Vol. III No. 1 • Issue No. 51 Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts July 20–August 2, 2006 $1.00 PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID Permit #183 Turners Falls, MA SHELBURNE FALLS INDEPENDENT 8 Deerfield Ave., Shelburne Falls, MA 01370 www.sfindependent.net ——— Address service requested DATED MATERIAL — PLEASE DELIVER PROMPTLY A creative economy is the fuel of magnificence. —RALPH WALDO EMERSON www.sfindependent.net of the continued on page 3 continued on page 5 Lamson and Goodnow to sell historic factory complex Cutlery firm needs modern quarters, leaving old site available — possibly for retail, office, or living space By Jeff Potter jeff@sfindependent.net ——— SHELBURNE FALLS—In what company officials and its real estate agent have described as an ongoing process that will put their historic property to better use, Lamson and Goodnow Manu- facturing Co. has put its 15-acre Conway Street manufacturing facility up for sale. The company, which has craft- ed knives and other forged steel tools, utensils, instruments and artillery since the pre-Civil War era, has employed thousands of West County citizens in that location during the past 155 years. Lamson’s manufacturing will continue as usual, and Kurt Zanner, Lamson’s president and chief operating officer, assured employees that their jobs would be safe. Carol Bolduc of Coldwell Bank- er Upton-Massamont Realtors, the listing agent for the property, described the complex, with its maze of multi-story, intercon- nected buildings and elevated passageways, as “functionally ob- solete” for what Lamson needs. Bolduc said Lamson is seek- ing a buyer, or buyers, who can find new uses for the space that would be more appropriate than manufacturing and who can use and preserve the historic structures, some of which are languishing and in various states of disrepair. The property went on the mar- ket July 14 at an asking price of The Lamson and Goodnow complex from the roof of McCusker’s Market. At left is Lamson and Goodnow’s woodshop. The red building in the foreground is the company’s factory outlet store. Its metal press and laser building is at right. Two vacant storage buildings line up in succession next to the company’s manufacturing and assembly building, the first one built after the company’s move from Shelburne in 1850. By Laura Rodley laura@sfindependent.net ——— COLRAIN—Massachusetts has three 19 th -century covered wooden bridges: the Arthur A. Smith covered bridge in Colrain, the Burkeville covered bridge in Conway, and Gilbertville covered bridge in Ware. Until 1994, a fourth, the Old Sheffield cov- ered bridge, existed, but it was destroyed in an arson fire. The Arthur A. Smith covered bridge is the last surviving Burr arch truss covered bridge in Massachusetts. Built in 1870 by an unknown builder, the bridge is 99 feet long, with a span of 97 feet. The Burr arch is just that, an arch-shaped truss, or ceiling support. “The Burr arches design is used today,” said Basil Hoffman, a member of Colrain’s Bridge By Don Stewart don@sfindependent.net ——— CHARLEMONT—Tom Kuk- linski’s unique woodwork can be found in executive boardrooms on Fifth Avenue as well as in homes throughout the country. His exclusive heirloom series of colonial furniture is available at Historic Deerfield, Inc., while modern pieces can be viewed at upscale gallery showrooms. Kuklinski’s intricate approach to woodworking is not simply of museum quality. That’s where it can also be found. His ex- clusive series of Colonial fur- niture is available at Historic Deerfield Inc., and, by this fall, more modern pieces can be viewed at galleries as close as Buckland’s Salmon Falls Artisans Showroom. The Charlemont resident be- By Nate Walsh nate@sfindependent.net ——— SHELBURNE FALLS—Lo- cal residents Linda and Rob- ert Sidorsky are helping to bring the 7th Biennial World Flying Disc Federation World Junior Ultimate Champion- ships for Ultimate Frisbee to Massachusetts. The Ultimate Frisbee tourna- ment will draw the best teams of athletes under the age of Falls couple accomplish ‘the ultimate’ World Frisbee tournament will take place at Devens Charlemont woodworker releases ‘the soul of the tree’ Repairs near completion for Arthur Smith Bridge Historic covered ‘Burr arch’ bridge is the last of its kind in Massachusetts 19 from countries around the world. Twelve teams with players from 15 countries will come together in Devens, Mass. in tournament action to de- clare the best Ultimate Frisbee team in the world. The event will run from Sunday, August 13 through Friday, August 18. Countries expecting to enter teams include Great Britain, Finland, Sweden, Australia, Colombia, Israel, Canada and the United States. “I’m very excited,” said Shel- burne Falls resident Linda Sidorsky, the tournament direc- tor. “A tremendous amount of work went into it.” Sidorsky said she got the idea to bring the tournament to the area after her son, Misha, played for the U.S. Junior Ulti- mate Team when it went to the last championship tournament in Finland in 2004. While there, she was introduced to the head gan a career in the trades some 25 years ago as a house builder. In time a sideline of furniture repair wedged into more of his hours, providing a calling in the more sublime pursuit of restoration. Today, from a well equipped, brightly lit workshop at Char- lemont’s Hall Tavern Farm, Kuk- linski Woodworking produces furniture ranging from replica- tions of colonial-era ornamental boxes to 17-foot chestnut and pine conference tables that could probably support the weight of an elephant as well as the stresses of a corporate meltdown. The word-of-mouth demand for the skilled hands of this 48-year-old provides him with travel to worksites throughout the country. But for a career sea change, all of this may have never happened. Committee and a resident since 1942 “If you stop and look at any bridge, it is the same basic idea, [although] not made of wood. It was invented by someone named Burr. Sometime in the ’20s, the Burr arches were put in [the Arthur Smith Bridge.]” This was to make the bridge stronger to hold the weight of the apples being brought to the cider mill in Foundry Village, one of the villages of Colrain, and cider being shipped out. Produce and milk deliveries also traveled across the bridge, carried by local farmers. “A milk trolley used to pick up milk out on 112 from a platform,” said Hoffman. According to him, when the bridge was first built it was across the Fox Brook in Shat- tucksville. Then it was moved up to Lyonsville, and set across the continued on page 6 continued on page 10 Shelburne chief DeJackome resigns By Don Stewart don@sfindependent.net ——— SHELBURNE—Shelburne po- lice chief, Mark DeJackome, 52, has announced his resignation to the board of selectmen in order to take on full-time duties as assistant director of security at the Holyoke Mall. DeJackome’s resignation, effective Aug. 25, follows his resignation from an administrative post in the town of Charlemont in late April. “I haven’t put it in writing yet, but I’m retiring...It’s just time to move on,” DeJackome said during a phone interview on July 18. “I was going to retire at the age of 55, but this [job opening] came up real quick. It’s going to be dif- Mark DeJackome continued on page 5
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Vol. III No. 1 • Issue No. 51 Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts July 20–August 2, 2006 $1.00
PRSRT STDUS POSTAGE
PAIDPermit #183
Turners Falls, MA
SHELBURNE FALLS INDEPENDENT
8 Deerfi eld Ave., Shelburne Falls, MA 01370www.sfi ndependent.net———Address service requested
DAT E D M AT E R I A L — P L E A S E D E L I V E R P RO M P T LY
A creative economy is the fuel of magnificence.—RALPH WALDO EMERSON
www.sfi ndependent.net
of the
continued on page 3
continued on page 5
Lamson and Goodnowto sell historic factory complexCutlery firm needs modern quarters, leaving old site available — possibly for retail, office, or living space
By Jeff Potterjeff@sfi ndependent.net
——— SHELBURNE FALLS—In what company officials and its real estate agent have described as an ongoing process that will put their historic property to better use, Lamson and Goodnow Manu-facturing Co. has put its 15-acre Conway Street manufacturing facility up for sale. The company, which has craft-ed knives and other forged steel tools, utensils, instruments and artillery since the pre-Civil War era, has employed thousands of West County citizens in that location during the past 155 years. Lamson’s manufacturing will continue as usual, and Kurt Zanner, Lamson’s president and chief operating offi cer, assured employees that their jobs would be safe. Carol Bolduc of Coldwell Bank-er Upton-Massamont Realtors, the listing agent for the property, described the complex, with its maze of multi-story, intercon-nected buildings and elevated passageways, as “functionally ob-solete” for what Lamson needs. Bolduc said Lamson is seek-ing a buyer, or buyers, who can fi nd new uses for the space that would be more appropriate than manufacturing and who can use and preserve the historic structures, some of which are languishing and in various states of disrepair. The property went on the mar-ket July 14 at an asking price of The Lamson and Goodnow complex from the roof of McCusker’s Market. At left is Lamson and Goodnow’s
woodshop. The red building in the foreground is the company’s factory outlet store. Its metal press and laser building is at right.
Two vacant storage buildings line up in succession next to the company’s manufacturing and assembly building, the fi rst one built after the company’s move from Shelburne in 1850.
By Laura Rodleylaura@sfi ndependent.net
——— COLRAIN—Massachusetts has three 19th-century covered wooden bridges: the Arthur A. Smith covered bridge in Colrain, the Burkeville covered bridge in Conway, and Gilbertville covered bridge in Ware. Until 1994, a fourth, the Old Sheffield cov-ered bridge, existed, but it was destroyed in an arson fi re. The Arthur A. Smith covered bridge is the last surviving Burr arch truss covered bridge in Massachusetts. Built in 1870 by an unknown builder, the bridge is 99 feet long, with a span of 97 feet. The Burr arch is just that, an arch-shaped truss, or ceiling support. “The Burr arches design is used today,” said Basil Hoffman, a member of Colrain’s Bridge
By Don Stewartdon@sfi ndependent.net
——— CHARLEMONT—Tom Kuk-linski’s unique woodwork can be found in executive boardrooms on Fifth Avenue as well as in homes throughout the country. His exclusive heirloom series of colonial furniture is available at Historic Deerfield, Inc., while modern pieces can be viewed at upscale gallery showrooms. Kuklinski’s intricate approach to woodworking is not simply of museum quality. That’s where it can also be found. His ex-clusive series of Colonial fur-niture is available at Historic Deerfi eld Inc., and, by this fall, more modern pieces can be viewed at galleries as close as Buckland’s Salmon Falls Artisans Showroom. The Charlemont resident be-
By Nate Walshnate@sfi ndependent.net
——— SHELBURNE FALLS—Lo-cal residents Linda and Rob-ert Sidorsky are helping to bring the 7th Biennial World Flying Disc Federation World Junior Ultimate Champion-ships for Ultimate Frisbee to Massachusetts. The Ultimate Frisbee tourna-ment will draw the best teams of athletes under the age of
Falls couple accomplish ‘the ultimate’World Frisbee tournament will take place at Devens
Charlemont woodworker releases ‘the soul of the tree’
Repairs near completionfor Arthur Smith BridgeHistoric covered ‘Burr arch’ bridge is the last of its kind in Massachusetts
19 from countries around the world. Twelve teams with players from 15 countries will come together in Devens, Mass. in tournament action to de-clare the best Ultimate Frisbee team in the world. The event will run from Sunday, August 13 through Friday, August 18. Countries expecting to enter teams include Great Britain, Finland, Sweden, Australia, Colombia, Israel, Canada and the United States.
“I’m very excited,” said Shel-burne Falls resident Linda Sidorsky, the tournament direc-tor. “A tremendous amount of work went into it.” Sidorsky said she got the idea to bring the tournament to the area after her son, Misha, played for the U.S. Junior Ulti-mate Team when it went to the last championship tournament in Finland in 2004. While there, she was introduced to the head
gan a career in the trades some 25 years ago as a house builder. In time a sideline of furniture repair wedged into more of his hours, providing a calling in the more sublime pursuit of restoration. Today, from a well equipped, brightly lit workshop at Char-lemont’s Hall Tavern Farm, Kuk-linski Woodworking produces furniture ranging from replica-tions of colonial-era ornamental boxes to 17-foot chestnut and pine conference tables that could probably support the weight of an elephant as well as the stresses of a corporate meltdown. The word-of-mouth demand for the skilled hands of this 48-year-old provides him with travel to worksites throughout the country. But for a career sea change, all of this may have never happened.
Committee and a resident since 1942 “If you stop and look at any bridge, it is the same basic idea, [although] not made of wood. It was invented by someone named Burr. Sometime in the ’20s, the Burr arches were put in [the Arthur Smith Bridge.]” This was to make the bridge stronger to hold the weight of the apples being brought to the cider mill in Foundry Village, one of the villages of Colrain, and cider being shipped out. Produce and milk deliveries also traveled across the bridge, carried by local farmers. “A milk trolley used to pick up milk out on 112 from a platform,” said Hoffman. According to him, when the bridge was fi rst built it was across the Fox Brook in Shat-tucksville. Then it was moved up to Lyonsville, and set across the
continued on page 6
continued on page 10
Shelburne chiefDeJackome resigns
By Don Stewartdon@sfi ndependent.net
——— SHELBURNE—Shelburne po-lice chief, Mark DeJackome, 52, has announced his resignation to the board of selectmen in order to take on full-time duties as assistant director of security at the Holyoke Mall. DeJackome’s resignation, effective Aug. 25, follows his resignation from an administrative post in the town of Charlemont in late April. “I haven’t put it in writing yet, but I’m retiring...It’s just time to move on,” DeJackome said during a phone interview on July 18. “I was going to retire at the age of 55, but this [job opening] came up real quick. It’s going to be dif- Mark DeJackome
continued on page 5
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If you purchased this newspa-per and wish to access our new Web site (available by the morn-ing of Thursday, July 6), use this code:e-mail: user51@sfi ndependent.netpassword: forgedsteel If you buy the paper at a store, look here each week for this code so you can enjoy the addi-tional material we’re presenting online. If you’re a subscriber who would like to access the news-paper online, e-mail a request to circulation@sfi ndependent.net, and we will enable your account promptly.
