Heavy rain to compound latest storm woes

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

Local weather experts are predicting a storm system expected to hit the Valley this afternoon will add more than an inch of rain to snow still lingering from a storm Wednesday that left parts of Hampshire County under more than a foot of snow and thousands without power.

Wednesday's storm, which generated a slushy mix for some area residents and more than a foot of snow for others, will be followed by two more systems through Friday that News 22 meteorologist Brian Lapis said will likely cause flooding in some areas.

"Urban flooding is going to be the primary concern with the storms coming our way. There is a very good chance they will drop an inch or more of rain on top of the wet snow that we already have," Lapis said.

The heaviest rainfall, Lapis said, is expected to start this afternoon and last into the evening hours tonight- and with the ground still frozen and snow already piling up, the results could be disastrous.

"The big problem is going to be on Thursday when there is all this leftover snow melting in the rain and there isn't any place for it to go," Lapis said.

On Friday, Lapis expects the next storm system to "stall out" somewhere south of the Pioneer Valley and after pulling in some cold northern air, to produce a light dusting of snow.

"We're going to end up with some light snow on Friday. It won't be a big deal in terms of accumulation, but it is still worth keeping an eye on," Lapis said.

As for this weekend, Lapis said he expects Saturday will be dry and slightly warmer than earlier in the week and will offer locations across the county a much-needed opportunity to dry out.

Edward S. Huntley, director of Northampton's Department of Public Works, said upcoming storms will be countered with a collaborative effort from DPW crews and the city fire department to clear debris from city storm drains - but help from residents is always welcome.

"People keeping their catch basin covers free and clear of all debris is a big help to the department," Huntley said. "When residents chip in with the clearing, it is always a big help."

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.

Alert Northampton officer arrests Hadley man with stolen boat motor

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - When Police Officer Kenneth Kirchner spotted Richard Grise riding his bicycle down Bridge Street early Wednesday morning with a boat motor in his hand, he new something was up.

According to Kirchner's police report, local police know Grise to have a lengthy criminal record, so he figured something might be amiss.

"Due to weather conditions and the time of night, I though it seemed odd," Kirchner wrote in the police report contained in the court documents at Grise's arraignment Wednesday. Kirchner first spotted Grise at 12:46 a.m. Wednesday.

Kirchner followed the bike tracks Grise had left in the snow to the rear of 167 Bridge St., where they led him to a basement window missing several panes of glass, according to court documents.

Hours later, Kirchner found Grise on the bike path off Bates Street with the motor and a lightbulb in his jacket pocket.

After a short foot chase he was placed under arrest for breaking and entering and other charges, according to the court documents. Kirchner reported that once in police custody, Grise admitted to removing glass panes to gain access to the building and was found to be in possession of the boat motor and a lightbulb he removed "to make it harder for people to see him," according to the police report.

In Northampton District Court Wednesday, Grise, 29, of 90 Russell St., Hadley, pleaded innocent to charges of breaking an entering a building during the nighttime for a felony, larceny over $250 and larceny under $250.

Grise has been in Northampton District Court facing charges of breaking and entering seven times since June 2000 and has been arrested for numerous similar incidents in Texas, Florida and South Carolina, according to court documents.

Judge W. Michael Goggins ordered Grise held on $500 cash bail, an amount he did not post Wednesday. He was ordered to return to court March 31 for a pretrial hearing.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.

Stop & Shop, union extende contract talks

By Owen Boss
Staff Writer

Stop & Shop and the union representing some 45,000 store employees are back at the bargaining table this week, after the union contract expired Saturday.

The parties agreed to extend contract discussions through this coming Saturday in hopes that representatives of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union meeting with corporate leaders Tuesday morning would reach a settlement. The union represents 240 stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

But during a break in negotiations Tuesday, Scott Macey, president of UFCW Local 1459, which represents workers at stores in western Massachusetts, called the session "another day of nothing."

"We're discussing changing some language within the contract right now with regard to wages and health insurance, but they still haven't given us any new responses," Macey said.

The union's main gripe with the company's offer, Macey said, is an increase in worker contributions to the health insurance and pension plans and the inclusion of bonuses based on length of employment rather than annual wage increases.

Union members voted to authorize a strike last week.

Meanwhile, Stop & Shop spokeswoman Faith Weiner said all 240 stores would remain open this week.

"All parties have agreed to an extension through Saturday at midnight and these negotiations will continue through the week," Weiner said.

Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover is owned by Ahold USA, a subsidiary of a Dutch company, Royal Ahold. In 2004, the company was formed a merger of Giant Food and Stop & Shop, and is one of the largest supermarket chains on the East Coast.

The company operates stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York and New Jersey.

According to the Ahold Web site, net sales at Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover increased 4.6 percent to $17.9 billion in 2009.

Stop & Shop's Hampshire County locations include stores in Belchertown, Hadley and Northampton. Last month, Easthampton's Planning Board approved an application to build a new supermarket and attached retail space on Northampton Street.

Corporate representatives, Weiner said, will meet again today with UFCW members representing all five local unions. If contract negotiations are unsuccessful, the possibility of a worker strike will be considered, Macey said.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.

Greeney sues former employer for wages, wrongful dismissal

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - The longtime coordinator of Amherst's Not Bread Alone soup kitchen filed a lawsuit against her former employer Monday in Hampshire Superior Court alleging she was wrongfully fired for comments made at an Amherst Select Board meeting last year.

Hwei-Ling Greeney, 51, of 76 McClellan St., Amherst, filed a civil action lawsuit against Center for Human Development Inc., of 332 Birnie Ave., Springfield, seeking $153,166.67 for emotional distress and lost wages, according to the suit.

Jim Goodwin, president of the center, declined to comment Monday because he said "this is the first I'm hearing about this," and he "didn't know anything about the lawsuit."

According to the suit, Greeney, who began her employment with the center on May 28, 1997, as soup kitchen coordinator at Not Bread Alone, attended a Select Board meeting on April 6, 2009, as a volunteer representative of Amherst's Committee on Homelessness.

Soon after, Greeney alleges, she was summoned to a meeting with her supervisor, Laura Reichsman, and Reichsman's superior, Rose Evans, and was told that her comments at the Select Board meeting had offended a town official and jeopardized the center's funding from the town. She was also told, according to the suit, that in order to keep her job she would have to resign from the committee and "no longer speak publicly about any topic." Greeney is a former member of the Select Board.

