Search for The Westfield News
WEATHER TONIGHT Mostly Cloudy, Cold. Low of 7.
The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com
Snowbanks knocked down overnight By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer WESTFIELD – There was an overnight parking ban last night on portions of Elm, Court, Main, and Franklin streets for snow removal operations in the downtown area. “We’ve had about four and a half feet of snow this year and it’s been condensed, refreezed and had salt eat away at it,” said Casey Berube, deputy superintendent of the Westfield Department of Public Works yesterday. “We’ve got signage on all of the snowbanks we’re targeting for removal.” The DPW used a Bobcat to knock down some of these snowbanks and loaders to remove the snow. This snow may have gone to the city’s DPW yard in years past, but materials devoted to the city’s continuing Gaslight District project, as well as large piles of road salt and sand, are taking up most of the space in the yard now. “There’s not a lot of real estate (in the yard). We’ve got a lot of cobblestone, sand, salt and we’ve already got snow back there,” said Berube. “We’re actually shipping it up to a city-owned parcel of property on Cabot Road, in an open field.” Berube said that the overnight ban was decided upon as a way to keep from disturbing activity on Elm Street. “We didn’t want to hurt business down there. They’ve already been impacted enough by the snowbanks,” he said. Berube said at this morning that his crews cleaned up and deposited about 350 loads of snow to the Cabot Road property but added that there were still some areas his crews were unable to reach. “We did pretty good. We got from around Butler Insurance and a portion of Main Street to around White Street,” he said. “We didn’t get parts of Franklin Street around Santiago’s.” Berube said that snow removal would not be occurring this evening, as he knows college students will be out.
BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING
In this Monday, Jan. 5, 2015, file courtroom sketch, Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, left, is depicted beside U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr., right, as O’Toole addresses a pool of potential jurors in a jury assembly room at the federal courthouse, in Boston. (AP Photo/Jane Flavell Collins, File)
Opening statements begin next week in trial By BOB SALSBERG Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Opening statements in the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be held next week, a court official announced yesterday after the judge qualified enough prospective jurors to move on to the final stage of jury selection. Early next week, Tsarnaev’s lawyers and prosecutors will be allowed to eliminate 23 jurors each for strategic reasons. A final panel of 12 jurors and six alternates will then be seated for the trial. Opening statements from both sides are expected on March 4, with testimony set to begin immediately afterward. Jury selection began Jan. 5 and
took much longer than Judge George O’Toole Jr. originally anticipated. The process was slowed by a series of powerful snowstorms that dumped several feet of snow on Boston. It also was slowed by lengthy individual questioning by the judge, prosecutors and Tsarnaev’s lawyers. Many prospective jurors said they already believe Tsarnaev is guilty and they could not be impartial. Others expressed a moral objection to the death penalty and said they could not impose it under any circumstances. Many described personal connections to the case that would make it difficult for them to be impartial. Tsarnaev’s lawyers have argued See Bombing Trial, Page 3
of life hide behind the alibi ‘in conference.’ The great of this earth are not only simple but accessible.” — ISAAC FREDERICK MARCOSSONM
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015
VOL. 84 NO. 054
“Only the mediocrities
75 cents
Westfield ranked ‘happiest city’ in Massachusetts By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Less than a year after being rated as a “city on the rise” by the website NerdWallet, another online site as granted the city of Westfield an even more impressive distinction. Finance site CreditDonkey named the Whip City the “happiest city” in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in late 2014 by using a straight-forward methodology – in short, cities with high median incomes, lots of restaurants, low crime rates and commute times, lots of happy marriages and affordable housing scored high on the site’s top 10. Westfield wound up beating out some heavy hitters in the CreditDonkey study, as it topped Leominster, Cambridge, Marlborough, Gloucester, Peabody, Newton, and Woburn to earn the happiest city crown. Much like the NerdWallet cities on the rise list last June, Westfield again was the lone municipality located in one of the four western Massachusetts counties, a telling sign for city officials about the direction the city is headed in. “Like we’ve always said, with all the improvements being made, it has made Westfield an even better place to live, work and play,” said Westfield Mayor Daniel M.