Caution in hot weatherr ASHFIELD—With extremely hot weather predicted over the summer months, the Ashfi eld Of-fi ce of Emergency Management is advising residents to be cautious in the expected extreme heat and is offering some tips to help keep cool and safe. “There are measures that can be taken to reduce heat-related problems, especially for the el-derly, the very young and people with respiratory problems, who are more susceptible to the ef-fects of high temperatures and humidity,” said Ashfi eld Emer-gency Management Director Steve Girard. Residents with questions or comments about heat-related problems may call the offi ce at (413) 628-4441 for further assistance. Beating the heat safety tips are:• Slow down, avoid strenuous activity. Don’t try to do too much on hot days.• Wear lightweight, loose-fit-ting, light-colored clothing that refl ects heat and sun.• Protect your face with a wide-brimmed hat.• Drink plenty of water often.• Limit intake of alcoholic beverages.• Eat well-balanced, light, regu-lar meals.• Stay indoors as much as possible.• Use sunscreen lotion with a high SPF (Sun Protection Factor).• Plan daily events that include air-conditioning, swimming and resting in shady areas if possible.• Never leave children or pets alone in a closed vehicle.• Check on family, friends and neighbors more frequently dur-ing extreme heat.
By Laura Rodleylaura@sfi ndependent.net
——— BUCKLAND—Jeff and Mary Johansmeyer have been running the Mohawk Summer Recreation Program at the Buckland Recre-ation Area for 10 years. “It’s sponsored by the PTO,” said Jeff Johansmeyer. “It’s a nonprofi t sort of thing, we just cover our costs.” This year the camp runs from July 3 to August 11. “Something we do different from other camps is we have kids for one week, or Tuesday and Thursday, whatever their parent needs,” he said. “That’s why we have daily rates.” The rates are $25/day for regu-lar campers. Junior staff mem-bers pay $10/day for the 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. day camp. “We offer pre- and closed-camp staff supervision,” said Johans-meyer, meaning that parents can drop children off with supervi-sion before or after regular camp hours if necessary. “Regular campers are from grades one through 5. Once they graduate 6th grade, the regular campers can become junior staff,” Johansmeyer said. “We are training the staff of kids who may want to become counselors when they become 16. They rotate in
Summer fun at the Rec celebrates 10 yearsthree jobs.” Those jobs include projects on park sites, such as cleaning winter debris and raking grass, or projects for the school district, such as collating binders for in-coming teachers at the Mohawk Trail Regional School District administration building. Junior counselors also serve as role models to the younger campers, which number 50-60 daily to a staff of 14. Staff includes local high school and college students, the Johansmeyers and a camp nurse. Sue Mitchell, the Colrain Cen-tral School’s nurse, and Tim Willis fi ll the camp nurse position on alternating days. “We follow state Department of Public Health guidelines,” Johansmeyer said. “We are in-spected annually.” The camp has a ratio of 1 staff to 5 kindergarten-age camp-ers and 1 to 10 ratio for older campers. Campers participate in arts and crafts, swimming and group age-appropriate games. On rainy days they work on puzzles and play other games. “We have a science teacher/nature teacher on a 21st Century grant,” said Johansmeyer, adding that the camp works with the Buckland Recreation facility to offer swimming lessons. “I love working here,” said counselor Holly Braziel. “It’s my fi rst year. I came to camp here when I was in kindergarten and fi rst grade.” “It’s good,” said camper Emily Giguere. “I think it’s educational,” added camper Lucas Obert. Swimming passes at the Buck-land Recreation Area pool are $3/weekdays and $5/weekends. The pool is open from 12-8 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. on weekends. A day pass of $10 for a family of five or more is also available.
For more information call the Johansmeyers at the Mohawk Summer Recreation Program at (413) 625-9555. The Buckland Recreation Area can also be reached at that number.
Mohawk central offi ceto move to middle school BUCKLAND—The Mohawk Trail Regional School District’s central office is scheduled to move from its present location to the new location in the middle school at Mohawk on July 27 and July 28. To facilitate the move the of-fi ce will be closed on these two days. Telephones will not be opera-tional for a time during the move. School offi cials apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and say that they look forward to serving the district from the new location starting July 31. Telephone numbers and the of-fi ce mailing address will remain the same.
FMC offers cholesterol screenings GREENFIELD—Franklin Medical Center will hold a car-diac-risk cholesterol screening on Wednesday, Aug. 9, from 8:30- 10 a.m. in Conference Room A. Participants must fast for 12 hours prior to being screened. Test results will be forwarded to participants and their primary care providers. The cost is for the screening is $7; pre-registration is required. To register, please call the Professionals at 413-773-8557 or 1-800-377-HEALTH.
COLRAIN—The Friends of the Griswold Memorial Library are celebrating the group’s fi rst an-niversary and members want to say “thank you, thank you, thank you” to Colrain and the surround-ing community with a gala party at the library on Wednesday, Aug. 2 from 4-7 p.m. Iced tea, lemonade, West Coun-ty Cider, Bart’s and Snow’s ice cream and other delicious treats
Hawley sets special town meeting HAWLEY—Voters are asked to attend a special town meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 1 at 7:30 p.m. in town offi ce to vote on whether or not to buy a grader for the highway department. Administrative Assistant Vir-ginia Gabert notes that this will be a “signifi cant” expense for the town, and may require a future ballot box debt exclusion vote, thus adding the expense to the tax rate only for the duration of the loan to buy the equipment. The town clerk will be avail-able to register those wishing to vote at this meeting on Wednes-day, July 19 from 2-5 p.m. and 7-8 p.m.
Possible openingat preschool SHELBURNE—School offi cials say that the Buckland-Shelburne Elementary Preschool might have an opening for children from the towns of Buckland, Shelburne, Heath and Colrain. Applications will be accepted for children who are not already in a public or private program. Children must be three years of age by Aug. 31. The BSE Pre-school is a full-day, public school program located at the elemen-tary school. Interested families should mail a letter of interest to Karen Eldred, BSE Preschool, 75 Mechanic Street, Shelburne Falls, MA 01370. Letters will be accepted until Aug. 11.
Mohawk budget group will meet July 24 BUCKLAND—The Mohawk Trail Regional School District’s Budget Subcommittee will meet Monday, July 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the central offi ce’s back confer-ence room.
Mohawk strategic planning panel to meet B U C K L A N D — Th e n e x t meeting of the Strategic Plan-ning Committee will be held on Wednesday, July 26 in the Mohawk Trail Regional High School. The proposed agenda includes an open session from 7-8 p.m. of strategy brainstorming led by a facilitator and from 8-8:30 p.m., the full committee will prioritize the list and charge subcommittees. Chairpersons include Jon Wyman, education; Dave Pur-ington, budget; Bob Aeschback, transportation and Pam Porter, building use.
Liz Prasol fi lls in as swimming teacher for the Buckland Recreation Area Pool. She is teaching Riley Duprey.
Library gala duewill be served. The Coleraine Cloggers will perform and Joe Kurland and Peggy Davis will play Yiddish folk music. The party, with prizes for children, is free and open to the public, rain or shine. The group is looking for volunteers to help make iced tea, lemonade and baked goods ahead of time, for ice cream servers at the party and for help setting up chairs and tents and breaking it down before and after the gala. Volunteer party hosts to be present in shifts of any time from 4-7 p.m. are also welcome. To volunteer call Ju-dith Roberts at (413) 624-5534.
Calling all cooks HAWLEY—The deadline for entering the Pudding Hollow Pudding Contest is Tuesday, Aug. 1. This fundraiser for the Sons & Daughters of Hawley building project features fabulous prizes, a good cause and lots of fun. All original recipes for dishes called “pudding” are eligible, and the $10 entry fee is tax de-ductible. If you have questions, please call Tinky at (413) 339-4747 or e-mail [email protected]. For a list for prizes to date, an entry form and offi cial contact rules, please visit the contest Web page at www.merrylion.com/mas-ter/events/events.html.
Shelburne Falls Independent • July 20–August 2, 2006 • www.sfi ndependent.net • page 3
Home to the FALL RUN, the annual September motorcycle ride fundraiser for the Shriner’s Hospital
Mohawk ParkRestaurant
Route 2, Charlemont • 339-4470
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Friday, July 21 5 p.m. Fairgrounds Open – Food, Crafts, Vendors Open
RIDES BY BOWDOIN AMUSEMENTSROSIE’S RACING PIGS (check board for times)
Music & Dancing – “SIERRA PEARL”
5:30 p.m. Women’s Club Ham & Bean Supper
6:30 p.m. Cruise Night – Classic Car Exhibition
7 p.m. Music & Dancing till 9:30 p.m.- “SHAKIN’ ALL OVER’Square and Round Dancing till closingin the Exhibition Hall with music by The Country Friendship Band and caller Bob Livingston
8:30 p.m. Cruise Lap (rain date 7-22)
10 p.m. SPECTACULAR FIREWORKS Air and Ground Shaking Displays by Skyfi re Productions. Pre-show rides in Monster Truck BIG DADDY By Skyfi re Productions & Dillon Chevrolet of Greenfi eld (rain date 7-22)
11 p.m. Fairgrounds Close
Saturday, July 22 8 a.m. Fairgrounds Open
10 a.m. Food, Crafts, Vendors Open Petting Zoo (Crimson Acres)Show Rabbits (Shirley Tombs)Lupa Zoo - Educational Shows“Windows to Our Past” Vendors / Exhibition HallNative American Storytelling & ExhibitROSIE’S RACING PIGS (check board for times)
PoppyTown Puppets & Music (check board for times)
11 a.m. RIDES BY BOWDOIN AMUSEMENTSVic and Sticks (Vaudeville Musical Storytelling) OX DRAW Cross Cut Saw Demo + Portable Saw Mill (All Afternoon) Yankee Doodle Day Stamp Cancellation
12:30 p.m. T-Bone (sponsored in part by the Local Cultural Council)
2 p.m. Vic and Sticks (Vaudeville Musical Storytelling)
2:30 p.m. Sawdust Pit with Prizes (children)
3 p.m. Coleraine City CloggersPotato Sack Races, Kid’s Games with Prizes
4 p.m. The Famous Chicken Bar-B-Que
by the Readsboro Lions Club
5 p.m. T-Bone (sponsored in part by the Local Cultural Council) DEMOLITION DERBY - by Skyfi re Productions
8 p.m. Music & Dancing till 10 p.m. COTTONWOOD BAND
11 p.m. Fairgrounds Close
Sunday, July 23 8 a.m. Fairgrounds Open
9 a.m. Pancake Breakfast by the Charlemont Inn
9:30 a.m. Church Service
10 a.m. Food, Crafts, Vendors Open
HORSE DRAWGYMKHANA
“Windows to Our Past” Vendors / Exhibition HallOlde Fashion “Quilting Bee” / Exhibition HallBasil Dorsey’s Underground Railroad QuiltTaylor’s Fort Excavation Exhibit / Exhibition Hall
ROSIE’S RACING PIGS (check board for times)PoppyTown Puppets & Music (check board for times)Petting Zoo (Crimson Acres)Lupa Zoo – Educational ShowsColeraine City Cloggers
11 a.m. T-Bone (sponsored in part by the Local Cultural Council)
12 p.m. RIDES BY BOWDOIN AMUSEMENTS PARADE “WINDOWS TO OUR PAST”
begins at West end of Charlemont
1 p.m. Parade arrives at FairgroundsCross Cut Saw Demo Portable Saw Mill (All afternoon)The Famous Chicken Bar-B-QueBy the Readsboro Lions Club
1:30p.m. T-Bone (sponsored in part by the Local Cultural Council)
2 p.m. TOURNAMENT OF TRILLS
2:30 p.m. Doc Streeter Award (Charlemont Lions Club)
3 p.m. ZOE DARROW AND THE FIDDLEHEADS
4 p.m. Yankee Doodle Days Raffl e: 10th Revival Quilt, Berkshire East Season Ski Pass
5 p.m. FAIR CLOSES / Thank You for Attending!
Admission Prices13 & older, $7 • Children 4-12, $3Children 3 & under, freeAll Entertainment included with Fair Admission • Program Subject to Change and or Revision Without Notice / Rain or Shine Event • No Alco-holic Beverages Allowed On The Fairgrounds Please: No Bikes • No Pets (with the exception of Guide Dogs) • No Refunds
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Tuesday andThursday evenings 5-6:15 p.m. Sept. 7 - Dec. 19
IDST 320, InterpretationSaturday 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. Sept. 9 - Dec. 16
of the World Flying Disc Federa-tion who suggested that she put in a bid for the United States to host the next tournament. She helped form the New England Ultimate Alliance to put together the necessary proposals, which included everything that goes into hosting a world champion-ship tournament—from equip-ment and playing fi elds to hotel accommodations and meals. Her husband, Robert, has also been active in the endeavor. He is the co-founder of the New England Prep School Ultimate League and was a teacher and coach at Northfi eld Mount Her-mon School, in Northfield for seven years. Tina Booth, founder of the Amherst Regional High School team, National Ultimate Training Camp and the coach for the U.S. open junior team, and Jim Pistrang, coach of the Amherst Middle School team, and many other New England Ultimate Frisbee enthusiasts have also been helping. The cost to get the teams into the competition is expensive, but Sidorsky said that fundraising efforts have been taking place to help bring teams in from countries where funds are hard to come by. She said that they have been trying to obtain grants and working with team leaders in four countries, and it looks as if two of those teams will be able to make it to the tournament. “To see these kids get here will be very exciting,” said Sidorsky. “When it comes to the culmina-tion and I actually see them out on the fi eld, it will feel great. It will all have been worth it.” The nature of the tournament stresses fair play and respect, as Ultimate Frisbee games are self-offi ciating. The cultural nature of a world championship will be highlighted as players from dif-ferent teams eat together, live together and share their heritage when teams make short presenta-tions each night. According to the WJUC Web site, the international junior com-petition has been taking place in Europe since 1983. Starting in 1984 tournaments were held every other year. The fi rst junior team from the United States entered the competition in 1988 and the fi rst junior tournament held in the country was in Blaine, Minn., in 1998. Sidorsky said that the tryouts to make the team are diffi cult. Two take place here in the U.S.—one in the east and one in the west—which then allow a player to try out for the team going to the tournament. She said that six players from Amherst have made it to the team. Massachusetts has a strong history with the sport of Ultimate Frisbee, as one of the sport’s founders, film producer Joel Silver learned a way of playing frisbee from Amherst College stu-
Frisbee _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _from front page
Firefi ghters’ barbecue tickets on sale PLAINFIELD—The Plainfi eld Volunteer Firefi ghter’s Associa-tion will hold its annual chicken barbecue on Sunday, Sept. 3. Tickets are now on sale from any fi refi ghter or emergency medical technician. Advance purchase is recommended as just 600 meals will be served. As in the past, the meal will include half a barbecued chicken, Plainfi eld-grown baked potato, local corn on the cob, homemade cole slaw, Hebert’s dinner roll, watermelon and a beverage. Tickets are $7/person; $5.50 for children under 12. The annual fi refi ghters’ barbe-cue is Plainfi eld’s largest annual event and includes many other activities besides food—includ-ing the annual library book sale, Sanderson Academy PTO bake sale, Artsfeast (a gathering of local arts and crafts), the annual fi refi ghter’s silent auction, games for kids including basketball and the annual rope tug at the end of the barbecue. Firefighter’s apparatus and equipment will be on display. For more information call Fire Chief David Alvord at (413) 634-5470.
dent Jared Kass while attending a summer session at Northfi eld Mount Hermon in 1968. When Silver got back home to Maplewood, N.J., he developed the game he picked up into the sport now simply known as “Ultimate.” Some people have dropped the word “Frisbee” from the title as it is a trademarked term for the disc made by the Wham-O company and not all players use their disc. Kass has been invited to speak at this year’s junior tournament. The sport is played on a rect-angular fi eld 70 yards long and 40 yards wide. The end zones are 25 yards deep. Seven players from each team line up on their own end zone line and the team on defense throws or “pulls” the disc to the other team. Players pass the disc to their teammates to move it down the fi eld, as you are not allowed to run when you have the disc. A point is scored when a player makes a catch in the other team’s end zone. When a pass is not completed or dropped, the other team takes control of the disc. There is no contact and players call their own fouls and line calls and settle their own disputes, as according to the WJUC Web site, respect is held in a higher regard than competition. For more information visit the tournament’s Web site at www.wjuc2006.org.
