GreylockNews.COM

WilliNet will cablecast North Adams election commentary from 7 p.m. on Nov. 3

2009-11-02T21:33:00.000-05:00

Debby Dane, manager of WilliNet, the Williamstown, Mass., public-access cable operation, says WilliNet will pick up a feed from Northern Berkshire Community Television of live commentary on the North Adams mayoral race on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Coverage will begin on WilliNet Channel 17 beginning at 7 p.m. with commentator Richard Taskin and Paul Hopkins. Hopkins, who works at North Adams Regional Hospital, was a longtime radio news reporter on WNAW in North Adams. Taskin is an attorney who does public defender work.

Also, Dane said WilliNet is currently airing the North Adams mayoral debate of Oct. 14 starting at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday and again at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

For more information call WilliNet at 458-0900 or email debbydane@willinet.org

Friends of the Arts Citrus Sale - Order Online until 11/18

2009-11-01T16:32:00.000-05:00

FRIENDS OF THE ARTS FRESH FRUIT SALE!!

Help support Mt. Greylock Arts Programming by buying fresh citrus fruit for yourself and others.

The juicy fruit is picked the same day it's trucked to Williamstown in early December or sent by mail anywhere in the country arriving by Dec. 24th (your choice)!

The prices are great (as low as $20 a box) and buying is online-easy! Order deadline is November 18th so don't delay!!!

Place your order at: https://www.fruitorder.com/orderFundraising_pre3.asp?OrgId=454470

Questions? Contact Paula Consolini at pconsoli@williams.edu/413-884-4283 or ask anyone you know on the Friends of the Arts team.
Please tell all your friends and think Citrus gifts this holiday season!

Upstate New York weekly editor offers opportunity

2008-04-29T10:45:00.000-04:00

I want to pass along this note I received from a close friend, Alex Brooks, who has decided to sell his interest in a rural update New York weekly newspaper. For Alex, it’s a time for change to some undertakings outside the newspaper arena. And it could be a moment for change for a buyer. If you are ready for a change, have reasonably secure finances, and want to move to a place heralded by artists, near Vermont, near the stable government-tech economy of Albany, N.Y., a well-served regional airport, and within a pretty easy drive of the cultural attractions of Berkshire County, Mass. (Tanglewood, museums, etc.) He tells below a story which may surprise a bit, validating the theory that good newsharing is still good business once you get out of the city and daily genre. So if anyone out there is interested in taking over Alex’ paper, e-mail him at goodbrooks@verizon.net.

The Eastwick Press web site is open to all at http://www.eastwickpress.com/ .

Alex wrote me:

“We are in search of someone who would like to take over the Eastwick Press. My reasons for this have mostly to do with the arc of my life and ambitions I've harbored for years to do things outside the community newspaper arena. It’s also a moment in the paper’s development when new energy and perspective could allow it to go to the next level.

“This is my story:

“Some 15 years ago I began publishing a little community newspaper in a small upstate New York town. I began it as sort of a hobby, a 12-page, newsletter-style publication with a dozen advertisers, covering just one town. The enthusiasm with which it was received surprised me. I got letters almost every day praising our paper, including a fan letter from the editor of the closest big-city daily, who happened to live in my town. Everywhere I went people told me they love the paper. They wanted to talk about local politics with me. I was explicitly invited into neighboring towns by political leaders hungry for a little community conversation. A local retired citizen came to me and said he wanted to help, and he spent five years building up my advertiser and subscriber base for pretty meagre compensation, just because he believed in the enterprise. I soon had three partners, and we were a weekly, 16-page tab covering five towns and two school districts. It was very clear that the kind of journalism I was doing was being neglected by everyone else. The hunger for a community conversation is clear and corporate bottom- line journalism isn't responding to it.

“I should say that reports of the death of print journalism are greatly exaggerated. The big-city dailies do seem to be dying, but community weeklies are growing. In New York State, there were under 600 community weeklies in 2002 with total distribution of 7.2 million copies. In January 2007 there were 740 papers distributing 11 million copies each week, and in January 2008 there were 812 weeklies with combined circulation of 13.5 million. These figures are from the New York Press Association's database and do not include “pennysavers” or shoppers.

“When big-media Cassandras come to our conventions and prognosticate about the future of journalism being interactive and hyper-local, we just grin at them, because that's what we've been doing all along. Sure, we're moving more of our activities on-line, but that's not the key thing. The key thing is that people are engaged with what we're doing. The high school kids are interested in our paper because they and their friends are in it all the time. When I write an article about something people are interested in, I know I'm going to hear from a lot of people. Some will e-mail, some will write letters, some will chat me up at the local diner, and some will telephone the office. Most of these people I already know, some may be just joining the civic conversation. My challenge is to find ways to have all these people be heard in some way. Sometimes they are quite articulate and can write a letter to the editor for publication. Others are not too good with language. When they have legitimate concerns and insights, it's my job to find a way to give them a voice.

“It's a noble calling, and it can make a huge difference in the civic life of the community. It's a lot of hard work and the pay isn't always munificent, but you can make a good living at it and you get to call the shots editorially, answering to no one but your readers.”“Basically, the deal is this: we are asking $130,000. We may be able to arrange some financing. We have an extremely loyal readership, the income is pretty reliable, and there are good prospects for growth and expansion. As it is now, this operation is a little small to be a comfortable business unit. With an investment of work and time, it could be grown into a two- or three-flag operation that would be quite a comfortable business.

“It takes a long time to develop a successful and profitable newspaper, and I would say three quarters of the work has been done here. I and my three partners are getting near retirement age (average age over 60) and we feel some new blood is needed to take this business to the next level. Two full-time people could run the paper, but three would probably be more comfortable, and more conducive to expansion. Some of the current partners may be amenable to continued participation.

"There are several directions you could take this project. For some, it might be a fun retirement project; for others, it might be an affordable entry point to becoming a media mogul; for others, it might be a chance to develop a new model for a successful 21st century journalism. If you’re interested in learning more about the paper, I can e-mail you a one page information sheet that has a summary of salient facts about the business (I’m at goodbrooks@verizon.net), or you can call me on my cell at 413-884-4959 if you’d like to discuss it."

TEXT: Ray Warner letter in Albany Times-Union

2008-04-06T11:41:00.001-04:00

Former Willimastown resident Ray Warner is continuing to speak out
following his move last year to Albany:

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=677347&category=OPINION&newsdate=4/2/2008

MGRHS board proposes 5.7% budget hike to towns, shedding science post; FinCom member says 4 positions added; mostly in special ed services

2008-03-30T19:59:00.006-04:00

Reported by Bill Densmore

Mount Greylock Regional High School would shed a science teaching positionnext year -- but add four posts overall, including four in special-education services -- under a proposed $9.9-million budget – a 5.7 percent increase over this year -- approved by the school board. The figure includes a proposed $23,000 special appropriation which Lanesborough voters will be asked to approve over and above the town's mandated share of the regional district's budget. The board also welcomed a planned gift of 40-60 computers from Williams College. Two members of the Williamstown Finance Committee comment; saying the MGRHS budget is more than 2-percent above the FinCom's target and includes four new positions. (READ THEIR COMMENTS)

Other resource: Earlier iBerkshires story by Derek Mong

At the Wednesday, March 26 meeting where the budget request was approved, 7-0, the board also expressed thanks to Williams College for the planned donation of between 40 and 60 used computers. The special $23,000 from Lanesborough, if approved, will be used to purchase software and other resources for the used machines. While the IBM PC-class computers are three years old when rotated out of Williams, they are considerably newer than the machines they will replace at the high school, said Supt. William Travis.

The science curriculum will lose a teacher as a result of the departure of Peggy Talbot. Board members said a formal layoff will not be necessary because Talbot has planned to leave, but the position will not be filled. The loss will cause a rejuggling of classes and laboratory periods in the sciences. At the same time, a position will be added in Middle School, and four new jobs for special-education services would be added.

Williamstown Town Manager Peter Fohlin said the budget shows total staff proposed of 105 positions -- up from 101 positions in the current year, including 23 special-education paraprofessionals up from 19 and 55.6 teaching full-time equivalents, up from this year's 55.0.

The approved budget now goes to the finance committees and selectmen of each town for a recommendation to their respective town meetings. If approved without change, the Lanesborough’s assessment will rise to $2,157,811 from 2,137,753 -- a 1.0 percent increase. The Williamstown assessment will rise to $4,499,379 from $4,285,355 -- a 5.0 percent increase. A decline in the number of Lanesborough students attending Mount Greylock and a simultaneous projected rise in Williamstown enrollees is the reason for the disparity, which ebbs and flows from year to year. More Lanesborough students are choosing to attend McCann Tech rather than Mount Greylock.

Ron W. Tinkham, long-time board member from Lanesborough, explained that he and fellow Lanesborough board members would be appealing to selectmen to support a special warrant at Lanesborough town meeting for a one-time, special appropriation to Mount Greylock of the $23,000 -- about another 1 percent increase in Lanesborough's overall support for the school. He said such a one-time, non-mandatory, special appropriation would be legal as long as it was "to support a specific task that will improve the school." That task is the technology-improvement program, he said.

The school board voted to include the $23,000 "with gratitude" in its overall budget.

Science department teaching chair Larry Bell expressed concern before the budget approval that losing a science teacher could cause test scores to decline. He worried that parents and the general public watch the schools when they are published and that teachers could be judged negatively. However, members of the school board observed that the school's science test scores are relatively high, and that it was important to continue to focus on -- as board member David Langston said -- "how kids think, not always what they know." In that sense, said Langston, he hopes science faculty will still emphasize laboratory work and as for the score, said, Langston, "If they go down a little bit, they go down a little bit."

