HALL charged him with breaking into the Westfield Mobil Gas Station, located at 162 Southampton Road, on July 9. Hall allegedly threw a cinder block through the front door to gain access, stole money from the cash register and forcibly removed the safe that was attached to the See Charged, Page 3
Man charged after incident at bar By CHRISTINE CHARNOSKY Correspondent SOUTHWICK – An incident at a Southwick bar in May led to charges for a 32-year-old Southwick man. Jacob A. Lisheness of Southwick was released on his personal recognizance pending a September 10 hearing after being arraigned in Westfield District Court Friday on charges of two counts of threat to commit a crime. Police were summonsed to the Sky Box Sports Bar, located at 25 Point Grove Road, around 10:30 p.m. on May 10, according to court records. Witnesses complained about Lisheness, who was sitting at the bar. Southwick Police Officer David Massai wrote in his report that “Lisheness is known to me and is known to this department as having been involved with other disturbances.” On May 10, Lisheness allegedly made threats to have another patron at the Sky Box Sports Bar “taken care of,” which was interpreted to mean “start a fight,” according to court records. Additionally, Lisheness allegedly threatened to have one of the witnesses raped and killed if she interfered with his plan to beat up the patron. Massai spoke with this bar patron, who is someone also known to Massai, and this patron stated he hadn’t even seen Lisheness that night. At this point, Massai decided to speak to the bar’s owner, Randy Rindels, by phone to see whether Rindels wanted to trespass Lisheness from the bar, according to court documents. Per Rindels’ request to trespass Lisheness, officers asked Lisheness to leave, which he did willingly, according to Massai’s report.
PHOTO BY MARIANNE CARR
See Incident, Page 3
Review: Goodspeed’s ‘La Cage Aux Folles’
Nic Thompson, Alexander Cruz, Nick Silverio, and Michael Bullard in Goodspeed Musicals’ “La Cage Aux Folles.” (Photo by Diane Sobolewski)
By MARK AUERBACH Correspondent EAST HADDAM, CT – As an arts reporter, I generally see a couple of shows a week, and it’s usually easy to maintain an eye for detail. Something happened to me tonight at Goodspeed Musicals’ La Cage Aux Folles. I got totally drawn into Harvey Feirstein’s wise and witty script, Jerry Herman’s hummable melodies, Ralph Perkins’ dazzling choreography, and swept away by great performances, the laughs, and the tears. The enthusiastic Goodspeed audience went wild several times, and the show got a rousing standing ovation, with me among the first to jump to my feet. Although I’ve seen La Cage Aux Folles before, I was completely taken by this production. It was the best evening of musical theatre I’ve seen all year, and perhaps, one of the best I’ve seen in years. Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman fashioned La Cage Aux Folles from a French play by Jean Poiret, which itself was made into a movie. When it opened on Broadway in 1983, as the theatre community was ravaged by the early days of AIDS, it carried a
strong message to audiences, as it was one of the first plays or musicals to portray gay men in a positive and affirming light. It was also very tuneful and funny, and audiences adored the musical which won all kinds of awards. In fact, both subsequent Broadway revivals of the show won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. Two Jerry Herman tunes, “I Am What I Am” and “The Best of Times” have become familiar standards. Hollywood couldn’t wait to adopt the show Nic Thompson, Alexander Cruz, James Lloyd Reynolds, Jamison Stern, Nick Silverio, and Michael Bullard in Goodspeed Musicals’ “La Cage Aux Folles.” (Photo by Diane Sobolewski) into a film, and they did–as a non-musical vehicle for Robin Williams and Nathan Lane called Birdcage. La Cage Aux Folles is the story of a nightclub owner, Georges (winningly portrayed by James Lloyd Reynolds) and his partner, Albin (Jamison Stern in one of the best performances I’ve seen in any musical) who
stars as Zaza, the club’s “leading lady”. The son they’ve raised comes home with his fiancee, who happens to be the daughter of the most right-wing conservative political candidate in town. Son asks parents to make the household more straight. Hilarity ensues. Rob Ruggiero, artistic director of Hartford’s Theaterworks, and a frequent Goodspeed director, mines the humor, sentimentality, and outrageousness in script and score to give the production a warm yet slightly risque edge. Michael O’Flaherty’s music direction is superb, and Ralph Perkins creates some high-kicking can cans and rousing dance moves, all performed on Michael Schweikardt’s charming set, in Michael McDonald’s opulent and clever costumes. John Lasiter’s lighting design is perfection, and Jay Hilton’s sound design balanced singers and the band. Messrs Reynolds and Stern may be La Cage Aux Folles fun couple, but they are surrounded by a group of glamourous “girls”, the Notorious Cagelles… Darius Barnes, See Review, Page 3