Greeney claims she asked for time to consider her decision, but was turned down. After telling Reichsman and Evans that she would rather resign that work under the conditions offered, the suit states that the pair told her to go home, write a letter of resignation, and surrender the keys to her office. When she attempted to recant her resignation in a phone call later that weekend, Greeney reported that Evans told her she was fired.

She never submitted a written letter of resignation, according to the suit, which was submitted by her lawyer, Lawrence J. Farber, of Amherst.

Following the April 6 meeting, Amherst Town Manager Laurence Shaffer stated that Greeney's comments at that meeting had no effect on the town's decision in respect to the center's funding, according to court documents.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com

Father-son funeral directors continue family tradition

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - Following in the footsteps of his father, Morgan G. Mitchell, co-director of Mitchell Funeral Home in Easthampton, has taken a seat on the state's Board of Funeral Directors.

Mitchell, 48, of Easthampton, said after he saw his father, Walter B. Mitchell, serve two terms at the post in the 1970's, joining the board became a lifelong goal.

"When your father does something important like that you like to follow in his footsteps, and being appointed today is definitely nice," Mitchell said Friday on the occasion of his swearing-in to the post in Hampshire Superior Court.

"There were a certainly a lot of individuals who served on the board in between us," said Mitchell. "But it is nice to keep the family tradition going."

Mitchell is a fourth-generation funeral director - his family has owned and operated their Park Street funeral home since 1893. Being appointed to the state board is a great honor, as well as a big responsibility, meaning that he will be responsible for overseeing all funeral services licensed in Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin and Berskhire counties.

Applauding Mitchell's appointment, and his more than 30 years of professional experience, were state Rep. John Scibak, D-South Hadley, Hampshire Register of Probate David Sullivan, and state Sen. Michael Knapik, R-Westfield.

The Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers is a five-member board comprised of four in-state funeral directors and one lay person. Board members, appointed by the Governor, are charged with overseeing the licensing of funeral service professionals and their apprentices.

Members of the board are also responsible for inspecting the facilities of licensed embalmers and funeral directors, making sure they follow all health-related rules set forth by local health departments, and responding to complaints from residents of their part of the state.

"We look in on any complaint made by citizens about our local funeral homes and we are the ones who investigate those claims," Mitchell said.

Mitchell, who lives in Easthampton with his wife Kathleen and two children, Lochlyn and Taylor, said he expects having a past board member in the family will be helpful during his first term.

"He will absolutely be a big help," Mitchell said. "I will always have my father to go to."

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.

Bank teller charged with stealing $14,000 from woman, 70

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - When Agnes Ting, 70, noticed thousands of dollars missing from her Bank of America checking account, she never suspected that one of the bank's tellers was stealing from her.

However, after learning that a 21-year-old teller employed at two of the bank's local branches reportedly admitted to taking $14,000 from her account to pay her bills, Ting was shocked.

Claire O. Vukovich, of 14 Center St., pleaded innocent Monday in Northampton District Court to 14 counts of larceny from a person over the age of 60.

On Dec. 14, Ting, of Amherst, said she alerted local police to a series of unauthorized withdrawals from her personal checking account after noticing several thousand dollars missing from her monthly statement.

"I saw on my statement that $3,000 in cash had been taken out of my account somewhere in Easthampton, and I never ever go to Easthampton," Ting said.

Then, Ting said, she was even more shocked when bank officials told her that 11 similar transactions had been recorded in Northampton within the previous month and that they would launch an internal investigation.

"I'm an old lady, and I trust the bank so I wasn't checking my account online," Ting said. "From now on I will go online and check in on it from time to time just to be safe."

After Ting reported the error to police, Detective Corey J. Robinson received an affidavit from Donna MacAdams, senior investigator in the bank's corporate security department, who provided bank records, surveillance photographs and a three-page signed statement from Vukovich in which she allegedly admitted to stealing $14,000 from Ting's account over two months.

Bank records indicated that Vukovich gained access to Ting's account 14 times between Nov. 19 and Dec. 14, taking $1,000 each time. According to records, 11 of the transactions took place while Vukovich was working at the bank's King Street branch office and the other three were committed from behind the counter at the bank's Main Street branch in Easthampton.

"To be honest, if she had taken out $2,000 just one time I probably would have never noticed," Ting said. "If she hadn't gotten so greedy it would have taken longer for me to find out."

In her signed admission, Vukovich reportedly told investigators she had begun stealing from Ting because she had overdrawn her own checking account by $800 and continued to do so over the next two months "because nothing had happened to her in regard to the thefts."

T.J. Crawford, a spokesman for the bank, declined to comment on the case because "it is an ongoing legal issue."

Ting said she has since been issued a new checking account with the bank and all of the missing money has been returned.

Vukovich, who has no prior criminal record, reportedly told police she used the $14,000 to pay bills, according to court documents.

Judge Richard J. Carey released Vukovich on her own recognizance on the condition hat she stay away from and have no contact with the alleged victim. She is scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing March 31.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com

Driver faces oui, unlicensed firearm charges after crash

EASTHAMPTON - A suspected drunken driver was arrested Wednesday evening after police found an unregistered shotgun in his pickup truck while investigating a three-car accident on Northampton Street.

Christopher Traverse, 27, of 160 Main St., Hatfield, faces charges of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and possessing an unregistered firearm, according to Sgt. William Kelly.

At 5:10 p.m., local police responded to the area of 161 Northampton St., for a reported three-vehicle car accident, Kelly said.

"He was just traveling at a high rate of speed and even though he applied his brakes, he slid right into a vehicle stopped at the lights there," Kelly said. The third vehicle involved in the accident, Kelly said, was damaged when the sedan Traverse allegedly hit was forced into the back of the vehicle in front of it.

Although an ambulance was called to the scene, none of those involved in the crash required medical treatment or suffered more than "minor bumps and bruises," Kelly said.

While being questioned by police about the cause of the crash, Traverse reportedly claimed responsibility for an unregistered shotgun inside the vehicle, Kelly said.

"He told us it was inside and that it was his," Kelly said, "but he didn't have an FID card for it."

Traverse is expected to be arraigned in Northampton District Court today.

- OWEN BOSS

First day of trial in Northampton rape case

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - Prosecutors depicting David A. Little as a man who, with a friend, abducted and repeatedly raped a drug-addicted Springfield woman were countered by a defense that argued the sex that occurred was consensual and in exchange for drugs.

