Jan. 12th Berkshire Beacon

January 12, 2012Volume II, Issue 34

www.berkshirebeacon.comLenox, MA 01240

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1 Local News 8 Editorial8 From the Tower12 Calendar13 Business Card Directory15 Fun & Games16 Books 17 Girl-2-Girl19 College Sports Report

Congress-man Neal takes a tour of The Berkshires

-Page 5

The Berkshire Beacon

Index

Catherine KrummeyBeacon Staff Writer

Clara Gordon, a 21-year-old Lenox native and graduate of Monument Mountain High School, is currently living in Morocco as a Fulbright Scholar Teaching Assistant at Hassan II University in Casablanca.

According to a release, “the Ful-bright Program is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Fellowships are awarded to American students, young professionals and artists select-ed through a national, open, merit-based competition for study, research, internships and/or service abroad.”

Ms. Gordon applied to and re-ceived this honor through her school, Swarthmore College, located in Penn-sylvania. She graduated from Swarth-

more in May 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in linguistics.

Ms. Gordon found out she was headed to Morocco as a Fulbright scholar two days before graduation.

“I had been on the waiting list for the grant, and had essentially forgot-ten it in pursuit of other jobs,” she said. “Then, I was woken up by a phone call informing me that I got a spot.”

That phone call was a shock to Ms. Gordon.

“It was one of those moments where my entire life changed on a dime, so it was pretty overwhelming,” she said.

She left for Morocco last September and will likely return this July. One of Ms. Gordon’s most memorable expe-riences there involves a trip to Chef-

Berkshire native named Fulbright scholar

Kameron Z. SpauldingBeacon Staff Writer

SHEFFIELD - Reaction to the pos-sible closing of several south county schools was a major issue at the most recent Sheffield Board of Selectmen meeting.

The select board announced that they will be keeping a binder with all information they have on possible school closings after the recent an-nouncement of the Southern Berk-shire Regional School District’s pre-liminary budget.

The $13.8 million proposal would mean New Marlborough Central, South Egremont and Monterey schools would close next school year.

This decision has caused anger in the towns affected and Chairwoman Rene C. Wood hopes that providing citizens with all the information they have will be helpful during this process.

“This is not a done deal though, we have to remember this is a process,” said Selectwoman Julie M. Hannum. “What bothers me most is the timing of this in the budget process is going to make this an overly emotional de-cision and not allow the kind of dis-cussion we need.”

The timing also concerned Chair-woman Wood, “I really do think that the only person in the room (at the

Sheffield Select Board reacts to possible school

closings at meeting

see FULBRIGHT page 4

see SCHOOL page 2

Pittsfield bridge

removed

Whiter and

brighterGeorge C. Jordan IIIBeacon Staff Writer

PITTSFIELD - The City of Pitts-field has issued an enforcement order to both Massachusetts Fish and Wild-life and General Electric to remove the no-name bridge from the Housa-tonic River.

Removal of the bridge began yes-terday. Cost of removal is estimated at $51,000, according to Alison Dix-on, Berkshire Outreach Manager for for the Housatonic Valley Associa-tion (HVA) in South Lee.

“This bridge must be removed as soon as possible, but it is essential that the removal be done without further harm to the environment,” according to Jane Winn, Executive

With the new year, The Berk-shire Beacon will offer a brighter, cleaner look on its weekly publication.

We are the first weekly newspa-per in Berkshire County to go from newsprint content to “bright white” newsprint.

This means for you, the reader, a brighter, cleaner look, thus pro-viding sharper photo images along with contrasted advertisements on white newsprint that is typically about 10% heavier and 50% brighter than standard newsprint.

The Beacon is a weekly with a 15,000 county-wide readers and our special tourist publication, the

see BRIGHTER page 9

Publisher’s Note:

see BRIDGE page 14

Courtesy: Clara Gordon

Clara Gordon, front, with her classmates when she studied abroad in Syria two years ago. Now she is in Morocco as a Fulbright Scholar

2 The Berkshire Beacon January 12, 2012 Clarksburg

NorthAdams Florida

Adams

Cheshire

Windsor

Peru

Hinsdale

Washington

Lee

Lenox

Stockbridge

Tyringham

Becket

Otis

Monterey

Sandisfi eld

NewMarlborough

Sheffi eldMount Washington

Egremont

WestStockbridge

Alford

Great Barrington

Richmond

Dalton

Lanesboro

Pittsfi eld

Hancock

SavoyNew Ashford

Williamstown

Vermont

Connecticut

New

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LENOX – The Triad held its first meeting of the new year on Monday morning, with updates from various community repre-sentatives, including Captain Dale Newberry of the Berkshire County Sheriff ’s Office.

The Triad, as the name sug-gests, combines three groups: se-nior citizens, law enforcement and support services, with the goal being to help seniors prevent crime and bring up any issues they feel are relevant.

In Lenox, the group meets bi-monthly at the Lenox Commu-nity Center.

Any senior from Lenox is wel-come to attend the meetings, where updates from the sheriff ’s office, police department, fire de-partment, district attorney’s of-fice and Lenox Council on Aging (COA) are regularly heard.

At the Jan. 9 meeting, the first update was given by Capt. New-berry, who presented attendees with information on the Massa-chusetts Senior Medical Patrol (SMP) Program.

SMP is designed to provide ed-ucation and resources on how to address healthcare errors, fraud and abuse.

“At times we don’t understand how much information we’re car-rying around with us,” Capt. Newberry said, adding that peo-ple should only carry the cards they need to prevent theft.

Sheriff Thomas N. Bowler was originally supposed to appear at the meeting, but was unable to attend.

“He does want to help you guys with anything that we pos-sibly can,” Capt. Newberry said.

Capt. Newberry also warned the seniors in attendance to be careful if anyone comes to their doors asking to use the phone, advising them to never let strang-ers into the house.

“Don’t hesitate to call the po-lice if someone comes to your door,” he said. “It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Lenox Fire Chief Dan Clifford also gave the seniors a few up-

dates, including information about the burning season, which starts Jan. 15. Residents can go to lenoxfire.com online and apply for one-day permits through May 1.

Next to speak was Mary Sho-gry-Hayer of the Berkshire Dis-trict Attorney’s Office, who in-formed attendees of the upcoming five-week criminal session and that there was an increase in do-mestic arrests during the holi-days, which isn’t an unusual occurrence.

Mrs. Shogry-Hayer also brought up the SMP, and encour-aged the attendees to “really pay attention” to their medical bills, making sure to contact the prop-er people about any errors.

Lenox Police Chief Stephen E. O’Brien was also in attendance, but had no major issues to report. He was asked about the recent controversy surrounding the Town of Lenox Select Board and Rumpy’s Tavern, and responded by saying that it seems like the employees at Rumpy’s seem to be “doing the right thing.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal,” Chief O’Brien said.

Susan Holmes, Senior Services Coordinator with the COA, was the last to speak. She informed everyone that the COA is provid-ing a SHINE counselor and AARP tax preparers free of charge by appointment only. People in-terested in either of those services should contact the COA office at 637-5535.

Towards the end of the meet-ing, attendee and Lenox resident Nancy Armstrong commended all of the departments for the work they do.

“I have a lot of gratitude to-ward our departments here in Lenox. I think they do a great job,” she said.

The next Lenox Triad meeting will be on Monday, March 12 at 10 a.m., with guest speaker Ned Roche of Roche Funeral Home.

Several other communities in Berkshire County also have their own Triads, including Dalton, North Adams and Pittsfield.

Lenox Triad holds first meeting of 2012Capt. Newberry warns the elderly of potential scams

school board meeting) who knew that closing the schools was the plan was Superintendent Michael Singleton.”

In other business the select board also approved a new design for the Ashley Falls Bridge.

The board unanimously ap-proved the new and more “open” bridge design after hearing feed-back from the public

At the previous select board meeting, a discussion ensued re-garding policies and job descrip-tions for the transfer station.

At that time it was the consen-sus of the board to continue this discussion at the next meeting.

The board returned to the top-ic at this meeting and discussed additional signage being added to the transfer station to explain new laws and regulations.

A final version of the new rules will be voted on at the next

meeting.Dennis Staropoli and Maria

Nation have both applied for the open position on the town Plan-ning Board. One of the two will be appointed at the next meeting.

Selectwomen Hannum led a discussion of the upcoming round of District Local Technical Assistance (DLTA) grants to be issued by the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC).

Chairwomen Wood also spoke in favor of joining Lenox in con-tinuing the Rest of River DLTA, a motion to officially support the grant was approved unanimously.

This came on the heels of a let-ter sent from the BRPC to Lisa Jackson, an administrator with the Environmental Protection Agency.

The letter laid out the commis-sion’s findings and gave a list of many sites that they would like to see be cleaned up.


STOCKBRIDGE - The most recent meeting of the Stock-bridge Board of Selectmen had a short agenda but still managed to make political headlines.

Stockbridge resident Harriet Vines brought forward the re-quest to have a resolution up for a vote at the next town meeting.

The resolution Ms. Vines re-quested be supported is that the town is requesting that corpora-tions cannot be considered natu-ral citizens.

The request is part of a broader movement started to reverse a 2010 Supreme Court decision that allows corporations to make donations and be involved in the political process the same as individuals.

The town has a history of po-litical statements in their war-rants, having voted to impeach President George W. Bush in 2007.

Several major cities have re-cently passed resolutions like the one proposed in Stockbridge, in-cluding Los Angeles and New York City.

The request to add the resolu-tion was passed by the board unanimously.

Stockbridge to allow town a voice on constitutional

amendment this year

Photo Credit: Catherine Krummey

Berkshire County Sheriff ’s Office Capt. Dale Newberry speaks to seniors about the Senior Medical Patrol at the latest Lenox Triad meeting.

SCHOOL from page 1

The other issue the select board addressed was reviewing the Walk Ability Study.

The study has found several walking paths that they hope to promote in the area as a way for people to exercise and be healthy in the town through walking.

The group that has made the study has been working off of a grant from the Berkshire Region-al Planning Commission.

The group will now be spread-ing information about possible walking paths around the town.

January 12, 2012 The Berkshire Beacon 3

Susan Wicker GuerreroBeacon Staff Writer

STOCKBRIDGE – Paul Sun-dberg picks up a trumpet, posi-tions his lips around the mouth-piece, and begins to play, filling a room at the Stockbridge Library with pleasing sounds.

His eyebrows move up and down as the music mesmerizes.

Titled “Hitting the Right Note: The History and Mechanics of the Trumpet,” his recent presen-tation was part of the Stockbridge Library’s Sunday Afternoon Programs.

Mr. Sundberg is a master of the this ancient instrument.

He began playing it when he was in middle school. He also took piano lessons when he was in the second grade.

Teaching for 35 years

He’s been teaching for 35 years at Berkshire Music School in Pittsfield.

Founding director of the Berk-shire Brass Quintet, he also served as former principal trum-pet in the Berkshire Symphony.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Sund-berg played as a freelance musi-cian with ballet groups through-out New York, and played with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Orchestra and for a variety of theater groups.

The trumpet, he said, is lip ac-tivated and probably one of the most difficult instruments to play. It consists of a mouthpiece, tubing and bell, which amplifies the sound of the instrument.

Huge Turnout

Sunday afternoon’s program drew a large number of people, both men and women. Mr. Sun-dberg, a soft spoken but extreme-ly knowledgeable lecturer, kept the audience at rapt attention.