413-743-5430 413-743-7110www.potterhomebuilders.com
INDEPENDENT THINKING
Editorials • CommentaryLetters to the Editor
page 4 • Shelburne Falls Independent • July 20–August 2, 2006 • www.sfi ndependent.net
Shelburne Falls Independent8 Deerfi eld Ave., Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
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Shelburne Falls Independent is published every other week on Thursdays by Dialogos Media, Inc. Annual subscription rate: $20 per year. Diverse viewpoints are presented in our Independent Thinking section — viewpoints that might not represent the views of this newspaper, its editors, its contributors, or its advertisers. Package, presentation, and most news content © 2006 Dialogos Media, Inc.; some material may be owned by individual contributors. Reproduction of material in this newspaper is prohibited without permission of the publishers.
HEATH
IN EARLY JULY I traveled to Tunisia in North Africa, where I stayed for six days
and gave a presentation at a conference, “New Directions in the Humanities,” at a univer-sity in Carthage. It was an occa-sion for me to meet and confer with scholars and teachers from North and South Africa, numer-ous countries in Asia, South America, the Middle East, Aus-tralia, New Zealand, Europe, and Russia. My paper, “Indigenous Voices and Sacred Spaces,” was about the two courses that I have de-veloped and led on the Lakota and the Eastern Pueblos. I was particularly pleased by the response of indigenous thinkers from Hawaii and Australia who came forward after my talk and said, “Yes, this is the way we would like to have our cultures studied, our people met, and our places respected.” I was of-fered invitations to visit them, and indeed I hope that they reciprocate and come to visit in Heath and at the University of Hartford. Equally rich and compelling were the conversations with philosophers and poets from Iran, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Palestine. I had read some of their work, and some of them had read mine. They, as I, have been struggling to articulate a renewed post-colonial humanism free from Eurocentric assumptions and paradigms. For years I felt like I was wandering alone in a postmod-ern desert, a wasteland of nihil-ism that Nietzsche had predict-ed where fascism and genocide became as morally and politi-cally acceptable as the pursuit of justice or the search for com-mon human responsibilities. I then discovered postcolonial
thinkers from India, the Carib-bean, and Africa. They too were concerned with the lack of eth-ics and with the amoral politics explicit in or clearly implied in much of Postmodern discourse. I am excited to meet my Middle Eastern colleagues who are interested in a renewed and transformed humanism. We are searching for commonalities to the human condition that can be focal points for discus-sion, collective hope, and for social and political action. We have strong beginnings in the United Nations Declarations on Human Rights and the Asian version of this covenant, called the Bangkok Accords. Asian nations and cultures place more emphasis on the rights of community, whereas western legal principles are largely based on the rights of individuals. I do not think that these traditions are ultimately incompatible. If we function with a genuine respect for dif-ference, we can draw on the best of both of these cultural, moral, and political values.
WORKING WITH my Middle East-ern friends I am reminded of an Islamic teacher in the Emir-ates. A number of terrorists had been caught by their govern-ment and were imprisoned. Getting permission from the government, the teacher asked the prisoners if they would like to form a study group. The rules proposed by the Mullah were that through studying the Koran together and discussing it, if they could convince him that violence of the form they were engaged in was justifi ed, he would join them. If on the other hand they were convinced that Islam did not advocate terrorism, they would sign a document and foreswear violence of the
form in which they had been involved. For three months they spent six days a week reading and talking with each other. After these lengthy discussions the former terrorists signed a docu-ment committing them to a different path. Many Muslim people have been misled by Mullahs into a false jihad. This is not much different from what many of us were taught about the Crusades or the Crusades themselves. What were we being taught through singing “Onward Christian Soldiers Marching off to War?” Too frequently we, as Americans and Europeans have believed that God was and is on our side. It happened in our own history so many times. One of these occasions was the con-quering and forced Christian-izing of Native Americans and the destruction of their lan-guages, religions, and cultures.
MANY MUSLIM PEOPLE believe that the West and the U.S. in particular are trying to destroy Islam. They react to the infl ux of western popular culture by becoming more rigidly conser-vative. This is not unlike the puritanical intolerance of the religious right preaching hatred and contending that the only moral persons in the world are Christians. Mark Twain con-tended in a number of ways and through many novels and characters that when you are self-righteous and certain, it is diffi cult to be thoughtful and kind. By doing so one also loses sight of our common humanity. This disease appears in all of our cultures, much of our politics and religions, and too frequently in our philosophies. Individuals and movements that promote and celebrate the absolute truth are very danger-
ous. They know for certain who should live and who should die and who deserves our tolerance and respect. If my newfound friends and I can continue to meet in humil-ity, courage, and resoluteness perhaps we can make a small contribution to the positive relationships between nations and cultures. There will be no easy answers. Genuine thinking, as is the case with creative politics, is complex, tedious, and often riddled with fi ts and starts. War is at times tragically necessary, but these occasions are indeed rare. Strength does not come from intimidation. Voltaire said, “Make sure your enemy is not totally hu-miliated.” If so, he will always remain a threat. Genuine power comes from values that respect and celebrate all of humanity. With genuine respect for di-versity, thriving on constructive disagreement, and working to-wards sustainable consensus, a better path or a better confi gu-ration of paths may emerge. If we continue with the rituals of hatred, vilifi cation, and revenge in which our governments and many of our people are current-ly engaged, no one will win. A genuine peace has no victors. 4
Bernard den Ouden is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hartford. He is the author of Language and Creativity, Reason Will Creativity and Time, The Fu-sion of Naturalism and Human-ism and Are Freedom and Dig-nity Possible? He has given guest lectures in over fi fteen countries. He has served as a consultant on anti-poverty projects in Egypt, India, Bangladesh, Guatemala, Mexico, and Pine Ridge Reserva-tion. He spends and much of his year in Heath as he can.
E S SAY ■ By B.J. Roche
My chickens, myself?
ROWE
WHERE’D YOU GO — out for a walk?” my husband asked
as I stepped into the kitchen just after dark recently. “No, I was just out with the birds,” I said. He shot me a look, and I had to take stock of who I was and where our relationship was heading. As we embarked upon our third year raising a small backyard fl ock of chickens, what began as an exercise in “Green Acres” chic has given way to a concern:
Have I become a woman who loves her chickens too much? Over the summer I had gotten got into the habit of pouring myself a vodka and tonic, going out to the yard, and sitting in a plastic chair next to the coop while our small collec-tion of chickens settled in for the evening. Sometimes I’d read the paper, but mostly I’d watch. I loved to observe, as the younger fl ock of Wyandottes and Araucanas jockeyed for the best position on the outdoor roost. The way the older hens would always take the same spot on the right side of the coop and peck at each other as they scootched their way into a sleeping position. Sunshine, the hulking Buff Orpington rooster, would strut back and forth, choose his spot from below, then hop up onto the roost and nestle in between the ladies, two on one side, one on the other, like Hugh Hefner club-sandwiched into a set of bodacious triplets. Wanderer, the black and white Barred Rock hen, is al-ways the fi rst to doze off, crook-ing her neck down into her torso, her heavy eyelids lazing shut while the younger birds are still trawling the food bin.
What is best about a chicken at rest is the sound--so soothing it should be bottled: old hens drifting off to sleep emit a low-level purr, like Marge Simpson on Xanax.
WHEN WE FIRST GOT our chick-ens a few years ago, we never expected that they would re-place the television set. Or the dog. Or the therapist. If this makes me a kook, I take solace from the fact that I’m in good company. It’s always a pleasure to meet a chicken person, and there are hundreds of them, all over New England, rais-ing small backyard fl ocks of a dozen, maybe more, chickens. It’s not always a copasetic situation; the village of West Stockbridge was roiled a while back over the issue of whether a woman could keep chickens -- more specifi cally, a rooster -- in densely populated neighborhoods. And those who don’t raise chickens often live vicari-ously through those who do. Carpenter Tony Cordray says the webcam he put up in his chicken yard in West Tisbury on Martha’s Vineyard has drawn about 70,000 hits since he went online on April 1, 2001. “They’re fun to watch,” he says. “The majority of the people are in offi ces and like to watch while they’re working. They fi nd it relaxing.” One particular fan club de-veloped at the corporate offi ces of Dunkin’ Donuts, Cordray says. “The whole offi ce began to watch. They sent me e-mails and free coffee. It sounded like they had the thing up on a big screen in the offi ce.”
New York Times readers are familiar with Bill Grimes’s MyFine Feathered Friend, his book about the chicken who showed
up one day in his Queens backyard. Grimes’s work is but one piece of a growing body of chicken lit. In his book, Living With Chickens, Vershire, Vt. author Jay Rossier writes almost as much about the metaphysi-cal value of chicken owner-ship as he does nuts-and-bolts information. British author Martin Gur-don, in his droll poultry-mem-oir, Hen and the Art of Chicken Maintenance: Refl ections on Raising Chickens, sums things up nicely: “Having a few hens
at the bottom of the garden was supposed to be a bit of fun, a mild distraction, but it was fast becoming a life-changing experience.” Indeed, few things are more amusing than watching a chicken eat a strand of leftover spaghetti cadged from the compost pile. I love to watch them take their dust baths in the loose dirt under the shed, scratch through the leaves in the woods, squabble over nothing. The birds are good company when I’m gardening, following around as I loosen the dirt, nipping the Japanese beetles I cull off the roses right out of my hand.
OF COURSE, LIFE WITH CHICKENS is not all custards and me-ringues, particularly around the yard. Chickens are diggers, and they’ll leave their holes where you least expect them. To a chicken, a fence is not a boundary; it’s more of an idea, a mere suggestion that may be taken or left alone. If they’re inside, they want out. If they’re out -- well, you get the picture. But the rewards outweigh the costs. Our efforts to round them up into the coop every evening inspired money-making idea: a video game with chickens. (Memo to Sega: Call me!) And when my neighbor needed three tail feathers from the tail of a live rooster for a feng-shui ceremony to get rid of her migraines, you know who she called. Tony Cordray says he’s seen an uptick in links from Arab websites -- he doesn’t know who they are, because he can’t read their names. But when he deco-rated the site for Christmas, he kept it non-denominational, out of respect for his birds’ fans in the Middle East. Okay, maybe I am overly obsessed with my birds. But if chickens can help connect us to Internet users in the Arab world, why not here at home? This winter we’ll be sitting in Blue-State Massachusetts, thumbing through the Murray McMurray Hatchery catalogue in Red-State Iowa, trying to decide: more Araucanas and Wyandottes or Mottled Hou-dans? Buff Brahmas or Black Langshans? Politics and borders may separate us, but chickens can bring us together. Even if they don’t, as Woody Allen might say, we all need the eggs. 4
When not watching her chickens, B.J. Roche works as a freelance journalist and lecturer in the journalism department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She can be found on the Web at www.bjroche.com.
Or, can a woman love her chickens too much?