The first day of Little's Superior Court trial, which will continue today, provided two very different accounts of an October 2008 incident during which Little, now 32, of Springfield, and Norman Straughn, now 54, allegedly picked up a Springfield woman and drove her to Straughn's Northampton home at 23 Pine Brook Curve, where the pair repeatedly beat and raped her over a two-day period, according to court documents.

For his alleged involvement in the incident, Little faces a single charge of kidnapping and 10 counts of aggravated rape. The jury trial, which is expected to take several days, is being overseen by Judge Mary-Lou Rup and will include testimony from Little, the woman and other witnesses, defense attorney Malcolm Smith said.

Smith, arguing the charges were unfounded, described the alleged victim, as a drug-dependent woman, willing to exchange sex for drugs.

"They all drove together from Springfield to Northampton - that is a 20-minute drive," Smith said. "During that time there was no protest from (the woman), no claim that they were going in the wrong direction."

Smith argued that, while cruising Saratoga Street in Springfield for marijuana, the two men saw the alleged victim walking down the street, and after flagging her down, reached an agreement where the men would give her cocaine in exchange for sex - and it was only after the two men ran out of drugs the next day that the woman left the apartment.

Different view

Painting a much different picture of the night in question was Assistant District Attorney Melissa Doran, who said that, after the woman asked the two men for a ride to her apartment, they instead drove her to Northampton. As a matter of policy, the Gazette does not identify victims of alleged rapes or sexual assaults. She is now 41 years old.

Doran told jurors that Little and Straughn held the woman against her will inside the apartment from about 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. the next day, and that at one point when she tried to leave, Little punched her in the mouth and pulled her hair.

The woman, Doran said, was forced to perform sex acts on both men out of fear of being physically harmed if she did not. After being repeatedly attacked, Doran said, the woman managed to escape the apartment while the two men were arguing, and ran into the parking lot of the nearby Big Y supermarket on North King Street.

The woman then entered several stores looking for change to make a phone call home, Doran said. She noted that a witness in the parking lot told police that two men in a dark-colored vehicle pursued her as she ran away.

Countering her argument, Smith said that, later that day, on her way to receive treatment at Tapestry Inc. on Center Street, the woman passed by the local police and fire stations.

He also said surveillance footage from the stores showed she never approached anyone for change, and he said the two men, who Smith acknowledged followed her through the parking lot, were simply trying to give her a ride home.

Straughn will face trial in Superior Court at a later date on two counts of rape and a single count of kidnapping.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.

No bets but snow likely

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - Weather experts are predicting that the Pioneer Valley, unscathed by two storms earlier this month that left cities along the Atlantic seaboard buried under snow, will find itself once again blanketed in white by the end of today.

Snowfall is expected to begin around 2 a.m. and continue into Wednesday, producing between 2 and 4 inches across most of Hampshire County, according to the National Weather Service.

Although News 22 meteorologist Brian Lapis said residents should be prepared for about an inch of snow on the ground this morning, most of the accumulation is expected to occur later in the day.

"I think that there will be some moderate and some heavy snow during the first half of the day," Lapis said. "It may break up and taper off for a period in the early afternoon, but should last through the day."

Unlike a storm last week that prompted school officials across the commonwealth to cancel classes, Lapis said no cancellations had been sent in to his station as of 7 p.m. Monday.

Husband charged after wife faced night of terror in alleged kidnapping

By Owen Boss and Catherine Baum
Staff Writers

SOUTHAMPTON - Police say a fight between a Springfield couple Sunday night escalated Monday into violence and death threats after David Smith allegedly kidnapped his wife from their son's home before returning to town, where he was arrested in a restaurant.

Smith, 59, broke down in tears as he pleaded innocent Tuesday in Northampton District Court to charges of assault and battery, kidnapping, intimidating a witness, threatening to commit a crime, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (shod foot) and assault to commit a felony.

The incident began Sunday night, when Valarie Smith left a dispute with her husband, David Smith, in their Chipmunk Road home in Springfield to stay at their son's house on Valley Road in Southampton, according to Southampton police.

The couple had been fighting, Smith told police, and he had threatened her repeatedly with a metal pipe.

The next day, as Smith left her son's home, her husband appeared, and when she opened the window of her car, he grabbed her hair, forcing his way into the car, said Southampton Police Chief David Silvernail.

The chief said Smith threatened to kill his wife as he drove them to Brattleboro, Vt., which is where they married and honeymooned some 40 years ago. As they drove, Smith repeatedly confronted his wife about a suspected affair and forced her to empty the contents of her purse between his legs, according to court documents.

"He threatened to shoot her, he said he was going to kill her, he said he was going to blow her head off," Silvernail said. He said police have not recovered a weapon, but Valarie Smith told police that her husband repeatedly gestured as if he had a gun under the left side of his coat.

"She fully believed he had a gun," Silvernail said. "She went along with him and pacified him during the trip just trying to stay alive."

During the ordeal, Valarie Smith made six calls to the couple's adult daughter, Silvernail said, and left the phone line open so her daughter could hear the threats being made. When Smith noticed she was using her cell phone to call for help, he removed the battery and threw it in the back seat, according to court documents.

After she managed to convince her husband that she wouldn't press charges, the couple started back home from Vermont and decided to meet with their son at the Opa Opa Steakhouse and Brewery on College Highway, according to police.

"She did a fantastic job of keeping the issue from getting worse," Silvernail said. "She was under the threat of being murdered by her husband."

While the couple was en route, their daughter, from East Longmeadow, alerted police to the situation. When a plan was made with the couple's son for them to meet him at a local restaurant, he informed the police where they would be.

Silvernail said the arrest was made without incident around 3 p.m. Monday at the restaurant. The attack was the first alleged kidnapping he had seen in Southampton in years, Silvernail said. He applauded local officers who responded calmly to a much more serious situation than they expected.

"I can't think of another circumstance like this that we've dealt with," Silvernail said. "It all unfolded rather quickly. The officer wasn't aware of the whole severity of the situation."

In court Tuesday, Judge Richard J. Carey ordered Smith sent to Bridgewater State Hospital for 20 days, where he will complete a mental health and competency evaluation before his pretrial hearing set for March 3.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com

Police seize cash, marijuana

Arrest follows lengthy surveillance

By Owen Boss
Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON — While arresting a suspected marijuana trafficker, Northampton police say they uncovered a pound of marijuana and more than $25,000 in cash inside a Main Street apartment.

