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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2014
VOL. 83 NO. 85
— Tallulah Bankhead
Search for new president ready to begin
Flowers on display at Westfield Home and Garden.
Spring has sprung for gardeners By Hannah Y. Meader WHS Intern WESTFIELD – As the warmer weather begins to appear and with Easter and Mother’s Day right around the corner, this is an ideal time to test soil and prepare beds to make way for a new spring garden and a beautiful lawn. The first necessity is raking and removing lawn thatch. Removing the buildup of dead grass, leaves and twigs is beneficial in the long run for the health of the lawn and garden. “Removing the thatch allows for better water and fertilizer penetration,” said Brian Kelly of the Westfield Home and Garden.
In addition to preparing the lawn, one can start churning the soil in the garden. If the ground is not frozen, churning the soil starts to warm it up in preparation for planting things as trees or perennials. “You just have to dig at it,” said Westfield Home and Garden employee Adrian Kunz. “The raking and churning is like a sort of rotary tilling”. There is also the question of synthetic versus organic products. “If you research and follow through they can
Maps created for Southwick Rail Trail By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – This season, riders and walkers along the Southwick Rail Trail will be able to better orient themselves. The Friends of the Rail Trail have created maps for the kiosks on the Southwick portion of the trail that will be hung Saturday at 10 a.m. beginning with the Miller Street trail parking lot.
Parks and Recreation Commissioner Daniel Call said the commission offers brochures about the trail, which includes a map and its history, but there is nothing along the trail itself. “For someone on the trail who is not from the area, they may say ‘Where am I?’ and the maps include a ‘You are here’ marker,” said Call. The map includes directions north to
Westfield and south to Farmington, Conn. Call said the maps are the first in a series of posters the Friends group designed. “There will be another poster with some history and I believe there will be a smaller map that marks local businesses so if someone wants to go into town for something to eat or to shop, they will know where to go,”
questions unanswered.” Jacques said that the six remaining town select boards in the district are looking to write to their legislators suggesting amendments to the bill in hopes that it can be more equitable for all the district’s remaining communities and Worthington. “This could end up convincing the other six towns that this is the best thing or it could end up convincing Worthington to stay,” he added. “But until you go through this process and do due diligence, there is not enough information. The language we’re suggesting includes a review for the plans of Worthington and the other six towns, which are part of the DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) regulations.” Jacques, who was selected as an additional liaison for the communities during this process, then read a
WSU alum offers $100K with conditions
regulation from the DESE regarding reorganization. “Those procedures require a reorganization needs conference and a long-range education plan of the department review, and we think the best way to do this is to have an independent board entity to kind of shepherd us through this, to mediate this,” Jacques said. “I’m asking the school committee to consider writing a letter that would essentially support an amendment that would encourage a thorough understanding and review of the process.” Committee Chair Gretchen Eliason of Worthington stated that the Committee couldn’t get involved because of votes they took in January to not send Superintendent Dr. David Hopson to the community to present the proverbial olive branch.
