Search for The Westfield News
WEATHER TONIGHT
The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
Rain. Low of 47.
is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.” — BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
www.thewestfieldnews.com
75 cents
TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 2017
VOL. 86 NO. 133
“Excellence
Huntington’s Town Meeting centers on school budget Over 90 registered voters attended Huntington’s Annual Town Meeting on Monday. (Photo by Amy Porter)
Huntington officials were sworn in just before the start of the town meeting on Monday. (Photo by Amy Porter)
By AMY PORTER Correspondent HUNTINGTON – 92 registered voters attended the Huntington Annual Town Meeting on Monday evening to vote on a town budget of nearly $5 million, including the Gateway Regional school budget, and on 25 separate amendments. Just prior to the 7 p.m. start of the meeting, selectman John McVeigh read the dedication of the 2016 annual report honoring Norwich Hill resident Ruth Pardoe. Pardoe was cited for her volunteer work for the Gateway High School Library and the Friends of the Huntington Public Library. She also helped to develop the town’s Open Space Plan, and has served on the Hilltown Land Trust and the Green Committee. Most especially, Pardoe is known for her contributions to the restoration of The Historic North Hall, and for her dream of a summer Arts Festival hosting music, theater, spoken word, dance and visual arts,
now entering its eighth season at North Hall. “My late husband (David Pardoe) started the work about 20 years ago. He went in there when it hadn’t been used in years, and started pulling down the ceiling, and found under it the wood from the 1800’s. We were both retired, so we kept working on it. We didn’t have any money to spend on it, so we’d get a window a year. Now all the windows have been replaced, and it looks good. It sparkles,” Pardoe said about the restored 1795 school house, one of the two oldest buildings in Huntington. Pardoe said she was surprised and pleased by the honor. Most of the line items in the town budget were approved unanimously with little discussion. The Gateway Regional and vocational education portions were addressed in separate articles, all recommended by the Select Board and Finance
Does your bike need fixing? Then you can stop by the Olver Transit Pavilion By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD—If you’re a bike rider, then you have an unlikely new area that you can benefit from—The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) Olver Transit Pavilion. This is because at the pavilion, which opened its doors officially on April 28, has a number of bike-related tools and accessories to help riders, including a vending machine filled with parts and snacks. The tools are there to help connect the pavilion and public transit in general, with other modes of transportation like bikes. “This is for those riders who have a flat tire and can fix it instead of calling home,” Don Podolski, owner of New Horizons Bikes in Westfield, said. “It’s also a statement from See Bikes, Page 3
Don Podolski, owner of New Horizons Bikes.
See Town Meeting, Page 3
Following the Annual Report, Huntington selectman John McVeigh presented Ruth Pardoe with flowers in honor of Pardoe’s dedicated volunteer work to the town. (Photo by Amy Porter)
Huntington Board of Health to vote on price raise for transfer station
Over 50 residents who live on North Pond, signed the petition to keep personal watercraft off North Pond. (WNG File Photo)
North Pond residents vocal on personal watercraft use By GREG FITZPATRICK Correspondent SOUTHWICK – During the public comment portion of the Select Board meeting on Monday night, residents addressed the issue regarding the personal watercraft policy for the North Pond section of Congamond Lake. Paul Murphy, who lives on North Pond, discussed the petition that he had started to keep personal watercraft off North Pond. Murphy said that he has over 50 signatures thus far from people who have lakefront property on Congamond Lake. Murphy also said that he will be starting a second petition that will include anyone that lives in Southwick that doesn’t want to see personal watercraft on North Pond. First reported by the Westfield News on May 26, Southwick Police Chief David Ricardi announced on the department’s Facebook Page on May 18 that there had been a change in the enforcement policy for personal watercraft and jet skis on North Pond. Being the harbormaster for Congamond Lake, Ricardi was informed by the Massachusetts Environmental Police, who control the bodies of water across