David J. Asinas, 32, of 241 Main St., pleaded innocent Friday in Northampton District Court to charges of possessing a class D substance (marijuana) with intent to distribute and committing a drug violation near a park.

During the last week in January, local police, along with members of the Northwestern District Attorney’s State Police Narcotics Unit, began investigating a suspected drug-dealing operation in Asinas’ third-floor apartment, located across the street from Pulaski Park, according to court documents.

On Wednesday, police reportedly watched as Asinas and an unidentified accomplice attempted to rent an SUV at Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Conn., on two occasions. Both rental attempts were denied because the duo didn’t have a credit card.

Based on information from a confidential informant, the use of surveillance and information gained from the Drug Enforcement Administration, officers believed Asinas and an accomplice were leaving for Chicago, Ill., to purchase “a large amount of marijuana,” according to court documents.

Then, on Thursday morning, police parked outside of Asinas’ apartment and watched as he returned home in a rented Volvo, followed by an alleged accomplice in a rented moving van.

Suspecting that the pair were planning to leave town to make a purchase, state police Sgt. Christopher Wilcox, Trooper John Cummings and Northampton police Det. Peter Fappiano went upstairs to the man’s apartment and the three reported detecting a strong odor of marijuana when Asinas opened his door.

After obtaining a search warrant, police reportedly found $26,000 in cash, about one pound of marijuana, digital scales and assorted packaging materials.

Judge Richard J. Carey released Asinas on $500 bail and he is scheduled to appear in court for a pretrial hearing April 16.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com

'Staging' a house can boost its appeal to potential buyers

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

SOUTH HADLEY - Much more goes into staging a house - that is, getting it ready to show to prospective buyers - than tossing around a couple of throw pillows, adding a few coats of fresh paint and changing the color of the drapes in the living room.

When a homeowner enlists the support of a professional home stager, they are seeking to gain an outsider's perspective on their property and assistance from someone with experience in "setting the mood," a crucial part of any successful sale.

For Laura Dupont of Pioneer Valley Home Staging in Amherst, helping someone sell their house sometimes means letting them down lightly about certain aspects of their home.

"My job is to go in and tell them what I like and what needs to be packed up. I make sure to do it gently, though, so people don't get offended," Dupont said. "But what I tell them is if they end up selling and have to move out, they're going to have to pack it up anyway."

Dupont, who has staged successful home sales across the Valley, said during the recent economic downturn, the demand for home staging professionals has increased as selling a house became more difficult.

"Staging a house is a way of making a property visually attractive and appealing to all kinds of buyers," Dupont said. "It could be a young couple, it could be an older couple, you are just trying to neutralize the house so it shows well, regardless of who the buyer is."

This week Dupont is staging and showing Anne Rothschadl's Cypress Drive home in South Hadley, who had a friend recommend professional help after an unsuccessful open house last fall.

"Last fall I didn't sell so I took it off the market and before I put it back out there, I wanted to make sure to bring someone in to help set it up right," Rothschadl said.

Making it pop

After an initial consultation, Rothschadl and Dupont walked through the house, picking and choosing what was staying, what needed to go, and what Dupont could bring from her own personal furniture collection to spruce the place up.

"What she tried to do was create this sense of color with some window treatments, and we wanted to make sure that theme flowed through the house," Rothschadl said.

Although bringing in new furniture and changing the color of certain walls are typical tasks for homeowners looking to do it themselves, Dupont pointed out that a home staging professional knows what it means to make potential buyers see themselves moving in.

"The point of the whole thing is that you want people to fall in love with the house so when they walk in they can picture themselves living there," Dupont said. "This is what a home stager does, they put those little extra touches that can make the place pop."

Another typical pitfall homeowners run into, Dupont said, is trying to sell a house that is already completely cleared out.

"When you have the place entirely empty what happens is someone is standing there looking at an empty living room and they can't get a relative size for how their furniture is going to look in that space," Dupont said.

The idea, rather, is to bring in pieces of furniture that may not be exceptionally comfortable or a match with the homeowner's taste, but pieces that will accent the room and will appeal to the potential buyer's imagination.

"You want people to love it because they are able to picture their own stuff right in front of them," Dupont said.

Another important goal of any home staging is the depersonalization of the homeowner's space and the removal of some of the items decorating it.

"If someone has a collection of ballet slippers all over the wall, or something like that, it would end up distracting a buyer because they start looking at the owner's stuff instead of the house itself."

And as Dupont would tell any perspective client, home staging is not restricted to the inside of the house, and a lot can be said for working to obtain she calls "curb appeal."

Methods such as landscaping, painting and touching up problem areas outside the house, Dupont said, can go a long way in swaying someone's favor.

"You want to appeal to them right from when they step out of the car," Dupont said. "That is what this is all about."

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.

Easthampton 4th-graders lead the way on statewide math test

By Owen Boss
Staff Writer

EASTHAMPTON - According to the latest results of a new study measuring academic growth based on MCAS scores, math teachers in Easthampton's elementary schools must be doing something right.

In an attempt to draw from more than just overall scores, education officials have begun taking measurements based on a growth model, which compares each student's progress on the MCAS test to that of other students with similar past performance.

The idea behind the new approach, according to Kenneth Rocke, director of the Pioneer Valley District and School Assistance Center, is to track which teaching methods are producing the best results and implement them at schools statewide.

Addressing the School Committee last Thursday night, Rocke explained that as new director of the local assistance center, one of six regional centers being created across the commonwealth, he has been charged with providing technical and leadership support to Level 3 district schools across the Pioneer Valley, of which there are 22.

"We are still in the process of hiring our staff and getting things together," Rocke said. "We will be adding full-time English, math, and literacy specialists soon and we will be working with districts to improve overall performance."

Intrigued by Easthampton

In the process of getting the new center rolling, Rocke and others have begun making 90-minute visits to schools across the Valley to get to know students, faculty and staff. Rocke said he was especially excited to get to Easthampton, where an analysis of fourth-grade math students produced encouraging results.

"When I looked at Easthampton's report before I came by to meet with the superintendent and the curriculum director, I wanted to know if they had been doing anything unusual with fourth-grade math students," Rocke said.

The reason he was excited to ask, Rocke said, was that, when compared with others with similar academic success, local students had outscored almost every other group statewide, and stood alone among schools with a far lower percentage of students from low-income families. An estimated 41 to 50 percent of students in Easthampton schools are considered low-income.

