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WEATHER TONIGHT Showers and tstorms. Low of 60.
The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com
— Joshua Chamberlain
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2014
VOL. 83 NO. 208
Locker burgled, suspect arrested By CARL E. HARTDEGEN Staff Writer WESTFIELD – An apparent thief who returned to the scene of her crime has been identified and will be charged. A Southwick resident came to the station Tuesday to report that her keys had been stolen from her locker while she was at the YMCA of Westfield and, when Officer John Barnachez responded he learned that the thief had apparently used the keys which had been stolen from an unsecured locker to open the trunk of the victim’s car. The woman’s purse had been stolen. On Thursday, a caller from the Y alerted Det. Todd Edwards that a woman who had recently left had been seen looking into lockers in the locker room and the patrol officers were advised to be on the lookout for the described woman. Edwards said that a review of security video showed that the same woman had been in the YMCA locker room on both days. Officer David Racicot spotted a woman who fit the description of the suspect on Bates Street and, when she was returned to the Y, two employees identified her as the woman who had been seen in the locker room that day. The suspect allowed Edwards to examine her backpack and, although he found some empty heroin packets, neither the keys that had been stolen Tuesday nor any of the contents of the stolen purse were found. Nothing was reported to have been stolen on Thursday but after speaking with Edwards further, the woman admitted to stealing the purse and he escorted her to her Elm Street apartment where she surrendered some of the stolen items. Edwards also took her to a site under the Great River Bridge where the woman said that she had thrown the stolen keys into the river. The suspect waded into the river, Edwards said, in search of the keys and most were recovered. “Not all of them” he said “but we found most of them.” Edwards said Friday that he had agreed not to lock up the suspect if she cooperated in the recovery of the stolen items but said that a criminal complaint is pending. He said that the woman was scheduled to return to the police station later in the day to make a formal statement but said that, even if she reneges on her agreement, he already has plenty of evidence to support the charges he will file.
Child assault adjudicated By CARL E. HARTDEGEN Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A city man who pleaded guilty to assault charges including assault and battery on a child will be on probation for a year. The charges were filed in January after a three-yearold boy was found to have bruises on his head and face which required medical attention. Officer Juanita Mejias reports in a court document that the boy’s injuries were brought to police attention by the boy’s biological father who immediately noticed the bruising when he picked up his children for his scheduled visitation with them. The man told police that the boy’s mother volunteered, before he said anything, that the boy’s injuries had been sustained when he fell out of bed and landed on his toy trains. After the boy’s injuries had been treated, both he and his five-year-old sister were interviewed by a forensic interviewer using a well codified procedure to minimize the emotional trauma to the child while allowing investigators from all the interested agencies to be out-ofsight yet observe the child describe the event being investigated. The girl told the interviewer that their stepfather had hit herself and her brother “because he was mad.” When asked why her stepfather was mad, the girl said “he’s always mad, that’s ‘cause he keeps drinking beer.” The girl said that “he really gets angry and he hits me in the face” as she demonstrated by slapping her own face. “He drinks a beer forever and makes us very, very scared,” the girl said before saying that the man hits herself and her three-year-old brother but does not hit their baby brother (the man’s biological son) “’cause he likes (the baby).” When the boy was interviewed he also said that his stepfather had hurt him. “He hurt my lips, he hurt me like this, like that,” the See Child Assault, Page 5
SOUTH MIDDLE SCHOOL
75 cents
Vote on Elm St. parcels fails
employed by or attending the school had received their own blue South t-shirt and that the entire building was wearing them Friday. “Students got their shirts yesterday during an assembly, but the teachers got theirs last Friday for professional development and wanted them to wear theirs for the first day of school,” he said. “The kids went nuts asking ‘where’d you get those? How do we get one?’” Duquette added that, by building a level of pride and confidence in the students, the school will be able to implement changes and continue making progress toward improving their academic standing with the state. “We’re in the 12th percentile in the state. We’re a level three school district and a level three school,” said Duquette referencing evaluations made by the state’s Department of Education. “We’ve changed and redesigned the schedule tremendously this year. We got an outside consultant and asked ‘what has worked?’” he said. “By changing the schedule this year, we’ve increased the amount of time the kids are going to be in math, language arts, science, social studies and allied arts, so they’re getting more time.” Duquette said that the school has
