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WEATHER TONIGHT Mainly clear. Low of 38.
The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com
VOL. 83 NO.103
FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2014
Veterans charity draws scrutiny By David Kennedy Westfield News Intern WESTFIELD – In a world of fraudulent charity organizations and anonymous, digital advertising, you can never be too careful who you donate to, even if your money appears to be going to a good cause. A Westfield resident, who preferred to remain unnamed, recently reported that he received a call from a non-profit identifying itself as the New England Veterans Liberty House (NEVLH). The group was asking for donations. The suggested method of contribution was for the donor to tape an envelope with a check to their front door. The resident decided to donate $50, stating that the organization presented itself as a local charity. The next day, the envelope was gone. On the front steps was a receipt from the NEVLH, listing its office in Methuen, a town north of Boston on the Massachusetts and New Hampshire line. The charity has a website where they have posted their mission statement: “New England Veteran Liberty House is an organization of veterans serving veterans by providing a safety net of life, health and safety services, without cost or wait. We stand behind the ones that stood up for us.” Their only office is listed as being located in Lawrence, a city that shares borders with Methuen. Michael Cunningham, Chairman of the Veterans Protection Committee, a watchdog committee on veteran non-profits, at the Massachusetts Veterans Service Officers Association (MVSOA) acknowledged that they had received a few complaints about the NEVLH in the past couple of years. The committee has helped break up four fraudulent veterans
Westfield Council On Aging partners with Westfield State University’s Movement Science students in putting together an exercise program for older adults. (Photos submitted by Tina Gorman)
On balance, program proves popular By Hannah Y. Meader WHS Intern WESTFIELDThis past Thursday the Westfield Council on Aging held the last class of their six-week exercise program, a collaboration with Westfield State University’s Movement Science Department. Each spring for the last few years the Westfield COA has partnered with Movement Science students in putting together an exercise program for older adults. Each week of the program focused on a different physical activity such as aerobics or strength training, but this year the program’s focus for the entire six weeks was balance. “There’s a push on the state level
to prioritize balance among older adults,” said COA Executive Director Tina Gorman. This year twenty Movement Science students and about twenty seniors participated in the program. The Movement Science students utilize the senior center as a lab to take what they learn in the classroom and turn that into an experience that benefits the community. Students lead the class each week putting together what exercises and routines are involved. The classes usually begin with a warm up in a large group, breaking down into smaller groups at different stations. Participants at each station are provided with a chair and then rotate See Movement, Page 8
Special permit petition reviewed by the Zoning, Planning & Development Committee which attached findings and a dozen condition to the special permit. The committee also required the petitioner, Matthew Rokosz, to submit a professional generated site plan as part of the documentation. The ZP&D Committee meticulously reviewed a special permit petition Wednesday to determine conditions
needed to address public safety issues and to ensure the businesses are operated in an orderly manner. Matthew Rokosz requested the special permit to construct a 35,000-squarefoot storage area secured by a six-foothigh chain-link fence on property owner by his mother, Barbara Rokosz. The See Special Permit, Page 3
Mitchell appointed advancement officer By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Personnel Action Committee presented the nomination of Joseph Mitchell to serve as the City Advancement Officer to the full City Council last night for a confirmation vote. The council approved Mitchell’s nomination by a unanimous 11-0 vote. PAC member Cindy Harris asked Mitchell to distinguish the differences JOSEPH between the City MITCHELL Advancement Officer’s duties and those of the Community Development Director because the job descriptions of the two posts are so similar. Mitchell said the Community Development Director post, currently held by former Ward 3 City Councilor Peter J. Miller Jr., is focused on social See Appointed, Page 8
time and again.” — Henry Miller
75 cents
Worthington bill on Patrick’s desk
See Veterans, Page 3
By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The City Council voted unanimously last night to approve a special permit petition to allow an outdoor storage facility and firewood retail business on a Lockhouse Road property. The council’s vote included a number of documents added Wednesday night
“Like ships, men founder
Florence Koziol looks over Pond Brook on her Holyoke Road property where a vehicle came to rest, almost submerged in the bank-full brook, after a driver operating westbound fell asleep and failed to negotiate a curve. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