Originally, trumpets were not used to make music, he ex-plained. Instead, they were used to give signals, sometimes in reli-gious ceremonies or in military service.

They go back a long way in his-tory and are among the oldest of musical instruments. There were trumpets as far back as 1500 BC.

Mr. Sundberg noted that Plu-

tarch likened the sound of an Egyptian trumpet to “the braying of an ass.”

Mr. Sundberg made informa-tion sheets from the Harvard Dictionary of Music available to the audience.

It was noted on them that orig-inally, horns were made from ani-mals’ horns. Also, that “a signal-ing horn made from an elephant’s tusk appeared in the 10th centu-ry, imported from Byzantium.”

On a table in front of the audi-ence, Mr. Sundberg displayed and demonstrated at least 10 trumpets including an animal horn, cornetto, flugelhorn, cor-net and more modern trumpets as well.

The cornetto looked like an elongated black pipe. Mr. Sund-berg had a humorous style to ex-plain things throughout the lec-ture. The cornetto, he said, could sound like “an oboe with a cold.”

The beginning of the modern trumpet era was 1815, he said. Prior to that, in the time of Mo-zart and Hayden, the trumpet provided rhythm and texture to musical pieces but not melody.

The instrument, itself, is pretty much the same today as it was 100 years ago, he said.

At the lecture, Mr. Sundberg lifted an 1853 cornet from a wooden case and played a snippet

from “The Carnival of Venice.” That instrument has a little more mellow sound than the trumpet, he said to the audience.

Playing a trumpet is very much like singing, he said. Mr. Sund-berg owns at least 25 trumpets. During a concert, a trumpet play-er often plays several different kinds of trumpets.

No one can begin to play a trumpet until their second set of teeth has come in. Also trumpet players often keep bottles of wa-ter near them.

The trumpet is an athletic in-strument to play, he said. The tubing and bell sizes of trumpets create different sounds.

He showed the audience several different devices which mute sound and demonstrated them as well.

Touch of Humor

“Housemates of trumpet play-ers love mutes,” he said, to the delight of the audience.

Mr. Sundberg said he’s more used to just sitting and playing, rather than not playing and lecturing.

After an hour and 15 minutes of primarily lecturing on the trumpet, he played a rendition of Gershwin’s “Embraceable You.”

A tale of the triumphant trumpet

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4 The Berkshire Beacon January 12, 2012

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chaouen, a medina (small village) nestled in the Rif Mountains, a few days after she arrived in Morocco.

“Chefchaouen is famous for a few things, most notably that nearly every surface in the wind-ing old medina is painted a shade of light blue,” she said. “We wan-dered through the alleyways of the medina at sunset, and I felt like I’d been dropped into anoth-er world.”

In fact, Ms. Gordon has had similar feelings throughout her time in Morocco.

“Anyone who does a bit of trav-eling in this country will see that it is really several countries in one,” she said. “There are moun-tains, deserts and beaches, and places where people speak Span-ish, Berber, French and Arabic. My city, Casablanca, is just one corner of an incredibly varied and multicultural country.”

Ms. Gordon has been sharing her experiences of Morocco on her blog, which can be found on-line at astimegoesbyincasa.tum-blr.com.

Prior to her time in Morocco, Ms. Gordon also won a CET scholarship to study Arabic at the University of Aleppo in Syria. In addition to three dialects of Ara-bic, she also speaks Spanish and French.

Ms. Gordon’s parents, Andy and Diane Gordon of Lenox, are naturally proud of their daugh-ter’s accomplishments.

“Winning a Fulbright is one of the world’s greatest honors,” Mrs. Gordon said.

Of course, Mrs. Gordon also had some concerns about her daughter’s travels to an unstable region.

“I’m terrified to think that my

daughter is in such a dangerous part of the world,” she said. “I’m planning to visit her in January, and I told her I was a little ner-vous about being in that part of the world. I think it’s telling that she said, ‘Don’t worry, Mom, you’ll be with me.’ Her experi-ence has turned her from a coun-try girl to a citizen of the world.”

Both Ms. Gordon and Mrs. Gordon credit her Berkshire County upbringing for helping Ms. Gordon embrace her experi-ences abroad.

“The more secure and loving environment one grows up in, the more one is able to take on the world,” Mrs. Gordon said.

Ms. Gordon credited her edu-cation with helping to create the basis for who she is today. In ad-dition to Monument Mountain, the other Berkshire County schools she attended were Morris Elementary School, Lenox Me-morial Middle and High School and Bard College at Simon’s Rock.

“I’m just grateful that I had the opportunities growing up, and the education, required to get me here,” Ms. Gordon said. “The Berkshire public school system and Simon’s Rock were definitely part of that equation.”

In the future, Ms. Gordon plans to further her studies of language.

“I hope to go back to school for a degree in comparative lin-guistics and continue my study of classical and dialectal Arabic,” she said.

Ms. Gordon’s mother she says she could see her daughter either as a teacher or in a diplomatic post, but seems to be happy with whatever she decides to do.

“She turned 21 last December, so she’s got a lot of time to exper-iment,” Mrs. Gordon said.


LENOX – A town-wide and beyond fundraising effort for Guzzy, a dog facing severe medi-cal problems and needing the help of a veterinary specialist, is going very well, said Ruth Wheel-er, the dog’s owner.

She plans to call specialists in Latham, N.Y., this week to make a medical appointment for the dog.

She spoke with the Beacon on Monday of this week.

Ms. Wheeler is also a co-part-ner of Clearwater Natural Foods at 11 Housatonic St. where Guzzy is a well-known and loved mascot.

“It’s absolutely amazing to me,” said Ms. Wheeler of the public’s response to the fundraising cam-paign, called “Say Yes to Guzzy.”

“The generosity of people is overwhelming.”

People who know Guzzy, as well as total strangers, have re-sponded to the call for help.

On Dec. 29, the Beacon ran a story about Guzzy’s need for some potentially costly medical assistance.

Because she has already paid big bills for previous medical pro-cedures, Ms. Wheeler agreed with a friend and store customer, Dr. Elizabeth Tierney, to some fundraising assistance in order to help pay for the dog’s treatment.

The Lenox VFW Post 12079

agreed to support a huge, fund-raising campaign.

Numerous businesses as well as individuals began to donate items for a drawing.

People can buy $10 tickets and winners will be announced on January 26 at 8 p.m. at Olde Her-itage Tavern, 2 Housatonic St.

“A lot of tickets, past 100, have been sold,” Ms. Wheeler said. Plus, some people have donated financially to the cause.

One of the most recent dona-tions received is a gift certificate for a free swim, worth $45, of-fered by Jody Chiquoine of Fitter Critters of Lee. Fitter Critters of-fers rehabilitation and condition-ing programs for dogs.

Ms. Chiquoine is a certified ca-nine rehabilitation therapist and member of the American Canine

Sports Medicine Association.Guzzy, a gentle giant of a dog,

has symptoms that point to Wob-bler’s Disease.

It’s a degenerative neurological disorder that adversely affects his neck.

His regular veterinarian, Dr. Andrew J. Breslin, of South Street Veterinary, referred the dog to the veterinary specialists in Latham, N.Y., Ms. Wheeler told the Beacon.

Guzzy’s plight has also been shared on a Facebook page and more donations have come from that.

Donations of goods as well as money are still being accepted and can be brought directly to Clearwater Natural Foods.

The telephone number at the store is (413) 637-2721.

Guzzy fundraiser marches on


The fundraiser for Guzzy will be January 26th at the Old Heritage Tavern in Lenox.

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PITTSFIELD – With help from the Department of Com-munity Development (DCD) and the City Council, Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi has assistance for small businesses in Pittsfield towards the top of his agenda.

“It is a high priority for the mayor,” said Deanna L. Ruffer, Director of the DCD.

“It’s a step in the right direc-tion,” added City Council Presi-dent Kevin J. Sherman.

Currently, the City of Pittsfield has some programs (through the DCD) that are dedicated to assist small business owners, including a small business loan program and a technical assistance grant program.

“The city currently offers assis-tance for businesses of all sizes,” Ms. Ruffer said.

Both Mayor Bianchi and Ms. Ruffer would like the new pro-grams they develop to compli-ment the already-existing programs.

“I have begun working with the mayor on the gaps, particularly with small, local-based business-es,” Ms. Ruffer said. “We defi-nitely want our local businesses to prosper.”

“We’ll be drafting a variety of

applications to help Pittsfield businesses,” Mayor Bianchi said.

Mayor Bianchi indicated that one program would help small business owners to buy any costly equipment they may need to help make their businesses successful.

Other than that, no specific de-tails of the plan have been re-leased, but the mayor indicated that he should have something more concrete in the next couple of months.

“We’re framing our require-ments,” Mayor Bianchi said. “We’ll have our plan ready in the next 60 days.”

The financing for these assis-tance programs would come from the GE Economic Development Fund, and the programs will need to be approved by the city council.

Mr. Sherman is eager to see what the mayor has planned.

“As long as they have a good plan, I believe that the city coun-cil will support the mayor’s ef-forts to help small businesses in Pittsfield,” he said.

Mr. Sherman added that he thought Mayor Bianchi’s push to both help existing small business-es and new ones would be benefi-cial for Pittsfield.

“This would do nothing but help the community,” Mr. Sher-man said.

Mayor Bianchi makes Pittsfield

small businesses a “high priority”


Pittsfield businesses, including the ones that line North Street, could benefit from Mayor Bianchi’s push to assist small businesses.

Bera DunauBeacon Staff Writer

GREAT BARRINGTON - Congressman Richard Neal (D Springfield) is pleased at the pros-pect of representing The Berkshires.

“I couldn’t have drawn a better district,” said Congressman Neal in comments to The Beacon at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center.

Congressman Neal, who cur-rently represents the Springfield based 2nd Congressional Dis-trict, has been redistricted into the newly re-drawn 1st Congres-sional District, now a Springfield based district that includes all of Berkshire County.

Congressman Neal, a former Mayor of Springfield who has served in Congress for 23 years and currently sits on the power-ful House Ways and Means Com-mittee, is running for election to this new seat this year. John Olver (D Amherst), the man currently representing Berkshire County in Congress, has chosen to retire, and not seek re-election.

Congressman Neal visited the Mahaiwe in order to see the re-sults of the theatre’s restoration, which was partially financed through federal historic tax cred-its, tax credits the congressman is a supporter of.

The visit came at the tail end of a two-day tour of Berkshire County by the congressman, which included stops at Berk-shire Medical Center, Berkshire Community College and Massa-chusetts College of Liberal Arts, as well as a conversation with the editorial board of The Berkshire Eagle.

Speaking to The Beacon, Con-gressman Neal acknowledged the importance of the creative econo-my in Berkshire County, and the significance of The Berkshires as a destination that attracts people from across the country and around the world.

The congressman also noted that the issues facing Berkshire County were not dissimilar to those facing the Pioneer Valley, which Congressman Neal has represented a portion of for his entire Congressional career.

When asked whether repre-senting another area in which the

creative economy plays a large role would change his priorities, however, Congressman Neal said “no.”

“There’s an industrial base here, financial services base, edu-cation is important, there’s an ag-ricultural component and I think all of those issues are (a) very healthy economic mix well poised for when we climb out of the dol-drums economically,” said Con-gressman Neal, expressing plea-sure at what he’d seen in Berkshire County.

