17-Jun-10

Greylock names Sperling

By David Scribner If there ever was a glass ceiling at Greylock Federal Credit Union headquarters, it’s just been shattered. The credit union’s board of directors has named Marilyn Sperling, who started her banking career as a teller 35 years ago at the Berkshire Bank & Trust before joining Greylock, -- also as a teller – as its interim president and CEO. Sperling replaces Angelo Stracuzzi who was forced to resign last week for concealing from the board a criminal conviction for an incident involving two teenage boys

22-Nov-09

State budget cuts force end to Bookmobile

By David Scribner SHEFFIELD—Since 1961, the Western Massachusetts Library System’s Bookmobile, a rolling library loaded with a complete collection of books, books on tapes and large-print books, has delivered to the Bushnell-Sage Library items that the small village library could not afford to purchase on its own. By the end of the year, however, the Bookmobile service to rural libraries —like Sheffield’s—will end, a victim of the state’s budget crisis, the success of the region’s computerized interlibrary loan network, C/W MARS (Central/Western Massachusetts Automated Resource Sharing), and a regional delivery system of books and other materials for small libraries, like Tyringham’s and Egremont’s. “The Bookmobile is a wonderful thing for small rural libraries,” lamented Bushnell-Sage Librarian Nancy Hahn. “Many of our patrons – especially older readers – relied on the Bookmobile for large-print books and books on CDs. We don’t have money in our budget for them.” At one time, the Berkshires had its own regional library office and its own Bookmobile, based in Pittsfield, where the state’s first Bookmobile service began in 1940.

08-Nov-09

Bookless block in Lee begins review

By Michael Kelley LEE—The process of rehabilitating the former Bookless building at 40-50 Main Street has officially begun. Don Hunter, the senior partner with Hunter & Graziano appeared before the Planning Board on Nov. 2 to submit finalized plans for the space from the building’s new owner, Dr. Michael McManmon. Planning Board Chairman Anthony Caropreso said a public hearing will be scheduled for Nov. 30 at 6:15 p.m. in the Planning Board’s meeting room on the second floor of town hall. Copies of the plans, Caropreso said, will be submitted to the Department of Public Works, Board of Selectmen and other town boards and offices for them to make their comments on the plans.

02-Nov-09

Berle offers farm for perpetual ‘protection

By David Scribner GREAT BARRINGTON— Lila Wilde Berle, dressed in her trademark jeans and sweatshirt, presented two items to the Board of Selectmen at its most recent meeting. The first was a baby painted turtle that she had discovered last year while walking the Konkapot Farm property along Monument Valley Road that has been in her family for five generations. The turtle, she advised Select Board Chairman Walter F. Atwood III, was a symbol of what she described as the farm’s “relatively pristine ecosystem” that supports an abundance of wildlife and the kind of environment that is under pressure from development. “I love the Berkshires landscape and wildlife,” she said. “But I see it fast disappearing, into commercial strips and new homes, with many MacMansions that are more than any person needs.

25-Oct-09

BRIDGE hosts racial justice dialogue

By David Scribner LENOX —“Every so often, every community needs to look at itself in the mirror,” explained Peter Dillon, superintendent of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District. He was referring to his participation in the community dialogue on racial justice in the Berkshires taking place October 24 at Shakespeare & Company’s Founder’s Theatre from 3 to 5 p.m., organized by BRIDGE (Berkshire Resources for the Integration of Diverse Groups and Education). The community discussion will be followed by a dinner of multicultural dishes. The event is the culmination of six months of preparation by a Multicultural Task Force under the guidance of BRIDGE Executive Director Gwendolyn VanSant and Stockbridge Police Chief Richard Wilcox. The seminar – and dinner to follow – is formally titled “Towards Racial Justice in the Berkshires: Educational, Economic and Social Equity.” “The topic of this community dialogue is the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about,” observed Wilcox, during an organizational session with VanSant at BRIDGE’s offices in the former Housatonic Elementary School. The event has been organized under the auspices of the Community Relations Service of the U.S. Department of Justice, and is the first of a series of meetings intended to determine an action plan to bring greater cultural awareness to the Berkshire community and its schools. “The time is right, the community is ready,” observed VanSant. “The Berkshires likes to think of itself as a progressive and caring community, and when approached in the right way, we can get a lot done. We all want a safe community that feels like home – home for everybody.” She pointed to embedded Berkshire attitudes – and sometimes policies – that marginalize segments of the population and make them feel invisible. “We live in a predominantly white community, and all the leadership is white,” she noted. “They don’t have to think about the perspectives of Latinos or African Americans. It’s off their radar.” As an example, she cited the policy of 15 of the 16 county food pantries requiring those who receive food to present driver’s licenses as identification. “Many of my clients don’t have licenses, and so they couldn’t get food,” she recalled of the dire situation facing immigrants last winter. “Latinos clean houses and do landscaping, but does anyone ask where their families live, where their kids go to school?” she asked. “As far as the Berkshires are concerned, they’re invisible and feel so isolated. And they’re not the only ones. The African American community feels the same.” The BRIDGE community dialogue is designed to explore underlying racial attitudes, and the session has attracted participants from a wide range of Berkshire talking heads. Among the Task Force members are Christine Ludwiszewski, executive director of the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce; Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Wynn; Marcia Savage, executive director of the Community Health Center; Great Barrington Town Manager Kevin O’Donnell and Barrington Police Chief William Walsh; and David Pottle of the South Berkshire Educational Collaborative.

28-Sep-09

Stockbridge repents (belatedly)

By David Scribner STOCKBRIDGE—Like many Colonial outposts, the settlement that became Stockbridge had an ambivalent relationship with its original inhabitants, the Mohicans, a band of Native Americans whose land reached the length of the Hudson River and extended east to Massachusetts and west to central New York. Around 1734, the English colonists embraced the Mohicans — who had taught them, among other skills, how to make maple syrup — as candidates for Christianization at the Mission House. But after the Mohicans had fought on the side of Americans in the Revolutionary War, they were unceremoniously and ungratefully sent packing when their territory became the target of a land grab. Two centuries later, the town of Stockbridge is now trying to make amends, as best it can, to the 1,500 descendents of those original Mohicans. With $2,000 from the community preservation fund, the town intends to begin restoration of the Indian Burial Grounds site on West Main Street

13-Sep-09

O’Laughlin asserts miracles can happen

By Jake Braun LEE—Nine years ago Michael O’Laughlin was arrested for the brutal beating of his neighbor, Annmarie Kotowski. After seven years in state prison, O’Laughlin’s conviction was overturned and he was released on Sep-tember 1. The controversial case, which culminated in a United States Supreme Court ruling, concluded when US Magistrate judge Timothy S. Hillman released the 43-year-old O’Laughlin after a brief hearing. O’Laughlin’s family posted the $20,000 bail, however O’Laughlin will be required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and live with his mother Gera Petersen, 66, in South Yarmouth on the Cape while the state attempts one last appeal in a case that has been defined by legal irresolution. “If you don’t believe in miracles, I can now attest that they do happen,” writes O’Laughlin in a blog on freemichaelnow.com “Although there are some unnecessary conditions I must abide to; it’s absolutely unbelievable to be free again.”