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Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com VOL. 83 NO. 18
“I know there’s a proverb which that says ‘To err is human,’ but a human error is nothing to what a computer can do if it tries.” — Dame Agatha Christie
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2014
75 cents
It’s Allie vs. Velis in special election
Barnes hangar project approved By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The Planning Board voted unanimously last night to issue a special permit to Whip City Aviation LLC for construction of a new hangar at Barnes Regional Airport. The board also approved a site plan and stormwater management permit for construction of a new 7,350-square-foot hangar which will house general aviation six aircraft. Rob Levesque of R. Levesque & Associates said Whip City Aviation will construct the new hangar on 16 acres of land it is leasing from the Airport Commission. The City Council, at the Jan. 6th meeting, unanimously approved a 50-yearlease and a financial package as part of an agreement with Whip City Aviation as part of a plan to make a substantial investment at Barnes Regional Airport. The City Council is required to approve all leases longer than 20 years in duration. Most of the airport leases are See Barnes, Page 3
Board approves stringent anti-choking code By Dan Moriarty Staff Writer WESTFIELD- The Board of Health approved a local antichoke regulation which will require any establishment serving food for on premises consumption to have a person certified in choke-saving procedures. The new local regulation becomes effective in June. Health Department inspectors will require proof of certified training of employees when performing food service inspections. Health Director Joseph A. Rouse said that he requested the Health Board to approve a stricter local regulation than the current state law which only requires restaurants with a seating capacity of 25 or more patrons to have trained staff. “Under the existing state law, food establishments with 25 or more seats have to have a person certified in anti-choke training,” Rouse said. “Under the local regulation amendment all on-premise food serving establishments would be required to have staff certified. See Health Code, 3
By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD – The papers are in, and the race has officially begun for the 4th Hampden District seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, with an election date of April 1. Democrat Attorney John Velis and Republican City Councilor Daniel Allie turned in their petitions containing the required 150 signatures to Westfield City Clerk Karen Fanion’s office yesterday afternoon. The seat became available when Republican Don Humason beat Democrat David Bartley in a special election for state Senate. Humason had been 4th Hampden District Representative since 2002, before becoming a state Senator. “Now that the petitions are turned in, we have till Friday to get everything certified,” Fanion said. “The candidates will then pick them up and get them to Boston by the 28th, either by mail or by hand delivering them.” Velis recently returned to his hometown law practice after a deployment with the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division where U. S. Army Reserve captain was tasked to supervise the ‘Rule of Law’ operation in Afghanistan’s southern province of Zabul. “I’m excited. I equate it to waiting and finding out which team you’re going to play in the playoffs,” he said of the campaign, adding that he and his team handed in several hundred signatures yesterday. “We’ve been pounding the pavement in rain, shine, blizzards, to get my message out to the voters of Defense attorney David Hoose, right, introduces himself, his law partner Luke Ryan, center, and their client, Cara Lee Rintala to potential jurors during the jury selection for her retrial on Tuesday in Hampshire Superior Court 1. (Photo by Kevin Gutting, Daily Hampshire
See Special Election, Page 3
Gazette)
Oleksak takes stand for first time By BOB DUNN Daily Hampshire Gazette @BDGazette NORTHAMPTON — After emerging as a main character in the first murder trial of Cara Lee Rintala — and painted as a possible suspect in opening arguments this time around — Mark Oleksak took the witness stand in her retrial Tuesday. Rintala, 47, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder in connection with the strangulation death of her wife, Annamarie Cochrane Rintala, 37, in the couple’s Granby home March 29, 2010. In his opening statement Jan. 9, Rintala’s defense attorney David Hoose said just as good a case could be built against Oleksak, 48, as his client, based on the evidence. On the witness stand yesterday, Oleksak said he and Annamarie sometimes had talks about how, if she wasn’t gay and he wasn’t married, they might date and eventually, perhaps, get married themselves. “I believe I had a financial affair with her,” Oleksak said. “I had an emotional affair with her.” His name was mentioned repeatedly in Rintala’s first trial, which ended last March in a mistrial with a deadlocked jury, but he was never was called to testify until now. His testimony was to continue today, the ninth day of testimony. Under questioning yesterday by prosecutor Steven Gagne, Oleksak, a full-time firefighter in Westfield and a part-time paramedic with American Medical Response, said he and Annamarie Rintala met at work in 2002 or 2003 and quickly discovered they worked well as a team. From that point, Oleksak said, a friendship developed and they became “very close” friends, over time. Oleksak said the pair would go to movies, golfing, out for drinks and other activities around their work schedules, but he kept that information from his wife. Despite the closeness of the relationship, Oleksak said it never became sexual or even physical, beyond hugs and light kisses on the sides of their mouths. Oleksak said he would sometimes buy flowers for Annamarie and sent her a card once with the inscription: “I will always love you, whether we date or just stay friends, know that I will always love and care about you.”