Questioned about what his pri-orities would be when he got back to Washington, Congress-man Neal said that he would start by trying to get the recently ex-tended payroll tax cut extended for a full year and getting an agreement on some of the budget realities facing the United States.

“Getting this economy back on its feet ought to be the priority for everyone,” said Congressman Neal.

In terms of specific economic policies that he was working on with his colleagues to help fight the recession, Congressman Neal said that he was working to re-

store the tax extenders, a collec-tion of routinely extended per-sonal and business tax breaks, which expired last year.

The tax extenders include the Historic Tax Credit, the New Markets Tax Credit and the Re-search and Development Tax Credit among others, and Con-gressman Neal is seeking to get them restored retroactively.

Congressman Neal will not be running for the new 1st Congres-sional District unopposed, how-ever, and is being challenged by former State Senator and current Berkshire Middle District Com-missioner of Deeds Andrea F. Nuciforo Jr. of Pittsfield for the Democratic nomination.

“It’s too early for politics,” said Congressman Neal when asked about his thoughts on running in a primary. “63 percent of the vote is in Hampden County, 19per-cent in Berkshire County, 8per-cent in Worcester County and 8 percent is in western Hampshire County, so I just intend to vigor-ously visit them all.”

The congressman plans to re-turn to The Berkshires later this month.

Congressman Neal begins to tour The Berkshires

Photo Credit: Bera dunau

Congressman Richard Neal, far left, poses in front of the Ma-haiwe Theater in Great Barrington with other local elected officials and leaders.


Answers to Jan. 5Puzzles:


PITTSFIELD – Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi seems to want a third public high school in Pittsfield.

When asked about his plans in regards to the city’s education, Mayor Bianchi led by saying he’s spoken with the Massachusetts School Building Authority about opening a third Pittsfield high school.

It is still in the planning stages, and one of the major consider-ations is whether it would be a comprehensive high school or a vocational high school.

If the city goes with a vocation-al school, Mayor Bianchi said they also have to determine if it would serve as a regional school or solely serve Pittsfield students.

As far as the location of this possible third high school goes, that is also up in the air. Mayor

Bianchi said they aren’t sure if they’ll be looking to build an en-tirely new school or possibly ren-ovate an already-existing building.

“We still have to figure out what would be best,” Mayor Bi-anchi said.

Pittsfield Public Schools Super-intendent Howard J. Eberwein has yet to meet with the mayor on this topic, and is pushing for the renovation of Taconic High School and the restoration of Pittsfield High School.

“We’ve been working at this since 2005,” Superintendent Eb-erwein said. “Our vision state-ment is to renovate Taconic and restore Pittsfield High School.”

However, Superintendent Eb-erwein does seem open to the idea of a third Pittsfield high school.

“[The renovation] doesn’t pre-clude us from doing something else,” he said.

Third Pittsfield high school on mayor’s agenda


Taconic High School is one of the current schools, but new Pittsfield Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi says that he is interested in opening a new high school.


HINSDALE – Thieves who apparently cased a house on Old Windsor Road took off last month with an old-fashioned cast iron bathtub, missing its claw feet.

A $150 reward has been of-fered for its return.

The strange theft made the home owners, Wayne Wood, who grew up in Lenox, and Kim Swenson-Wood, originally from Minnesota, mad.

It also infuriated Mrs. Swen-son-Wood’s mother, Shirley Jop-pru, who had been visiting them from St. Paul Minnesota for the Christmas holidays.

Mrs. Joppru is offering a $150 reward for the return of the tub .

She placed an ad in the “Lost and Found” section of a daily newspaper.

It read: “Missing Since 12/2: Clawfoot Bath tub from Hins-dale residence. $150. REWARD offered for return.” Then, Mrs. Joppru listed her telephone number.

Reached in Minnesota by the Beacon, she said the tub, which weighed at least 250 pounds, had been placed under a kind of lean-to behind the residence.

Her daughter and son-in-law are doing renovations in their home, which they bought last year. They were considering whether to use the clawfoot tub or eventually sell it.

The feet that belonged to the tub are stored in a garage on the property, she said.

Mrs. Joppru said she and her daughter and son-in-law think that “scrappers” were probably responsible for the tub theft. Scrappers are people who steal items made from materials that can be sold to recycling operations.

Mrs. Swenson-Wood recalled the day of the theft. She said it had snowed that day and when she drove home, she noticed that “things didn’t look right.”

There were two wheel tracks in the snow.

“That’s really odd,” she recalled thinking. Walking around their backyard, she said she noticed an appliance dolly behind a dumpster.

“I didn’t put two and two to-gether,” she said. Continuing to look around, Mrs. Swenson-

Wood noticed a canoe off to the side, moved from a spot where it was originally placed. She asked herself what was missing. Then, she realized the cast iron claw foot bathtub was gone.

She also saw footsteps in the fresh snow on the deck behind the house. The prints were made from at least two people wearing Timberland boots. Mrs. Swen-son-Wood said she knows they were that brand because logos of trees, a symbol of Timberland, were clearly visible in the snow.

Hinsdale Police were called and took photos of the tracks, she said. They also informed her there had been other thefts re-ported in town such as air condi-tioners from a former nursing home.

Mrs. Swenson-Wood said she and her husband moved to Hins-dale from Pittsfield to get away from crime and be safer.

Their home was built in the 1970s and is located on a former pig farm.

The theft of the cast iron tub was not the first on their proper-ty. In September of last year, their house was broken into and jewelry, including her engage-ment ring, was stolen.

In that case, the thief was even-tually arrested, charged, found guilty, and is jail, she said. She has not, however, recovered any of the stolen jewelry.

Then, to add insult to injury, on Dec. 16, two weeks after the tub theft, thieves returned to the property and took off with the

metal downspout from the house as well as a door and four win-dows that had been placed out-side during the renovation.

“I wish we could just catch them,” Mrs. Swenson-Wood said of the people stealing from the residence.

She said she doesn’t even mind if people “dumpster dive” but to come and outright steal during daylight hours is disconcerting.

“Now I want to sell the house and move back to the city,” she said.

There are neighbors on only one side of the Woods’ home and they were not home on the day of the tub theft.

All together, there are about six homes on their street, Mrs. Swen-son-Wood said.

She is convinced someone in the vicinity must have seen some-thing on the day the tub was sto-len. It would take thieves at least 10 to 15 minutes to lift such a heavy item and place it on a ve-hicle, she said, and then drive it out of their driveway.

The Beacon called Perlman Re-cycling in Pittsfield, one area business that buys cast-iron tubs. Jose Perez, manager, said they see at least 100 customers a day. While they do buy old-fashioned claw feet tubs, he said he did not immediately recall buying any without the claw feet.

When customers do sell items to Perlman’s, the business takes a copy of the seller’s driver’s license and keeps it on file, along with the weight of the item being sold.

Who took the Tubbie?


Hinsdale’s missing tub has caused a major stir in the town.



PITTSFIELD – As a young boy, living with his parents and two brothers in a house on Fenn Street, Peter Drozd spent a lot of time in the old Athenaeum across from Park Square.

After school, it was go to either the museum or the library, he said, and most of the time he chose the library.

When he was in the sixth grade, he participated in the Athenae-um’s summer reading program. Every child enrolled would get a sticker for each book read. The stickers were then placed on “cat-erpillar” figures.

At the end of the summer, the young enrollees who read all of the their books, and thereby filled up their caterpillars, got to attend a party at the Girls Club.

Mr. Drozd went to the party and he received a prize for read-ing all his books. It was a book titled “Ice Cream for Two,” about two Siamese cats, he said, chuck-ling at the recollection all these decades later.

He remembered something else about that party, too.

“A bird sanctuary representa-tive came with a bag of snakes,” he said. It turned out to be a ma-jor event for a young boy who loved literature.

His love of the written word continued throughout his life-time, up to the present.

Specializes in Antiquarian Books, Posters, Etc.

Today, in a sixth floor space in the Onota Building at 74 North St., he specializes in antiquarian books and posters, ephemera,

and related collectibles.

Posters Line the Walls

The walls are plastered with old posters such as Clyde Beatty Cole Brothers Circus, J.J. Newberry, Co., and even Houdini.

He’s been collecting things for 35 years, he said, and going to book and paper shows.

Mr. Drozd also sells on Ama-zon and e-Bay. He’s in the process of developing a website. When fully functioning, hopefully by the end of February.

He used to have a storefront under the Terpsichore Dance Stu-dio across from St. Joseph’s Church on North Street from 1977 to 1987. The studio is run by his ex-wife, Judi Drozd. When they divorced, some 40 years ago, the storefront closed, he said.

They have two sons, Eric and Sean, both of whom live in the area.

Mr. Drozd is also the proud grandfather of six grandchildren.

English Major

He graduated from Pittsfield High School and then went to the former North Adams State Teachers College, now called Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, where he majored in Eng-lish with a business minor.

After college, he worked for four years as an expeditor with the Ordinance Department of General Electric, he said.

He’s always been a person who is willing to take risks or gamble..

“My father taught me how to play cards (Blackjack) at 12 years

old,” he said, laughing.

Concert Promoter

One of the biggest risks he took was becoming a concert promot-er for several musical groups that played at the local Boys Club in the day.

They included The Young Ras-cals, Ray Charles, The Beach Boys, The Turtles, and Peter, Paul, and Mary.

Mr. Drozd would contract with the musicians, rent the club, ob-tain security, get the insurance, and do all the advertising.

Toward the late ‘60s, prices to contract with entertainers sky-rocketed, he said, and he could no longer continue concert promotion.

He did silk screening for the former Editions Limited for a few years. Some of the posters he did during that time hang on the walls in his studio, such as one for the Melville Society.

“Silkscreen printing is a dying art,” Mr. Drozd said. Slowly but surely it’s being replaced by digi-tal printing which flattens the im-ages, he said.

A Fixture in the Community

Mr. Drozd has been a fixture in the Pittsfield community for de-cades. He has designed hundreds of Pittsfield promotional materi-als such as books, mugs, posters,

post cards, t-shirts and other items, including some that were in conjunction with the 250th anniversary of Pittsfield.

A medallion he designed has an image of Park Square in the center.

Mr. Drozd has been involved in numerous volunteer activities such as serving as chairman of the Pittsfield Cultural Council for nine years.

He is also one of the founders of the Berkshire Writers Room. He’s served on all kinds of com-mittees such as First Night and Art About.

He served as a dedicated volun-teer with Friends of the Athenae-um for a startling 21 years, join-ing in 1990.

He was looking, at that time, for something to do in his spare time, he said.

For 15 of those 21 years, Mr. Drozd successfully chaired the twice and then three-times a year book sales, huge undertakings that took many man hours to or-ganize and carry out.

“I can organize a book sale with my eyes closed,” he said.

He noted part of his success in running the sales was having ded-icated assistants to help him. He often spent between 15 and 20 hours a week preparing for the book sales.

Mr. Drozd’s last friends book sale was in the fall and he is now pursuing other interests, he said.

Willing to Hold Book Sales or Charity Auctions

He would be willing to help or-ganize book sales or charity auc-tions for any non-profit organization.

The cost to hire him for his ex-pertise would depend on the size of the sale, he said.

Always willing to learn and take risks, Mr. Drozd took a one-week auctioneer course last year at Douglas Auctions in South Deerfield.