"When we see that the data is saying one thing, and we can confirm that teachers there have been focusing on that subject, that is at least a preliminary indication that those efforts are really causing that increase," Rocke said.

Superintendent Deborah Carter called the growth model's findings "absolutely fascinating."

"This means that of the districts that performed better than students in Easthampton, of which there is a very small number, they are all schools with 20 percent or fewer of their students who come from low-income families."

Rocke said the results show that teachers here are succeeding, and that he has to find out how to take whatever it is that is working in Easthampton and re-create it in schools across Massachusetts.

"Our theory of action is to find things that are working well in schools, analyze what the conditions are that caused that increase in achievement, and advise schools statewide to do more of the same," Rocke said.

The growth model is based on only two years of data. The 2008 growth percentiles were calculated for students in grades 4 through 8 who took MCAS test in the same subject in 2007.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com

'Busted forecast' leaves some pining for snow

By Owen Boss
Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON — From her office window, Anne Nelson has seen more than her fair share of snowfall over the last two weeks, but she was eager for more as a system pummeled her city with another foot Wednesday.

As the snow continued to pile up outside her office, Nelson, 25, formerly of Northampton, fielded phone calls from relatives back home who had recently ducked the two major storm systems that dumped more than 2 feet of snow where she lives in Washington, D.C.

“It is a winter wonderland down here,” Nelson said from her office southeast of Capitol Hill Wednesday, adding that after the storms, she has seen people sledding and snowboarding down the steps of Capitol Hill and others snowshoeing around her neighborhood with their dogs.
“We’ve gotten so much of it that it has made people here come together,” Nelson said. “There is this great sense of camaraderie.”

Meanwhile, up north, Wednesday’s snowstorm, which spurred snow days for the majority of local school systems and the rescheduling of many high school and college sporting events, came and went with no more than a light afternoon dusting and 1 to 2 inches overnight, despite predictions from local weather experts of between 5 and 8 inches.

News 22 meteorologist Brian Lapis said Tuesday night’s prediction for at least 5 inches of snow across the Amherst and Northampton area ended up being a “busted forecast.”

Late Tuesday night Lapis said his equipment began showing signs that the storm would shift farther south than initially predicted, but still anticipated that snowfall would total 4 to 5 inches.

“We were just on the northern fringe of where it was coming down,” Lapis said. “We never ended up with the storm intensity we would have needed to come up with that 6 inches plus.”

For Isabelina Rodriguez, superintendent of Northampton schools, the decision to cancel classes Wednesday was made in the best interests of her students, and in anticipation of much more snow.

“It is one of the most difficult jobs a superintendent has, waking up at 4 or 5 in the morning and trying to look into a crystal ball and decide if the weather forecasted by the weatherman will end up being what they say it will be,” Rodriguez said.

Also choosing to cancel school Wednesday morning was Bob Brick, co-founder and director of the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School in South Hadley, who shared Rodriguez’s concern for the safety of his students.

“It was totally based on safety. In our case we have kids coming to us from all over western Massachusetts, so when you think about the weather, you have to consider the conditions everywhere else,” Brick said.

For Gary Binette, of Easthampton, the low snow total was welcome news, but a canceled school day meant spending the day indoors with two students who would have otherwise been in class.

“It was definitely weird the way it went down, how we didn’t end up with anything,” Binette said. “But I know (the closing) was all about safety.”

Dressed only in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt, Steve Trevathan, of Northampton, pedaled his bicycle past Faces on Main Street Wednesday night and said because he enjoys snowboarding, skiing and sledding, he was “extremely disappointed” by another snub from Mother Nature.

“I walk to work and don’t have a car, so I try to catch a ride with a friend when there is enough snow falling, and I really haven’t had to do that yet this year,” Trevathan said, adding that he blames the lack of snow on global warming. He would have welcomed the opportunity to throw a snowball or two.

Although he hasn’t had the chance to hit the slopes yet this season, Trevathan said he’s hoping for more snow later on in the winter.

In preparation for heavy snowfall and slick driving conditions, local Department of Public Works employees were raring to go Wednesday morning. Many were sent home Wednesday afternoon after very little snow clearing, director Ned Huntley said.

“When we were getting ready for the storm this morning, we got a new weather update that we would be getting 1 to 3 inches instead of 5 to 8,” Huntley said. “We didn’t have to do anything except for a few chemical runs this morning. We sent our guys home this afternoon and they are basically on standby for the rest of the night.”

Huntley said a smaller crew worked into the night Wednesday, doing spot sanding on icy roadways and clearing the 1 or 2 inches that fell locally during the evening hours.
The anticipated snowstorm also provided the city’s first opportunity to use a new parking ban alert system, according to city Parking Director William Letendre, of Florence, who has coordinated its installation.

The fledgling system, which is still being created, uses a series of blue lights attached to traffic lights at intersections leading into the city to notify motorists of an on-street parking ban.

Only two of the system’s six lights were installed in time for the storm, Letendre said, one attached to a pole near the intersection of Pleasant and Holyoke streets; the other where Bridge Street intersects with Hawley and Market.

“We turned on what we had up,” Letendre said. “It is still a work in progress.”

Police and fire departments across Hampshire County were also preparing for a slick commute Wednesday morning, but after all was said and done, only several minor accidents were reported during the evening hours, none of which resulted in serious injuries.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.

Union, Stop & Shop tangle on contract

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

SPRINGFIELD - Negotiations are continuing between Stop & Shop and a disenchanted employee union that maintains the profitable company is "pleading poverty" by offering a contract devoid of raises for the next three years.

Meanwhile, a company representative vows that "a positive conclusion" will be reached by the time the current contract expires next week.

Officials from the supermarket chain sat down with local union members in Springfield Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to hash out the final details on a new contract. The existing contract expires on Feb. 20.

The regional supermarket's estimated 36,000 employees are represented by five separate local unions that meet and negotiate with corporate representatives individually. Jeffrey Jones, member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1459 Bargaining Committee, which represents workers in western Massachusetts, said displeasure with the company's current offer is universal across all five unions.

"The major stumbling block with our negotiations is that you have a highly profitable company that had one of its biggest banner years in terms of profit, and it is turning around and pleading poverty with its workers at the bargaining table," said Jones, who works at the Hadley Stop & Shop.

Stop & Shop's opening offer, Jones said, would provide no new raises for three years, the duration of the contract, as well as no bonuses to employees during the first year of the agreement. The company will distribute bonuses ranging from $100 to $700 in the contract's second and third years, depending on the employee tenure and position with the company.