VIEWPOINT ■ By Bernard den Ouden
Finding a cultural common groundAmid different cultures, politics, religions, there’s some potential for unity
NORTH ADAMS
THE TROY and Greenfield Railroad, from Green-field to the Hoosac
Tunnel, is owned by the Com-monwealth of Massachusetts, but is leased and operated by the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad Company. The airy and pleasant cars of this company take us on board at the Green-field station, and we are soon passing over the high bridge across Green River, and steam-ing swiftly along the table-land that overlooks the Deerfield Val-ley. West Deerfield is the name of the station at Stillwater; and just before reaching it we look far away across the meadows upon two peaks in the southern horizon which must be Tom and Holyoke. The gorge from which the Deerfield River emerges, and into which we enter at this point, is the wildest and most beautiful spot we have yet found in our railroading. The traveler must not be looking in his book; he must be looking out of the window. Shelburne Falls is a thriving town twelve miles from Greenfi eld. The cataract in the Deerfi eld at this point is a beautiful one, though the glimpse of it that we get from the cars is hardly satisfactory. Here is another mammoth cutlery establishment, next to the Russell Works at Greenfi eld in size and importance. Messrs. Lamson and Goodnow are the proprietors. The excellent water-power afforded by these falls is turned to good account in manufacturing. Here resided, until his death within the past year, Mr. Linus Yale, Jr., whose father picked the locks of Hobbes, the Englishman, so cleverly, and who himself made a lock that the Englishman could not pick. The Yale locks, known everywhere, are made here. The village of Shelburne Falls puts in a fi ne appearance, scattered along the narrow valley, and upon the adjacent hill-sides. Two churches confronting each other on one of the streets made us think of Dr. Holmes, who, you know, was always reminded, when he saw two churches situated in this manner, of a pair of belligerent roosters, with tails erect and crests ruffl ed, eyeing each other at close quarters. These two churches, it is pleasant to know, are not in a state of war, nor even in a condition of armed neutrality, though their edifi ces may be in a threatening attitude. Beyond Shelburne Falls is Buckland, a small station where travelers will be amused to see
HISTORICAL ESSAY ■ By Washington Gladden
The view from the traina sort of telegraphic contrivance for carrying the mail across the river. It is a good illustration of Yankee ingenuity. Part of the territory of Buckland was formerly called "No Town." To this unpretending old town, the thoughts of many will make pilgrimages, though their eyes may never see the glory of its wooded hills. It was the birthplace of Mary Lyon. Here the valley of the Deerfi eld, which for much of the distance since we left Stillwater has been only a gorge, grows a little wider, and there are good farms, with excellent orchards, on both sides of the river. Without doubt, this valley, in which part of Buckland and nearly the whole of Charlemont lie, was once a lake. But though the hills recede from the river they do not lose their attractiveness. Their symmetrical outlines present to us a constant and charming variety of graceful and beautiful forms. This river, whose banks we follow, now lying placidly in the midst of green meadows, or winding through willow thickets; now rippling with a musical delight, which we can feel if we cannot hear it, over broad and shallow places; now refl ecting in its smooth pure waters, long reaches of shingly shores or islands; now plunging madly down tortuous rapids this matchless Deerfi eld River is to every traveler who follows its course a ceaseless fascination, a perpetual delight. 4
Washington Gladden (1836-1918), a Congregational church pastor, prolifi c writer, and news-paper editor, was a leader of the Social Gospel and Progressive movements, and spent his early career in North Adams. This text was taken from his 1869 book From the Hub to the Hudson.
L E T T E R
Local gemTo the Editor of the Independent:
The Shadow Box, playing again Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Memorial Hall in Shelburne Falls, is a treasure beyond treasures. We’re so richly blessed that after a long absense, West County Players director Rachel Popow-ich and cast and crew are in the limelight again. This play some-how becomes rich tapestry and vibrant chorus of interweaving themes and deep lessons that tug on your heartstrings again and again. Treat yourself!
MIYACA DAWN COYOTE
Buckland, July 18
MA Certified ArboristMA Certified Horticulturist
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Hilltown Tree & Garden
413-625-6463 cell 413-834-1671residence 413-625-6387
• Mini hydraulic excavators • Multi-terrain loaders • Genie boom lifts• Challenger tractor backhoes • Skid steer loaders • Telehandlers
Many attachments available • Hydraulic hose repairs
S H E L B U R N E F A L L S
The locally owned
drugstore where life is
simpler, they know you
by name, and there’s
still a soda fountain
5 2 B r i d g e St . , S h e l b u r n e Fa l l s • ( 4 1 3 ) 6 2 5 - 6 3 2 4
The
BAKERPharmacy
Mondays–Fridays 8:30 a.m.–8 p.m.Saturdays 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.Closed Sundays
3 State St., Shelburne Falls • www.mccuskersmarket.com
Saunter the Riverwalk andthe Bridges of Shelburne Fallswith a local Bart’s ice cream cone right after a wonderful deli dinner
7 a.m. - 9 p.m. 7 days a week
Shelburne Falls Independent • July 20–August 2, 2006 • www.sfi ndependent.net • page 5
$1.9 million. The complex is val-ued around $1 million, Buckland Town Administrator Robert Dean said. Companies like Lamson once needed to be near a river to sup-ply power for electricity and they needed to be near population centers so workers could walk to their jobs. Now, in a 180-degree twist, those same companies (if they are still in business) often fi nd conditions too close for com-fort on residential, commercial and environmental fronts. Lamson’s owner, J. Ross Ander-son, and his corporate officers have long discussed the need and vision for a modern, single-fl oor manufacturing plant. Zanner said, however, that no plans are in the offi ng to build such a facility in town or elsewhere, and that the company’s strategy would depend on various aspects of the sale of the complex. Zanner said one of Lamson’s options is to expand its facility at the Industrial Park in Green-fi eld, where the fi rm’s shipping and receiving operations have been located for three years. The company’s offi cial corporate headquarters moved there from Buckland in the fall of 2005. In another place and time, Lamson might have built a new, 30,000-square-foot facility be-tween the current complex and the Deerfield River and find new uses for the old buildings, a scenario proposed in 1999 by a consulting architectural fi rm from Cambridge. The question, Bolduc said, is whether putting a new factory next to a river in 2006 would be “doing the land justice.” “It’s not the highest and best use of the property,” Bolduc said. “To Ross’s credit, he has an af-fi nity for the buildings and the site.”
Rethinking and reusing In 1837, brothers Ebenezer and Nathaniel Lamson and partner Abel Goodnow began making knives on the Shelburne side of the river. By 1850, the company needed new, modern facilities and moved to Buckland where “a large brick building, 208 feet by 48 feet, was constructed, three stories high, and before the cutlery works were moved in the town of Shelburne Falls held its Fourth of July celebration in the upper room, using it as a hall,” according to The History of Buck-land, 1779-1935, by Fannie Shaw Kendrick, describing “Building No. 8,” where the first floor is still the central nervous system of the company’s manufacturing operations. From its original nine build-ings, Lamson’s Buckland opera-tion quickly acquired a reputa-tion for quality, and the company grew in reputation and scope. By 1891, Lamson’s complex became a meandering collection of 16 buildings of varying sizes, shapes and uses. By this time the fi rm offered 500 different styles of cutlery. Its hundreds of workers — many experienced craftsmen hailing from Sheffi eld, England and Solingen, Germany — pre-sented U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant with a 62-piece pearl- and ivory-handled dinner set in 1869. In the intervening years, the workforce has shrunk, mostly by attrition, recalls Dennis Clark, a 24-year employee in the polishing department. The company, which employed almost 100 people at the time of Buckland’s bicenten-nial in 1979, now numbers 60, including office staff based in Greenfi eld. In Buckland, 29 factory workers create precision cutlery using a production process that inte-grates methods that have hardly changed in a century with mod-ern computer-numerical control (CNC) equipment. Today just 10 buildings remain. In addition to Building No. 8, the complex includes Building No. 9 and Building No. 5, both from the 1850s. Building No. 9 is vacant and Building No. 5 was renovated in 1997 and houses Lamson’s factory outlet store. Until the fall of 2005 it was home to the company’s headquarters. Now the upstairs is rented to the architectural fi rm of Juster Pope Frazer, which moved there several months ago from its longtime home in Salmon Falls Marketplace. Several 1890s-era buildings remain. Building No. 1, the two-story brick structure that paral-lels Conway Street, now houses West County News/Turley Publi-cations and Greenleaf Press, Carl Darrow’s artisanal letterpress printing shop. The company still uses the two-fl oor, brick-and-wood Building No. 11 as a woodwork-ing shop where the handles of its cutlery are manufactured. A two-story wooden building from the era, Building No. 10, is unused. Lamson’s metal press and laser building — Building No. 4 — was built in 1920. Several buildings adjacent to Conway Street were demolished in 1997; several others were
whisked away by the flood of 1938.
Looking for a good match Zanner said the complex would be a good match for “a developer who is experienced and who has the wherewithal to take on a reconstruction project,” one that would transform historic indus-trial buildings into residential use — a use the company had already started to explore before deciding to sell. “We have a couple of inter-ested parties already,” Zanner said. Although the entire property, including the factory outlet store, will be on the market, Zanner said that didn’t preclude a buyer renting retail space to the compa-ny to keep the store operating. “Anything’s possible,” Zanner
The Youth Instructional League for grades 1–6July 11 – August 18, Tuesdays & Thursdays or Wednesdays & Fridays, 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
The High School Clinics for grades 7–12
THE HILLTOWN YOUTH SOCCER LEAGUEsponsored by The Academy at Charlemont in partnership with The Mary Lyon Foundation, presents
Session One: June 26 – June 30, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., at The Academy at Charlemont. Session Two: July 31 – Aug. 4, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at The Academy at Charlemont.
Evening Clinic: First 4 days of Session One, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Mohawk Regional High School.Goalie Days: The last day of each session, special two-hour clinics start at 9 a.m.
SummerSoccer
For more information contactTony Agrillo • 413-775-3557Abe Loomis • [email protected] • 413-339-4912 (w) 413-625-6594(h)CJ Holt • [email protected] • 774-219-9434Visit www.charlemont.org, “Summer Programs” to download registration form
BUSINESS NEWS AND NOTES
Sawyer News sold SHELBURNE FALLS--Calling it a “great opportunity to come into the community,” Mike and Ellen Eller have purchased Saw-yer News Company from longtime owners Don and Kathy Upton. “They put 18 years in here,” said Ellen Eller. “They said to me, `It needs some new blood.’” The couple have lived in Buckland for two years. They plan minimal changes for the 61 Bridge Street business. They said patrons can expect new toys and crafts and “a refurbished selection of greeting cards,” but, as Mike Eller said, the store will remain an iconic newsstand. “We’ll still maintain newspa-pers, offer smokes and tobacco, and sell office supplies,” he said. Mike Eller, a coin collector, added that he might integrate that interest into the business or offer a collectible coin enterprise under the same roof. He brings an eclectic background to the business and experience ranging from managing a warehouse to selling cars in Greenfi eld. Ellen Eller, a former senior copywriter for Doubleday Book Clubs, is a freelance writer and editor who contributes to the West County News.
Hours under the new ownership are Monday through Saturday, 6 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday, 5:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
House party for Margie Ware HAWLEY—Tinky and Jan Weisblat will host a “Meet Mar-gie Ware” party on Sunday, July 30, at their home at 84 Middle Road in Hawley 1-4 p.m. The public is invited and refresh-ments will be served. Ware is a Democratic candidate for state senate in the Berkshire, Hampshire and Franklin district that includes Ashfield, Char-lemont, Conway, Hawley, Heath, Monroe and Rowe. Regional director for the SHINE (Serving Health Information Needs of Elders) program in Berkshire County, the candidate has spent more than 30 years in western Massachusetts as a local offi cial, parent, volunteer and worker. To RSVP or get more informa-tion contact the Ware Campaign at (413) 997-9273 ([email protected]) or Tinky or Jan Weisblat at 339-4747 ([email protected])
POLITICAL NOTEBOOK
Patrick to visit Heath HEATH—Deval Patrick, a Democrat Party candidate for governor, will visit interested residents at the Heath Elemen-tary School on Monday, Aug. 7 from 12-2 p.m. Town Democratic Committee Chairman Art Schwenger said the school was booked under a standing policy that the building, owned by the town of Heath, is made available for community events. “Part of the reason for his visit is if he were to become governor, Heath is a great example of a small rural town that’s being treated unfairly by state policy,” Schwenger said. “From my per-spective, anyone who might be in that corner offi ce should come and visit this school.” Schwenger added the Patrick event should transcend partisan politics and serve as an opportu-nity for townspeople to engage with someone on the frontline of the political debate. “We’re expecting to see Repub-licans, independent voters, and people who don’t vote, as well as Democrats,” he said.
Swimming lessonsat Ashfi eld Lake ASHFIELD—For people who want to learn to swim closer to Ashfi eld, swimming lessons are available from July 24-Aug. 4, through the Ashfi eld Park Com-mission. Forms are available at Ashfield Lake, Ashfield Hard-ware, Ashfield Town Hall and Belding Memorial Library. The cost is $35.
ferent. I’ve been doing this for a long time. Twenty-seven years is a long time to be police chief.” DeJackome said that the new position, which he’d applied for last month, would “not necessar-ily” mean a signifi cant boost in income. Due to their summer schedule, Shelburne selectmen will not offi cially consider DeJackome’s resignation until they next meet on Aug. 14. Selectman Joe Judd, who serves as police liaison, had spoken informally with DeJack-ome about the resignation during the past few days. “The board is pretty much together about the fact that we understand Mark’s request and certainly we intend to honor it,” Judd said during a phone call on July 18. “We’re sorry to see him go. He’s been our chief for the last quarter century, longer.” Judd said he hoped that De-Jackome would agree to continue to serve as a part-time chief, while the town seeks a candidate for the soon-to-be-vacant post. Judd also said that he hoped that fellow board members would agree to the creation of a review board, to be composed of “people-at-large and elected offi cials” to assist in the vetting process. “I have no plans to rush this,” Judd said. “It’s going to be a very meticulous, a very well-thought-out process, and we’re going to fi nd out what our community is looking for in relation to a new chief.” Town counsel Donna MacNicol has informed Judd that the pro-cess of selecting a new police chief could take from three to six months. The selectman said that he has “an unoffi cial goal” of se-lecting a new chief by the fi rst of next year. He also noted that the
Lamson complex _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ from front page
said. “Depending on the buyer, we may sell a certain portion of the property or otherwise subdi-vide it.” Bolduc said that Lamson had hired architect Joseph Mattei in 2004 to explore alternative uses of the complex. As she unfurled the designs, Bolduc described them as one comprehensive scenario of what the property might become. Mattei’s preliminary site de-sign concept — featuring 35 housing units, commercial offi ce space, retail space, community rooms, green space, a gazebo, and plenty of parking — “hon-ors the history of the buildings and reuses them,” Bolduc said. Since the buildings were con-nected for a single purpose, the complex could be well suited to the use of a close-knit residential
community. Such a plan might also ease some of the pressure on the village’s housing stock, Bolduc predicted. “It’s the only responsible place [in the village] where there’s the opportunity for residential development,” she said. “Should it be residential? Or commercial? That’s the real nut to crack,” Bolduc said. “It’s not like-ly to be any form of industry.” Bolduc said her role is to fi nd one party — “or two, or three” — who would have “the fi nancial wherewithal, the vision and the ability” to fi nd a different use, a scenario where “the land wins, the town wins, the buyer wins, and Lamson wins.” “They’re open to any creative way to solve this puzzle,” she said.
Shelburne police chief _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _from front page
hiring of a new chief will be left to newly-elected board member John Payne and himself. Chair Bob Manners, a member of the police force, will recuse himself from deliberations.
