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WEATHER TONIGHT
Winter Storm Warning
The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com
in effect
SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2015
VOL. 84 NO. 021
See Stolen Valor Act, Page 8
Southwick school looks to busing to reduce school traffic.
Using buses best way to reduce school traffic By HOPE E. TREMBLAY Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – Traffic before the first bell at Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional High School is just part of the morning routine but since the addition of grades seven and eight in the building, the situation seems to be worse. Pamela Petschke brought up her concerns during the regional school committee meeting this week. Superintendent John Barry said unfortunately, the line of cars with parents dropping off children is a constant issue. “But it’s worse,” Petschke said of the traffic since the addition of two grades, noting she drives by the school around 7:20 a.m. every morning on her way to work. Barry said relief would come in two ways. One is to utilize buses, and the other would take place in the fall when
the drop-off and pick-up loop in the parking lot is complete. He also said when the snow and ice are not a factor that students could be dropped off by Powder Mill and walk up the hill. “In the fall the parent drop-off wil be usable,” he said. “The idea of that is so people can get in and out faster, but we’re still going to encourage everyone to use the buses.” Barry said there really was no other solution. “That’s about all we can do,” he said. “If parents want to drop-off their kids, they will have to wait.” Traffic signals are being installed by the town near the schools, including one at Feeding Hills Road and Rebecca Lobo Way, which is the entrance to the high school. Barry said there would also be two stop signs and a yield sign leading into the loop.
Man flouts law and propriety for doggie play By CARL E. HARTDEGEN Staff Writer WESTFIELD – While many dog owners indulge their friends by organizing a play date with another dog, most make arrangements with the other dog’s owner first. And, one hopes, very few dog owners go so far as to open a stranger’s front door to release a playmate for their dog. But, that’s apparently what happened recently in a Hillside Road neighborhood. A Hillside Road resident reported to police that a neighbor had sent him video of a man opening his front door to let his dog out. The video showed the man reopen the door later to let the dog back inside after the two dogs had played together for a time. Officer Allen Magdycz reports that he responded to the complaint and viewed the video of the man’s actions.
Magdycz learned that the victim’s neighbor was able identify the suspect as he reportedly walks in the neighborhood frequently and the neighbor had previously served the man with a ‘No trespassing’ order to prevent him from walking his dog through his yard. The resident told Magdycz that his wife had been upstairs when the front door opened but had been afraid to approach the man. The residents asked that a ‘No trespassing’ order be served to the man to prevent him from again entering their property. Magdycz reports he and another officer spoke with the man and served him with the order. The officers told the man not to walk his dog on any other person’s property. They also informed him of criminal charges which could result from opening doors to other persons’ houses.
1st significant winter storm heads toward region HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A fast-moving coastal storm is forecast to blast several major cities in the Northeast with a mix of snow, sleet and rain on Saturday in the season’s first real taste of winter along the busy Interstate 95 corridor. The biggest snowfall amounts are expected in southern New England, but forecasters warned that temperatures hovering near freezing could make for slippery driving conditions across the region. “It’s kind of the first one, so it’s a good thing it’s happening this weekend,” National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson in Taunton, Massachusetts, said Friday. “If this happened during a weekday, it could be really slow and messy.”