Among spending categories, the approved budget shows the largest increase – 11.4 percent -- is in buildings and grounds, followed by employee benefits (up $195,260, or 9.7 percent). The largest absolutely increase -- $150,794, or 4.1 percent, is in regular education instruction – teacher salaries. The district administration budget is set to decline 6.9 percent – or $28,650.

The budget assumes an 11.2 percent increase in state aid to $2,205,472, including a project 67.8 percent ($172,827) increase in school-bus transportation funding. Chapter 70 state aid – the bread-and-butter state aid for schools – is project to rise 2.9 percent, or a $49,661 increase to $1,776,888.

Pearl packs house with her story of triumph over fear, withdrawal, prejudice

2008-03-05T23:12:00.000-05:00

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- In the instant when she learned in 2002 that her husband had been beheaded, the widow of Daniel Pearl said she ran from the couple's Karachi, Pakistan, home, where for five weeks she and a team had sought to find the slain Wall Street Journal reporter. She said she grabbed an AK-47 rifle from one of the people who had been guarding the home.

"It's not that hard to kill someone," she said. But she didn't. In that instant, Mariane Pearl realized, "the only act of courage was to put that gun down" and continue on a path which was, she realized, "the only act of revenge that was really possible . . . I had to have this kind of courage facing life."

She said the photographs released of her captive husband, one with a "V" for victory and signal and the other with an obscene finger gesture, showed her that he faced death with courage and defiance, and she resolved to do the same in life after his death.

The free-lance journalist and book author, appearing on Wednesday night in the small city where the slain Wall Street Journal reporter got his professional start, told a story of triumph over fear, cynicism and prejudice in an hour speech to an overflow crowd at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

"You have to go beyond fear yourself if you're going to win," said Pearl, adding that after her captive husband was beheaded by terrorists, "I was already beyond the possibility of finding shelter in hatred of any kind." Instead, she said she resolved not to be silenced and to preserve hope. Terrorism is about manipulation, she said, "what they want is for all of us to survive to live in fear."

The Hardman Family Foundation brought Pearl to MCLA, an 1,800-student state college in a remote city of 14,000 residents where Pearl once worked as a reporter for the North Adams Transcript daily. Her appearance packed a 400-seat hall and required that the school, for the first time in the history of the Hardman lecture series, to set up a downstairs overflow room where another approximately 60 people could watch Pearl on closed-circuit video. The Hardman family once owned The Transcript.

With warmth, almost giddy chuckles, some informal jokes and a thick French accent, Pearl told the story of her life, her marriage to Pearl, their move to the Mideast as fellow reporters, and the five-week ordeal of seeking his fate after his kidnapping, taping a recurring them of tolerance and the avoidance of prejudice. She noted her family heritage. She said her mother was from a poor, black Cuban family. She described her father as a wealthy, Dutch-born "revoluntionary" with advanced mathematics degrees who ultimately committed suicide when she was age 9.
After her husband's death, Pearl recounted visiting world leaders, including U.S. President George Bush, and recounting the heritage of her's and Pearl's family from Iraq, China, France, Holland, Israel, Cuba and Poland. You should have seen Bush's eyes at that list, Pearl joked. The team, depicted in the film "A Mighty Heart," assembled in Islamabad to find her husband after his kidnapping, was part Jewish, part Muslim, part Christian and both men and women, she noted.

"We were all crossing boundaries," she said. "Everyone went beyond their own limitations." But, she added later, "this isn't about heros. We're not talking about heroism here, we're talking about humanism."

The quest for humanism moved Pearl to write her second book after, A Mighty Heart. the book, In Search of Hope: The Global Diaries of Mariane Pearl, saw her travel to 20 destinations around the globe, searching out and interviewing people that she characterized as exhibiting "the exact oppose to terrorism." The book is about woman who are "extraordinary exampls of human resilence," she said, adding: "And I think that is the answer to terrorism."

During a brief question-and-answer question, Pearl commented on the state of the media. She said there is a need for those in journalism "to say, 'What are we doing?' " She added, "I think treating the media like any other business is a big mistake." She called for an effort to use tales of conflict to "create values" because "conflict is part of life."

Pearl's visit brought former North Adams residents from as far as Cape Cod, and many current and retired journalists from the region who had worked with her husband. She joked about sleeping on the couch of former Transcript photographer Nick Noyes' home during a visit with her new husband to the region during the 1990s. Another friend recalled Danny Pearl's periodic returns to the area to play music and party at an annual river festival. Mariane spent the day at MCLA, visiting classes, and was said to have headed back to her New York City home immediately after the evening address.

Tap dancing, choreography featured in "Anything Goes" Feb. 21-23 at MGRHS

2008-02-19T11:28:00.001-05:00

MOUNT GREYLOCK RHS THESPIANS TACKLE TAP DANCING FOR FIRST TIME IN DECADES TO STAGE “ANYTHING GOES” FEB. 28-MARCH 1

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – For the first time in three decades, toes will be tapping sharply and in tune as “Anything Goes,” the venerable musical farce scored by one-time Williamstown resident Cole Porter, lights up the stage for three nights next week at Mount Greylock Regional High School.

The musical – featuring choreographed tap-dancing, a 20-member student cast and about 20 of the best-known and most beloved songs in American theater – will be staged Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 28-March 1, at 7 p.m. at the regional high school. Tickets at the door are $8 for adults, $6 for students and admission is free for children six and under accompanied by parent or guardian. The show runs a little over two hours, including an intermission, during which baked goods and refreshments will be sold.

“I don’t want to use the world wholesome because it makes it sound kind of square,” says history teacher Jeff Welch, who is directing the musical with the help of chorus teacher Marlene Walt and band teacher Lyndon Moors. “But it’s certainly a family show – and it’s the first time we’ve had tap dancing is at least 30 years, I think.”

Walt called the show in one interview “peppy, fun, American classic . . . it’s very memorable, very singable.”

To undertake the “more intriquet choreography than anything we’ve done in a long time,” said Welch, MGRHS senior Sofia Brooks wrote a grant application to the school-support “SEE Fund” – part of the Berkshire-Taconic Foundation – to fund the hiring of choreographer Anne-Marie Rodriguez and rental of tap-dancing equipment.
MGRHS – Anything Goes
Feb. 18, 2008
Page 2 of 2

Cole Porter scored “Anything Goes” for its original 1934 Broadway debut. It’s a farce set below decks on an ocean liner bound for London from New York. The plot features a lovesick Wall Street broker Billy Crocker (played by Chris Densmore), who stows away, hoping to win the heart of his beloved Hope Harcourt (Lizzy Fox). But his boss is also on board, along with an array of other characters, including an English nobleman Harcourt is slated to marry, a gangster and his mistress, (disguised as a minister and missionary) and an evangelizing nightclub singer.

“Anything Goes,” was revived in 1962 and 1987. The 1934 debut featured a 30ish Ethel Merman as evangelizing nightclub singer Reno Sweeney (played at MGRHS by Anna Swann-Pye). The original script was a collaboration of Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse, as revised by Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse. It introduced such songs as "Anything Goes", “Blow Gabriel, Blow,” “Friendship”, "You're the Top", and "I Get a Kick Out of You.”

A Jan. 24 appeal for a pianist to help with the production resulted in Williamstown resident Laurie Brenner, parent of MGRHS senior Torrey Brenner, volunteering, said Welch.

Cole Porter was born in Indiana in 1991, son of wealth parents. As a boy he took lessons in piano and violin, and began writing songs while at Worcester Academy. He attended Yale College (Class of 1913), where he composed still-used football fight songs. After graduating, he went on to Harvard Law School, but began studying music instead.

In the 1930s he became famous and prosperous with the success of his musicals. In 1937, however, Porter's life took a tragic turn when both of his legs were crushed by a horse, leaving him unable to walk and in chronic pain. Porter and his wife purchased a home on Buxton Hill in Williamstown in 1940. He died in Santa Monica, Calif. on Oct. 15, 1964.

The complete cast includes (males): Collin Delano as Elisha Whitney, Chris Densmore as Billy Crocker, Ryan Erickson as bishop/captain/purser, Mitch Galli as Moonface Martin, Patrick Madden as Sir Evelyn Oakleigh. Also, (females): Lizzie Fox as Hope Harcourt, Anna Swann-Pye as Reno Sweeney, Olivia Tousignant-Pienkos as Bonnie andGwendolyn Tunnicliffe as Ms. Wadsworth T. Harcourt.

The ensemble includes Amanda Burdick, Dakota Garrity, Molly Hynes, Krista Mangiardi, Sarah Robinson, Cassandra Sherman, Johanna Tremblay and Tori Wonderlick. Angels are played by Ally Allen, Isabel Kaufman and Petra Mijanovic.

For more information or to order group tickets, contact Jeff Welch at 458-9582 ext. 109, or Lyndon Moors at ext. 167 or email jpwelch@mgrhs.org.

TEXT: Williams, MCLA, Bennington and high-school students staging political-action weekend

2008-02-18T01:11:00.002-05:00

Stuart Burns (sburns@williams.edu -- 597-4849), Williams College coordinator of community engagement and special academic programs, has sent around to high schools and news organizations in the Berkshires and southwestern Vermont this news release:

HEADLINE: Willimas announces weekend for change

This weekend (Feb. 23-24), Williams, MCLA, and Bennington students intend to show that it is not only up to presidential candidates to bring about social change. Citizen activists have an equally vital role to play.

On Sat., Feb 23, the Williams Center for Community Engagement will host the second annual Berkshire Institute for Student Activism (BISA) Leadership Conference, on the Williams campus. The theme is "Framing a Second Bill of Rights."