Raising level of law enforcement
Judd praised DeJackome, not-ing that the chief had brought “a world of knowledge” to the job. He cited DeJackome’s talent for bringing in grant monies and outside funding for departmental needs as well as his professional-ism in operating a force of nine offi cers. “He brought a level of law enforcement into the village that I think has served him well in relation to keeping Shelburne a town that has become a tourist attraction, and at the same time, a town that people like to live in,” Judd said. Judd believes, but could not confirm immediately, that De-Jackome has the longest tenure on record as Shelburne’s Police Chief. DeJackome fi rst served as a federal agent before taking on duties for two years as a patrol-man in Orange. In 1980 he left that position and moved here to begin serving as Shelburne’s Police Chief. He and his wife, Irene, are the parents of Matthew, 23, and Gemma, 19. Their son has re-cently graduated from Vermont Tech with a degree in architec-ture. Their daughter is now a sophomore at Westfield State College. DeJackome said that job stress-es were not a factor in his deci-sion to step down. “I love the job,” he said. “The job’s been great and this town has been great to work for, It’s a fantastic town to work for. It was a great place to raise my children.”
The chief added that he and his wife have no intentions to move from town. Irene is chair of the Shelburne Health Board and she continues to operate her own business in Greenfi eld. “Mark will be missed for a lot of reasons, but mainly because Mark was a good guy,” Judd concluded. “Any police chief has his issues. You’re not going to please everybody if you’re in the role of police offi cer. Basically, I think he’s served the town of Shelburne pretty well for the last 27 years.”
page 6 • Shelburne Falls Independent • July 20–August 2, 2006 • www.sfi ndependent.net
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North River. Hoffman guesses that local craftsmen built the bridge “They were pretty inventive,” he said. The bridge here is listed in the World Guide of Massachusetts list of covered bridges and in the National Society for Preservation of Covered Bridges, Inc. Lapsed into a state of disrepair and unusable by vehicular traf-fi c, the bridge was removed from its abutments in 1990. There it sat, until Northern Construction Company was hired by the state to rebuild it. “They are fabricating it in the warehouse, the old AF& F ware-house,” said Diana Schindler, assistant administrator for the selectmen for the town of Colrain, referring to the former American Fiber & Finishing plant, then the town’s largest employer. “They have a goal date of Labor Day. The contract goes until October of 2007. We suspect that it will be done this summer. If they want to leave their tools, and come back
later, they can. For our purposes, we do not plan on it being done until next year. It is a state con-tract. Until they release the site back to the town, we can’t do anything.” The bridge will be put back on its abutment across the North River in Lyonsville. But the cur-rent design is for pedestrian traffi c. “We’re not sure if it is going to be open for vehicular usage,” Schindler said. “We plan for it to be pedestrian only. We have to wait to see if it can safely accom-modate traffi c. The abutments are fi ve feet off the ground. It may be a marked one-way bridge. Right now the selectmen have decided that it will be pedestrian-only bridge. It’s got such an incline when you’re on the road, you can-not see through the bridge. It will never be a two way bridge.” The fi ve-foot incline means that the drive isn’t able to see through the bridge to oncoming traffi c. It is not a fairly fl at approach from the road, as with other covered
bridges. Schindler assumes that there will be a big celebration to mark the occasion.
Behind the Scenes: The Bridge Committee and the Colrain Historical Society
“I’m quite sure they [town of-fi cials] blocked the bridge off in 1980. It had big rocks in front of it so nobody could drive through,” said Hoffman, noting that despite its need for repair, the bridge was not in danger of falling down. “It was painted once in a while, but nothing serious was ever done. That’s why it deteriorated. The town used to replace the planks where the wheel tracks went. They would pop up and come apart.” As cars approached the bridge, the wheel tracks, two-by-six-inch planks, ran diagonally across it, supported underneath. “Everybody loved this bridge,” said Belden Merims, a member of the Colrain Historical Society. “It was named for a man who had once been in another place and moved here.” Because of residents’ attach-ment to the bridge, a Bridge Committee was formed in 1989 that met weekly in hopes to restore the bridge. Members consulted with Arnold Graton, a well-known covered bridge restorer who rebuilt the Palmer covered bridge. “Graton’s estimate for fi xing the bridge was $80,000,” said Merims. “The Bridge Committee planned to raise money for dona-tions and get Graton here,” said Hoffman, noting all but two of the original committee members have died. They include Ronald Scott, Jim Cromack, Lousie O’Brien and Ray Austin. Phillips Sherburne is another member who still lives in town. “He’s the youngest of any of us,” said Hoffman. Another mem-ber, “Ed Thorne has moved away.” Louise O’Brien was responsible for placing the bridge on the National Historic Register. The committee raised money by selling T-shirts and coffee mugs and holding bake sales and sitting at booths at the Heath and Tri-County fairs. “The whole Historical Society supported us,” Hoffman said. “They addressed envelopes, sold tickets. A lot of people supported us.” With donations of $1 to $500, $30,000 was raised. Anybody who gave $500 dollars or more was promised to have their names included in a plaque that will be either on the bridge or on a stone by the bridge. In 1990 a celebra-tion was held when Graton and a team of oxen moved the bridge off its abutments. “It was a wonderful event,” said Merims. “We expected he would restore it and put it back on the abutments. When the Mas-sachusetts Historic Commission got involved, it got out of our hands. The Massachusetts High-way Department got involved.” At that point, the land the bridge is on had to be removed from the state’s Agriculture Pres-ervation Restriction program and the bridgework had to go out to bid. Now the price tag for the work is about $2 million. “We were hoping to have Graton work on it,” Hoffman
SFI photo/Laura RodleyBelden Merims and Basil Hoffman in front of the Arthur A. Smith covered bridge in Colrain. The bridge, on Lyonsville Road, is being refurbished with federal monies, with repairs set to be completed in 2007. Merims is a longtime member of the Colrain Historical Society. Hoffman was a founding member of the Bridge Committee, which assembled in 1989 and worked with the Colrain Historical Society to set in motion the long process of restoring the bridge. The photo shows the beginning curve of the Burr arches, for which the bridge is known. It is the last surviving Burr arch bridge in Massachusetts.
By Jeff Potterjeff@sfi ndependent.net
——— SHELBURNE FALLS--The huge earth-moving equipment has left town. New drainage and sewer pipes are now safely ensconced underground, and fl uorescent orange detour signs are put away. Other than a few cosmetic touches yet to come, the necessary disruption of a sewer and drainage replacement project is now over. The trouble is, Art Schwenger says, some people still assume the worst and are staying far away from town under the mistaken assumption that the village is a torn-up construction zone. And that makes the executive direc-tor of the Shelburne Falls Area Business Association wince. “I ran into one person in Green-field who said something to the effect that she was afraid to come to Shelburne Falls,” Schwenger said. “And then I ran into another person who said, ‘Oh, Bridge Street is closed, isn’t it?’ People hear things, and it tends to blossom.” Part of the confusion might well have resulted from the care-ful communication about the project, designed to raise aware-ness and encourage business as usual to the greatest extent possible. Townspeople and businesses were told to gird themselves for three months of lost parking, detours and other inconveniences that would result from replacing underground infrastructure. As it happened, the construc-tion, which started May 15, was completed in four weeks after general contractor Borges Con-struction, of Ludlow doubled the number of workers on the project to accelerate its progress.
Fast and smooth “The project went fast and went pretty smoothly, as projects go,” said Schwenger, adding that village businesses, while by and large affected lightly, are “re-lieved” that the work is done. Schwenger said the business that suffered the most was Green-field Savings Bank, which lost the use of its drive-through win-dow “every day for about two weeks.” “When you dig into the ground to replace an old sewer, you never know what you’re going to get,” Schwenger said. Construction workers uncov-ered old coins and old corked (but empty) whiskey bottles. They also found an unmovable boulder “the size of a cement truck” under Baker Avenue, Schwenger said. Town officials have known
there were problems with drain-age culverts, as evidenced by buckling in the municipal park-ing lot in back of the commercial buildings on Bridge Street. Schwenger said that the work uncovered the extent to which the system, made of dry stone masonry and wood, had dete-riorated. “They were in danger of collapsing,” he said of the culverts. “The penetration of ground-water into the sewer system was enormous,” Schwenger added. “All that water would go down and through the sewage treat-ment plant. The system was not as effective.” The century-old cast-iron/clay sewer lines ran parallel to the drainage lines, crossing the length of the parking lot from Main to Water streets, including a section installed under the Ho-tel Block housing the Shelburne Falls Supermarket (formerly the Keystone Market). “These sewer lines have been replaced with PVC pipes in a new location towards the center of the parking lot, away from any building,” said John Ryan, grant consultant and project administrator. Parking lot surfaces have been coated with two layers of pavement where excavation oc-curred. The lot will receive a fi nal topcoat and will be re-striped in the late fall 2006 or early spring 2007, Ryan said. Schwenger said that for all the inconvenience, the project staved off more comprehensive repairs. “If there were a major collapse, you aren’t talking a three-week repair project. You’re talking something much bigger and much more disruptive,” he said.
Who paid for it Schwenger also serves as the program manager of the Shel-burne Falls Area Partnership, a formal working group made up of Buckland and Shelburne boards of selectmen and members of the SFABA’s board of directors. In the case of the recent sewer work, Schwenger said that on be-half of the Partnership he tried to orchestrate communications about construction and traffic detours from concerned citizens and businesses. At the same time, under the auspices of the SFABA, he “was really representing con-cerned businesses,” he said. Funding for the project came from a Community Development Block Grant through the state Department of Housing and Community Development and from the town highway and sewer department budgets.
Covered bridge _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _from front page
said. “Engineers from Vermont, from the New England Society of Covered Bridges, did the design work for nothing.” Merims explained that the state requirements for the span include that it withstand a 100-year wind and a 100-year fl ood—engineering terms that indicate wind and rain of such velocity that it occurs every century. “We’ve [Massachusetts] had tornados, but Colrain has not had a tornado go through,” Merims said. “The hurricane of ’38 did go through Colrain.” The bridge here withstood that hurricane. The state has made other changes, including adding more space for water to go through in a three-foot higher foundation. Hoffman said that the thing that “saved” the old bridge from greater weather damage is that “water could go around the edges.” “I saw water go into the corn-fi elds,” he said.
Where did our money go? Some who had readily donated to restore the bridge wondered where their money went. “The Bridge Committee never had nonprofit status,” Merims said. “They [donors] gave money to the Colrain Historical Society that held it in a separate ac-count. Last year funds were turned over to the historical com-mission, a town department, and a new committee has now been formed to include that panel and members of the historical society. Some of the money raised paid to move the bridge in 1990. The new committee will decide how to spend the remaining money. Options are exterior lighting, picnic tables and the donation plaque.
The state’s perspective “The designs process can be lengthy,” said Mark Moore, proj-ect development engineer for the Mass Highway Department in District One, which includes Colrain. Part of his job entails get-ting projects ready and out for bidding. “The town requested Mass Highway participation,” Moore said. “I don’t know if it was the selectmen or the town’s historic association. The request would have come through the town. This project had a project manager in Boston and was designed by a consultant in Boston.” According to records, Mass Highway become involved in 2002 and initiated a project request at that time. A public hearing was held in 2003. A contract award was awarded July 14, 2005 for a price of $2,123,690. Moore recalled that Mass Highway had funding mecha-nisms in place to assist the town in receiving reimbursement, but that action had been the limit of the state’s involvement until 2002. Regarding the need for the bridge to be built to withstand 100-year winds and fl oods, Moore said, “I could not speak spe-cifi cally to the criteria for this project.” “Any project has to meet cur-rent building codes,” he said. “All projects are required to with-stand a certain amount of wind force. There is some dependency
to the type of structure.” He reiterated that the town is not responsible to pay to rebuild the bridge, which is being paid for with 80 percent federal mon-ey and 20 percent state funds.
The new Arthur A. Smith covered bridge
Instead of Graton restoring the bridge and returning it to its abutments, the new design criteria called for rebuilding the bridge. And, after 16 years of just sitting in the fi eld, as Hoffman noted, “Stuff deteriorated as it was sitting there.” What is now being built is an exact replica of the original bridge, designed to accommodate one-way traffi c. “They were able to use more of the original timbers than expected,” Merims said. “Some of the diagonals, weight-bearing
timber and metal work are origi-nal. Everything that looks gray now is from the old bridge.” The Burr arch has also been replaced. “Somebody said what we have now is a $2 million sidewalk,” she said. But there is a new bridge, and most seem happy about that. “We’re pleased,” Hoffman said. “They’re doing a real nice job on it. It looks like the outfi t that is working on it is doing a real good job. It’s got a lot of memories for a lot of people. We’re glad it’s be-ing fi xed again. It’s a shame it’s going to be a footbridge, [but] it’ll be a destination.” One thing that everyone can agree on is a celebration when the bridge is fi nally back in place across the river—where a bridge belongs.
SFI fi le photo/Jeff PotterThe fi rst day of the project saw Main Street closed and traffi c de-toured as a result of a sewer and drainage replacement project. That project has been completed eight weeks early, and traffi c fl ow and parking in the village are back to normal.
Sewer, drainage project done, ahead of schedule
141 Buckland Rd. • Ashfield, MA • 628-0158
Now open for brunch8 a.m.–1 p.m.
Live music! Friday, July 21 — The Rock Hounds
Friday, July 28 — Bobby Darling and Dr. Divine
Saturday, July 29 — The NoNo’s
Dinners 5–9 weekdays, until 10 weekends Lunches Wednesday–Monday from 11:30 a.m., Tuesday from 3 p.m.
Children’s Menu • Open 7 nights a week
Just a 10 mile ride from Shelburne Falls!