"I would say our meeting today offered more movement and discussion than there was at our meeting two weeks ago, but there are significant differences between both sides," Jones said, "but we will continue to negotiate until we reach something we're happy with."

Despite hitting snags during the first month of negotiations, the company remains optimistic that both sides will settle upon a compromise before the current contract expires, said Faith Weiner, the company's director of public affairs.

"These contract discussions have been ongoing for a couple of weeks now, and we as a company are totally committed to working with our union members at the bargaining table, and to bringing these negotiations to a positive conclusion," Weiner said.

Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover is owned by Ahold USA, a subsidiary of a Dutch company, Royal Ahold. In 2004, the company was formed by a merger of Giant Food and Stop & Shop, and is one of the largest supermarket chains on the East Coast. The company operates stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York and New Jersey.

According to the Ahold Web site, net sales at Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover increased 4.6 percent to $17.9 billion in 2009.

Stop & Shop's Hampshire County locations include stores in Belchertown, Hadley and Northampton. Last month, Easthampton's Planning Board approved an application to build a new supermarket and attached retail space on Northampton Street.

Corporate representatives, Jones said, will meet again today with members of UFCW Local 919, representing employees at stores in Connecticut. UFCW Local 1459, he said, will reconvene for an unscheduled future negotiation session once both sides have had a chance to review counterproposals exchanged at Tuesday's meeting.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.

Residents brainstorm farm uses

Bean family farmland is shown off Spring Street in Northampton in this aerial shot by Cummington photographer Richard Shepard.">

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - Despite the absence of a final purchase agreement for either parcel, residents came together Monday night to brainstorm ways the Bean and Allard farms could be used for agricultural purposes.

The meeting, sponsored by the Bean/Allard Task Force, came less than a week after the City Council approved the appropriation of $990,000 in Community Preservation Act money to acquire the neighboring farms, located off Spring Street in Florence.

The combined farms amount to 185 acres. The city had originally eyed converting the 45-acre Bean Farm into a combination of recreational fields and farmland, a notion that drew strong opposition from many residents who would rather preserve it strictly for agricultural use.

Last week, councilors approved using $80,000 from the city's CPA reserve account and borrowing an additional $910,000 over 15 years to pay for the two farms, anticipating that the 140-acre Allard farm would provide ample space for both uses.

The Trust for Public Land, which is partnering with the city, is taking the lead in the acquisition and still must negotiate a final agreement with all of the property owners. It is estimated that $2.475 million is needed to buy both farms. The remainder of the money would have to come from a combination of grants and other fundraising efforts.

Prior to public comment, Wayne Feiden, the city's director of planning and development, reminded the 25 residents in attendance that he expects that both deals will be completed successfully but that nothing is written in stone yet.

"There are still a lot of balls up in the air and either one of these deals could fall apart," Feiden said.

The problem with moving forward with planning the parcels' future use without a final purchase agreement, Feiden said, is that those planning the purchase will have to prepare for several outcomes.

After a half-hour formal presentation providing a short timeline of the process until now, the crowd split into several smaller groups and participated in breakout sessions overseen by students of the Conway School of Landscape Design, who have volunteered to help with planning.

Feiden, who said forums with guided breakout sessions often provide the best opportunity for everyone present to have their ideas heard, said he hoped the forum would generate a variety of new ideas to be considered at future meetings.

During the brainstorming sessions, residents discussed potential crops, possible fencing, future greenhouse placement, how to make the land affordable for local farmers, preserving the view of the natural landscape and how to use the land for public agricultural education.

The meeting also featured a presentation by Lilly Lombard, a member of Grow Food Northampton, a group dedicated to preserving local food security, who spoke in favor of preserving a portion of the property for use as community farmland.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us," Lombard said, "and it is so valuable that we really need to stop and consider what we can do."

A deal under consideration for the property calls for the Recreation Commission to own about 24 acres, which could allow for four multipurpose fields and two or three baseball fields. The farms won't be acquired until the task force makes a recommendation, nor will the athletic fields be developed until state or federal money can be obtained. Once the fields are developed, the Recreation Department will likely partner with sports leagues to fund maintenance of the fields.

Under the same agreement, another 10 acres would be permanently protected farmland and designated as community gardens. The balance of the land would likely be a combination of private farmer or community farm ownership.

A similar public forum with a focus on the farms' recreational potential, task force chairman Gene Tacy said, has not yet been scheduled but will be soon.

Additional information on the purchase, slides mapping both farms, and aerial photography of the land is available on the city's Web site at http://www.northamptonma.gov/opd.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com

Broadband efforts continue despite setback

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - Broadband boosters assured Hilltown residents Wednesday they're working hard to make sure their next bid for federal funds will be accepted, following the government's rejection of the state's initial $100 million grant application last week.

Speaking at Northampton High School, Judith Dumont, director of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, assured residents that the institute will learn from its failure and will work to ensure the next application, to be submitted in March, is approved. The institute is a state agency charged with extending affordable high-speed Internet access across the commonwealth.

"We are attending workshops and working with consultants to determine what is desirable in a winning application," Dumont said. "Our mission is to bring broadband to all of the citizens and businesses in Massachusetts but, as you all know, that need is most acute out here, and so this is our absolute first priority."

The federal funding, part of the federal stimulus package, would provide 43 unserved or underserved western Massachusetts towns with broadband.

Dumont reassured the approximately 50 residents in attendance that state legislators recognize the importance of providing broadband access to Hilltown residents because of "all the doors it will open for those communities."

"Having broadband available has a real impact on key economic metrics in these towns, such as increasing employment, increasing local property values and causing businesses to sprout up," she said.

Chris Kealey, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Technological Collaborative, which oversees the institute, said he likes the state's chances of securing funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Agency during a second round of grants in March - when the second two-thirds of funding will be made available.

"It is significant that only a third of the money available was allocated in Round 1, which means there are significant dollars left in Round 2," Kealey said. "We have obviously learned a lot from this process and we are going to aggressively pursue that funding when it is made available again in six weeks."

Following the half-hour-long presentation, several Hilltown residents seized the opportunity to address institute representatives, many of whom said they were there to represent those in their community who struggle to get by without broadband Internet being readily available.

Among the speakers was Peter d'Errico, a Leverett selectman, who urged representatives to "stir up" community involvement in the Hilltowns, because he knew that residents would be more willing to step up and help if they thought their voices were being heard at the state level.