During World War II, President Roosevelt called for a "second Bill of Rights" to free all Americans from fear and want. A generation later, Martin Luther King Jr. launched a human rights movement to
secure an economic and social Bill of Rights to end poverty and propel prosperity. The student organizers of the BISA conference believe that in 2008 the time is ripe to move toward this goal, with poverty worsening, but with hopeful political opportunities opening up.

The multi-college BISA conference is comprised of morning workshops on leadership skills such as presentation and negotiation skills and creating community coalitions, and afternoon workshops on pressing issues such as health care, immigrant rights, climate change, food security, violence against women, and promoting college access. The goal is for each student to leave the conference committed to work on one of the specific campaigns explored in the afternoon workshops.

The workshop leaders are experts from western Mass., as well as from Boston and Connecticut. Featured presenters are Randy Kehler, an organizer of the Safe and Green campaign to close the Vernon, Vermont, nuclear power plant; Chip Joffe-Halpern, director of Ecu-Health Care and an architect of the Massachusetts health reform; and Jo Comerford, program director of the Western Mass. Food Bank.

The day-long leadership conference, starting at 9 am, is open to all college and high school students and is free, with lunch provided. For more information or to pre-register, visit williams.edu/resources/commservice/bisa.

The BISA conference is sponsored by the Center for Community Engagement and the Schumann Program in Democratic Studies at Williams.

TEXT/NEWS: Sole local radio station in Bennington, Vt., goes on the block

2008-02-07T00:13:00.000-05:00

Contact: David Scribner, SVC Communications, 802-447-6389, or
Marion Whiteford, 802-447-6388

College seeks community partnership to take over WBTN 1370-AM radio station

(BENNINGTON, Vt. -- Citing a fresh focus on new academic programs, the Southern Vermont College Board of Trustees concluded last week that the College can no longer underwrite the losses at WBTN 1370-AM, the local
commercial radio station that the college has owned since 2001. As a result, the college is now considering a series of options for the venerable community station that include sale or lease.

The college must focus on its main mission and must concentrate its efforts and resources on educating students with exciting new academic initiatives,. explained Trustee Jon Goodrich. “Unfortunately, we cannot continue to subsidize a commercial radio station. If in some way we can partner with a radio entrepreneur and help further the education of our students, it is a win-win.""

Among the new programs the College is introducing is “Build the Enterprise," a cross-disciplinary initiative wherein teams of students plan, implement and manage their own businesses. The student-created businesses will be able to tap into a $100,000 Venture Fund for capitalization. In addition, this spring the College is inaugurating a "roving professor" faculty position which would initially provide instructional expertise in the field of pharmacology for a variety of courses but eventually will be expanded to instruction in the areas of communications, visual arts and sustainability across different academic divisions.

The college is also planning to expand its popular nursing and radiologic technology programs with a new health care leadership major.

In September, the trustees began to examine whether, in face mounting losses at WBTN, the College should retain the radio station, donated to the college by trustee Robert Howe, and what other options for station ownership there might be. The Board of Trustees determined that the College should eliminate the losses generated by the station by the end of the spring term in May.

In the meantime, the college is eager to entertain proposals from community groups and others to take over station operations. The college is also considering the retention of the broadcast license for future use as a college and community nonprofit station.

"We take seriously and respect the role we have played in maintaining a community radio station as stewards of a broadcasting license, Board Chairman Wallace W. Altes said. "Whatever the configuration of WBTN's ownership in the future, we would hope that it would maintain its commitment to true community programming as well as
affording our communications students and members of the community the opportunity to produce local broadcast content, as it does now. An ideal outcome might be for a local group to take over this local media resource with whom we could partner."

Should an operator not come forth, the College might consider moving the station to the SVC campus, while using the existing WBTN facilities for other academic programs, Altes added.

Founded in 1926, Southern Vermont College offers a career-enhancing liberal arts education with 19 academic degree programs for approximately 450 students. Southern Vermont College recognizes the importance of educating students for the workplace of the twenty-first century and for lives as successful leaders in their communities. The college is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

TEXT: Caretaker-COOL committee offers tips on fighting climate change

2008-01-06T09:28:00.000-05:00

Bridget Spann of Caretaker Farm (458-9691) submits this advisory about the
COOL Challenge at Caretaker Farm:

Take Action on Climate Change with The COOL Challenge at Caretaker Farm

Williamstown, Mass. -- Caretaker Farm and the Williamstown "COOL" (CO2 Lowering) Committee invite the community to learn about things that everyone can do to fight climate change. This two-part event will be held at Caretaker Farm at 7PM on Wednesday, January 9 and Wednesday, January
23.

On the 9th Matthew Baran, a Williams College student, will explain how to get started by reducing your carbon footprint with the COOL Challenge. On the 23rd Nancy Nylen, Associate Director of the Center for Ecological Technology, will share resources and answer questions about how to implement changes you would like to make in your home and your lifestyle to address climate change.

Williamstown is a member of Cities for Climate Protection and has an action plan to reduce CO2 emissions 10% below 2002 levels by 2010. The COOL Committee is a group of concerned citizens working to implement the town's plan through education and activism.

PLEASE call a friend and carpool to the farm, and PLEASE bring your own cup or mug. Hot and cold beverages and a snack will be served.

What:
The COOL Challenge at Caretaker Farm

When:
Wednesday, January 9, 2007 at 7 PM and Wednesday, January 23 at 7PM

Where:
Caretaker Farm, 1210 Hancock Rd. Williamstown, MA 01267

For more information please visit the Williamstown COOL Committee website:

www.coolwilliamstown.org or contact Bridget Spann at (413) 458-9691

TEXT: MediaNews Group story about Coakley proposals for state Open Meeting Act

2007-12-28T19:30:00.000-05:00

To read the Open Meeting Law, go to:

http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/39-23b.htm

This is a copy of a story written by the MediaNews Group news bureau at the State House in Boston about impending changes in the Massachusetts Open Meeting law to be proposed by Attorney General Martha Coakley.

The original version of the story should be viewed at:
http://www.lowellsun.com/front/ci_7600712

HEADLINE:
Open Meeting Law By Hillary Chabot, hchabot@lowellsun.com

Article Last Updated: 11/30/2007 11:31:05 AM EST

BOSTON -- Attorney General Martha Coakley is expected to announce changes to the Open Meeting Law "any day now," according to the executive director of the state's newspaper publishing association.

Coakley's proposal would update the rules surrounding public officials who meet in private, officially known as executive session. "They are working on a legal proposal and we will see that soon," said Robert Ambrogi, executive director of the Massachusetts Newspapers Publishers Association.

A representative of Coakley's office was expected to serve on a three-person panel discussing the law at a MNPA meeting in Boston yesterday, but had to bow out at the last minute because the changes haven't been announced. Coakley spokesman Henry Pierre declined to comment on the changes or the missed meeting.

The law requires all meetings of government bodies to be open to the public, with nine exceptions. There are no fines for violating the law. State Rep. Antonio Cabral, D-New
Bedford, filed a bill which would attach a $1,000 fine for boards and a $500 fine for individuals who meet behind closed doors without a valid exemption.Cabral served on a panel at the MNPA meeting yesterday discussing the law. He said Coakley has shown interest in his changes. He said he has no specifics of the Coakley proposal.

Cabral's bill also would create a new office under the Attorney General called the Office of Public Accountability, meant to reach decisions on complaints about violations within 90 days.

Tom Urbelis, a lawyer representing North Andover and other municipalities, said the fines aren't needed and the law could hurt public service. "You do a very effective job of publicizing what you consider to be violations of the open meetings law," Urbelis said. "There is already an exodus of qualified people in public service. There's no doubt if there was any possibility they would be fined they wouldn't run and would resign the day it passed." Cabral said he doesn't believe the fine will change participation in public service. "People like to serve and are honored when they are asked," Cabral said. This is the second time Cabral has filed the bill. The first time it died in committee thanks to lukewarm reception in the Legislature.

Publishers later heard Chief Justice Margaret Marshall speak on many issues facing the court, including a recent ruling which would allow government officials wide berth when deciding what documents are public under the public-records law. Marshall, who rose to national attention after leading a SJC decision to legalize gay marriage, recently exempted government documents which fall under attorney-client privilege from the public-records law. Marshall said her rulings interpret the law, and can't include her feelings about whether government officials will be honest in determining what qualifies as public.

"The very nice thing about being a judge is two parties or three or four bring us the case and they say, 'What's the law?' and we tell them what the law is," Marshall said. "That's my role. What I can't introduce into that is what's my personal view about whether or not I trust the government."

The Sun has made 27 public-records requests in the past two years and is currently in the middle of a battle for a report detailing the mismanagement around the construction of the Stoklosa School. City officials have used the attorney-client privilege exemption to deny the records request.

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TEXT: Bubriski letter regarding MGRHS $1,000 donation

2007-11-27T16:32:00.000-05:00

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Here is the text of a letter-to-the-editor written by Peter Bubriski, commenting on his experience attempting to make a $1,000 donation to Mount Greylock Regional High School for scholarships. Bubriski grew up in Williamstown and is now a management consultant. He can be reached at pbubriski@aol.com or 413-458-9073. The letter appeared in two newspapers in early November. As of Nov. 16, Bubriski said he had received no followup communication from the school.

Sometimes a quick note or phone call is the essence of good business; it certainly is the essence of good manners. Imagine my distress, when after two years of trying I can’t even give away money to Mount Greylock Regional High School. And I can’t even get a follow up call or email. Oh, but wait, it wasn’t money to increase the salaries of the administration or to buy new office equipment; it was money for student scholarships.