Entertainment
FRIDAY, JULY 21
CHARLEMONTConcert: “Celebrat-ing Shostokovich”:
Matthew Hunter, violist, the fi rst American to gain a position in the esteemed Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, makes his MTC debut at these concerts, and is joined by Estela Olevsky, pianist, in the premiere of a new work, espe-cially written for him by Robert Stern. They will also perform the Adagio and Allegro, Opus 70 by Robert Schumann. Hunter and Masako Yanagita, violinist will play the Duo (for violin and viola) #1 in G major by Mozart, and, in recognition of the 100th birthday of Shostakovich, Ms. Olevsky, Ms. Yanagita and Mr. Hunter will be joined by Tessa Petersen, violin and Roberta Cooper, cello, in a performance of Shostakovich’s great Piano Quintet. 7:30 p.m. Mohawk Trail Concerts, Federated Church, Main Street (Route 2). Information: (413) 625-9511; www.mohawktrailconcerts.org.
SHELBURNE FALLSLive music/Swing Cara-
van: Swing Caravan ( www.myspace.com/swingcaravan) returns to play their engaging upbeat renditions of Django Reinhardt and Gypsy Jazz classics.8 p.m. Free; tips appreci-ated. Mocha Maya’s, 47 Bridge St. Information: (413) 625-6292; www.myspace.com/mochamayas.
DEERFIELDAnnual summer art exhibition: Regional
artists exhibit works that include landscapes, still lives, and fl oral subjects in a variety of styles and media, as well as a variety of locally made crafts. Reception July 23, 5-7 p.m. Through Sunday, August 06. Deerfi eld Valley Art Association, Bement School, 94 Main St. Infor-mation: (413) 773-7771.
ASHFIELDLive performance: Il-literati: Cool jazz with
Illiterati. 7:30 p.m. Free. Elmer’s General Store, 396 Main St. Infor-mation: (413) 628-4403.
SHELBURNE FALLSP l a y : “ T h e Shadow Box”:
Winner of the 1977 Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize, The Shadow Box, by Michael Cristofer, follows three cancer patients as they come
to terms with their deaths. It has been praised by critics for its in-sight, humor and perceptiveness in dealing with a very difficult subject.7:30 p.m. $6 all seats on opening night. West County Play-ers, Memorial Hall, 51 Bridge St. Information: (413) 625-9362; www.shelburnefallsmemorialhall.org.
CHARLEMONTYankee Doodle Days: Charlemont’s
annual hometown fair. 5 p.m.: Fairgrounds open (food, crafts, vendors); rides; Rosie’s Racing Pigs (check board for times); mu-sic and dancing with Sierra Pearl. 5:30 p.m.: Women’s Club ham and bean supper. 6:30 p.m.: Cruise night, with classic car exhibition. 7-9:30 p.m.: Music and dancing with Shakin’ All Over. 7-11 p.m.: Square and round dancing in the exhibition hall with music by The Country Friendship Band and caller Bob Livingston. 8:30 p.m.: Cruise Lap (rain date July 22). 10 p.m. Air- and ground-shaking displays of fireworks. Pre-show rides in monster truck (rain date July 22). 5-11 p.m. Through Sunday, July 23. $7; $3, ages 4-12. Friends of the Charlemont Fairgrounds, Charlemont Fairgrounds, Route 8A. Information: 413-339-5334; www.charlemontfriends.org.
SHELBURNE FALLSO p e n Po e t -ry and Prose
Reading Series: Writers wishing to participate may sign up for a fi ve-minute time slot the night of the reading. Listeners welcomed. Refreshments. Lower level. Parking and universal accessibility avail-able in rear of building. Free. Arms Library, Corner of Bridge and Main streets. Information: 413-625-0306; [email protected].
GREENFIELDFarmer’s market: Noon-4:30 p.m., up-
per lot of the rear parking area. Franklin Medical Center, 164 High St. Information: (413) 773-2268; baystatehealth.com/fmc.
TURNERS FALLSTheater: Guys and Dolls: Guys
and Dolls, under the direction of Nick Waynelovich, will include 25 male dancers as part of the production numbers along with 20 female dancers from JaDuke. The plot follows the oldest permanent fl oating crap game as it pits gam-blers against do-gooders while the outcome of a bet, involving love,
is played out. Well known musi-cal numbers include “Luck be a Lady,” “Marry the Man Today,” “Sit Down, You”re Rocking the Boat,” “A Bushel and a Peck,” and “If I Were a Bell.” Moriah Sterling as Miss Sarah Brown, Peter Rizzo as Nicely Nicely and Brian McCarthy as Nathan Detroit. Taking his fi rst JaDuke lead role is Matt McCor-mick as Sky Masterson. Kimberly Waynelovich, a world champion tap dancer, is the choreographer. 8 p.m. Through Saturday, July 22. $12; $10, under 12 or over 65. Ja’Duke Productions, Shea Theatre, 71 Avenue A. Information: (413) 863-2281; www.jaduke.com.
SATURDAY, JULY 22
NORTH ADAMSBang on a Can All-Stars concert: 8
p.m. $22. MassMOCA, 87 Marshall St. Information: (413) 662-2111; www.massmoca.org.
CHARLEMONTConcert: “Celebrat-ing Shostokovich”:
Matthew Hunter, violist, the fi rst American to gain a position in the esteemed Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, makes his MTC debut at these concerts, and is joined by Estela Olevsky, pianist, in the premiere of a new work, espe-cially written for him by Robert Stern. They will also perform the Adagio and Allegro, Opus 70 by Robert Schumann. Hunter and Masako Yanagita, violinist will play the Duo (for violin and viola) #1 in G major by Mozart, and, in recognition of the 100th birthday of Shostakovich, Ms. Olevsky, Ms. Yanagita and Mr. Hunter will be joined by Tessa Petersen, violin and Roberta Cooper, cello, in a performance of Shostakovich’s great Piano Quintet. 8 p.m. A re-ception for the audience to meet the artists follows the concert. Mohawk Trail Concerts, Federated Church, Main Street (Route 2). Information: (413) 625-9511; www.mohawktrailconcerts.org.
SHELBURNE FALLSLive perfor-mance: Kristen
Ford: Kristen Ford is a folk rocker with a Northampton-esque indie heart.8 p.m. Free; tips appreci-ated. Mocha Maya’s, 47 Bridge St.
Information: (413) 625-6292; www.myspace.com/mochamayas.
SHELBURNE FALLSP l a y : “ T h e Shadow Box”:
Winner of the 1977 Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize, The Shadow Box, by Michael Cristofer, follows three cancer patients as they come to terms with their deaths. It has been praised by critics for its in-sight, humor and perceptiveness in dealing with a very difficult subject.7:30 p.m. $6 all seats on opening night. West County Play-ers, Memorial Hall, 51 Bridge St. Information: (413) 625-9362; www.shelburnefallsmemorialhall.org.
ASHFIELDFarmer’s Market: 9a.m.-12:30 p.m. Ash-
fi eld Farmers Market, In front of Ashfield Historical Society Mu-seum, 457 Main St. Information: (413) 628-0198; [email protected].
CHARLEMONTYankee Doodle Days: Charlemont’s
annual hometown fair. 10 a.m. Food, crafts, vendors open. Petting zoo, show rabbits, lupa zoo. “Win-dows to Our Past” vendors. Native American storytelling and exhibit; Rosie’s Racing Pigs (check board for times); PoppyTown Puppets & Music (check board for times). 11 a.m.: Rides, Vic and Sticks (Vaude-ville musical storytelling); ox draw; cross-cut saw demo and portable sawmill (all afternoon); Yankee Doodle Day postage stamp cancel-lation. 12:30 p.m.: T-Bone. 2 p.m. Vic and Sticks (Vaudeville musical storytelling). 2:30 p.m.: Sawdust pit with prizes (children). 3 p.m.: Coleraine City Cloggers, potato sack races, kid”s games with prizes. 4 p.m. Chicken barbecue. 5 p.m. T-Bone; demolition derby. 8-10 p.m. Music and dancing to Cotton-wood Band. 8 a.m.-11 p.m. Rain or shine. No alcohol, no bikes, no pets (guide dogs permitted). Through Sunday, July 23. $7; $3, ages 4-12. Friends of the Charlemont Fair-grounds, Charlemont Fairgrounds, Route 8A. Information: 413-339-5334; www.charlemontfriends.org.
CHARLEMONTLive performance: The Bobby Darling
Show: Foot-stomping music and knee-slapping comedy with The Bobby Darling Show ( www.bobby-darling.com) follows buffet dinner. Dinner, 6-8 p.m.; show follows. $23, dinner and show; $7, show only. Stillwater’s Restaurant, 1745 Route 2. Information: (413) 625-6200; www.stillwaters-restaurant.com.
AMHERSTConcert: Chamber music: Chamber music
concert featuring J.S. Bach: “Ital-ian” Concerto in F Major with
pianist Boris Berman Lerdahl: Time After Time Beethoven: Grosse Fuge in B fl at Major Beethoven: Sonata in A Major for violin and piano (“Kreutzer”). 8 p.m. Wheelchair accessible. $15; season passes avail-able. Yellow Barn Music, Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, Route 9. Information: 800-639-3819; www.yellowbarn.org.
SUNDAY, JULY 23
SHELBURNE FALLSP l a y : “ T h e Shadow Box”:
Winner of the 1977 Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize, The Shadow Box,by Michael Cristofer, follows three cancer patients as they come to terms with their deaths. It has been praised by critics for its insight, hu-mor and perceptiveness in dealing with a very diffi cult subject. 2 p.m. $12; $10 in advance (students and seniors: $10, $8 in advance). Ad-vance tickets available at Boswell’s Books, 10 Bridge St. West County Players, Memorial Hall, 51 Bridge St. Information: (413) 625-9362; www.shelburnefallsmemorialhall.org.
CHARLEMONTYankee Doodle Days: Charlemont’s
annual hometown fair. 9 a.m. Pan-cake breakfast. 9:30 a.m. Church service. 10 a.m. Food, crafts, ven-dors open; horse draw; gymkhana; “Windows to Our Past” vendors; quilting bee; Basil Dorsey”s Un-derground Railroad quilt; Taylor”s Fort excavation exhibit; Rosie’s Racing Pigs (check board for times); PoppyTown Puppets & Music (check board for times); petting zoo; lupa zoo; Coleraine City Cloggers. 11 a.m.: T-Bone. Noon: rides; “Windows to Our Past” parade begins at the west end of Charlemont. 1 p.m.: Parade arrives at Fairgrounds; crosscut saw demo, portable sawmill (all afternoon); chicken barbecue. 1:30 p.m. T-Bone. 2 p.m.: Tournament of Trills. 2:30 p.m.: Doc Streeter Award (Char-lemont Lions Club). 3 p.m. Zoe Darrow and the Fiddleheads. 4 p.m. Yankee Doodle Days Raffl e: 10th Revival Quilt (prize: Berkshire East Season Ski Pass). 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Rain or shine. No alcohol, no bikes, no pets (guide dogs permit-ted). $7; $3, ages 4-12. Friends of the Charlemont Fairgrounds, Charlemont Fairgrounds, Route 8A. Information: 413-339-5334; www.charlemontfriends.org.
MONDAY, JULY 24
GREENFIELDLecture: Basic eco-nomics: Second in
a series about finances and eco-nomics with Dr. Chris Martenson, who holds an MBA from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from Duke. 7-9 p.m.; continues Tuesday, Aug. 1. Suggested donation $10/session, sliding scale. Greenfi eld Commu-nity College, 270 Main St. Infor-mation: (413) 648-0542; www.gcc.mass.edu.
TUESDAY, JULY 25
NORTHAMPTONConcert : Edie Brickell and New
Bohemians: Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians fi rst stormed onto the charts with their 1989 debut “Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars” and the hit single, “What I Am,” which helped propel them to multi-platinum status. Their new studio album “Stranger Things” is their fi rst in 16 years. 8 p.m. A reception for the audience to meet the artists follows the concert. Iron Horse Music Hall, 20 Center St. Information, ticket prices, and reservations: (413) 584-0610; www.iheg.com.
FRIDAY, JULY 28
GREENFIELDPerformance: Moon-light and Morning
Star: Jazz favorites will be fea-tured at the next “A Bouquet of Music.” Refreshments. The duo will perform classical, folk, gospel and Jewish selections. The Healing Environment Committee, series sponsor, is interested in hearing from area performers who would like to volunteer for future con-certs. Noon-1 p.m.; hospital main lobby. Free. Franklin Medical Center, 164 High St. Information: (413) 773-2573; baystatehealth.com/fmc.
CHARLEMONTConcert: The St. Petersburg Quar-
tet: This quartet performed in Charlemont as the Leningrad Quartet during their very fi rst year in America (in collaboration with Musicorda, then a newly-estab-lished summer school for young professionals co-founded by artist friends of Mohawk Trail Concerts,
July 19, 20, 21Wednesday • Thursday • Friday
10 a.m. • 1 p.m. • 7 p.m..
—All Shows Free —Air conditioned
—Suitable for all ages
For more information please call
The Academy at Charlemont(413) 339-4912
The Academy at CharlemontSummer Theater Workshop
P R E S E N T S
CALENDAR
W E S T C O U N T Y P L A Y E R S p r e s e n t s
W I N N E R O F T H E 1 9 7 7 P U L I T Z E R P R I Z E A N D T H E 1 9 7 7 T O N Y AWA R D
by Michael Cristofer • directed by Rachel Popowich
July 14, 15, 21 and 22,7:30 p.m.—July 16 and 23,2 p.m.
WITH Kurt Blaha, Robert Campbell, Suzanne Conway Legrèze,Carrie Ferretti, Erin Freed, Phil Hayes, Marc Kaufmann, Marcia Schuhle AND
Cale Weissman$10 in advance • $12 at the door • ($8 and $10, students and seniors)Special opening night price: $6 all seats!Advance tickets at Boswell’s Books, Shelburne FallsFor more information, call (413) 625-9863 or (413) 625-9362
Produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
—Memorial Hall51 Bridge St., Shelburne Falls
1745 Route 2 E. Charlemont • www.stillwaters-restaurant.com
Call 625-6200 for information or reservations
“The Bobby Darling Show”Sat. July 22
Dinner Dance $23.00 for buffet dinner and the show!
$7.00 cover for music only.Buffet starts at 6:00; music at 8:00
•Please join us for Sunday breakfast
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celebrating the end ofYankee Doodle Days
- Gina Coleman and Misty Blue
Live music every Saturday night Yankee DoodleDays July 21, 22, 23
Call Linda at (413) 625-8297 to advertise
Shelburne Falls Independent • July 20–August 2, 2006 • www.sfindependent.net • page 7
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ASHFIELDFarmer’s Market: 9a.m.-12:30 p.m. Ash-
fi eld Farmers Market, In front of Ashfield Historical Society Mu-seum, 457 Main St. Information: (413) 628-0198; [email protected].