By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD — A Westfield State University alumnus has offered to create a $100,000 student scholarship fund if ex-president Evan Dobelle drops his lawsuits against the school. John Walsh, owner of skin care company Elizabeth Grady Co., says Dobelle will accept the offer “if he has the best interests of students at heart.” Walsh said at yesterday’s trustees meeting that he wanted to start a scholarship fund last year, but lost confidence in Dobelle’s leadership amid state investigations into his spending on travel, hotels, restaurants, limousines and other items. Dobelle, who resigned in November, defended the spending as necessary to promote the school. Dobelle sued, saying he was forced out. Walsh says legal fees are “bleeding the school.” Dobelle’s lawyer calls Walsh’s offer is a “silly PR stunt.” Walsh was born in Cambridge and raised in public housing projects in Somerville, just a short T ride from Boston. He graduated from high school in 1973 and enrolled at Westfield State in 1975, but had to leave after two years, only to return and receive his bachelors degree in Liberal Arts in 2009. He started at Elizabeth Grady as a salesman, and credits WSU for his life’s many successes, which are now branching out to industries like film and real estate. “It was the greatest experience of my life coming here,” he said. “It’s totally changed my
See Gateway, Page 3
See Donation, Page 3
See Rail Trail Map, Page 3
School Committee declines writing letter averted. “My understanding is that they’re going to be working on amendments to the legislation, just kind of a first step along the way,” said School Committee member Ruth Kennedy of Russell. After hearing impassioned cases from Montgomery Selectman Dan Jacques and Huntington Selectman John McVeigh, who read a vitriolic statement at the start of the meeting about treatment he’d received from the school district regarding screening for his daughter, the committee neglected to even put forth a motion on the matter, much to the dismay of many in attendance. “Right now the way the bill is written, it talks about the educational plan of Worthington and that is it,” said Jacques. “It was done that way because it’s home rule legislation, when in fact, it impacts all the towns and leaves a lot of
By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Last night, Westfield State University’s board of trustees took the first step in officially putting the Evan Dobelle era behind them by appointing trustees Steven Marcus and Tirrell Hill to serve on the board’s Presidential Search Committee as chair and vice chair, respectively. Marcus and Hill were selected following a motion put forth by the board’s vice chair, the Hon. Elizabeth Scheibel, and will return to the board with their recommendations at the next board meeting on June 26, aided by guidelines from the Commonwealth’s Department of Higher Education. Following the meeting, Hill, a 1992 graduate of then-Westfield State College and current principal of High School, Inc. in Windsor, Conn., deferred comment to committee chair Marcus, the President/ CEO of New England Geriatrics and a 1988 Westfield State grad. “I believe we’re going to make a great team,” Marcus said of working with Hill. “His experience as an educator, a principal and a headmaster, and mine as a CEO and president, will help us come together to find the best candidates.” Marcus added that he is both “psyched” and “honored” to have the opportunity to be such a crucial part of the selection process. “Our next leader will bring us to where we need to go,” he said. “This is a great institution, and we will pick the best leader for it. It’s going to be exciting.” Westfield State’s Vice President for Academic Affairs Elizabeth Preston is currently serving as interim president until a permanent replacement is found. The next board meeting will also mark the final meeting for board chair John Flynn III and student trustee Stone Koury. The board also received word yesterday of the resignations of trustees Christel Ford-Berry and Joseph Carvalho, who cited health concerns and personal business endeavors as reasons for his departure.
See Gardeners, Page 8
See Traffic Info, Page 3
By Peter Francis Staff Writer HUNTINGTON – Posters for Gateway Regional High School’s spring musical “Much Ado About Nothing” plaster the walls of the Huntington school. Yet at a meeting of the Gateway Regional School Committee Wednesday night, when the issue of reopening dialogue with the Town of Worthington entered the conversation, “much ado about nothing” was exactly what was made. After just receiving word from the office of State Senator Benjamin B. Downing (D-Pittsfield) that the Worthington Home Rule bill would be moving forward in the Senate next week, residents from the school district’s member communities urged the School Committee to reopen talks with Worthington in hopes that their pending withdrawal could be
be strongly wrong than weakly right.”
75 cents
Mass. drivers get real time traffic info By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts drivers should soon have a little extra help navigating the state’s traffic hotspots. Transportation officials are preparing to launch a new, $17.5 million project to place 132 automated travel time signs on roadways across the state. The federal government will pick up the bulk of the tab. Officials planned to flip the switch on the first permanent signs on Route 6 on Cape Cod on Friday and will expand statewide, wrapping up by the end of 2015. Drivers are already familiar with the temporary version of the signs. There are currently about 66 of the portable signs positioned on roads across Massachusetts. The signs anonymously track Bluetooth-enabled devices carried by motorists and their vehicles in real time to estimate how long it takes to travel between two locations. The system complies with new federal legislation that requires real time traffic information be provided to the public. The signs flash those travel estimates in digital displays, which are constantly updated by the technology. “This is literally the phones talking to the signs,” said state Transportation Secretary Richard Davey. The state has dubbed the new system “Go Time.” Davey said the system will help motorists by giving them
“I’d rather