Two years ago I had a series of phone calls over a period of weeks and months with the then business manager, and finally with the newly appointed superintendent. Platitudes were mouthed, assurances made,but nothing happened. My check remained un-cashed. A mystery. A year and a half later a secretary called to say they had found a check for $500.00 lying under a piece of office equipment they were replacing and did I know anything about it? Oops.

Scroll forward: New business manger. (The old one had been moved on to another institution down the street. Good luck other institution.) More words mouthed. Delivered a check for $1000.00 this time, but couldn’t seem to find anyone in their offices . Left a note asking could we chat about the scholarship, etc…No word, no check cashed, mystery unsolved.

I don’t give them a passing grade in the matter.

So I have written a primer for Mount Greylock’s administration:

Follow through with what you say.
Cash checks; give thanks with no delay.

Lose the lousy, lame excuse.
Neglect is a form of donor abuse.

Untie the bureaucratic knot--
It’ll simplify your lives a lot.

Notate the gifts Greylock receives
Lest generosity ups and leaves.

Keep focused on the kids and teachers--
Put bureaucracy on the back row bleachers.

Posted by permission of:
Peter Bubriski
Peter Bubriski Associates
Executive Communication/Leadership Development
office: 413-458-9073
mobile: 413-441-0980
pbubriski@aol.com
http://www.peterbubriski.com/

TEXT: Fohlin statement on town relationship with Williams College

2007-09-28T17:32:00.000-04:00

Williamstown Town Manager Peter Fohlin made public on Friday a letter he had written to the North Adams Transcript clarifying his views about the nature of the relationship between town government and Williams College. The context of the letter is many years of discussion about whether taxpayers would be better off if the town requested from Williams an annual "payment in lieu of taxes" rather than periodic requests for one-time capital-spending or grant assistance.

Here's the letter, as supplied via email to GreylockNews.com by Fohlin:

By Peter Fohlin

For years I have been proud to say that I have never been misquoted by the media. While that remains true in its narrowest sense, I was not accurately served by the article in Thursday's Transcript. Readers should know that I did not utter nor did I approve the story's headline: "College pays its share." It is also not accurate to say that I "have rebuffed the idea that the institution should increase its payout."

Listeners of WAMC with good memories know that I have said that there is more that the college can do with the town and more that the town can do with the college. We can never say that we have done "enough." It so happens that immediately prior to my Transcript interview I had spent three hours with Bart Mitchell, Mark Paresky, Jim Kolesar, and others brainstorming ways in which Mitchell Properties, Marlap Management, Williams College, the Town, and the State can contribute to a better downtown for us all. I want each and every one of them to do everything they can to make Williamstown a better place to live.

Whether an annual payment in lieu of taxes or project by project grants is better is debatable. I have favored the grant system since I learned as a kid that I got more money from my father by asking for ten and twenty dollar handouts at random times. He quickly learned that a regular allowance was cheaper for him. And after each grant I have always told President Schapiro the same thing I used to say back then, "Thank You" and "I'll be back."

Do the majority of taxpayers really want Town government to receive a yearly stipend? Don't you think that town and school officials would find new and creative ways to spend found money so that the effect on your taxes would be lost over time? Or would you rather see the College's money invested where you can see the impact of tax relief at the elementary school, Spring Street, and a new high school?

I also believe that Williams deserves credit where credit is due: approximately a million dollars toward the new elementary school construction, a million and a half dollar endowment invested on behalf of our public elementary school as though they were a privileged private school, three quarters of a million dollars toward the reconstruction of Spring Street, and innumerable infrastructure partnerships that we don't bother to keep track of or brag about but they save the taxpayers money.

That being said it's fair to ask "What have we done lately?" Pine Cobble subdivision was built a decade ago. The elementary school is five years old already and Spring Street even older. There are plenty of opportunities to consider: replace or refurbish our forty year old high school, rebuild our vintage police station, provide more parking on Spring Street. My first choice would be to purchase and donate a tract of land where the Town could build modest size starter homes on modest size lots that people can afford.

Peter L. Fohlin
Town Manager
pfohlin@williamstown.net
31 North Street
Williamstown MA 01267
tel: (413) 458-3500
http://www.williamstown.net

TEXT: MassMoCA statement on removal of Büchel materials

2007-09-26T01:46:00.000-04:00

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art has
decided not to exhibit materials gathered for a planned large-scale
installation, "Training Ground for Democracy," and has decided instead to
dismantle the materials t make way for a different exhibit opening in
November.

Here is the museum' statement:

MASS MoCA announced today that it has begun removing materials gathered for Training Ground for Democracy and will not permit the public to enter the planned installation which was cancelled on May 21, 2007.  Materials and partially completed fabrications for this large-scale installation have been stored in MASS MoCA’s main Building 5 gallery since the artist abandoned the project nine months ago.  The front doors to the gallery have been locked, and the materials covered by tarpaulins.

Ever since the artist left MASS MoCA in December 2006, the museum explored every possible avenue in an effort to re-engage the artist, and when those efforts proved futile, the museum  offered him the opportunity to retrieve the materials from the museum galleries  (reimbursing the museum for its costs), which he declined to do.  In late May 2007, MASS MoCA sought a declaratory ruling in the U.S. District Court, Springfield, Massachusetts,  to rule on its and the artist’s rights in regards to the unfinished work.  Even after bringing suit, however, MASS MoCA sought on numerous occasions to reach a mutually acceptable resolution of the dispute.  None of those efforts were successful.

“With several hundred tons of materials and thousands of objects and partial constructions sitting abandoned in our galleries, we carefully considered what we could do,” said Joseph C. Thompson, MASS MoCA’s director.  “We obviously cared a great deal for the work and had expended extraordinary effort and energies to try to bring it into existence; we did not want to act precipitously in either dismantling or displaying it.  With no other options, and wanting to move forward as the situation continued to draw resources away from other artists and public programming, we sought a declaration of our respective rights by an impartial party – a federal judge.” 

Judge Michael A. Ponsor of the U.S. District Court Second Circuit ruled on Friday, September 21, that MASS MoCA could exercise its curatorial discretion with respect to the materials, including making the assembled materials available for viewing when accompanied by signage explaining that it was an unfinished work.  

“We are deeply appreciative of the Court’s thoughtful scrutiny of this matter.  After giving careful deliberation to the interests of many constituents, including the artist’s own views, and factoring in the limited time window available given our normal exhibition cycle -- together with other considerations both logistical and philosophical-- we have decided to begin removing the materials immediately without placing them on public display.   We are eager to return to our core mission to serve as a experimental platform for art-making, and we look forward to commencing work immediately on the previously announced installation by Jenny Holzer, Projections, which will open November 17, 2007.”   The museum announced today that in conjunction with the Clark Art Institute, it would co-host a symposium devoted to the issues raised by this case. The symposium will be held later this fall.

MASS MoCA

With a track record spanning eleven years and including the fabrication of more than 70 new visual arts works, MASS MoCA has a history of creating milestone collaborations with some of the world’s leading living artists.  Coupled with the more than 40 works of performing arts created, rehearsed, or technically enhanced through residency programs, MASS MoCA is one of the nation’s most fertile sites for nurturing and supporting new art in all media.   As part of its mission to reveal to its audience the entire spectrum of the art-making process, and to introduce artists to new audiences, in new contexts, MASS MoCA routinely opens its galleries during installation and fabrication, and presents numerous open rehearsals, workshop presentations, and work-in-progress showings.

MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located off Marshall Street in North Adams, Massachusetts, on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings. MASS MoCA juxtaposes a beautifully restored icon of the American industrial past with some of the liveliest, most evocative—and provocative—art being made today. Emphasizing art that charts new territory, art that ignores traditional boundaries between the performing and visual arts, and installations that are immersive in scale, MASS MoCA has received some of the nation's most coveted architectural and historic preservation honors.  MASS MoCA presents an unusually varied program, including rollicking dance parties and "silent film/live music" series, and has made a significant contribution to the cultural landscape of New England and the United States, and the socioeconomic landscape of its home community.  MASS Mo!
CA’s galleries are open from 11am – 5 pm, closed Tuesdays.

Future uncertain for Mount Greylock RHS football; after three losses and heading into Friday's game against Monument Mountain

2007-09-24T21:07:00.000-04:00

By Chris Densmore
Mount Greylock Echo Writer

As the Mount Greylock Mounties lumbered off John T. Allen Field, saddled with their third loss in as many games this season, one couldn’t help but wonder where this team will end up this season.

Despite the best efforts of junior running-back Ian Jones and his comrade sophomore Kyle Quagliano, who carried the ball for a combined 217 yards on the ground, the Mounties fell, 18-20, on Saturday to Pittsfield High School’s Generals, lead by quarterback Jim Ostrikis’s 173 passing yards.

The game had been considered by many of Greylock’s captains to be a must-win game, with the team already 0-2 after losses to Taconic High School at home and Hoosac Valley High School on the road. Nevertheless, the Mounties were unable to lock up the required win on this rainy night as they coughed up a 12-0 first quarter lead and were mired in penalty-trouble, amassing a total of 43 yards lost on penalties.

The night was full of sloppy play, probably caused by the downpour during the first half. The teams combined to fumble the ball nine times and Pittsfield also coughed up 30 yards via penalties to Greylock.

The contrasting offenses of the two teams made it the Mounties’ most exciting and closest game so far. Greylock’s running game was on par with Pittsfield’s passing game throughout the entirety of the game, with Jones, Quagliano, and quarterback Kris Jolin each rushing for a touchdown. The offensive line did its job splendidly in opening up the holes for these backs.

Nevertheless, while Pittsfield’s defense was able to come up with the key stops it needed, Greylock’s passing defense struggled to contain Pittsfield’s potent receiver corps, highlighted by Jake Ryan’s four athletic catches for 64 yards and a touchdown.