Sleepy operator charged By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A Springfield man, and his passenger, ended up wet – and presumably chilled – but suffered no serious injury when he fell asleep while driving. City police responded to several callers Wednesday afternoon who reported, shortly before 5 p.m., that a car had failed to negotiate a curve on Holyoke
Road and was almost submerged in Pond Brook. Officer Sean Smith was the first emergency responder to arrive and reports he found both occupants had exited the 1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse safely. The operator told Smith that he had been tired and said was falling asleep as See Charged, Page 3
By Peter Francis Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD – Outgoing Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick made a visit to Springfield yesterday afternoon to announce a $1.3 million investment from the state to improve Riverfront Park in that city’s North End. Following the announcement and some words from State Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, and former Westfield Mayor, Rick Sullivan, Patrick addressed the media, answering GOV. questions on the current situation PATRICK embroiling the Department of Children and Families and MGM’s ongoing application for a casino in Springfield. Patrick also spoke of the ongoing controversy regarding the home rule legislation filed on behalf of the Town of Worthington, which passed both the House and Senate earlier this week, and would allow the town to unilaterally withdraw from the Gateway Regional School District. Long a proponent of charter schools and regional school districts, Patrick has less than 10 days to either sign it into law, send it back to the legislature, or veto it. “I don’t know much about that one. I tend to support most home rule petitions,” Patrick said. “Frankly, it still surprises me the number of things that have to come through the legislature for a home rule blessing. I’ll look at that one but I don’t anticipate any problems.” That is bad news for the remaining six towns in the Gateway Regional School District, who will now be left to pick up Worthington’s piece of the budget pie should the school venture to another nearby regional district. “His (Governor Patrick’s) staff has told us that they have been inundated with calls (about the situation),” said Derrick Mason of Gateway’s GTAC (Gateway to Ag Careers) Committee today. “They’ve said that their legal department is looking into it and consulting with the DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education). Whether his staff has his ear or not, I don’t know.” “You never know what’s going on in Boston, but we’re doing the best we can to have our voices heard,” he said. The GTAC Committee will be holding a special informational meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at Stanton Hall in Huntington to discuss the current status of the bill.
Gateway City school needs addressed By Peter Francis Staff Writer CHICOPEE – Even steady rainfall couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm coming from the MassMutual Conference Center Wednesday, as educators from western Mass. Gateway Cities met to discuss how to improve their school districts. Gateway Cities are midsize urban centers that anchor regional economies around the state. For generations, these communities were home to industry that Dr. offered residents good jobs and a “gateSuzanne way” to the American Dream. Over the past several decades, manufacturing jobs Scallion slowly disappeared. Lacking resources and capacity to rebuild and reposition, Gateway Cities have been slow to draw new economy investment. Educators and administrators from Chicopee, Holyoke, Springfield, and Westfield convened to hear two panel discussions on building “dynamic community wide learning systems” and “bringing new learning models to scale.” Westfield Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Scallion sat on the first panel, which also included Sally Fuller, project director for the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation; Dr. Adrienne Smith, dean of William Engineering Technologies at Springfield Duval Technical Community College; and Paul Hyry-Dermith, assistant superintendent for Holyoke Public Schools. “The Gateway Cities project has been going on for seven to eight years, and the superintendents met and began to look at the issues of students in the Gateway Cities, because it’s pretty well known that students in these cities have particular needs,” Scallion said. “We have higher numbers of kids that are English learners and kids in poverty.” Scallion stated that the morning’s focus was on areas such as early childhood needs, social-emotional learning, college and career readiness, with she herself speaking on speaking on social and emotional competancy. “Gateway Cities have higher levels of crime and discipline issues that impact learning,” she said. “Kids who are misbehaving aren’t learning, kids who aren’t learning are more likely to drop out, kids who drop out are more likely to be a problem in the community, and kids who are problems are going to cost the city money.” “Even if you’re a cynical, ‘don’t-want-to-pay-taxes’ kind of person, that kid is going to end up costing you $300,000 over the course of their life,” Scallion stated. “A kid that doesn’t graduate from high school and cannot get a job and be self-sufficient is going to have to rely on the support of the community. The way I look at it is that every life is precious. We need to do the best job we can getting kids ready to be self-sufficient.” See Gateway, Page 3