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WEATHER TONIGHT Mainly clear. Cold. Low of 12.
The Westfield News
“I respect faith,
but doubt is what gives you an education.”
Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com
— WILSON MIZNER
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2014
VOL. 83 NO. 303
75 cents
Cape Cod man charged in Regan’s death
The scene of destruction from the Christmas Eve fire where a mother saved her baby by breaking a window and bringing her son to safety. (Photo by Liam Sheehan)
Family grateful after fire By HOPE E. TREMBLAY Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – There really are good people left in this world. Just ask Thomas Delnegro and Hanna Turner. The Southwick couple is touting the generosity of others after the community came together to help the family following a Christmas fire that left them with nothing. “We lost everything,” DelNegro said. “We don’t have a fork . . . or a towel . . . everything was lost.” But the family is feeling blessed these days. They survived, along with their two year-old son who was sleeping at the time. Turner smashed a basement window to pull her son out of the fire and is happy to hold him in her arms today. “He is home with us and we are all going to make a full recovery,” DelNegro said. Young Samuel was taken to Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston and spent Christmas Day there. Turner said he received gifts at the hospital and was able to celebrate Christmas while being treated for smoke inhalation. Luckily, no one was burned in the blaze that destroyed the three-family lakeside home. “Every day feels like Christmas now,” Turner said. “Every day we receive a new gift.” Friends and co-workers rallied together to help replace what they lost. DelNegro’s friend Brian Burke, of Westfield, put out a call to friends and family and within a day or two received enough donations of furniture and clothing to get the family back on their feet. “Brian was a crusader,” DelNegro said. “He got almost a whole house worth of items for us.” One of the four other victims of the fire works at Nora’s Restaurant and a collection was taken up by the owners there to benefit the victims. The couple said they are grateful and have a renewed faith in people.
By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer YARMOUTH — A Cape Cod man who prosecutors say was behind the wheel of a vehicle that struck and killed a veteran Westfield firefighter has been released on $5,000 bail and a pledge of sobriety. Paul Dennehy pleaded not guilty yesterday to drunken driving and other charges. The 55-year-old Yarmouth resident declined to talk to reporters as he left Barnstable District Court after his arraignment. He is due back in court for a pretrial hearing on February 9. Investigators say Dennehy was driving a van that struck 62-year-old Kevin Regan and Lynda Cavanaugh Saturday night as they crossed Route 28 after dinner at a Yarmouth restaurant. Cavanaugh was injured and flown to a Boston hospital for treatment. Regan was a 43-year veteran of the Westfield Fire Department whose sister Mary is the city’s fire chief. He also served as chairman of the city’s Retirement Board.
PAUL DENNEHY Regan was remembered by colleagues as a dedicated firefighter and a loyal friend. According to the Boston Herald, Dennehy See Regan, Page 3
Stolen coins recovered, two suspects arraigned
PHOTO SUBMITTED
“I’m overwhelmed and comforted and feeling loved,” said Turner. “I never knew so many people cared.” DelNegro said complete strangers have made donations of items and money to help them. “We were in the hospital talking and crying and a woman on the other side of the curtain heard us and handed us a check for $200,” DelNegro said. “I’m crying again now just thinking about it.” Turner said they have cried many tears of joy since the fire. Instead of focusing on their loss, they are focusing on their son, their health, and their community. “We are so grateful,” said DelNegro. “And we want to make sure people remember there are four other victims of the fire and a fund for them. We have been given so much – we cannot thank people enough for what they’ve done. How do you thank people for this?”
By CARL E. HARTDEGEN Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Two city men have been arraigned on burglary charges but most of their loot has been recovered. City detectives had been investigating a report of a larceny of hundreds coins, bullion and collectible items when their investigation got a boost. A relative of the victims informed them that he had identified a person who had purchased some of the stolen coins. The relative identified a person he said had purchased some of the stolen coins from the thief and that man, when interviewed by police, was cooperative after he learned the coins he had bought were stolen property. The man identified the seller of the stolen coins and arranged to meet with the suspect again, ostensibly to buy more of the stolen items. When the suspect met with the buyer, police were waiting and Det. Daniel Gustafson was in position to overhear the suspect discuss selling the stolen items before he was taken into custody. The suspect was identified as Troy Daniel Boisseau, 28, of 553 Montgomery Road, a person many city officers are familiar with due to past dealings. Det. Brian Fanion reports, in a court document, entry to the building was made by removing an air conditioner from a
CHARLES L. MAZERALLE
TROY BOISSEAU
basement window and that a large amount of collectible coins stored in ammunition boxes was stolen. When Boisseau was interviewed on Dec. 24, Gustafson reports, he confessed that he had been an active participant in the burglary on Dec. 16 and identified Charles L. Mazeralle, 46, of 81 South Maple St., as his co-conspirator. Mazeralle was taken into custody at his home later that same day and, when he was interviewed, he also confessed to the burglary. He subsequently surrendered what is believed to be the bulk of the stolen items. The pieces range from copper bullion coins, rolls of circulated and uncirculated U.S. coins, uncirculated and proof U.S. coin sets, commemorative coins to pure silver bullion coins. Gustafson estimated See Stolen Coins, Page 8
Christmas tree pickup complicated this year By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer WESTFIELD – With Christmas in the rearview, city residents are busy removing their ornaments and depositing their balsam or fraser firs on the sidewalk for city workers to whisk away. As 2014 turns into 2015 and with the city moving to a new single stream recycling program, Westfield’s Department of Public Works is in the process of figuring out when they will be collecting the city’s Christmas trees. “Typically we’ll collect them and take them down to the DPW yard and chip them up,” said DPW Director Casey Berube. “Right now we’re working on the logistics of
that, as a lot of the guys I’d have doing (Christmas tree) pickup are going to be tied up with the single stream transition.” Berube remarked that inspecting and marking the barrels for single stream is going to be a tall order for the start of the new year, adding that January 19 has been discussed as the potential date for the city to clean up Christmas trees. “We have had folks out there collecting them as they encounter them,” he said, guessing that six to eight workers are typically devoted to collecting Christmas trees. Berube stated that there is a reduced capacity in the DPW yard for trees this year, due to the influx of single stream barrels and cobble-
stones that are being devoted to the city’s gaslight project. “Real estate’s kind of tight, so we’re looking at alternate locations for storing these until we get the chipper up there,” he said. While he couldn’t estimate the number of trees the DPW typically handles a winter, Berube stated that the Twist Street transfer station where residents can usually take their trees to be discarded, is also a much busier place this year than it was last Christmas. “I need to work with the Health Department on that, as they’ve got the solar project going on up there, so we’ve got some real estate issues there,” he said. “But once we get our location set, if people want to just
drop them off down here, that’s fine, too.” In the event that a snowstorm were to hit the Whip City before DPW could collect the trees, Berube said that a city ordinance requires residents to remove the trees from a snowbank. “Digging out a bunch of frozen trees is more manpower than we can commit to,” he said. In Southwick, residents can bring Christmas trees to the transfer station. DPW Director Randy Brown said there is no particular time period for disposing of trees. “”Residents can bring brush all throughout the year,” said Brown.
CASEY BERUBE
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