the state, told the Chief that since North Pond is considered a “great pond” consisting of three basins connected by channels, North Pond would be an exception to the law. The Environmental Police told Ricardi that the law for personal watercraft was that under Ch. 90 law, the specific part of the lake has to be a minimum of 75 acres. When addressing the situation under public comment, Murphy didn’t agree with the policy that Ricardi decided to use. “Nowhere in the law does it say anything has to be connected,” said Murphy. At the Lake Management Committee meeting on May 25, in which a number of residents living on North Pond voiced their opinion on the policy, the committee announced that they are required by Mass DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) to report on the three bodies of water (North, Middle, South) on Congamond Lake separately. That is the opposite of what Ricardi was told, as the Environmental Police would take the aggregate amount of the acres for all three bodies of water on the lake rather than separately. See North Pond, Page 3
By AMY PORTER Correspondent HUNTINGTON – On Wednesday, June 7 at 6:30 p.m., the Board of Health will vote on whether to raise the transfer station bag sticker prices from $1 to $2, put a maximum size allowed on garbage bags, and reduce the annual transfer station fee from $35 to $30. The purpose of the per-bag increase is to encourage more residents to recycle. “The town’s recycling rate is very low (averaging between 19-22 %) and we at the Board of Health are looking to improve on this,” said Board of Health member Melissa Reid. The price increase was actually voted and passed by the Board of Health at its May 3 meeting, but selectman John McVeigh challenged the vote, citing a violation of open meeting laws. “The problem is that the discussion wasn’t on their agenda and didn’t give taxpayers a chance to voice their opinion on such a drastic change,” he wrote in a memo regarding the violation. Following the challenge by McVeigh, the vote was withdrawn and postings of the new prices taken down from the transfer station. The meeting scheduled and posted for June 7 has the price change discussion on the agenda for 6:30. The meeting begins at 6:00 p.m. in Town Hall.
Westfield Fire Department tentatively adds another firefighter-paramedic By DAN DESROCHERS Correspondent WESTFIELD—The city’s fire department is continuing to gain new personnel after a round of interviews resulted in another candidate being offered a position in the department yesterday. The Westfield Fire Commission interviewed Matthew Mitchell, Ryan Chenevert and Thomas Bosari last night for a vacant firefighter-paramedic position in the Westfield Fire Department, in front of several other Westfield Fire personnel and city officials during a special meeting at city hall. And after the candidates were interviewed and had gone through a prescreening prior to the public meeting, Mitchell was offered conditional employment by the commission. “I’m really thankful and excited to be here,” Mitchell said. “I hope to be a good part of the team.” Mitchell comes from a military and emergency medical See Fire Dept., Page 3
Feelings are Mentionable and Manageable By KIMBERLEY A. LEE, VP Office of Advancement for CHD Fred Rogers, famous as TV’s Mister Rogers, was a gentle, thoughtful man whose unique way of talking about feelings put childrenat ease. When he testified before Congress in 1969 for public support of intelligent TV programming for children, Rogers told the Senate Commerce Committee chairman that “feelings are mentionable and manageable.” These words came to mind when I read results of a new study on depression in children. Published this week in
the journal Translational Psychiatry, it reveals alarming data about the state of children’s mental health in the U.S. Notably, the researchers found that depression in children appears to start as early as age 11, and by the time they reach age 17, 13.6 percent of boys and an astonishing 36.1 percent of girls have been or are depressed. This was a large study involving inperson interviews with more than 100,000 children who participated in the National Survey of Drug Use and Health from 2009 to 2014. The study’s author, Elizabeth Miller, is Director of
the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Miller said that until researchers can get a better understanding of why some people can come out of depression without intervention while others need help, parents, teachers and others who work with children should learn to recognize the signs of childhood depression. What are those signs? According to Nina Slovik, LICSW, Community Based Flexible Supports Clinic See Feelings, Page 3
Matthew Mitchell sitting with the Westfield Fire Commission during yesterday’s interview process. Mitchell was one of three candidates interviewed for the position yesterday.