HEATHVillage Fair set: Village fair benefits the Com-
munity Hall upgrade. Silent raffl e of baskets/gifts, natural foods, Avon products, crafts, handmade rugs, handmade doll clothes, tag sale items, and more. The Ladies Aid Fair at the Church will offer craft items, baked goods, “white elephant” table and quilt raffl e. 10-3 p.m.; lunch, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Sponsored by Heath Senior Center. Tag space available outdoors on the Common,$5, and in the Hall, $10. Heath Village Fair, Community Hall. Information: 413-337-6680.
SUNDAY, JULY 30
SHELBURNE FALLSC o n c e r t : Eclectec jazz
with Jill: Jill Connolly and the Ver-mont Jazz Center Quintet take the stage to celebrate release of her debut album, “Venus in Transit.” 7:30 p.m. $15/advance, $18/at the door, $10/kids. Memorial Hall,, 51 Bridge St. (above Shelburne town offi ces). Information: www.venus-intransit.info or www.vtjazz.org.
BRATTLEBORO, Vt.Antiwar activist visits: Cindy
Sheehan will come to Brattleboro. 1 p.m., the common. Traprock Peace Center, 103a Keets Road. Information: (413) 773-742; trap-rockpeace.org.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 1
GREENFIELDLecture: Basic eco-nomics: Second in
a series about finances and eco-
nomics with Dr. Chris Martenson, who holds an MBA from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from Duke. 7-9 p.m. Suggested donation $10/session, sliding scale. Greenfield Community College, 270 Main St. Information: (413) 648-0542; www.gcc.mass.edu.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2
WHATELYConcert: Tracy Gram-mer and Jim Henry on
tap: 7:30 p.m. $14; $12, advance. Watermelon Wednesdays at West Whately Congregational Church, Corner, Williamsburg and Conway roads. Information: (413) 665-3741; www.watermelonwednesdays.com.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 3
SHELBURNE FALLSPoetry read-ing open mic
night: All poets within driving distance: come and contribute or just listen. Beginners, published authors... all are welcome. 7:30 p.m. Free. Mocha Maya’s, 47 Bridge St. Information: (413) 625-6292; www.myspace.com/mochamayas.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 4
NORTH ADAMSMovie and car-toons: Buster Ke-
aton, Jim Woodring: MASS MoCA’s outdoor fi lm series continues with high art animation when guitarist Bill Frisell takes on two of Buster Keaton’s most celebrated shorts, Obie- and Bessie-award-winning fi lmmaker, Bill Morrison and mav-erick cartoonist Jim Woodring’s animations. 8 p.m. $26; $22, ad-vance. MassMOCA, 87 Marshall St. Information: (413) 662-2111; www.massmoca.org.
SHELBURNE FALLSLive music/Swing Cara-
van: Northampton-based acoustic Gypsy jazz group returns. 8 p.m. Free; tips appreciated. Mocha Maya’s, 47 Bridge St. Information: (413) 625-6292; www.myspace.com/mochamayas.
TURNERS FALLSTheater : Uri -netown : Nick
Waynelovich and Ja’Duke take on the contemporary ensemble musical. 8 p.m. Through Saturday, August 05. $12; $10, under 12 or over 65. Ja’Duke Productions, Shea Theatre, 71 Avenue A. Information: (413) 863-2281; www.jaduke.com.
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During ten days in the hospital, and before I was finally out of the woods, I wasunder the care of several highly skilled physicians from the Emergency Medicine,Pulmonology, Cardiology, Radiology, Pathology, Rheumatology, Neurosurgery, andHospital Medicine departments. There were also compassionate nurses, nurses’aides, radiology, laboratory and respiratory technologists, dietitians, and finally, a great physical therapist, who literally got me on my feet again.
As a health care professional myself, I know how critical it is to be cared for by topnotch people at a facility with the latest diagnostic equipment and technology.To have a whole team of them here at my hospital and at my side, well, I feel sothankful. Who knows what might have happened if all these experts hadn’t beenavailable so close to where I live.
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Puppet productionto return SHELBURNE FALLS—The Mettawee River Theatre Com-pany returns for its only Franklin County area appearance on Sun-day, Aug. 6 to perform Valentyne & Orson, hosted by Arms Library as part of its summer reading program. The large-scale puppet produc-tion will take place on the lawn of the Buckland Shelburne El-ementary on Mechanic Street at 8 p.m. Still the only free outdoor theater in the county, the play will be held inside the school in case of rain. Mettawee is the critically acclaimed company, under the direction of Ralph Lee, which in previous years has entertained hundreds of local residents with its productions of Psyche, The Tem-pest, The Caravan Of Dreams, Stone Monkey Banished, The Dancing Fox, and last year, The Caucasian Chalk Circle. This summer’s show is drawn from a 15th century French ro-mance. It is the story of Valen-tyne, a courageous young fellow who was found by King Pepin in the forest when he was a baby. When a ferocious Wild-man threatens Pepin’s domain, Valentyne sets out to deal with him. Their encounter turns from a battle into the beginning of a friendship, and the Wildman is given the name Orson because he was raised by bears. The two heroes encounter villains and fools, charming ladies, an onery giant and a hungry bear as they seek to determine the nature of Valentyne’s origins. The production will incorpo-rate many puppets, masks and other visual elements, and origi-nal, live music as Mettawee con-jures up the pageantry of court, castles and dark forests alive in the medieval imagination. Lee adapted the text for Va-lentyne & Orson from two major sources: a 1505 English transla-tion by Henry Watson of the 1489 French original prose version and an early 18th century English bal-lad that tells the story in rhyming quatrains. “It’s a compelling story about achieving harmony with nature by finding the courage to em-brace one’s opposite,” Lee said. Actors Kim Gambino, Robert Ierari, Ian Lassiter, Tom Marion, Jan-Peter Pedross and Clea Ri-vera will play multiple roles. The production will feature an original musical score composed by Neal Kirkwood and performed by musicians Corey King on trombone and Barbara Benary on violin. Casey Ompton designed the costumes. The company, founded by Lee in 1975, creates original theater productions that incorporate masks, giant figures, puppets and other visual elements with live music, movement and text, drawing on myths, legends and folklore of the world’s many cul-tures for its material. Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2005, the company is committed to bring-ing theater to people who may have little or no access to live professional performances. In his design and direction Lee seeks to create vivid the-atrical moments with economy and elegance. This search for an evocative simplicity of image and Mettawee’s commitment to making theater accessible to the widest possible audience through its outdoor performances give the theater company its particular character. Lee fi rst created puppets as a child growing up in Middlebury, Vermont. Two of Lee’s Mettawee productions have been honored with American Theatre Wing Design Awards. Under Lee’s di-rection, Mettawee has received two Citations for Excellence from UNIMA, the international pup-petry organization. Additional awards to Lee include a 1996 Dance Theatre Workshop Bessie Award for “sustained achieve-ment as a mask maker and the-atre designer without equal.” In 2003, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship, one of the nation’s most prestigious honors. He is currently on the faculty of New York University. Support for the production—the twelfth here by Mettawee—has been provided by the Friends of the Arms Library. Please bring a blanket or lawn chair to sit on and please remember to leave your pets at home. Picnicking before the show is encouraged. Stay late and talk to the actors and musi-cians and touch the puppets and instruments. For further information call the library Mondays and Thursdays from 1-8 p.m. or Saturday from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at (413) 623-0306 or e-mail [email protected].
Franklin County youth bring Shakespeare to life SHELBURNE FALLS—Frank-lin County Action Corporation Youth Programs is sponsoring an all-youth directed and performed production of Shakespeare’s AMidsummer Night’s Dream on Aug. 4-6 and 11-12. Caitlin Freed, a seventeen-year-old Shelburne Falls resident, was the happy recipient of an arts grant from the FCAC Youth Programs to stage and direct the play. “This production of Shakes-pere’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is really all about lan-guage and love,” said Freed. “It’s about language in that we had the cast rewrite portions of the script in their own language so we could contrast the Elizabe-than English with the modern American English. It’s a virtual love affair between the two lan-guages. Shakespeare, after all, is all about the language. And it’s about love in that it explores a wide range of universal ideas of love: love as drug, love as magic, love as parental control, love as mischief and love as battle between the sexes. It’s a truly magical play. “And, the cast is terrifi c,” she continued. “This is a really tal-ented group. Our cast ranges in age from 9 to 19. And they have come up with lots of creative interpretations of the story as we have been swimming around in this great pool of love. I think the audience will be enchanted by this production.” Proceeds of the Ashfi eld per-formances will go to an Ashfi eld organization that services youth and proceeds of the Shelburne Falls performances will go to a Shelburne Falls organization that serves young people. Performances from Aug. 4-5 are at 7:30 p.m. in Ashfi eld Town Hall. The Aug. 6 performance is at 2 p.m. in Ashfi eld. The Aug. 11 and 12 performances are at 7:30 p.m. in Shelburne’s Memorial Hall on Bridge Street. A donation of $5 will be gratefully received at the door at all performances.
Nicely Nicely and Brian McCarthy as Nathan Detroit. Taking his fi rst JaDuke lead role is Matt McCor-mick as Sky Masterson. Kimberly Waynelovich, a world champion tap dancer, is the choreographer. 8p.m., Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m., Sunday. Through Sunday, July 30. $12; $10, under 12 or over 65. Ja’Duke Productions, Shea Theatre, 71 Avenue A. Information: (413) 863-2281; www.jaduke.com.
SATURDAY, JULY 29
CHARLEMONTConcert: The St. Petersburg Quar-
tet: This quartet performed in Charlemont as the Leningrad Quartet during their very fi rst year in America (in collaboration with Musicorda, then a newly-estab-lished summer school for young professionals co-founded by artist friends of Mohawk Trail Concerts, Jackie Melnick and `Terry’ Ter-aspulsky). This evening’s concert will be dedicated to the memory of Melnick, who died in November and whose vibrant presence is an enormous loss to the region’s musi-cal community. The St. Petersburg Quartet brings music from their native Russia, including their tribute to Shostakovich, and winds up the Mohawk Trail Concerts sea-son. They will be joined by Abba Bogin, pianist, with the second of the two Mozart Piano Quartets. 8p.m. A reception for the audience to meet the artists follows the concert. Mohawk Trail Concerts, Federated Church, Main Street (Route 2).
Jackie Melnick and `Terry’ Ter-aspulsky). This evening’s concert will be dedicated to the memory of Melnick, who died in November and whose vibrant presence is an enormous loss to the region’s musi-cal community. The St. Petersburg Quartet brings music from their na-tive Russia, including their tribute to Shostakovich, and winds up the Mohawk Trail Concerts season. They will be joined by Abba Bogin, pianist, with the second of the two Mozart Piano Quartets. 7:30 p.m. Mohawk Trail Concerts, Federated Church, Main Street (Route 2). Information: (413) 625-9511; www.mohawktrailconcerts.org.
SHELBURNE FALLSLive perfor-mance: Derrik
Jordan: Multi-instrumentalist Derrik Jordan will make his debut appearance performing on the violin using a mesmerizing looping technique. 8 p.m. free (tips appreci-ated). Mocha Maya’s, 47 Bridge St. Information: (413) 625-6292; www.myspace.com/mochamayas.
TURNERS FALLSTheater: Guys and Dolls: Guys
and Dolls, under the direction of Nick Waynelovich, will include 25 male dancers as part of the production numbers along with 20 female dancers from JaDuke. The plot follows the oldest permanent fl oating crap game as it pits gam-blers against do-gooders while the outcome of a bet, involving love, is played out. Well known musi-cal numbers include “Luck be a Lady,” “Marry the Man Today,” “Sit Down, You”re Rocking the Boat,” “A Bushel and a Peck,” and “If I Were a Bell.” Moriah Sterling as Miss Sarah Brown, Peter Rizzo as
page 8 • Shelburne Falls Independent • July 20–August 2, 2006 • www.sfindependent.net
WEST COUNTY PHYSICIANS, PC
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Richard B. Coombs, Sr. COLRAIN—Richard Brown Coombs, Sr, of Wilmington, died June 30. He was born in Colrain, MA, July 3, 1920 the youngest son of William Henry and Nettie Brown Coombs. Coombs graduated from Arms Academy in 1938, enlisted in the Army in 1941 and rose to the rank of Colonel in the regular Army during his 26 year career in logistics. He served during WW II in North Africa, Italy, and the Balkans, serving at the US Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. The Korean War took him to Japan and Korea where he was a staff offi cer, QM Section, HQ Army Forces Far East. In Vietnam he served on the Joint Staff in Saigon. While in the service he attended Georgetown University and graduated from the Advance Course, QM School and other specialist courses. When he retired from the Army in 1967, he joined the staff of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia in the Purchasing Dept, retiring in 1986 as Director of Material Management.He was life member of the Retired Offi cers Association, the Colrain Historical Society, the Arms Academy Alumni Association, VFW Post 3857, Colrain. In Wilmington, he was a member of the Cape Fear Country Club, St. John's Episcopal Church, and a volunteer at the SeamanÕs Center. He is survived by his wife, Marian Calder Coombs, his son, Richard Brown (Rick) Coombs, Jr. of Wilmington, daughter-in-law, Betty Coombs Cohen of Conway, Arkansas, and a granddaughter, Evelyn Leigh Coombs. He is also survived by in-laws Robert and Elizabeth Calder; and brothers-in-law Robert (Melva) Calder, William (Lynn) Calder, and Keith (Alice) Calder. He is also survived by nieces Betty C. Clancy (Ed), Kathryn & Caroline, Kelly and Emily (Little Stuff) Calder; Nicole Coombs, Karen Herzig (Charlie), Jean C. Temple (Roger), Joyce C. Graves (Phil); and by nephews Russell Coombs (Sandi), Matthew Clancy, Rusty Coombs, Eric Herzig, and Scott Coombs. He was preceded in death by his fi rst wife, Jeanne Matscheck Coombs, his son Michael M. Coombs, and his daughter-in-law JoDeane Coombs. A memorial service took place July 9 at St. John’s Episcopal Church with the Rev. Robert Morrison offi ciating.In lieu of fl owers, memorials may be made to St. John's Episcopal Church or a charity of one's choice.
