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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com
— Fiona Shaw
MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2014
VOL. 83 NO. 69
State Trooper refutes woman’s claim By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A sobbing woman telling a state trooper that her father had verbally abused her and her husband stopped crying abruptly when the trooper told her that he had been with her father at the time she claimed he was yelling a her. State Trooper Michael A. Leahy reports that he had been dispatched to 127 Chester Road in Blandford to serve a protective order on Jared Pezzuto who had been enjoined from abusing his father-in-law who lives at the same address. Leahy reports in a court document that after he explained the terms of the order and Pezzuto agreed not to bother his father-inlaw he then went to tell the plaintiff that the order had been served. Leahy reports that as he was leaving, with Trooper Justin Robeson, he decided to speak again with Pezzuto to point out the complication which might arise since the defendant and plaintiff share a common garage. He was met by Puzzuto’s wife, Tammy, who was crying “and stated that her father had been yelling at them and threatening them through the garage.” The trooper learned moments later, when his desk officer contacted him by radio, that the woman had called the barracks to claim that her father had come to the garage “yelling I told you I was going to get you” at her and her husband “as soon as they (the troopers) left.” Apparently she had not realized that the troopers had not left but had gone to speak with the man she claimed had been yelling at them. Leahy reports “When we informed Ms. Pezzutto that we had not left her tears and upset behavior stopped.” He notified his desk officer that the report had been false and a criminal complaint charging Pezzuto with making a false report to the public safety dispatcher was filed. She was arraigned in Westfield District Court Friday before Judge Philip A. Contant and was released on her personal recognizance pending a May 29 hearing.
“Even when they have nothing, the Irish emit a kind of happiness, a joy.”
75 cents
Council sends Paper Mill petition to Legislature St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Gallivan Award winner Karen Casey from Westfield with her family, Alyssa, Amy & husband Jim. See additional photos Page 5. (Photo by Jayne Mulligan)
SOE Colleen Grand Prize float. (Photo by Jayne Mulligan)
Fisher misses ballot By BOB SALSBERG Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Delegates to the Republican state convention strongly backed Charlie Baker for their party’s gubernatorial nomination on Saturday, and conservative tea party member Mark Fisher just barely missed receiving enough support to force a contested GOP primary. “It’s time for a new direction, one in which taxpayer’s interests are first and special interests are last,” Baker said in a speech to the roughly 2,500 delegates at Boston University’s Agganis Arena.i The former chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care was the party’s standard-bearer in 2010, losing to Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick in the general election. Patrick is not seeking a third term. The GOP is hoping to make inroads in Massachusetts, where it currently holds no statewide offices, no seats in the state’s congressional delegation and is outnumbered about 5-to-1 in the Legislature. Baker received 82 percent of the 2,500 delegates, while Fisher finished with just less than 14.8 percent, according to GOP
Chairwoman Kirsten Hughes. Fisher needed 15 percent of the delegates to force a primary. “14.765 is not 15 percent,” Hughes said when asked whether Fisher would be allowed on the ballot. Fisher was not seen on the floor after the vote and a message left with a campaign spokeswoman was not immediately returned. Fisher, making his first run for political office, had looked to cobble together enough disaffected conservatives to force a primary against the more moderate Baker. “You don’t have to guess where I stand on the issues,” Fisher told delegates before the vote. “You know that I am a full platform, no excuses necessary, loyal and proud conservative Republican. I am not ashamed of our state party platform.” Fisher was referring to a socially conservative platform adopted last month by a majority of the 80-member Republican State Committee. The platform declared that “every
By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The City Council unanimously approved two pieces of legislation Thursday sending the home rule petition to accept Paper Mill Road as a public way to the state Legislature for further action. The City Council initiated a home rule petition process in November seeking authorization from the state legislature to “consider Paper Mill Road to be a public way” to facilitate a road improvement project. Ward 6 Councilor Christopher Crean sponsored petition to the state Senate and House to accept Paper Mill Road as a public way, action needed to qualify using Chapter 90 funds for road and drainage improvements. The council also approved an order accepting and laying out Christopher M. Crean the road as an existing city way. Crean said the layout is of the roadway as it current exists and that residents will not lose property rights with the exception of property now under the road. “Our vote Thursday was a formality to get the Legislature to accept it as a city way to allow us to apply Chapter 90 so we can fix and repair the road,” Crean said this morning. “I’m hoping to get it on the (legislative) agenda as soon as possible,” Crean said. “My next job will be to request the Engineering Department to come up with a cost estimate for reconstructing the roadway and improving drainage, then to find the money to do that work.” The issue is that the city cannot use Chapter 90 funding from the state to improve unaccepted streets. Paper Mill Road residents own to the middle of the pavement, so each resident has to agree to surrender their property interest for the property under the roadway to the city, an expensive and time-consuming process. The city has held a number of public information meetings at the Paper Mill Road Elementary School on that process. Many of the residents signed agreements surrendering their property right, but several declined to participate in that process. Crean said that the Legislature’s approval of the home rule petition to accept Papermill Road as a public way is the only viable path to improving the heavily-traveled road. The City Council conducted a January 16 public hearing on the Home Rule petition to the state Legislature for acceptance of Paper Mill Road as a pubic way at which residents and council members spoke in support of the home-rule process. Nobody spoke in opposition. The Law Department recommended that the city seek legislative approval for the “special procedure” to establish city ownership of the right of way for the street, making it eligible for state road-improvement funding under Chapter 90. “We tried to repave the road and discovered that the city does not own it, so we’d have to use funds from the city, not the state,” Crean said as the Jan. 16 hearing was opened by the City Council. “The road needs to be reconstructed. My immediate goal is to get it accepted.” “We held a public meeting two years ago at the (Paper Mill Elementary) School and asked residents to sign
See Fisher, Page 5
See Paper Mill Road, Page 3
Southwick to hold Emergency Services Day By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – The town’s police, fire and emergency management departments are combining forces for an Emergency Services Day April 5. The three departments are working in tandem on the event, which is free and open to the public and starts at 10 a.m. Fire Capt. Kathy Sobczyk said the Southwick Fire Department (SFD) and Southwick Police Department (SPD) will be open and offer a
glimpse into what they do for the public. “We will offer tours and demonstrate what firefighters look like when they come in from the street and how they look in their gear,” Sobczyk said. The SFD will host a Life Star helicopter landing at 11 a.m. in front of the station. “This will also be an opportunity for some safety training for our new firefighters,” said Sobczyk, adding that spectators can watch them train for the landing. The SFD will also demonstrate a vehicle
rescue, including removing the doors. The fire rescue boat will be on display along with other fire apparatus and the department’s all terrain vehicle. “It’s a chance for people to see our building and what we do and ask us questions,” said Sobczyk. Sobczyk herself joined the department after getting to know more about what the mostly volunteer staff did. “I had a fire in my home and I saw what a great job they did and I wanted to join,” she
said. That was seven years ago and Sobczyk worker her way through the ranks to captain. The SFD will offer free blood pressure checks during the Emergency Safety Day event. Sobczyk said in addition to being a health check, it is also a way to familiarize children with something they may have to experience one day. “We really encourage people to bring their children to the event,” Sobczyk said. “We are hoping a lot of people come.”