MAYOR DANIEL M. KNAPIK Knapik. According to the CreditDonkey data, Westfield is the proud host of one restaurant per 567 inhabitants, ironically the lowest percentage of the top 10, although the study did reference the outstanding empanadas served at Santiago’s on Franklin Street. The odds of a Westfield resident being the victim of a violent crime are 1 in almost 546, good for third on the list behind only the north shore harbor town of Gloucester (one in 1,084) and Newton (1 in 1,141), an inner Boston suburb that is routinely listed as one of the safest cities in America. Westfield’s 23-minute morning commute was the lowest of the top 10 happiest cities, no doubt due to a lack See Happiest, Page 3
Circle K organizing show for teen in need By PETER FRANCIS Staff Writer WESTFIELD – High school is often a stressful time, as students come of age, start to chart their courses and find out who they really are. Erica Paul, a senior at Southwick-TollandGranville Regional High School, is one such student, who enjoys dance and theater. Last month, Paul suffered a massive pulmonary embolism. Her heart stopped for over twenty minutes in the ambulance and for almost two weeks, the seventeen-year-old lay in a coma, machines keeping her alive. She survived with only minimal brain damage and is currently at a rehabilitation center, but the ordeal has come at a high cost. As if Paul’s unfor-
tunate ordeal wasn’t enough, it is her family’s second in the past two years, as her father passed away from melanoma cancer last year. Enter the Westfield State University Circle K Club, which has helped Paul’s close friend, Kayleen Gerow, organize a benefit performance in the university’s Dever Auditorium on Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m. “I want to do all that I can and support her family,” said Gerow. “Erica is a dancer and a strong member of the drama club at Southwick, as I was.” Gerow added that she is independently putting on a benefit show for Paul and her family with members of the STGRHS drama club and Paul’s dance studio, Toe to Toe in West Springfield.
Gerow has been getting commitments from sponsors for a bake sale, as well as printing out flyers, programs and tickets for the event. “Everything is set to go, and this show should be an incredible event,” she said. “I have been working incredibly hard to pull this show together for Erica and her family, staying up all hours of the night preparing, and I cannot wait until the show date.” The show will include several musical numbers and dance pieces that “inspire hope, laughter, and unity from those who know and love Erica.” Tickets for the show can be obtained by sending an email to AngelsForErica@yahoo.com or by visiting the Westfield State University box office.
EVAN DOBELLE
Dobelle’s Baker forces resignation of 4 health connector board members lawyers want to drop him as client By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Charlie Baker sought and received the resignations of four member of the state’s health connector board, including MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, who came under fire for saying it was “the stupidity of the American voter” that led to the passage of President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law. The move helps Baker consolidate his authority over the agency responsible for helping Massachusetts residents find affordable health care plans. Gruber became a political lightening rod following his comments and was chastised by opponents of the law. He was called to testify before Congress in December, when he told lawmakers he was “inexcusably arrogant” when he made the statement. Besides Gruber, Baker also asked for the resignations of board members George Gonser, John Bertko and Rick Jakious — all appointees of former Gov. Deval Patrick. The move gives Baker control of the 11-member board that oversees the state’s health care law and website. Two other administration appointees — Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders and Secretary of Administration and Finance Kristen Lepore — are already on the board. “As with all incoming administrations, I am establishing a new leadership team,” Baker said in a letter, adding that he wants that team “to implement ideas to improve the operation of that important state entity.” An email sent to Gruber yesterday seeking comment on his resignation was not immediately returned. Gruber, who consulted with the Obama administration on the health care overhaul, apologized repeatedly after videos circulated of him saying voter stupidity and a “lack of transparency” were key to passing the hard-fought federal law. During his four-hour grilling before Congress, Gruber said his earlier comments were uninformed, “glib, thoughtless
and sometimes downright insulting.” He said he was showing off before various groups and “trying to be something I’m not, which was a political expert.” During his campaign for governor last year, Baker — a Republican who formerly headed Harvard Pilgrim Health Care — criticized the operation of the state’s Health Care Connector and the failed rollout of a website in 2013 meant to merge the state’s existing health care law with the federal law. At the time, Baker said the state should seek a comprehensive waiver from the federal law, arguing that the state already had a
functioning health care law. The state launched a revamped website last year. Gruber’s comments on the federal 2010 health care law aren’t the only troubles he’s run into recently. Republican leaders in the Vermont Legislature on Tuesday called for a federal investigation of that state’s spending on its health overhaul, on which Gruber also consulted, following an audit saying he may have padded his bills to the state. Gruber has declined comment on the audit.
WESTFIELD (AP) — Lawyers for former Westfield State University President Evan Dobelle, who is suing state education officials, cite an “irreconcilable difference” and a failure to pay bills, in their effort to drop him as a client. Dobelle served as university president from January 2008 until his resignation in November 2013 amid questions about what some people called extravagant spending on travel, restaurant meals and other services. In motions filed in federal court this week, several of his lawyers sought to withdraw from the case. Dobelle, while not commenting on his lawyers’ motions, said via email that the school is obligated to pay his legal fees. Dobelle’s lawsuit alleges violations of Dobelle’s constitutional and contractual rights. He has said his spending was necessary to promote the university. No trial date has been set.