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Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
“To be proud and inaccessible is to be timid and weak.” — Jean Baptiste Massillon
www.thewestfieldnews.com WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2014
VOL. 83 NO.170
75 cents
Westfield man dies while scuba diving By Peter Francis Staff Writer MARBLEHEAD, Mass. (AP) — Rescue crews off the coast of Marblehead recovered the body yesterday afternoon of a scuba diver who had been reported missing since yesterday morning. Authorities say a 58-yearold Westfield man, whose identity was confirmed this morning to be that of Gregory Cole, had died while scuba diving off the coast of Marblehead. The Essex district attorney’s office said the victim was scallop diving off a moored boat with two other people. The operator of the boat notified See Westfield Man, Page 7
Members of the Massachusetts State Police dive team prepare to enter the waters off the Marblehead coast to aid in the search for a scuba diver first reported missing around 10:30 a.m. yesterday. (Photos by Kirk R. Williamson/ Marblehead Reporter)
Members of the Massachusetts State Police dive team prepare to enter the waters off the Marblehead coast to aid in the search for a scuba diver first reported missing around 10:30 a.m. yesterday. (Photo by Kirk R. Williamson/ Marblehead Reporter)
Crane new Gateway school board chair By Peter Francis Staff Writer HUNTINGTON – The Gateway Regional School District School Committee is shuffling the deck this summer, as committee member Michele Crane of Blandford has been selected as the new chairwoman. Crane was approved as chairwoman at the committee’s last meeting on July 9. She will preside over a district in flux, as it will now be officially be losing the town of Worthington, a longtime member of the school district. Crane takes over for Gretchen Eliason of Worthington, who relinquished the position for personal reasons, citing time commitment concerns. “Every year we reorganize the board, because the terms are for a year,” said Crane. “She (Gretchen) decided not to run and I was the only person nominated for chair.” “We did our rearranging of the board and committees. We have a few things up in the air, because not everyone was there,” said Crane. “So next meeting, we’ll be able to solidify who is on what subcommittee.” Crane said that Martha Otterbeck of Chester was appointed by the committee as vice chair, but wasn’t able to attend the meeting. Crane See Crane, Page 7
City’s worst roads to be addressed
Jim Middleton, a computer technician for the Town of Southwick, upgrades a group of computers that are used at the Southwick Public Library for interfacing with the new Central Western Mass Automated Resource Sharing ( C/W MARS ) conversion. The conversion is part of a network of computers what will now connect the Southwick Library with computers in libraries located in western and central Mass. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
Southwick Library fully joins automated sharing network By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – Patrons of the Southwick Public Library will soon have quick access to 120 libraries in western and central Massachusetts. Library Director Anne Murray said the library is in the process of transitioning to the C/W MARS system, which is the
Central and Western Massachusetts Automated Reserve Sharing network. The library has been an online part of C/W MARS for 20 years but had limited access to the 120 libraries in the network. Last year, C/W MARS decided to terminate the online option. see C/W MARS, Page 3
Worthington starts organizing district By Peter Francis Staff Writer WORTHINGTON – On July 7, the town of Worthington, a member of the Gateway Regional School District for over 50 years, voted to withdraw from the district, necessitating the need for the formation of their own school committee this fall. After being emboldened this spring by the state legislature passing a home rule bill filed by Representative Stephen Kulik (D-Worthington) allowing Worthington to unilaterally withdraw, residents of the town voted 185-36 to depart from Gateway. The vote passed at the R.H. Conwell Community Education Center, a building which was closed by the district in 2010 and one that residents hope to reopen again as a public elementary school in 2015. Over the past four years, the school has remained open as a private elementary school thanks to the efforts of town residents, most notably musician Aaron Lewis and his foundation, It Takes A Community. “I’d say it was pretty good. It was positive and it was all for good reasons about why we wanted to have an elementary school in town,” said Worthington finance committee member Tom Wisnauckas of the vote. “We want to