He said he needs to unload a lot of the paraphernalia he’s col-lected throughout the years and auctions might be one way to help him do it.

Mr. Drozd’s father, who was Polish, died 14 years ago, as did both of his siblings. His mother, who is Italian, is 98 years old. For the past five years, she has resided in a local nursing home.

Mr. Drozd visits her every sin-gle day. He has come to know all the staff of the nursing home and called the dedicated workers who care for his mother “a good crew.”

Throughout all the decades of his life, Peter Drozd has been un-afraid to step out and try some-thing new.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for this quiet, rather humble man as he moves forward to experience new ventures.


Peter Drozd has been involved in community affairs in Pittsfield for decades. Many of those years he planned the book sale for the Berkshire Athenaeum.He is willing to hold book sales and/or charity auctions for area organizations. The cost to hire him for his expertise would depend on the size of the sale.

Peter Drozd has lifelong love of books, posters, and ephemera

“I can organize a book sale with my eyes closed,”

—Peter Drozd on his years of experience with book sales


Editorial:

No need for intimidation

View From the

TowerGeorge C. Jordan III

The first in a two part series on

the Lenox Historic District.

The Lenox Planning Board, in a joint meeting with the Lenox Historic District Com-mission (LHDC), outlined its goal to create a template of signage use in the historic district.

Joseph A. Kellogg, chair-man of the planning board, said he was looking to devel-op a plan that was agreeable to both the planning board members and the LHDC for sandwich board use along with general sign displays.

Christopher C. SkellyAs outlined in the Nov. 23

issue of The Berkshire Bea-con in The View: Back-ass-wards, “Any ordinance or by-law creating an historic district may, from time to time, be amended in any manner not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter by a two-thirds vote at a town meeting, provided that the substance of such amendment has first been submitted to the historic dis-trict commission having ju-risdiction over such district for its recommendation and its recommendation has been received or sixty days have elapsed without such recommendation,” accord-ing to Christopher C. Skelly, Director of Local Govern-ment Programs with the Massachusetts Historical Commission.

The Planning Board may be remiss, noting that it is the duty of the LHDC mem-bers to provide the guide-lines for any signage by-law

Over the past year, the Lenox community has been inundated with controversies that in some cases have pitted neighbor against neigh-bor, pinned the Select Board actions against the wall and in some cases created controversies in reviewing issues of solar and wind power.

Of course, the issue of the out-of-camera movement and install-ment of the Belvedere in Kennedy Park and the decision to bring a public relations firm into the community with the proposed “Lenox-ology” created their own mix within the community.

Now comes Selectwoman Claudia “Dia” Trancynger, who believes that lines have been crossed in Lenox’s civic life. She believes Billy Soto, owner of Rumpy’s Tavern tried to intimidate her, members of the board and the public-at-large prior to their review of the tavern’s entertainment license last week. (See her thoughts on the Beacon’s Op-Ed page.)

As Dictionary.com notes, intimidate means:1. To make timid; fill with fear.2. To overawe or cow, as through the force of personality or by su-

perior display of wealth, talent, etc.3. To force into or deter from some action by inducing fear: to in-

timidate a voter into staying away from the polls.Or in a more sinister definition: frighten/threaten.Certainly, we believe in freedom of speech, but we also believe that

the Select Board has a right and a duty to ensure that liquor and en-tertainment licenses are enforceable during hours of operation and do not create a nuisance in the neighborhood. Mr. Soto made a series of claims and in some respects, “thumbed his nose” at the Select Board.

He has every right to appeal a board’s decision, but he does not have the right to intimidate a person, who has made an allegation against his business or the board in general.

Thus, if Ms. Trancynger felt threatened, the punishment should have been more than a reduction of the entertainment license by a half-hour. It should have been a certified affidavit filed with the Alco-holic and Beverages Control Commission in Boston. There is no place for intimidation in the conduct of the public’s business.

change – not vice versa.According to Sec. 3: “In

the proposed historic district or districts shall be made by an historic district study committee or by the historic district commission, as pro-vided in this section and in section four, who shall trans-mit copies of the report to the planning board.”

Currently, the planning board has been charged by the selectmen with looking into advocating changes in the sign by-laws.

This is “bass-ass-wards.”Yet, as Mr. Kellogg ex-

plained that he is looking to put the onus on the building inspector to save the mer-chants from having to ap-pear before the LHDC.

“They (business owners) have indicated they do not want to spend the time and go through the process of delay and a subjective re-view that could extend over a month’s period,” Mr. Kel-logg said.

This begs the question: Why was the historic district created? To serve the mer-chants or to define an area of the business district to en-sure conformity and an agreed set of rules as deter-mined by a vote at town meeting.

Value of the historic districtIn Mr. Kellogg’s goal, he

has missed one factor of what the appointed historic group is seeking to maintain; by requiring a hearing, it forces the petitioner to un-derstand the needs and goals of the historic district commission and adapt their signage to the board’s determination.

It is a “subjective review,” not a delineated review. It should not be by rote or any popular vote, but in confor-mity within the historic district.

By appearing before the commission, the business owner will learn about the goals of the commission and received feedback on pro-posed signage to ensure the maintenance of the integrity of the historic district.

Recently, the commission focus on maintaining the in-tegrity of the by-laws has waned, with more banners allowed by the selectmen, increased window signs and piece-meal signs cluttering the district.Planning board’s involvement?

Further, the idea of assign-ing the review to the plan-ning board was promoted by the selectmen to make it easier for the business own-er to get permitted signage. Yet, they (the select board) failed to review the proce-dure for changes in the his-toric by-laws and basically committed the planning board to be judge and jury. The law prevents this from occurring.

Thus in its directive to the planning board, it failed to ensure the historic district as a special setting and al-lowsed the business owner opportunity to exploit his or her own business at the ex-pense of their neighbors. This is not why the historic district was created.

(Part two will be next week with the value of the historic district.)

George C. Jordan IIIEDITOR & PUBLISHER

Kameron Z. SpauldingEDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Susan G. RobinsonGRAPHIC DESIGNER

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LENOX - Selectwoman Clau-dia “Dia” Trancynger believes that lines have been crossed in Lenox’s civic life.

At the Lenox Board of Select-men’s Jan. 3 hearing on whether or not to renew the entertain-ment license of Rumpy’s Tavern, Selectwoman Trancynger criti-cized members of the press and public for what she saw as inap-propriate behavior.

Selectwoman Trancynger be-gan her comments by criticizing a recent article in a local paper that reported that Billy Soto, owner of Rumpy’s tavern, had questioned whether complaints about the noise from Rumpy’s were because Rumpy’s attracted a large number of gay patrons.

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about anybody’s sexual preferences, I care about the behavior at the bar,” said Selectwoman Trancyn-

ger, who at the Select Board’s pre-vious meeting had expressed con-cern about complaints of rowdy behavior in and outside Rumpy’s tavern from some of the tavern’s neighbors.

“That whole homophobic thing in that article really upset my family,” said Selectwoman Trancynger. “I want that out there.”

Selectwoman Trancynger also asserted that the large pro Rumpy’s crowd that was present at the meeting had intimidated those who had issues with the es-tablishment into not speaking. At the meeting, only those in favor of Rumpy’s tavern retaining its entertainment license chose to speak.

“I can understand very well how those people (who have is-sues with Rumpy’s) who I see in this room right now, can be in-timidated by the sheer number of people that have showed up for this meeting,” said Selectwoman

Trancynger.The number of people at the

meeting was so large that atten-dance spilled out into the hall, and the overwhelming majority came to support Rumpy’s Tavern. The general tone of the crowd, however, was respectful and civil, and there were no dramatic or pugnacious outbursts, in sharp contrast to some meetings held in Lenox last year, such as the public hearings on the Kennedy Park Belvedere.

“The one thing that I do not tolerate is being threatened,” said Selectwoman Trancynger, who noted that Select Board members had been threatened by a lawsuit as a result of the Rumpy’s contro-versy. “Threatening people, ei-ther on the board or in this com-munity is completely untolerated.”

The Select Board voted that meeting to grant Rumpy’s enter-tainment license, with the caveat that entertainment would be only allowed until 1:00 a.m.

“I just don’t like threats, and I don’t like threats against the civil-ians of this town,” said Select-woman Trancynger, in comments to The Beacon.

Selectwoman Trancynger was primarily referring to Mr. Soto, who commented to the press in the days before the hearing that he would consider filing a lawsuit if Rumpy’s entertainment license was rescinded or restricted, and might try to file an action against Selectwoman Trancynger, Select-woman Linda Messana, and Judy Pieschel.

Selectwoman Messana and Se-lectwoman Trancynger were the most vocal critics of Rumpy’s conduct at the Select Board meet-ing previous to the hearing, and Judy Pieschel, who lives across the street, has been the most visi-ble person complaining about the noise level from the Tavern.

Selectwoman Trancynger did say, however, that she didn’t have a problem with the conduct of the Rumpy’s Tavern supporters who came to the meeting.

“The people that came from Rumpy’s were very civilized. I have no complaints about them.”

What she did take issue with, however, was the press coverage of the controversy beforehand, which she contends, along with the sheer number of people in at-tendance, cowed those who had issues with noise from Rumpy’s Tavern into silence.

“There’s a responsibility when you have content like that to talk to both sides,” said Selectwoman Trancynger, who said that neither her nor Selectwoman Messanna, who were both mentioned by name in The Berkshire Eagle ar-ticle that ran before the hearing, were contacted by The Eagle for this article.

Selectwoman Trancynger said that she felt the article made her and Selectwoman Messanna look like homophobes.

Selectwoman Trancynger also asserted that Mr. Soto’s insinua-tions of homophobia and threats of lawsuits, threats and insinua-tions that were publicized in the Eagle article, had intimidated cit-izens who had earlier voiced con-cern with Rumpy’s, into staying silent.

“There’s no reason to make threats in these circumstances,” said Selectwoman Trancynger.

As for Rumpy’s itself, Select-woman Trancynger says that she doesn’t have a bone to pick with the tavern.

“I don’t want to see it closed, I don’t want to see it disrupted.”

She does, however, hope that Rumpy’s will continue to try to control its noise levels.

“I do think they’re making an attempt to make that situation rectified,” said Selectwoman Trancynger, “I just hope that they get their act together and make it quiet.”

“It’s their right to have a quiet enjoyment in their homes,” said Selectwoman Trancynger, refer-ring to the people who had origi-nally complained about noise from the tavern, “It’s the same right the bar has to do…business.”

When asked by The Beacon whether or not she would choose to seek re-election, Selectwoman Trancynger said that she was undecided.

Selectwomen Trancynger reacts to “negative” press

coverage

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about any-body’s sexual preferences, I care about the behavior at the bar,”

—Selectwomen Dia Trancynger

Sonata has a monthly reader-ship of 32,000 with saturation in central Berkshire County in-cluding the towns of Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge and West Stockbridge.

The Sonata will be printed on bright white newsprint just like The Beacon. Together, they will showcase all our local news and advertisements.

What does this mean for ad-vertisers? A brighter look for their advertisements, causing far more inquiries and visits by our readers. Bottom line: More units sold.

Yes, we believe in the future of print publications. We be-lieve that when you up the pag-es of The Beacon and read about the small rural Berkshire communities with news and features about your neighbors that we serve a strong purpose.