so to be perfect is to have changed often.” — WINSTON CHURCHILL
75 cents
Traffic board recommending changes
Velis sponsors new Stolen Valor Act By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer WESTFIELD – State Rep. John Velis is beginning his first full term in the Mass. House of Representatives by proposing legislation that would make it illegal for someone to falsely claim military service for financial gain. Several states bngand the federal government already have similar laws on their books, but the Westfield Democrat, a captain in the United States Army Reserve who served in combat in Afghanistan, is urging his fellow lawmakers to implement what would be the toughest stolen valor law in the country, making it a criminal offense that could earn a fine of $1,000, a year in prison, or both. One need only log onto youtube. com to find videos of active duty military members confronting civilians dressed in military attire or medals falsely claiming service and Velis cited several of these incidents in an interview Friday, adding that he has spoken about the bill with Rep.’s Jerald Parisella, D-Beverly, and Harold “Hank” Naughton, D-Clinton, both of whom serve in the U.S. Army Reserves. “He is strongly in support of it,” said Velis of Parisella, who he consulted with while writing the bill. “I had decided I was going to file this
“To improve is to change,
A winter storm warning was issued Friday for a large portion of central Pennsylvania ahead of the storm. Forecasters said a wide area between Gettysburg and Johnstown, stretching from West Virginia through Maryland to just south of State College and Williamsport, could get 5 to 8 inches of snow between Friday night and Saturday afternoon. The Maryland State Highway Administration warned motorists that travel may become hazardous. The agency said it would have salt, snowplows and chain saws at the ready in case of fallen trees. As the storm sweeps northeast along the Eastern Seaboard, it is expected to drop 2 to 4 inches of snow
and ice in Philadelphia on Saturday morning before turning over to rain. It is forecast to bring 3 to 4 inches of snow to New York City and 4 to 6 inches to Boston, with higher amounts in central Massachusetts, before moving out to sea by early Sunday. After a relatively tame start to the winter, Connecticut has plenty of salt and snow-treatment chemicals stockpiled around the state and a fleet of 632 plow trucks ready to go, Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Nursick said. He said crews have been pre-treating some highways and bridges, but there already is some salt leftover from recent, smaller storms. “We don’t need to go full tilt,” he said. The storm is expected to begin as snow across much of
the region, with areas east of I-95 receiving mostly rain. Forecasters say accumulation amounts will depend on how quickly the rain line moves west. The weather service said the Philadelphia area could receive as much as a quarter-inch of ice Saturday morning before the rain arrives. Meteorologist Peter Wichrowski in Upton, New York, said snow likely would start to fall in New York City in the early morning hours of Saturday, with a mix of rain and maybe a little sleet along the coastal areas. He said snowfall totals were expected to be around 1 to 2 inches across eastern Long Island. Baltimore and Washington were expected to get only rain as temperatures hover just above freezing.
By DAN MORIARTY Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Traffic Commission voted Wednesday night to seek modifications to traffic flow on Pochassic Street, bus stops on Elm and Main streets, and parking on the south curb of Court Street. The commission also tabled a request for a four-way stop sign at the intersection of City View Road and City View Boulevard, request by Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell, to further investigate traffic flow and JOHN accidents at that location. CAMEROTA Police Chief John Camerota, who serves as chairman of the Traffic Commission, said board will submit a recommendation to the City Council to change the current traffic pattern in the area of Pochassic Street west of Elm Street, commonly referred to as Drug Store Hill. That current pattern, established after the bridge over the Pioneer Valley Railroad was constructed, has two lanes of eastbound traffic down the hill and one lane of westbound traffic up the hill. “The commission voted 4-1 to put it back to the two lanes, one in each direction,” Camerota said yesterday morning. “The westbound lane up the hill will be widened. We will keep the large vehicle prohibition of making right turns from the southbound lane of North Elm Street onto Drug Store Hill.” City Engineer Mark Cressotti, who is also a Traffic Commission member, has argued that the two lanes down the hill are needed to prevent traffic from backing up Pochassic and Montgomery streets, especially during peak traffic periods, such as when Westfield High School releases students in the afternoon. Camerota said that the majority of the commission felt that preventing MARK queuing did not trigger a sufficient CRESSOTTI safety concern to justify maintaining the two downhill lanes which create a safety issue as both lanes attempt to make a right turn, sideby-side, onto North Elm Street. The lower section of Pochassic Street, next to Puza’s Butcher Block, is currently one-way and the southbound section of North Elm Street is also one-way, meaning that motorists coming down the hill have only the right turn option. That one option becomes complicated because of traffic crossing lanes to access Union and Meadow streets, both of which require left turns from the far left lane of North Elm See Traffic Board, Page 8
Embezzler ordered to pay restitution By CARL E. HARTDEGEN Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A former office manager has been ordered to pay $25,000 restitution after he was arraigned on a charge of larceny of property by a single scheme but the police account of his crimes suggest that he had actually engaged in several schemes to steal from his employer. Det. Todd Edwards reports in a court document that Sean P. Clancy, 5 of 31 Whitaker St., Springfield, had been the only person at the company with complete access to his company’s books and account and stole a total of $38,865.22 from the company in a variety of ways. Clancey gave himself a raise, Edwards reports, and also reported fraudulent overtime and made out fraudulent company checks to himself, his landlord and ‘cash’. In addition, Clancey misused the company credit card, made overpayments to his direct deposit account and diverted cash which should have been deposited in the company’s bank account. He also wrote that records pertaining to checks which had been written to benefit Clancy were found to have been deleted or altered to show a different payee. Edwards reports that the company owner did not have complete access to the company’s records and bank account “because Mr. Clancey always had an excuse as why not to provide it to him.” A witness provided Edwards with extensive paperwork to document Clancey’s depredations. A criminal complaint was filed in June, 2013, and the case was resolved Thursday when Judge William Rota placed Clancey on pretrial probation for 18 months and ordered him to pay restitution.