In addition, Greylock failed to capitalize on its touchdowns, failing on all three attempts at two-point conversions, the final of which, if scored, would have tied the game with less than three minutes left to play. The loss left Greylock, the winners of the Berkshire County title last year, looking for solutions to avoid a collapse and recover for the stretch run.

Living up to the Championship team

The Mounties had much to be thankful for last Thanksgiving, having just wrapped up the Berkshire County Title Game with a dominant win over Wahconah. Lead by All-Eagle Offensive Most Valuable Player, quarterback Preston Trites, and All-Eagle Defensive Most Valuable Player, Dylan Schultz, the Mounties coasted throughout the season to finish undefeated in county bouts. Although the team ultimately lost in the Division Two Super Bowl to Emil Igwenagu and Central Mass. powerhouse Worcester Holy Name, the season was an incredible success for the Mounties.

Now in 2007, Trites and Schultz are gone as well as several other All-Eagle standouts from last season including running back Jon LaCasse and tight end Greg Payton. Whit Montgomery-Nassif, Matt St. Pierre, Dani Nawazelski, and John Lucido captain the Mounties this season, who look to bounce back after a rough start. With three losses already accumulated, the Mounties no longer have to live up to last year’s team, but still look to start a winning streak as the season progresses.

“We’ve got the trophy until we have to give it up,” explains senior tight end Lucido, who make three spectacular catches for 46 yard in the game against Pittsfield. “We’ve gotten off to a rough start an now we have to make it up from behind.” While the team does feel some pressure to live up to last years team’s success, it’s understood that last years team, which graduated over 10 senior was an “insane” team and that manner of success is unlikely so be repeated. In the words of senior lineman Montgomery-Nassif, “We’re a whole new team with a new identity and new personalities and you can’t really compare the two.” The ability rebound and come from behind after a rough start will clearly define the Greylock football team’s success this year.

Injuries cause struggles, infusion of youth

Playing a significant role in the struggles of the team so far this year has been the hampering of many of the Mounties’ key role players with injuries. Among those unable to play this past week due to injuries are senior running back Ryan Wilson, his brother, sophomore lineman Matt, and junior linemen Jordan Adames and Ben Shiner.

The roster of over 30 players has been reduced to around 20. None of Greylock’s stars are on the sidelines, but many of them are nagged by minor injuries and are playing at less than 100 percent. As a result of so many questionable starters, many of the team’s underclassmen have had to play and contribute at the varsity level.
“It puts the freshmen in a position where they’ve got to step up and learn quickly, while you’d hope to have time to develop them,” explains Head Coach Shaun Flaherty. “Our backs are against the wall, but we still manage, we still put out a team every Friday of Saturday.”

Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a feeder program like those in Pittsfield and Dalton for Williamstown and Lanesborough, so Greylock’s young players are fairly inexperienced. The freshmen and even eighth graders are forced into roles they have relatively minimal training at and forced to gut it out against players significantly more physically developed than they are.

So there is nowhere to go but up for freshmen like Jason Pilot and Kevin Agostini and the seniors and juniors fully understand the position these youngsters are in. Senior captain and lineman Dani Nawazelski feels a great deal of sympathy for them: “I know it’s hard as a freshmen to come in and to go to practice everyday and take a lot of hits. We have to encourage them to keep coming back and give them positive reinforcement so they can keep doing their jobs.”

Junior quarterback Kris Jolin took over the role after classmate Payton, the apparent heir to Preston Trites, departed for Northfield-Mount Hermon School. Jolin explains that the importance of a foundation of young players is to “set a course for next year’s team as well.” Although the term “rebuilding year” is one coaches prefer to avoid, Flaherty does agree that the team “definitely have a lot of players stepping up into varsity roles this year” and their character is truly being tested.

Team must regroup after tough loss to Pittsfield

Despite struggling in these first few games of the 2007 season, the Mounties remain fairly relaxed in the locker room, where the players are constantly shooting jokes at each other as a very welcoming group. “We try to not dwell on the situation,” remarks senior captain Matt St. Pierre.

The need to move on after three close losses is implicit for the Mounties if they want to gather wins and push towards the playoffs. “You’ve got to start from scratch,” says Montgomery-Nassif, “ . . . to learn from the mistakes you’ve made and put them behind you, trying to do better each week.” The philosophy that will follow this team throughout the next couple months is a very socialist one; whether they succeed or fail, they will do so as a team and individual glory will be forsaken for the sake of the team.

Emblematic of this collectiveness was captain Nawazelski's selfless change of position from receiver to guard in order to bolster the offensive line and establish a running game, a move that clearly paid off in the game against Pittsfield. Nawazelski, a man with an often-stoic demeanor on the field, asserts that “if something needs to be done to help the team, than [he’ll] do it.”

Players stress that there is no one in particular to blame for the struggles so far, just the group as a whole and that the goal of the team is to remain together and enjoy the game. Setting the standard for the team’s approach to its season is Coach Flaherty, whose fiery sideline personality and collected demeanor of the field inspire the Mounties’ hopes of winning. “[Coach Flaherty] really works hard to make sure that we are a unified team . . . being unified as a team is the most important part of the game,” explains St. Pierre.

On a more tactical note, Flaherty also stresses the importance of blocking and tackling to the success of the team and back Jones agrees: “If you can block on offense, you can establish an offense, and if you can tackle on defense, you can establish a defense.”

The team will work on sustaining and finishing its drives on Friday (Sept. 28) against Monument Mountain at home as it looks to grab its first win of the season. “You have to look at the positives comparative to [the past week],” expounds Flaherty. “We need to put it all together and play a more complete game.” Even if the team were to finish the team winless, Montgomery-Nassif, explains that his main goal isn’t wins: “I always just want to make sure that everybody has fun, because without fun, there’s no reason to play the game.” So Greylock Football Fans, make sure you’re there at 7 p.m. and make your presence as “the best fans in Berkshire County” known at the games because, as Lucido says, “It makes it fun to play when people come out to cheer for you.”

EXCERPT: Williams Prof. Steve Sheppard's research cited at Italian global population confab

2007-07-13T00:29:00.000-04:00

This column by Neal Pierce, of the Washington Post Writer's group, quotes research by Prof. Stephen Sheppard of Williams College. You should be able to find the whole column on the web by appropriately searching.

NEAL PEIRCE COLUMN
For Release Sunday, July 15, 2007
© 2007 Washington Post Writers Group

PLAN OR BE ENGULFED: HARSH LESSON FOR WORLD CITIES

By Neal Peirce

BELLAGIO, Italy -- Will Planet Earth be able to handle the mega-surge of people pouring into the cities of Africa, Asia and Latin America?

-- SNIP ---

And humans have the power to effect huge change on our future numbers, Joel Cohen, head of the Laboratory of Populations at the Rockefeller University and Columbia University, told a Global Urban Summit, assembled by the Rockefeller Foundation here last week.

-- SNIP ---

Breakthrough research on that very point, by Stephen Sheppard and his Williams College colleagues, was presented at the Bellagio conference. Using Landsat satellite images of a sampling of 120 world cities -- one set taken around 1990, another around 2000 -- they were able to show global cities' dynamic form of growth -- how much they move to the urban periphery ("outspill"), or find space inside ("infill".)

On top of that, the Landsat readings permitted intensity light readings indicating types of land use, pixel by pixel, down to very small areas. Then the Williams team, operating with a remarkably small $775,000 budget from the World Bank and the National Science Foundation, matched its images with census-type information from each city to estimate actual population and per capita income.
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Fohlin pushing for parking structure to replace B&G as part of Spring Street redevelopment

2007-07-04T10:41:00.000-04:00

Here is a summary of a GreylockNews.com telephone interview on July 4 with Williamstown Town Manager Peter H. Folin, 59, concerning a vote by the Middleborough, Mass., selectmen choosing Fohlin as their No. 1 choice to take over as town manager in that city of 20,000 in southeastern Massachusetts. Fohlin is vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard until July 16 and was reached by phone at his second home there.

FOHLIN: “The chairman of the board of selectmen, Marcia Brunelle, called me yesterday and essentially told me what you just told me and I thanked her for that and she asked me to fax her a proposed contract tomorrow, on Thursday, which I will do so I would say that we are in the very, very early stages of discussions and I really don't know much more about this than you do in some respects. There is really no way to predict how it will work out.

“When I was interviewed, I described Middleborough as the hardest doable job in Massachusetts. There are lots of communities in Massachusetts that are harder than Middleborough, but they are just not doable. The communities are just basket cases. Middleborough would be a challenging job if they are successful in attracting the Wompanaug Iindians to build a casino complex and it will be equally challenging if they don't because they have had severe financial pressures in the last few years. The situation is going to be complex in either way. They have a charter and a town government structure that disburses and diffuses responsibility in every direction and makes for a certain level of disorganization. So I don't know how this is going to work out.”

Fohlin said it was not a foregone conclusion that he would either get hired or go to Middleborough. “I never work in foregone conclusions and to try to avoid getting too emotionally involved in the situation,” he said. Fohlin said he carefully crafted and communicated to the Middleborough selectmen conditions under which he would accept an offer. He said he would not disclose those conditions publicly. “I have been studying Middleborough for about three months and I think I have a clear and coherent picture about what they need to be successful and I hope that will be part of the discussion I will have with the selectmen.”

GREYLOCK NEWS: Are you ready for a change?

FOHLIN: “As I have explained to the selectmen and other people close to me, the issues that are ahead for Williamstown include building a new police station, the rebuilding of the college athletic center in the center of town and the redevelopment of the west side of Spring Street with Mark Paresky. I say that because as far as I am concerned PhoTech and Cable Mills are done. And those three projects have very long development times so even if I achieve significant involvement in all three projects, the chances of my being present at the ribbon cuttong are pretty small, because they are going to take so long to evolve.