have a local elementary school in our town.” Of the 141 total K-12 students living in Worthington, only 48 students currently attend Gateway schools, with the rest school-choicing out. A tentative agreement has been reached between the town and the Westhampton-based Hampshire Regional School District, which is set to begin educating Worthington students in grades 7-12 in 2016. Students from the town who still wish to attend Gateway Regional High School may do so through school choice. Wisnauckas said a meeting was held Monday evening to begin the formation of the town’s own DESE-mandated education plan. “We were putting the final touches on our plan and getting the final draft together to send to DESE the first week in August,” said Wisnauckas. “We will not be a member of the Hampshire Regional district. We will tuition our older students into Hampshire Regional.” A special election will be held on September 20 to choose who will be serving on the new district’s five-member school committee. The committee will consist of one three-year term, two twoyear terms, and two one-year terms. “For the first time through, we’ll have staggered terms, and then afterwards
they’ll be three-year terms,” he said, adding that several candidates are already considering tossing their hats in the ring. “I know we’ve got at least five candidates, and there may be a sixth, so we may have some competition.” Wisnauckas said. “The selection of a superintendent would be part of the tentative agreement with Hampshire Regional. We could hire our own part-time super and part-time secretary, but it’s financially better and more organized to contract that part out of what we need to do with Hampshire Regional.” “I’d hope – especially at the elementary level – that kids will remain in town. At the meeting on July 7, there were a combination of parents with young children who aren’t in school yet to parents whose kids are in school,” he said. “We hope the young kids stay and older kids, we already have some going to Hampshire Regional. So we’re already spread out as it is. It’s up to the parents.” Wisnauckas is hopeful that Lewis can remain involved. “They’ve made gestures that they’ll still help out a bit, but I cannot speak for them,” he said. “The town is very grateful for what they’ve done over the last several years to keep the school (R.H. Conwell) going, not just with concerts but also through personal funds.”
By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The city has a firm date to begin the repair of several of the city’s roads most damaged by weather, especially this past winter when the freeze-thaw cycle, which usually starts in March, this year began in January. That cycle requires daytime temperatures to rise consistently above freezing, causing snow and ice to melt. The water flows into cracks in the pavement and freezes at night. Water expands as it freezes, slowly opening the cracks more and more. Priority is being given to the streets most damaged this past winter: Shaker Road, Springdale Road and City View Road. Shaker Road will be repaired and repaved from the Shaker Farms Country Club to Falley Drive, while Springdale Road will be milled and repaved between Holyoke Road and Union Street. The section of City View Road between Southwick Road and Valley View Drive will also be milled and repaved. Department of Public Works Deputy Superintendent Casey Berube said this morning that the city is using the one-time state “pothole funds” to repair and repave those three roads. The state has allotted the city $180,000 for a pothole grant, money that must be expended before September, as well as $1 million from the FY 15 Chapter 90 allotment to the city, which became available on July 1, the start of the 2015 fiscal year, to continue road improvements throughout the summer. See Worst Roads, Page 3
Checkpoint scheduled By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Motorists will be well advised to drive sober on Thursday when state troopers will be active somewhere in Hampden County checking for impaired drivers. According to a prepared statement by Col. Timothy P. Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, a ‘sobriety checkpoint’ will be established Thursday at one or more sites on public roadways in the county and will continue into Friday morning. Alben said that the purpose of the checkpoint operation, which is funded by a grant from the highway safety division of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, is “to further educate the motoring public and strengthen the public’s awareness to the need of detecting and removing those motorists who operate under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs from our roadways.” State police have operated such checkpoints around the Commonwealth for years and have issued notices identifying which county is scheduled in order “to reduce fear and anxiety” among motorists when they encounter the checkpoints. Alben’s announcement states that the checkpoint will be operating at various times and the selection of vehicles to be checked will not be arbitrary. He promises that safety will be assured and said that inconveniences to motorists will be minimized.