Part of this future will de-pend on how we can serve our advertisers. To that our goal is to help you create an ad that tells the story about you and/or your product. Lay it out, offer a fair price and then publish it in our new easier to read format.

If you want to take advantage of advertising with this new ex-citing look, call us at 413-637-2250 to set up an appointment to give you an overall explana-tion of our services.

We want to treat you as a stakeholder whether you begin your advertising campaign this month or next.

Our Berkshire Sonata turned out to be a good advertising medium during this past sum-mer. Retailers reaped full value from visitors from The Sonata, and that will only increase with this new, brighter year.

We will not stop here. We also plan in 2012 to continue to expand from 16 to 20 pages to carry obituary notices, more sports and a classified advertise-ment section.

Today, we have invested in our product to make it readable for our readers in Berkshire County.

Tomorrow, we plan to im-prove our web presence that will contain late news and fea-tures along with your advertise-ments and begin developing a brand name to www.berkshire-beacon.com.

Our goal is to continue to serve you with our motto, Berkshire Hometown News First.

BRIGHTER from page 1

Photo Credit: Kameron sPauldinG

Selectwomen Trancynger during the Rumpy’s hearing.


McCann Tech through the yearsPart 1

Note: The following is the first in a two part series on the McCann Tech football program. This first

part describes the history of the program leading to their success this season.

Dick SyriacBeacon Sports Writer

Charles H. McCann Regional Technical School of North Adams has been around since 1962, when its en-rollment was 280 students. It is a highly-decorated aca-demic institution that has always excelled in preparing its students to be successful after graduation in many walks of life. They presently offer nine secondary majors and stand behind their motto, “Our goal is your success.”

McCann, from the start, fielded athletic teams and in the early years, like any upstart program, had to take their lumps.

“Our first football team in 1963 played a JV schedule and I had to borrow helmets because ours didn’t arrive, so we wore the Drury discards,” Ron Goss told the Beacon.

Goss was the head coach from 1963-1972 and stayed on as athletic director after that. (Your Beacon scribe knew some of these players and always suspected they played without helmets.)

Goss, who played on the 1948 championship team at Drury after fulfilling his military obligation, was educat-ed at North Adams State College and landed a job as a teacher in Ballston Spa, N.Y.

He played several years of semi-pro football (with a helmet I assume) and when McCann needed someone to create, develop and nurture a program they turned to Goss. It was a move they never regretted.

John DelNegro, Drury coaching legend, once told me, “Ron Goss is the best I ever saw teaching the fundamen-tals of football, he does not miss anything. His kids were never the most talented players but they were the best-prepared.”

In those days the football players went to Drury and Adams high schools, and McCann had to make football players out of their students. Even Ron Goss Jr. went onto Drury, where he was a sure-handed wide receiver and point guard for the Blue Devils.

Coach Goss added, “I never let any of my three boys play football until they were 14 years old. Kids are not ready at a young age for the pounding, if they have skills they will develop in time. There are programs that ne-glect the most important part of equipment for a player, a proper-fitting helmet.”

Coach Goss will talk football all day with anyone and added, “I never regretted my time at McCann, I loved coaching those kids and have lots of great memories. How many coaches can say that they coached a kid that went on to be an admiral in the U.S. Navy?” Admiral Marty Bushika of Florida Mountain wore the Hornet green before he wore the U.S. Naval Whites.

“We had trouble in those early years finding teams to play us so we had to travel a lot,” Goss said. “We played Bishop Scully of New York, Fermi High of Enfield, Ct.,

Blue Hills of Canton, Mass., and even played Nantucket High School off Cape Cod. One year a hurricane pre-vented us from taking the boat over to the island to play the game so we headed back to the Berkshires. Our bus driver had a bad back so I drove the bus as far as Northampton. After he witnessed my driving abilities his back condition improved, so he took over for the Route 9 portion of the trip.”

If you want to talk football Mr. Goss is your man and if you try to test his memory, you will lose.

“We were playing Bennington and in those days many coaches would have a rotating lineman bring in the play to the huddle,” he said. “I didn’t want to do that at the start so I told my QB to run a 16 blast, an 18 toss and a 42 counter and then punt. Those three plays worked well and we were on the 12 yard line and while I was working on the next play he kicked the ball into the parking lot. To add insult to injury, he hit our bus.”

But wait, there’s more.“In the late ‘60s, we took a team down to Canton and

my quarterback was Mike Wynn,” Goss said. “The local reporters kept asking me why I was playing him at QB. My answer was because that is where he plays, that is his position. Their curiosity was brought on by the fact that the kid was black, and they had never seen a black kid at that position. To be honest, I never even gave it a second thought.

Most teams that we played had large, deep rosters while sometimes we suited up 16-18 kids. Our players would have to play both ways and by the fourth quarter we would be pretty whipped while the opposition would still be trotting out clean jerseys.”

He continued, “The best thing for our program oc-curred when we created the Suburban League, later the Kosier League. We finally had a league to play in and one where we could be competitive. We played all the voca-tional schools of similar size and abilities.”

In 1980, Goss would take his master’s degrees and move on to Pittsfield High School and later to Taconic High School to take over as Assistant Director of Techni-cal Education.

There he would be involved with procuring grants and developing programs and curriculum and would remain until 1990.

In the mid-’90s the football bug bit again, and he found himself working the sidelines with John Allen at Mt. Greylock High School. Could someone who hadn’t coached in 20 years still get it done and relate with changing youth egos? If you think that the game might have passed him by, you are wrong again.

“Football is not rocket science, it’s blocking and tack-ling, it never changes,” Goss said. “If you can’t do that you will not be very successful.”

He stayed with the Mounties for five years and still fol-lows all the teams in the county.

Jesse Lebarron played for the Williamstown Power in the ‘90s and remembers Coach Goss.

“He knew his football, he was old school and the guys really liked him,” Lebarron said. “He was cool, tough and demanding but also had a great sense of humor. He

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made it fun.”Lebarron was fullback/linebacker for the Super Bowl

Champs of 2000. Dick DeGray, class of ‘71 and currently a selectman in

Brattleboro, Vt., added, “Ron got the most out of all his players; he taught sound, basic football. Whenever I see him he always recalls events from the days when I played for him and some of those events I am trying to forget. I was very fortunate to learn from him, it was always about the kids with Coach.”

To prove that McCann would go anywhere for a game, DeGray recalled a contest with The American School for the Deaf where “some of their players looked older than our cafeteria staff.”

“Ron was a tremendous influence on my career,” add-ed Tim Carroll, who has retired as Superintendent of Vocational Schools on Cape Cod. “I coached basketball under Ron and I can’t come close to listing all the things that he did for me. McCann Tech was very fortunate to have Ron Goss as the nucleus of their programs in the early years.”

When the 2011 McCann football team was preparing for their Super Bowl trip, there was a locker room pep talk on the Friday night before the biggest game in school history, and guess who was called in to address the team. Almost 50 years after talking to those JV kids at Mc-Cann, here he was still teaching in the same, but refur-bished, locker room.

“I told them to enjoy it and give it maximum effort,” Goss said. “I still have my little gold football that we got for winning it all in ‘48 and every time I look at it I am reminded of great times. I told them that they would be talking about their Super Bowl experience the rest of their lives.”

Head Coach Bob LeClair was glad to have him.“He sat down in a chair like he was Bill Cosby and

started telling the kids about his experience in the early years, the kids loved him,” Coach LeClair said. “He com-manded the room as he always has.”

My first contact with Ron Goss was in 1971 when I was a student teacher at McCann. He recruited me to roam the sidelines with him and gave me a clipboard and had me wrap some ankles. He had to utilize any help he could find during those times, regardless of ability. The way that he conducted a game was fascinating and, for sure, an education for me. Still the Hornets were still considered the Rodney Dangerfields of county football.

One kid in my history class once asked me, “How do you keep the McCann football team out of your back-yard?” The answer: “put up a goal post.”

My observations over the early years found that Mc-Cann had some talented kids but just not enough of them. The other schools got the football players while they got kids that played football. If they were not always successful, it was not from lack of effort.

If you ever played for Ron Goss, or had a kid who played for him or was helped by him in the academic world consider yourself lucky.

If you happen to be a friend of his, consider yourself blessed.

Tim Carroll, former teacher coach for McCann Tech, congratulates McCann on all academic and athletic achievements, and a particular thank you to Ron Goss for laying a great foundation of sports to build upon!

Congratulations to a great school

and a great football team!

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From the staff at The Berkshire Beacon


If you have an event you would like listed in our calendar please email us at [email protected]!

Community Calendar


WILLIAMSTOWN – On Tuesday morning, Pine Cobble School’s ninth grade western civi-lization class welcomed Imam Bilal Ansari, Williams College’s first Muslim chaplain and associ-ate coordinator of community engagement.

According to a Pine Cobble re-lease, the ninth grade students have been studying Islam and its connection to Western culture.

“Pine Cobble offers the flexibil-ity to bring in lectures in any sub-ject, at any time, to explore ideas with students and make connec-tions between diverse disci-plines,” Pine Cobble Head of School Susannah H. Wells said in the release.

Mr. Ansari is the founder of the Muslim Chaplains Association, a resource for chaplains of all faiths to address the needs of Muslims in their institutions. Before work-ing at Williams, Mr. Ansari orga-nized grassroots movements in af-fordable housing, community

empowerment, economic devel-opment, healthcare and labor. He is also featured in the PBS docu-mentary The Calling.

The conversation between Mr. Ansari and the Pine Cobble stu-dents lasted over two hours, rang-ing in topics from Islam to his own personal journey to commu-nity service in general.

They also discussed specific things happening in the William-stown faith community, includ-ing efforts related to Hurricane Irene.

“It’s always a favorite experi-ence to welcome leaders who bring ideas to life and help stu-dents hone critical thinking skills, curiosity about our world and compassion toward others,” Mrs. Wells said.

Other recent speakers to visit Rick Berger’s western civilization class include Williams College Asian Studies Professor Sam Crane, Williams College History Professor Sara Dubow and for-mer Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor and Acting Governor Jane Swift.

Imam speaks at Pine Cobble

School

Courtesy Photo

Imam Bilal Ansari, Williams College’s first Muslim chaplain speaks to students at Pine Cobble.

THurSDay, Jan. 12TH

ADAMS LITTLE LEAGUE ANNUAL MEETINGAdams, 7 p.m.Annual open meeting at PNA Hall, Victory Street, to elect new officers.

BUSINESS AFTER HOURSGreat Barrington, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.RBC Wealth Management, 50 Cas-tle Street, RSVP TO: [email protected] or call 413-528-4284.

BERKSHIRE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS NET-WORKING SOCIALHancock, 5 - 7 p.m.All young professionals living and/or working in Berkshire County are invited to attend the Berkshire Young Professionals Networking Social @ Jiminy Peak, 37 Corey Road.

FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY, TO SPEAK ON ECONOMYWilliamstown, 8 p.m.Lawrence H. Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury and Pres-ident Emeritus of Harvard Uni-versity, will present a lecture on the economy on Thursday, in the MainStage of the '62 Center for Theatre and Dance.

FrIDay, Jan. 13TH

DIY KIDS - MAKE YOUR OWN SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONERGreat Barrington, 4-5pm Do it Yourself Kids will be mak-ing their own hair products out of all natural ingredients. The Co-op Café. Sign up at the front desk or call 413.528.9697 for more information.