Alvin M. Hillman, 54 HEATH--Alvin M. Hillman, 54, of 77 Sadoga Rd., died July 16 at Baystate Medical Center in Springfi eld. Born in Greenfi eld on Feb. 21, 1952, he was the son of Smead and Evelyn (Spencer) Hillman. He was a 1972 graduate of the former Greenfield Vocational School. Upon graduation, he was drafted into the Army, where he served for six years, primarily on a base in Germany. He remained in Germany for four years after being honorably discharged on June 20, 1978. He was employed as a me-chanic by Dillon Chevrolet in Greenfi eld for many years before becoming a self-employed exca-vation contractor, mechanic and logger. He employed his many talents "mostly working for and with his community of Heath," his family writes. He leaves his father, of Heath; and two sisters: Linda Chapin and her husband, Don, of North-field and Sandra McCloud of Charlemont. He leaves nieces and nephews Tyler and Brandy McCloud and Joshua and Molly Chapin. He also leaves aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. A funeral service will take place Thursday, July 20 at 10:30 a.m. at the Smith-Kelleher Fu-neral Home, 40 Church St., Shelburne Falls. Burial will fol-low in North Heath Cemetery. In lieu of fl owers memorial con-tributions may be made either to the American Cancer Society, 40 Bobala Rd., Holyoke, MA 01040 (please note "Alvin Hillman" on check memo) or to the oncology department of Baystate Medical Center, 3400 Main St., Springfi eld MA 01107.
Smith-Kelleher Funeral Home
Mary Martin, 75 SHELBURNE--Mary (Meadow) Martin, 75, of 770 Devils Ridge Lane, Tryon, N.C., died July 3 at 106 Colrain-Shelburne Road, where she was visiting her daugh-ter, Kathleen M. Nicholson. Mary Martin was born in Nor-folk, Va., Dec. 8, 1930, the daugh-ter of Harold L. and Edith DeVoe (Bogert) Martin. Before moving to Tryon in 1990, the family lived in Cohasset, Mass. for 16 years. Her husband, Tyrone G. Martin, is a retired past commanding officer of the SS Constitution. She was a member of First Con-gregational Church in Tryon. Survivors besides her husband and her daughter include two sons: Cameron M. Martin, of Fal-mouth, Maine and Guy J. Martin of Braintree, Mass. She leaves a granddaughter, Errin T. Mc-Donald; two grandsons, John G. McDonald and Theodore Martin; a great-granddaughter, Penelope Rose McDonald-O'Neil, and sev-eral nieces and nephews. Following cremation, services will take place at the convenience of the family. Donations in Mary Martin's memory may be made to Hospice of Franklin County, 329 Conway St., Greenfi eld, MA 01301.
Smith-Kelleher Funeral Home
Louis Smith, 94 HEATH--Louis Wayland Smith, 94, of 239 Rt. 8A North, died July 7 at Charlene Manor Extended Care Facility in Greenfi eld. He was born in Heath, Septem-ber 6, 1911, the son of K. Paul and Edith (Gilbert) Smith. He attended grammar school in Heath. Prior to retirement in 1978 he was employed by L.S. Starrett Co. in Athol for several years. He lived in Orange for 25 years in a home he built himself before moving to North Adams for a short time after his retirement. He returned to Heath in 1984. He was also employed at the Lane Construction Co., building bridges after the 1938 hurricane, and as a farm worker on various farms in Heath. "He was very knowledgeable about Heath history, and many people sought him out for knowl-edge," his family writes. He enjoyed carpentry and gar-dening, and until fi ve years ago, he was a maple sugarer. Smith was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Shelburne Falls. Survivors include three broth-ers: Floyd E., of Grafton, N.Y.; Daniel J., of Canton, Maine; and Donald H., of Fort St. Lucie, Fla. He leaves two sisters: Vivian L. Hazlett of Dover Fox Croft, Maine and Lucy Burnett of Peo-ria, Ariz. He also leaves several nieces and nephews in the area as well as grandnieces, grand-nephews, great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews. Three brothers -- Frederick A., Marshall E., and Gilbert C. -- died earlier. A Liturgy of Christian Burial took place on July 12 at St. Jo-seph's Church, with Rev. John A. Roach, pastor, offi ciating. Burial will be in the West Branch Cemetery in Colrain. Donations in Louis Smith's memory may be made to St. Jo-seph Catholic Memorial Fund, 34 Monroe Ave., Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
Smith-Kelleher Funeral Home
ROBIN BROOKS DESIGN g r a p h i c d e s i g n i n p r i n t & o n t h e w e b
c l e a r
v i b r a n t
v i s i o n
w w w . R o b i n B r o o k s D e s i g n . c o m 4 1 3 . 6 2 4 . 5 5 4 0
O B I T U A R I E S
SFI photos/Jeff Potter
Shelburne summer nightThe open-space vistas of Shelburne were teeming with activity, both hu-man and bovine, in the hot twilight of a recent summer Saturday.
Shelburne Falls Independent • July 20–August 2, 2006 • www.sfindependent.net • page 9
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page 10 • Shelburne Falls Independent • July 20–August 2, 2006 • www.sfi ndependent.net
On the RidgeJoe Judd brings his
well-known hunting and outdoors columnto the Independentbeginning next issue
The “Welcome, Joe Subscription Special”
1. Subscribe to the Independent for one year ($20) by July 31, and buy
a gift subscription for half price.
2. If you feel like giving Joe a wel-come message, write it here (or
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Classifi eds
7 Bridge St., Shelburne Falls • 625-6366So. Deerfield- 665-3771 • Florence - 586-8355
DistinctiveProperties
Delightful Cottage with River FrontageLocated in the Village of ShelburneFalls, this delightful 2 bedroom fea-tures a spacious LR w/fpl., kitchenenclosed porch and $10,000 to-wards new deck and roof $189,000
NEW!
Shelburne Falls CapeNeat, clean, tidy and just reduced!All the work has been done, somove in and relax! 2-3 bedrooms,HW flrs, eat-in kitchen, patio and agreat yard! $249,900
REDUCED
Fleeing Peabody Graduating from Boston’s Berk-lee College of Music in 1980 with a degree in education, the North Shore expatriate found budgets for teaching jobs drying up in the wake of recent Proposition 2 ½ legislation. With a fl uency in saxophone and clarinet, Kuklin-ski played reed notes at resorts, summer stock theater and tour-ing shows before moving full-time to hammers and nails. “I knew on some level, either conscious or unconscious, that I just didn’t have the fi re in my belly to do what I needed to do to be a professional musician,” he said during an interview at his workshop. Seeking a life away from the cluttered high-rise landscape of the Boston area, he and his wife at the time, a Springfi eld native, found harmony in the mid-1980s in the Deerfield River Valley. Fourteen years ago he converted a 2,000-square-foot building at Jay Healy’s farm into a woodshop. The antique building, highlighted with Greek Revival columns to either side of its entrance, origi-nally served for egg sorting and packing. “The detailing on this is better than on my house,” Kuklinski joked. In a back room is a rare sight—a pair of two-inch-thick, two-foot-
wide, unblemished pine slabs from a tree as much as 120 years in age, hewn from woodlands just to the north of Healy’s sawmill. For the uninitiated, such wood is now only found in quantity on the fl oors of homes built generations ago. Any carpenter would be briefl y hypnotized by the vision. The wood is destined to become tables. “You can’t buy it,” he said, describing the pine. “There’s no lumberyard that can carry anything like this, even specialty lumber yards don’t usually carry this.” A few feet away, a polished 3/8-inch, sugar maple slab, as tall as a man and older than the pine, leans on a wall. Less than 20 pounds in weight, the vertical section offers a botanical history of recorded sunlight. Like view-ing a map of Ireland, it shows the sinews of strength and ac-commodations to age. Kuklinski points out where the compression from the weight of a large branch created “fi ddleback” patterns below on the main trunk. Oppo-site to the branch are split fi bers, “crotch” patterns, where the wood interlocked to support the branch. Their abstraction brings to mind aerial views of desert mountains. “It’s very three-dimensional,” the woodworker said. “When it’s
really fi xed up and laying fl at, if the light is right, it just shimmers. It looks like you could reach right down into the wood and feel the waves and bumps...One reason I like making slabs is that they have a story.” These ancient trees frequently succumb as windfalls during storms. Occasionally Kuklinski is able to save them from the ignominy of a landfill or the fate of the wood chipper. As slabs, they take on an afterlife as tabletops.
Restoring antiquity When Kuklinski is not working on his Hall Tavern Farm collec-tion of antique replications for Historic Deerfield, or creating custom furniture on commission, he’s restoring a 19th century gov-ernment building in Washington, D.C. “Working in D.C. is interesting, it’s a whole different mindset,” he said. “On one level you have the absolute, fi nest workmanship. The quality of buildings in D.C. is phenomenal...and at the same time, they tried to tear this build-ing down twice, but they stopped both times, realizing that it would cost more to tear it down than to fi x it up.” On yet another level, the build-ing’s interior, echoing the French Empire style of carved stone, brick and ornate cast iron suf-fered the 20th century indignity
of fl uorescent light bars screwed into frescoed ceilings. Kuklinski’s task is to assist in stripping layers of paint in two rooms to reveal the interior’s original, highly detailed mahogany woodwork. “It’s a huge project,” he said. “A lot of it is being done with tooth-brushes and dental picks because there are a lot of carvings.” Largely self-taught, Kuklinski’s portfolio of work ranges from walnut liquor cabinets and desks made from tropical hardwoods to a coffee table based on Moorish patterns with geometrical inlays
OPEN CONDOSunday, July 23 • Noon–2 p.m.
THE GLASSWORKSCONDOS
21 Sears St. • Buckland
$215,000
413-774-1200www.benchmark-pratt.com
1 S O L D ,
3 T O G O • 2 bedrooms
• 1½ baths
• 1156 square feet
Serving buyers and sellersin western Massachusetts and Vermont———10 Maple St.,Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
One of the Nicest Locationsin Franklin County!
Your peace and serenity is assured in this delightful and protected site. This ’94 custom Cape is one of the very best built and well-maintained homes we have seen... No worries, move-right-in condition, loaded with extras for comfortable country living! This highly effi cient, easy-to-heat 3 zone home takes full advantage
of its Southern exposure. The peace of the master bedroom suite is preserved w/10” insulated walls, and the baths have extra insulation in their walls and new tile fl oors. The cathedral ceiling open living/dining room has striking views w/French doors that open to the raised stone patio, and a hearth with a separate fl ue for a pellet stove. Striking use of exotic hardwoods throughout the house complement it’s bright, cheery design. The full
basement is ideal for creative and work space, plus a car-riage house ideal for hobbies, storage and/or pets... The 2nd floor is a large master bedroom suite with cherry hall, hackberry cabinets in the bath, oak stairway, ash in the loft. The designer kitchen has all new appliances. Private, protected end-of-road location with pastoral views in almost every direction... Easy living in a quality home surrounded by rural beauty. Don’t miss this one!
Two Family or One Family!
The choice is yours... This venerable c.1830 Colonial is currently a 9 room single family home with four bedrooms and two baths. However, there is another ‘kitchen’ room on the second fl oor, two electrcal service entries remain and there is a new Buderus heating system, sized for the house. Nice village location on a
corner lot...just a short walk to the village, the Bridge of Flowers and the cafes, galleries and bistros of Shelburne Falls. The house has just been renovated and updated - there is a private deck/porch off the second fl oor and covered stone patio off the kitchen of the fi rst fl oor and a garage w/shop space.
fax (413) 502-3502
of mahogany, curly maple and three different varieties of satin wood. “A lot of the work at this level is really trying to listen to the client...” he said. “A lot of being a musician is about listening and I fi nd that that’s something that translates well into what I do here. A lot of what I do is to try to listen on all those levels, so when I look at a piece of wood, I don’t want to impose my will on it. I listen.” Kuklinski remains active in music, providing notes locally for
Nick Waynelovich’s high school productions and plays. Rhythm and tempo is also found in his approach to wood. “You end up fi nding a place where you realize it works if you’ve done it right,” he said of his designs. “In an intuitive way you may not understand furniture. You may not be able to perceive what’s going on, but at some level you look at it and you say, ‘Oh! That’s right. It works!”
SERVICES
W I S D O M W AY S E L F STORAGE. Safe, clean, secure. “We’ll keep your stuff buff!” Greenfield, 775-9333.
SERVICES
COMPUTER SUPPORTAND TRAINING. Macs are our specialty. Let us help you with video, email, word processing and more. Home networking and Windows support also available. Sliding Scale fee. Call 413-522-3320
Woodworker _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _from front page
Charlemontwoodworker Tom Kuklinski and one of his fi nished pieces.
SFI photo/Jeff Potter
AUTO
SKY BLUE 1993 TOYOTA TERCEL. Mileage: 181849. C r a c k e d C V b o o t s , headlights not working, tires worn, small rust holes near wheels. Drives fi ne. Not currently registered. $200, includes plastic battle axe. Call Abe at 625-6594.
FOR RENT
ONE BEDROOM COUNTRY APARTMENT in Colrain. Renovations just fi nishing up. New app l i ances . Hardwood floors. $875/month inc ludes heat , hot water, electricity. 624-3210.
FOR RENT
SHELBURNE FALLS. Small but nice one bedroom apartment in center of downtown Shelburne. $610, heat and hot water included. Call 413-320-3009 for details.
LOVELY VILLAGE HOUSE FOR RENT. 3 bdrm, 2 baths, newly renovated, w a s h e r / d r i e r , a l l appliances. Available 8/1/06; $1,400, plus fi rst and last month’s rent. 625-1081.
FOR SALE
SEA KAYAKS, CANOES! New and used, mtn bikes, sales, repairs, rentals. Berkshire Outfitters, Rt. 8, Adams. 413-743-5900.
SERVICES
P I A N O T U N I N G A N D REPAIRS. Dave Locke, 413-634-0130, [email protected].
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