"People in the Hilltowns are ticked off royally about this, and you can either harness that energy and use it, or be one of those who just gets trampled in the process," d'Errico said.

Also advocating for a quick start to the institute's plan of building a $4.5 million, 55-mile fiber-optic network along Interstate 91 from the Connecticut border to the Vermont border was Charles Flynn, director of technology for Lee public schools, who said it would be key to providing future access to smaller towns.

"You have to build the foundation first ... we need to be building that first loop right now," Flynn said. "If we wait much longer, some of us aren't going to see this happen during our lifetimes."

Video of Wednesday's presentation, Dupont said, will be available today at the institute's Web site, http://www.massbroadband.org.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com

Suspected car thieves caught with master keys

By OWEN BOSS
Staff Writer

AMHERST — Last month, police here arrested two Springfield men, one of whom was found to be in possession of Chevrolet and Acura “master keys,” capable of opening almost any vehicle that matched the desired model.

Although the introduction of modern car keys with imbedded computer chips has resulted in a significant drop in the number cases involving car thieves using hand-made master keys, Det. Lt. Ronald Young said it is a continuing problem nonetheless.

Young said making a master key is a time-consuming process, which includes a lot of trial and error for would-be burglars.

“What they do is they get a key that is somewhat common. For example, most of the keys that fit with, say, GM or Ford vehicles, the manufacturers only cut a certain number of keys. So if you drive a Chevy with a relatively standard key, if you go around and try it in enough Chevys, it will eventually work on another car,” Young said. “It is a painstaking process. They file the keys down until they get them so they will work in just about any vehicle. It’s still not going to work in every one, but they can get it pretty close.”

Two of the alleged thieves, Gabriel Y. Correa, 18, and Juan Enriquez, 29, both of Springfield, pleaded innocent in Eastern Hampshire District Court to charges of leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, and using a motor vehicle without authority. Correa also pleaded innocent to two charges of possessing a motor vehicle master key, and Enriquez pleaded innocent to additional charges of possessing a class E substance (suboxone), and carrying a dangerous weapon (knife).

On Jan. 4, at 1:27 a.m., police reportedly stopped Correa and Enriquez on foot as they were leaving Alpine Commons, a Belchertown Road apartment complex that had been the target of numerous break-ins over the college winter break. After giving police false names, police officer Nicholas J. Chandler followed two sets of footprints the pair left in the snow to a black Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, which had been abandoned after being crashed into a sign post, according to police.

After running the plates, police found the crashed vehicle was registered to Correa’s mother’s fiancee, and officers Hunter J. Guiles and Scott E. Gallagher waited outside a nearby house that the two were seen walking into, according to police. When the duo attempted to leave the home several hours later, police initiated a traffic stop and found that both Correa and Enriquez had active warrants for their arrest.

During booking, the soles of the men’s shoes were found to match the pattern left in the snow leading away from the crashed vehicle, and Correa was in possession of two modified keys, one suited to fit most Acura models and the other for Chevrolets, according to court documents.

Sgt. Andrew Trushaw, of the Northampton Police Deparment, said he hasn’t noticed a recent increase in master-key type thefts, but remembers a time during the 90’s when thieves would walk around the city with loops of car keys, trying as many as it took to get inside.

“They would get in and just try, try, try until something worked,” Trushaw said.

The use of so-called “master keys,” Young said, was much more common in decades past, before the introduction of touch-start vehicles and more technologically advanced keys. Although he said his department hasn’t seen a sudden resurgence in the method, local car owners should be wary of their existence.

“It’s an older problem, but it is still a problem,” Young said.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.

Toyota says fix on the way

Dealers expand service hours

By Owen Boss
Staff Writer
and The Associated Press

NORTHAMPTON — Toyota’s announcement Monday that dealerships should get parts to fix a sticky gas pedal problem by the end of this week was music to the ears of two area dealers who continue to apologize to their customers and hope to bring to an end a recall that has affected 4.2 million vehicles worldwide.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it has begun shipping parts and is training dealers on the repairs. Some dealers, including those in Northampton and Greenfield, said they will begin staying open around the clock to fix cars and trucks affected by the recall as soon as parts are available.

“We have made arrangements with our technicians here and let them know that we are going to stay open every night and work on Saturday and Sunday until we get these cars fixed,” said Jeffrey Holmberg, general manager of Toyota of Greenfield.

Technical bulletins on how to install the new parts should arrive at dealers by midweek, the company said in an email. It was not clear exactly when repairs would start, although dealers have said they’ll begin as soon as possible.

“Everyone at all of our dealerships will be on board with expanding their service hours for these repairs because we want to get car owners’ confidence back. We want them to know that they have a good car ... that’s what we are gearing up for,” said Tim Cardillo, general manager of Lia Toyota, on King Street.

Cardillo also said he was pleased to find out that repairing defective gas pedals is expected to be a relatively simple task, and shouldn’t take technicians very long to rectify.

“They will be sending parts to dealers starting today and our local managers will probably start to see those by the end of the week,” Cardillo said. “There is speculation that the repair will take about 30 minutes or less, which is great news.”

Engineers traced the problem to a friction device in the assembly that is supposed to provide the proper pedal “feel” by adding resistance, Toyota said in a statement.

The device has a shoe that rubs against a nearby metal surface during normal pedal use. But wear and environmental conditions can over time cause the pedals to not operate smoothly or, in rare cases, stick partially open.

The company said a steel reinforcement bar will be installed, reducing the friction.

The recall in the U.S. includes the 2009-10 RAV4 crossover, the 2009-10 Corolla, the 2009-10 Matrix hatchback, the 2005-10 Avalon, the 2007-10 Camry, the 2010 Highlander crossover, the 2007-10 Tundra pickup and the 2008-10 Sequoia SUV. It also has been expanded to another 1.9 million vehicles in Europe and China.

Toyota said that not all the models of Camry, RAV4, Corolla and Highlander listed in the recall have the faulty gas pedals, which were made by CTS Corp. of Elkhart, Ind. Dealers can tell which models have the CTS pedals. Models made in Japan, and some models built in the U.S., have pedal systems made by another parts supplier, Denso Corp., which function well.

All Matrix, Avalon, Tundra and Sequoia models covered by the recall have the faulty pedals.
Local Toyota owners with questions, Cardillo said, should call the company’s customer care center toll-free at 1-800-331-4331.

