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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
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Two WSU students charged with assault By CHRISTINE CHARNOSKY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Classes hadn’t even begun for the fall semester yet when two Westfield State students were arrested and charged with assault. Each defendant, Ryan S. Willis, 21, of Westfield and Keva M. Clay, Jr., 21 of Wethersfield, Connecticut, was released in lieu of $500 personal surety after being arraigned in Westfield District Court Tuesday. Willis is charged with armed assault in a dwelling and assault and battery with serious bodily injury (accomplice) and Clay is charged with assault and battery with serious bodily injury and armed assault in a dwelling. Police were called to 14 Franklin Street just past 12:30 a.m. Tuesday morning by the victim’s girlfriend who reported a fight outside of the Kellogg House on Franklin Street across from CVS. A female witness told police that she had tried to get Willis, who had arrived with two friends, one identified as Clay, to leave because he wasn’t allowed at 14 Franklin Street. She told police that Willis allegedly pulled out a knife, but after some joking around, put the knife away, according to Westfield Police Officer Melissa Burns’ report. Allegedly Willis brandished the knife again a See Assault, Page 3
— MARGARET MEAD
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2015
VOL. 84 NO. 219
“Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” 75 cents
Water Board rejects condo appeal JACQUET WILSON
City man held on rape charge By CHRISTINE CHARNOSKY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A city man was arrested for the second time in a week and this time is being held on $50,000 cash surety after being charged with rape. Jacquet L. Wilson, 47, was arrested just before 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon near the Tobacco Barn located at 49 Elm Street after the victim told police officers working at the Westfield Rotary Club food fest that she had just been raped and pointed to Wilson, who was in the crowd, as the rapist. The victim and Wilson had been “hanging out at an event in the downtown Westfield area” according to Westfield Police Det. Scott Phelon’s report. Allegedly the victim asked to use the defendant’s bathroom in his Elm Street apartment. Wilson then lead the victim into his bedroom where he allegedly raped her.
“The victim stated she was telling him she did not want to do this and to stop throughout the encounter,” Phelon wrote. Shortly after the incident, the victim told several people what had happened, and they brought her to the police officers working the event to report the crime. Following his arrest, the defendant denied having any sexual relations with the victim and further denied being in the apartment with her, according to court records. Westfield police Sgt. Jeffrey Baillargeon reported seeing the defendant and victim together and seeing them walk towards the defendant’s apartment and watching Wilson open the building door for her, according to court records. Wilson was arraigned in Westfield District Court on Monday at which
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See Appeal, Page 3
Gas Light District changes approved
kitchen. He told police who arrested him, “I got drunk and lost control,” according to court records. Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Michael Russo said Tuesday that the first step in invoking the Valor Act is to delay Dwyer’s arraignment for two weeks. Dwyer has two weeks to report to a Veterans Affairs facility and work out a treatment plan with staff there, Russo wrote in an email. “At the next court date the DA’s office will review the plan, make sure it sufficiently addresses the concerns raised by the allegations against the defendant, and if so, continue the case further for the defendant to follow through on executing his course of treatment,” Russo said. That continuance is usually 90 days, Russo said. The district attorney’s office would continue to monitor Dwyer’s progress during that time to determine what would be the most suitable resolution of the case. A spokesperson for the Veterans Affairs of Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment about how the VA staff work with veterans
By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Water Commission voted Tuesday night to approve two change orders to the water improvements which are part of the ongoing Gas Light District infrastructure upgrade and road reconstruction project. Change orders are submitted to the board to pay for work which was unanticipated when the contract was awarded or for additional work identified, usually by engineers, as the project progresses. City Engineer Mark Cressotti said that Change Order #8 is revenue neutral because the change incorporates several cost avoidance options, such as $50,000 for traffic control and substitutes less expensive options for the underground structures such as valves and gates, changes requested by the Water Resource Department. “There are both savings and new costs so this change order is cost neutral, a zero sum,” Cressotti said. Commission Chairman Ronald Cole said that he could not remember another change order that came with a $0 cost attached. Commissioner Michael Burns said “I like this, we should have more.” That glow of savings was short-lived as the commission members considered Change Order #9, which come as the result of people thinking forward to satisfy future projected
See Valor Act, Page 3
See Changes, Page 3
See Charge, Page 3
State Valor Act may apply to city man accused of rampage By REBECCA EVERETT @GazetteRebecca Daily Hampshire Gazette NORTHAMPTON — The Westfield man who was arrested Saturday after allegedly smashing wine bottles in a restaurant and then smearing his blood through the kitchen of a nearby eatery was not arraigned in court because he qualifies for possible resolution under the state’s Valor Act. The act relative to Veterans’ Access, Livelihood, Opportunity and Resources, also known as the Valor Act, allows veterans who are first-time offenders to work out a treatment plan as an alternative to being formally arraigned, and possibly tried, in court. Dwyer, 32, works at Barnes Municipal Airport in Westfield, according to court documents. He was arrested Saturday night on charges of malicious destruction of property over $250, vandalism, defrauding an innkeeper of more than $100, and disorderly conduct. Police alleged in court documents that Dwyer smashed or damaged 23 bottles of wine with a total value of $1,223 in Mulino’s Restaurant at 41 Strong Ave. and then ran across Pleasant Street to Mimmo’s Pizza, where he allegedly smeared his blood on items in the
By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Water Commission decided not to grant a waiver from a Union Street condo association seeking a waiver from the board’s policy regarding private wells on residential property served by city water. The commission established the policy of prohibiting residents from having both city water and private wells to prevent cross-connections where the well water, of untested quality, could back flow into the city’s water distribution system. The Union Park Condos Association residents had obtained a well permit from the Health Department and were already in the process of installing an artesian well, to provide water for lawn irrigation, when the Water Resource Department issued a cease and desist order. Residents filed an appeal with the Water Commission at the board’s July 14, 2015 session where they were represented by Dave Costello of the MICHAEL Connecticut Valley Artesian Well BURNS SR Company, Inc.. Costello said the company works in 200 communities in both Massachusetts and Connecticut, but that only Easthampton and Westfield have policies prohibiting both city water and wells on residential property.
Board asks Park & Rec to hold off on Whalley Park request By HOPE E. TREMBLAY Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – The Southwick Park and Recreation Commission is considering a request from the Board of Selectmen hold off on a $750,000 Community Preservation Act request The Commission planned to use the funds to complete Phase II of Whalley Park. The plan included additional lighting and a spray park, among other items. Last week the Community Preservation Commission (CPC) made a presentation to the Board about a purchase of land on North Pond. They asked to use nearly $4 million
for the purchase in order to preserve the space in perpetuity. Selectmen where concerned that both projects could not be funded, and because the land purchase must be made by 2016, Selectman Russell Fox said the CPC needed to set a priority. “They called this a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Fox said at the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting last night. Commission Daniel Call said the CPC request finishes Phase II and completes Whalley Park. “So if these things get done, Whalley Park will be done?” said Selectmen Chairman Joseph Deedy.
Commissioner John Whalley and Call both said yes. Fox and Deedy were both concerned with the addition of a spray park. “The water park threw me off because you don’t even have enough people to mow,” said Deedy. He and Fox were worried about maintenance of a spray park and the water bill. Whalley said the cost of a spray park was “a drop in the bucket.” “It’s about $100 a month,” Call said. Call said that the spray park water would be on a timer that would be set off See Whalley Park, Page 3