“Whereas what's going on in Middleborough is both momentus in terms of the whole state of Massachusetts and it is happening right now, at this minute. As I one time said to a selectman, I can get in more trouble in Middleborough in a week than I can get in Williamstown in the next three years.

“On the other hand, if I stay in Williamstown, I am really looking forward to building a new police station -- which ought to have been done by previous town managers -- and I have been having some really exciting and encouraging discussions with the college about how to reconfigure the athletic complex downtown. And Mark Pareksy, who I have just met, is very exicited about reconfiguring Spring Street in a very positive and exciting way.”

Mark Paresky, who lives on Fishers Island, Fla., is the son of Crimson Travel founder and Williams College alumnus David Paresky, whose major gift allowed Williams College to build the just-opened Pareksy Student Center. The Paresky family, through trusts, now owns most of the buildings on the west side of Spring Street, while Williams College owns most of the buildings on the east side. Fohlin disclosed that Pareksy interests have just purchased the former Hopkins Furniture and Hopkins Funeral Home buildings.

Other owners of property on the west side of the street are believed to be the Goff family and a trust whose principals are likely partners in the Grinnell, Dubendorf & Smith law firm. Williams College owns the land under the end-of-street public parking lot, and a Williams alumnus, Peter S. Willmott, a former FedEx senior executive, owns an empty lot at the corner of Spring and Walden streets. Several months ago, a fire gutted the Pareksy building occupied by a coffee shop, the Purple Pub and a Subway franchise; Fohlin says “Pareksy has to do something with that building,” and has plans which include changes as well for the building housing the Zanna clothing store. His family also owns that building. “Mark is very committed to having a conversation with Williamstown,” says Fohlin.
Fohlin says the purchase by Williams College last month of the former Ivy Gardens parcel on North Hoosac Road (Route 7 north) for short-term book storage as the Sawyer Library is razed and replaced, has added new options to long-term thinking about the end of Spring Street and Water Stret. He said “one of the options which comes to mind and is very discussable,” is the idea of razing the college’s facilities complex (known as “B&G” or “buildings and grounds”) and replacing it with a parking structure.

"I am encouraging them to move B&G in the direction of the the Ivy Gardens property because I think that there's better uses for the limted amount of land that we have in our downtown,” said Fohlin. He said the college some years ago had approached him with a suggestion that it construct a book-storage facility on the 59 Water Street parcel, owned by the town, which was formerly the town’s municipal equipment garage, and which is now a gravel parking lot. Fohlin said he discouraged that use.

Fohlin says the major “alleged flaw” in Spring Street is that it has inadequate parking to make it welcoming. He said it has been his approach to try and make sure that does not become a problem for Water Street as the CableMills condominium project is completed. “We would be nuts if we recreated spring street on Water Street,” Fohlin said.

FOHLIN: “By a strict reading of the zoning bylaw, we are over 100 parking spaces short for the permitted uses on Water Street. It requires more than 100 spaces beyond those presently available. The same thing is true on Spring Street. The solution zoning bylaw came up with was to do a parking study on Sring Street, assume those parking spaces exist, and assign them to each of the parcels on Spring Street. Papa Charlies may have five virtual parking places assigned to them. That may not be the right number, but that’s the concept.”

"Now I asked Mark Paresky when we were talking about Purple Pub, etc., I said Mark, can you meet the requirement of our zoning bylaw to do this. He looked at me and said, ‘I have plenty of virtual parking places, but I have no place for my customers to put their cars.’ We have this elegant, academic solution to a real-world problem."

GREYLOCK NEWS: What specifically is your personal vision for redeveloping the Spring and Water street areas, and the former 59 Water Street town garage site, given that Williams has said it wants to upgrade its athletic facilities in that area?

FOHLIN: "At this point in my thinking, I believe that the present location of the buildings and grounds offices needs to be a parking structure and it would serve Weston Field activities, and it would be within convenient walking distances for Spring Street and Water Street. No other location, including 59 Water Street, meets that need as well. And I have told the college as far as I am concerned, 59 Water Street is in play, that we have a truly unique moment in time right now: We have a college administration, Bart Mitchell at Cable Mills, Park Paresky on the west side of Spring Street, and a town administration that is eager and willing for all those entitles to work together for the future of downtown Williamstown for the next 50 or 100 years. We're looking at an opportunity here with Bart Mitchell, Mark Paresky, and the town, to really do this right."

GREYLOCK NEWS: Let me post a hypothetical question. And I’ll make sure it is reported in that context. Let’s suppose you are offered the job in Middleborough, and you accept it, what is Williamstown going to be looking for in a new town manager to keep all this moving?

FOHLIN: "I think it needs to be someone who builds relationships. You have to be able to build relationships with the college, with Bart Mitchell, with Mark Paresky and not everyone does that particularly well. The one other thing that I think is critical -- and I have I think successfully ingrained this in my managers at town hall -- is what I call ‘Think Act Two.’ And the way I describe that is everybody knows what to do first. but that’s not really what makes the decision. You have to think abuot what comes next, about Act Two. For example, it would be easy to say we need parking, let's build a parking garage at 59 Water Street. But you have to think about what comes after that. Think Act Two is the opposite of being a master of the obvious.”

GREYLOCKNEWS: What fiscal challenges does the town face going forward, particular with the schools?

FOHLIN: “Williamstown is on very sound financial footing and we are not, as far as I'm concerned, facing the fiscal crisis that many other communities either are or claim to be. That is largely the result of managing realistic expectations within Proposition 2-1/2. And the biggest disconnect in that challenge is between labor contracts and Proposition 2-1/2. There are labor contracts in the schools that are not financially supportable long term and expectations have to get more adjusted. That means that either employees have to learn to live within the contraints of our revenue or the taxpayers have to decided that they are willing to contribute more than they have.”

“On other things, energy costs and those sorts of things -- we are pretty adaptable and innovative. We have worked with National Grid, for example, to dramatically reduce our energy costs. You do that when you are under pressure.”

GREYLOCKNEWS: What do you see as the town’s biggest challenge in attracting a new town manager if you move on to Middleborough?

FOHLIN: “I think that perhaps the biggest difficulty that Williamstown would face in hiring a next town manager -- notice the hypothethetical -- is the residency requirement in the town charter. While Williamstown pays relative well, it could be difficult finding qualified candidates who could afford to buy a home in Williamstown given what has happened to real-estate prices over the years. If a guy could be town manager in Williamstown and live in north Adams, that would be simple. Having to buy a house in Williamstown and have it be attractive to a candidate could be interesting. I always felt as if I got in under the deadline.

GREYLOCKNEWS: Thank-you.

STATMENT: Downing lists Berkshire-specific grants in budget sent to governor

2007-07-02T17:24:00.000-04:00

PRESS RELEASE

DOWNING HIGHLIGHTS LOCAL FUNDING IN FY 2008 BUDGET

Boston- Today, State Senator Benjamin B. Downing (D-Pittsfield)
announces that the Senate has unanimously voted to endorse the Fiscal
Year 2008 conference budget, bringing to a close the legislative
negotiations on the Commonwealth's General Appropriations Act.

"This FY08 budget is a fiscally sound product of serious deliberation. I
applaud the Conference Committee members for performing their due
diligence by weighing each spending item with careful consideration for
the fiscal health of the entire Commonwealth," stated Downing.

This proposed spending plan will fund important programs and services
impacting the Berkshire, Hampshire and Franklin District, including:

* $1 million for Emergency Disaster Relief to the victims of
flooding in areas declared federal disasters in October 2005, including
Berkshire, Hampshire, and Franklin Counties.
* $250,000 for the Berkshire Economic Development Corporation to
implement the Berkshire Blueprint and continued marketing focused on
attracting jobs to Berkshire County.
* $150,000 for the Berkshire County Drug Task Force for
programmatic expenses.
* $75,000 for the Housing Services and Mediation Program
administered by the Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority.
* $150,000 for the Community Based Family Unification Counseling
Program for at-risk teens administered through the Pittsfield Boys &
Girls Club and the Gladys Allen Brigham Center.
* $100,000 for the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, for capital
improvements to its HVAC system.
* $20,000 for the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge to
complete roof repairs
* $75,000 for renovations and restoration of the Samuel Harrison
House in Pittsfield.
* $200,000 for the Mahaiwe Theatre in Great Barrington for
restoration improvements.
* $10,000 for Hoose House in Dalton for the development of
restoration plans.
* $50,000 for Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Becket for
structural improvements to the Ted Shawn Theatre.
* $150,000 for Berkshire County Youth Development Project to fund
youth intervention services
* $200,000 for Buy Local programs to enhance buy local efforts in
western, central, northeastern, and southeastern Massachusetts, which
supports local programs such as Berkshire Grown.
* $1 million for the Adams Visitor Center.
* $200,000 for the Western Massachusetts Enterprise Fund.
* $100,000 for United Veterans of America to conduct veteran
outreach services in Pittsfield and $220,000 for United Veterans of
America services in Leeds.
* $200,000 for support and implementation of four Model Community
Coalitions and community-capacity building activities, which locally
will support the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition and the North
Quabbin Community Coalition programming and services.
* $3.5 million for Outreach Enrollment Grants for outreach,
education and enrollment initiatives relating to Massachusetts health
care reform, which will benefit local organizations including Ecu-Health
Care and Community Partners, Inc.
* $3 million increase to the Executive Office of Health and Human
Services Salary Reserve ensuring a salary increase for direct care
workers who earn less than $40,000 annually and provide care to our most
vulnerable citizens.
* $21,351,035 for Community Policing Grants to assist with
deployment of officers statewide, including language maintaining grants
that have historically been received by the police departments.
Locally, the Towns of Charlemont, Dalton, Lanesborough, and Williamstown
and the Cities of Pittsfield and North Adams will continue to receive
Community Policing funds.
* $54,690 for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of
Berkshire County to fund programs that provide abused and neglected
children with a voice in court.
* $77,478 for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of
Hampshire and Franklin Counties to fund programs that provide abused and
neglected children with a voice in court.
* $42,000 for the Turner House in Williamstown to fund veterans
services.
* $28.3 million for PILOT Payments for state owned lands,
representing a $3 million increase from FY07.
* $935,028,283 in Lottery Aid for direct payments to cities and
towns.
* $220 million increase in Chapter 70 Public Education aid from
FY07.
* $1,000,000 increase to the Regional School Transportation
account, raising the appropriation to $58.3 million - the highest level
of funding in recent years. This figure represents a 91% reimbursement
rate for the regional school districts.
* $5,500,000, a $2 million increase over FY07 funding level, for
Education Foundation Reserve ("pothole program"), an important safety
valve intended to provide supplemental financial assistance to cities,
towns, and school districts to address a variety of special
circumstances.
* $600,000 for the State Licensed Foresters Program administered
by the Department of Conservation and Recreation to ensure that the
Commonwealth retains its "Green Certification" for state forests and
maintains responsible timber management and stewardship.

