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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
VOL. 84 NO. 056
www.thewestfieldnews.com
WESTFIELD – As part of its Disability Awareness Week, Westfield State University will hold various events discussing physical, autistic, and intellectual disabilities. The events will take place Tuesday – Thursday. The first event on Tuesday is a Disabilities Fair that will run from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. in the Owl’s Nest located in the Ely Campus Center. The Disabilities Fair is an expo featuring information regarding various disabilities. Visitors will have the opportunity to learn what autism is, what types of technology people with disabilities use, and the usage of adaptive sports equipment, among other information. Following the fair, there is a Language Seminar in the Loughman Living Room in Scanlon Hall at 4 p.m. where visitors can learn how to avoid missteps when referring to people with disabilities. Speaker Allegra Stout from the Boston Center for Independent Living will teach appropriate terminology and language styles, which put people first, not the disability. Refreshments will be provided by the Civic Engagement Committee. Student Olivia Dumas ’15, who organized the awareness week, said that the language seminar is especially important. “I think fixing our language is the first step needed to really start full inclusion in society,” Dumas said. There will be three films screenings. Each film was handpicked by Dumas as a way to represent the three different types of disabilities: physical, autism, and intellectual. The first film is the 2011 award-winning French comedy-drama “The Intouchables,” which will be screened on March 3 at 7 p.m. in the Owl’s Nest. The film follows the relationship between a wealthy quadriplegic and his latest caretaker. On Wednesday there will be a table set up in the Tim and Jeanne’s Dining Commons from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. and from 5-8 p.m. Volunteers will discuss “Fast Facts” about disabilities and answer questions. There will be an Adaptive Sports Demonstration in the Ely Owl’s Nest at 4 p.m. The event will inform visitors on how people with disabilities are able to participate in sports. Just after the demonstration, from 5-7 p.m., there will be an EMS Club/Student Security Training Session in the Ely Owl’s Nest. The training session will be open to all, especially those who either are currently working in a first-responder job or wish to pursue one postcollege. The session will inform students on how to safely work with people with disabilities. At 7 p.m. in the Owl’s Nest, there will be a showing of the Minspeak Documentary, “Only God Could Hear Me.” The documentary follows the daily struggles of several people who have disorders that inhibit their ability to physically speak, and use the Minspeak symbol communication device. At 8 p.m. the film “Rain Man” will be play in the Ely Owl’s Nest. The film portrays the second type of disabilities: autism. The awardwinning film tells the story of Charlie and autistic-savant Raymond, played by Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. Charlie and Raymond, both adults, just recently discovered that they are brothers after the passing of their father and the film follows their relationship as both try to get to know one another. On the Thursday, the last day of Disability Awareness Week, is also “Spread the Word to End the Word Day,” a nation-wide campaign used to encourage people to remove the “R-word” from their vocabulary. There will be tables set up in the dining commons, Ely Campus Center, and Wilson Hall, with volunteers who will raise awareness about the repercussions of using the “R-word” as far as how harmful the word is, and how to remove it from one’s vocabulary. There will also be a banner at each table that students, faculty, and staff can sign to mark their pledge against using the “R-word.” The final event is a film screening, which portrays intellectual disabilities. The 2001 drama “I Am Sam” starring Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer depicts love, loss, and family as it follows Sam, a father who has the mental cognition of a seven-year-old child. The film will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Ely Owl’s Nest. For more information regarding Disability Awareness Week, please contact Olivia Dumas at odumas5467@westfield.ma.edu
will give me back those days when life had wings and flew just like a skylark in the sky.” — MARCELINE DESBORDES-VALMORE
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2015
WSU celebrates Disability Awareness Week
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Business advice given to new job seekers Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Gov. Baker to discuss cuts with local officials By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD – When asked Friday about whether he would look to restore at least some of the $18 million in funding for regional school transportation that was slashed by his predecessor Deval L. Patrick, Gov. Charlie Baker made no guarantees but vowed to broach the topic with state and local leaders. “We’ll have discussions with local officials and folks in the legislature about regional transportation and see where we can go on that,” said Baker, a Swampscott Republican who served in the administration of former Gov. William Weld. “We’re in the process of working through all the issues of the fiscal 2016 budget. We have (a deficit) somewhere between $1.2-1.5 billion, which is a big number,” said Baker bluntly Friday in his Springfield office. “We promised we weren’t going to cut local aid – we’re not going to do that. We promised we weren’t going to create any more unfunded mandates for cities and towns – we’re not going to do that.” While Baker and his Lt. Gov. Karyn
Polito are steadfast in their commitment to leaving local aid alone as the state tries to balance a budget deficit, one would have to excuse the skepticism of residents of rural regional school districts of Baker’s response regarding Chapter 70 funding. At a recent meeting of the Gateway Regional School Committee earlier this week, a vote to accept school-choice students passed 11-0, with one abstention, as a means of bringing in out-ofdistrict students – and more revenue – to offset the projected deficit that would result if the town of Worthington eventually withdraws from the district. “Everybody’s going through a similar situation, though not as dire as Gateway’s because we’re potentially losing a town,” said GRSD Superintendent Dr. David Hopson, who stated that he is eagerly waiting for Baker’s FY16 budget, which will be unveiled next Wednesday. During a school committee meeting earlier this month, Hopson stated that the district’s proposed six-town budget
