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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
www.thewestfieldnews.com WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2014
“Any idiot can face a crisis — it’s this dayto-day living that wears you out.” — Anton Chekhov
VOL. 83 NO. 24
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Board approves CDF applications By Hope E. Tremblay Staff Writer SOUTHWICK – The Board of Selectmen unanimously approved project recommendations for the 2014 Community Development Fund application. James M. Mazik of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and members of the development fund committee met with the board this week and put forth three projects for application consideration from Southwick and Granville. The first was a Southwick/Granville Regional Housing Rehabilitation project at a cost of $280,000. Mazik said housing rehab programs under CDF are intended to serve lowand moderate-income residents by creating safe, sanitary, and affordable housing. This is achieved by correcting building code violations, updating See CDF, Page 3
Greater Westfield dropout rates improve Cara Rintala with attorney Luke Ryan Monday in Hampshire Superior Court in Northampton. (Photo by Republican Staff photographer Dave Roback) By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD — Improvements by Hispanic, lowincome and non-native English speaking students helped drive up Massachusetts’ public high school graduation rate for the seventh consecutive year, state education officials announced Monday. Eighty-five percent of students who entered as ninthgraders in 2009-10, or entered that class at any point, graduated within four years, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said. The state’s annual dropout rate also fell to 2.2 percent in the 2012-13 academic year, the fifth consecutive year below 3 percent and lowest rate in more than three decades. “The credit for the terrific rates of improvement we’ve experienced belongs to the educators who on a daily basis reach out to at-risk students to encourage them to stay in school and support their pathway to graduation,” Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester said. “Over the past five years our districts have identified students at increasingly younger ages who are at risk of not persisting to graduation — and have implemented supports and interventions to keep these students on track.” The graduation rates of black and Asian students also improved, but graduation rates of students with disabilities fell slightly. The latest year’s graduation rate was 0.3 percentage points higher than the previous year and up 5.1 percentage points from 2006. Last year’s improvement in the dropout rate meant that 803 fewer students dropped out in 2012-13 than during the previous school year, and 5,188 fewer students dropped out than in 2006-07, when the annual dropout rate was at a high mark of 3.8 percent. Urban districts, including Boston, Springfield, Worcester, Lawrence and New Bedford, had the best success in cutting the dropout rate. “A high school diploma is a necessity for anyone hoping to live the American dream. We must invest in what we know works to provide all students with the supports and resources they need to reach this goal,” Education Secretary Matthew Malone said. In Westfield, Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional, and Gateway Regional districts saw either increases or See Dropout Rate, Page 5
Rintala in jury’s hands By BOB DUNN @BDGazette NORTHAMPTON — Whether Cara Lee Rintala leaves Hampshire Superior Court a free woman or spends the rest of her life in a cell is now in the hands of 12 people she’s never met. Prosecutors allege Cara Rintala killed her wife, Annamarie Cochrane Rintala, with her bare hands in 2010 after a tumultuous, violent relationship. The defense team claims her arrest was the result of a myopic investigation. Northampton defense lawyer David Hoose told jurors yesterday that other people in AnnaMarie Rintala’s life had greater motive to kill her than did his client. He also said surveillance video showing Cara Rintala on the day her wife was killed don’t show someone who killed her spouse, made an attempt to clean up the scene and fled the house to establish an alibi. “The most depraved killer out there couldn’t do that,” he said. “The Commonwealth cannot prove Cara Rintala committed this murder, because she did not.” First Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Steven Gagne said evidence at the scene clearly implicated Cara Rintala. “Would the bogeyman loan shark jumping out of the bushes in the shadows have spent any time at the scene cleaning up or would the person who lived there have done that,” he said. Jurors received their instructions and began their deliberations yesterday afternoon, the 13th day of testimony. Rintala, 47, has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge connected to her wife’s death at age 37 in the couple’s Granby home March 29, 2010. Her first trial ended when jurors failed to reach a required unanimous verdict after deliberating for 25 hours, prompting the declaration of a mistrial in March, 2013. Testimony in the retrial began Jan. 9. Defense closing statement In an hour-long closing argument, Hoose admonished investigators in the case. “It becomes clear, they’re not investigating a murder,” he said. “They’re building a case against Cara Rintala.” Hoose said the only reason his client is facing the murder charge at all is because she was honest and forthcoming to investigators about her sometimes difficult relationship with her wife and her whereabouts the day of the killing. The