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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
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“An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?” — RENE DESCARTES
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THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2016
VOL. 85 NO. 77
1-year-old treated for drug overdose is now in state custody
Moose Cabin to honor downed Barnes pilot By HOPE E. TREMBLAY Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – The Moose Cabin will soon be a reality. Longmeadow resident Kara Fontenot spearheaded a fundraising campaign in honor of her late husband Lt. Col. Morris M. Fontenot, Jr, who died Aug. 29, 2014 when the F-15C he was piloting crashed. Fontenot, Jr., call sign Moose, was stationed at Barnes Air National Guard Base. Since his death, his daughters Natalie and Nicole have attended a summer leadership camp for the children of military members who died during military service. The camp, run by the Knights of Heroes Foundation in Colorado Springs, helped the Fontenot family deal with the tragic loss of a father and husband, and Kara wanted to give back. “The Knights of Heroes used to rent camp space and spent $30,000 to rent a camp for a week,” she said. “Last year they were able to acquire their own camp, but the cabins are in need of renovation and there was no sewer system in place – it needs work.” Kara and her daughters decided to raise $20,000 – the cost to completely renovate one cabin and bring it up to code. With mostly small donations and several more substantial ones – including from Tucker’s Restaurant in Southwick – Kara exceeded her goal and the Moose Cabin will be renovated and dedicated this summer. Evan Mattson of Tucker’s was touched by Kara’s letter asking for a donation. Instead of giving a small amount, Tucker’s asked Kara to participate in Tuesdays at Tucker’s, which is an opportunity to host a fundraiser at the restau-
LT. COL. MORRIS FONTENOT rant. Tucker’s gives 10-percent of the day’s proceeds to the participating charity. “Between the dining donation and additional donations from customers, we raised just over $1,200,” Mattson said. For Kara, it was like receiving a million dollars because the funds raised at Tucker’s tipped the scales to get Kara just over the $20,000 goal she set. “Everyone at Tucker’s was great,” she said. “They worked so hard for us that day and they promoted it, too. And we received direct donations online from Tucker’s customers as well.” Kara said another large, last-minute donation brought the total funds raised to $26,000. “We received a large donation from General Electric,” she said. “Without that though, the Tucker’s donation was our largest.” Kara met Moose when they were both at the U.S. Air Force Academy. A classmate from the Class of 1996 now works for General Electric and requested the donation from the company. The Moose Cabin will be one of 10 cabins at the camp, and the additional $6,000 will be put to good use at the camp, said Kara.
The cabin campaign was a way to continue Moose’s good works. “He always took care of people,” Kara said. “People loved being under his leadership because he took care of them. This is something we are doing to keep that spirit alive.” Kara said although it has been over a year since Moose passed, it is still tough. “Any time I think about the fact that my husband is gone, it’s painful,” she said. “I don’t think that will change, but doing this does make me feel good.” Kara said she will share photos of the Moose Cabin and dedication, which is set for July, through the a Facebook page dedicated to Moose. The decorated officer had received high honors and recognition expressed by his receipt of the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal and the Aerial Achievement Medal. Before his death, Moose served full-time as a wing inspector general and as an F-15 instructor pilot with more than 17 years of experience flying the jets. The Fontenot family settled in Longmeadow when Moose took a position at Barnes. Donations are still being accepted at http://knightsofheroes.org.
Recycling barrels inspected for contaminants By AMY PORTER Correspondent WESTFIELD – DPW crews were out in the Meadow Street area on Wednesday morning, inspecting the grey recycling barrels for contaminated waste in advance of a scheduled pick up. Barrels that had unrecycled materials mixed in were tagged with a pink doorknocker, signaling the trucks to pass them by. The next scheduled pick up for the area is April 13. The tags also explained the reason the barrels were not emptied. “The goal is, after doing these inspections and educating the people, there’s less contamination,” said Casey Berube, deputy superintendent for the Department of Public Works. He said inspections are also taking place in the Orange Street area. Once the DPW trucks pick up the recyclables, they go directly to the Materials Recycling Station at 84 Birnie Avenue in Springfield. “We’ll get a report, when the load goes over there,” Berube said. “They’ll actually take pictures.” He said the two neighborhoods had 60 percent contamination at the last pickup on March 16. Contaminating materials in recyclable bins include plastic bags, styrofoam, building materials, insulation, food waste, wood, rugs, blankets, dirt and electronics, among others. A complete list is available at www.springfieldmrf.org. Plastic bags are especially troublesome. “The plastic bags get caught in the gears of the processing facility, and can shut the whole place down,” Berube said. A high level of contamination can lead to fines for the city.