SENATOR DOWNING'S COFFEE & CONVERSATIONLee, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.Downing’s Coffee & Conversa-tion will take place in the Gallery of the Lee Library, 100 Main Street, Downing will provide free coffee and refreshments to those interested in meeting with their State Senator face-to-face.

IN BETWEEN, PALESTIN-IAN-ISRAELI IDENTITY IN ONE-MAN SHOWWilliamstown, 7:30 p.m.Ibrahim Miari will perform In Be-tween, a one-man show, at Wil-liams College, on Friday, in the '62 Center for Theatre and Dance, Adams Memorial Theatre.

DANCIN' AT THE MAN-SION W/ GREG CAPUTO QUARTETLenox, 7:30 p.m.The Greg Caputo Quartet featur-ing vocalist Vivian Caputo, will perform well-loved standards at “Dancin’ at the Mansion” get-to-gethers at Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum every second Saturday.

JEFF AND JANE HUDSONNorth Adams, 8 p.m.Celebrating the re-release of their album Flesh, they perform at MASS MoCA in Club B-10 on Saturday, Tickets for The Hud-sons are $12 in advance, $16 the day of the performance, and $10 for students. Members are eligi-ble for a 10% discount.

OPENING NIGHT RECEPTIONLee, 6 - 8 p.mAt the...Good Purpose Gallery, 40 Main Street, Saturday, Join us for the Opening Night Reception of Kayla Corby's "Expressionistic Landscape: The Light of Nature"

and Joe Katz's "Of the Earth: Ex-plorations in Wood and Copper."

SunDay, Jan. 15TH

SUNDAY AT THE MOVIESPittsfield, 2 p.m.“To Be or Not to Be,” a 1942 film starring Jack Benny, Carole Lom-bard and Robert Stack, about the efforts of a Polish theater troupe to foil a Nazi spy and help the Re-sistance movement in their occu-pied country.

GET TO KNOW SNOW-SHOES@ KENNEDY PARKLenox, 9:30 a.m.Wondering what to do with your family over the winter? Give snowshoeing a try! The ‘Get to Know Snowshoes’ hike at Kenne-dy Park is an event created by the Berkshire Natural Resources Council and the Arcadian Shop.

CLIMATE CHANGE: GLOBAL UPDATE AND LOCAL IMPACTLee, 2 p.m.Project Native presents: “Climate Change: global update & local impact” A talk by Frank Lowen-stein, Director of Global Climate Adaptation for The Nature Con-servancy Sunday, Spectrum Play-house, 20 Franklin Street, Free event open to the public.

UNO AFTER THE HOLI-DAYS PARTYNorth Adams, noon to 2 p.m.United Neighborhood Organiza-tion (UNO) will hold an “After the Holidays Party” on Sunday, at the Valley Park Lanes on Curran Memorial Highway, There will be Free bowling, shoes, pizza, bever-ages and a take home Christmas bag of treats.


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Director of Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT). “The trash that has accumulated behind the bridge must be properly disposed of and not al-lowed to be swept downstream. And it is critical that a silt-curtain or other device be used to prevent the movement of PCBs downstream.”

Joseph C. Doboszynski, who has spear-headed the clean-up of the river and the bridge in particu-lar, said he just received notice from the HVA this week about the impending removal schedule.

“It looks like some action might be in progress concerning bridge removal Wednesday morning,” Mr. Doboszynski told The Beacon.

“On Oct. 25, 2011, I first reported to the Housa-tonic Valley Association that an abandoned bridge that had crossed the Housatonic River in Pittsfield had collapsed into the river as a result of Hurricane Irene. Today, January 11, 2012, 77 days later, I am reporting back to them that the bridge has been re-moved from the river, again opening the river for the paddling pleasure of Pittsfield residents and tourists.”

“That such an effort could be accomplished is such a short amount of time is nothing short of a miracle,” according to Mr. Doboszynski, who is an avid outdoorsman.

“However, as they plan for the removal so far they haven’t really brought the EPA into the discussion with regards to PCB’s shifting and how to minimize disturbance and the sediment washing downriver,” Ms. Dixon said.

At the Conservation Commission meeting last week, when they were discussing the plans with Bruce Collingwood (DPW), both the trash and PCB issues were brought up by Ms. Winn (BEAT) and Thelma Barzottini from Citizens For PCB Removal.“

“I added my two cents for HVA,” Ms. Dixon said. “It is wonderful that they are pushing for its remov-al. It’s estimated to cost of removal is $51K.”

At the meeting, more than one Pittsfield resident voiced their concerns about disturbance to the PCBs and the trash that has built behind the bridge.

Mr. Doboszynski said in a statement: “I would

have no way of knowing the number of organiza-tions that needed to be involved, the funds that were necessary to pay for the removal, the granting of approvals, etc., but there is no doubt that 100 percent cooperation must have existed amongst all of them. The land on one side of the river belonged to General Electric, on the other side the Massachu-setts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. It is un-clear who owns the bridge. Yet, it was necessary for EPA involvement.”

“I observed the work crew meticulously remove the backed up river debris from the bridge before beginning to remove the bridge, and then I ob-served the final removal and the opening of the wa-terway,” Mr. Dobosyznski continued. “My compli-ments to all involved, and a big thank you to all of them.”

Ms. Dixon, in a statement, said, “The Housatonic Valley Association applauds the City of Pittsfield for negotiating with the landowners and working close-ly with their partners to remove this fallen bridge.

“It is a very definite safety concern as it complete-ly blocks the navigability of the river,” she added. “We urge the City to work closely with EPA to en-sure minimized disturbance to the PCB-laden sedi-ment in this section of river and hope, too, that the trash that has built up can be removed simultaneously.”


LENOX - The months-long fight over the Kennedy Park Bel-vedere may finally be finished.

By a 6-1 vote, the Lenox Con-servation Commission ruled at its Jan. 5 meeting that the Belvedere does not violate Lenox’s Scenic Mountain Act.

Many of the Belvedere’s foes saw The Scenic Mountain Act as their best route to removing it.

Lenox’s Scenic Mountain Act covers any significant construc-tion or logging at or above an el-evation of 1,400 feet in the town of Lenox.

Sonya Bykofsky, a prominent member of the anti Belvedere or-ganization, Citizens Advocacy for All, was the first person to bring to the attention of the town of Lenox that the Scenic Mountain Act applied to the Belvedere, which was constructed without getting the necessary approval under the act.

All members of the Conserva-tion Commission agreed that the town should have consulted them before proceeding with the con-struction of The Belvedere.

"If I could turn the clock back a year and a half, I would,” said Lenox Town Manager Gregory Federspiel, agreeing with the commissioners opinion.

After the project was described, Town Manager Federspiel also acknowledged that the Conserva-tion Commission should have been allowed to rule on the proj-ect before construction began.

Mrs. Bykofsky criticized the town for trying to get permission for the Belvedere retroactively, and warned about the precedent such an action would set.

“The decision you come up with is going to send a message whether or not it’s just okay to beg for forgiveness instead of ask-ing for permission, if it’s okay to blow off the laws of our town. I’ll leave it at that,” said Mrs. Bykofsky.

Despite her dire warnings, the Lenox Conservation Commis-sion ruled that the Kennedy Park Belvedere did not in fact violate the Scenic Mountain Act by a 6-1 vote.

The commissions ruling did come with some caveats, howev-er. The Conservation Commis-sion was not satisfied with the Belvedere’s current drainage.

As a result, their ruling came with an “order of conditions,” re-quiring the town to devise an en-gineering plan to improve the site’s drainage and take steps to implement it.

In terms of how much these improvements will cost, Com-missioner Carpenter doesn’t be-lieve that they will be very expensive.

“I don’t think it’ll be a big job,” said Commissioner Carpenter, estimating that the improve-ments to the drainage would cost only a few thousand dollars.

Commissioner Carpenter was unaware whether or not the funds the Fieldman donors raised for the construction and mainte-nance of the Belvedere would be available to finance the improvements.

Not all members of the Con-servation Commission were satis-fied with the commission’s decision.

“In good conscience I couldn’t vote for that,” said Rosemarie Fitzgerald-Casey, the lone dis-senting vote on the Conservation Commission’s ruling.

Mrs. Fitzgerald-Casey said that she didn’t vote with the majority because she hadn’t seen any plans from the Belvedere’s construc-tion, and didn’t like that the pro-cess was being done after the fact.

Mrs. Fitzgerald-Casey also wor-ried about the cost of changing the site’s drainage, as well as the liability for the site that the town had taken on.

As for the future of the Belve-dere controversy, opponents ap-pear to have several options be-fore them.

They can choose to abandon the fight, they can negotiate with the town, they can appeal the commission’s ruling to the Mas-sachusetts Department of Con-servation and Recreation, or they can sue the town.

Whatever happens, a lengthy chapter has closed in the Kenne-dy Park Belvedere controversy, and it may well prove to be the final one.

Commission gives stamp of approval

to Belvedere

BRIDGE from page 1

Photo Credit: Joe doBoszynsKi

Workers removing the bridge on Jan. 11th from the Housatonic.

Photo Credit: Joe doBoszynsKi

Workers surveying the damage to the bridge.



Janel HarrisonBeacon Staff Writer

LENOX - Sunday was whimsi-cally wonderful at the lovely home of The Berkshire Beacon’s Publisher and Editor, George C. Jordan III, and his wife, Chris-tine, as friends and family gath-ered to celebrate the 12th birth-day of one special dog.

The star of the day’s name is Jewel Jordan, also known as Prin-cess “JuJu,” crown and all, an ag-ing, but healthy, quiet-hearted sable border collie with engaging deep-brown eyes and a love of the outdoors (at least with a house full of people).

Also attending was her nine-year-old sister, Maddie, a tri-col-or collie who seemed quite the social butterfly enjoying the party much more than JuJu; as tasty morsels fell to the floor, she was happy to oblige in picking them up and swallowing. It was her birthday too after all.

Both collies were bred in the majestic foothills of the Berk-shires by Revelation Collies, breeders of both champion and domestic dogs.

The kennel is run by the devot-ed Mrs. Gail LaMagdalaine and her husband, Richard, who does much of the handiwork and loves the dogs.

“These are the people that have brought so much joy into our lives,” said Mrs. Jordan, mother of JuJu and Maddie, with a smile when introducing the LaMagda-laines. “These dogs are the epito-me of what a good dog should be.”

Prior to the Jordans owning Jewel, she was primed to be a show dog with champion blood-lines, but Mrs. LaMagdalaine said, “She developed this bad habit of sticking her head in her water bucket, and you just can’t have a champion show dog in the ring sticking her head in water buckets, and coming out soaking wet.”

Mrs. Jordan had always shown an interest in her prior to devel-oping this silly habit and was no-tified that Jewel was for sale, so long as they didn’t mind puddles on their kitchen floors. During the party the floors were dry, and the Jordans are the proud owners

of two well-loved, happy dogs.The dogs were especially ecstat-

ic because, in addition to gifts of humorous cards and donated treats to the Sonsini Animal Shel-ter (all surrounding a beautifully decorated tree), on the kitchen table was a bone-shaped meatloaf stuck with candles and JuJu and Maddie’s names written all over it.

Lucky dogs, as the recipe was a favorite of Mrs. Jordan’s fit for humans too.

