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WEATHER TONIGHT

The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns

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“Be a philosopher but, amid all your philosophy be still a man.” — DAVID HUME

www.thewestfieldnews.com THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2015

VOL. 84 NO. 116

Resident claims lake access being denied By HOPE E. TREMBLAY Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – North Pond resident Bruce Mason hopes the town can help longtime lake residents retain their access rights. Mason approached the Board of Selectmen this week for advice about what he and fellow lake dwellers can do to keep new residents from taking their lake access. The problem, he said, is access was deeded and when new lakefront homeowners and developers come in, they define their property lines without leaving access for other lake area residents. “People are trying to steal lake property,” he said. “The latest thing is they declared Lily Pond Drive available to anyone.” The Lakemont Street resident claims their rights to the lake are being denied, but the new homeowner at 5 Lakemont St. said he is not denying anyone access. The state did that when it put up a guardrail several years ago as part of a Community Development Block Grant improvement of the road. The new homeowner, who asked to remain anonymous until the property is recorded in his name, said the guardrail was placed at the end of Lakemont where residents had gained access

75 cents

ON THE STREET

Security camera recording leads to arrest

What do you think of the situation in Baltimore?

JOHN BATTISTONI It’s bad and political. This should have been stopped and the police should have intervened earlier.

BOB HARAMUT It sucks, it’s not good.

Walter J. Zarichak, a World War II Veteran from Westfield who was a long-time member of the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke Board of Trustees. Zarichak died in July. Zarichak was a lifelong proponent of the arts and worked in the art materials industry in Connecticut and New York City. He was a past president of the National Material Trade Association and a member emeritus of the Salmagundi Art Club in New York City, a center for fine arts, artists, art collectors and art classes. Scholarship applications are available online on

By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Police investigators identified a suspect whose image was caught on the security cameras at an Arch Road business by searching for his Facebook page which led to his arrest Tuesday morning. The owner of EPI Center at 1 Arch Road, the former Decorated Metals plant, called police Monday morning at 10:16 a.m. to report that the building was entered and items were taken. Detective Todd Edwards was assigned to investigate the incident which included breaking and entering in the night to commit a felony and larceny. Edwards’s task was JEREMY simplified by the fact that the G. HIGGINS suspect was photographed by security cameras, including one full frontal image of the suspect looking directly up into the camera as he turned it aside. The Detective Bureau posted that photo on its Facebook page and released it to local media seeking help from the public. That photo was removed Tuesday after the arrest 10:16 a.m. of Jeremy G. Higgins, 29, of 291 North Elm Street, exactly 24 hours after the crime was reported. A new posting from the Detective Bureau thanked the community for its help. Edwards determined that the commercial building was entered when the suspect broke a window, and then reached into the building interior to release the window latch. Approximately $700 worth of tools and mailbox keys, which would have required several more hundred dollars to replace, was taken. An external security camera photographed the suspect, his arms full of stolen items and wearing a bulging backpack, leaving the property around 3 a.m. Monday morning. Edwards, with patrol officers, went to 291 North Elm Street and took Higgins into custody. The resident of that address allowed the detective to search a second floor bedroom where the backpack, seen on the security video, was located.

See Scholarship, Page 3

See Arrest, Page 3

PETE AVERY It’s just a bad situation.

AARON GRABOWSKI It’s absolutely nuts. It’s an overreaction and it’s crazy.

LARRY UNDERWOOD It’s a systemic problem.

DIANNE BATTISTONI A lot of the news media went overboard. I think 99-percent of the police are right and good. PHOTOS BY FREDERICK GORE

See Access, Page 3

Scholarship named in memory of Zarichak

WALTER J. ZARICHAK

HOLYOKE – The Board of Trustees of the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke is offering a $1,250 scholarship to a veteran or the son or daughter of a veteran from western Massachusetts who is pursuing a career in the fine arts. To qualify, the applicant must be a senior in high school with plans to major in the fine arts or is a student currently enrolled in a college or university and studying in a fine arts program. A fine arts program should include one or more of the following disciplines: music, theater, dance, design, art production and the visual arts. This is the first year for the scholarship award, which was established in memory and in honor of

104th Emergency Management trains at Spangdahlem, Germany By SECOND LIEUTENANT BONNIE HARPER Public Affairs Massachusetts Air National Guard SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany – Airmen from the Emergency Management Flight, 104th Civil Engineer Squadron at Barnes Air National Guard Base participated in an Active CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and highyield explosives) Response exercise Wednesday at Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany. The guardsmen worked alongside their active-duty counterparts during the ACR, training together and preparing to respond if needed in a real-world CBRNE incident. “The Guard is well trained and just as capable of doing the same job that the active-duty does,” said Maj. Jeremy Dugan, 104th Civil Engineer Squadron commander. Both guard and active-duty EM members were paired up and worked together in a three-phase exercise. First, they surveyed the room and cleared it for radiation; second, they took samples of any CBRNE evidence found in the simulated crime

scene; and third, they established a recovery plan in order to clean and decontaminate the area, Dugan said. “The ACR is required training that we’re supposed to do every single year,” said Master Sgt. Christopher McCrary, the 104th Emergency Management Flight noncommissioned officer in charge. “We don’t always have the time to run something this in-depth on a guard drill weekend,” McCrary said. “Being able to do it in this type of environment is really great.” The exercise involved a simulated contaminated dormitory, and EM was contacted to further investigate the scene before anyone else was allowed back, Dugan said. For any CBRNE exercise or incident, EM personnel determine what kind of equipment is necessary, the type of Personal Protective Equipment needed, and what could be potential threats, Dugan said. Training with active-duty gives the guard the opportunity to see new equipment, get fresh ideas, new ways of thinking, which is hugely beneficial, McCrary

said. “When we work with them, we are able to build a confidence between active-duty and guard,” McCrary said. “They’re confident in our skills and abilities; we’re confident in their skills and abilities. So when we deploy together, we understand each other. We’re able to work together. “The training is exactly the same across the board between active-duty and guard,” McCrary said. “A HAZMAT technician can go in and actually mitigate an event. We can go into the site and actually try to contain and actively engage in the incident.” There are different levels of HAZMAT certification, but Emergency Management is the only career field in the Air Force in which Airmen come home from school with a technician certification. “We’re not just ‘guardsmen,” Dugan said. “We’re valuable members of the totalforce team. We provide the same capabilities.” The EM guardsmen will continue to train at Spangdahlem throughout the week, providing them the opportunity to enhance their ability to respond in CBRNE and HAZMAT situations.

Tech. Sgt. Nicole Locke, 104th Emergency Management Flight, Barnes Air National Guard Base, samples an unknown substance for testing during an exercise May 6 at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. Locke is training on Active CBRNE (Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear and High- Yield Explosives) Response with the active-duty members to enhance their Hazmat Technician Certification. This is a required training that needs to be done by the guard and the active duty. Doing the training together allows them to increase their knowledge by sharing their experiences and use different types of equipment. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by 2nd Lt. Bonnie Harper/Released)