Berube said the bigger fear is if they were to say we’re not taking your loads any more. “What would we do then?” Berube asked. Single-stream recycling began in Westfield in January of 2015. Before that, residents had to separate paper and plastic and other containers. The purpose is convenience, to encourage more residents to recycle, resulting in less waste. “Everyone wants to reduce their waste stream,” Berube said. “Most of the landfills are filling up, so it’s going to be more expensive to deal with trash.”
Bruce Langtange of the Westfield DPW inspects recycling barrels for ineligible materials in the Meadow Street neighborhood Wednesday. (Photo by Amy Porter)
WESTFIELD (WWLP) – A 1-year-old was rushed to Baystate Noble Hospital Friday night because of a suspected drug overdose. The type of drug the 1-year-old ingested has yet to be confirmed. The initial police report called it a “heroin overdose,” but Westfield Police said for privacy reasons they can’t confirm that. Westfield Police Captain Mike McCabe said officers were called to Baystate Noble for the apparent overdose, around 9 Friday night. Health and Human Services Secretary, Marylou Sudders, spoke about the incident on Boston Herald Radio Tuesday morning. She said narcan had to be used to bring the 1-year-old back to life. According to the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Chief at Baystate Medical Center, Joeli Hettler, this wasn’t the first time their doctors have seen a child overdose. “Accidental opioid ingestion is something every emergency department sees. My guess right now is that we’re seeing a few dozen a year,” said Hettler. “Most of the opioid ingestions we see are from pills left around the house, either on a nightstand, or in a purse.” The baby is in state custody, while police continue looking into the incident. McCabe said, so far, no one’s been arrested.
City man skips out on paying cab fare By CHRISTINE CHARNOSKY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A man tried to get a free ride but instead got charged with cab fare evasion. Douglas G. Jaeger, Jr., of 19 Lockhouse Road was released on his personal recognizance after being arraigned in Westfield District Court Friday on charges of fraud in hiring a vehicle. In mid-December, a driver from Ace Taxi Company of Springfield allegedly picked up Jaeger, 29, at a house in Longmeadow and dropped him off at 19 Lockhouse Road, according to court logs. According to the Ace Taxi driver, Jaeger told the driver to drop him in the complex not near Jaeger’s actual apartment. Jaeger told the driver he would be right back to pay him for the cab fare owed, but the defendant never returned. The driver waited 20 minutes before calling police. Police were able to determine that Jaeger lived in Building 10 and questioned him about the incident. The cab driver was able to identify Jaeger as the sole passenger who had skipped out on paying his fare, according to court records. Massachusetts law Chapter 266, Section 64 states: “Whoever hires a horse, carriage or other vehicle, and, with intent to cheat or defraud the owner thereof . . . and whoever, with such intent, refuses to pay for the use of a horse, carriage or other vehicle the lawful fare established therefor by any town, shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty dollars or by imprisonment for not more than two months, or both,” according to malegislature.gov. The amount of the cab fare that Jaeger did not pay isn’t listed in the court records, but it’s likely it will turn out being a pretty expensive ride. Jaeger is due back in court on May 27 for a pretrial hearing. Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at christinec@thewestfieldnewsgroup.com
Schools need state funding to train for in-demand jobs WESTFIELD (WWLP) – Students at the Westfield Technical Academy are among many across the state learning important skills for in-demand careers. For students like Douglas Kapinos, technical school means a direct path to a career. “I don’t have to spend all the
money on college – even though many students choose to go on to college – I don’t have to. I can just go right into the workforce and I can continue to work right out of school,” Kapinos said. Just this week, there has been a greater push at the state level to increase funding specifically for
vocational schools all across Massachusetts. Governor Charlie Baker’s fiscal 2017 budget is showing that he wants technical school funding to go up to nearly $5.5 million— up from the $3 million it received in the 2016 budget Westfield Technical Academy Principal Stefan Czaporowski, the
new Westfield Schools Superintendent, said that right now, they typically need to use grant money to buy specialty machines and equipment. “Our budgets typically don’t have that type of money to be able to purchase that sort of equipment. Our manufacturing program alone,
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some of the equipment there costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and cities just don’t have the funding these days,” Czaporowski said. He argued more funding is needed so these schools can keep equipment up-to-date with what’s being using in today’s workforce.
2016 St. Mary’s Parish School Annual Spring Auction & Raffle
Saturday, April 9 5:00 p.m. St. Mary’s High School Gymnasium