This spending proposal has now been sent to Governor Patrick's desk for
final approval. Patrick has 10 days to act on the bill. Fiscal Year
2008 began on July 1, 2007.

To view the complete text of the FY08 Budget Conference Report please
visit:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/185/ht04pdf/ht04141.pdf.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Heather Viola Quirk
July 2, 2007
Phone (617) 722-1625

###

TEXT: Images Cinema awarded Civic Engagement Grant

2007-06-25T21:08:00.000-04:00

The following is text of a news release from Images Cinema.

Contact: Janet Curran, 413.458.1039
Date: June 25, 2007
Images Cinema awarded Civic Engagement Grant

Williamstown, Mass. -- Images Cinema is one of 215 non-profit organizations to be awarded a Patrick-Murray Inaugural Committee grant for civic engagement in Massachusetts, and one of nine in Berkshire County.

The grant money, over $500,000 total, was leftover funds raised for the inauguration of Governor Deval Patrick and Lt. Governor Tim Murray. Each awardee will receive a grant of $2500. Massachusetts-based, non-profit organizations were chosen based on their ability to foster local civic engagement, promote personal development, and emphasize individual responsibility, with annual operating budgets below $3 million.

Images Cinema collaborates with a variety of community groups and individuals to exhibit a wide range of programming. We are honored to be one of the recipients of this grant, says Sandra Thomas, Executive Director of Images Cinema. Over 1500 organizations submitted applications and a 400 person grant committee was assembled.

Thomas continues, Images Cinema has become a gathering place for the community who bring ideas to us about films they would like to see based on what is happening in the world or in our region. In addition to our weekly films, we screen numerous documentaries in collaboration with community organizations that include the filmmaker or someone knowledgeable on the topic. Some of the special screenings Images Cinema has screened include TALKING TO THE WALL about one mans quest to stop a Wal-Mart from being built in Greenfield, MA and the DARFUR DIARIES about the political and humanitarian crisis in Darfur, both with the filmmakers in attendance. THE END OF SUBURBIA with author James Howard Kunstler and THE FUTURE OF FOOD with filmmaker Deborah Koons Garcia addressed the energy crisis and the genetic modification of food. Most recently, with the Williamstown Film Festival, Images Cinema screened the documentary GOD GREW TIRED OF US about the Lost Boys of the Sudan with the fi!
lmmaker in attendance. All screenings are open to the public and include a post-film discussion.

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH was a two-week opportunity to collaborate and engage the community, says Thomas. We partnered with the Williamstown COOL Committee who led a community conversation with the Center for Ecological Technology and who staffed a table with information and tools for people to take away with them.

Images Cinema has collaborated with the Bennington Energy Committee, Genetic Engineering Action Group, the Williamstown COOL Committee, the Williams College Students for Social Justice, Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation, the Berkshire Vegetarian Network, the Student Global AIDS Campaign, Amber Chand Collection: Global Gifts for peace and Understanding, and others.

Thomas adds, Images Cinema is not just a movie theater. We are a community arts organization that thrives because of the commitment, interest and involvement of people living in our region.

The only one of its kind in Berkshire County, Images Cinema is a year-round non-profit, member-supported community film house that presents a wide range of films that impact filmmaking and our culture. Images continuously seeks to entertain, educate and engage the community with quality programming, while maintaining its dedication to independent film and media. Check for up-to-date happenings at www.imagescinema.org <http://www.imagescinema.org/>.

Penn-narrated "War Made Easy" film's Berkshire premier Tues., 5 p.m. at Images

2007-06-22T07:34:00.000-04:00

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Just days after its national premier in Washington, residents of the Berkshires and southwestern Vermont will be able to see the film "War Made Easy," based on the best-selling book by Norman Solomon.

The film, narrated by Sean Penn, is based on Solomon's acclaimed book "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death."

By special arrangement with the Media Education Foundation (MEF) of Northampton, Mass., "War Made Easy," will be shown once at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 26, at Images Cinema, the community-owned, non-profit theater in Williamstown. The screening is open to the public with a suggested donation of $4.00 with all proceeds to benefit Images.

The 73-minute film is hailed by the editor of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" as a stunning example of why copyright laws allowing "fair use" of archival material are critical to the First Amendment and democracy.

Williamstown resident Bill Densmore said he arranged for the screening with the MEF "because this is an important work which puts the policy runup to the Iraq war in an historical context. Solomon's point of view is not often heard and deserves to be aired and critically discussed."

Through painstaking research and fast-paced editing of archival footage, the movie exposes what Solomon sees as a 50-year pattern of deception that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq.

The film exhumes remarkable footage of alleged distortion and exaggeration peddled by presidents from LBJ to George W. Bush ... and often by news media as well. http://www.WarMadeEasyTheMovie.org

"'War Made Easy' is a total tour de force," said Jay Cassidy, the editor of "An Inconvenient Truth." "The film's stunning archival footage shows what a tremendously important tool fair use is for dialogue in a democracy."

Solomon is executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. When his book "War Made Easy" appeared, the Los Angeles Times called it "brutally persuasive" and "a must-read for those who would like greater context with their bitter morning coffee, or to arm themselves for the debates about Iraq that are still to come."

Loretta Alper, who produced the documentary with the independent filmmaking team at the Media Education Foundation, said the movie has the potential to become a powerful organizing tool for the growing mainstream antiwar movement.

"Through mass distribution, the Internet and grassroots organizations," Alper said, "we hope to seize on the rising antiwar sentiment in our country to widely promote the lessons of this movie and Norman Solomon's research. First, that deception leading to war did not begin with Bush or Iraq. And second, that an informed, awakened citizenry can prevent wars of choice in the future."

For more information on the film, go to http://www.WarMadeEasyTheMovie.org or contact: Kendra Olson Hodgson, (413) 584-8500 ext. 2203, kendra@mediaed.org

Sixth-annual food festival on Sunday in North Adams

2007-06-18T14:00:00.000-04:00

Posted for Rod Bunt, mayor's office of tourist . . .

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The city plays host to the sixth annual Northern
Berkshire Food Festival on Sunday (June 24) from noon to 4 p.m. on Main
Street in the city, according to Rod Bunt of the city's tourism office.

But says the event features the cuisine of up to 20 of the top restaurants
in Northern Berkshire County, along with micro brewed beer and wine
tasting, courtesy of Girardi Distributors, West Fine Liquors and Berkshire
Brewing Company; an eclectic mix of live music from Tom Corrigan and his
band and drawings for gift certificates from participating eateries.
Classic Mustangs and Cougars will be on display as well.

The north and south side of Main Street will be closed to motor vehicle
traffic, and large, festival tents will be erected to shade vendors and
trons. Food tickets are 50 cents each and will be sold from two kiosks
located at the entrances of the festival tents. Each restaurant will
prepare up to three entrée samples with prices ranging generally from one
to four dollars.

The day's fare will satisfy the traditional as well as the adventurous
palate. Over the years, recipes have included such exotic dishes as
Five-Alarm Bourbon Chili, Voodoo Alligator Stew, Beer and Cheese Soup, Ham
Panini, Sushi, Chicken Gruyere, Asian Lollipops, Mixed Mushroom Stew,
Frozen Cappuccino Smoothies along with traditional favorites such as pizza
slices and shrimp cocktail.

Menus and participating restaurants change from year to year, but there
will be over 50 entrée samples from which to choose at the festival.
Participating restaurants will be provided two banquet tables and linens;
are free to decorate their area as elaborately as possible and encouraged
to promote their establishment to the public.

To add to the celebration, a 40-car contingent is planning a fun run,
with the food festival as their destination, beginning at 7:30 a.m. in
Rhode Island. The caravan of classic Mustangs and Cougars will pick up
autos in Charlton along the Mass Pike, and in Northampton, arriving on
Main Street in the city at approximately 12:00 PM. The public is invited
to come and view the automobiles which will be on display for the duration
of the festival.