By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – A vote to consolidate and transfer six parcels of land off Elm Street for development by the Westfield Redevelopment Authority failed Thursday night and will be reconsidered at the council’s Sept. 18 session. The vote to transfer the city land to the WRA required a super majority, nine votes, but failed twice when only eight councilors voted to approve the land transfer. According to the city’s website “The Westfield Redevelopment Authority (WRA) is a corporate and politic body, established by the City of Westfield and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under former Massachusetts General Laws (“MGL”) Chapter 121, Section 2600, the predecessor to the present MGL Chapter 121B, Section 4 (Chapter 121 was recodified in 1969 as Chapter 121B). “The WRA has the powers of an ‘operating agency’ and additional powers as an ‘urban JOSEPH MITCHELL renewal agency’. The broad development capabilities of the WRA include the power to engage in ‘urban renewal projects’ and other projects, the power to buy and sell property, the power to acquire property through eminent domain, and the power to designate projects under MGL Chapter 121A. City Advancement Officer, and WRA executive director, Joseph Mitchell said following the vote that only two municipal agencies, the WRA and the Housing Authority, have the ability to execute an urban renewal plan, which includes assembly of the site for development, which includes development of a Pioneer Valley Transportation Authority bus facility. “The PVTA is actively pursuing development of the intermodal facility that impacts five of the six parcels,” Mitchell said after adjournment of the council session. “The PVTA’s efforts are a significant part of the (Elm Street) Urban Renewal Plans and they are significantly further along on the process than the city.” Mitchell said the WRA has the authority to assemble the parcels and facilitate the PVTA portion of the redevelopment project. Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell said that she voted at the July 7 council session to support the first reading of the order authorizing the land transfer. “Then I did a little investigating, talked to members of the WRA. They never discussed transferring these six parcels over to their board,” O’Connell said. “They recently met and did in fact vote on this issue. “I don’t feel we should turn this responsibility over to the WRA. We can respond as quickly as possible when they need us to do so,” O’Connell said. “I feel that we should not abdicate our responsibility and turn over authority and control (to the WRA).” At-large Councilor David Flaherty said that he also has concerns, but stated he would vote yes
See South, Page 3
See Parcels, Page 3
South Middle School Assistant Principal Jessica Kennedy (left) tries out a saw with Shop Instructor Dan Sheehan in the school’s first woodshop in 10 years. (Photo by Peter Francis)
Middle school students, staff welcome changes By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD – For Dennis Duquette, principal of South Middle School, every day there is something new and exciting going on at work worth being proud of. With a student body composed of 620 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, many of whom reside in or near downtown Westfield, South Middle faces many challenges shared by urban schools throughout the Commonwealth. “We have a higher free and reduced lunch population, we have a higher population of students who speak English as a second language, we have a behavior program… But our kids can learn just as well as anybody else,” said Duquette Friday afternoon. Duquette stood out like a beacon in the school’s main hallway as students clad in blue t-shirts, with the word “South” placed prominently on their chests, milled into their classrooms. “We started it last year just with the words on the back,” said Duquette, turning around to showcase the words ‘kindness, respect, responsibility, courage and honesty’ emblazoned on the back of the blue t-shirt. “We’re trying to ingrain pride in the students and the teachers to build identity here.” Duquette stated that everyone
“The power of noble deeds is to be preserved and passed on to the future.”
Police ask for cooperation at school By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – With construction ongoing at Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional High School, traffic woes plagued the first week of school. Police Chief David Ricardi met prior to school opening with Superintendent John Barry, administrators, Safety Officer Kirk Sanders and the school transportation department to try to make drop-off and pick-up run smoothly at the school. Ricardi said there were several glitches, mainly caused by too many students being dropped off. “The buses were not running the way we thought,” said Ricardi. “They were not
full because so many kids who should have been on a bus were dropped off by parents.” A drop-off system was established to ensure student safety and keep congestion at the top of the hill in front of school to a minimum. “Students need to be dropped off at the bottom of the hill and walk about 125 feet to the school,” said Ricardi. “Only those with parking passes, staff and buses should be going to the top.” Ricardi said parents trying to go up the hill caused a traffic jam. An officer stationed at the school explained the reasoning for the system to parents, many of whom argued with police.
“Many people were not as understanding as we would have liked,” Ricardi said. “If people did what we needed them to, we wouldn’t have had the traffic jam that we did – motorists just trying to drive by were stuck – and many students were tardy because of this.” Ricardi said residents also need to follow the rules of the road, especially related to school buses. “Remember, these vehicles are transporting our future leaders, so drive carefully,” he said. “A school bus driver will display yellow lights when they are approaching a bus stop. Once the bus is See Police, Page 5