Oleksak said he and Annamarie Rintala worked about 40 to 50 hours a week together and during that time, they shared personal information. They discussed their respective relationships and financial matters. During the course of the friendship, he said, he allowed her to be an authorized user on three of his credits cards in an effort to help her rebuild her credit after she declared bankruptcy. Oleksak said he had taken steps to ensure the statements for those cards didn’t reach home, but, despite that, his wife became aware of one of the accounts and became “quite upset,” he said. Oleksak said his wife believed Annamarie Rintala was using him and was not the good friend she claimed to be. His wife later became aware of one of the other accounts when she tried to apply for credit at a furniture store and was denied due to a high outstanding balance, Oleksak said, which upset her further. “She still has no trust,” Oleksak said of his wife. “I broke the trust in her.” With the credit Oleksak had provided her, Annamarie Rintala purchased Christmas gifts, including a surround-sound system for her wife, and paid for a cruise for her parents, Oleksak said. He said he made an arrangement with Annamarie Rintala to be given money every month to pay off the balances on the cards, an arrangement he said she honored until she couldn’t keep up with the payments. When the balances got too high, Oleksak said, he took her name off the accounts. Falling out Oleksak said he had also helped Annamarie get a cellphone, believing it wasn’t safe for her to be working late at night without a phone. The pair had a falling out, he said, in July 2009 when the Rintalas were each beginning divorce proceedings, which were later dropped, and Annamarie had moved in with a former girlfriend. Oleksak advised her against re-establishing the relationship, saying it could negatively impact how the divorce case got settled and could affect custody of the Rintalas’ young daughter, who was about 2½ when Annamarie was killed. About that same time, Oleksak said, he
Dan Allie
Thieves travel College Highway By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – Town police are working with Westfield detectives in an investigation into a series of break-ins and attempted break-ins on the Routes 10/202 corridor which occurred in the two communities during the early hours of Monday morning. Southwick Sgt. Robert Landis reports that the first of the incidents apparently occurred at Zuber’s Ice Cream & Deli on Southwick Road in Westfield but, when Westfield Officer Matthew Preuss arrived and found a door ajar, nobody was inside and a responding key holder found nothing appeared to have been stolen. Landis said “it looks like they continued southbound” and “over the course of a half-hour or 45 minutes” struck at a half-dozen businesses on College Highway but did not find much to steal. “It looks like they were looking strictly for cash,” Landis said. After the thief or thieves were apparently scared away by the alarm at Zuber’s, the next stop in the spree was apparently the Southwick Country Club where entry was not gained. The perpetrator apparently next moved a short distance further south and gained entry to Country Auto Sales, Borgatti Auto Sales and a nearby insurance agency but an attempt to break into the Southwick Animal Hospital was unsuccessful, Landis said. “There’s no doubt in my mind” Landis said, that the perpetrator (or perpetrators) was “somebody trying to get the quickest cash” and said that it was probably “some sort of drug thing.” Landis said that only miscellaneous items were taken and said “it appears they continued southbound” with “the officers right behind them” investigating their previous
See Oleksak, Page 3
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See Thieves, Page 3