When interviewing JuJu, a treat in hand, she sat upright gracefully, howled a bit and gave a “woof-woof,” saying what a happy life she’s had and how much she loves her family, then ate.

And speaking of eating, the for-mal dining room displayed a smorgasbord of delectable h’odeurves and cakes for the guests who also enjoyed a selec-tion of various wines and a sinful homemade Irish crème brought by the Jordan’s friend Mrs. Chris Roberts, which was near gone by the end of the party.

Soon it was time for JuJu and Maddie to blow out their candles and make a wish, and it is Mr. Jordan’s wish that they have a

long and happy life. Mrs. Jordan knelt down with the cake as she and JuJu had their picture taken, and it was clear to see the love of both as JuJu nuzzled into her cheek and proceeded to blow out the candles, or at least it appeared that way.

After much mingling and cele-bration it was time to say good-bye as guests thanked the Jordans and gathered their coats.

Aunt Sally Charter said about JuJu, “She’s an absolutely beauti-ful, gentle and sweet girl.”

When speaking with Mrs. Jor-dan about JuJu she laughed and said, “Do you think it’s silly to have a birthday party for a dog?” and she added with tear glazed eyes, “I just think it’s sad when you think about it; for a child reaching adolescence and the age of 12 it’s just the beginning, but for a dog, they’re nearing the end, and I wanted to do something to celebrate her life.”

Dogs are a special part of our world, and as all dog owners know, they are one of the family, always there giving unconditional love and gratitude, making us laugh and cry, and sometimes even yell, so why not take a day and celebrate in their names?

rae EastmanBeacon Staff Writer

Frances Nevins; Mid 20th Century Carmelite: Friend,

Scholar, Wife, Nun and Mystic

This book is an account of a re-markable person who found her calling as a Carmelite nun after a life of scholarship and religious interests.

Her early home-life in the 1930s had not been a happy one and throughout her studies she had remained aloof from others.

As she worked towards her masters at Radcliffe/Harvard (as it was then called), she was drawn to the religious thought of the middle ages and later toward work in the Episcopal church.

There she met the man she married who was himself plan-ning to enter the ministry.

After a year or so of marriage, Frances prepared herself for the Catholic faith, though it cost her that marriage – as her husband refused to promise to bring up any children they might have as Catholics.

They both endured great pain, but Frances was determined to follow her faith. She became a teacher at the House of the Good Shepherd – spending the rest of her hours in “church time.” In-creasingly she felt the need to en-ter a religious community as a nun.

She was accepted at the Good Shepherd convent on the advice of a priest who had been instruct-ing her for three years.

But she did not find the silence and solitude she sought and final-ly was able to enter the Carmelite life: “I have to be here; it’s who I am.” She became Sister Chris-tine of the Holy Spirit in 1961 and by 1965 took her final vows as a Carmelite nun – and at last achieved her wish to become a hermit and live in virtual solitude and silence.

There was one friar, however, with whom she formed a unique friendship, and thus was able – for the first time – to share her feelings and receive warmth in re-turn. Unhappily for both, Friar Tansey was posted to California. Sister Christine spoke long and earnestly to her God to try and

understand her loss.Sister Christine was a writer,

constantly analyzing her relation-ship to God and how to make it deeper.

The book is filled with her writings to and about Jesus as if they were having a dialogue; very much as though they were ex-changing letters. One of the most intriguing things about the book is the way that relationship changes and strengthens.

As it does, her faith affects those around her; especially the poor; refugees she ministers to; Cesar Chavez – a religious man himself – and his farm workers; the terminally ill. One theolo-gian said about her “She was the holiest person I ever knew.”

Later, close to her own death (she had for many years suffered from a crippling circulatory ail-ment which she treated with for-titude and humor) she learned about a man on death row for crimes he admitted to committing.

He – and others – credited her unceasing prayers with saving him from the electric chair, only 39 hours away from that appointment.

Some of his writings are in-cluded here as well.

What Sister Christine wrote over the years with such clarity, intensity and searching intelli-gence illuminates a radiant, changing relationship with God, giving the rest of us insights we might not otherwise have had.

Her writings were gathered here and her life recorded by her lifelong friend, Joan Mullaney.Available through Monastery

Greetings online.

Book Review:

Lovely tale of medieval life

Every dog has their day, sometimes even a birthday

Photo Credit: Janel harrison

JuJu blowing out the candles on her birthday cake at her party last weekend. Many owners now throw such parties for their pets.


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Girl-2-GirlGoing in

BlindJanel HarrisonBeacon Staff

Hi gals! Let’s talk about the in-famous blind date. Good for you? Bad for you? How do you feel? I just happen to have a friend who is about to embark on one next week. So I’ll be sure to keep you posted on how it all goes down.

A blind date is defined as a date between two people who have previously not met so I suppose blind dates could be construed as internet dates, you don’t really know the person, and from what I hear they lie.

But right now so many of us just want to find love, and so we take plunges into uncharted wa-ters which might not be the right temp for us, and sometimes they even burn.

According to AskMen.com and me, there is a “Blind Date Sur-vival Guide,” so listen up because I think it’s good stuff.

The next time your friend says, “I have the perfect person for you,” here is your pre-date prepa-ration so you “come out a champ.” (Don’t laugh, this is fun.)

1. Do not have any expecta-tions. This can lead to shock, ut-ter disappointment and com-pletely throw you off-kilter. Don’t expect to meet the man of your dreams, but don’t expect to meet Quasimodo either. Just think of it as a way to network and a pos-sible friend or companion.

2. Prepare for it mentally. Tell yourself it’s a night out and what-ever happens meeting new peo-ple in this big-ol’ world is refresh-ing, have a relaxing glass of wine, this person doesn’t know you so they’re completely unbiased, pick his brain a little and have fun, it takes all kinds to make the world go round, right? If you refuse to go you are “limiting your options.”

Worst-case scenario, you might have a really good friend in the end, or not.

Possible activities: First of all, I think it’s always good on this type of date if you meet him, so having your own transportation

is a good thing. This way you’re not trapped.

The guys at AskMen.com sug-gest in-line skating, ice skating, golfing or mini-golfing. Any-thing that requires the two of you to get involved with each other, and some sporadic physical con-tact, as a way of testing the chem-istry; you don’t need to worry about too much conversation, which relieves stressors of the date.

And now for the date. Drum-roll please. Remind yourself there’s a reason the matchmaker set the two of you up, so be open-minded and greet him with a smile. Don’t act as if you’re doing the matchmaker a favor and you’d rather be home washing your hair or cubbied in jammies. Those vibes can be picked up on and will ruin your date right from the get-go.

As for you men, don’t be cheap, first impressions are huge. Keep the two-for-one coupons at home, buddy.

I will never forget this guy I dated. We hit the drive-thru and fish fillets were two-for-one, so all he ordered was literally two fish fillets, which I’m not crazy about anyway, but thought I’d try, no drink, nothing else. I’m hungry now, so I leaned over annoyed and hollered, “and a large fry!” Well, you’d think he wanted to bite my head off. I mean how much is a fry anyway?

By the end of the date it’ll be pretty clear whether you want to see them again or seek revenge on your matchmaker.

If it went well, a hug or kiss on the cheek, but never on the lips, too soon and too eager, save it for the next date.

If it did not go well, tell him it was nice to meet him, if it’s mu-tual he’ll do the same and may say he’ll call or he’ll see you around.

Remember good things have come out of blind dates, If any-thing you have a funny story to tell. I hope that my friend and you have a fabulous time. And that you’re blinded by fireworks flying.

- Ciao Bella


anna ShippeeBeacon Staff Writer

It was just the other day when my fiance was with me in the gro-cery store picking out several TV dinners and I wondered where this all went wrong. I love pro-viding homemade meals, it is something I pride myself on and I obviously was not doing this.

I mean I want to have it all; I want a fulfilling career and to be able to cook delicious food for those that I love. And as a side product rid my freezer of TV din-ners. But to be honest I have a million things to do.

Enter in the crock-pot.I love my crock-pot. If you are

a person with things to do, this is totally a worth while investment. I mean you can make so many things from soups to pulled pork to even desserts, plus you can just set it and forget it.

This week I decided that I would use my slow-cooker to make chili;the added factor of it being only 4 degrees out helped push me in the chili direction.

When it comes to my chili, I feel the simpler the better (I mean the whole point of this is to make life easier.)

I feel like chefs on TV make chili seem like it has to be labor and time intensive, when it is just throwing flavors you enjoy in a pot.

So this is how I make my chili. In a large saute pan I brown up a pound of hot lamb sausage. I use lamb but you can use any-thing. However I would use some type of sausage. I feel like the sau-sage does most of the seasoning for you without any of the guess work. I always go hot (personal-ly my favorite is chorizo lamb sausage) but if hot is not your thing choose whatever flavor you want.

Once the sausage is browned, I drain off the fat and add the meat to the crock-pot. Next I saute a medium onion until it is translu-cent and then add to the pot.

With the meat and onions I then add a 28 oz. can of tomato sauce and 28 oz. can of crushed

or diced tomatoes (which ever floats your boat), a can of black beans (drained), and a can of dark red kidney beans (drained).

This is the base for my chili and I think it is great as is but sometimes I like to add a few dif-ferent things-sometimes I add a can of corn.

You can add whatever vegeta-bles you like-maybe some bell peppers or some chilies. This last time I added a nice porter to the chili.

Add half of the bottle at the be-ginning of the cooking process and then added the other half midway through the cooking process.

I find that the chili usually needs some salt and pepper and maybe some garlic powder or adobo seasoning. You can add whatever you enjoy (that is the wonder of chili).

So once you have added all of the ingredients, just put the crock-pot on low and you can go to work and come home to have dinner all ready. If you want the chili done faster put the crock-pot on high.

Now if you want something different from the traditional cornbread side to compliment your chili, I suggest Rachel Ray's Sausage, Potato and Cheese waffles.

Ingredients:

1 link sweet Italian sausage (about 3 ounces), casing discarded

1 baking potato, grated and ex-cess water squeezed out

4 tablespoons butter1 3/4 cups flour1 tablespoon baking powder1/2 cup shredded cheddar

cheese1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf

parsley1 1/4 teaspoons salt1 1/4 teaspoons pepper2 cups milk2 large eggs

In a medium skillet, cook the sausage over medium-high heat, breaking it up with a fork, for 5 minutes.

Add the potato and butter, lower the heat and simmer until the butter is melted, about 2 min-utes. Remove from the heat and let cool, about 10 minutes.In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper.

Stir in the milk and eggs until smooth. Stir in the sausage-pota-to mixture.Using a waffle maker, cook the waffles according to the manufacturer’s directions

Enjoy your chili, let me know about your own versions.

Cooking Advice:

Chili is easy, tasty and get fit in even your

busiest schedule


The Samuel Adams LongShot Variety six-pack is scheduled to hit shelves next month.

The beers come after a contest around New England to let home brewers attempt to get their beers brewed by the company and sold in stores and at Gillete Stadium.

The brews will be available na-tionwide in select retail stories for a suggested retail price of $9.99.

The variety pack will include two bottle each of Corey’s ‘A Dark Night in Munich,’ Joe’s ‘Five Crown Imperial Stout,’ and Fred’s ‘Derf ’s Secret Alt.’

Aren’t up to speed on each of the beers? Here is more info from Boston Beer Co.