By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer SPRINGFIELD – The Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission’s Holyoke and Springfield offices, long advocates for the physically disadvantaged of our region, sought to help some of the more able-bodied members of the community Thursday, as the Business Advisory Council (BAC) gave resume input and advice to four members at Springfield Technical Community College. As the nearly 50 BAC members critiqued the resumes and presentation skills of Charles Mosley of Northampton, Dina Trimboli and LaVerne Till of Springfield and Sarah Morin of Palmer, one could feel a sense of pride swell in the room as the membership, composed of professionals in a number of fields, sought to assist these job-seekers on their path to prosperity. The organization, which started in 2006, has been especially helpful for Mosley, a recent graduate of Westfield State University who began his education at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, but had to return to western Massachusetts due to a medical condition. A graduate from the university’s communication program, Mosley has done work with Western Mass Labor Action in Northampton and with the RandstadTelemarketing Agency in Hadley. He has also been interning with WHMP in Northampton and is hoping to either remain in radio or venture into public relations. After presenting his resume and speaking to the membership, Mosley took listened to some of the assembled professionals, who praised his compelling life story but said he should emphasize his experience in fundraising, eliminate his coursework history from his resume and provide better examples of his writing skills. After the event, Mosley said that he felt it went well. “It was very positive feedback on my resume and how to expand it, as well as my job experience,” he said, adding that he was able to make valuable connections at the event. “My resume is very simplistic right
See Cuts, Page 8 See Job Seekers, Page 8
Testimony: Several Hernandez texts are missing from phone By MICHELLE R. SMITH Associated Press FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Texts and phone records shown to jurors Friday in the murder trial of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez showed that several messages he exchanged with a co-defendant before the killing were deleted from his phone. Evidence presented to the jury Friday also showed multiple calls placed from the phone of co-defendant Ernest Wallace to the victim, Odin Lloyd, in the hours before he was killed, including the same minute that Lloyd was seen getting into a car outside his home about an hour before he died early on June 17, 2013.
The records showed that Hernandez, at times using his lawyer’s phone, called Wallace repeatedly the night of June 17 after police had gone to his home and asked him to come to the station while they investigated Lloyd’s death. Ricardo Leal, who works for the phone company Sprint, testified for 3.5 hours Friday. Prosecutor Patrick Bomberg went through dozens of nondeleted text messages Hernandez exchanged with Wallace Former New England Patriots football player in the days surrounding the killing. Aaron Hernandez listens during his murder Prosecutors have previously said Lloyd trial in Fall River. Hernandez is charged with killing semiprofessional football player Odin sent his last text to his sister at 3:23 a.m. Lloyd, 27, in June 2013. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, See Trial, Page 8 Pool)
Westfield State holds lecture, panel discussion on Syria WESTFIELD – As part of its Guest Lecture Series, Westfield State University will host “The Syrian Crisis: Local, Regional, and International Perspectives” a day of renowned speakers, a groundbreaking film, and a “World Café” on Tuesday March 3 starting at 2 p.m. in Scanlon Banquet Hall. “World Café” kicks off the series and features multi-generational conversations, in a panel discussion about the Syrian Crisis, that link and build on each other as people move between groups and cross-pollinate ideas, and discover new insights into how the program will affect their lives, work, and communities. At 4 p.m. a documentary film with be shown with commentary by Omar Dahi, an associate economics professor from Hampshire College and Syria native. Dahi was awarded a grant from the Arab Council for the Social Sciences to research Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan. He has an extensive background in international trade, economic development, and the political economy of North Africa and the Middle East. At 7 p.m., there will be a panel discussion. The panel will discuss an overview of the cur-
rent Syrian situation, how ISIS originated in Iraq and Syria and how they came to rise, Turkey’s stance on the issue, and how Islamophobia has affected Europe and the United States while touching upon the recent terrorist attacks on Paris. Featured Speakers Elif Babul, Ph.D., specializes in politics, legal anthropology, anthropology of the state, human rights politics, citizenship, national belonging, gender and nationalism, and Turkey and the Middle East. Due to her passion and interest in state power and political authority, among other things, Babul has become a member of the European Union (EU) and focuses on human rights training programs in Turkey. She currently teaches at Mount Holyoke College. Vijay Prashad, Ph.D., is a journalist, historian, and professor at Trinity College. He has published seventeen books, five in 2012 alone, and is a world-renowned speaker. Prashad is a senior research fellow at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon and is known for his outspoken criticism on US Foreign
Policy. Dr. Leyla Keough is a visiting professor of anthropology and Middle East studies at Hampshire College. She has conducted extensive research about transnational migration, gender, and global neoliberalism. Dr. Keough is set to release a book that analyzes the trafficking of women and the migration policy on European and Middle Eastern borders. For more information regarding “The Syrian Crisis: Local, Regional, and International Perspectives”, please contact: Mark Abate (mabate@westfield.ma.edu) or Michelle Pescetta in the History Department located in Bates 113. The Guest Lecture Series is supported by funding from the Academic Affairs budget to enhance student learning and service to the larger community. An advisory committee with representation by the faculty and librarians, staff, and students review proposals and recommend selection of proposals for the year. For more information on upcoming speakers in the Guest Lecture Series, please visit http://www.westfield.ma.edu/speakerseries.