state police detective who conducted an interview with Cara Rintala the night of the killing was “salivating” waiting for her to confess to a crime she didn’t commit, Hoose said. He said Cara Rintala didn’t suggest investigators look into people Annamarie Rintala had close relationships with, namely co-worker and friend Mark Oleksak and former girlfriend Carla Daniele, because she wasn’t aware of how intimate those relationships were. He alleged that Oleksak “had more of a motive and less of an alibi” citing money she owed him and lies she told him. He noted that Oleksak failed to fully account for his whereabouts the day of her killing. “I don’t know if Mark Oleksak killed Annamarie or if he had anything to do with it, and I don’t have to prove it,” said Hoose. Hoose used Oleksak’s behavior following the killing as a basis for determining he was a person who should have been investigated more thoroughly. “How creepy is someone who knows your spouse’s work schedule and who sleeps in their sleeping bag after she dies?” he asked. The accuracy of the time of death estimate provided by the now-retired state medical examiner of six to eight hours or See Rintala, Page 5
LifeChoice raises awareness By David Kennedy Westfield News intern WESTFIELD – Every day, 18 people die due to a shortage of organs. Valentine’s Day is a special opportunity to give gifts of love to those you care for most. For these reasons, it is especially fitting that February 14 is also National Donor Day. National Donor Day is focused on five points of life: organs, tissues, marrow, platelets and blood. It can also be a great day to start conversations with family members about organ donation. The gift of an organ ensures that others will not lose a loved one unnecessarily. For LifeChoice Donor Services, based in western Massachusetts and Connecticut, work is still needed to spread the word about organ donation. “There’s a lot of work still to be done,” said Caitlyn Bernabucci, Public Education Specialist for LifeChoice Donor Services. “As an See LifeChoice, Page 3
Fugitives surrender By Carl E. Hartdegen Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Two fugitives who had been wanted by police to answer charges of home invasion and assault and battery turned themselves in to police, reportedly after they saw their story in The Westfield News. Westfield Det. Sgt. Stephen K. Dickinson said Tuesday that Adam MacBrown, 21, of 135 North Elm St., and Shane MacBrown, 19, of 39 Gunn Road, Southampton said when they came to the station “we read the article in the paper so we decided we should turn ourselves in.” The charges stem from an incident Thursday at Powder Mill Village on Union Street in which the two brothers – with their father, another brother and the half brother of one of the alleged victims – allegedly forced their way into an apartment while armed with baseball bats and knives to assault a person who had been there. The men told police that they went to the subsidized apartment complex to confront the girlfriend of the eldest brother, Justin M. MacBrown, 25, of 135 North Elm St., who they said had been cheating on him with a man she describes as her new boyfriend who had been exchanging taunting text messages and phone calls prior to the incident. The man fled the apartment when the intruders arrived but they caught up with him, at least briefly, in the parking lot where he alleges they beat him. Police do not report recovering baseball bats but one of the brothers, Andrew MacBrown, readily surrendered two See Fugitives, Page 5
Human Resources Unlimited gets grant By Peter Francis Staff Writer WESTFIELD – Human Resources Unlimited, a Springfield-based non-profit organization that connects adults who are mentally or physically disabled or socially disadvantaged to their community, announced that it has been awarded a grant from the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. EOLWD Secretary Joanne F. Goldstein announced that $244,426 in state funding will be dedicated to providing disabled individuals with stable employment opportunities. “Everyone deserves the opportunity to have a good job where they earn fair wages,” said Goldstein. With this funding, Human Resources Unlimited plans to continue to run and improve it’s Move to Work program. An innovative, comprehensive approach to helping individuals improve their job readiness, employment options, job retention, and overall quality of life, which is done through an integration of neuroscience research findings and physical activity within the learning environment. The program will assist individuals with disabilities in developing job healthy lifestyle habits, which will ultimately help them find and maintain employment. The Move to Work program also takes a holistic approach to job readiness, employment, job retention, and overall quality of life, which HRU believes results in more effective, positive outcomes for their participants and the communities in which they live. The 10-week program takes place in a structured learning environment where participants will improve their ability to obtain and retain employment by learning how to manage stress, handle conflict, deal with illness, increase their health, and improve their overall wellness. HRU officials say that this approach will serve to “engage, motivate and excite individuals to participate fully in making a commitment to change their habits and develop a healthier, more productive life style.” Thanks to this grant, HRU says it will now be able to serve as many as 54 individuals with disabilities. Founded in 1970, HRU works with See HRU Grant, Page 5
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