The automaker also said Monday it would suspend production of eight U.S. models affected by the recall this week, with factories restarting next Monday.

Toyota suspended sales of the models last week, but spokesman Mike Michels said dealers can begin selling the cars as soon they are fixed. However, cars already on the road will be the dealers’ first priority, he said in an email.

Jim Lentz, president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Sales, said in the statement that nothing is more important than customer safety.

In a video clip released by the automaker, Lentz said he wanted to “sincerely apologize to Toyota owners. I know that our recalls have caused many of you concern and for that I am truly sorry.”
“Toyota has always prided itself on building high-quality, durable cars that customers can depend on and I know that we’ve let you down,” Lentz said.

Lentz, in an interview on NBC’s “Today,” said the automaker was “confident that we have the fix” for the gas pedal system. He said the company first developed a report on the problems in late October, and he denied that Toyota had delayed addressing the problem.

“I drive Toyotas. My family members drive Toyotas ... I would not have them in products that I knew were not safe,” Lentz said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told Toyota last week that it was satisfied with the repair plan. Legally, Toyota did not need NHTSA’s approval, but the company would be unlikely to proceed without the government’s blessing.

Owners are expected to receive information by mail beginning this week. The company will cover all repair costs.

The pedal recall is separate from another recall involving floor mats that can bend and push down accelerators on certain Toyota and Lexus models. The two recalls combined affect more than 7 million vehicles worldwide.

Toyota said Monday it is in the process of recalling vehicles to fix the floor mat problem. Some of its cars are affected by both recalls, and the company said it intends to fix both problems at the same time.

The repairs will not bring an end to public scrutiny on how Toyota handled the problems.
The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is launching an investigation. It has scheduled a Feb. 10 hearing titled “Toyota Gas Pedals: Is the Public at Risk?” and asked Yoshi Inaba, chairman and CEO of Toyota Motor North America, to testify.

Police: Man crushes brother’s leg with snowmobile

By Owen Boss
Staff Writer

BELCHERTOWN — A suspected drunken driver lost control of his snowmobile Sunday afternoon during a fishing derby on Lake Metacomet and struck his brother while he fished, sending him to the hospital with a shattered right leg, police said.

Richard E. Giverson, 35, whose address was listed as 9.5 Metacomet Road, Belchertown, pleaded innocent Monday morning in Eastern Hampshire District Court to charges of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, resulting in serious injury, and negligent operation of a motor vehicle.

On Sunday at 4:20 p.m., while racing his unregistered snowmobile across the frozen surface of Lake Metacomet, Giverson reportedly struck his brother, Adam Giverson, 31, while he was participating in a Tri-Lake Association- sponsored fishing derby, according to court documents.

Police said that Giverson said he tried to stop the snowmobile as he approached a large group of people but couldn’t.

Following the accident, Giverson reportedly admitted to drinking several beers before driving and failed several field sobriety tests that he agreed to take, police said. The state Environmental Police, who helped with the investigation, took custody of Giverson’s snowmobile so they could test it for any mechanical problems, police said.

Adam Giverson was in good condition at Baystate Medical Center Monday, according to a hospital spokesman. Judge William Hadley scheduled Giverson to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on Thursday.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com

Newspaper rapped for unwanted deliveries

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - The Republican Extra, a weekly advertising supplement packaged in a purple plastic bag that is left on the sidewalks, front lawns and driveways of thousands of city homes every Wednesday, is being illegally distributed by a third-party company, according to city officials.

City Council President David Narkewicz, a longtime member of the city's ordinance commission, said he began reviewing the newspaper's distribution method after receiving numerous complaints from residents of his ward who were tired of seeing the supplements littering their neighborhood.

"I started receiving complaints about this several weeks ago, including several from people who live right on my own street," Narkewicz said. "Frankly, this is annoying to me, too. I don't subscribe to the Republican, but once a week these purple bags show up in my driveway."

Through his research, Narkewicz said he found that the company's distribution method was in clear violation of City Ordinance 272-3, one that restricts the placement of playbills, posters, notices, advertisements or printed papers of any description or medium on public or private property within the city. The only exceptions to the rule, according to the ordinance, are newspapers sending editions to their purchasers.

"If I subscribe to the Republican or the Gazette and someone comes by to throw my newspaper on my front doorstep, that is not considered litter, but that's not what this is," Narkewicz said.

On Dec. 10, Narkewicz met with City Engineer James R. Laurila, the designated enforcement agent for the ordinance, and together they sent a notice to Frederick F. Fedesco, vice president and general manager of the Springfield newspaper, notifying him of the problem and warning of a $100 fine levied for each violation.

"This correspondence is sent to notify the Springfield Republican of these violations of the anti-litter ordinance and to provide an opportunity for you to make changes to the way in which these advertising supplements are distributed. A response to this letter is requested outlining actions to be taken to comply with this ordinance," the letter read.

Narkewicz said since that time, officials at the newspaper have committed to modifying the delivery system being used by the subcontractor they've hired to distribute the supplements, possibly by hanging them on doorknobs rather than leaving them on sidewalks, driveways and doorsteps.

"It is my understanding that they have until this coming Wednesday to remedy the problem," Narkewicz said. "That had been the plan to my knowledge."

Repeated efforts to contact Fedesco for comment were unsuccessful Friday.

"The other piece of this, separate from the issue of having stuff strewn all over city sidewalks and driveways, is being in communication with the Republican about having some kind of an #opt-out mechanism,' because there are people who just don't want to receive it, period," Narkewicz said.

Residents react

Barbara Dubeck, of Massasoit Street, said she decided to publish a letter to the editor in the Jan. 24 edition of the Daily Hampshire Gazette as an open notice to area residents looking to cease delivery of the supplement after hearing from several neighbors who called repeatedly without results.

"This isn't even the newspaper. This is an advertising supplement that is being thrown onto every single property on Massasoit, and my street is not the only one being affected by this," Dubeck said. "Why is the Republican allowed to make the assumption that people want it?"

Another area resident working to stop the supplements from littering his neighborhood is Rich Winnick, 63, of Washington Avenue, who said he picks up as many as 30 unwanted bags every week when he takes his dog for a walk.

"I just got back from taking our dog for a walk and I can tell you there was a house on Washington Place that had four of these damn things sticking out of the snowbank melting on their front walk," Winnick said. " Every time I see one that has been lying around for more than a couple of days I bag it up."

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.