For more information, Bunt says to contact the Mayor's Office of Tourism
at 6 West Main Street, North Adams, MA 01247 Phone: 413 664-6180. Fax
413-664-8135. Email address tourism@northadams-ma.gov

SOURCE: YouTube video of UMass protest against Andrew Card

2007-06-01T18:00:00.001-04:00

Sunny Miller, of the Trap Rock Peace Center, forwards this link to a YouTube video showing the graduation-day protest at UMass-Amherst over the awarding of an honorary degree to White House confidante and former chief of staff Andrew Card:

http://www.YouTube.com/TraprocPeaceTV

"Have you heard about this in Williamstown?," Miller asks. "Over 100,000 have seen it so far, with many great comments previously. I have a feeling the paid government guys are adding some of the negativity to the discussion, but who knows."

Sunny Miller, 413-773-7427
Traprock Peace Center, 103A Keets Rd, Deerfield, MA 01342
http://www.TraprockPeace.org

SOURCE: Text of minutes of anti-teen-alchohol initiative

2007-05-11T12:05:00.000-04:00

Here is a text of the minutes of the May 9, 2007 meeting of the
Williamstown Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol initiative, as suppied by
email by Ed Sedarbaum (edsedarbaum@nbccoalition.org) of the Northern
Berkshire Community Coalition. www.nbccoalition.org / 413-663-7588

-------------------------------------

On May 9, 2007, Laini Sporbert, David Lemieux, Sally Sussman, and Ed
Sedarbaum met for the May strategy team meeting of Williamstown Mobilizing
for Change on Alcohol. The agenda items were:

1. Update on TV commercials &lsqauo; feedback needed on script
2. Billboards
3. New England Institute of Prevention Studies
4. Greylock High School public forum
5. Assistance to After Prom Committee

* With two prevention consultants having given us differing advice on some
elements of the scripts for our TV commercials, which will begin shooting
Monday, May 14, the group searched for rationales to help us make a choice.

> * Regarding the question of whether there should be a beer can in the hand of
> the father being interviewed about whether he has done all he should to
> prevent his child from drinking, it was the group consensus that he should
> not. The rationale was not that it would stimulate youngsters to drink but
> that it might mislead the audience into thinking that the message of the
> commercial centered around the father¹s drinking as a problem behavior. In
> reality, the message is that parents should talk to their children, not that
> parents shouldn¹t drink.

> * It was also suggested that since our other commercial features a teenage
> boy, we should use a teenage girl for this commercial.

* Nobody had heard any public feedback yet on our billboards, which went up
on May 2. The group members will begin asking around. They themselves liked
how they looked and felt the message was very easy to get.

* So far, three people will be attending the New England School of
Prevention Studies June 11-13, including Ed and Liz Shiner. A few more names
were suggested &lsqauo; people who have not been involved in our team but who are
active in the community and might well work with us.

* The Greylock High School public forum, ³The Talk,² is set to go, Deborah
Cole-Duffy will moderate and speak about the school community¹s role in
prevention; the other speakers will be the Brien Center¹s medical director
and substance abuse educator, D.A. David Capeless, and Williamstown Chief of
Police Kyle Johnson. Ed will wrap up with a brief explanation about our
project and a pitch for people to (a) sign the Safe Homes pledge, if they
have not, and (b) join our Strategy Team for next year. This will be
followed by a Q&A that will not be televised, to maximize the comfort of
parents who might otherwise hestitate to speak up. Ed will be ordering
refreshments from Lickety Split and preparing display ads for the Transcript
and possibly the Eagle and the Advocate.

* We saw the wonderful design that Greylock H.S. students came up with for
the tee shirts we are sponsoring for After Prom. The message reads ³Dance
Through Life Sober, Mt. Greylock 2007.² Each student will get two tee shirts
&lsqauo; one to keep as a souvenir, the other to give as a gift to a YOUNGER
teenager in their life. We will also order shirts for the Strategy Team.

* Sally has prepared an long list of people who have been active in the
After Prom Committee over the years and has proposed to Lisa O¹Brien (this
year¹s chair) and Martha Elpern (a past chair) that we gather a meeting of
such ³alumni² to talk about ways to support the ³long-term survival and
success² of After Prom. Both Lisa and Martha are excited by the idea and
suggested that Ed call and moderate a first meeting of this group,
preferably in mid- to late June, after this year¹s event is over. Ed will
speak with Lisa and others and see about doing this.

* Two suggestions were made for ways to launch our work for the 2007-08
school year:

> * A gathering of both towns¹ strategy teams as well as new volunteers and
> people we would like to recruit, at which we would have a dinner, a training
> on prevention tactics, and a general goal-setting discussion

> * Sticker Shock. As the group said, ³If something was successful, there¹s no
> reason not to do it again.²

NEWS RELEASE: BFAIR Annual Meeting Held

2007-05-09T12:55:00.000-04:00

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Rich Weisenflue 413-664-9382 x 26 or Deborah Schneer x30

BFAIR HOLDS ANNUAL MEETING

North Adams - Berkshire Family And Individual Resources, Inc. (BFAIR)
held an Annual Meeting of the corporation on April 27 at the Williams
Inn. Sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union, the meeting was led by
Peter West, Board Chairperson, and Rich Weisenflue, Executive Director.

Senator Benjamin Downing presented the keynote address to the more than
100 guests. His presentation focused on the changing economy and
regional initiatives like the Berkshire Compact and the Berkshire
Wireless Learning Initiative to meet the new needs. Quoting from
Charles Darwin, the senator said it is not the "strongest" or most
"intelligent" that survive, but rather, the most "adaptable." He noted
BFAIR's place in the new economy: "We say you do God's work, but you
also employ over 160 people," he said. Referring to the everyday
miracles performed by BFAIR employees and people in human services, the
senator said, "we want there to be more resources for you to do these
things. You do great work. Continue to push us-to let us know what you
need." He referred to BFAIR's Bottle and Can Redemption Center as one
of his favorite BFAIR initiatives, also noting its position as a "green"
enterprise.

The event included service awards for twelve current employees with five
or more years of service, and six special recognition awards in several
categories. Kathy Hinton, a Day Habilitation Specialist at the Center
in North Adams, was the recipient of the George A. Crosby Memorial
Award. James Sulzmann, Home Life Support Counselor and Human Rights
Advocate, received the Armand Quintal Award; the Leadership Award was
presented to Ethel Altiery, Director of Residential and Support
Services, and William Fuller, a person receiving services from BFAIR,
won the Self-Determination Award. Jiminy Peak received the Employer of
the Year Award for its impressive record of providing job opportunities
for people with disabilities.

BFAIR staff receiving service awards, grouped by years of service,
included:

* 5-Years of Service: Theresa Biagini, Paul Boateng, Deanna
Burdick, Marie Goodermote, Gabriel Ortiz, Robert Tanguay
* 10-Years of Service: Susan Darling, Patricia Goodell, Laurie
Mundy
* 15-Years of Service: Donna Rinaldi, Gloria Piner
* 20-Years of Service: Gail LaBonte

A member agency of the Northern Berkshire United Way, BFAIR is an
established provider of support services for adults, adolescents and
children with developmental disabilities and autism. Supports include
Arcadia Employment Services, a CARF accredited Day Habilitation Center,
Clinical Services, Community Residential Services and Individual and
Family Resources. For more information regarding BFAIR's programs or
services call (413) 664-9382.

Eagle/Transcript owner settles anti-trust suit to clear Hearst investment; citizens on editorial boards

2007-04-26T01:14:00.000-04:00

MediaNews Group Inc., which owns The Berkshire Eagle, The North Adams Transcript, the Bennington Banner, the Advocate and other New England papers, has settled a private anti-trust lawsuit brought in San Francisco which had blocked an equity investment by the Hearst Corp. in the nation's fourth-largest newspaper company. Hearst owns the Albany Times-Union.

Part of the settlement, according to Media News, is an agreement to put a citizen on the editorial boards of each of its Bay Area newspapers.

The news release from MediaNews is printed below:

Contact for MediaNews Group, Inc.:
JOSEPH (Jody) J. LODOVIC, IV
President,MediaNews Group, Inc.
Phone: (303) 954-1619
jlodovic@medianewsgroup.com

MediaNews Group Announces Settlement of Lawsuit

DENVER, April 25, 2007 -- MediaNews Group, Inc. today announced a settlement of all issues raised in the lawsuit brought by Clinton Reilly relating to Hearst.s investment in the non-Bay Area business of MediaNews and California Newspapers Partnership's acquisition of the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times. California Newspapers Partnership is 54.23 percent owned and controlled by MediaNews. Terms of the settlement were not released.

As part of the settlement, Hearst and MediaNews agreed to make certain changes to the terms of the transaction. Hearst and MediaNews had already elected to make most of these changes during the course of the Hart-Scott-Rodino review by the Department of Justice. The changes have no material effect on Hearst's investment in the non-Bay Area assets of MediaNews.

While the Department of Justice continues to review the transaction, MediaNews is optimistic that the Hearst investment in MediaNews will be allowed to proceed in the very near future.

"We are excited to put this chapter behind us," said Joseph Lodovic, president of MediaNews Group. "Once it became clear that Reilly and MediaNews shared similar views regarding the vibrancy of local newspapers, editorial independence and diversity of editorial opinions, a settlement seemed a real possibility. Our dialogue resulted in some good ideas, and we agreed to put some of those ideas in place, including the appointment of a citizen to each of our San Francisco Bay Area newspaper editorial boards," added Lodovic.

About MediaNews Group, Inc.

MediaNews is the nation.s fourth largest newspaper company, with headquarters in Denver, CO. MediaNews Group and its affiliated companies publish 57 daily newspapers and approximately 120 non-daily publications in 13 states with daily and Sunday circulation of approximately 2.6 million and 3.0 million, respectively. In addition, MediaNews Group owns a CBS affiliate in Anchorage, Alaska and four radio stations in Texas. MediaNews Group maintains web sites for all of its daily newspapers and an umbrella site, newschoice.com.