A Dark Night in Munich (Cre-ated by Corey Martin):

Corey has been working on his Munich Dunkel for some time and the result is this amber, medi-um-bodied brew. With a nice malty backbone, this lager has roasty, slightly spicy notes and a traditional doughy character from the yeast. It is well worth the time he took to perfect it.

Derf’s Secret Alt (Created by Samuel adams Employee

Fred Hessler):

Fred wanted to go big or go home with his homebrew and de-cided to brew a kicked up Sticke Alt. This full-bodied ale has a big, malty character balanced by sub-tle orange and grapefruit notes from the hops. With a light am-ber color, this brew has a sweet finish.

Five Crown Imperial Stout (Created by Joe Formanek):

For the past 15 years, Joe has been brewing his Russian Impe-rial Stout. This malt-forward brew has a rich complexity, with roasty and chocolate notes, yet enough hop bitterness to balance out the sweetness.

This satisfying winter brew is full-bodied with an enjoyable vel-vety smoothness.

Aspiring homebrewers have the chance to enter the 2012 Samuel Adams LongShot American Hombrew Contest.

Those interested in participat-ing are encouraged to visit www.samueladams.com in March for contest rules and regulations.

Sam Adams announces Long Shot

2011 winners

Photo Credit: anna shiPPee

Chili can be an easy dish to make in the crock pot and have a dinner ready when you get home.


College Sports Report

Strong play in the latter half of the game and a second career shutout for freshman Chloe Bil-ladeau catapulted the Ephs to an-other home victory over New England College

Goals from team-leading scorer Gabby Vukasin, Sam Weinstein, and a third from Kristen Tubbs contributed to the Williams win.

The Ephs started strong, man-aging to put seven shots on Kris-ten Conners in the opening frame. Andree Heller and Tubbs both had early, close-range tries where the puck just squirted wide of the net.

With a little over 12 minutes remaining in the frame, three penalties in a 30 second window created a 4-on-3 opportunity for the Ephs.

However, the Pilgrim penalty-kill managed to deny all Williams attempts, and the score remained knotted up.

Heller made another good bid with just over 8 minutes left in

the frame, when she redirected a shot off the back boards that slid through the crease. However, it was the Ephs' second powerplay of the period that yielded several of their best scoring opportuni-ties of the frame.

With the opening 20 minutes winding down, the Ephs seemed close to claiming a lead heading into the second period.

A rip by Weinstein was barely deflected by Conners, while an-other Williams shot ricocheted off the post. Despite these at-tempts, the first period ended in a scoreless draw.

The beginning of the second frame continued to be a defensive contest, neither team able to take the lead. New England College glimpsed a small opening seven minutes into the period, when an Eph penalty gave them a man-up opportunity, but the Pilgrim of-fense could not convert.

It was Williams who struck first at the 6:43 mark to take a 1-0

lead. Eph forward Vukasin cor-ralled a rebound off of attempts by Weinstein and Tubbs, and was able to slide the puck past Conners.

The Ephs fed off of their offen-sive momentum late in the mid-dle frame, and aided by a 5-on-3 opportunity, were able to up their lead with 2:40 remaining. The tally came when Sarah Herr (Princeton, NJ) passed to Wein-stein, who teed one up from the point. The puck was deflected off a Pilgrim defender's stick for Williams' second goal of the game and gave the Ephs a 2-0 lead heading into the locker room.

Undeterred, the Pilgrims would test the Ephs early in the third period. With 16:05 to play, New England worked the puck up the ice for a 2-on-1 with a Williams defender.

Although the Pilgrim forward got off a shot, Billadeau managed to deny NEC's attempt, and the Ephs maintained their two-goal lead.

An unassisted goal by Tubbs, her 10th of the season, would in-crease Williams' cushion to three. With 12:54 left to play, Tubbs carried the puck behind the back of the net, then slid a backhand shot on the ice that found a sliver of space between Conners' pads and the post.

In her sixth career appearance between the pipes for the Ephs, Billadeau recorded 20 saves and notched her third win of the sea-son. Conners finished with 14 stops in net for the visiting Pilgrims.

"Chloe's really been playing great for us, and I think that to-day we did a great job of continu-ing to battle to get the 3-0 win," Williams coach Meghan Gillis re-marked, "We didn't let up and continued to work hard to get that third goal."

Williams faces NESCAC rival Hamilton this weekend on back-to-back days in their quest to move up the conference standings.

Friday night's game in Clin-ton, NY, begins at 7 p.m., and the puck drops at 3 p.m. Sat,

Women’s ice hockey keeps on winningTeam has won three of their last four

Alyssa Veil chases down the puck for Williams during their game against New England College.

The visiting MCLA Trailblaz-ers pulled away in the second half en route to a 67-55 victory over Fisher College.

With the win, MCLA snapped a five game slide and improved to 3-10 overall. Fisher drops to 2-14.

MCLA placed three players in double figures led by Vernon Cross' 16 points off the bench. Tyrell Mosley added 12 points while Tyriq Rochester chipped in with 10.

The Trailblazers led by three at halftime at 29-26. After Fisher pulled within a point at 31-30, MCLA used a 9-2 spurt to push ahead 40-32. Mosley had five points in the run, while Cross buried a three pointer. The lead would grow to ten after a Roches-

ter layup made the score 48-38 with just under nine minutes to play.

Fisher would climb within five, but MCLA would push the lead back into double digits, eventu-ally leading by as many as 13 on numerous occasions.

Mosley added 12 boards to complete a double double while chipping in with 5 assists.

Cross' night included a hot touch from beyond the arc as he hit four of six attempts from three.

Fisher was led by Elijah Ch-isholm's 11 points. Ryan Mc-Corkle added 8 points and 10 rebounds.

The Trailblazers are off until their conference opener on Tues-day night in Salem.

MCLA pulls out big road win

The MCLA women's basket-ball team opened up MASCAC play Tuesday night, dropping a 76-68 decision to the Vikings.

The loss, MCLA's fifth in six outings, drops the Trailblazers to 6-7 overall, 0-1 in the conference. Salem State improves to 2-0 in the MASCAC, 6-8 overall.

Freshman Rachael Carter had 16 points and 15 rebounds for Salem, while Amy Barry hit a back-breaking three-pointer for the Vikings, who were winless in

MASCAC play last season.After trailing for most of the

first half and at halftime, the Vi-kings took the lead for good when Tara Driscoll hit a three-pointer in the opening seconds of the sec-ond half.

Salem State scored the first six points after intermission to lead 35-31.

Carter was Salem State's lead-ing scorer despite shooting just 4-of-13 from the field. She was 8-10 from the line.

MCLA women drop conference opener

January 12, 2012Vernon Cross gives MCLA a

need spark off the benchSee page 19

Thursday, Jan. 12Lenox @ ME 7 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 13Drury @ PHS 7 p.m.Lee @ MG 7 p.m.Taconic @ Lenox 7 p.m.St. Joe @ MM 7 p.m.Wahconah @ Hoosac 7:30 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 16St. Joe @ Granby 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 17Hoosac @ PHS 7 p.m.Drury @ MG 7 p.m.Wahconah @ Taconic 7:30 p.m.MM @ Lenox 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 18St. Joe @ Lee 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 12Hoosac @ MM 7 p.m.MG @ Wahconah 7 p.m.Taconic @ Ludlow 7 p.m.Lenox @ Lee 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 13Miss Hall’s @ St. Joe 5 p.m.Taconic @ PHS 8:30 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 16Hoosac @ Taconic 7 p.m.PHS @ Lenox 7 p.m.Drury @ MG 7 p.m.Brattleboro @ Wahconah 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 17Lenox @ St. Mary’s 7 p.m.

Boys’ Basketball Girls’ Basketball

Mt. Greylock scores big win

over Lenox


Tyrell Thomas of Mt. Greylock drives to the lane for a lay-up over several Lenox defenders in the second half.


Billy Pulasky hits a three point shot en route to Mt. Grey-lock’s 77-68 win over Lenox.


LENOX – Mt. Greylock scored a string of big three pointers down the stretch to secure a 77-68 win over Lenox.

After a back and forth game ju-nior guard Hank Barrett hit a deep transition three pointer to put the Mounties up nine and in control of the game midway through the fourth.

Barrett led all scorers with 23, while Tyrell Thomas and Tyler Picard also had 18 points each for the Mounties.

Peter Vahle led the way for Lenox with 21, Chris Bravo add-ed 19 and point guard Seamus Ryan finished with 17 points for the Millionaires.

Lenox led the game early, but a string of turnovers by the Mil-

lionaires and big shots, and excel-lent free throw shooting from the Mounties gave Mt. Greylock the win.

Mt. Greylock shot an outstand-ing 21-23 from the charity stripe, including a 10-11 performance from Barrett.

The Millionaires made several runs the second half, but when-ever the game got tight the Mounties would find a big three pointer to open the game back up.

With the win Mt. Greylock im-proves to 7-1, while Lenox falls to 6-2 on the young season.

Lee 53, Monument 46

Lee came out strong to build a 12 point halftime lead and hung on to beat Monument Mountain by seven at home.

Jake LePrevost led the way for the Wildcats with 17 points.

Monument used a well poised offensive attack to work back into the game led by John Kinne's 11 points.

Lee keeps their hold on first place in the South Division and is now 7-1; Monument now holds a record of 3-5.

Drury 54, Taconic 53

In the nail-biter of the night, Robert Jutras hit two free throws for Drury with five seconds to play to secure the win.

Taconic clawed back into the game with a spirited comeback after trailing the Blue Devils by 16 at halftime.

Nolan Bird led Drury with 13 points, while Jutras finished with 10.

Shaquille Ardrey led the Braves with 15, Drew Scace had 13 and Matt Norman added 10 points.

Drury now sits at 4-4, while Taconic is now 1-7.

St. Joseph’s 67, Hoosac 48

St. Joseph’s used a well bal-anced attack to score the 19 point win.

Tank Roberson scored 14, La-vante Wiggins 13 and Mike Mc-Mahon 12 points to pace the Crusaders.

Trevor Alibozek led the Hurri-canes with 11 points.

Tuesday, January 10

Girls Basketball

Housatonic 47, Everett 45

Boys Basketball

Pittsfield 53, Wahconah 31St. Joe’s 67, Hoosac 48

McCann 54, Franklin 50Housatonic 60, Everett 34

Lee 53, Monument 46Greylock 77, Lenox 68Drury 54, Taconic 53

Wrestling

Greylock 57, Everett 15Taconic 47, Monument 36

Swimming

Wahconah boys 53, New Lebanon 38

St. Joseph's boys 59, Hoosac 20

Hoosac girls 68, St. Joseph's 26

Wahconah girls 49, New Lebanon 41

Monument boys 73, Taconic Hills 72

Monument girls 97, Taconic Hills 73

Monday, January 9

Girls Basketball

Lenox 53, Hoosac 27Taconic 52, Wahconah 48

Belchertown 49, McCann 30Pittsfield 43, Drury 42

Greylock 75, St. Joseph’s 40Lee 53, Monument 36

Swimming

Taconic boys 104, Mount Anthony 64

Mount Anthony 114, Taconic 56

Local Scores

Jan. 12th Berkshire Beacon

Documents

school page

school year

possible school closings

meetingsee fulbright

budget process

south county schools

south egremont

monterey schools